April 15, 20223 yr Not too disappointed with Hahns offseason. It does seem that he makes at least one obvious mistake every offseason. Like the Alonso fiasco in 2018. the Mazara experiment in 2020 and last years fiasco with Adam Eaton. No glaring blunders this year but it just cant wrap my head around paying Leury Garcia 5.5 million a years for 3 years. My biggest concern is why 3 years. He plays 6 position but is average or below average at all 6 spots. I didn't come up with these thought this morning, felt that way as soon as I saw the contract but now Im just piling on. This guy is not as valuable as Engle who makes 2 million.
April 15, 20223 yr Leury is a Tony favorite and therefore he was rewarded a loyalty contract. Signing him for three years makes no sense when the market didn’t require such a lengthy commitment and the fact we have several guys in the upper minors who profile as reserve infielders or utility guys.
April 15, 20223 yr Author Very well said, we have 3-4 guys who could be as productive for 1/8 th of the price. This was a very poor move by RH/KW.
April 15, 20223 yr Garcia is worth more than his hitting stats indicate. He's always smiling. Looks like a very upbeat guy. Helps team cohesion. He's able to play all positions except pitcher and catcher, and 1B. In a tight roster, that has value. His batting is streaky. In July he put up a .792 OPS, and in Sept/Oct, it was .861, That was better than quite a few guys. He had a horrid start last year, just like this year. I'm firmly in the camp that he's overused. But I don't think we have anyone in the minors right now who could replace him.
April 15, 20223 yr With a non-expanded roster, you carry 13 position players which equals 4 bench players. At a minimum, those 4 guys need to be able to cover all 8 positions on the field, and your backup C very rarely is going to be able to play anywhere else. So that leaves 3 guys for 7 positions. Garcia's biggest value is that because he can play every position, you can afford to carry someone who's only a DH/1B type on your bench when otherwise you really couldn't do that. Leury can be your 5th OF in addition to your primary backup on the infield. With the rosters expanded, that value is diluted a bit because you could do that anyway. If you see Romy Gonzalez' ceiling a a Leury-esque utility guy, you could have let Leury go in free agency rather than extending him, or at the very least you could lowball his offer compared to what they actually offered him. If you see Romy as a potential starter in the middle infield, then he needs to be at AAA playing every day and you need Leury. Whether you needed to give him 3 years guaranteed is still debatable though. Historically, Leury's glove has been good in the IF and neutral in the OF, though his start so far this season is not up to those levels. His bat has always been streaky. The larger problem is that regardless of his platoon advantage, there's nobody on this roster he should ever bat ahead in the order with the exception of McGuire and maybe Harrison vs RHP. He should never be behind Burger, Sheets or Vaughn, but he routinely gets placed in the 6-7 spots in the lineup and kills rallies.
April 15, 20223 yr Leury not the only slow start: Leury 0/17; Sheets 0/11 - who never gets mentioned Both Engel 2/13 and Harrison 3/18 are below 200BA, but they make other contributions.
April 15, 20223 yr 44 minutes ago, VAfan said: Garcia is worth more than his hitting stats indicate. He's always smiling. Looks like a very upbeat guy. Helps team cohesion. He's able to play all positions except pitcher and catcher, and 1B. In a tight roster, that has value. His batting is streaky. In July he put up a .792 OPS, and in Sept/Oct, it was .861, That was better than quite a few guys. He had a horrid start last year, just like this year. I'm firmly in the camp that he's overused. But I don't think we have anyone in the minors right now who could replace him. He's very versatile...in a pinch he can cook for the clubhouse....if they like tres golpes....
April 15, 20223 yr 2 minutes ago, wegner said: He's very versatile...in a pinch he can cook for the clubhouse....if they like tres golpes.... I really like Leury as a person and I want to like him as a player but it sucks he's getting 400-500 PA instead of 200-250 for various reasons.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.