I mean maybe Chavis is that rare bird whose numbers simply do not translate to the majors at all, but that’s what it would require. He had a 900+ OPS in 800 PA across 3 age-appropriate or better leagues and notoriously pitcher friendly home parks from 2017-2019. Part of the drop off was likely the league adjusted to him as you said, and he was also injured which likely played a role. He will have to adjust back. His minor league success suggests there’s a high likelihood of that.We may be talking past each other on this. All I’m saying is that Travis should absolutely not be the starting first baseman next year, even in a platoon. A full season of Travis is probably -3 wins.
The literal only reason to cut payroll is because the team’s ability to acquire players is hampered under the new CBA. That’s a drag, because the decision to increase payroll was made under the previous one. So I somewhat buy that getting under $208m is good long-term. But cutting payroll for any other reason seems like austerity for austerity’s sake, and fans should be bullshit about that, in my opinion.
Yeah, I’m admittedly a little more bearish on Chavis than most around here. He had a 75 wRC+ after his first 14 games, which I think matters because those late April Tigers and White Sox pitchers didn’t really know his weaknesses. It’s certainly possible he’s a 100 wRC+ second baseman with average defense — which is not worthless — but I still think he’s trade bait. Imagine if we had shipped him at the deadline for Nick Anderson, who went for (slightly higher-rated prospect) Jesus Sanchez.
if they trade Chavis for Nick Anderson I’d sure hope it worked out better than that absolute steal of a deal we got for Tyler Thornberg.