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Leury García player value question


Greg Hibbard

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This seems like a silly question, but I don’t understand his stats and player value.

He feels like a good player, because of his .293 BA and .328 OBP, but also carries a sub .700 OPS. He seems like an average defender. His current WAR is 1.6 which would seem to translate out to a 3-4 WAR player over a season.

Is his WAR inflated despite his low OPS because most center fielders are light hitting in terms of OPS?

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2 hours ago, Greg Hibbard said:

This seems like a silly question, but I don’t understand his stats and player value.

He feels like a good player, because of his .293 BA and .328 OBP, but also carries a sub .700 OPS. He seems like an average defender. His current WAR is 1.6 which would seem to translate out to a 3-4 WAR player over a season.

 Is his WAR inflated despite his low OPS because most center fielders are light hitting in terms of OPS?

Solid defender, super high BABIP. He's decent, and yes, part of his high WAR is due to the CF positional adjustment. Once his BABIP lowers, his numbers will look more normal. He also might hit a few more home runs while that happens. He's a FA after 2020, so I wouldn't mind trading him and running with an Eloy/Cordell/Tilson OF full time, with Palka off the bench and Robert in the wings 

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This doesn't really answer your question, but Leury will be in interesting case this July if he stays healthy and continues to play well. He is a free agent following 2020, so has 1.5 years of control.  He is pretty much the perfect utility guy when healthy, and obviously is a nice luxury for the Sox because they don't have a bevy of playable CF options.  But he's also been an injury waiting to happen his whole career, and chances of him actually staying on the field over 80% of the games the next year and half are slim.

Guessing trade offers for him wouldn't be all that exciting and in which case the Sox should keep him.  But if some team really wants him and wants to give up a nice return for a super cheap jack of a trades player in Garcia, I'd definitely move him in the next 60 days.  

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He's one of those guys whose value isn't necessarily tangible. His versatility, instincts and demeanor are all plusses. The hit he got on the hit and run last night is a good example. It'll show up on the box score as just a single, but it was one of the smartest pieces of hitting I've seen all year. 

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Sox werent going to tender him a deal but he wouldnt accept it and said he would come back better and they were so moved by his plea they gave him a deal. He's filled in pretty admirably considering all that. Given the Sox influx of young positional players coming, I would imagine he's traded in July if a playoff team likes him. He'd be a good 24/25th guy with defensive versatility, great speed and a decent bat. 

Edited by raBBit
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6 minutes ago, raBBit said:

Sox werent going to tender him a deal but he wouldnt accept it and said he would come back better and they were so moved by his plea they gave him a deal. He's filled in pretty admirably considering all that. Given the Sox influx of young positional players coming, I would imagine he's traded in July if a playoff team likes him. He'd be a good 24/25th guy with defensive versatility, great speed and a decent bat. 

Neat tidbit. Good for him!

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I'd love to offer him something like 4 years 30 million with a club option for the 5th at like 10 million.  He is incredibly valuable once Robert is the starting CF as he can cover SS/2B as well as any OF spot and will clear the 25 man for a dedicated platoon corner guy or DH.

Edited by chitownsportsfan
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7 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

I'd love to offer him something like 4 years 30 million with a club option for the 5th at like 10 million.  He is incredibly valuable once Robert is the starting CF as he can cover SS/2B as well as any OF spot and will clear the 25 man for a dedicated platoon corner guy or DH.

I agree with this, but the very real injury factor is what worries me.

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8 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

I'd love to offer him something like 4 years 30 million with a club option for the 5th at like 10 million.  He is incredibly valuable once Robert is the starting CF as he can cover SS/2B as well as any OF spot and will clear the 25 man for a dedicated platoon corner guy or DH.

Woah.  Leury would sign that so fast his head would spin.  That is a crazy offer.  

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Just now, ChiSox59 said:

Woah.  Leury would sign that so fast his head would spin.  That is a crazy offer.  

Sorry I forgot a big qualifier and that's to see what happens the next 90 so games.  He's "on pace' for about 2.5 fWAR, which would be a career high.  Cost per win on the FA market is about 9/10 million so in today's financial environment it might make sense.  Personally I love guys that can cover CF and SS, I think they are incredibly valuable on contenders.

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Just now, chitownsportsfan said:

Sorry I forgot a big qualifier and that's to see what happens the next 90 so games.  He's "on pace' for about 2.5 fWAR, which would be a career high.  Cost per win on the FA market is about 9/10 million so in today's financial environment it might make sense.  Personally I love guys that can cover CF and SS, I think they are incredibly valuable on contenders.

I like Leury alot.  Said as much earlier this thread.  But he has a career OBP below .290, and has struggled to stay healthy for any stretch of time.  Handing him $30M is insane.  I have no problem keeping him around if he want to sign like 4 year $12-15M extension in the offseason, but anything more than that for him crazy talk IMO.  He won't be anywhere near $7.5M in his final year of arb, which is the AAV you're suggesting.  He is making $1.5M this season.  

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Just now, ChiSox59 said:

I like Leury alot.  Said as much earlier this thread.  But he has a career OBP below .290, and has struggled to stay healthy for any stretch of time.  Handing him $30M is insane.  I have no problem keeping him around if he want to sign like 4 year $12-15M extension in the offseason, but anything more than that for him crazy talk IMO.  He won't be anywhere near $7.5M in his final year of arb, which is the AAV you're suggesting.  He is making $1.5M this season.  

yea good point, not much upside for the Sox.

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3 hours ago, Colinski said:

He rarely has a bad at bat, plays multiple positions and isn’t costing us a lot. He’s a 25th player on a World Series team. 

 Id want a top 200 prospect who is rising to deal min.

I think Leury is a nice player, but this I can't agree with

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I've been championing Leury the past few seasons when he was being benched for Engel. Everyone hated Engel starting CF but most fans where under the impression that Engel was our only option despite Leury sitting on the bench. It was really not fair the way the team screwed Leury the past few seasons for Engel considering how much better he was when he played. Leury won the starter role in 2017 and was doing good then got injured. They brought Engel up, his bat was atrocious but he made some good catches so when Leury came back they stuck with Engel in center.

2018 starts and Engel gets the starter role despite putting up a -.8 WAR in 97 games the previous season compared to Leury's 1.2 WAR in 87 games (going by baseball-reference). It annoyed me how very few fans realized how ridiculous it was for Engel to be starting when Leury was available. This year has been his first chance to start again since the first half of 2017. 

Edited by JuliusO1274
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I wouldn’t guarantee Leury Garcia $30 million dollars unless he crapped gold.  He’s a barely .700 OPS 25th man.  That’s what your minor league system should be producing with ease.  Are Sox fans beaten down so bad from years of losing that they want to retain mediocre players at big contracts?

Edited by Moan4Yoan
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Wow the overrating of Leury is pretty strong here. I never really picked up on that in the past. IMO, Leury would have a less than 50% shot at a multi year deal.  If some team saw enough in him to offer a multi-year deal, it would be something like 2 years 7 million or something - not 4-30.

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18 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

I like Leury alot.  Said as much earlier this thread.  But he has a career OBP below .290, and has struggled to stay healthy for any stretch of time.  Handing him $30M is insane.  I have no problem keeping him around if he want to sign like 4 year $12-15M extension in the offseason, but anything more than that for him crazy talk IMO.  He won't be anywhere near $7.5M in his final year of arb, which is the AAV you're suggesting.  He is making $1.5M this season.  

Pretty sure 4 mil per year for 3 or 4 years would get it done.  He is a very nice piece on a championship team.  Could play in 3/4 of the games just filling in for minor aches and pain days for other regulars & giving regular rest.  His attitude looks to be A++ as well.

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