The 2015 Outfield At A Glance

Free Agent Options

MLB Trade Rumors free agent tracker shows that the outfield market is really thin .

Of that list:

• Doumit, Chavez, Kubel, Both Johnsons , Ibanez, Ludwick, and Hairston are old, retired or still playing but their bat’s retired.
• Gllespie, Gwynn and Young have never hit consistently at the major league level,
• Schierholtz was once a good lefty platoon guy but his bat went on vacation last year

That leaves us Rasmus Ichiro, Gomes and Reimold.

Update: I was just informed that Tyler Colvin signed with the Marlins. I missed that and apologize for the oversight.  (15:20 EST 1/17/15)

Rasmus had a bad year at Toronto in 2014 and Kevin Seitzer was his hitting coach there. He’s also going to be worth $7-9M this year and that alone would seem to eliminate him.

Ichiro is a tantalizing idea and would probably take a one year deal to get his 3000th hit. He would bring some fans to the ballpark but he hasn’t shown any power of late and he isn’t really a platoon bat.

Gomes was once that guy and he still shows a strong LHP split but last year was a really down year. In 2013 he slashed  .247/.344/.426/.771 with 13 homers, 17 doubles and 52 RBI in about the same number of PA as this year’s dismal line. The question is, do you believe that was a one off fluke or that his bat lost just enough to make 2014 what the future brings? Checking Fangraphs shows that Steamer – which is usually an optimistic projection – suggests a line of .228/.323/.375.

Nolan Reimold.had the best season of those listed except for Rasmus. Beginning in 2012 injuries centered around a herniated disk in his neck plagued him and he eventually had to have surgery. That series of events along with a hamstring injury cost him 2012 and 2013. Last year he started with him on the DL and still rehabbing from the neck surgery. He returned in July but the pennant chasing Orioles didn’t have the luxury of waiting for him to play himself into form put him on waivers.

Toronto claimed him and he appeared in 22 games getting 60 PA with a line of .212/.283/.404 including 2 homers. In August they needed a roster spot and he was once again placed on waivers and claimed by the Diamondbacks.In Phoenix he got only 18PA but provided a homer and a double driving in 4 runs in that limited play.

Looking at Hart’s acquisitions this off season Reimold seem to be the kind of player he might give a shot. Steamer isn’t kind to Reimold either projecting only a .215/.279/.362 slash and 1 homers but that just doesn’t seem right.  He’s never put up numbers that poor and he looked like he was rounding into shape when the season ended.

Having Markakis on hand to offer input could also nudge the Braves in that direction but more importantly he’s still an arbitration eligible player who would likely sign for close to the minimum.  A GM can’t really buy much lower than that.

Reimold isn’t a stud, a big power threat or likely to be a long term answer. If he can repeat his 2009 or 2011 season and play solid defense he could be a real find. If I was guessing at a buy low free agent, Reimold is my guess