Ryan Langerhans
With Endy Chavez’s season cut short and the team deciding that Michael Saunders could use some more time in Triple-A, the M’s are down an outfielder. Wlad will get the chance to play regularly, but the team can’t seriously go forward with Ronny Cedeno or Chris Woodward as the 4th OF. The team needs a legitimate outfielder on the bench to give the team a major league player to stick in the line-up if someone needs a day off or has to leave a game early. Given the construction of the team, it would really help if that outfielder was left-handed and could get on base a little bit. With the team’s success being heavily dependent on quality defense from the outfield, it would also be nice if that left-handed hitting outfielder had some range. And, with Saunders potentially being ready in the not-too-distant future, that guy shouldn’t cost a lot to acquire, since he might be a very short term fill-in.
Where would you find a left-handed hitting, quality defensive outfielder with decent OBP skills who won’t cost much to acquire? In Syracuse, New York, going by the name Ryan Langerhans. He’s about 49th on the Washington Nationals depth chart, and has basically no hope of getting any playing time in D.C. this year. That is despite the fact that he posted a .353 wOBA for the Nationals in 139 plate appearances last year while playing outstanding defense for them in RF/LF. He was worth 0.8 wins in about 20% of a season, and yet, because MLB is still so tied up in batting average (Langerhans hit .234), he couldn’t land a major league job this winter.
He’s absolutely perfect for what the M’s need. His preseason ZIPS projection had him as a .239/.341/.375 hitter, which would make him about the fourth best hitter on the M’s right now. ZIPS doesn’t know that he’s gone down to Triple-A and started whacking the baseball this year, hitting .279/.383/.508 and showing the best power of his career. He’s drawn 30 walks and has 23 extra base hits in 216 plate appearances for Syracuse, and those secondary skills combined with his range in the outfield make him a very useful role player.
It’s not like he’s some minor league wonder who can’t hit major league pitching. His career line in the big leagues is .233/.335/.378, and that’s dragged down by a disastrous ’07 season. In 2005, 2006, and 2008, he’s been a solid average-ish hitter, and his defensive numbers are terrific (career +27.2 UZR in 2,000 innings in LF/RF), which match up with all the scouting reports about his athletic ability.
Even with the miserable ’07 included, Langerhans has been about a +1 to +1.5 win player per 150 games over the course of his major league career. His minor league numbers suggest he could be even better than that. We’re talking about a legitimate, quality outfielder, with the exact skillset the M’s need right now. And he’d cost as little as anyone on earth to acquire – the M’s could give the Nationals free tickets to the aquarium or a neat picture of the Space Needle or something, and voila, quality fourth outfielder with left-handed stick, good plate discipline, and good defense could be theirs.
Ryan Langerhans please.
Takes two to tango! I like the sound of it but the Nationals would be too stupid to trade him.
What kind of player would it reasonably take to get Langerhans? LaHair type?
I like the idea and am really hoping the M’s make a move like this as well as some moves to improve the middle infield soon.
This team is 2.5 games out of first with a bad offense…but it seems to me a few moves along the lines of what you are talking about Dave wouuld really help.
Just call up Redman and be done with it.
Wouldn’t calling up Jerry Owens be about the same thing? He plays a good CF, has plus speed to steal some bags, he’s left-handed…probably won’t hit a ton, but either did Chavez…
Can’t they send Cedeno down already? I’m hoping that someone in the organizations reads this post and the right move is made. Langerhans would be a great addition. I would be excited to see what he can accomplish with some regular playing time if Wlad falls out of favor. It could all happen in the next week or two.
Interesting that in over 1000 major league plate appearances, Langerhans has a .070 OPS reverse platoon split.
I can’t find splits for his minor league numbers, though, which is a larger sample size and might be more telling.
Cedeno is out of options. Sending him down involves passing him through waivers. Now, you may think it’s no loss if someone claims him, but what if he could be thrown in as part of a trade. With, say, the Nationals?
How sad is that?
Now if I remeber correctly wasn’t Langerhans traded to Washington from Oakland for another young left handed outfielder?
It’s almost like the M’s organization would go full circle if they completed a trade for him…maybe they could give up their slow aging DH for him…
Langerhans’ .776 OPS last year earned him a ticket to AAA. That would be third, behind Branyan and Ichiro, on this year’s M’s squad. That and plus outfield defense…I’m all for it!
How sad is that?
Not that sad. The average AL line so far this year is .264/.335/.426. So .341 is an above-average OBP and a .136 ISO is within shouting distance of the league average .162 ISO. All other things being equal, singles are better than walks, but .239/.341/.375 is a .324 wOBA, which isn’t much below league average.
There are only 60 qualified hitters in the AL with a wOBA over .324, which means if the talent was distributed equally, you’d expect 4-5 hitters with a wOBA over .324 per team.
So what you’re saying is he hits like the Griffey of today, but fields like the Griffey of twenty years ago.
Langerhans looks like he’s hit well in AAA before… I don’t know if we can take this year as meaning he’s turned a corner
He didn’t need to turn a corner. He’s already a solid major league player.
I think Dave’s point is that it doesn’t matter. What we need right now is a reserve outfielder who can play the outfield, so we’re not forced to play someone who isn’t an outfielder (God, it might be Jamie Burke!) in the outfield if one of the regulars pulls something or need bereavement leave or something. If we can get him for nothing, it doesn’t matter if he can hit, so long as he can field (and he can), and being lefthanded is a bonus.
So make it so.
Is it possible the Nationals are keeping him in Syracuse until they trade Adam Dunn?
The Nationals aren’t going to trade Adam Dunn, and they have about 80 bazillion other outfielders in the system. Elijah Dukes, Josh Willingham, Austin Kearns, Willie Harris, Justin Maxwell, Corey Patterson, Lastings Milledge, Rogearvin Bernadina, Jorge Padilla. Their Triple-A outfield is so crowded that Langerhans has played more games at first base than in the OF.
Safeco Hobo is correct…there is another left handed outfielder available…or where or where is Doyle hanging his mitt these days?
Snelling is in Indianapolis with the Pirates’ AAA club.
Maybe they should just get the kid from North Carolina signed and see what he can do.
This discussion would be irrelevant if they had just listened to Dave (and others) when he was lobbying for Nelson Cruz a couple of years ago.
Additional fringy left-handed OF’s with solid defensive reputations:
Corey Sullivan
Jeff Fiorentino
Matt Joyce
Josh Kroeger
Buck Coats
Hey, I like this idea as much as the next guy, but what makes you think ‘they’ didn’t listen and try to get Cruz? Plus, last time I checked he hit right handed, so not relevant to this specific example.
Not to mention that he never fit into the profile of someone the Rangers would be just as happy to see go.
You are absolutely correct. “Sorry, Nelson, but despite your awesomeness, you just aren’t left-handed enough for this topic of discussion. We are replacing you with Ryan Langerhans.”
Great response. Want to try refuting the other holes in your argument?
If a one-sentence pining for Nelson Cruz when the topic of LF is being discussed could be defined as an argument of Swiss cheese proportions, then yes, I would refute for days. But who am I to stop you from pretending? Knock yourself out.
Knock yourself out.
Yes. Except for when I do it.
In all seriousness it does get tedious and I don’t like it when it comes from others. I am not a dweller – particularly not when it comes to roster moves. In fact, I’m pretty sure that was my first dwellish post on record here at USSM and I did follow it up with a list of on-topic names.
I just really like Nelson Cruz.
Langerhans is a pretty good idea. A survey of preseason projections suggest he would be something like a league average bat. Not sexy. Think granny panties as a corner outfielder. But he’s also a plus defender being something conservatively like a +10 glove.
Over a season, he’d be something like a league average player. The average fan would hate him. That said he’s an improvement over granny going commando and it is likely he could be cheap. Heck, a standup GM in the Nats’ shoes would consider trading him to anyone who inquired because giving a guy a chance to play in the bigs is just the right thing to do.
As an aside, this thread speaks volumes about Wlad.
Langerhans was a pleasure to watch here in Atlanta in ’05, I definitely think he’d be a quality, cheap addition to this team. Another solid recommendation by Dave.
Me, too. Cheers
Cool. I like Albert Pujols.
I like turtles.
Just my opinion but I think KGJ works just fine as a 4th outfielder. I’d like to see one of the lefties from the Bavasi era get a chance. I’m not really sure what’s up with Clement other than his knees. I don’t think he had a fair chance last year when he was sent packing because he couldn’t help the team in a make or break situation. Then add the fact that Rob Johnson leap frogged him to Seattle, I imagine he’s left feeling a little demoralized. When righty is pitching Jr. could get some time in LF & Clement could DH.
Um do we really need another person in this organization who’s name is hard to spell….
Whatever happened to the guy that was tearing it up in Spring Training…I think his name was Michael Wilson or something…i don’t see him on the Rainiers roster…
Anyone?
Mike Wilson was injured shortly after Spring Training. The Minor League wrap up has updated us periodically on him.
Is Felix Pie an undesirable choice?
As long as it doesn’t cost too much, like one or two B/C level guys that aren’t in the position of helping this club anytime soon, I’m not opposed to a deal for Langerhans.
This is pretty obviously a terrible reason for at least two reasons. The first problem is that you want a 4th outfielder who’s pretty good in the field. But even if we decide for some reason we don’t care about that, we need a 4th outfielder who’s available late in the game. If Griffey is still DHing most of the time, he’s not.
Dave – I’m curious how you came up with Langerhans. Based on your analysis, the idea of making a trade for him seems like a no-brainer (i.e. it is hard to see how this trade hasn’t already happened). I wonder if you are a long-time Langerhans fan or if his name just came up when researching a DB of player characteristics (e.g. outfielder, minor league, low BA, high wOBA).
Fundamentally, I guess what I’m asking is how GMs keeping missing players like Langerhans (especially a team like the Nationals, that started the season with Dukes on the bench, too). Sometimes it seems like you are a baseball Warren Buffet who is just making the right decisions based on value, but I can’t understand how this isn’t just common practice now for GMs, with the data readily available.
What, for example, do you think is keeping 20 other teams from going after Langerhans?
I caught that.
Turtle boy
I also wonder how Dave comes up with suggestions for specific players. Is it from browsing player stats? Or do you run queries looking for certain criteria?
I wonder if you are a long-time Langerhans fan or if his name just came up when researching a DB of player characteristics….
I’ve been pimping Langerhans for years. I wrote about the ridiculous fact that he cleared waivers last October.
Major league teams just have blind spots. It’s why Russ Branyan never got a shot until this year. There are some things in MLB that are valued incorrectly, and batting average is still one of them. Langerhans is a .240 hitter, and that alone is enough to keep him off a lot of rosters.
And that’s a sad fact. That’s why I was turned into a pitcher in HS, actually. My coach decided that even though my OBP was over .500 because I took so many walks, he didn’t care for my .230-something average and lack of power.
I’m not really sure what’s up with Clement other than his knees
His knees are the reason he hasn’t been playing much this season.
When righty is pitching Jr. could get some time in LF & Clement could DH.
Uh, since when did we want jr playing the field?
So the Fangraph post today on the strength of the Yankee farmhands brought John Rodriguez to my attention. Lefty corner outfielder, roughly comparable at the plate, going nowhere. I hate dealing with the Yankees, but they are always looking for pitching this time of year also…
Nice work, Dave!
Ryan Langerhans please.
Done 06/28/09!
And they got rid of that burr from under their saddle while they were at it.
Thank you Z!