Post by ericmvan on Oct 10, 2015 12:34:44 GMT -5
This is the major DDo decision that's gotten the least discussion here.
The three "leash" choices are a combination of patience and slack given, before you decide (if you do) that he's not good enough to start, and needs to either be traded or relegated to a platoon OF role.
"A long leash" means that you expect to wait until the trade deadline before making the decision, and are giving him a lot of leeway to struggle before that. (Obviously, if he's just plain bad for the first three months or awful for the first two, you might make a move sooner, i.e., relegating him to a platoon role. See the final note.)
The "medium leash" means you expect to make that decision around mid-season, and are cutting him an ordinary amount of slack.
The "short leash" means he has, at most, until the end of May to prove he should be out there every day, and he doesn't have a lot of slack. He has to be good, not just OK.
Note that I am assuming that because of Castillo's struggles this year, the 4th OF we pick up over the winter will be a LHH who can assume the larger half of a platoon and do an OK job when and if it's decided that Castillo's simply not good enough to start against RHP. (More or less the role we envisioned for Nava at the start of this season, as an alternative to Victorino.) That's what would happen in the "short leash" scenario, and in some of the "medium leash" ones (depending on how good the 4th OF has been and on the availability of better bats via trade). Giving the 4th OFer the big half of the platoon, to upgrade suckage to adequacy, does not preclude trading for someone better at the deadline, but this poll is about what the plan should be at the start of ST.
The three "leash" choices are a combination of patience and slack given, before you decide (if you do) that he's not good enough to start, and needs to either be traded or relegated to a platoon OF role.
"A long leash" means that you expect to wait until the trade deadline before making the decision, and are giving him a lot of leeway to struggle before that. (Obviously, if he's just plain bad for the first three months or awful for the first two, you might make a move sooner, i.e., relegating him to a platoon role. See the final note.)
The "medium leash" means you expect to make that decision around mid-season, and are cutting him an ordinary amount of slack.
The "short leash" means he has, at most, until the end of May to prove he should be out there every day, and he doesn't have a lot of slack. He has to be good, not just OK.
Note that I am assuming that because of Castillo's struggles this year, the 4th OF we pick up over the winter will be a LHH who can assume the larger half of a platoon and do an OK job when and if it's decided that Castillo's simply not good enough to start against RHP. (More or less the role we envisioned for Nava at the start of this season, as an alternative to Victorino.) That's what would happen in the "short leash" scenario, and in some of the "medium leash" ones (depending on how good the 4th OF has been and on the availability of better bats via trade). Giving the 4th OFer the big half of the platoon, to upgrade suckage to adequacy, does not preclude trading for someone better at the deadline, but this poll is about what the plan should be at the start of ST.