Every player can have a crappy year. And really what we're talking about is a crappy half season in which he was essentially in spring training for the first month competing against players in midseason form. You might be right, but I think it's fairer to wait and see how he plays next season before pronouncing him incapable of contributing on offense to this team's success for the remainder of his contract.
Concerning, but not enough to draw any conclusions.
I remember an eventual Hall of Famer who had a horrendous start to a season, after suffering a significant injury the year before. Through the first two months, 204 PA, he was slashing .184/.284/.287 with one home run, striking out about 23% of the time (career rate of about 17%). He eventually turned it around. Helped win another World Series even.
It's not even a half-season. I'm laughing
@Smiling Joe Hesketh saying he's lost patience because it's 160 PA. No offense, but of course you have!
160 plate appearances is less than a third of a season. He's looked awful, and it is concerning. But it's no reason to write him off, if anyone is planning on doing that.
Sooner or later everyone ends up agreeing with me lol. You're the latest.
You've got it exactly right, he was supposed to be a good bat when he was signed. Purely defensive players don't get anywhere near the salary he's getting. I understand that value is value no matter what but if we can dismiss 168 terrible ABs as SSS then surely we can also dismiss 314 defensive innings as SSS as well. Who is to say that the good defense he's shown is the real baseline going forward?
I would acknowledge that they are concerning, look at his peripherals (which are also concerning: bad BB rate, high K rate, HH% is
fine but not good enough), and then look at the guys larger body of work.
Story obviously has to cut back on the K's. If he can do that, I expect him to improve. I don't expect him to go back to what he was his first few years in Colorado anymore, I don't think that's reasonable. As
@Petagine in a Bottle points out, the struggles against RHP are not new. I'd also note he was consistently a BABIP guy of around .325-.350 while he was in Colorado, and that's taken a dive in the last four years.
But if he can go back to what he was his last year in Colorado and his first half-season with us - a shortstop who gives us an wrc+ of 100 and excellent defense - he would still be a 4 win player (as he was his last year in Colorado), and I'll take that, since we didn't have a single 4 win position player on this year's squad.
It's also possible he makes adjustments and starts hitting as he did in Colorado. I wouldn't bank on it, but it's not impossible, and that would make him a 6 or 7 win player. One can drea,. As
@Red(s)HawksFan also pointed out, it's not strange for a guy who's been an elite hitter to have a couple of crappy seasons in the middle of his career, especially if he's been interrupted by injury.
As for the defense, I think even you know this is a silly argument to make. I would look at the excellent defense he's played this year and say
well, that's right in line with how he's played his entire career! That's a good sign, that he's playing exactly as he has his entire career.