The Philadelphia Phillies will have potential competitions taking place at a few positions in spring training, with center field as one of those possibilities.
This offseason, the Phillies made a somewhat shrewd move in acquiring outfielder Peter Bourjos via waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals. I call it shrewd because Bourjos was someone who might have seemed an unnecessary addition.
This is when considering that at the time, the team already had Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr pretty much guaranteed roles as starters in the outfield, and owned the top pick in the Rule 5 draft, one that would produce another outfielder in Tyler Goeddel.
These three would have formed a decent (and cheap) outfield that, assuming their speed stayed intact, would have been a dramatic improvement defensively over what the Phillies trotted out last year. However, adding a piece like Bourjos for basically nothing turned out to be something the team couldn’t pass up.
In picking up Bourjos, they not only acquire a strong defensive piece, but also set themselves up for an interesting debate: who will be playing center field for the team in 2016?
Manager Pete Mackanin has seemingly not determined who will be the center fielder, saying the team might be better off with Bourjos there and Herrera manning the corner. But would that indeed be the best defensive alignment for the 2016 Phillies?
First, let’s dispense with the notion that Herrera needs to go back to second base, an idea that our editor Matt Veasey explored during the off-season. It has been noted that Herrera was once voted the top defensive second baseman in his league while playing in the Texas Rangers’ minor league system, and that the Phillies might be wise to move him back to the infield this season.
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While that past 2nd base performance is nice to remember, it’s also important to recall that it was two full years ago. Making an assumption that Herrera could go back to the Keystone position and automatically be a defensive plus, all while continuing to improve his offensive game, is a difficult task to ask any player.
Management is probably hoping that Herrera is going to be spending his season adjusting to pitchers yet again in order to repeat his successful offensive rookie campaign. Asking him to also go back and re-learn a former position is not exactly ideal for his development. So at least for the time being, Herrera will be an outfielder.
Coming into the 2016 season, what seems to be continually overlooked about the player nicknamed ‘El Torito’ (baby bull) is that his defense in center field last season was quite good. According to Fangraphs, Herrera was credited with 10 DRS (defensive runs saved) at the position, good for sixth among all players at the position in 2015.
In comparison, Bourjos had -4 DRS, though that was over more than 600 fewer innings than Herrera. Baseball Prospectus was less impressed with Herrera’s defense, giving him -2.6 FRAA, yet they were also as negative about Bourjos, who registered a -2.4 FRAA mark.
If nothing else, these numbers speak to the inexact science of fielding metrics used by certain analytical groups, but the still help to paint a relevant picture. Herrera wasn’t as bad as some people made him out to be in center field.
Over his career, Bourjos has been considered an above average outfielder, both analytically and by the scouting community. Yet it is interesting that Herrera was able to accumulate 1/3 of Bourjos’ total DRS (36) in just one full-time season at the position.
The logical move, if Bourjos is to be the centerfielder, would be to have the team shift Herrera to left field. That would mean Herrera is playing a position that typically is saved for a more offensive oriented player.
Personally, I’ve never really bought into the idea of offensive profiles at positions. In theory, it’s great. If a team has a slow-moving hulk who cannot cover as much ground in the outfield expanse, they should put him the position where his weaknesses will be exposed the least. Think of Pat Burrell, Pete Incaviglia, and Greg Luzinski.
The 2016 Phillies do not have the luxury of having such a player, therefore cannot look at offensive profiles when filling out a lineup card. They need to look at results. Fielding the best defensive alignment is going to benefit this current Phillies team as much as any other factor.
Also, asking Herrera to learn another new position this spring just seems sort of unfair. If Herrera had played poorly in center last year, and there surely were times when his routes were “interesting”, the argument for having Bourjos in center would be an easy one. However, as the numbers indicate, Herrera has not done enough to be automatically displaced coming into spring training.
Bourjos’ playing time will not be dictated by his defense, but by how well he is hitting the ball. He only has one season as an above average hitter, with a 114 wRC+ in 2011. But that was five years ago. If he is unable to produce at the plate, it probably won’t matter what he’s doing in the field – the team will likely move on.
However, to simply assume that Bourjos will step over Herrera simply on the reputation of his glove is unfair. Herrera has done nothing to lose his job as the starter, and unless he plays himself out of the position in the spring, or if the team scouts conclude that Bourjos would be the better option, the lineup card should have a #37 next to the center field spot when the season opens in Cincinnati.