Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Willy Taveras

Gotta finish this post before the coffee finishes brewing, which is the amount of time that Willy Taveras deserves. Here are the key points:
  • He's simply not a major-leaguer. Last year he hit .240 / .275 / .285. You could come up with synonyms for "awful," but really we're just looking at a minor league player--and a pretty bad one. If there's anyone to be mad at, it's Dusty Baker for giving him 400 ABs.
  • Fortunately, the Nationals signed him to a minor league contract. He's the latest Norris Hopper or Corey Patterson. Unless there's a rash of injuries, we'll never see him.
  • But, since Maxwell and Bernadina get hurt every year, there probably will be said rash, so it's not a terrible idea to have a plan D laying around.
  • Even in the minors, there's little chance that he blocks anyone who matters. After Maxwell and Bernadina, whom I'm hoping to see in DC this year, there isn't a projectable centerfielder anywhere in the system anyway. Which is a problem worth complaining about, if you're inclined to complain.
  • He can run and catch the ball in centerfield, which is an upgrade over what we watched for the year and half before Morgan came.
  • If you're going to post comments about this, either here or elsewhere, it's spelled Taveras, not Tavares, Tavaras, or Tuvalu.

8 comments:

23 said...

You forgot all the possible misspellings involving the letter "z." For example, "Taveraz," "Tavarez," "Tevarez," and the absolute worst: "Tuveraz."

This is similar to the subtle, but important, difference between Alberto Gonzales and Alberto Gonzalez. Although both invoke torture, only one involves a baseball field.

Jimbo said...

ahh its not that bad. I mean he was good at one point and is fast if he can get on base. They didn't pay much for him and who knows he may have a comeback?

Wang Chuck said...

Daniels, but especially Eury Perez who looks to come on strong at age 19. Even KLaw project Perez into his 2011 top 100 prospects.

So, there are CF prospects even if you don't know who they are?

Steven said...

First, it's Mike Daniel, not Daniels, even if you don't know how to spell his name. Second, he had a .253 / .316 / .376 line in AAA at age 24. He's not a prospect, even if you think he is.

Eury Perez--ok, fine. He's somewhat projectable (which isn't quite the same as "prospect," even if you don't know the difference). But Taveras isn't blocking a 20-year-old in short-season ball.

blovy8 said...

Yeah, sure, you can use him to run for someone who's already on base, then stick him in left field for two innings. Big deal. The issue would be if Riggleman got some nutty idea that he could ever hit enough to play regularly.

Anonymous said...

So long as Taveras is used solely to shag fly balls during BP, I'm okay with the signing. If they have to move a warm body off of the 40 man roster for him, I do not want any part of it.

Steven said...

Basically that's right, although I have more nightmares about Austin Kearns playing CF than I do Willy Taveras hitting.

Anonymous said...

I am a 1st time Spring Training visitor and am wondering how the schedule operates for players who are not involved in a game on a particular day. Thanks.