Comments on: What they’re saying about the Vernon Wells trade

By: marinermousse

marinermousse — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:29:10 +0000

Scioscia’s treatment of Napoli always led me to think that perhaps he had come home one night and found Napoli in bed with (your choice) his wife, daughter, son. Everyone proclaims how bad a catcher he is….well, he is not the best, but FAR from the worst (of course, my perspective as a Mariners fan watching Rob Johnson would make any other catcher look better.) He threw out 19 out of 52 steal attempts, looked pretty decent blocking balls in the dirt and is one of the top 5 hitting catchers in baseball. His batting average would probably be higher if he hadn’t been jerked around so badly by Scioscia.

All of the above is my opinion, of course, but I think Scioscia’s managing, and Reagins’ stewardship these past two years has been subpar.

By: fribnit

fribnit — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:06:47 +0000

Did the Jays GM roll over and light a smoke when this was done?

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:00:57 +0000

Calling Hunter or Vernon good enough to play CF is a bit of a stretch, no? Hunter hasn’t been a positive defender in CF since 2005, and Wells since 2007. Hunter’s also gonna be 35, so you have to expect that his defense is going to slow down a bit.

Bourjos is great in CF, but I wouldn’t expect Wells or Hunter to be much more than average on the corners.

The Angels lineup is terrible. Let’s not kid ourselves. They’re relying on Mathis who is going to be the worst everyday player in the majors (yes, worse than Yuneski). They’re probably relying on Izturis/Callaspo at third which is brutal, and despite Bourjos D he hasn’t shown he can hit in the majors. Abreu as a DH isn’t anything special, especially since his bat is in decline.

Right now the Angels are the third best team. There’s just no way they match up with the Rangers or Oakland right now.

By: cjvirnig

cjvirnig — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:59:09 +0000

Torri Hunter and Vernon Wells are both above average outfielders. In fact, both of them are still good enough to play center field; particularly Hunter. Thus, having them play the corner outfield positions with Bourjos in center, the Angels outfield WILL be one of the very best in the game.

The question is their lineup. Wells is a pretty good hitter with some pop, and it certainly helps that the Rangers no longer have Cliff Lee. There’s no guarantee CJ Wilson or Tommy Hunter will be as good in 2011 as they were in 2010. The Rangers are still the better overall team, but the Angels won’t be too bad.

By: apbaguy

apbaguy — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:57:39 +0000

This is all great news for Oakland. Hearing that Angels have hung an albatross around their necks for the next 4 years is welcome news.

Look, no matter how you slice it, an outfield of Wells, Hunter and Abreu is going to produce a lot of highlights for the other team: lots of gap extra-base hits, lots of “so close” misses at the fence, all the paraphernalia of outfielders past their prime. Therefore, one of them will DH, possibly in rotation.

Will their DH numbers be as good as Napoli’s were? No.
Will Jeff Mathis have the worst offensive numbers of any player in MLB? Yes.

The Angels got worse. That’s good news for the A’s and Rangers.

By: CivilADR

CivilADR — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:21:04 +0000

Wells is all class. His contract is the problem. I’ll miss seeing him here in Toronto; but I’m excited to see what the extra cash will bring in. I’m sure Napoli and Rivera are good, but honestly, I could care less about what the Jays received in return.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:43:08 +0000

P.S. Thanks for reminding me how to spell Scioscia. It still looks wrong though.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:42:52 +0000

The funny thing is, Mathis might actually be worse than Napoli as a defensive C. Keep in mind they both played between 525-555 innings at catcher.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/catcher-defense-2010/

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:42:26 +0000

Mathis is one of the worst everyday players in baseball. He’s below replacement level.

Having played a position does not make you an expert in assessing value at that position. If anything, Scioscia’s catching background is making him too biased towards defense.

By: tomemos

tomemos — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:36:33 +0000

Mike Scioscia should be glad his team got absolutely buried by the Rangers, because if the Angels came up just short, his reluctance to use Napoli could have been legitimately blamed for their failure to make the playoffs. Have you considered the stats of Jeff Mathis, the guy Scioscia prefers to play catcher? In the last five seasons he’s batted above the Mendoza line once (hitting .211) and OBPed above .300, uh, never. Even if he were Johnny Bench back there, that would still be a lineup disaster.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:28:33 +0000

Napoli has been a better hitter than Wells by wOBA three of the last four years. He’s tied or beat him in WAR three of the last four years. Sure, he’s a poor defensive catcher, but Wells is an at-best average defensive LF. You’d much rather have a guy who can hit better but is below average defensively at the hardest position to find a hitter at than a guy who hits worse and is average defensively at one of the easiest positions to find a hitter at.

Not sure that they’re better today than they were yesterday. And of course the contract matters; the Angels have a payroll, and most anyone would rather they have slightly overpaid for Crawford or Beltre than massively overpaid for Wells. Or even saved the money and slightly overpaid for whoever comes next year. Having $20 million a year extra to spend in the next few years would have made a huge difference.

With that $20 million a year, the Jays now have a shot at signing a premium player (or two!) in the next couple offseasons.

By: xpensivewinos

xpensivewinos — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:26:57 +0000

Napoli is brutal defensively (just ask his former manager Mike Scioscia………….what position did he play?) and it’s not like his batting average was setting the world on fire. He’s a decent fantasy catcher because he hits home runs. In real life, he’s just a guy and with Morales coming back to play first and with Abreu (and perhaps a return of Vlad), Napoli was useless.

Oh yeah, and Juan Rivera is awful.

The Angels traded two worthless stiffs and got a solid player in return. If the Angles aren’t concerned about his contract, why is anyone else? People seem hung up on Wells relative worth or value to his contract. The only thing that matters is Wells worth or value relative to the players he got traded for and the Angels are better today than they were yesterday.

By: dodger88

dodger88 — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:09:14 +0000

Reagins referring to the final gours years of Wells’ contract as “tolerable for us” – talk about pumping up the fans.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:44:44 +0000

“If the Angels use Wells and Torii Hunter in the outfield corners with Bobby Abreu as their designated hitter and rookie Peter Bourjos in center, they’ll have an outstanding defensive outfield”

I tried saying that out loud but I couldn’t finish because I ended up laughing everytime.