I get it. Hummel is a pretty good prospect, But that is what he is. The M’s have a number of opportunities to have break-out, or rebound performers. One or two of those really worked out last year: Bats Cal=breakout, Saurez=rebound, Haggerty =breakout, Moore=rebound, Julio = breakoutD-train wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 11:40 amHummel had a higher OPS in the PCL than JK in 2022 yet some dopes think he should get 70% of Starts in LF. I agree that losing DH for part of a game shouldn't impact a roster spot by Jerry literally said that is what he loves about Hummel. That it allows him to DH the other catchers.Pharmabro wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 10:23 amHow in the hell do you figure Hummel is the 1st and 3rd bench guy?
Moore was a 122 OPS+ last year
Haggerty was a 116 OPS+
In the strange event that the catcher gets injured and you had Tom or Cal DHing that day you would only lose the DH for the rest of the game and not the rest of the season so maybe you have to pinch hit for a pitcher or not. Hummel can play catcher but he is like Torrens level first go around. Impotent back there. Murphy if he has recovered is a valued 1st man up off the bench with Seattle he has been a 110 OPS+ guy and he is a solid defender behind the plate. And most catchers play 2/3rds their games even Cal who was young and strong played 77% of the games he could have that is about 125 games based on a full season. I could see Murphy playing 40, 50, 60 games. That puts him as one of your most used couple of bench bats.
For comparison our lowest top 9 Haniger and Santana OF/DH had 294 and 253 PAs. Our two highest used benchies were Toro and Moore with 352 and
255 PAs
Last year Non-Cal catchers had 262 PAs.
I think having a versatile Hummel down in AAA in case of injury is important. Murphy is a FA in 2024 and I expect Ford even if he sticks on catcher will project to 24 at the earliest but probably more like 25.
Just my .02
I see the roster and you have many of the same type of chances for rebound Pollock is 1 year removed from 2 in a row of 130’s OPS+ (Rebound), *La Stella was an .800 OPS from 2017 through 2020 over 300 games Rebound chance, potential breakouts: JK*, TT*, Marlow*, Hummel**.
Mix that with Moore and Haggerty who performed really well last year. Murphy was a 164 OPS+ before he was injured and 110 as a Mariner. Moore and Haggerty can play all over the IF, and OF.
I am pretty confident on Cal, France, Julio, Teo, JP, Saurez, Wong,
But last year I was hopeful Saurez could rebound but considered it part of the cost of getting Winker. Even if Saurez didn’t improve over the past few years he would still hit some dingers and be a Seager-like base sweeper. I was confident that Winker would come in and be our middle of the lineup lefty.
I see these guys as pasta in a boiling pot. None of these guys are Julio level projections. But they are chances for “sticking”. JD has said JK has been working on adjustments and they love what they see. Each one has more than a zero percent chance of being a positive player for the team.
I see Hummel as being a guy with a chance. He could have worked his ass off on getting better on defending at C, Murphy may not be ready to go. And Hummel has a Cal like breakout. I am leaning towards a nice MLB ready prospect depth piece. He probably plays at some point during the year.
