|
THT Essentials: Now available 
 Derek Ambrosino
Karl deVries Nick Fleder Jeffrey Gross Brad Johnson Moe Koltun Scott Spratt Michael Stein Scott Strandberg Jack Weiland Noah Woodward And here's the full roster. Most Recent Comments
The daily grind: 5-17-13 (11)
Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 7, Vol. I (11) The daily grind: 5-16-13 (12) The daily grind: 5-15-13 (4) Mike Moustakas’ hole (2) Monthly Archives
May, 2013
April, 2013 March, 2013 February, 2013 January, 2013 December, 2012 November, 2012 October, 2012 September, 2012 August, 2012 July, 2012 June, 2012 May, 2012 April, 2012 March, 2012 February, 2012 January, 2012 December, 2011 November, 2011 October, 2011 September, 2011 August, 2011 July, 2011 June, 2011 May, 2011 April, 2011 March, 2011 February, 2011 January, 2011 December, 2010 November, 2010 October, 2010 September, 2010 August, 2010 July, 2010 June, 2010 May, 2010 April, 2010 March, 2010 February, 2010 January, 2010 December, 2009 November, 2009 October, 2009 September, 2009 August, 2009 July, 2009 June, 2009 May, 2009 April, 2009  All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
THT's Fantasy Archives
Sunday, January 31, 2010Moving Middle Infielders Pt. 1: Orlando Cabrera Signs With RedsDown to two suitors, Orlando Cabrera chose the Cincinnati Reds offer of one-year and $4 million dollars ($3 million base + $1 million buyout) with an option for a second year over non-shortstop offer the Colorado Rockies had on the table. Cabrera, 35, will join his fifth team in the last four seasons. He will team with Paul Janish at the position once held by Barry Larkin. Once a perennial 3 WAR player, O-Cab was worth less than win this past sesaon as his watched his range (and in turn his UZR) plummet. The Reds are hoping that his -15.3 UZR in 2009 was an outlier after averaging above average marks over the previous seven seasons. I would normally agree with this theory, but he is pretty long in the tooth at the short stop position and I've heard a knee injury may have been involved. Offensively, Cabrera has been below average over the course of his career. Sure, he’ll hit between .275-.290 on an annual basis, but that’s pretty much the extent of his offensive value. He walks under 7% of the time and his career slugging percentage is under .400. Playing in the Great American Sandbox will help, however it probably won’t boost his .123 ISO enough to make him a power threat at shortstop. He was never much of a stolen base threat to begin with, and has seen his steals decline from 20 to 19 to 13 over the past three seasons. That said, if you look at his main competition, Paul Janish, Cabrera’s offensive numbers look like Hanley Ramirez in comparison. Small sample size rules apply, but Janish has a career slash line of just .205/.290/.292 in 128 career games. Looking at his minor league numbers, Janish hasn’t posted an OPS over .715 in any level above A-ball. In nearly 600 innings at shortstop last season, he did prove to be a very good defensive player. Personally, I would like to see Drew Sutton given a real chance, but I don't get paid enough to make those decisions. The Reds will have to choose between Cabrera’s nearly average bat and Janish’s nearly pitcher-like slash line. Janish is probably a safer bet defensively, but a larger sample size is needed. If at all possible I would avoid both players on my team; however, Cabrera might be worth a flier in a deep NL-only league. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
