Tony Campana DFA'd

[traderumor]

Originally Posted by Krawhitham

121 players played OF and had at bats in the NL last season

the Batting Average for these hitters was .263
the On Base Percentage for these hitters was .336

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...=sharing#gid=0

OK, and his BA was .264 and OBP was .309. He had 11 walks in nearly 200 plate appearances. The walks were likely incidental since major league pitchers can simply knock the toothpick out of his hand.

Add to that slap hitting slugging under .300, and you have a guy with nice value to watch run the bases in the minor leagues. The Louisville Bats fans might love the guy. But I sure don't want to see his crooked hat at the major league level getting anywhere near the plate appearances that he got for a bad, bad Cubs team. He just isn't a legit major league player.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by traderumor

OK, and his BA was .264 and OBP was .309. He had 11 walks in nearly 200 plate appearances. The walks were likely incidental since major league pitchers can simply knock the toothpick out of his hand.

Add to that slap hitting slugging under .300, and you have a guy with nice value to watch run the bases in the minor leagues. The Louisville Bats fans might love the guy. But I sure don't want to see his crooked hat at the major league level getting anywhere near the plate appearances that he got for a bad, bad Cubs team. He just isn't a legit major league player.

Yep, he may be local and he's real fast but he's not worth a roster slot

Unless the Reds have a track team now

[marcshoe]

His minor league numbers suggest that he could be a better player than he's shown in his brief major league career, but still, I don't think he has a place on this team. His bat's still weak. His minor league obp was better, but I haven't checked how that broke down. I just don't see that a guy who is at best a question mark with no power can help this team.

I like players that hustle, but I like them better if the hustle helps them produce. Look at Freel's best years and you see a good example of this. I don't see Campana measuring up. Let him sign with Florida or Pittsburgh or somebody and see what he can produce there; don't run low-reward experiments in Cincinnati.

[TRF]

To be fair, we may never know how badly Freel was hurting those last few seasons, but those fort 3 with the Reds were every Reds fan's dream.

[M2]

Campana strikes me as a potentially useful bench player. Comparing him to the average starting OF misses the mark a bit. Yes, starting OFs are generally much more effective hitters. Yet Campana is not an automatic out, he can run and he can field. I guarantee you that some team can use that. He'd certainly look good chasing flies in CF for the Reds in the 9th inning.

He was .301/.356/.350 in the minors. The primary job of a PH is to not make an out (really that goes for all hitters, but doubly so for PHs). If he's able to bottle that in the majors, then he'll be a cult hero. The tricky part is that the job of bench player doesn't lend itself to consistency. By definition you get small sample size seasons that exaggerate your hot and cold streaks. Plus, it's irregular work and it can take multiple seasons for guys who've spent their whole lives playing every day to adjust to that.

If the Reds want to take a flyer on Campana, I'd have no problem with it. Essentially he'd be competing with Xavier Paul for that LH PH/spare OF/PR job. Nothing wrong with competition. Hot hand wins. Whether that competition is worth whatever short-term roster implications it might have is another question.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by M2

Campana strikes me as a potentially useful bench player. Comparing him to the average starting OF misses the mark a bit. Yes, starting OFs are generally much more effective hitters. Yet Campana is not an automatic out, he can run and he can field. I guarantee you that some team can use that. He'd certainly look good chasing flies in CF for the Reds in the 9th inning.

He was .301/.356/.350 in the minors. The primary job of a PH is to not make an out (really that goes for all hitters, but doubly so for PHs). If he's able to bottle that in the majors, then he'll be a cult hero. The tricky part is that the job of bench player doesn't lend itself to consistency. By definition you get small sample size seasons that exaggerate your hot and cold streaks. Plus, it's irregular work and it can take multiple seasons for guys who've spent their whole lives playing every day to adjust to that.

If the Reds want to take a flyer on Campana, I'd have no problem with it. Essentially he'd be competing with Xavier Paul for that LH PH/spare OF/PR job. Nothing wrong with competition. Hot hand wins. Whether that competition is worth whatever short-term roster implications it might have is another question.

Like this

RUNS CREATED/GAME vs. the league average 

AT BATS                         AB       AVG      OBA      SLG      OPS     RC/G    
Eduardo Perez               	297     .253     .321     .475     .796     0.14   
Jon Nunnally                	201     .318     .400     .602    1.002     4.25   
Chris Stynes                	198     .348     .394     .485     .879     2.31  



Chris Stynes                	347     .254     .323     .340     .663     -.89 
Jon Nunnally                	174     .207     .335     .379     .714     -.95  
Eduardo Perez               	172     .238     .325     .331     .656    -1.35

[TRF]

so.. all you need is a crystal ball to know when you are going to get good Jon Nunnally?

[jhiller21]

Originally Posted by MrRedLegger

Who knows what it could do to the bat. Like it was stated earlier, his first hit and HR were in Cincinnati. Seems like his bat finds leather when he's in town.

His bat finds leather, as soon as the baseball he just hit lands in it. He has no slugging ability at all. I think I'd pass.

[mth123]

Originally Posted by Steve4192

His career 67 OPS+ says otherwise.

Also, those MLB averages include the atrocious numbers from pitchers, catchers, and shortstops league-wide. You should be comparing Camapana to other outfielders, where his numbers look even worse.

I can't say how much I like this post. League average is the most incredibly low standard for people to be satisfied with. Comparing guys to their positional averages makes more sense. Guys who are being projected as starters should be compared to their positional starters.

No interest in Campana.

[I(heart)Freel]

Related note: is Xavier Paul or Chris Heisey going to be the late inning defensive replacement in center, do you think?

And are we cool with that?

I tend to think Dusty will use their bats in key LH/RH pinch hit opportunities earlier in the game. If not, we'll see some of those new glove-first infielders taking the key pinch hits early in the game.

Or are we thinking that Choo stays in center for 9 innnings, even with a lead?

I'm not saying that Campana is the answer. But I tend to think this thread raises the question about how late game defense will be addressed.

[BEETTLEBUG]

I heard Lance McCalister say tonight he was not interested .

[AtomicDumpling]

Huh?

.262 career batting average in 184 games is bad? I'll agree he has no slugging ability, but the dude stole 54 bases in 59 attempts in his career. Yes, his OBP is only slightly better than Stubbs as he rarely takes a walk...........but.......

He's only 26 years old. Change of scenery might do him some good.

I'd take a minor league flyer on him.

This is precisely why everyone should forget they ever heard of Batting Average. If you think Batting Average is a good statistic you might be fooled into thinking Tony Campana is a baseball player. Campana is a case study in why Batting Average is a heavily flawed and misleading stat.

Campana's career OBP is .306 which is bad but not awful. His career SLG is .299 which is just downright terrible. His career OPS of .605 is pathetic. His career OPS+ of 67 shows he is not worthy of being anywhere near the major leagues. The stolen bases add a very slight bit of value, but the impact of stolen bases is drastically overestimated by some fans. Campana's career wOBA (which factors in both his hitting and his baserunning) is a woeful .272 so it is plain as day that he is not worthy of being in the league.

If a team has the luxury of using a roster slot for a player that can solely be used as a defensive replacement or pinch runner without ever coming to the plate then he would be a good option. But no good team should ever waste a valuable roster slot in that manner. Any defensive value and baserunning value he generates would quickly be obliterated at the plate.

He will be 27 years old in a couple months and he is 5'8" and 165 so he is highly unlikely to ever get any better than he already is. Good for him for making it all the way to the major leagues. He got the most out of his body. But he is not an option for a team like the Reds.

[scott91575]

Somewhere Thom Brennaman is crying.

[TRF]

ok, just for argument's sake... Is Billy Hamilton?

He couldn't drive a ball through wet cardboard. His SLG is all speed based, turning singles into doubles, doubles into triples. He's what Taveras should have been, and likely what Walt thought he was.

Campana had a decent OBP in the minors. not fantastic, but decent. Hamilton's has fluctuated, but he is coming off a tremendous season.

Just food for thought. Feel free to tear into me on this point.

[lollipopcurve]

He couldn't drive a ball through wet cardboard.

Did you watch the Futures Game (drove ball over CF's head, hitting righty)? The Arizona Fall League championship game (drove ball into RCF gap, almost to the wall on the fly, hitting lefty)? The guy is not a home run threat, but he can drive a ball on a line, and he's going to get stronger.