The Spaceman Shuffle
It's here, ladies and gentlemen! The day pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training! It's also that holiday celebrating romance or something. But who needs that, really?
While the arms and backstops are getting to camp first, including your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, there is still the question of what the lineup is going to look like the most often. Hinch will certainly have his fair share of combinations to work with. A stacked offense will do that for a coach.
Most projections have the Astros carrying 13 position players at season's start. Because of this, I decided to apply my math skills to come up with a formula for lineup value for 9 of those 13. (George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are not included, since these 4 figure to get around 140-150 games and be the most consistently put in the lineup at the top 1-4.) The formula is as followed:
LV = 18 * P
LV stands for lineup value and P stands for the number of positions a particular player can play, which include the ability to DH. 18 is the quotient of dividing 162 games by 9 players. When calculated, here are the LV's for the other 9 projected position players outside of the top core, in order of most to least:
Marwin Gonzalez: 90
Josh Reddick: 72
Nori Aoki: 72
Carlos Beltran: 54
Brian McCann: 54
Yulieski Gurriel: 54
Jake Marisnick: 54
Evan Gattis: 36
Tyler White: 36
This does not, however, make one player better than the other, OR that this is the only number of games we will see for these players. It simply means that the higher the value, the more daily lineups a player can be inserted into. Again, Hinch will have a lot to work with once the season gets underway.
The question over the positional players is the hot item dominating real and fantasy outlooks across the internet. One particular quote in a Yahoo projection really had me:
Notes: The Astros will have to be creative to get Evan Gattis, who hit 32 home runs in 128 games last season, regular at bats. The best path for playing time will be if 40-year-old Carlos Beltran can log a healthy amount of time in left field, the one spot in the outfield at which he has little experience. Gattis could also see some run in left field, in addition to playing the backup backstop role to Brian McCann. But without full position ownership, Gattis is unlikely to push 500 ABs like he did in ’16 (499 ABs). Reaching 400 ABs is probably the best-case scenario for Gattis this season, assuming an injury doesn’t open up a larger opportunity. But even with something in the neighborhood of 100 less ABs than last season, Gattis still makes a strong bet for 20-plus home runs, making his No. 9 status among catchers in Yahoo ADP a fair value.
This appears to be the closest to accurate that I can find. However, a recent outlook video put out by MLB.com seems to be pretty far off. Whomever narrated this video did not take into account the acquisition of Carlos Beltran. Probably an honest mistake, but one that just may cost them some credibility with the more educated audience.
Regardless, baseball is in the air. And just when I thought I couldn't be anymore excited, El Oso Blanco was one of the first players down there. He gave these comments to Mark Berman of Fox 26 about the season starting, and even some of his reflections on his honeymoon. Check them out below!:
A lot of things to love on this Valentine's Day, that's for sure! Get excited, Astros fans! We have lift off! Also, I really can't afford another year of two sports losses after that devastating Super Bowl. So come on, spacemen! Get that ring!
While the arms and backstops are getting to camp first, including your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, there is still the question of what the lineup is going to look like the most often. Hinch will certainly have his fair share of combinations to work with. A stacked offense will do that for a coach.
Most projections have the Astros carrying 13 position players at season's start. Because of this, I decided to apply my math skills to come up with a formula for lineup value for 9 of those 13. (George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are not included, since these 4 figure to get around 140-150 games and be the most consistently put in the lineup at the top 1-4.) The formula is as followed:
LV = 18 * P
LV stands for lineup value and P stands for the number of positions a particular player can play, which include the ability to DH. 18 is the quotient of dividing 162 games by 9 players. When calculated, here are the LV's for the other 9 projected position players outside of the top core, in order of most to least:
Marwin Gonzalez: 90
Josh Reddick: 72
Nori Aoki: 72
Carlos Beltran: 54
Brian McCann: 54
Yulieski Gurriel: 54
Jake Marisnick: 54
Evan Gattis: 36
Tyler White: 36
This does not, however, make one player better than the other, OR that this is the only number of games we will see for these players. It simply means that the higher the value, the more daily lineups a player can be inserted into. Again, Hinch will have a lot to work with once the season gets underway.
The question over the positional players is the hot item dominating real and fantasy outlooks across the internet. One particular quote in a Yahoo projection really had me:
Notes: The Astros will have to be creative to get Evan Gattis, who hit 32 home runs in 128 games last season, regular at bats. The best path for playing time will be if 40-year-old Carlos Beltran can log a healthy amount of time in left field, the one spot in the outfield at which he has little experience. Gattis could also see some run in left field, in addition to playing the backup backstop role to Brian McCann. But without full position ownership, Gattis is unlikely to push 500 ABs like he did in ’16 (499 ABs). Reaching 400 ABs is probably the best-case scenario for Gattis this season, assuming an injury doesn’t open up a larger opportunity. But even with something in the neighborhood of 100 less ABs than last season, Gattis still makes a strong bet for 20-plus home runs, making his No. 9 status among catchers in Yahoo ADP a fair value.
This appears to be the closest to accurate that I can find. However, a recent outlook video put out by MLB.com seems to be pretty far off. Whomever narrated this video did not take into account the acquisition of Carlos Beltran. Probably an honest mistake, but one that just may cost them some credibility with the more educated audience.
Regardless, baseball is in the air. And just when I thought I couldn't be anymore excited, El Oso Blanco was one of the first players down there. He gave these comments to Mark Berman of Fox 26 about the season starting, and even some of his reflections on his honeymoon. Check them out below!:
He also added some other thoughts to beat writer, Brian McTaggart:Evan Gattis (@BulldogBeing) got married during the offseason, honeymoon in Africa. #Astros pic.twitter.com/qOW8RMCesd— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 14, 2017
There was also some footage taken by Berman of Gattis getting some tee swings in:Evan Gattis pic.twitter.com/7j9z1YQVOM— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 14, 2017
Evan Gattis (@BulldogBeing) with #Astros ass't hitting coach Alonzo Powell. pic.twitter.com/7cg98iUulA— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 14, 2017
A lot of things to love on this Valentine's Day, that's for sure! Get excited, Astros fans! We have lift off! Also, I really can't afford another year of two sports losses after that devastating Super Bowl. So come on, spacemen! Get that ring!
Original Photo Credit: Winslow Townson of USA Today Sports
Oh My God, They're Back Again!!!!
Comments
Post a Comment