Brandon Moss 1B/OF/DH. DOB: 9/16/1983. B-L, T-R. 6'1", 180 lbs.
2016 Cardinals: .225/.300/.484, 19 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 8.4 BB%, 30.4 K%, 464 PA, fWAR 1.4.
We are entering the bargain basement phase of the Hot Stove League season. The Royals may have scored a major bargain in Brandon Moss with a 2 year/$12 M contract. Moss is reputed, possible unfairly, to be a fairly one-dimensional or 3-true-outcomes player who walks a lot, strikes out a lot, has a low BA, but hits a lot of dingers and is a liability on defense. It may come as a surprise, then, that at least by UZR defensive metrics, he is actually a slightly above average corner OF and much better than Jorge Soler, the guy who is currently penciled in as the Royals starting RF.
Moss' market was probably depressed by a late season collapse last year in which he hit just .099 in September/October. Were it not for that terrible slump, he likely would have put up an fWAR of over 2.0. His overall stat line was very close to career averages for him as he has averaged 28 HR's per 600 PA's and his career slash line is .241/.319/.455 so I would not put a lot of stock in last year's September slump. In fact, I have thought that Moss might have made a nice addition for LF for the Giants next season!
With Alex Gordon manning LF and Eric Hosmer at 1B, Moss will likely either play RF with Soler DH'ing or DH with Soler playing RF. By UZR, Moss is actually the better defensive RF and it's not that close. The Royals could also platoon Moss and Soler and sign another slugger like Chris Carter to DH.
Very nice bargain pickup for the KC Royals.
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We are too familiar with the Giants collapse last year which can mostly be isolated to a "save-failure," but Brandon Moss contributed to a near team-wide precipitous drop for St Louis with a surprisingly mediocre defense, weak pitching and hitting, and disappearance of some stars like Wacha, Wainwright, and Rosenthal. From a 100-win season in 2015 to 86, the Cardinals broke a 5-year post season run. 2016 was only the 4th season in the last 17 that StL failed to make the post season, including 4 World Series of which they won a pair. jP
ReplyDeleteThe Cardinals fans are glad he's gone... And while he's not the worst fielding OF in the business, he's been on a 4-year decline as a hitter and while, yes, he hit .225 in 2016 because of his big slump, he hit .226 in 2015 -- and that's over 990 PAs. I think Royals will be lucky to get .235 and 25 HRs out of him. And Steamer thinks he'll be even worse than that -- .237 & 17HR.
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