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After watching Mo’s press conference today, which Brian graciously made available, maybe it’s time to have a thread looking internally to see what we already have as far as position players. Perhaps there’s some offensive improvement right under our nose.
1.) What players do we realistically think will enhance their offensive performance in 2021? DeJong as he totally recovers from the virus? Bader who hit the ball harder this year? O’Neill who improved his K/W ratio? Carp if they disallow shifts? Fowler now that he seems to have settled back in? Edman as perhaps an everyday player at one position? Knizner if Yadi isn’t re-signed?
2.) What players might surprise? Will Sosa be recovered and finally get a decent shot to contribute? What about Ravelo?Will Williams be given a decent shot? Will Dean be back and healthy? Will Miller be back?
3.) What about Ravello, Schrock, and Nogowski? Any surprises?
4.) Will any minors leaguers sail through Memphis and come up to help the big club in 2021? Montero? Capel? Lopez?
Just some food for thought and some possible conversation topics.
bccran, I changed your subject title to make it more descriptive. If you prefer something else, just say so.
Consider what can realistically be expected from guys who didn’t play competitive MiLB ball all this year. Or any ball in most cases. We can hope, I get that. We can also hope an MLB ready guy appears in a puff of smoke like a genie.
The guys I expect to be improved at the plate, if they aren’t run into the ground by having to play every day and 11 doubleheaders to boot:
Paul Dejong
Tyler O’Neill
Dylan Carlson
Lane ThomasI think all four will be above average with the bat next year after some very down stats this year.
We will get very little if anything out of O’Neill and Thomas. Same with Ravelo, Sosa, and Schrock.
The only hope for 2021’s offense is that some players have really good years that you might expect them to have. Such as Goldschmidt and DeJong.
The only other hope is for some others to finally shine. Carpenter, Carlson, Edman, Fowler, these are the main four. I do expect Fowler to have a good year next year since its his walk year. He cant walk soon enough for me. Same with Carpenter.
Bader, Knizner, and Molina are all question marks at this point. Molina is a question mark simply because he might be playing in Anaheim next year.
In other words…..I think we are going to be fortunate to finish above .500 next year.
r/Esteemed Rat
I think several players could improve their numbers from 2020 because of not dealing with covid. I think many of us, myself included, probably didn’t realize what kind of toll that took on the players.
The position players I would expect the most improvement from are:
Thomas
O’Neill
Carlson
KnizerHow could one accurately assess the level of “wanting it” from the vantage of our TV and computer screens?
When guys really, really “want it” they get a little squint in their left eye and have a tendency to expectorate at a rate 30 to 40 percent more than lesser wanters.
How could one accurately assess the level of “wanting it” from the vantage of our TV and computer screens?
Usually the same way you can tell which guys are just fiery competitors who get too into the game and which are “head cases.” Or which guys just like to cut loose and have a good time to keep the dugout light and which are “goofballs.”
DeJong should be better, but he seems to start strong and fade. I thought he would really be good, but have my doubts now.
Carpenter is another one who should be better, but I do not see it. I think he is done.
I think O’Neill can be real good, but lost a little faith in him this year. Still his BABIP was lower than expected, so he may be ready to blossom. I am a bit hesitant though as he seemed to hit grounders to third base a lot. I do not remember many line shots into the gap that were flagged down – could just be perception though. Would need to dig deeper into the numbers to better assess his potential.
My other guy is Sosa. If he can stay healthy I think he can be real good, possibly even overtaking DeJong, or maybe playing third base.
Carlson will be better than last year, but that is not saying a lot. He could possibly be much better though. The potential is there, but he may be a couple years away from top flight performances.
There is a good chance Knizner gets thrown into the fire. Hopefully he can hold his own. I have no idea what to expect from him.
I hate to be the wet blanket again but it sounds like we are hoping more of our guys have a better year than the other guy’s guys. That and some roster filler types do something besides roster fill. Realistically, I think a handful of big market big money teams will load up while everyone else dumpster dives. But given that revenue is unknown I can see why DeWallet stays in DePocket this winter.
Hernandez was named the Multi-Position Fielding Bible Award winner with 48 points. Second was Cardinal utility man Tommy Edman….
So this should quell some of the comments that Edman is merely mediocre as a defender. It must have hurt to include him in the Bible voting story.
O’Neill’s winning the LF spot is a feather in his hat and should put Bader on notice. Just maybe O’Neill’s defense was underrated here.
Actually, if you read the SIS announcement details, Edman was not mentioned. I pulled that factoid out of the voting tables – and posted it on Twitter as well. That is what reporters do. Nice try with the snark, but you’ve got to “want it” more. 😉
Body language, comments made in interviews, hustle on the field are all ways to tell if a player ‘wants it’. It’s kind of snarky to even ask how you can tell, or maybe there are those who honestly can’t tell no matter what.
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