Matt Diaz?

[typewritermender]

What do you guys think about this guy? He was nontendered... Think he could start 2/3 of the season in RF? Is he a good enough hitter over a full season? How's his fielding? I know nothing about him as a fielder...I'd like to sign a good fielding, decent hitting RF & see what kind of fish we get to bite on Quentin. If there's nothing of value we keep him and have him DH, if we can get something decent for him, let Viciedo & Dunn platoon at 1B/DH...

 

But please no more Quentin in RF full time!

[chw42]

Eh, I'd take him as a bench player. He had areal nice 2009 and then backed that up with a .320 wOBA season.

[joeynach]

Hes an interesting candidate. Though hes never had more than about 360 AB's in a given year he has some really nice offensive seasons. Hes posted an OPS of .840-.880 three times and owns a career slash line of .301/.350/.456. Quentin on the other hand posted an .821 OPS this past year, a year most ppl consider a bit down for CQ, so you can see CQ is no offensive kitty kat either. Defensive speaking I think a good starting point is baseball-reference.com. Look up the player you want to go to his "Player Value" section and find the players Rfield value. This metric measures Runs from Fielding, the number of runs the player was better or worse from average for all fielding situations. Therefore 0 would be average, - would be worse than average, and + would be above average.

 

Matt Diaz's Rfield

2006: +10

2007: -5

2008: -2

2009: 0

2010: +4

 

CQ Rfield

2006: +3

2007: +12

2008: -2

2009: -9

2010: -20

 

The numbers speak for themselves, Diaz is consistently average as a defender, Quentin on the other hand has become progressively worse. 2010 was espeically awful for Quentin has be posted one of the worst Rfield values for all OF's. Its pretty clear that if CQ is going to be a productive player he will need to improve in the outfield or he will find himself relegated to DH/Bench at the age of 28. In terms of Diaz hes basically not that much of a difference player than Quentin. Hes got a bit less power, but a more consistent fielder who wont kill you in the OF. If hes available I wouldn't mind him as a 4th OF type, but hes no replacement candidate for CQ.

Edited December 3, 2010 by joeynach

[TomPickle]

He has a career .387 wOBA against lefties and he's played some RF before. I'd be alright with him being the 4th outfielder, but if you can bring back Andruw Jones for a similar price I'd rather have him as the 4th outfielder.

Edited December 3, 2010 by TomPickle

[Balta1701]

He has a career .387 wOBA against lefties and he's played some RF before. I'd be alright with him being the 4th outfielder, but if you can bring back Andruw Jones for a similar price I'd rather have him as the 4th outfielder.

If you can bring back andruw jones at a similar price, then the rest of the GM's in baseball are silly.

[TomPickle]

Matt Diaz made $2.55 million last year, how much do you think he'll sign for and how much do you think Andruw Jones will sign for? I don't really know the going rate of 4th outfielders around the league.

[Balta1701]

Matt Diaz made $2.55 million last year, how much do you think he'll sign for and how much do you think Andruw Jones will sign for? I don't really know the going rate of 4th outfielders around the league.

Last year, in the "Fangraphs player value" world, Diaz was worth $2 million and Jones was worth $7 million. Diaz had a solid 2009, but was awful in 2008 and basically a backup in 2010. Jones has been a solid backup each of the last 2 years.

 

I'd say Jones is probably a $4 million-ish player and I might commit $2 million to Diaz. I could be off on that though.

[joeynach]

Last year, in the "Fangraphs player value" world, Diaz was worth $2 million and Jones was worth $7 million. Diaz had a solid 2009, but was awful in 2008 and basically a backup in 2010. Jones has been a solid backup each of the last 2 years.

 

I'd say Jones is probably a $4 million-ish player and I might commit $2 million to Diaz. I could be off on that though.

 

The problem with Fangraphs is that their player value doesnt take into account the players role on his team. Jones is a 4th OF, even if he did produce at a $7M clip no one is going to pay him that much for a backup role with 250 ABs tops.

[Eminor3rd]

My impression of Diaz is that he's an extreme platoon-split guy. Could be wrong.

[kwolf68]

My impression of Diaz is that he's an extreme platoon-split guy. Could be wrong.

 

He is. Diaz MURDERS lefties....if he was a lefty who murdered righties I'd run, not walk to get him signed, but righty bats we're OK with. Even with Dunn in the fold, I think we're still short on good lefty sticks.

[fathom]

I'd love Diaz as part of a platoon in RF if we trade Quentin.