The Pecan Park Eagle

Welcome to Houston, Michael Brantley!

If Marwin Gonzalez signs for better money somewhere away from the Astros, as he’s expected to do, it apparently will not be because GM Jeff Luhnow has failed to come up with the money or not tried to work a deal. In these days of the analytic mindset, a “better deal” isn’t one that you get from a straight player one-for-one trade so much as it is finding someone else who can fill the same needs for what appears to be better deserved money, as the Astros have done with free agent Michael Brantley this past week @ two years for $32 million.

We haven’t thought there was anyone out there who could compare with Marwin Gonzalez for reasonable money until the Brantley deal, but those of us who feel that way don’t always have our fingers on the pulse of the animal that is MLB these days.

Other than the fact that Brantley, age 31, is a straight lefty and two years older than Gonzalez, age 29, he is capable of playing all three outfield spots, plus first base, and his capacity also extends to proven work as a DH in his ten years service with the Indians. Like Gonzalez, he doesn’t have a lot of HR punch, but his general hitting production and average is quite a bit better than the numbers for Marwin Gonzalez. ~ He’s also rated as a positive team player and he sounds like a guy who will fit right in with the Astros.

WIth Yuli Gurriel and others of the new infielders (whomever they turn out to be) filling in as better than average back ups at second, short, and third, we should be OK there too. The only thing that could make it better would be the birth of improbability here ~ and Marwin stays home as an Astro.

These tables are designed from Baseball Reference.com data which produces average production for each player over the course of their career figures to date. Brantley’s average 162-game season results are based upon his 10-year MLB career from 2009 through 2018. ~ Gonzalez’s average 162 game season is based on his 7-year career from 2012 to 2018.

Table 1: Marwin Gonzalez vs. Michael Brantley

Table 2: Marwin Gonzalez vs. Michael Brantley

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS …. ONE MORE TIME!

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags: A Drive By Stat Look at Brantley for Gonzalez

This entry was posted on December 22, 2018 at 3:16 am and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.