Baseball Musings: First Basemen in the Outfield

July 28, 2005

First Basemen in the Outfield

The Arizona Diamondbacks are releasing Jose Cruz Jr. to make room for Conor Jackson, a minor league first baseman who's tearing up the Pacific Coast League. Arizona is looking for an offensive boost, and they're getting it by sacrificing defense in the outfield:

Jackson, 23, will share time at first base with Tony Clark in a move that will force Chad Tracy, who has started 72 games at first, out to right field. Shawn Green, who has started 97 games in right, will move over and be the everyday starter in center field.

Green became a first baseman with the Dodgers. Tracy is a first baseman. There's a reason these players were at first rather than in the outfield. Green last played center in 2001.

Still it's not such a bad move if Jackson hits well. The team gets plenty of credit for boldness and imagination. And considering the state of the NL West, a small team improvement can lead to big rewards.

Posted by David Pinto at 09:23 AM | Strategy | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I wonder if the Yanks will try and grab Jose Crux Jr. He was only batting .217, but had a .351 OBP and he can play CF. Not a *GREAT* CF, but look who we have playing there now. Cruz's OBS this year is actually a decent .795 (about career average for him), which is higher than Bernie's and Bubba's. Shoot, if he can't play CF, then stick him in LF and put Matsui back in CF.

Posted by: sabernar at July 28, 2005 09:48 AM

If the Yankers will grab Hideo Nomo after the Rays released him, I think they will try anything...

Posted by: mavrck31 at July 28, 2005 10:35 AM

Jackson is the guy Bean would have taken with the Sox '03 #1 pick had he accepted the Boston job. As it were, Theo listened to the scouts and picked "sweet swing" Murphy, who is still struggling in AA...

Posted by: Jason at July 28, 2005 11:06 AM

Can Cruz pitch?

Posted by: rbj at July 28, 2005 12:20 PM

Cruz' DFA surprised me. As other posters have pointed out, he's hardly valueless and he's not that expensive at four million. His .783 OPS this year isn't horrible and it's pretty close to his .790 career figure.

He has done poorly on zone rating and range factor this year. And he's certainly the victim of high expectations created by his .856 OPS season in 2001, followed a long slide downward. But the Yankees could do worse than to try him in center.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 28, 2005 12:34 PM

I wonder if the Cards (also needing a quick fix in the OF) might be interested in Cruz?

Posted by: Bird at July 28, 2005 12:43 PM

The Rangers might not mind a look, either. Just noticed that Cruz has the same OPS this year as Ichiro. Somehow I don't think Suzuki will be DFAed.

Somebody will probably give Cruz a try.

Posted by: Casey Abell at July 28, 2005 12:46 PM

Players whose OPS is lower than Cruz Jr'

Carlos Beltran, Sean Casey, Huff, Hidalgo, Sammy Sosa, Podsednik, Beltre, Renteria, Ichiro, Piazza, Posada, IRod, Croawford, LoDuca, Millar, Torii Hunter, Eric Chavez...

the list goes on. Why the D'Backs would dump a player that can still be useful is very weird. Maybe they just look at BA and not OBP. Weird. I'm sure someone will pick him up - he's a significantly better hitter than many starting OFs.

Posted by: sabernar at July 28, 2005 01:27 PM

Wow. I got so caught up in the Jackson promotion that I totally missed the fact that the D'Backs are dumping one of the better offensive CF's in baseball. Then again, his '05 ZR is the worst of any CF with anywhere near his number of innings and Green appears capable of not embarassing himself in center. According to his fielding stats, he's downright useless anywhere in the outfield and I imagine the D'Backs will be able to find another team willing to take a risk on him *cough* Yankees *cough* :)

Posted by: Jason at July 28, 2005 04:02 PM

Yeah, his ZR this year sucks, but it's really a pretty small sampling compared to his total career. Not that his total career is outstanding, but unless he totally stopped being able to move around in the OF, I would say give him a shot.

Posted by: sabernar at July 28, 2005 04:11 PM

There's gotta be something wrong with him. ZR doesn't drop *that* far for no reason. Maybe that pinched nerve is still affecting him. If there were other CFs with similar inning #'s with lower ZR's, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but, man, his '05 ZR makes Bernie look good!

Posted by: Jason at July 28, 2005 05:08 PM