Spinning this off from another thread.
Where does Alex Verdugo fit into the club's plans for 2023? At 26 years old he should be considered to still be in the prime of his career, but what does his prime actually look like?
One of the big issues this year for the club was the lack of power from the OF positions. Verdugo was the only player to play full time in the OF in 2022 due to injuries and ineffectiveness and trades. He put up this line:
644 PA, .280/.328/.405/.732, good for a 102 OPS+. 39 2B, 11 HR.
His OPS+ has declined in 3 straight seasons: 123, 107, 102. His OPS itself has gone from .844 to .777 to .732.
His WAR has gone from 3.0 to 2.1 to 2.2 to 1.2.
His defense seems to have settled in as average or maybe a touch below in LF, 0 BDFS this year, usually between 4 and 7 below average every year for him. In RF his defensive figures are slightly worse.
So his trends aren't what one would expect from a 26 year old young player. On the plus side he seems to have avoided the injury bug over the past three years, he plays hard every day, he's a positive influence around the team and seems to be somewhat emerging as a team leader.
He is also cheap as he earned 3.5 million this year and is arb-eligible for 2023.
So what should the Sox do with him? Should they seek to improve his position via trade? Keep him in LF and see if he improves in his age 27 season? Move him to RF and live with below average defense like they did with Renfroe?
Talk to me.
Where does Alex Verdugo fit into the club's plans for 2023? At 26 years old he should be considered to still be in the prime of his career, but what does his prime actually look like?
One of the big issues this year for the club was the lack of power from the OF positions. Verdugo was the only player to play full time in the OF in 2022 due to injuries and ineffectiveness and trades. He put up this line:
644 PA, .280/.328/.405/.732, good for a 102 OPS+. 39 2B, 11 HR.
His OPS+ has declined in 3 straight seasons: 123, 107, 102. His OPS itself has gone from .844 to .777 to .732.
His WAR has gone from 3.0 to 2.1 to 2.2 to 1.2.
His defense seems to have settled in as average or maybe a touch below in LF, 0 BDFS this year, usually between 4 and 7 below average every year for him. In RF his defensive figures are slightly worse.
So his trends aren't what one would expect from a 26 year old young player. On the plus side he seems to have avoided the injury bug over the past three years, he plays hard every day, he's a positive influence around the team and seems to be somewhat emerging as a team leader.
He is also cheap as he earned 3.5 million this year and is arb-eligible for 2023.
So what should the Sox do with him? Should they seek to improve his position via trade? Keep him in LF and see if he improves in his age 27 season? Move him to RF and live with below average defense like they did with Renfroe?
Talk to me.