Should We Be Jacked About Austin?

[rog]

From The McCovey Chronicles:


www.mccoveychronicles.com/2017/12/28/16826996/austin-jackson-sf-giants-trade-rumors

[klaiggeb]

On the surface of things, a one year deal sounds... okay.

On the surface.

But I looked his defense up on Strat, and here's what I found for 2015 and 2016; A '3'.

That's an average defender playing in a park that demands range in CF

And to make things worse, in the last 3 years, starting in 2015, he played in 136, then 54 and then 85 games.

This is the guy we should sign in CF?

Surface numbers say one thing... a guy that has Span-range in CF is another.

And for 2015 and 2016 Span WAS rated a '3' in CF.

And how did that turn out for us?

This is not a great idea.

boly

[rog]

I think it comes down to the cost, Boly. Jackson is similar to Denard in that both were once good hitters (Denard was the better of the two.) and good fielders. Jackson is coming off a very strong hitting year in 2017, and while his defense isn't great, it's far better than Span's. Jackson is likely close to the level we might expect from Duggar, at least initially.

If Hal rated Denard a "3" in 2015 and especially 2016, he'd better not run into Boagie on the street. If he rates him a "3" for 2017 -- when will 2017 come out? I'm considering getting the game. -- he's not as good as I think he is. Problem is that Hal likely has to delegate a lot of that stuff out.

Rest assured that Austin Jackson is a clearly better fielder than Denard. And remember, he would hold the center field job down only until Duggar could claim it. But Jackson fields and hits well enough that he could help out as a fourth outfielder if necessary.

As for his getting into only 85 games, Austin was brought in at $1.5 million merely to be a backup outfielder. The Indians had some good ones, and they called up one of the fastest center fielders in the game -- Bradley Zimmer -- during the season. Jackson played more as the season went on though, getting into nearly half his games in the final two months of the season.

Jackson makes sense only if he's inexpensive and on a one-year or at most a two-year contract. But study him, and you'll see that he was very good last season -- and that he was also good early in his career. He has a .275 career average. He isn't as good as Hamilton in center, but he's a clearly better hitter -- and he wouldn't cost a player or players.

Austin is just a band-aid, but that may be all the Giants can afford. And he wouldn't block Duggar when Steven arrives. As a right-handed hitter, he might be able to platoon with Steven initially, although as pointed out here in the past day or two, Steven has hit southpaws well.

[rog]

As an aside, looking up a player's defense in Stat-O-Matic is a decent way of evaluating a player's defense, but just in the few guys we've looked at on the board, we've seen two or three questionable ratings. I recommend going to Fan Graphs, looking at Advanced Fielding in particular, and then forming our own judgments.

[klaiggeb]

Sometime in January the new game comes out.

I'm betting Span is a 4. Can't see his bumbling last year as a 3.

Just can't.

I understand that Jackson would be a 1 year fill in.

But as the article said, IF the cost is right.

For me it comes down to this; Whom do we get to play RF?

come up with a bopper with decent defense, and I'm okay, then, we Jackson.

And if he's just a one year place holder, I'm okay with that, too.

but let's not make him more than he is.

boly

[rxmeister]

In the days of a billion different advanced stats for fielding metrics, you gotta love Boly consulting Strat O Matic!! Jon Heyman mentioned last night that the Giants are talking to Carlos Gomez, with possibly Dyson and Jay on the radar as well. Haven’t heard Austin Jackson at all. Of course all these rumors could be just spread by the Giants to make the Reds get off their Heliot Ramos demands for Billy Hamilton. The thing that scares me is Bobby Evans realizing his job is on the line making some panic deals that gets rid of the few prospects that we have.

[klaiggeb]

That's a great observation, Mark.

Worse, if you're correct, Evans could make a panic move.

Not a good thing.

[rog]

I believe Brian Sabean's fingerprints are still all over these off-season moves. Right now all kinds of center fielders are being mentioned for the Giants, but as Mark mentioned, Austin Powers isn't one of them.

Jackson doesn't have much power, but he did show a modest amount last season. The ideal time to have gotten Austin was a year ago. He played for just $1.5 million. And he played a lot better than Denard.

Maybe on defense Denard has lost his attention Span.

[rog]

I'm thinking about having Gorkys hold down center field until Duggar is ready and using the money for right field. I like the idea of sneaking McCutchen in for a year, but even in the final year of his contract, the Giants would almost certainly have to give up too much to get him.

And like Boly, I'm just not sold on Bruce. Based on his spray chart, he would lose a lot of homers in AT&T. And as Boly mentioned, he's not as slow as molasses, but other syrups spring instantly to mind. Now if Jay himself could spring instantly.