{"id":3123,"date":"2011-11-29T10:29:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T15:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3123"},"modified":"2012-11-15T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T15:41:08","slug":"nats-pursuit-of-a-cfer-a-complete-analysis-of-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3123","title":{"rendered":"Nats pursuit of a CFer; a complete analysis of options"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conventional wisdom says the team will pursue BJ Upton. But what if there's a decent short-term alternative? Photo unknown via ajc.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The Nats have not had a consistent, quality, and reliable center fielder since 2005 (and even then it was arguable).\u00a0 When the team moved here, Brad Wilkerson<\/strong> played most of the season in center field, put up a 103 ops+<\/a> and hit a bunch of homers while running around pre-game with packages of Skittles in his pocket.\u00a0 Jim Bowden<\/strong> traded Wilkerson with a couple other guys for one year of Alfonso Soriano<\/strong>.\u00a0 Since, then, here’s some of the guys who have played CF for us<\/a> on a regular basis:<\/p>\n

Preston Wilson
\nEndy Chavez
\nRyan Church
\nNook Logan
\nMarlon Byrd
\nAlex Escobar
\nBrandon Watson
\nRyan Langerhans
\nJustin Maxwell
\nBrandon Watson
\nLastings Milledge
\nRoger Bernadina
\nElijah Dukes
\nNyjer Morgan
\nWillie Harris
\nCorey Patterson<\/p>\n

Half these guys are out of the league now, most of the rest are marginal players or backup outfielders.\u00a0 In 2011, we had innings from Rick Ankiel<\/strong>, Jayson Werth<\/strong> and even Laynce Nix<\/strong> (who managed to put in 8 innings in center field but somehow not have a single play, resulting in a neutral zero for UZR\/150).\u00a0 But none of these guys is a long term CF solution, each for different reasons.<\/p>\n

Is this the off season we end the madness and finally get a long term solution in center field?<\/p>\n

I put together a spreadsheet of every Center Fielder option in the major leagues, threw in their age, salary, contract details, and three measures of their 2011 performance (OPS+, UZR\/150 and bWAR).\u00a0 That spreadsheet is here, for reference<\/a>.\u00a0 I’ll pull out the relevant details for each section below.<\/p>\n

I’ve divided the CF options to consider into several categories below.<\/p>\n

1. Current Washington CF options in-house<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/col>\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Player<\/td>\nAge<\/td>\nTeam<\/td>\nCurrent Contract<\/td>\n2011 Salary<\/td>\n2011 OPS+<\/td>\n2011 UZR\/150 CF only<\/td>\n2011 bWAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bernadina, Roger<\/td>\n27<\/td>\nWashington<\/td>\nPre-Arb<\/td>\n$414,000<\/td>\n82<\/td>\n-16.6<\/td>\n0.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Werth, Jayson<\/td>\n32<\/td>\nWashington<\/td>\n7yr\/$126M->2017<\/td>\n$10,571,000<\/td>\n97<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Bernadina, despite his defensive reputation, was actually rather awful in CF this year while putting up an 82 OPS+.\u00a0 He’s now had more than a 1000 major league at-bats to show his worth.\u00a0 The team should DFA him and move on.\u00a0 Werth actually had a decent UZR\/150 in center, albeit in a small sample size, hence why the team seems to be considering using him there on a more regular basis.\u00a0 We also have a couple of other internal options in the minors:<\/p>\n