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Installment three of our comparison, position by position, of the Kansas City Royals versus the other AL Central clubs focuses on second base.
Finally given regular playing time, Alberto Callaspo responded with a fine season at the plate. Many of us expected Callaspo to hit for average (he did) and figured he would post a decent on base percentage (again, he did), but I am not sure anyone expected Alberto to hit sixty extra base hits. Frankly, 41 doubles, 8 triples and 11 home runs is awfully good production from a middle infielder...on any team.
So, how does that line stack up against the rest of the division? Let's take a look at the positional totals:
|
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
OPS |
wRC |
| Kansas City |
.292 |
.348 |
.442 |
.790 |
94 |
| Chicago |
.248 |
.318 |
.356 |
.674 |
68 |
| Cleveland |
.265 |
.331 |
.378 |
.709 |
76 |
| Detroit |
.284 |
.329 |
.404 |
.733 |
88 |
| Minnesota |
.208 |
.299 |
.266 |
.566 |
48 |
Callaspo, who is responsible for 142 of the Royals' games at second and put up a personal line of .300/.356/.457/.813, was easily the best offensive player at the position in the division. So, one might ask just why are Royals' fans not in love with this guy? Let's take a look at the defensive side of things:
|
|
GP |
RZR |
UZR/150 |
| Callaspo |
KC |
142 |
.808 |
-5.9 |
| Getz |
CHI |
100 |
.826 |
-5.4 |
| Valbuena |
CLE |
75 |
.752 |
-6.7 |
| Polanco |
DET |
146 |
.825 |
+8.5 |
| Casilla |
MIN |
64 |
.759 |
-14.8 |
| Punto |
MIN |
58 |
.801 |
+5.2 |
Alberto Callaspo is a bad defensive player. If the numbers above do not convince you, then watching him play the position or listening to Frank White describe Alberto Callaspo playing the position will. The shortcomings of Callaspo's play in the field is not limited to physical errors, but also include poor positioning, poor decision making and curious routes to balls.
HOWEVER, one look at the chart tells you that every other team in the AL Central has some issues at second base, too. Detroit is likely to jettison the steady Polanco and go with a rookie at second in 2010 and the only other plus fielder in the division, Nick Punto, is possibly the worst offensive player in the game now that Tony Pena Jr. is a pitcher.
Given that, one could make an argument that in a division full of bad (albeit mostly young) fielders, the Royals' guy hits the best. As such, the organization might be wise to focus their rebuilding efforts elsewhere, at least for now. In looking at the position in a vacuum, that logic makes perfect sense.
Second base, however, is not played in a vacuum (few things are, it seems). As we discussed on Monday, the Royals also have the worst fielding first baseman in the division, which makes Callaspo's defensive issues much more critical. Can they afford to go through 2010 with Butler and Callaspo on the right side of their infield?
Summary
The answer, in my opinion, to the previous question is no.
While both Butler and Callaspo's bats certainly justify everyday duty, they also represent probably the two most productive bats in the lineup. If the Royals had Joe Mauer behind the plate, if Alex Gordon was producing like Evan Longoria and they had Raul Ibanez instead of Jose Guillen in the outfield, they might be able to carry bad defense at both first and second base.
Kansas City, however, never had a shot a Mauer and did not draft Matt Wieters. They offered Raul Ibanez a two year deal when all he wanted was three and have watched him smack the ball all over creation for the six years since (yes, I have issues with letting things go). Plus, as we enter year four of the Alex Gordon experience, I find myself wondering less about how good he might become and more about what it might have been like to draft Troy Tulowitzki instead.
In a perfect world, Mike Aviles is able to come back from injury, be ready to play second base in 2010 AND hit like he did in 2008. Then you could slide Callaspo into the designated hitter position, enjoy at least competent defense on the right side of the infield and, in theory, improve your ball club both offensively and defensively.
Is that a realistic probability? Is it truly the right move?
To be honest, I am not ready to say yes or no to either question. It is, however, something worth considering as we continue on with our positional comparisons and eventually to an overall summary.
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Comments
And Clark, don't feel bad about not being able to let go of the Ibanez departure. That is the biggest one that I have trouble with too.
More on topic, it doesn't seem to me that Callaspo's -6 runs on defense are worth moving him off of second base, given how much he gives you from that position on offense. Also, he did well in very limited time at second prior to 2009, so it's possible that the -6 overstates how much he costs you there. Given that the Royals have at least three players who are born DHes (assuming Jacobs even qualifies as that), I think I'd keep Callaspo at 2B until he proves he really can't handle it (that is, gets into Alexi Casilla territory UZR-wise). The Callaspo-to-3B, Gordon-to-1B idea is interesting, but is Gordon really that bad? His numbers look fine (great in '07, slightly below average since), and I'd think you'd want to make him prove he can't field the position when he's healthy (or that he's just never going to be healthy) before you make a big move like that with him.
I don't know about Punto, his OPS for the last five years has been: .636, .725, .562, .726, .621. Had Nick played enough to qualify, he would have been the worst in the American League (4 points below Betancourt) and he was the last by far in 2007. That is two pretty awful seasons that I'm not sure you can totally explain away by bad luck in the BABIP area. (At some point, continued bad luck in BABIP means you just don't hit very well!)
At any rate, I'm torn about moving Callaspo off second. Although I will say seeing him on a nearly everyday basis tells me his defense is actually worse than the numbers indicate. It helps that no other team in the division is strong at second right now, but the real problem is that Butler is below average at first, too. is that too much bad defense to have them standing side by side for 160 games?
He was about as bad as anyone we've ever seen in '07, but he was playing hurt all year. In 2006, 2008 and 2009, everything is about the same--around 20% line drive rate, and similar GB and FB%s, and he even improved his BB% in 2009. The real outlier is '07, when his LD% dropped through the floor. The only difference between 2009 and 2006/08, aside from a slightly increased K rate, is that his BABIP was .280 this year, when it was .337 and .338 in the other two years. So it's not continued bad luck, IMO, it's just this year (and that awful, injury-wrecked '07). Which is to say, he should be fine. And I'm quite sure he's better than Willy Tavares, too. :) Fellow bloguinite Andrew at twinstarget.com just put up a nice little piece about Punto, and I think I'll probably do my own (thedailysomethi ng.com) for Friday.
On Callaspo, it's a good point about the two bad defenders being right next to each other, but my gut tells me that there are very few plays where a good 2B really "saves" a bad 1B anyway. A couple a year? Generally, I think, a run saved is a run saved, and it seems to me that the Royals' D was bad enough that if they can get a few runs back from one of their other black holes--realize their terrible mistake with Betancourt, get Guillen out of the outfield, maybe benefit from a full season of a healthy Gordon in place of [Teahen/unhealthy Gordon]--Callaspo's bat might make it worthwhile to continue living with his D at second. But I'm sure you know much better than I.
I think Gordon is forced to be the starting 3b again next year. Those that mention Callaspo at 3b - Is he really that much better on Defense at 3B then at 2B? I think your only option to improve the defense is at 2b position.
Clark - you mentioned Palonco getting booted out of Det. Is he an option for the Royals?
Doubles factoids: what is it with 2b and doubles, 3 of the top 4 league leaders in doubles at any position were 2b. By my count Callaspo and Butler led baseball in doubles from the rightside of the infield with 92, in a close second with 91 was Teixera and Cano (of course those doubles came with some defense, but a price tag too)
Regarding Butler, am I wrong, but I thought he improved at 1B this year over last. I felt like he was making some plays this year that just weren't happening last year. It would be nice to build a defensive team (especially with our rotation looking stronger and stronger) but I think that is a organizational philosophy that would take a while to develop through the draft.
Butler is kind of the opposite of Callaspo defensively in that his defense looked better than the numbers reflected: probably because most of us thought he would be a complete butcher. I agree with the comments that you keep him at first for now, plugging either Guillen, Callaspo or a slugger with something to prove in at DH.
Given that logic and the fact that, yes, Betancourt will be the shortstop next year and it seems illogical to not give Gordon one more year at third, second base is the only infield spot where you could conceivably improve the team defensively. On a better defensive team you could live with his defense, but on a bad defensive team (where you are stuck with three other average to below average fielders) maybe now is the time to think about plugging Callaspo in at DH.