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Walker played at approximately replacement value, so 1-2 WAR doesn’t seem too much to demand.
Walker put up -2.1 WAR on defense. If they had just used him as a DH, he would already be a 2 WAR player.
So I figure, if he is going to pull -2 WAR on defense, he has to pull 3-4 WAR on offense next year, as minimum acceptable performance. Reportedly, he could get better on defense, so I will hope for something there too. That seems like a modest and sober expectation from a touted player who turns 22 next May.
The only 2024 WAR projections I have seen this early are from Steamer at Fangraphs. They have Winn at 1.6 fWAR and Walker at 1.3.
From what I understand the Cardinals have no intention of having Walker be a regular DH. He is going to be the regular RF. He certainly has the arm strength but the question is can he improve his reads and route running? He is young and athletic enough to improve. I don’t think he will ever be Roberto Clemente but he also isn’t going to be Jose Martinez. It will be somewhere in between.
From what I understand the Cardinals have no intention of having Walker be a regular DH.
And that is again, where the Cardinals analytics staff needs to be fired if they can’t understand basic analytics.
He is going to be the regular RF. He certainly has the arm strength but the question is can he improve his reads and route running?
They can start with teaching him how to catch the ball. Then focus on reads and route running.
LA, I don’t think computers understand defense too well. Seriously. There has to be a computer telling them to play Walker in RF. There are all sorts of crazy defensive metrics out there. Mo’s algo might come up with anything, and nobody better dispute it or get Shildted.
LACardFan
Walker put up -2.1 WAR on defense. If they had just used him as a DH, he would already be a 2 WAR player.
Actually the positional adjustment for DH adds quite a bit of negative value(-7-10 runs vs RF), but his fielding value would be 0, rather than -16 or whatever.
So his dWAR would be about -1.3 rather than -2.1. With his oWAR at 1.6, he’d be just above 0 this past year.
Sadly GC, what you call stupid because it differs with your opinion, is actually honesty.
Walker is a horrible outfielder by mlb standards. No-one knows whether he can improve. It looks like he can’t see it at all, early off the bat.
Walker alone wiped out all of our outfielders positive OAA last season, so Burly could bury us with his negative total.
+7 Edman
+3 Noot
+1 Carlson
+0 O’Neill
-7 Burleson
-14 Walker
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All, Edman played 40% of the outfield innings that Noot did. I’ll wait 🙂This is what Mozeliak said last week:
“I think it would be somewhat foolish to just approach this past year as, ‘Oh, odds have it that you’re going to lose, so it happened,’” replied Mozeliak. “You can learn from some things that happened last year. I hope everybody who is involved in this is having that reflection moment and trying to understand what we could have done differently, what we should have done differently, and what we will do differently going forward.”
Asked if he could share specifics, Mozeliak said that while some have been identified, he preferred not to call any of them out, lest he “make anybody feel bad.”
They just spent $95 million on three pitchers “hoping” to upgrade by 5 wins.
But, of course, they shouldn’t do something that costs them $0.
Walker is a gifted athlete and accomplished student. He played SS growing up and never stood in the grass in his life. Does anyone on this sight want to deny his profound growth from his play in March through June contrasted with his play July through September? He is going to be fine. He has speed and a good arm. Repetition and experiance do wonders. Jordan will be a right-handed Dave Parker by the end of next year.
LA what GC is offended by are your assumptions that Walker isn’t currently working and your assault on our front office based on your self-ascribed intellectual superiority.
You can hate on the move, but don’t simply marginalize a diverse group of human beings comprising the front office.With Walker, management certainly knows he is a defensive liability. But they likely feel he can improve and be a plus defender with the arm and athleticism he posses. The question is, how long will it take? Management is probably betting on him at least being at 0 WAR on defense next year.
Mike, the humor I find in starting Walker in the outfield, is not that they prefer he be viewed as an outfielder vs DH, it’s that every team already knows his lack of outfield value.
Our analytic room knows, as does every teams room. If it’s marketing, the FO is fooling no-one. So why force him into the role?
Walker & Winn can’t miss. They may or may not end up being great stars of this game, but they both, barring physical catastrophe, will be playing this game for many years. As I approach the big six-0, it’s not lost upon me that when these two magnificent talents hang em up many years from now, I just may not be around to see them…….and that’s pretty darn scary.
If Walker’s ever a RH hitting Dave Parker, at that moment in time he’ll be the premier player in the entire Big Leagues. I saw him play plenty of baseball and it’s my view that if not for some nagging injuries and substance abuse that Dave Parker would have been one of the all-time greats and for 4 or 5 consecutive seasons he dominated in every area of the game that is possible for a position player. Parker was no joke.
Dave Parker was once asked why he wore a Star of David earring to which he replied: ‘Because my name’s David and I’m a star’. Parker had attitude. He was part of the legendary Pittsburgh Pirates ‘lumber company’ back in the 70’s.
Remember the good old days when baseball players had to “play baseball?”
A pox on the DH and its proponents.
Yep, in his prime Dave Parker was as good as anyone playing the game. And he could play both sides of the ball. He made a throw in an all-star game that was just like the most legendary Pirate right-fielder, Roberto Clemente, would make.
On those projected WARs of Walker at 1.3 and Winn at 1.6, think I would take the over on Walker and under on Winn. Hopefully both go over though.
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