Oakland, Seattle Make Marginal Infield Upgrades

It’s practically February and the free agent pool is scaling down. Many of the massive names have already flown off the board. By our projections, solely 5 unsigned gamers forecast to amass not less than 1 WAR within the upcoming season, solely three of whom are place gamers. Most groups have already stuffed out their Opening Day beginning lineups; now their focus shifts to bettering the fringes of their 26-man roster, looking for a few further wins or insurance coverage in case of accidents. The Mariners and the A’s, two AL West groups with very completely different outlooks for 2023, every not too long ago made such an addition, inking a veteran to bolster infield depth. Let’s have a look.

Mariners signal Tommy La Stella to a league-minimum deal

Previously a bench infielder and designated pinch hitter for the Cubs (his league-leading 91 pinch hit appearances in 2018 has not been matched since), La Stella was traded to the Angels with two years of workforce management remaining for a prospect who never threw a pitch in Chicago’s system. In 2019, he maintained the contact expertise and glorious plate self-discipline that made him a league-average hitter, however he improved in one other aspect of his sport that was emblematic of the juiced ball period. That yr, his fly ball fee, which had beforehand sat across the 20% mark, climbed to 25%; that, mixed with a small improve in his pull fee, led to an influence get away. Regardless of missing conventional energy indicators like barrels and a excessive most exit velocity, La Stella made essentially the most of his aerial contact (and the favorable dimensions of Angels Stadium) to submit a career-high .486 slugging proportion and hit residence runs at a fee of 30 per 600 PA, a wonderful mark even throughout the heightened offensive surroundings. His absolute refusal to swing and miss performed an enormous half on this as nicely; his minuscule 8.7% strikeout fee gave him loads of balls in play, a lot of which left the yard:

Within the shortened 2020 season, La Stella continued his sturdy efficiency. His residence run fee dipped, probably because of a midseason commerce to Oakland’s unforgiving park dimensions, however he posted one of the best method numbers of his profession, drawing free passes greater than twice as usually as he struck out. In his remaining yr earlier than hitting free company, he set a profession excessive in wRC+ (128). With two consecutive seasons with a .350 wOBA (and a equally sturdy xwOBA), multi-positional versatility (he had appearances at first, second, and third), and probably the greatest approaches in baseball, it’s straightforward to see why the Giants supplied him a backloaded three-year contract price $18.8 million by means of the 2023 season.

Sadly for the Giants, La Stella’s numbers shortly regressed. His 2021 peripheral stats largely matched up his numbers in Anaheim and Oakland, however he posted a career-low OBP and had only a 93 wRC+ in 242 plate appearances in a bench and platoon function. Nonetheless, it appeared potential that he would return to his .342 xwOBA and grow to be an above-average run producer once more. However that didn’t occur. La Stella underwent an Achilles surgical procedure within the offseason (which was later revealed to be two surgeries — one for each Achilles) and the lingering results of harm by no means appeared to go away. His dash pace, which had by no means been nice, fell to a career-worst seventh percentile; he hit simply two homers in virtually 200 plate appearances and walked on the lowest fee of his profession. And whereas he had beforehand been generally known as a utility defender, he was price -4 RAA in simply 76 infield innings. In whole, his contributions have been price -0.8 WAR. San Francisco minimize ties with La Stella a couple of weeks in the past, consuming roughly $10 million owed to him.

In signing La Stella coming off a career-worst season, the Mariners are inserting a raffle on a return to his pre-injury kind, that of an above-average hitter with superior self-discipline who not less than gained’t harm you within the area or on the basepaths. Whereas Seattle gained 90 video games final season, their offense ranked 18th in runs scored, they usually’ve solely made one influence addition to the roster in Teoscar Hernández. RosterResource presently initiatives AJ Pollock, who had a .284 OBP and 69 wRC+ in opposition to right-handed pitching final season, because the full-time beginning DH. If his struggles in opposition to righties proceed, La Stella might take a few of his begins there. He might additionally slide in to offer first baseman Ty France the occasional break day, or be a brief substitute if new second baseman Kolten Wong misses time with harm. Wong hasn’t certified for the batting title since 2019, and has had quite a few short-term accidents in latest reminiscence. Lefty masher Dylan Moore is a strong possibility, however he’s most precious in a super-utility function (he began video games at seven positions final yr), and gamers on the Mariners 40-man who don’t venture to make the Opening Day roster embrace 9 pitchers, three outfielders, a catcher, and a primary baseman – an actual dearth of infield choices. With La Stella, they not less than have an infielder with massive league expertise, somebody who ought to match nice because the twenty fifth or twenty sixth man on the roster. He virtually actually gained’t carry out to his 2019-20 degree, however La Stella raises the ground barely for a workforce with virtually no infield depth on the 40-man.

Athletics signal Jesús Aguilar for one yr, $3 million

Like La Stella, Aguilar is a previously superb hitter whose expertise have considerably declined not too long ago. However earlier than we deal with his struggles, let’s speak about what made Aguilar an All-Star and MVP vote-getter in 2018, a season by which he posted a 135 wRC+ and hit 35 homers. A 2007 Cleveland worldwide signee, the hulking slugger was claimed off waivers by the Brewers after struggling in restricted massive league motion together with his earlier membership. After getting constant taking part in time at age 27 as the first first baseman in Milwaukee, he broke out, displaying that he might get to his plus uncooked energy in video games, hitting loads of balls within the air, and strolling at a excessive clip whereas managing his strikeout totals higher than many different energy hitters. In brief, he was your prototypical middle-of-the-order first base/DH kind with quantity of thump in his bat.

Aguilar has spent many of the final three seasons with the Marlins, the place he had a 113 wRC+ from 2020-21 as one of many few competent hitters in Miami’s rebuilding lineup. However final yr he had the worst full season of his profession, bottoming out in exit velocity, barrel fee, and particularly his stroll and chase charges. His OBP sat at simply .281, his WAR at -0.4 WAR, and he confirmed below-average uncooked energy (measured by most exit velocity) for the primary time in his profession, resulting in his launch in August. It’s unclear whether or not this decline was because of Aguilar being deliberately extra aggressive on the plate, or if he suffered from unintentional plate imaginative and prescient points. Hitters round Aguilar’s age do have a tendency to start out swinging extra as they move along the aging curve, however such a sudden and precipitous drop in stroll fee is rare:

At his greatest, Aguilar destroyed pitches in his wheelhouse for homers — he isn’t a contact-oriented dangerous ball hitter. As such, his improve in out-of-zone swings has led to particularly poor outcomes on contact. For his profession, Aguilar has a .420 wOBAcon in opposition to pitches within the strike zone, however only a .327 mark on out-of-zone pitches. Final yr, pitches he had beforehand taken for balls have been popped up or rolled over to shortstop for the simple putout:

The A’s offense can actually use all the assistance it could possibly get, because the workforce ranked final in each triple-slash class final season and gave not less than 100 PA to 10 hitters with a decrease wRC+ than Aguilar’s mark of 86. That mentioned, the A’s have already got a wide range of first base and DH choices, from Rule 5 decide Ryan Noda to extremely regarded prospect Jordan Diaz and fellow rookie Dermis Garcia. Aguilar will possible get a good chunk of taking part in time at DH and will probably squeeze in a while at first if Noda finds an on a regular basis function within the outfield. Like La Stella, Aguilar possible provides a slight enhance to this workforce’s flooring, however whereas a few additional wins imply rather a lot to a Wild Card contender, they’re much less vital for a workforce that gained simply 60 video games final season. Nonetheless, so long as he’s not taking plate appearances away from guys who could possibly be future on a regular basis fixtures within the A’s lineup, Aguilar ought to present a strong veteran bat on a roster stuffed with gamers making an attempt to profit from their first massive league alternative.