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Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 20 2016 07:45 PM

I ran a small but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to generate Blackmon interest between the death of the Gomez Deal and the announcement of the Cespedes Trade in 2015. Who is Charlie Blackmon? BL/TL, 6-3, 210, 29 years old. Born in Dallas, grew up in Georgia. Coming off his best year by far: 29/82/324/381/522//933. (130 OPS and Silver Slugger CF) Before you scoff, he hit more homers on the road. Also had 17 steals and 35 doubles. Led off most often for the Rockies. Sort of a late bloomer who didn't play regularly till age 27 but was a 2nd round draftee out of Georgia Tech in 2008. He still drives the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo he purchased as a senior in high school. Goes by the nickname Chuck Nazty. A bit of a bon vivant with a big stupid bushy beard, #2 clipper cut on the sides of his head and a mullet. Speculation he could be on the block as the Rockies added Ian Desmond. Here he is catching fish with his Wifey, Katie Blackmon. Charlie's big-time into hunting and fishing and violent video games but is a member in good standing of the Colorado Christian Athletes Association. Katie has a thing for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

cooby Dec 20 2016 07:50 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Oh please god no. Though without the Mets channel (what's it called again?) I'd never see him

d'Kong76 Dec 20 2016 07:51 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

That's a pretty small fish, or is that his lure?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 20 2016 08:05 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Oh, and his walkup music is "Your Love" by the Outfield.

cooby Dec 20 2016 08:08 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Even worse

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 20 2016 08:42 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

I suppose Blackmon's drawbacks are: 1- He's lefty like everyone else so we're likely trading 2 OFs to make room 2- He's a leadoff hitter like Grandy and Reyes where what we'd really like is a No. 3 hitter 3- He'll cost something in a trade But I kind of like him as a thing.

Frayed Knot Dec 20 2016 09:00 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

I definitely like him as a thing and think the fact that he's a leadoff guy is a plus as neither Grandy or even Reyes are ideal there. Blackmon/Reyes or Reyes/Blackmon up top in front of ... hell, anybody + Cespedes would be great. Like McCutcheon he'll keep Cespedes & Conforto out of CF. Also like McC it probably means both Bruce & Grandy go but that's not the worst thing ever. Also like McC he's two years away from FA-gency although in his case the salary figures are TBD for both the 2017 & 2018 seasons, either via Arb or via negotiations.

HahnSolo Dec 20 2016 09:12 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Career year last year. .933 OPS, that .130 higher than any other full or partial season. His career though: .900 OPS at Coors, .727 away from Denver. I guess it all depends on the asking price.

Ashie62 Dec 20 2016 10:59 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Our OF situation is one big cluster*uck for the time being. Sandy,fix it. Please,

Edgy MD Dec 20 2016 11:17 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

The team's outfield situation is more or less fine. It could fit together better and it's worth exploring if that could be made to happen, but any clusterfuck that has Yoenis Céspedes in it is one I feel good about watching. Did that come out right?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 21 2016 02:36 AM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Word is, the Rockies' asking price for any and all outfielders is, um, discussion prohibitive. Blackmon will never be any better than what he did last year(which, admittedly, was pretty damn good), and he's kinda shit in the field. But... yeah, he'd be a nice piece. You gotta figure that the conversation starts with a healthy-in-the-Rockies'-eyes Matz, or Gsellman/Wheeler (or both?). Honestly, I might rather look KC-ward for someone like Jarrod Dyson to pair with JohnnyLags/caddy for Grandy.

Edgy MD Dec 21 2016 03:03 AM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

The way I see it is that, if they trade Jay Bruce for Relief McChumpstein, and they have an outfield of Céspedes-Conforto/Lagares-Granderson. They pick up a De Aza on the free agent market to be the fifth guy. Conforto's certainly not ideal up the middle, but they made it work for a stretch last year, and he comes with a glove caddy. Sooner rather than later, due to injury, ineffectiveness, the expiration of Granderson's contract, or some other reality, Conforto moves over to take a corner spot fulltime, and Nimmo becomes the lefthanded centerfielder, and they're more or less set for several years. Or at least in a position to be. So they have an outfield and they have a succession plan, and even a useful alternative or two (Laggy, Reyes ... ) if it goes wrong. It'd all look better if Céspedes could be coaxed into right, but that's a problem no matter who they add or don't add. So, I ain't spitting on Blackmon and certainly not spitting on McCutchen, but I don't see the sort of need that suggests a GM shouldn't fight for his deal on his terms.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 22 2016 05:16 AM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Maybe it's the Old Fashioneds talking, but... I got an idea: Mets send: Duda, Wheeler, Ynoa/Molina Rockies get: Blackmon, McGee Mets use: Bruce/Conforto/Flores at 1B. The defensive trouble area is moved from easily-exposed CF to 1B. Or... make another trade, only with more leverage.

A Boy Named Seo Dec 22 2016 05:48 AM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Maybe it's the Old Fashioneds talking, but... I got an idea: Mets send: Duda, Wheeler, Ynoa/Molina Rockies get: Blackmon, McGee Mets use: Bruce/Conforto/Flores at 1B. The defensive trouble area is moved from easily-exposed CF to 1B. Or... make another trade, only with more leverage. That one makes sense, but I fear we'd have to upgrade the Wheeler part. More importantly - how many dashes of bitters do you dash?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Dec 22 2016 10:49 AM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

3, usually. Although my third one was less like a defined number of splashes, and more like a sloppy cannonball. (Instead of muddled sugarcube, I do homemade simple syrup, with a LITTLE bit of fennel salt I have.) Matz, not Wheeler? Or Lugo somewhere in there?

Edgy MD Dec 22 2016 01:23 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Maybe it's the Old Fashioneds talking, but... I got an idea: Mets send: Duda, Wheeler, Ynoa/Molina Rockies get: Blackmon, McGee Mets use: Bruce/Conforto/Flores at 1B. The defensive trouble area is moved from easily-exposed CF to 1B. Or... make another trade, only with more leverage. That's a lot of dudes coming off injuries Colorado is being asked to take on.

smg58 Dec 22 2016 03:02 PM Re: Hell, we may as well be talking about Charlie Blackmon

Blackmon's OPS+ last year was 130, which would mean an OPS in the mid 800s playing here (by comparison, Granderson has a 126 OPS+ in 2015). That's obviously good, but it's fair to ask if he can repeat it. Defensively, his range is fine but his arm is weak. Overall it's not clear that he represents a defensive upgrade over Granderson (who really wasn't bad in center this past season -- the Fielding Bible has him at +1). And the degree of offensive upgrade is debatable. I don't think he's a big enough improvement over what we've got to justify the likely asking price.