When Yasiel Puig did not win a 2017 Gold Glove for his defensive prowess a few days ago, Dodgers fans far and wide cried “Foul!” and “Theft!”.
Things have changed a bit. Fans and perhaps the Wild Horse himself, will rest a little easier with today’s news that Yasiel Puig was named Wilson’s top right fielder in its Defensive Player of the Year Awards. To add a blue cherry on top, the Dodgers were also named MLBs Top Defensive Team of the year.
It’s not as flashy as a Gold Glove, but Wilson’s is the official MLB award given to the top defensive players and teams from both leagues. Wilson also names an overall best MLB fielder and defensive team. Wilson uses a formula that combines traditional stats, advanced metrics and input from baseball scouts.
Puig put up a .996 fielding percentage with one error, which remarkably placed him fourth among all of baseball’s outfielders and second among just right fielders. He logged four outfield assists, which may seem low, but he also has a reputation that is so strong, many runners simply refuse to challenge him.
These awards were first-time wins for both Puig and the Dodgers. Congratulations to the Wild Horse and the Boys in Blue!
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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A little vindication for Puig and the entire team. Yasiel made some awesome plays this year, and his arm is the best in the game.
Sources: In Giancarlo Stanton trade talks, the Marlins have had preliminary communication with the Red Sox, the Cards, SF and the Phils. Talks are expected to intensify at GM Meetings next week.
Would be nice to know where Stanton prefers to play. I’ve heard several rumors, including LA or either coast, but St Louis makes the most sense. SF is lousy and has a lot of money committed through ‘20. Their system ain’t all that either but St Louis has pitching to offer and that would interest the rebuilding Marlins. I doubt Philadelphia would interest Stanton and as much as he may want to play in LA I don’t see him as a FAZ guy.
I heard there has been no interest at all from the Dodgers, and I am sure that doesn’t surprise anyone.
Like YF said, we went to game seven in the World Series, so the front office, has even less motivation to go out and get player, especially a player like Stanton, with that big contract.
And Stanton will decide where he wants to go, so I don’t think the Marlins will be able to make a deal with the Cardinals.
I can see why the Giants might want to go after Stanton, because there team is lacking any real power, and Stanton is one player, that can hit a ball, out of that big park.
But the Giants don’t have many good prospects in there minor league system, so they will have to take on most of the money, in Stanton’s contract, to make a deal.
The key to Puig’s arm, is that he throws like an infielder, not like a outfielder.
And because he throws like a infielder, he releases his throws much sooner, then other outfielders do.
That is why Puig doesn’t have the strongest arm on that site, that measures the velocity of players arms, and the exit velocity, of players hits.
I have been reading a lot about Stanton’s wishes as to where he would like to play. He is a Cali boy, so he would love to be in LA, but he also wants to go to a team that has a chance to play in the playoffs. That kind of torpedoes the Phillies and the Giants are not really a championship caliber team right now. It would also depend on what kind of prospects the team would give to the Marlins, and the structure of how much salary is Miami willing to pay. Boston makes a lot of sense since they have some pretty good younger players, and him playing half his games in Fenway with the Green Monster. He could also DH on days he did not feel up to playing in the OF. The Sox have the ability to take on a lot of his salary. St. Louis, well the Cards have some young talent, but I am not sure they want to take on that much in the way of payroll. But we will see how it plays out. I doubt very seriously that the Dodgers make a play for him.
Mr. Norris
Yes, one of the sad things for the fans is FAZ loves vanilla. Excitement is what drives me and they offer very little even though they maintain wins. I know they will not spring for excitement so I do not expect it. No Stanton for us.
FAZ likes vanilla and he also likes low risk high reward players. Stanton is the other end of the spectrum.
Mr. Norris
That works until the farm has a lull and FAZ finds no low risk high reward players. Then the Dodgers begin a downward trend. Not good. I think they could get Stanton cheaper than anyone. His life would be more fullfilled if he could come home. You never know. Oops, there I go again thinking FAZ is normal.
One thing they have done is draft well. They have a full farm system right now and most of the talent right now is at the AA and A level. They are loaded there.
I have read the same thing. He wants to play in LA. He wants to play for a contender. He wants to play on either coast. He signed a contract that would keep in Miami forever and unless he and his agent are complete idiots they had to know Miami wouldn’t be able to compete as long as he was on the team. Now he wants out. Well, he can get out, but consessions will need to be made. Will it be a salary dump or will Miami get some good prospects in return. I don’t see how it can be both. From a baseball standpoint I still say the Cardinals matchup best. They can compete now and they can send young pitching to Miami. I don’t see FAZ doing this unless he agrees in principle to opt out and restructure and why tf would he do that? Maybe to follow in The Rock’s footsteps and become a movie star? SF has over $150mm committed until 2020, a crappy system and don’t look together at all so I don’t see that working. The Rangers might be a fit. He wants a coast and the Gulf is only a few hours from Arlington. He might have to go back to Mike if he moves to Texas.
Michael
With that big contract, and the expectations that come with it, Boston might be a tough place for Stanton to play, especially if he doesn’t make a quick transition, to the American League.
I think SF would be the easiest place to play for Stanton, of course besides the Dodgers.
But I can understand why a lot of Dodger fans, would love Stanton in our line up!
That would be great protection for Cody!
Talks between the Marlins and Red Sox involving Giancarlo Stanton “may be heating up,” according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
Any deal involving Stanton will be complicated, as the slugger has $295 million remaining on his deal through 2027 and also has a full no-trade clause. He has been linked most prominently to the Giants, Cardinals and Phillies in recent reports, though Boston’s willingness to blow past the luxury tax threshold in its effort to win a World Series in the next couple of years makes them a contender as well.
Boston doesn’t have one of the game’s strongest farm systems in the wake of major trades for Chris Sale or Craig Kimbrel, but top prospects Jay Groome and Michael Chavis may be in play as the team discusses Stanton. The club has a few young major-league contributors that would surely interest the Marlins, though Dave Dombrowski would likely find it very difficult to part with chips like Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Jackie Bradley Jr. or Eduardo Rodriguez.
Personally, I see Stanton having no problem transitioning to the AL. Good hitters rarely have a problem switching leagues. And in Boston the guy would be surrounded by other very good hitters, so he does not have to carry the load. Bluto, they also have Mookie Betts who would be of interest to the Marlins, and they are loaded with outfielders. Boston is in a win now mode, and Stanton gives them a power hitter to equal the Yankees Judge. MJ, SF has a huge outfield. Stanton might fit in there, but I doubt the Giants have the money or the resources to make the deal. And they are no where near being a force in the NL West yet. You and I and pretty much every fan of the Dodgers know that FAZ is not going to take on that huge contract when they are trying pare payroll. The Dodgers have the money and the players Miami would love, but it is a dream that will not be realized…..unless maybe the moon collapses or some other amazing thing like that….
Betts is probably one of the Sox’s best players, or the Sox’s best player, so I don’t see the Sox’s getting rid of there top player.
I was only thinking about where Stanton may want to go, and the Giants do have plenty of money too.
But I agree the Giants are not all that, right now.
Actually MJ, the Giants are pretty hamstrung by the contracts they gave to Cueto and The Shark. But their farm system is not that well stocked. As for Betts, I have read a couple of story’s that the Sox are amenable to trading him.
Michael
They are not as far over the luxary tax as we are, and they have plenty of money to spend.
The Giants are the third or fourth, richest team,in baseball.
I already said they have nothing in there farm system, so they will have to take most of that contract, if they want Stanton.
I would be really surprised if the Sox traded Betts, because Betts is exactly what Cody and Corey are, to the Dodgers.
I know Betts battled some kind of injury this year, but like I already said, he is a franchise type of player, for the Sox’s, but you just never know, like you said.
Really Michael? Boston would trade Betts? He’s a 24 year old that has already put up over 24 WAR. If you want him it’s going to cost Seager and Urias.
Badger
I knew Betts had a MVP season last year, but I also thought he was dealing with an injury issue this year, so I looked at his numbers this year.
And I believe he was dealing with a wrist issue this year, and he was still able to hit in 102 runs, and I think that is pretty good.
I know Bluto you won’t be as impressed, with that RBI number.
But this guy doesn’t seem much taller then Altuve on TV, but I could be wrong about that.
Betts was a second baseman, but because of Pedoria, they moved Betts to the outfielder, a couple years ago, and Betts was defensive player of the year, last year.
Wrist issue or not, he played 153 games and put up over 6 War. He put up over 9 WAR last year. According to what the metric guys prize above all else Mookie Betts is more valuable than Corey Seager. If he’s for sale it’s gonna cost.
Well the Giants do not really have the pieces the Marlins would covet. yeah Badger, I read a story about a week ago on yardbarker that said the Red Sox would consider trading Betts. Of course they would much rather unload say Hanley, but they have an outfield surplus the same as the Dodgers do. Taking on Stanton’s contract would add a lot to the Giants payroll. They probably could cover it, but it would put them over 200 million in salary. I am reading a graph that puts the Giants as second for 2018 on the payroll list with the Dodgers first and the Red Sox 4th. Of course that is based on the players on the 25 man roster right now. They have the Dodgers at 179 million and the Giants at 166. Right now, the Giants are 9th in new worth in the MLB.
That’s not counting arb estimates. I think they are realistically closer to $214mm. giants at $181mm.
Michael
If the Giants took almost all or all of that contract, they wouldn’t have to give up much.
The person in charge of where Stanton goes, as Stanton!
Michael
The Worth of the Giants organization tripled, after they won those three World Series!
The Giants are a big market team, and for the first time this year, they didn’t sell out every game!
They have rabid fans, so they are going to want to give there fans a reason, to come to the ball park.
And they have needed power in there line up, for the last three years.
And Stanton is close with Barry Bonds.
Remember Bonds served as the Marlin’s hitting coach.
Badger, that total was for the guys on the 25 man roster right now before arbitration. MJ, I am just quoting what it said on the site that rates teams NET WORTH. The Giants may be in the middle of that development, but they do not get all the income from it.
The Dodgers do have expiring contracts and prospects. I’m not sure if that would be attractive unless Stanton rejects all trade offers… Just a thought
Trade them Pederson and Grandal and that leaves about $43mm to go get your next Kazarthyson and pay Stanton his $25mm. Figure out ‘19 and beyond later.
Or not. Let some other team strap that brick to the bouy. We can sign Machado next year.
Badger
I read a comment that reminded me of you.
Our GM said, we didn’t have any real big need, for the team.
And a guy posted doesn’t our GM understand, that this team would have been a third place team in the western division, if Cody and Taylor, didn’t step up like they did, this year.
And if Pederson doesn’t go into a slump and Gonzalez fully rebounds they don’t need either to play at the level they did.
Is there a reason to bring up what ifs?
Always Bluto, fans argue this stuff all winter..that’s why it is the Hot Stove season….
People also forget A-Gon is a gigantic expiring contract.
There is a universe where FAZ ships AGon, Puig, Grandal, Joc and Kazmir for Stanton. But our FAZ won’t do that.
Remember when fans were pining for:
Leake
Samardzjia
Cueto
Zimmerman
Yeah, those were the days.
No. Don’t recall fans pining for any of those guys. Must have been a different blog.
That’s funny and accurate Badger. Maybe that was being discussed in the Land O Molesto, sounds like some stupid shit that would be proposed there.
I do remember Faz worshippers claiming that Faz gave Kazmir a genius contract, because they gave him that opt out, after his first or second year, of his contract!
Almost everyone here, knew Kazmir was not going to opt out, of that multi year contract.
That is the problem when some worship Faz, because every front office makes mistakes!
McCarthy, Kazmir, Anderson.
McKazderson. This is who they look for.
Chacin, Tillman, Feldman. Fister. Chatwood. How about Sabathia? There are options that could come under the McKazderson multi year year $48mm cap.
Oh, definitely may have been. Did not mean to imply all fans are on this board.
Bluto
It seems like there are pitchers and players, not opting out, like they once did.
Not this blog Bluto. Not those pitchers.
I wanted to trade pre-injury Urias and other prospects for Sale.
I like Lance Lynn in this year’s FA class but FAZ is going going to do that either.
The Giants are in a 1.6 billion development around there park, that will make them be worth even more.
I think all of these valuable teams, could make that deal, if they want to.
We are not talking about any small market teams.
I don’t want the Giants to get Stanton either.
I really don’t want the Dodgers to go after Stanton myself, but it always depends on the deal, when it comes down to it.
And I understand any Dodger fan, that would love to have Stanton in the Dodger’s line up, like Package does.
MJ
You are correct, I would love to have Stanton. Unfortunately having Agon hurts that plan a lot. I would bet the Dodgers will play Agon at 1st and put Cody in Center, Puig in right and and any number of people in left. If the team did not have Agon, they would have Stanton in left, Taylor in center and Puig in right with Cody on 1st. Agon really hurts the flexabilty of the team. No one will want him either because of his back and contract. We are stuck working around him. Oh well.
Pacakage
Did you know the first seven years that Agone played full time in the majors, he hit in 100 runs, or more, four times, and he had a season during those seven years, when he hit in 99 runs, too.
How many times has Stanton hit in, 100 or more, in his seven year career?
Package
McCarthy and Kazmir, bother me far more, then Agone!
Because at least Agone earned most of his contract, and he was also a big producer for this team, at one time.
And you know it isn’t Agone stopping the front office, for going after Stanton, it is Stanton’s big contract.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/injuries/
A page from the FAZ R&D inquest. You can bet some of those arms will be scouted.
Badger
14 pitchers out for TJ surgeries, is what I noticed on your list.
Our kind of guy:
“Multiple injuries limited Otani to just five starts on the mound this past season. He underwent ankle surgery in September that came with an expected three-month recovery.”
Badger
The pit falls of a two way pitcher, player!
Or are you saying, Otani is a Faz kind of player, and pitcher?
“What if………”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fantasypros.com/2017/10/10-early-2018-fantasy-baseball-predictions/amp/
Badger
I told you that Betts should have been the MVP in 2016, and your thread is predicting Betts, to have another MVP season, in 2018!
News says Ohtani will be posted by his team. Dodgers top prospects by position. C ..Keibert Ruiz. 1B Matt Beaty. 2B Tim Locastro. 3B Edwin Rios. SS Drew Jackson. OF Alex Verdugo. OF Yusniel Diaz. OF DJ Peters. RHP Walker Buehler. LHP Caleb Ferguson. RP Joe Broussard. The list was compiled by the Think Blue Planning committee. 4 of the 11 from last years list played for the Dodgers this year. In 2016 6 of the 11 played for the Dodgers. According to Zaidi, he expects Yimi Garcia to be a contributor out of the pen this year. Garcia is eligible for arbitration, but considering it has been well over 1 1/2 years since he pitched, he will not get much.
Estimates:
Yasmani Grandal (5.115) – $7.7MM
Luis Avilan (4.146) – $2.3MM
Alex Wood (4.123) – $6.4MM
Tony Cingrani (4.088) – $2.2MM
Josh Fields (3.162) – $2.2MM
Pedro Baez (3.059) – $1.5MM
Enrique Hernandez (3.054) – $1.3MM
Joc Pederson (3.022) – $2.0MM
Yimi Garcia (3.004) – $700K
Here is my exit review for Puig. Where to start – this could be a very long or a very short. Although, as with my other exit reviews, I am going by observation more than stats, I will start off with some Puig stats which curiously are not discussed much in the blogosphere, maybe because there is so much else to write about Puig.
2017 saw Puig turn in a 1.9 WAR season, after two years of 0.1 and 0.2 WAR. In comparison, Josh Reddick as a Dodger had a WAR of 0.2 for his 47 games/167 ABs in 2016 (yes he did play that many games …). Josh Reddick despite putting up a 4.4 WAR year in 2017 was horrific on offense in the post-season – and I am using “horrific” kindly here. Much worse than Puig in 2013 and 2014, when Puig was striking out only slight less than Bellinger. In terms of defense Puig had a better year in 2017 than Reddick’s gold glove season in 2012 (when Reddick was in Oakland and came in 16th in MVP voting in addition to winning the gold glove). Why am I even comparing Puig to Reddick? Fine – we can also compare to Jason Heyward, who has earned a lot of WAR but has had next to no impact in the postseason offensively. I just want people to keep this in mind as I talk more about Puig.
There were three plays in the WS that haunts me. Oh I am still losing sleep over dozens of plays, but especially three. The first two I am sure is burned indelibly in many Dodgers fans – the 0-2 missed cutter/slider to Marwin Gonzalez, and the missed slider Kershaw threw to Yurriel. The third was Puig’s dive and miss on Bergman’s liner in the 8th of Game 2, which allowed Bergman to go to second – had Puig not dived, Bergman would have been kept at first and perhaps we keep the score at 3-1 (remember Altuve grounded out and Yurriel popped out). It is a game of inches and mentally there were just little things that kept bothering me in the WS – things like Taylor also missing on a dive on a leadoff base hit, failing to score from 3rd with 1 out or less, miscommunication at third base, failing to walk batters who are hot – these all involved our youngest players, and our players will have to improve in these areas.
Back to Puig. I do not expect him to have an All Star type season in 2018. In fact a 1.9 WAR season like 2017 will help this club immensely. I think Puig’s plate discipline will carry. Puig did not have a good WS batting. And he had a lot of balls go against him up and in that were called strikes. I have seen “mature” veterans change their approach once that occurred and end up going off the deep end (exhibit number 1 is Grandal). And this was happening with the stadium chanting “Let’s Go Puig!”. But I saw Puig stay in there, have good at bats, and even hit a couple of clutch home runs (and by the way, neither homer came off of mistake pitches, Puig simply anticipated the pitch correctly and was able to pull them over the fence with his arm strength). I think there is nothing but upside to expect out of Puig in 2018, but if he does not have a break out year, I don’t think he will suffer a “regression” and I think Puig has set a new baseline for himself in terms of his play on the field. I believe Puig can do this until 2020, when he is finally up for FA. The wild horse is no longer running in circles and getting in his own way.
What I do worry about is Puig’s hamstring. We will know in Spring Training whether Puig has put in the time to get leaner and even more in shape than in 2017. If he comes into 2018 even leaner than he did in spring training this year, I will be hoping for the best out of our 26 year old fan favorite.
Very good Yueh. I agree with your assessment. I do not have a problem with Puig diving for that ball in the series. Yeah, Bregman ended up scoring, but the Dodgers still had the lead, and Puig missed that ball by () that much. What haunts me is Roberts expecting to get a 6 out save from Jansen. As for Puig, I believe the guy has turned a corner. He connected with his hitting coach, Turner Ward, and he was very engaged. When he had a bad at bat. he immediately went over to Ward and asked what he saw. I also remember a whole bunch of people on here clamoring for the Dodgers to trade the guy, and they were not nice about it. Of course that was early in the season. My hope is that Joc makes the same kind of turn around in his career.
I hope so too Michael. Joc has a steeper Hill to climb in terms of conditioning and focus, and I’ll touch on that in my exit review on him.
Puig put up 3.7 rWAR, 2.9 fWAR. What you refer to is his oWAR.
Got an interesting trade proposal sent to me today. Marlins trade Stanton to the giants in a three way with the Cubs. Cubs get Cueto. Marlins get 2 prospects from the giants, Happ and Zobrist from the Cubs. Dodgers get to face Stanton several more times a year. Stanton will ok the deal because it’s the west coast and SF is a great place to be rich.
It’s ok though because fangraphs early projections have Stanton dipping to 48 Home runs and 119 rbi’s. Only 5.4 WAR. Maybe most of that will come against Colorado.
The Cubs trading FOR Cueto? Is this a worst-case for them, if they can’t secure a pitcher through FA? If not, then why?
I think Cueto has an opt out coming, and Epstein may be thinking Cueto will have a great offseason, pitch well then opt out for his last big contract.
Yueh, Cueto’s opt out was this year and he passed on it. He could have become a free agent.
Thx Michael
Thanks Badger. I was trying to simplify and set up the offense vs defense there between Puig, Reddick and Heyward. I think it still works and I think, barring injury and assuming he stays slim, Puig has a new baseline and we can depend on him through 2020.
Heyward has 14 Gold Gloves including 11 in a row. It’s automatic at this point. He only played 109 games in right field. I think the GG is meaningless. Who would you rather have out there? I think most people would say Puig.
Yeah Bluto, Cueto in Chicago. Why not? He only makes $21.8mm and easily earned his money in SF. He might be a good fit for the Cubs. He is 32 so maybe that means something. I just read somewhere that 32 is the goodnight kiss for starting pitchers. He might be an exception.
Well I will say this, when Cueto is healthy, he is usually about a three era pitcher.
I think he needs to slim down, if he wants to pitch deeper in his career.
I think you gave him too many awards there Badger, unless you were being sarcastic. He has only been in the league for 8 years and has won 5 gold gloves. Yeah, his winning this year proves the point that the award has lost a lot of its luster.
YF
Puigs next step would be defensive player of the year.
But Betts had 31 DRS this year, and he has a better zone range number, then Puig.
I agree with Badger, the gold glove doesn’t mean as much, and that is to bad!
You would think the first big defensive award, would be up to the new way they measure defensive ability.
I think the first sign for Puig being able to build on 2017 is whether he keeps the weight off. If he comes to spring training leaner it would show me a lot, and being in great shape can also help his defense!