Magic Bullet Series: Third Basemen
November 8th, 2009 | by scottbarzilla |The Astros infield is in a state of flux. At the moment, it appears they have given the shortstop job to Tommy Manzella. Manzella can charitably be compared to Adam Everett, but we will look at him in more detail next time. That might create more urgency at the third base position and there are several options available to the Astros.
The first option is to go with what they have been doing. Geoff Blum was given another contract that could extend through 2011. Jeff Keppinger is arbitration eligible and he did perform well this year for the most part. As we saw with Ty Wigginton following 2008, that is no guarantee, but he has a lot of versatility that could fit well. We can put their offensive and defensive numbers together and see enough to make a passable third baseman.
- . . . . . . . . . . .AVG. . .OBP. . .SLG. . .SO. . .BB
- Astros 3B. . . . .242. . .308. . ..356. . .83. . .51
Okay, maybe the hitting wasn’t passable, but the two combined for 15 home runs, so maybe it wasn’t all bad. The problem is that both of them are good utility players. They can each play all of the infield positions and if you had both of them on the bench you could use both of them a lot. Defensively, the Astros were pretty good at the position.
- . . . . . . . . . . .INN.. . .Plays. . . .BIZ. . . .OOZ
- Geoff Blum. . . .830. . ..139. . . …188. . . ..20
- Jeff Keppinger..507. . . ..83. . . . .120. . . ..18
- Total. . . . . ..1337. . . .222. . . . .308. . . ..38
Now, if we were doing the math we would see that the two would combine for a .721 RZR. That number by itself would and should mean nothing. It would rank 12th among 21 third basemen with 850 or more innings. Blum is the better fielder statistically, but he is also the weakest hitter. It’s a catch-22 for the Astros.
Our local weather vane made the oversimplistic statement that the Astros would be better at both third base and shortstop of Tommy Manzella and Chris Johnson took over. They don’t track zone rating in the minors typically, but all indications on scouting suggest that Johnson is not a very good third baseman. So, the Astros could look to free agency to improve with the bat and the glove.
Miguel Tejada is also an option at that spot, but he is the wild card. I will discuss him next time when we look at the shortstops. There are two groups of third basemen here. There are guys that appear to be on their way to being part-time players and guys that are still regulars. We can probably eliminate Melvin Mora, Pedro Feliz, and
Joe Crede because they will not be upgrades over what we currently have. So, we’ll look at the rest over a three year period in hitting, baserunning, and fielding.
- . . . . . . . . .PA. . . .AVG. . .OBP. . .SLG. . .SO. . .BB
- Beltre. . …1728. . . .269. . .317. . .440. . .268. .107
- DeRosa. …1743. . . .274. . .345. . .445. . .320. .174
- Figgins. . ..1752. . . .301. . .385. . .381. . .275. .214
- Glaus. . . ..1125. . . .260. . .360. . .470. . .214. .151
As hitters go, you have a choice between two traditional power hitters (Glaus and Beltre), a hybrid like Mark DeRosa, and a top of the order hitter like Chone Figgins. All of them would continue the Astros tradition of striking out a lot, but the last three look like pretty patient hitters. In terms of age, all of them are in their thirties, so you are dealing with issues of aging on all of them. Now, we can look at the fielding and baserunning.
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dewan. . . . .BR
- Beltre. . . . . . . . . . .+66. . . . . .+10
- DeRosa. . . . . . . . . . .-5. . . . . .+24
- Figgins. . . . . . . . . ..+44. . . . . .+72
- Glaus. . . . . . . . . . ..+14. . . . . .-20
The Astros were among the worst fielding and baserunning teams in baseball last year. Their team RZR was .818 which ranked them 14th in the National League. They finished tenth in the league in outs made outside the zone. THT ranked them last in +/- in terms of fielding. Brad Mills will certainly emphasize fielding and baserunning, but what better way to emphasize it than to sign guys that will improve the team on both counts.
The top three guys would do that in favor of what was there before, but Chone Figgins would be a huge shot in the arm in both categories. He is coming off of a huge season, so he might be more expensive than what he is really worth. The other three guys might be more affordable with both Adrian Beltre and Troy Glaus coming off of down seasons in particular. Miguel Tejada is also an option, but he will not improve them defensively or in the baserunning department.
