I can't remember what Donaldson's defensive reputation has been over the last couple of years. I kind of enjoyed good defense at third with Gio. Hope Donaldson is at least solid.
2021-2022 Yankees Offseason Discussion
- Thread starter jon abbey
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The BR numbers from the last couple years have both Donaldson and Gio right around average, very similar.
Yeah, he is a popular fantasy sleeper this year because the underlying metrics are really good.
Interesting tidbit here:
View: https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1503200959236911109?s=20&t=uaqjIJN3h0tapYlekf7Skw
View: https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1503200959236911109?s=20&t=uaqjIJN3h0tapYlekf7Skw
Donaldson's games played last 4 years:
2018: 52
2019: 155
2020: 28
2021: 135
2022: ?
36 years old.
One the flip side, as JA said, he can still hit. Are they expecting him to play 3B? played 92G at 3b for MIN last year. UZR/150 of -19.4 but DRS of 1.
2018: 52
2019: 155
2020: 28
2021: 135
2022: ?
36 years old.
One the flip side, as JA said, he can still hit. Are they expecting him to play 3B? played 92G at 3b for MIN last year. UZR/150 of -19.4 but DRS of 1.
I like that trade for both sides, if the Twins now spend on pitching.
So in effect (thinking of it as a three-team deal with the Rangers), the Twins have flipped Garver and Donaldson (two of their older, oft-injured, relatively expensive veterans) and Rortvedt for Sanchez and Urshela and Ronny Henriquez.
Now they just need to spend their savings on another SP, and I think they come out ahead here.
So in effect (thinking of it as a three-team deal with the Rangers), the Twins have flipped Garver and Donaldson (two of their older, oft-injured, relatively expensive veterans) and Rortvedt for Sanchez and Urshela and Ronny Henriquez.
Now they just need to spend their savings on another SP, and I think they come out ahead here.
I have a feeling it is going to be Rizzo and Voit gets shipped out for a young pitcher with strong RP potential or something.
On the other hand, Peraza is more expendable now with IKF under contract for three years, and if they can get Manaea in the deal too...
Pretty curious to learn more about Rortvedt, this list has him as the 6th best C prospect in MLB coming into 2021 according to ZiPS projections, 24 years old with 2 options left.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-2021-top-100-prospects/
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-2021-top-100-prospects/
I really do think Cashman is trying to make something like that happen, but that Oakland is fixated on one of the untouchables. Hopefully something changes. I like Rizzo well enough, but I'd like him better if he was vaccinated.
I think maybe they needed to get IKF before they could deal Peraza, because they did not want to spend for Correa or Story. Obv just guessing from what we know, but I would not be surprised to see an Olson deal go down tonight.
Yeah, here you go, I bet Rortvedt is the key to this deal, NY had a very ugly short and long term catching situation.
View: https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1503201346622689280?s=20&t=U3G7yQbImGjE7lcIY2LQLQ
View: https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1503201346622689280?s=20&t=U3G7yQbImGjE7lcIY2LQLQ
This means Rortvedt will get most of the starts as of now...
View: https://twitter.com/JackCurryYES/status/1503205119768383492?s=20&t=U3G7yQbImGjE7lcIY2LQLQ
View: https://twitter.com/JackCurryYES/status/1503205119768383492?s=20&t=U3G7yQbImGjE7lcIY2LQLQ
The Minnesota Twins, getting their pants beat off by the Yankees since Adam met Eve
fWAR has this closer, though still in the Yankees’ favor:
IKF: 2.3
Donaldson: 2.2
Sanchez: 1.5
Urshela: 1.0
Bob is wrong again lol.
View: https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1503204153312620546
Twins plan on keeping him and not flipping him
View: https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1503204019275194377
I hate quoting Heyman but could be true
View: https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1503205149807886337?s=20&t=Q2nSZiopLuBRlYO9ZR8Y9A
View: https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1503205149807886337?s=20&t=Q2nSZiopLuBRlYO9ZR8Y9A
Hope it works out better for the twins than the last time they for a catcher from the Yankees.
looks like a good deal for the Yankees.
looks like a good deal for the Yankees.
Fangraphs has updated, they have this adding 1.6 WAR to NY (.3 at C, .1 at SS, 1.0 at 3B, .1 at DH, .1 at LF).
https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=9
https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=9
I think Urshela took a big step back last year and was never going to be our long-term 3b so it made sense to let him go in a trade. Gary is addition by subtraction.
Pitch framing? What about robo umps?
Pitch framing? What about robo umps?
The Yankees routinely kill the Twins, but you all realize that Rortvedt batted .169 with a 41 OPS+, right? No evidence that he can hit. (Mediocre in the minors.)
I think that will not happen in MLB until earliest 2024 as they did not get it working so well in the minors yet. NY does have Antonio Gomez as a legit two way catching prospect but he is probably 3-4 years away, just turned 20 in November and should probably be part of that sub-21 potential core I have been talking about. Higgy is under control through 2024 and Rortvedt still pre-arb, so they have bought themselves some time here and gotten rid of all the Sanchez questions that would have been only worse in his walk year. Catching today is so strenuous, mentally and physically, that I have said for a while it is probably ideal to have two guys who evenly split the time, and if they are both defensive plusses, that only makes the pitchers more confident that they can really let loose, I think this was an issue at times with Sanchez.
NY brought four non-roster catchers to camp already before this deal, this strategy seems like it will be a lot more potentially effective if they have three or four guys ready to step in.
The Astros and Nats both won titles recently splitting time between defense-first catchers which I think is the general idea/attempt here, but yes I think ideally he is NY's third C and starts in Scranton.
This gives NY way more flexibility there though, plus you know every C up and down NY's system perked their heads up with Sanchez gone. Josh Breaux was a 2nd round pick in 2018, 23 HRs in 350 ABs between high A and AA, defense still well behind offense but he could make a push with Sanchez gone.
Even though neither Rortvedt or Higgy can hit much, Fangraphs thinks so much of both of their defensive sides that they have NY #15 in C after this, up a bit from Sanchez to Rortvedt (!). As far as having two strong defensive Cs, Fangraphs amazingly has them as the best defensive catcher pair in MLB currently (the Fld column):
https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=C
https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=C
At this point, I'm all for setting the best possible conditions for the pitchers to be successful and see what happens.
Donaldson has played almost no 1B, but since Cashman likes to go off the board from what everyone is expecting, NY could also still sign Story (this would make it hard to stay under 270 but still probably possible with moving guys, just not with much flexibility remaining for the season), move IKF to 3B (where he won the Gold Glove in 2020) and Donaldson to 1B, with DJ backing up 3 positions and IKF backing up SS. They would be super RHH again though, just Gallo and Hicks and Rortvedt, but they would still have Peraza.
Also Cabrera is a switch-hitter if he makes the team, another plus in his favor. Cabrera was the AA league MVP last year playing 2B/SS/3B and then obliterated AAA pitching in the final week, 5 HRs in his 30 ABs, a 1.716 OPS. He just turned 23 this month:
https://www.milb.com/player/oswaldo-cabrera-665828
Also Cabrera is a switch-hitter if he makes the team, another plus in his favor. Cabrera was the AA league MVP last year playing 2B/SS/3B and then obliterated AAA pitching in the final week, 5 HRs in his 30 ABs, a 1.716 OPS. He just turned 23 this month:
https://www.milb.com/player/oswaldo-cabrera-665828
I like the potential for Oswaldo to be the utility guy. If Donaldson in particular can't stay on the field, having lots of positional flexibility with him, IFK, DJ and even Gleyber* would make me feel better.
*Obviously prefer to keep him away from SS, but in an emergency? Sure. Keep DJ away from 3b as much as possible too.
*Obviously prefer to keep him away from SS, but in an emergency? Sure. Keep DJ away from 3b as much as possible too.
Also one thing that just occurred to me is I think they will almost certainly have either Peraza or Olson in the infield mix, even if Peraza is in AAA. I was not counting on either when thinking about it but since I think Peraza only moves in an Olson deal, they should have one of those two.
This is the exact kind of deal I would aim for if I was Cashman, I would even throw in a sixth player if needed, although hopefully not Pereira. This would certainly thin out NY's middle infield depth, but Cabrera now and Volpe soon can hopefully step in. I think that would put them around $246M and they'd mostly be set.
View: https://twitter.com/ActionJoeEads/status/1503223897172459520/photo/1
View: https://twitter.com/ActionJoeEads/status/1503223897172459520/photo/1
NY trying to recapture the magic of the 67-95 2018 TEX lineup, trading for Odor and Gallo separately last year and today they signed Guzman (minor league FA) and traded for IKF.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/2018.shtml
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/2018.shtml
IKF actually caught about 600 innings in 2018/19:
View: https://twitter.com/jamessmyth621/status/1503381199728914437?s=21
View: https://twitter.com/jamessmyth621/status/1503381199728914437?s=21