Un. Real.
July 9, 2008Holcomb, Dilfer Hang ‘Em Up, Frye Next?
July 10, 2008
WFNY readers have been playing GM for the Cavaliers since the playoffs ended. Well Tribe fans, the ‘off-season’ has come early for this year’s team. So we want your help. We will take a look at the Indians roster and determine who we should try and trade, who deserves an extension, and who we should simply ‘let it ride’. You’ve already spoken on Ryan Garko. Up next is Jhonny Peralta…
Jhonny Peralta. 2004 International League Player of the Year. Refuses to drop the ‘h’ from his name. Currently the Tribe’s starting short stop.
Contract Information–
Jhonny was signed to an extension in 2006. His 5 year contract is worth $13 million. The club has an option for 2011 at $7 million.
Stats–
Year |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
TB |
BB |
SO |
SB |
OBP |
SLG |
AVG |
2006 | 149 | 569 | 84 | 146 | 28 | 3 | 13 | 68 | 219 | 56 | 152 | 0 | .323 | .385 | .257 |
2007 | 152 | 574 | 87 | 155 | 27 | 1 | 21 | 72 | 247 | 61 | 146 | 4 | .341 | .430 | .270 |
2008 | 83 | 325 | 50 | 82 | 23 | 1 | 14 | 41 | 149 | 22 | 70 | 2 | .299 | .458 | .252 |
Peralta’s stats are not horrible for a shortstop. He is 4th in RBI among SS this year. He is around the middle of the pack in hits and slugging percentage, but 34th in average. His 70 strikeouts rank 3rd worst. All of this would be quite acceptable if we were talking about a Gold Glove caliber SS. We aren’t. We are talking about Peralta, who may have the worst range of any SS in the game. His fielding percentage is .981 having committed 7 errors. Among regular SS’s that is good for 14th in the league, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Peralta just doesn’t get to as many balls as other SS.
Waiting in the Wings–
Asdrubal Cabrera. Astrocab may never hit for power like Jhonny is capable of, but the defensive lift he gives the club, especially ground ball pitchers like Westbrook and Carmona, is tremendous. Of course, we’ve been saying that for awhile–
Getting the day off was Jhonny Peralta. Asdrubal Cabrera played short and Jamey Carroll second. Mr. Peralta had better watch his back. Watching Peralta play short and then seeing Asdrubal do it is like watching an black and white television and then going to a buddy’s house to see his new Plasma HD. Cabrera made at least 3 plays by my count that Peralta could NEVER have made. That may not sound like a lot, but in the scope of this game it meant the difference between a shutout and one or two runs scored. In the typical Tribe game, that would certainly be enough to determine the outcome. Now, Asdrubal is hitting as miserably as anyone on the team, but his defense in my opinion is enough to warrant serious consideration to a permanent move to short.
Would Peralta make it as a third baseman? Does he have a strong enough arm? Is his bat, though decent for a SS good enough for third? Could Peralta have trade value? Rumor was the Dodgers were looking for a SS. What do you think? Should we Let it Ride with Peralta at SS in ’09? Are you done watching Jhonny’s cement feet, and want to see him traded? Should we attempt to move him to another position? What say you?
18 Comments
“Peralta is establishing himself as one of the best young hitters in baseball.”
Looks like someone needs to update his Wikipedia entry.
I voted trade – although Cabrera made the all crap team for the AL (http://simononsports.blogspot.com/2008/07/al-all-crap-team.html), I think having a defensive SS is more important than having one that can sort of hit but not field well.
trade him
As much as I love the guy (he is my favorite player on the team,) you have to test the market with him. With AstroCab in the wings, and guys like beau mills, wes hodges, and potentially now laporta, do we really want to put peralta ahead of them as a roadblock.
we’re already talking 2010 at best to contend again, so package him up and get some arms
It would have to depend on what we could get for him in return, but I voted to move him. A GM for Blake would have cleared the space for him…
I voted trade, however I don’t really believe there is much of a market for him. I think Cabrera can hit .250 in the majors, and while that isn’t great you can live with him at the bottom of your lineup since he is such a great defender. That also hinges on Barfield being a quality 2B that can preferably hit higher than .250 because you can only have so many poor hitters in a lineup…as we are currently seeing
Well one thing is for certain…not many are in favor of keeping Jhonny at SS.
Trade Him- 37
Switch Positions- 24
Let It Ride- 5
Package him with Blake and try to make a deal with Dodgers. I’m tired of watchong Jhonny, he’s by far the most inconsistent hitter in baseball. Goes 5-5 one night and Indians.com posts an article saying that he’s finding his groove in the cleanup hole. So how does Jhonny respond 0-4 with 3 K’s, typical. Try to pry Kemp loose from the dodgers, or maybe Mcdonald, and Laroche, or Wade.
i said change his position move him over to third his bat wont hurt this struggling lineup and he has the arm. i mean this season is over lets mix it up its worth a shot what do we have to loose. And i dont want to see another player traded for prospect
If we are going to look ahead to LaPorta, Mills, Weglarz etc., then we might as well go all the way and make sure the Garkos, Gutierrez’s and Jhonny’s of the org. are out of the way within two years.
If they pan out, seeing Hodges at third, Mills at first, and Weglarz and LaPorta in the corners by sometime in 2010 suddenly looks like a 100% power upgrade than the joke we have in the “power” positions currently.
Trade him. And see if Woody Held is available.
Trade Him- 52
Switch Positions- 39
Let it Ride- 5
I put let it ride, and I meant cut him. Should have read more closely, since that’s not even an option. But either way, it actually should only be 4 for let it ride.
Move Peralta to the hot corner and move Cabrera to Short. Cabrera will more than likely be able to cover the ground lost by moving Peralta to third. As for Peralta’s arm strength, it will be just fine if begins to consistently play third in practice and spring training, his arm will strengthen and he’ll be just fine. The only problem is what to do with second base. Barfield is the best case scenario at the moment when he comes back but the tribe needs to start looking for kids to develop seeing that our farm system doesn’t provide us with alot of options for Quality MLB players. As for Casey Blake, he’s an over paid prospect ($6.1 million to be exact) that the Indians are still waiting to develop 9 years into his MLB career.
I vote for keeping him. Why? He’s only 26. He has 16 homers after today’s game. He has the best OPS of any shortstop in the AL. You’d like to see his walk rate rise, of course, so that’s something he can work on. He’ll likely never be a high average hitter, nor a high OBP guy like Grady, but his bat has 30-homer potential, and among shortstops, that’s rare. Furthermore, if we trade him, who are we going to replace him with? Asdrubal Cabrera plays great defense, but he needs to prove that he will hit. I think he will, but even then, you need someone at second base. Jamey Carroll is good as a role player and temporary starter, but playing him every day on a contending team isn’t the ideal. Barfield? He sucks-not only does he not get on base, he doesn’t hit for power either, and his glove isn’t that great. If Andy Marte shows he can hit, we can have him play third base, Asdrubal play second, and power-hitting Jhonny play shortstop.
We need to give Andy Marte at least 5 starts a week at third base in the second half. That way, perhaps we’ll finally get a read on whether Marte will hit. There’s nothing left for him to prove in the minors-it’s time for him to do it in the majors. And unlike some guys, like Ben Francisco, Marte doesn’t seem to be the type of guy to come up and succeed right away at the plate. He’ll need an extended stretch of playing time if he’s going to hit. In ’06, his longest trial with the Tribe so far, he played the last 6 weeks or so (I don’t remember exactly), and did better as time went on. So, if Marte proves he can hit, he’ll have third base locked down for next year. If Asdrubal will start at second, we’ll have strong defense on either side of Jhonny, which should lessen the impact of Jhonny’s weaker defense. Only if Marte can’t hit would I want to move Jhonny to 3rd, at least for the next year and a half.
I think Peralta’s stock is really high right now… higher than it really should be. He’s been hitting well recently, and he’s playing in the middle of our batting order which is giving him a nice RBI boost to go along with the surge in hitting. If I were the GM, I probably wouldn’t be able to do crap with Peralta, but Shapiro has a sharp mind and can probably sucker a team like the Dodgers to give away too much for Jhonny at this point. The Dodgers have a wealth of outfield talent that is major-league ready, so it’d be great to see a move made now that will give Cabrera another chance at SS and will get Delucci out of left field.
you guys’re trippin’. Jhonny’s awesome and cabrera is crap.
i don’t wanna see a little powerless slow and .170 avg dude in the SS (asdrubal)
plus i love jhonny’s long shots
he’s an awesome cleanup hitter
he’s so young and robust
Well, trippin as I may be….Cabrera is 10x the defensive SS that Peralta is. And I’d hold off electing Jhonny to the clean-up hitter hall of fame so quickly.