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Originally Posted by Trevor3
I doubt the Jays go anywhere this year and Tampa is looking like the favourite to win the East. Having said that, if their pitching holds together (which it probably won't) they could keep themselves in the wildcard race, especially if Vladdy goes off for 40HR.
What gets me about MLB right now is this weird catch-22 when it comes to power hitters. They hit free agency and nobody wants them, ala Chris Carter after leading the NL in homeruns, because of high strikeout rates. But then we see across the majors that teams are focused on launch angle and bat speed and signing players with those 2 attributes hoping they will amount to power hitters (ie: Randal Grichuk) despite lacking the production of a guy like Chris Carter, all the while striking out just as much, rarely getting on base, and sporting awful batting lines that would have them cut in any other era, again, like Grichuk's .217 average.
Ahh, the era of analytics.
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The previous eras had it wrong just focusing on average. It's far better to focus on on-base-percentage. Walks are just as valuable as hits - both get the batter on-base.
Chris Carter had 41 HRs in 2016, but his OBP was .321 while his slugging % was a respectable though not great .499 and OPS was .821. That's pretty mediocre for a first baseman/DH when compared to other players around the league playing the same position. Carter also had a whopping 0.9 WAR that season which shows he didn't carry much value. Teams were right not to sign him to a big contract as his following season was brutal and now he is nowhere to be found.
I don't agree with the Grichuk signing as he has produced mediocre numbers for most of this career (below .800 OPS, barely .300 OBP). I doubt he will put it altogether on a consistent basis. Meh signing by Shatkins but that seems to be par for the course for them based on their time in Cleveland - sign Grade B players to these types of "value contracts" who have put up mostly middling numbers throughout their careers with the hope they will breakout.