If Eric Young can play second base...

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: None of that makes sense, sir. I strive for clarity and enlightenment, only to find out I don't understand anything.

I'll simplify.

No, he can't play shortstop. He can't play second base either, nor can he play left field.

His role is bench outfielder, perhaps a little second if the need arises. There are also plenty of other options for this position. He's a good 25th man pinch-runner for a playoff roster.

[Vic Sage]

But he [u:12fsmtwh]CAN[/u:12fsmtwh] play LF; 2b, too. I know because i saw him do it last year. CF, too, if i recall correctly. Now whether he does those things well, or even well enough, is a different matter and depends on how you want to measure those things. Some in this thread have shown ways to parse his performance last season other than to say "he can't play". I myself saw him play well enough that he was a distinct upgrade over what we had been running out there before he showed up, and he was one of the few brights spots of the 2nd half of the season. Now obviously "better" isn't necessarily "good", but in the absence of "good", "better" is better than not.

[Ceetar]

fwiw, Young's batting line with the Mets last year is basically Ruben Tejada's career line.

And his 2013 numbers would've placed him near the very bottom of second basemen. It was 15/16 of qualifying left fielders and Chris Carter is only 16th because he plays LF like Lucas Duda with a little more pop and a little less walking.

That "Bright spot" might have been the oncoming train.

[Vic Sage]

Again, depends what numbers you look at. And i'm not arguing for Young, per se. But saying his line is the same as Tejada's as a way of dismissing him when, (1) you've argued FOR Tejada in the past, based on that same line, and (2) the similarity in their batting somehow excludes Young's 40+ SB differential, is the kind of agenda-based cherry-picking that tends to discredit your argument.

[Ceetar]

ooh, he's fast. his only skill.

his 80% SB rate last year was nice, but the ,hopeful, addition of the power of Granderson and C. Young negates the SB value a bit. And if we're going to bring in stolen bases, might as well bring in defense and Tejada's passable at SS whereas Young would likely be bad. It's not as simple as plugging in a guy that's fast.

I haven't argued for Tejada based on that career line, merely the potential coupled with the age and as compared to the SS options, specifically related to washed up AAA players who are already doing worse than that. I'll gladly upgrade Tejada if we can, but that's not as easy as it is to upgrade Eric Young Jr.

Young can be useful. When Duda or Davis walk late in the game down a run, pinch run!

[Edgy MD]

Ceetar wrote: ooh, he's fast. his only skill.

How obnoxious.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: ooh, he's fast. his only skill. How obnoxious.

sometimes the truth is obnoxious.

[Edgy MD]

Being sarcastic and snotty is obnoxious. Cut it out.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Being sarcastic and snotty is obnoxious. Cut it out.

Stop belittling my opinion and the facts I base them on then.

[Edgy MD]

Don't play the martyr, please. Try harder.

[metsmarathon]

all stats per fangraphs:

last year, eric young produced -6.9 batting runs above average (based on wOBA) in his 418 metly plate appearances.
in his career, ruben tejada produced -29.3 batting runs above average (based on wOBA) in his 1359 career plate appearances, which works out to -9.0 batting runs above average per 418 plate appearances.

last year, eric young produced 9.5 baserunning runs above average in his 418 metly plate appearances
in his career, ruben tejada has produced 0.3 baserunning runs above average in his 1359 career plate appearances, which works out to 0.1 baserunning runs per 418 plate apearances.

offensively, last year, eric young was a better player than ruben tejada has been for his career.

what does it mean going forward?

honestly, i don't know. tejada shoulld still be capable of improvement whereas young may not be, being on the wrong side of hte aging curve.

for what it's worth (and i don't know what's going into their defensive valueation), but the "oliver" projections on fangraphs show them both at about a 0.9 WAR player next year, assuming 600 plate appearances. oliver uses weighted mean of hte prior three seasons, plus aging and regression to the mean. so its not really pretending to know anything about hte players. but, it's something, right?

with very small sample sizes to go on, if i look at their defense, young and tejada are both about slightly above average at 2b/lf and ss, and by slightly above average, i mean a run or two over the course of a year.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

What marathon said: Young actually plays left field decently. And baserunning value is still value.

But, yeah, the whole shortstop question is a little silly. More than a little.