FanPost

A Blind Taste Test: CF Platoon Options by the Numbers

Whither Juan Lagares?

It turns out he's in the Dominican Republic playing Winter Ball. So much for giving his bad elbow a long rest. Either he's learning to live with the current condition or his arm will never again be the same. If it's the latter then there will be even more pressure put on his bat. Hopefully he'll rock Winter Ball and prove to be an every day center fielder.

But the off-season assumption seems to be he's not. Conventional wisdom has it that the Mets have a left-hand hitting CFer pretty high on their shopping list.

So how do the left-handed hitting center fielders stack up? How about we ignore the names and start by just looking at the numbers. Numbers aren't absolute. They don't tell the whole story but perhaps they can provide some sense of how big the gap is between five free agent options

The metrics in bold represent that the player has one of the two best measures in that category. There are five options and they're listed left to right in order of their wRC+ versus right-handed pitching. All stats are based on their career numbers vs. RHP.

One more thing, if you read the fine print on the back of your ticket stubs, you'll note that for Players B and E we're dealing with much smaller sample sizes than the other options. There's the rub . . . can we trust their numbers to hold over a full season job-share?

Player A

Player B

Player C

Player D

Player E

Age

31/9

28/4

29/8

28/7

26/2

wRC+

109

106

101

102

96

BA

.293

.245

.252

.289

.236

OBP

.353

.314

.351

.335

.335

SLG

.407

.423

.410

.432

.348

ISO

.114

.177

.158

.143

.112

K%

10.6%

30.5%

24.1%

16.5%

27%

BB%

8.2%

8.8%

12.5%

6.4%

12.5%

2Bs/590 PA

30

40

24

34.5

24

3Bs/590 PA

8

3

11.5

7.3

2

HRs/590 PA

6

16

11

9.6

9.5

SBs/590 PA

21.5

12

18.3

12.5

11.5

Defense

CF Innings

6839

724

7279

1387

250

UZR/150

2.6

3.6

-12.1

-8.6

-45.4

DRS

9

3

-56

-3

-7

Other

PAs v. RHP

2993

590

2734

2832

562

Lose Pick?

No

No

Yes

No

No

Est. Salary

3 x $12m

1 x $560k

4 x $14m

3 x $8m

1 x $600k

Number of Top Two's:

8

9

6

4

3

So to recap:

Players A & B are both relatively better at wRC+ and defense.

Player A is also top two for, BA, OBP, k%, and SB's.

Player B's other strengths are 2Bs, HRs, SLG, ISO, his age and his cost.

Player C shines at obp, ISO, bb's, 2Bs, 3Bs, HRs and SBs but would cost a draft pick in addition to a large contract.

Player D hits for average, slugs, hits doubles and has a low k%.

Player E is young, cheap and walks a lot.

So based on the combination of cost and performance who do you like best?

We'll reveal their identities in the comments section. It's your call on whether you vote "blind" or not.

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any vetting or approval process.