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January 9, 2013

Skewed Left

The Worst Parts of Last Season's Best Teams

by Zachary Levine

Last week’s piece looked at the Baltimore Orioles and how their offseason and the difficulties facing their roster doused some of the excitement generated by the first playoff team in Camden Yards in 15 years.

Today continues this ballpark-half-empty view of the baseball world, as many of last year’s playoff teams made it to October despite some pretty serious shortcomings. Of the 10 flags that will be raised this April (assuming we’re really giving them out to the Braves and Rangers for their nine postseason innings), at least half covered up a flaw that was so glaring that the team was last in its entire league in a certain category or at a certain position.

Some began to address the problems in the moment with various in-season levels of success, while others waited for this offseason and some still have work to do. Here’s a breakdown of the worst of the best and how these contenders have tried to fix their biggest holes.

Athletics catchers were last in the AL with a .221 TAv
What they did about it: They rebuilt the position on the fly, shedding the empty .218 average of Kurt Suzuki in favor of giving time to the slightly more robust Derek Norris and bringing in the guy who is actually their best present offensive option, George Kottaras.
What they still need to do: Norris has to develop quickly at age 24, because there still wasn’t a lot there last season. He has better on-base skills than Suzuki, but the strikeouts he exhibited last year—66 in 232 plate appearances—don’t appear to be fluky. The result was a .201/.276/.349 line that should improve with age and batted ball happenstance to the limited extent that the strikeouts allow it. He should mature into a better offensive option than they had for most of 2012 and is cost-controlled for a long time, making him an outstanding value if the defensive position suits him going forward.

Tigers second basemen were last in the AL with a .213 TAv
What they did about it: They figured they addressed this weakness last July with the highest-profile deadline fix on this list, acquiring Omar Infante as part of the package with Anibal Sanchez from the Marlins…
What they still need to do: …Problem was, it didn’t really work. Infante doesn’t walk at all (21 free passes in 588 plate appearances between the two teams last year), and he doesn’t hit many home runs. So when his BABIP dropped from .307 for Miami—matching his career figure—to .269 with Detroit, his production cratered as well. The time with Detroit was his least effective prolonged stretch since leaving the Tigers the first time. The Tigers won’t be last again this year, but let’s hope that Jim Leyland has shelved for good his recurring temptations to view Infante as a No. 2 hitter, especially in that lineup.

Tigers designated hitters were last in the AL with a .257 TAv
What they did about it: They waited for Victor Martinez to get healthy, because 151 games of the Delmon Young experience wasn’t doing anybody any good.
What they still need to do: Yes, the Tigers won their division and eventually reached the World Series despite league-worst offensive production from two of the nine positions. Guess it helps to have the MVP. When Martinez was healthy, he was a fairly consistent three-win player his last three years. If the explosion is still there in the surgically repaired knee, the Tigers will make big strides at DH. Even if Miguel Cabrera regresses, the Tigers ought to outdo their 2012 production, which was sixth best in the AL with a bizarre mashup of extreme hot and cold.