Is Cron quietly having a good year?

[Ohtaniland]

Who's stadium entrance poster should be replaced by Cron. 

[John Stellman]

On 6/28/2016 at 0:05 PM, vladdy#27 said:

Since April 18th

Avg .297 HR 6 2B 13 OBP .343 SLG .478 (200 PA)

Since April 26th

Avg .301 HR 5 2B 13 OBP .345 SLG .485 (179 PA)

 

His strikeout/walk rates are trending in the right direction as well. 

2014 24.1%/4.0%

2015 20.3%/4.2%

2016 15.1%/6.5%

 

He's progressed very nicely over the past three years. .256, 262, 280.  He's on the right track to have a very nice Angtel career.

[Angels#1Fan]

Not so quietly.

[Brent Maguire]

This thread really kickstarted this crazy streak. More of these threads on other players please. 

[Inside Pitch]

8 hours ago, John Stellman said:

He's been great this year in all those zero pressure situations.

Angels fans are struggling with facts of late..

Cron 2016 leverage OPS

Low - .777

Med - .707

High - .954

 

Bases Empty - .708

RISP - .882

Men on - .884

He's been a pretty consistent "clutch" bat this year.  

[Troll Daddy]

Cron has star potential in my book. Most big guys have a tendency to be a little streaky. It's fun watching him progress as a player. 

[Billy_Ball]

11 hours ago, CALZONE said:

Who's stadium entrance poster should be replaced by Cron. 

Street

[Angel Oracle]

Cron's two big negatives are his defense and his propensity to TOTALLY disappear for a month or two.

If he could only clean up the defense and the disappearing acts at the plate just enough, SOLID VALUE going forward. 

[yamsi12]

He is mark trumbo lite.

[Adam]

Let's hope there's a sucker out there that will trade value for him

[AngelsFanSince86]

Actually his defense is middle of the pack right now. There is only one qualified 1B in all of MLB that has posted a positive defensive value according to fangraphs.  Apparently all 1B's defense suck donkey balls.  He's also got an OPS+ of 122, which is the same as this years starting all-star 1B Eric Hosmer, but with better defense by both fangraphs and bbr metrics.  He's 13 of 27 in fWAR among qualified 1B.  He's on pace for about 2.0 WAR making him a solid starting player.  Essentially, he's turned into a reliable everyday player who has upside. I'll take it.

[Troll Daddy]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

Let's hope there's a sucker out there that will trade value for him

Trading value for value ... makes sense. 

[vladdy#27]

Dating back to last season, Cron in his last 154 games, 133 starts. 

 

PA 570 AB 524 AVG .286 HR 26 2B 28 OBP .333 SLG .496 OPS .829

[vladdy#27]

After this season Cron has 4 more years of club control, when we traded Trumbo he had only 3 years of club control. If we could flip Cron for a similar return of what we got for Trumbo (Skaggs and Eaton) I would do it in a heart beat. Hopefully he can keep this up thoughout the rest of the year and we can capitalize on a weak free agent class. 

 

It would be nice to be able to plug in a young outfielder and starting pitcher into our depth chart for 2017 and beyond. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 hours ago, AngelsFanSince86 said:

Actually his defense is middle of the pack right now. There is only one qualified 1B in all of MLB that has posted a positive defensive value according to fangraphs.  Apparently all 1B's defense suck donkey balls.  He's also got an OPS+ of 122, which is the same as this years starting all-star 1B Eric Hosmer, but with better defense by both fangraphs and bbr metrics.  He's 13 of 27 in fWAR among qualified 1B.  He's on pace for about 2.0 WAR making him a solid starting player.  Essentially, he's turned into a reliable everyday player who has upside. I'll take it.

Hosmer has a pretty good rep for his defense. With just a half season in the books I'd wager that the defensive stats are probably overrating Cron's defense a bit. CJ really needs to improve his defense to the point that he isn't a liability in the field, or put an end to the streakiness with the bat. If he isn't hitting, and isn't fielding then Scioscia will find a way to put him on the bench, which has probably had an impact on his development. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

10 minutes ago, vladdy#27 said:

After this season Cron has 4 more years of club control, when we traded Trumbo he had only 3 years of club control. If we could flip Cron for a similar return of what we got for Trumbo (Skaggs and Eaton) I would do it in a heart beat. Hopefully he can keep this up thoughout the rest of the year and we can capitalize on a weak free agent class. 

 

It would be nice to be able to plug in a young outfielder and starting pitcher into our depth chart for 2017 and beyond. 

I'm not sure there is much point in trading Cron unless there is legit return. We need a productive first basemen as much as anything else. Baring getting two productive players we are probably better off keeping him.

[Oz27]

3 hours ago, hangin n wangin said:

Nothing has changed really. He's a streaky player who is just as capable of going through a huge slump. Right now he's on fire. Great to see.

But we haven't seen him play consistently since he's been in the majors. This could be a hot streak, or it could be a break through. We really don't know. 

One thing we do know is that his defense sucks donkey balls.

I'm not going to predict what this is, because there is no point. I'm just going to see what happens. Either way, it's awesome to see him do something positive for this team and providing value for a team that spent a first round pick on him. 

Yep. People are getting way too excited. Remember how encouraging the first half of his rookie season was? Then he fell off a cliff. I am encouraged but declaring this a breakthrough season is rather hyperbolic. Let's see him keep it up first.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, Oz27 said:

Yep. People are getting way too excited. Remember how encouraging the first half of his rookie season was? Then he fell off a cliff. I am encouraged but declaring this a breakthrough season is rather hyperbolic. Let's see him keep it up first.

To be fair, when everyone was trashing him back in late May I pointed out that despite the shitty numbers up front, all underline stats seemed to indicate real progression as a hitter. He was only missing the power, but with his strength I didn't think we needed to worry too much about that. He'll probably go through stretches where the power disappears again, but with what I've seen from him this year I think we'll be able to live with it.

[Angel Oracle]

If GRich and Skaggs would be healthy for a freaking change, the Halos could have a decent 2017 rotation with GRich, Shoe, Tropeano, Skaggs, and Nate Smith.    Then use Escobar, Santiago, Soto, Street, and Smith as trade bait to help with the start of the farm rebuild.   Finally, sign TWO solid relievers in the off-season and hope that a couple of the guys on the farm can rise to the occasion here next season.   And hope to find a REAL serviceable LF.

Yeah, I know, TOO MANY IFs.

[Billy_Ball]

3 hours ago, vladdy#27 said:

After this season Cron has 4 more years of club control, when we traded Trumbo he had only 3 years of club control. If we could flip Cron for a similar return of what we got for Trumbo (Skaggs and Eaton) I would do it in a heart beat. Hopefully he can keep this up thoughout the rest of the year and we can capitalize on a weak free agent class. 

 

It would be nice to be able to plug in a young outfielder and starting pitcher into our depth chart for 2017 and beyond. 

Eaton went to the Sox to complete the three way trade of Santiago to the Angels

[vladdy#27]

1 hour ago, Billy_Ball said:

Eaton went to the Sox to complete the three way trade of Santiago to the Angels

Yup, I bet the Angels regret not keeping him instead. 

[Second Base]

I think CJ gets the unfortunate comparison to Trumbo all too often. Just because they're big, young, have power and came through the Angels system does not make them the same player.

Trumbo is more of your prototypical power hitter in that he strikes out a ton, but can also run into 40 HR's pretty easily. He comes with the added skill that he can play the corner OF sorta, but also doesn't walk enough to maintain a decent OBP.

Cron on the other hand doesn't strike out very often, which is rare for a power hitter. He hits for average because he isn't swinging for the fences, but let's his natural strength and pitch selection and location dictate what sort of numbers he'll put up. The downside of this is that 40 HR's is out of the question. CJ also doesn't play the corner OF and like Trumbo, isn't going to get on base as frequently as you'd prefer.

So The difference is generally...

Trumbo - .250/.310 25 DB 35 HR playing OF/1B

Cron - .280/.330 35 DB 25 HR playing 1B/DH.

So CJ really isn't Trumbo. He's better in some respects and worse in others. I'd more closely compare CJ (at least from a production standpoint) to Belt or Hosmer (not as good as either) and Trumbo to Chris Davis, minus the OBP or Todd Frazier.

[eaterfan]

Good summary Scotty. I think the comparison comes from the fact they are right handed power hitters who don't really walk too much. But you are correct in the fact that Cron is a contact hitter while Trumbo is all power and K's. 

I actually like Cron better because +.020 in OBP is really good. It's not a popular opinion because Trumbo is destroying the league right now. I don't see that lasting long term. As good as he's been this first half, he was equally as bad the last 2.5 years. That being said, if the Angels can get 2+ prospects who look to start in a year or two I'd trade him. 

[ukyah]

On 7/6/2016 at 9:35 AM, Angel Oracle said:

Cron's two big negatives are his defense and his propensity to TOTALLY disappear for a month or two.

If he could only clean up the defense and the disappearing acts at the plate just enough, SOLID VALUE going forward. 

with all due respect to a fair opinion, and acknowledging that you said, "just enough". 

excluding defense, if he could do that at the plate he would be a top player in mlb. it's the same for pitchers and overall team performance, as well. play, pitch, or hit decently in your down streaks and ride the hot streaks for as long as possible and you'll be a 92+ win team, a cy young candidate, or an mvp candidate.

baseball is all about streaks. avoid the bad ones and maximize the good ones. i know that's not new information to anyone reading this.

as far as cron goes, mlb is unique, among sports, because all the fields aren't the same. i'll never understand why player's don't put more consideration into their home parks, when given the opportunity. look what it's done for trumbo, and so many others.

[ukyah]

10 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Good summary Scotty. I think the comparison comes from the fact they are right handed power hitters who don't really walk too much. But you are correct in the fact that Cron is a contact hitter while Trumbo is all power and K's. 

I actually like Cron better because +.020 in OBP is really good. It's not a popular opinion because Trumbo is destroying the league right now. I don't see that lasting long term. As good as he's been this first half, he was equally as bad the last 2.5 years. That being said, if the Angels can get 2+ prospects who look to start in a year or two I'd trade him. 

don't underestimate the division trumbo is in now, power hitter's paradise. i think, without looking, that it's playing a big factor in his production, as i'm sure some other factors are also.