Angels sign Matt Duffy (1 year, $1.5 million), place Canning on 60-day IL

[Docwaukee]

2 hours ago, Don said:

Don't get me wrong, I like the signing, but this is the sort of move that's really helpful for a team that is already good for 90-ish wins. For us, it's just a decent pickup that probably doesn't change the overall success of the team much.

Not when you have a 2bman who was one of the worst position players in baseball last year and a tryout for SS between that guy, 2 journeymen, and a minor leaguer who can't seem to figure it out.  

Matt Duffy was better that pretty much our entire MIF and 3b combined last year.  He's not a savior.  Just some actual depth.  

[Inside Pitch]

7 hours ago, Dochalo said:

Not when you have a 2bman who was one of the worst position players in baseball last year and a tryout for SS between that guy, 2 journeymen, and a minor leaguer who can't seem to figure it out.  

Matt Duffy was better that pretty much our entire MIF and 3b combined last year.  He's not a savior.  Just some actual depth.  

Yep...   This is a better move than people realize.

But here is an example of how recency bias and awards can cloud fans' view of things...  Both guys are primarily 2B, the first guy can play SS and 3B. The second guy 2B and OF

Two players, age this coming season, followed by at bats and career averages..

31 - 1905 - .283/.341/.380-.721 (98 OPS+)
30 - 2210 - .281/.344/.412-.747 (103 OPS+)

Last 3 years  ABs followed by three year splits

939 - .285/.357/.364-.721 (99 OPS+) all in the AL
1340 - .282/.344/.406-.750 (102 OPS+) all in the NL

The first player came in second in the NL ROY voting, got injured then traded to a stacked team (for an all star pitcher), where he's struggled to get at bats and then bounced around two teams.  In the two seasons where he's managed at least 560 PAs he's posted OPS+ figures of 104 and 108.

The second player represented his really bad team in the ASG last year, was then traded twice, is currently being talked up as a huge addition for a division rival.  In the two seasons where he's seen 560+ PAs he's managed an OPS+ over 100 once (118!), last year when he made the ASG after a 1st half where he put up an OPS of .860 then .660 in the second half.

Many of the same fans mocking the first player have lauded the the second player as a big add.

Thus are the tales of Matt Duffy and Adam Frazier.

[Docwaukee]

5 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yep...   This is a better move than people realize.

But here is an example of how recency bias and awards can cloud fans view of things...  Both guys are primarily 2B, the first guy can play SS and 3B. The second guy 2B and OF

Two players, age this coming season, followed by at bats and career averages..

31 - 1905 - .283/.341/.380-.721 (98 OPS+)
30 - 2210 - .281/.344/.412-.747 (103 OPS+)

Last 3 years  ABs followed by three year splits

939 - .285/.357/.364-.721 (99 OPS+) all in the AL
1340 - .282/.344/.406-.750 (102 OPS+) all in the NL

The first player came in second in the NL ROY voting, got injured then traded to a stacked team (for an all star pitcher), where he's struggled to get at bats.  In the two seasons where he's managed at least 560 PAs he's posted OPS+ figures of 104 and 108.

The second player represented his really bad team in the ASG last year, was then traded twice, is currently being talked up as a huge addition for a division rival.  In the two seasons where he's seen 560+ PAs he's managed an OPS+ over 100 once, last year when he made the ASG after a 1t half where he put up an OPS of .860 then .660 in the second half.

Many of the same fans mocking the first player have lauded the the second player as a big add.

Thus are the tales of Matt Duffy and Adam Frazier.

I like when you do this.  It makes me shy.  

[Lou]

Down goes Frazier!

[Docwaukee]

also, I like when @Inside Pitch tells us duff tales.  

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

I like when you do this.  It makes me shy.  

You're a psycho.

 

(i stole that)

[Inside Pitch]

It's just genuinely funny how two extremely similar players can be looked at so differently. 

Frazier is better but they are essentially the same guy...

[Inside Pitch]

4 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

also, I like when @Inside Pitch tells us duff tales.  

[Lou]

1 minute ago, Inside Pitch said:

It's just genuinely funny how two extremely similar players can be looked at so differently. 

Frazier is better but they are essentially the same guy...

So, no F'n Arte?

[Inside Pitch]

4 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

If you sign like ten 0.5 war middle infielders that’s basically the same as one 5 war guy right?

[Inside Pitch]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

So, no F'n Arte?

This seems like more of a "Thanks Perry!"

[Fake Chow]

13 hours ago, Hubs said:

Isn't this basically right handed Tommy LaStella?

I was going to say something similar. "Maybe we found another LaStella"

[tdawg87]

How LaStella Got His Groove Back

[Lou]

4 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

How LaStella Got His Groove Back

[Taylor]

1 hour ago, tdawg87 said:

How LaStella Got His Groove Back

I miss that guy.

[totdprods]

Duffy literally is 'good' one year, bad the next. And if that trend holds, he's bad in 2022. 

• 2014: .602 OPS, 74 OPS+, -0.2 bWAR
• 2015: .762 OPS, 108 OPS+, 3.9 bWAR
• 2016: .668 OPS, 82 POS+, 1.2 bWAR
• 2018: .727 OPS, 104 OPS+, -0.1 bWAR
• 2019: .670 OPS, 83 OPS+, 0.1 bWAR
• 2021: .738 OPS, 100 OPS+, 1.6 bWAR

No real point to this post. Just don't think I had ever seen a player who had such a clear-cut up and down pattern year-to-year and thought that was interesting. 

Sticking by my judgement, he's basically just replacing Gosselin and gives the Angels something of a 'safe' bench player. 
If he gives us a 'bad' year - a .680 OPS, 80ish OPS+, he's basically no worse than what we received from Jose Rojas (82 OPS+), Jack Mayfield (87), Gosselin (85), Iglesias (82), or what Wade (90)  did last year, and a step better than what we got from Fletcher (71) while quite a bit better than Velazquez (61), Rengifo (51) and Wong (16).

He's just a 'safe' guy to add to that awfully volatile mix.

 

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I miss that guy.

Was looking over his stats the other day, and still floored by how good his eye was at the plate. When was the last time you saw an MLB player who had twice as many walks (15) as they did strikeouts (7) in 100 at bats? 

In 438 PA with the Angels, he struck out (and walked) only 35 times a piece. It looks alien when you see it on Baseball Reference.

[Blarg]

8 hours ago, Dochalo said:

Not when you have a 2bman who was one of the worst position players in baseball last year and a tryout for SS between that guy, 2 journeymen, and a minor leaguer who can't seem to figure it out.  

Matt Duffy was better that pretty much our entire MIF and 3b combined last year.  He's not a savior.  Just some actual depth.  

A 2nd baseman, 2 journeyman and a minor leaguer walk into a bar...

[Lou]

10 hours ago, Lou said:

You're a psycho.

 

(i stole that)

@Dochalo Nothing?

[eligrba4ever]

17 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

Added pomts for creativity. The Magic Eight Ball is good for siingle-use only for points.

[eligrba4ever]

Over the course of the lockout, I read a number of posts positing a successful season should Griffin Canning pitch his way into the starting rotation. The lockout allowed both the player and management to zip their lips. I chuckled every time I saw those posts, I'm still chuckling. Is the word chuckling allowed here by the way?

[BTH]

20 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Many of the same fans mocking the first player have lauded the the second player as a big add.

Thus are the tales of Matt Duffy and Adam Frazier.

I like the Duffy deal, but I think it is worth pointing out that Frazier's a more natural (and better) 2B defensively, which matters in the context of the Angels needs.

But Duffy is making less $ and didn't require assets in a trade, so you have to live with the worse defensive fit for that.

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, Trendon said:

I like the Duffy deal, but I think it is worth pointing out that Frazier's a more natural (and better) 2B defensively, which matters in the context of the Angels needs.

But Duffy is making less $ and didn't require assets in a trade, so you have to live with the worse defensive fit for that.

And David Fletcher is a better defensive 2B than either of them. 

If we are being real here, the Angels specific need is at SS, not 2B.  Duffy doesn't really help there but the greater point I was making is that a guy who people view as fodder for jokes is essentially 90-95% of a guy viewed by many as an impact add.

He's a better option than any of the guys they had for his role last season.