The Mets have designated second baseman Brian Dozier for assignment, per various reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Right-hander Franklyn Kilome has been recalled to replace Dozier on the active roster.
Dozier’s time in Queens could have come to an end after just 16 plate appearances across seven games. The 33-year-old has now been cut loose by both the Padres and Mets over the past few months, but he managed a solid season with the Nationals just a year ago. Dozier hit .238/.340/.430 (99 wRC+) in 482 plate appearances in Washington last season. Speculatively speaking, the Nats could look back into a reunion with Dozier in the wake of Starlin Castro’s recent broken wrist, although Washington has quite a few internal options who could be relied upon to fill that void.
The Mets are dealing with an injury to one of their second base options as well. Jeff McNeil hasn’t played since leaving Thursday’s contest after running into the outfield wall. Fortunately, McNeil is available off the bench today, manager Luis Rojas says (via Tim Healey of Newsday). That seemingly bodes well for McNeil’s chances of returning to the starting lineup in short order.
My how times have changed. .238 is now considered a solid season. Maybe back in the ’70’s when middle infielders were little guys whose main job was to bunt was .238 considered solid, but not in the last 30 years. Dozier fell off a cliff and he is done.
Yea, they’d hit .238 with a .290 on base and a .330 slugging. A .238 average isn’t the same as a .238 average.
A veteran backup middle infielder hitting league average is solid.
Batting average is as low as it was in the year of the pitcher (1968) but slugging percentage is a hundred points higher. The game is different. If you hit.238 but walk a lot and hit with power it’s a lot different than hitting .238 and walk a little and have no power, like those middle infielders of the 70s.
A .238 BA is completley different if you’re Billy Hamilton and if you’re Rhys Hoskins or Kyle Schwarber. I think everyone would agree that Hoskins and Schwarber are way more productive with the bat than Billy Hamilton despite all three having relatively similar BA’s.
I don’t care if you’re a speedster, or a masher, a 238 hitter is garbage.
Must suck to have such a narrow point of view, it really limits how much you can understand and enjoy the game.
.238 alone isn’t considered solid just like .300 alone can’t be considered solid. You’re doing a disservice to yourself when you don’t look at the rest of what a hitter does. BA clearly doesn’t mean as much as it used to, and rightfully so.
True as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go very far. Dozier had two seasons of very good power production but the power hasn’t been heard from since. That low BA is going to count for a lot more when the player’s main offensive skill fades, as his certainly has.
I’d take a .238 BA with a .360 OBP over a .290 BA with a .315 OPB.
His career OBP is .325. Not bad, but hardly great, and a lot closer to the number you wouldn’t take than to the one you would take.
OBP and walks are too dependent on another player for them to be really significant stats. At least not as significant as some people believe them to be. Without pitchers that can’t find the strike zone, walks will rarely happen and OBP will be much closer to BA. Sure sometimes you can work a walk by fouling off pitches and such, but most of the time one of those cardboard cutouts in the stands will draw as many walks as living players. All you have to do is not swing.
Did you just say on base, how often a player can reach base, a pretty important part of baseball, is not a significant stat?
You act like 90% of walks only happen because the pitcher is incredibly wild.
What you just said is so far off the truth I don’t really even know what to say to you.
Research has shown that good batters DO create their own walks, so to speak. The old school idea that BBs are simply the effect of a wild pitcher has always been wrong. OBP is perhaps the most important of the traditional stats.
Amen
Working walks is a legitimate part of the game that isn’t mostly dependant on bad pitching. Plate discipline has a whole lot to do with it. There’s a reason players like Joey Votto consistently had high walk rates. What a naive statement.
Teams will pitch around players with a base open or to put on the force with two outs. There is more to the story of walks. But please tell us how important walks are while we watch Oakland lose in October again because they can’t execute with RISP or bunt when needed.
When a team on D is willing to walk a player it devalues the walk itself.
I so agree. OBP is a valid stat. Runs don”r always come because of a home run. Hiflew must have never played the game. Put on a glove and get out on the field, you stat geek.
lol “the old school idea”
Now you stat geeks are creating false history to make yourself try to look smarter?. Fact is the analysis of what actions result in a walk are the same now as they have always been.
Gotta take that .340 OBP into account, but a 0.7 bWAR in 135 games? More meh than solid. 99 OPS+? Not good for an everyday player unless your a legit good glover. So I’d say it depends on the definition of solid in this context. But he was below average or just about at it.
482 PA = not an everyday player. He was somewhere in between a backup and a regular.
You wouldn’t take his numbers from a middle infielder coming off the bench? I’d say they’re solid for a backup 2b.
482 PA IS pretty close to an everyday player. That is 3 PAs per game for a full season. I would think of 200-250 PAs as a true backup.
If he was an everyday player in 135 games he would’ve had about 540 PAs (135 games x 4 PA/game). But he wasn’t an everyday player, which is why he didn’t have that many PAs.
I said he was something in between a regular and a backup. Not enough PAs for a regular, too many for a true backup.
Glad you agree with me though.
It’s close enough for everyday play. And I can’t get excited about a second base only league average bat for my bench. He is what he is: a good waiver-wire type to fill in until things straighten out, at which you point you release him and move on. If he could play a couple other positions well he be more exciting.
No, it’s 80 PAs away, it’s not close enough. He wasn’t an everyday player. You must have an outstanding bench to not take a league average player coming off your bench.
He’s really less than league average once you take into account he only plays 2B….. 0.7 bWAR over 135 games is decidedly less than league average. It’s a hair away from replacement level.
Since when is an almost 1 WAR for a back up player considered “decidedly less than league average”? He was an above average back up player.
If the backup is playing 135 games 0.7 is well below average. It comes to only one win over a full 162.
So he’s a win above replacement level, making him an above average back up.
That doesn’t follow…he played well more than most backups and his wins per game rate isn’t as good as you are making it out to be.,…0.7 is good for a quarter season, not 135games… good back up > than replacement level player
According to fangraphs, his total war was 1.6 last season, which ranked him 254 overall in the majors, including pitchers.
That put him on par with Manuel Margot, Cameron Maybin, Daniel Vogelbach, Jose Igelasis, Travis d’Arnaud, Yandy Diaz, Tyler Naquin, Dexter Folwer, Andrew McCutchen, etc.
All those players are solid fill in or backup players in 2019, just like Dozier.
A 99 OPS+ and .340 OBP ain’t bad for a guy who’s job is just to be a bench platoon bat. He can still hit lhp pretty well.
Not saying he’s done but a .238 average with power is why the game is hard to watch today. Hoping I’m wrong but Brian Dozier meet Michael Chavis.
I’m surprised he had to settle for a minor league deal. I know he’s not the slugger he once was, but he still was around league average in 2019, crushed left handed pitching, and was great in the clutch.
There must be something going on with him. The Padres released him too, and they have a pretty good sized hole at second base.
And to think the Twins could have had Cody Bellinger for Dozier straight up a few years ago, but they inexplicably asked for one or two additional players.
Bellinger was never available. That was somebody’s pipe dream.
Bellinger was never on the table. They wanted more than just Jose De Leon.
Hello? Hello! Hello! Hello!
GM’s toss all kinds of names around during trade talks. Sometimes it’s serious, other times it’s just talk.
Yanks could have some interest in Dozier with D.J on the shelf now. Thinking Dozier has something left for some team out there.
yes…he has something left…..for an independent league team….maybe
I’d rather just use Wade and Estrada.
Watch the jays get him if bo goes on the il
I have no interest in Dozier on the Yankees. It’s time to see what Wade or Estrada can do. One of them will eventually be traded probably in the off season.
They would want a player capable of playing SS. That is not Dozier.
There’s something about the 2B position. Even the best of them often don’t see to hold it later in their careers. Perhaps they were never as athletic as the shortstops.
How Well Would It Work For Brian Cashman,If He Adds Infield Insurance For My New York Yankees By Taking A Flyer On Brian Dozier & Signing Him?
Not Very Well At All. Yanks Already Have Enough Infield Depth
More likely Boston takes a chance on him before the Yanks. But, Yankees have made strange moves that worked out. Unlikely but not impossible.
Why Are We Capitalizing Every Word? It Is Very Strange To See.
I Was Wondering The Same Thing. It’s Actually A Pain In The A To Use The Shift Key Every Three Letters. Why Would Anyone Voluntarily Do It?
I like Dozier. I hope he lands somewhere that’s a good fit. He had some quality seasons with the Twins. What do you say Dozier? … knock that dirt off your boots and finish the season strong?
I’d like to see him try to play 3rd for the braves. Anything to go get better production from that position
Hopefully Matz goes to the pen so Kilome can get a start.
DFA sewald!!!
Red Sox should take a chance on him.
Since when is .240/.340/.430 a “decent” season?
If you’re a catcher, pretty much every season in the last 120 years.
In 1980 the average slash line was .265/.326/.388. For a C or MI .240/.340/.430 put you in the top 1/3 of MLB for your position.
Funny, Brendan Belt is hitting .190 right now. Strikes out a lot and batting eye is good enough to draw walks along with his singles. Is this also considered a solid season for a MLB first baseman??
Another absurd Mets move. An old, over the hill guy who can only handle 2B, and they somehow just had to put him on the roster.
It’s incredible, really.