The Hidden Value Of Bill Hall
While the focus on Hall since his acquisition has been his struggles with the bat the last few years, the largest part of his likely value to the team will come through his defensive flexibility. This isn’t something that we’ve talked about too much on the blog because it’s a minor detail that only comes into play when you’re expecting to field a winning team, and we haven’t had many of those to write about, but having a couple of guys who can play almost everywhere is a pretty valuable thing.
With Langerhans, Hannahan, and now Hall on board, the Mariners have two backups at every single position on the field other than catcher. Langerhans and Hall can both cover all three outfield spots, while Hannahan and Hall can both cover 3B/SS/2B, and Hannahan and Langerhans can both cover 1B. With just those three players, the Mariners now have a left-handed and right-handed backup option at every single non-catcher position on the field.
The flexibility offered by those three allows the M’s to do a bunch of things with the roster. They could platoon at DH again if they wanted (though I don’t think they’ll want to), as they have the ability to carry two guys with no defensive value. They could get a no-glove switch-hitter whose just around to pinch-hit. They could carry an extra pitcher when the bullpen gets a little worn down.
Hall, Hannahan, and Langerhans all signify that the Mariners are looking to build a roster in 2010, rather than just a big collection of talent. They fit together in a way that gives Wak an incredible amount of flexibility in how he uses his bench. By covering all the back-up jobs with just three players, the M’s have given themselves an extra roster spot to play with.
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I disagree. The McLemore/Javier bench was an outstanding bench. Those two guys were flippin’ awesome in ’01. Two switch-hitters both of whom were plus defenders with flexibility. Those guys were awesome to have around, and Lou made good use of them.
If we could find one player with a McLemore/Javier ability to be a super-sub on the bench, I’d be thrilled. The ’01 M’s had two, and we were lucky to see them play.
Yeah, and that could be a problem. On the other hand, it may not even come up because Griffey may take himself out of the discussion. How happy can he really be with his on-field performance this year? Yeah, he’s had a couple of clutch hits but he has to be frustrated with his own baseball mortality. The fun times in the clubhouse are great, I’m sure, but meanwhile his family is clear across the country and his kids are quickly growing up and he’s very aware of the things he’s missing. He may just decide to retire, or go play a season with the Rays or something. If he’s leaning that way at all, he really should maximize his value to the organization by announcing it at the start of September, so he could have a “goodbye Seattle” Edgar-style victory lap and pull in some extra fans as the season staggers to a close. (You’d call it “goodbye” rather than “retirement” just in case he does go to Tampa or something).
Remember when Wakamatsu said he might run out “120 lineups” this season? Maybe Zduriencik realized he wouldn’t be able to get there with a fixed roster and so all these additions and subtractions are an effort to help Wak reach his goal. Because, you know, good managers give their subordinates the tools to succeed
That’s why you have these three guys instead of one Willie Bloomquist. (Aside from the fact that they include both LH and RH bats that are more effective, also).
If you ask the fans or coaches who saw him play last in both Cincinnati and on the south side of Chicago, it was obvious Griffey didn’t suddenly fall off a cliff. He was ‘done’ there, as well.
But that’s still not an pure argument against signing him. The gate attraction was real. And in this one case, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chuck Armstrong maybe stuck his thumb on the scale of objectivity to help Z make the decision.
However, from a baseball standpoint, it did hurt. First, it prevented us from winning more baseball games. But moreover, it deflated the value of Jeff Clement to virtually zero. Would he have failed again given a full year at DH? Maybe. But we essentially told everyone else in baseball we had already decided that by sending him back to Tacoma. Thus, he became a throw in to the Pirates.
I know there will be serious disagreement, but I think Clement had just as much a chance of having the ‘Branyan year’ as Branyan did. And I think our lineup could have used another Branyan.
Looking at Hall’s hittracker home runs, it looks like his big ’06 had a lot of opposite field homers. Recently, just pull stuff, especially to left center, which is murder at Safeco. Any ideas why?
Sooo… you’d rather have Hall in left and Hannahan at 3rd than Saunders/Langerhans in left and Hall at 3rd. I’m not sure I agree with that.
If Hall can play 3rd, 2nd and of… i’m pretty sure he could handle first as well as Lopez, so the Mariners are doing fine there.
One possibility could be that ’06 was an anomoly. Beltre had a year like that in ’04 and came back to earth in the next year. Though in Safeco, so that may explain the drought.
Possibly an over-emphasis on pulling the ball has messed up his swing? Does this match up with the new park opening in Milwaukee? Does that park favor hitting to left?
Lots of questions, but can’t research during a conference call…
Miller Park opened in 2001.
Okay, never mind.
I suddenly feel a lot older.
You still type young though.
the Mariners have two backups at every single position on the field other than catcher.
BTW, with BLOOMQUIST and IBANEZ gone, who is the Mariner emergency (# 3) catcher?
orly? u think so? 2 k00l! lol wtf!!!one1
Yeah, I wanted to see Clement get a full year in the bigs because there seemed to be every reason to expect him to replicate his AAA performance given enough PAs (this was similar to Adam Jones, who a lot of people were happy to see go away in the Bedard trade because “he’d had his chance in the majors and couldn’t hit.”) It will be interesting to see if Clement gets a chance in Pittsburgh or gets flipped yet again in some offseason trade: he obviously can’t DH there, and his future as a catcher is dependent on a the murky state of his knees. Anyway, I completely agree with the argument that Griffey’s presence devalued Clement, though obviously Zduriencik didn’t have to sell low on him this year (he could’ve waited until next year, if Griffey’s goodbye gave Clement another opportunity to raise his value). That he got thrown in suggests the Pirates saw some value in him (it would be interesting to know if the Pirates asked about him specifically, or if Zduriencik offered him up as a way to square the deal).
Good question. I’m sure someone in the press has asked Wakamatsu and msb will be along to link the actual answer, but until then…well, Bill Hall could catch…. unfortunately, that Bill Hall died over twenty years ago. Which means he still has a better chance of blocking balls in the dirt than Rob Johnson.
I seem to remember reading earlier in the year about Sweeney taking some catching practice. I believe it was after Kenji got hurt, so I guess he’s the emergency option.
1b maybe?