How Will He Thrive in Twenty-Five?: José Siri

[Edgy MD]

Fourish years into his MLB career, and now on his third team, the Mets saw something in this .210 career hitter with a .674 career OPS. What that is may not be so clear. Yeah, he found a power stroke the last two years, and that along with his defensive tools could combine to make him a poor man's Mike Cameron if you squint real hard. But eventually you have to stop squinting, and that .266 career OBP just won't go away.

Currently having a torrid spring (.300 / .500 / 1.200 // 1.700 with three homers in his first 10 at-bats), he has a good chance to be the Opening Day centerfielder, and just as good a chance to be relegated to late-inning defensive specialist a few months later. But maybe that's the appeal. His ceiling may be a tough reach, but he still has utility if he stays on the floor. That may or may not be the Mets' thinking, but whatever that thinking was, they gave up Eric Orze to find out if it was true.

Or maybe you know better.

[MFS62]

I'll settle for .225- 17-56 with Tommie Agee-like defense until he gets relegated to defensive reserve duty in August.
But those homers are going to go a looooong way.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

When they traded for him, I figured he would be a non-factor, but now I'm not so sure. I think he'll get about 280 plate appearances and he'll make a few key contributions.

[roger_that]

How gifted defensively, do you suppose? Better than Bader? Better than Taylor? How much better?

Assuming the maximum, and assuming the offensive numbers aren't going to change much if at all, I'd guess we're looking at another Rey Ordonez situation here.

In other words, a possible contributor in a limited role, as a late-inning defensive replacement, which may justify the roster spot, but an inning killer as a regular. That OBP is deadly, and there's no reason to expect it will improve, is there? You can't really give away outs like they were jujubes, can you?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

They liked something about him. Bader had a shitty OBP ast year and he on balance was useful.

Optimistic guess 245/300/440 and joins the 17-17 club

[metirish]

I expect some OK SIRI headlines , but it not many

[roger_that]

They liked something about him. Bader had a shitty OBP ast year and he on balance was useful.

Optimistic guess 245/300/440 and joins the 17-17 club

His offense seems a whole step below Taylor, who's no slouch defensively. I don't get it, other than as a backup and a defensive replacement. Even if he's a really good centerfielder, is he going to get to one ball a week that Taylor wouldn't get? One ball a month? Is anything on that order worth having a Rey Ordonez in your everyday lineup?

[Edgy MD]

Well, it may be more about him getting to ballz that Marte and Winker don't get to. Maybe Soto, too.

[Cowtipper]

.201 batting average, 3 home runs, an ego that is 1,000,000 times greater than his baseball ability.

[MFS62]

Last year Siri had 1.6 dWAR vs Taylor's 0.7.
I'm not sure how many more catches that translates to over the course of a season.

But a list I saw showed Siri's zone rating last year was 6.2
Taylor wasn't rated (maybe not enough games through August)
Bader's was around 2
Nimmo was -.6 (that's minus)
So, I can't make a comparison of Siri and Taylor based on that metric.
Maybe someone else with access to SABR data will have better luck.

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Has a little pop and defends well, so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets more playing time than Taylor as long as he stays above the Mendoza line (that's Mario, not Carlos).

.215/13/40 and a game-saving catch or two.

[bmfc1]

He has a good interview on the "Meet Me at the Apple" podcast.