Vlad Call-up - Place Your Bets

[Angrioter]

 

Fun facts! Also...Jr is not as good as Sr

 

Vlady Jr only outperforms his father in body fat.

[Spanky99]

Vlady Jr only outperforms his father in body fat.

 

I believe he has a legitimate shot at being better with the stick, obviously, but positional WAR will hurt him.

[saskjayfan]

I believe he has a legitimate shot at being better with the stick, obviously, but positional WAR will hurt him.

 

Vlad senior wasn't exactly a great fielder and spent much of his career as DH. I have no issue with Vlad being in the Hall, but when you compare Walker and Vlad, it's hard to believe that Vlad is in and Walker isn't. Hopefully Walker makes it next year though.

[saskjayfan]

Can we bring up Biggio with Vlad...It would be nice to have a real lead off hitter.

[Olerud363]

I believe he has a legitimate shot at being better with the stick, obviously, but positional WAR will hurt him.

 

John Olerud has more FWAR then Vlad Guerrero SR, and apparently more defensive value as well.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=778&position=OF

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1093&position=1B

 

Sr was two years older then jr at every level.

 

Ask yourself what is Vlad Jrs path to beating Olerud and by how much can he beat Olerud??

 

Can VJG either by being a good defensive 1st basemen, or by just sticking at 3rd for a while beat Olerud defensively??

 

Can VJG win batting titles?? Can he get on base like Olerud did??

 

Does he have more power than Olerud?? Pretty obvious that he does, how much more 10 more homers a year?? 20??

 

Can he stay healthy?? Can he play well into his 30s?? I guess this is where the questions occur. He may beat Olerud through age 28 (which Olerud was platooned/or strike shortened every year except the batting title year) but may have a tough time beating him age 28 through 33 (assuming like we all do he is 325 pounds by then).

[Thaddeus Malice]

5 games. Still hasn't struck out. Honestly he must have some of the best bat control for a hitting prospect in a generation.

[Dr. Dinger]

This is just beginning to get rigoddamndiculous.

[Angrioter]

Tuesday 23th April against Giants

[Angrioter]

And oh yeah April 23rd is my guess

 

Tuesday 23th April against Giants

 

Are you Hector Gomez?

[Dick_Pole]

John Olerud has more FWAR then Vlad Guerrero SR, and apparently more defensive value as well.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=778&position=OF

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1093&position=1B

 

Sr was two years older then jr at every level.

 

Ask yourself what is Vlad Jrs path to beating Olerud and by how much can he beat Olerud??

 

Can VJG either by being a good defensive 1st basemen, or by just sticking at 3rd for a while beat Olerud defensively??

 

Can VJG win batting titles?? Can he get on base like Olerud did??

 

Does he have more power than Olerud?? Pretty obvious that he does, how much more 10 more homers a year?? 20??

 

Can he stay healthy?? Can he play well into his 30s?? I guess this is where the questions occur. He may beat Olerud through age 28 (which Olerud was platooned/or strike shortened every year except the batting title year) but may have a tough time beating him age 28 through 33 (assuming like we all do he is 325 pounds by then).

 

You also have to consider that Olerud was never given a chance to play anywhere other than first base because of the hand he threw with. Could Olerud have been a better third baseman than Vlad? Very possible with that gangly body type. Olerud and other lefties are handicapped in baseball in that they aren't even allowed to play half the positions. Basically the only plus defensive position they can play is CF so the only way to generate fWAR is through the bat. Total handicap that stat heads don't account for. The new age HOF voters who spend more time looking at fangraphs pages than actual baseball games will forever have bias against lefties not seen since Catholic school nuns gave a kid a ruler whipping for writing with the wrong hand. Men like John Olerud and Fred McGriff will suffer for it.

 

The tradeoff is that men like Randy Choate can make a 20 year career of collecting an MLB paycheck for two years worth of innings that a typical SP would throw. Not a great tradeoff imo.

[Olerud363]

One of the points I've tried to make with Vlad is that to be spectacularly great, instead of just regularly great he just needs to be an average defensive player. At least if you believe the fangraphs model.

 

Olerud wasn't fat, but was extremely slow and always looked to me to be an awkward runner. However he made up with it with great hands, excellent instincts, and a great first move. Pablo Sandoval was extremely obese but ended as an average defensive player. I didn't see him play much, but assume same story. Good hands, good first move, good arm.

 

I hope Vladdy has the tools to be a slightly below average defensive player... like 0 to -5 on the fan graphs model, rather than a complete tool (-20 a year on the fangraphs model). It translates to a couple of WAR a year.

[Dr. Dinger]

Friday April 26 vs the Athletics.

 

We have a wiener