Pencilled in as the regular leftfielder, but between trade rumors, Kelly Johnson, and the likelyhood that the Braves would like to add one more bat, that pencil is pretty light. I like Langerhans, but he’s a lot less attactive compared to the league instead of Braul Jordesi. He doesn’t have Johnson’s upside or the one dominant skill that jumps out at you. Compared in the minors to Paul O’Neill, though I doubt he’s that good.
He’s a hard player to fit into some lineups. He doesn’t have the power of a 3-4-5 hitter, and doesn’t “seem” like a leadoff or #2 hitter, though he might be the Braves’ best fit for the latter position. Really, a natural #6 hitter. Hit .267/.348/.426 last season in his first extensive Major League playing time, right on what he hit in the minors. He was a lot better than that in his last minor league season, Richmond in 2004, when he hit .298/.397/.518. Maybe he can up his batting average to that range, which would make him a lot more valuable even if he doesn’t add power. My guess is that he will play regularly, either in Atlanta or somewhere else, for the next three or four years, then settle into a career as a backup. I’m also guessing that once he turns thirty, he won’t be a player you’ll want for more than one year; I just don’t see him aging well.
Has a good defensive rep, and looked good out there to me and everyone else, but the stats don’t really back it up. Considering the chaos that was the Braves’ corner outfield most of the season, I’m going to let that slide. A good baserunner, and pretty fast, but 0-2 as a basestealer last season, coming off being a .500 basestealer in the high minors, so you don’t want him running too much, another reason he won’t hit high in the order.
I think Langerhans is the perfect player to have on a team as a fourth outfielder. He can play all three outfield positions well, has decent speed and is a decent offensive player. Having him backing up KJ and Francouer is perfect in case one of them needs more seasoning at Richmond. Of course, he actually played better than KJ last season, so we will see how Bobby will handle the situation. Obviously, we all know KJ has more potential and is younger than Langerhans, and I like KJ even more when I checked his minor league stats earlier today.
$2.2M for HoRo, I can’t believe it! Marcus’ deal is a big bargain!
Wait, we gave HoRam WHAT? I did some useless calculations inspired by kc’s “big bargain comment,” so bear with me. First, I used WARP 3 for HoRam and Marcus and set them up as proportions to their new salaries. For example:
HoRam salary: 2.2
VORP: 3.6
Marcus salary: 3.8
VORP: 8.1
Using this scale, I determined what each of their salaries should have been relative to the other if you use one scale or the other as the baseline for “fair salary.” If you use HoRam’s salary proportional to WARP3, Marcus should be getting $4.95 million. If you use Marcus’s salary proportional to WARP3, HoRam should be getting $1.69 million.
Doing the same thing for HoRam’s VORP yields an expected salary for Marcus of $6.01 million. Using Marcus’s VORP gets HoRam $1.69 million.
Yes, this was a pointless waste of time, but I’m bored and felt like doing simple algebra to annoy myself. The conclusion? Either HoRam is overpaid or Marcus is underpaid. I’m going to go with a little bit of both, but if I had to choose one or the other, I’d say that based on this year’s market, Marcus is getting cheated. Lucky us.
Doing the
Sorry, I said I used WARP3 and then went on to list VORP numbers without saying I was also using that. I think the post still mostly makes sense though.
Horacio should be arrested for theft!!! 2.2 Mil?? He’s not worth 220 thousand!
HoRam will win the Cy Young now. Or he should for that dough!
Off-topic: HILARIOUS Jay Leno video HERE.
Rats, link doesn’t work. The address is:
http://www.youtube.com/player.swf?video_id=vEWLwz6JRNE&l=357&s=B4BC767524043.
It’s one of those Phony Photo Booth segments.
Geez, please stop complaining about what HoRam got. I can live with 2.2 mil for a starting pitcher. Especially since we avoided arbitration. You guys act like he set a record or something. Reitsma got got 2.75 or something like that and nobody complained. I hope I am dumb and yall are being sarcastic.
That is a lot for a first-year award coming off a bad season.
Jenny, that was funny
Funny/strange about Horacio. I was gonna ask the forum: What amount should he expect in arbitration? A LH starter who had subpar year–what do those guys get in arb? Guess I found out.
In early September, I made a spur of the moment decision to go see a Braves game by myself. Playing the Mets–Hudson vs. Glavine. That was the game in which Langerhans tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, then won it in the bottom of the tenth. If he never plays another game in a Brave’s uniform, I’ll always appreciate Ryan Langerhans for turning that casual decision of mine to see a baseball game into an enduring memory.
I think the Giles brothers need to consider switching agents. Compared to what other players received on the free agent market, Brian is a steal at $10 mil/year.
Brian Giles took a home town discount.
If seeing is believing I think Langerhans could start as a CF on another team with his offensive numbers from last year. But if your data says that he isn’t as good a fielder as percieved then…..
I hope that KJ has a good spring. You are right, skills as a hitter, his minor league career, age all add up to a greater upside as a player.
I might have a falsely inflated impression of Langerhans from a few great AB’s/games, but he stands out to me as being one of the only guys who seemed to have a clue how to hit in that final 18-inning game of the postseason. I like his approach at the plate and appreciate his hustle. I’d like to see him stick around as a Braves for a while, as others have mentioned that he does do a great job for a fourth OF. We could do a lot worse than hold on to him while he’s cheap for the next few years and see what becomes of him, especially since the guys he’s liklely to be backing up (KJ and Frenchy) are so young.
Great analysis on Langerhans. I like him as a player, but he looks like a 4th OF on a good team and a starter for a struggling one. Solid skills and excellent fundamentally, but I wonder if he has stopped developing.
It will be interesting to watch the Langerhans/Johnson competition. I don’t know which one honestly has the higher ceiling, but my guess is the one with the lower perceived ceiling will be playing somewhere else the first week in April.
Bargains? How about Lidge for $3.95MM; I wish we could pay that salary for a shut down closer.
Since a good model is to promote a closer from within so you can get him on the cheap for 3 – 4 years (i.e. the Lidge formula), what is the outlook for Joey Devine this year?
Did he pitch any winter ball? Do the braves plan to pitch him in the minors to gain more experience? We know he has good stuff but can he pitch?