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Red Sox Acquire Garrett Cooper
jimoh
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Posts: 3,987 
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Post by jimoh on Apr 28, 2024 7:18:06 GMT -5
This is awesome. I hear he bats over .200, could hit cleanup for us! I jest, but still, he's a big upgrade offensively. Bobby's D has been refreshing, so I hope Cooper can carry that water on some level as well. I expect they'll DFA Dalbec, but I could see a Hamilton or Dalbec option with a 60-day DL for Mata or Walter instead. Advantage would be keeping depth?? I still can't get over that Bobby can be patient on pitches outside the zone AND hit in AAA, but can't even make solid contact in the show. There's a legit hitter in there somewhere (not great, but capable of hitting .220 or so at least). Dalbec hit 33 HRs - .269 BA - .938 OPS last year in Worcester. He is a legitimate All-star in AAA, maybe even a AAA MVP, but it has not translated into the MLB. It is both interest and strange that the contrast is so huge. Dalbec struck out almost 35% of the time last year in AAA as a 28-year-old hitting in a park that helps hitters. |
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Post by patford on Apr 28, 2024 7:34:25 GMT -5
It's hard to get excited about a guy who the Cubs gave away for a bag of beans.
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Post by notstarboard on Apr 28, 2024 8:05:29 GMT -5
It's hard to get excited about a guy who the Cubs gave away for a bag of beans. Idk, I'm pretty excited for -6 wRC+ and 0 OAA to stop being an everyday player. Cooper is a massive step up. Now once Grissom's back the R/L balance will be really good for a change and there will be no more black holes in the lineup. |
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Apr 28, 2024 8:16:29 GMT -5
It's hard to get excited about a guy who the Cubs gave away for a bag of beans. It's not that hard to get excited about upgrading from horrendous to average. |
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Apr 28, 2024 8:19:17 GMT -5
Good move. Guess Cron didnt overly impress them. The good thing is Cooper should get up to game speed quicker than Belt or Cron would. And with Belt, he'd he almost kind of useless once Casas returns. Cooper kind of fits better as a righty off the bench who can also play in the OF if need be. Turning 1b into average from being well below replacement level is a big step up for the 2 or 3 months Casas is out. Maybe Cooper be the best Red Sox 1b named Cooper since Cecil Cooper. Im not sure if it’s as much Cooper over Cron as it is Cooper now over Cron in one month Possible, which is why I mentioned the quicker ramping up part, but I think it's more than that. When Casas comes back, Cooper can play 1b or LF if needed while Cron is restricted to 1b, so roster wise, it's a cleaner fit. |
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Post by thegoodthebadthesox on Apr 28, 2024 9:20:48 GMT -5
It's hard to get excited about a guy who the Cubs gave away for a bag of beans. I think it’s always important to look at WHY a team would give away a seemingly capable player for so cheap, and in this case their why is probably Michael Busch, who has been lighting it up since he’s come up, and to a lesser extent Matt Mervis who has prospect equity and is maybe harder to shuffle around, though the performance isn’t there yet. I think Cooper probably become a rough fit |
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Post by lronhoyabembe on Apr 28, 2024 9:33:26 GMT -5
We got Cooper for free because he is replacement level. The thing is, replacement level is about 4 wins per 162 better than what we've been running out at 1B.
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Post by threeifbaerga on Apr 28, 2024 9:40:59 GMT -5
Dalbec hit 33 HRs - .269 BA - .938 OPS last year in Worcester. He is a legitimate All-star in AAA, maybe even a AAA MVP, but it has not translated into the MLB. It is both interest and strange that the contrast is so huge. Dalbec struck out almost 35% of the time last year in AAA as a 28-year-old hitting in a park that helps hitters. Does park have any impact on k-rate? |
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Post by scottysmalls on Apr 28, 2024 9:52:46 GMT -5
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Post by incandenza on Apr 28, 2024 10:12:04 GMT -5
It's hard to get excited about a guy who the Cubs gave away for a bag of beans. It's not that hard to get excited about upgrading from horrendous to average. Yeah, people tend to flatten out their evaluations to where bad = bad, but replacing a truly atrocious player can be a huge boost. The difference between a 20 wRC+ and a 100 wRC+ is the same as the difference between Sandy Leon (career 56 wRC+) and Vladimir Guerrero (136).
Meanwhile, with Grissom set to replace Valdez/Reyes, and with things looking generally good with Wong, Abreu, O'Neill, Duran, and Yoshida, this seems like it could be a pretty good lineup even before Casas gets back. (Cue the injury cart...)
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Post by bentossaurus on Apr 28, 2024 16:33:31 GMT -5
Interesting. What is the causation hypothesis here? Foul territory? Batter's eye? |
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Post by notstarboard on Apr 28, 2024 17:05:10 GMT -5
Interesting. What is the causation hypothesis here? Foul territory? Batter's eye? I'm guessing it's a combination of factors, but I'm not sure which is the most important. You could be onto something with foul territory (i.e. more foul territory = a higher chance of fouling out instead of striking out) and batter's eye (i.e. better contrast = hitters see the ball better and strike out less).
Elevation reduces movement, so I'd hypothesize that elevation should also reduce K rate. Coors has the second lowest K rate, so this checks out.
I'd guess that warmer areas allow for more juice on the fastball due to less dense air, while colder areas reduce velocity and make it harder to get a grip on your pitches. The net effect could increase the strikeout rate in warmer-weather outdoor parks and vice versa.
Fans could also be a factor. Imagine an environment like Yankee Stadium with loud, jeering fans that's hard for away players to play in; I could definitely see them striking out more in that setting and affecting the park factor.
Another possibility could be tough shadows in front of home plate, especially for teams that play a disproportionate amount of day games. That might bump up the rate at Wrigley a couple ticks, for example, and would generally impact outdoor parks more than indoor ones.
Another visibility thing that comes to mind is the stadium lighting. Tampa and Milwaukee (when the roof is closed) are examples of pretty dim, gloomy ballparks, and the strikeout rate is pretty high there.
I'm not sure if rain favors the hitter or the pitcher (I'd guess the pitcher), but provided one side has the advantage, outdoor parks, especially in rainy regions where you might need to play through a lot of tough weather, could have more strikeouts.
I'm sure there are others too!
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ericmvan
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Supposed to be working on something more important
Posts: 8,936
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Post by ericmvan on Apr 29, 2024 11:51:27 GMT -5
This is awesome. I hear he bats over .200, could hit cleanup for us! I jest, but still, he's a big upgrade offensively. Bobby's D has been refreshing, so I hope Cooper can carry that water on some level as well. I expect they'll DFA Dalbec, but I could see a Hamilton or Dalbec option with a 60-day DL for Mata or Walter instead. Advantage would be keeping depth?? I still can't get over that Bobby can be patient on pitches outside the zone AND hit in AAA, but can't even make solid contact in the show. There's a legit hitter in there somewhere (not great, but capable of hitting .220 or so at least). Dalbec hit 33 HRs - .269 BA - .938 OPS last year in Worcester. He is a legitimate All-star in AAA, maybe even a AAA MVP, but it has not translated into the MLB. It is both interest and strange that the contrast is so huge. I want to point out again that when he was recalled last September he was the best hitter on the team for a week. His problem is not that he can't hit MLB pitching. It's that he's a JBJ type, and the puzzle is why he has a very good hot to cold ratio in AAA and a very bad one in MLB. There's probably a psychological component, at this point.
And I don't think he's going anywhere. Since Valdez can only play 2B, he's obviously going down to make room for Grissom. That leaves Dalbec and Hamilton as the possibilities to make room for Cooperr, and Hamilton has never played an inning at 3B or 1B. The last time they found themselves with no backup 1B, they had Refsnyder work out there, and he hadn't played there is years ... because he'd been lousy at it. He was and remains the emergency back-up.
Viewed another way, if you keep Hamilton, what is his role? Pinch-runner, but for who? Cooper, but who then plays first? Reyes, but he's also your backup at SS, 2B, and 3B. Hamilton is behind Reyes as backup SS, so he's also the guy who plays SS when Reyes is at one of the other three positions he's the primary backup for.
Dalbec has played great defense at 1B, and he has a chance doing something good with the bat. That's kind of the definition of a backup, no?. And you just can't have Reyes backing up all four infield positions.
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Post by dirtywaterinla on Apr 29, 2024 11:54:22 GMT -5
Dalbec hit 33 HRs - .269 BA - .938 OPS last year in Worcester. He is a legitimate All-star in AAA, maybe even a AAA MVP, but it has not translated into the MLB. It is both interest and strange that the contrast is so huge. I want to point out again that when he was recalled last September he was the best hitter on the team for a week. His problem is not that he can't hit MLB pitching. It's that he's a JBJ type, and the puzzle is why he has a very good hot to cold ratio in AAA and a very bad one in MLB. There's probably a psychological component, at this point.
And I don't think he's going anywhere. Since Valdez can only play 2B, he's obviously going down to make room for Grissom. That leaves Dalbec and Hamilton as the possibilities to make room for Cooperr, and Hamilton has never played an inning at 3B or 1B. The last time they found themselves with no backup 1B, they had Refsnyder work out there, and he hadn't played there is years ... because he'd been lousy at it. He was and remains the emergency back-up.
Viewed another way, if you keep Hamilton, what is his role? Pinch-runner, but for who? Cooper, but who then plays first? Reyes, but he's also your backup at SS, 2B, and 3B. Hamilton is behind Reyes as backup SS, so he's also the guy who plays SS when Reyes is at one of the other three positions he's the primary backup for.
Dalbec has played great defense at 1B, and he has a chance doing something good with the bat. That's kind of the definition of a backup, no?. And you just can't have Reyes backing up all four infield positions.
FYI Reyes was just DFA’d |
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Apr 29, 2024 12:02:13 GMT -5
With no options he is likely gone. Which means either Hamilton or Valdez remains? Both have options and, unlike Reyes, neither are versatile. At least Bobby D can back up several positions.
Waiting for the next cleat to drop.
Edit: If he were versatile Hamilton could theoretically add to the 2024 speed element, but as Eric implied he isn’t likely running for fellow SS Rafaella nor Duran, O’Neill, Grissom, Abreu, even Wong or Refsnyder. It’s a rare good running Boston team.
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Post by Underwater Johnson on Apr 29, 2024 13:41:28 GMT -5
I had Cooper on my dump-Dalbec-Casas-backup list back in January. Glad it finally fell into place and with a requisite amount of wasted Bobby ABs so that there is no need for what-ifs. Cooper has a history of mashing LHP and playing a tidy 1B. I’d like to think CB2 would’ve plucked him even without the Casas injury.
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