He's killed the ball, and his production has been very good. When a guy is killing the ball, his production should be better than very good. Too many crushed singles and not enough crushed extra base hits.
And your point is? He's hitting the ball with exit velocities similar to Brantley and just a tad below Springer. Edit: I don't expect he'll continue smoking the ball as often as he has, but even if he has some regression in how often he hits it, he should produce more than he has with just a little more elevation.
I thought he was like this generation's Mike Lamb no glove with occasional pop... and I am a Morgan Ensberg partisan.
It takes a man to dig up his old post, admit his mistake, and bump the thread. @lnchan Touche’ sir. A healthy Diaz has really helped stabilize this offense. I couldn’t take much more Robel and once Breggy gets back, having Diaz off the bench in the playoffs is a great weapon.
I am to the point where if all the top FA SS I would be comfortable with the Astros heading into next season with Diaz as their starting SS, so long as they add a good backup option (someone like Freddy Galvis, Jon Villar, or Andrelton Simmons).
i wonder if an extension will be coming this off-season to secure him beyond 2022. I agree he could be our full-time replacement for Correa.
He wouldn't be horrible vs overpaying for someone that is only marginally better. Then we would just have to find another utility player. Maybe Pedro Leon could be the utility guy so there is less pressure on him.
I would try to extend him. He doesn't have the glove to play SS full time. Bregs would be a better choice to play SS full time and I don't want him playing SS full time either.
Agree for the most part, but I think the good backup would be the de-facto starter with Diaz still shuffling around the infield as the utility guy. It's really a shame Pena has had 2 years wiped out because him and Diaz would make for a good upside/downside tandem, they still might. As for Diaz long term, no thanks unless it's on a really cheap deal. He's proven to be really injury prone, which isn't a big problem for the utility guy, but not so much as the planned starter. Plus while's he's OK at all 4 positions, like Myles Straw you ideally want to do better than OK with a guy you pencil in as your starter. You want to be the team that finds the Diazs and Marwins of the world, not the team that pays them. If a team could count on Diaz giving them 150 games, he could easily command a pretty hefty contract as an everyday 2B or 3B.
I agree, I do not want to extend Diaz unless he takes a super team-friendly deal. He is injury-prone and that won’t get better as he gets into his 30s. Even if he stays healthy I don’t think he’ll be a viable SS for more than 2-3 more seasons. Having him as the everyday SS with a solid backup for next season buys them time to see what they have in Leon and Pena (and to a lesser degree Nova and Kessinger).
I'd be okay with a team-friendly or even a break-even deal. I think his best year probably has not happened yet despite already being 31.
Thanks Jeff Luhnow. I give Diaz a fair market value deal for two more years. .300 hitters dont fall off of trees and he's been playing as much as a regular starter and playing well at multiple positions. If Diaz money gets in the way of re-signing Graveman then I let Diaz walk.
I would think Diaz profiles as a player who may be willing to sacrifice some money to play in Houston. The Astros give him a chance at a ring. He is familiar with the city and may want some stability since he’s been traded twice. He is Cuban and Houston has a lot of Cubans on their team and in their system. Something like $25M/3yrs (covering 2022-2024) possibly with some games played incentives would seem to make a lot of sense for both sides.
