Some teams are considering the possibility of signing shortstop Ian Desmond and having him play outfield, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick writes (Twitter links). Desmond is also attracting interest as a second baseman and third baseman.
Theoretically, Desmond’s ability (or apparent ability — he hasn’t appeared in a game anywhere other than shortstop since 2010) could widen the field of teams interested in signing him, which is probably why it emerged last month that his representation was marketing his ability to play multiple positions. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted at the time, though, much of Desmond’s value at this point is tied to his ability to play a decent defensive shortstop, in spite of his high error totals. Desmond’s 2015 line (.233/.290/.384) would have been weak for an outfielder, but as a shortstop, Desmond was still able to accumulate 1.7 fWAR.
It might be, however, that Desmond’s apparent willingness and ability to move around the diamond might provide a team planning on signing him long-term with a way to hedge its bets. If Desmond is able to play the outfield and other defensive positions, he might be able to move from shortstop into a different role if his defense slips over the course of his next contract.
He seems like a guy in great decline.
He’s not know to be a great glove either.
He’d be lucky to get a 3 year deal at around 13~14m per year.
Even that would be too much money.
I was surprised Ian and his agent didn’t accept the Nats qualifying offer of $15M for one season to see if he could return to his prior self (last season was an anomaly in my opinion). I’ve been watching Desmond since the days that the Nats were wretched, but even I could recognize the guy had an awful start to the season (especially in the field). I also think Matt Williams played a part in his demise. Yes, his average dropped from .280 to .255 to .230, but Desmond isn’t a .280 hitter. He’s a .255 hitter that will give you 20-24 home run, roughly 70-75 RBI’s and a WAR around 3.0. He’s going to K close to 150 times a season, but you realize that. If anyone has a bounce back season, chalk up Desmond as that guy. Unfortunately he won’t be doing it in a Nationals uniform. Someone else will enjoy his numbers (which are pedestrian for a SS). The Mets just signed Cabrera for two seasons. They could have gotten better value from Desmond IMO.
“which AREN’T pedestrian for a SS” – dang typo.
Agree with you that if his value comes down
close to what Cabrera demanded he would have been a better fit.
One thing that I don’t get about him is that he always has an okay defensive war
while always being bashed as a bad defender.
Can anyone fill me in on why the perception of him being a bad defender exists?
I’m not sure how WAR really works honestly – and I’ve done pretty well in multiple H2H keeper fantasy leagues (one is 30 teams deep) that I never have gone too deep into the sabermetrics aspect of the game. However, he passes the eye test on defense to me. Yes, he got off to a horrid start last season (it was literally an error a game in the first 25 games of the season), but he eventually cleaned himself up and went back to playing solid defense for the remainder of the season. His bat though was in a season long funk. The Nats didn’t help themselves much either with the piece meal lineup protection they provided. They were literally missing one or two starters all season long (more than the usual injury bug got a hold of them last season). Either way, someone is going to get a player waiting to rebound… a change of scenery never hurts I suppose.
He should of took that $100-$120 mil offer from Washington a year or 2 ago
It worked for Zoebust, and he can’t even play SS.
Down vote.
Zobrist can play shortstop, he’ll he came up as one.
Cause this idea worked real well for Hanley Ramirez
That was my first thought exactly.
Although it did work out very well for Hanley Ramirez. Boston is another story though.
It doesn’t matter where he plays he’s Still a player who Hit 230 and stikeout more than Babe Ruth.
Padres should grab him, I feel like he would hit well there and especially since they traded Gyorko but I’m not totally sure what there middle infield depth looks like, and Desmond shouldn’t be so expensive
Our projected starter is Alexi Amarista. We need someone.
Hanley Rameriz 2.0. Why don’t we just let infielders remain infielders? Have Ian Desmond play 3B or 2B.
This just tells me, he should’ve taken the 100 mill, when the Nats offered it…and all of this sudden willingness to play other positions, is designed to make the dollars inflate. But that wont work, because anyone can say, “Ive played 3rd base or LF”…Yea, but did you tell everyone, you were dreaming, when you played those positions?”
I think he’s a solid dude, but Im still hoping the Padres pass on him, because he’s VERY error prone, and strikes out a ton. We have enough of that already.
And a year and a half ago he turned down $100 million from the Nats…….
In a walk year this guy sucked. Stay away!
I’d take him on the White Sox for cheap.