Vargas (and Joey Meneses) hit the FA market. I am surprised for all the reasons I noted below.
It's seems pretty good they are moving on. Likely this means they see Jose Tena as the future utility man as he is a lot younger and has the potential to hit a bit better. His defense is right now probably comparable to Vargas which actually shows well for Vargas who is 8-9 years older. I'd expect that he would be worse in his late 20s but that's half a decade away. In the meantime there's really no downside unless you think Vargas' clubhouse presence will be missed a lot. Joey was also kind of liked from what I could tell so we'll see. Winning makes guys feel a lot better about the clubhouse without clubhouse guys needed.
Uhhhhh...Tena made 10 errors in 37 games and averaged one every 30 innings in the field. Seems very un-Vargas-like (6 errors in 680 innings)
ReplyDeleteYeah I was wondering where in the world he got that idea from!
DeleteYeah Tena was atrocious in the field maybe he can learn 3B but not a promising start
DeleteTena's defense coming into this year was seen as a positive. His arm in undeniably strong and his range seems ok. I'm taking prospect reviews over 40 game tryout yips. But yes, if it isn't just that it's a clear step back.
DeleteTena was played as a SS in the high minors. He's probably not Mr. Clank.
DeleteI don't think we'll see Joey M. back. But I'm not sure he was as much "fired" as given the opportunity to latch onto another MLB team. With his strange RBI superpower, he may have a role on a bad team, or with a better team's taxi squad. He's at least a cromulent AAA DH/1B/LF.
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on how you see the role of the utility guy. If his job is to be able to wear the right glove for any given position for the rest of the game until a AAA callup can take over, and hit some, that's fine. He sure hits better than Vargas, and as long as he's not butchering every ball hit his way, that's ok.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I think it's more Nunez as being the utility infielder. Tena (assuming he's not the starting third baseman, which he is as the roster presently exists), is more like the role Cavan Biggio used to have with the Blue Jays...though in all fairness, Vargas got shoehorned into that role by the Nats a lot. I could see a bench of Milias, Tena, Nunez, and OF4 (probably Alex Call as the roster presently exists, though adding a starting outfielder in FA could push Young into the role if Wood doesn't move to DH or 1B) being functional.
ReplyDeleteI know "tell 'em, Wash", but when you look at Wood's bad LF numbers and the enormous target he presents, I really think he belongs at 1B. Tena may start the season at 3B, but I'm pretty sure it's Brady House's job before long. If they get Soto, he should be DH (he's far too expensive to have doing anything other than trotting to first or trotting a homer), and then just get corner OFs and Young in center to actually catch everything.
ReplyDelete