2016 d'Arnaud 2B

[ashie62]

I guess it would be asking Travis too much to pull a Biggio and move to 2B.

[Edgy MD]

Biggio was a bad catcher. d'Arnaud is not.

[ashie62]

The jury is still out on d'Arnaud's catching prowess.

[Edgy MD]

Not my jury. I saw plenty of Biggio and plenty of d'Arnaud.

I've seen no small sample of Plawecki also.

[Guest themetfairy]

I don't see it. d'Arnaud is a good catcher.

[Zvon]

Ashie62 wrote: The jury is still out on d'Arnaud's catching prowess.

I agree with this, but it's too soon to do that (2nd base).

[Edgy MD]

I have no problem with him having a second position to keep him in the lineup an extra ten times a year, and a fallback if another catching prospect come along.

But it doesn't make a poor-hitting team better to move a guy leftward on the defensive spectrum. It replaces Dilson's offense with Plawecki's (a negative, from where I sit), and Dilson's defense with d'Arnaud's (a negative from where anybody sits).

[ashie62]

All I know is Travis is perpertually injured behind the plate.

At least have him spend some time in the instructional league this fall.

[Frayed Knot]

Ashie62 wrote: All I know is Travis is perpertually injured behind the plate.

But this is the first injury that had anything to do with being behind the plate - and as a tag play it's one that could have happened at a different base as well.

[Guest themetfairy]

I don't see it. I have no reason to believe that he'd be a capable second baseman.

[ashie62]

There are many other positions to learn that don't involve passed balls.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what you're suggesting, but despite a surfeit of passed balls in 2014, d'Arnaud has zero in 19 games this season.

[ashie62]

19 games is not really much of a sample size.

[Edgy MD]

It's 19 games more than he's played at second base.

[Edgy MD]

And that ball gets away from Plawecki.

[Lefty Specialist]

Biggio going from C to 2B was pretty much unprecedented. And Travis.....um, no that's not going to work.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not even sure what it's meant to accomplish.

Ashie was big about moving on from d'Arnaud and buying in early on Plawecki � dealing d'Arnaud off as a lost cause � as he is regularly quick to move on and commit to the next thing. But as the last thing (d'Arnaud) has become pretty much as good a hitter as the Mets have, he's shifted his tack. But it still remains that the the new thing (Plawecki) has been as bad as d'Arnaud ever was his first two months.

So unless and until that changes, even the best-case scenario here is a net negative for the Mets, that leaves the Mets replacing Daniel Murphy with Plawecki � a .750 OPS with a .600 one. And the team stands to lose on defense too.

I completely encourage d'Arnaud to work out at other positions around the diamond, so he can stay in the lineup on his days off from catching. And one day, if he develops a familiarity at one of these positions (which would almost certainly be a corner spot), and a backup of his is coming on strong (Plawecki isn't), then great. We're many turns in the stream away from such a scenario.

[ashie62]

Just have Travis prepared if his body gives out behind the plate.

hugs and kisses.