Grimes
In fact, much of the season I've been auto'ing the lineups and depth charts, so the game is putting Grimes in CF. The reason for this is I actually have had nobody on my big-league roster with a better CF defensive rating for much of this year. Keep in mind that Grimes is only a 4-rated CF. I brought up Albert Cortez recently from AAA, and he is 6-rated in CF, but after hitting auto, the game elected to keep Grimes in CF and use Cortez as a super-utility guy. Heh. Oh well.
Look at the train wreck that Grimes is in Center. A -19.8 ZR. A .884 efficiency rating. My entire team ZR is only -12, so Grimes is single-handedly dragging it into the red. He simply shouldn't be out there. Left field would be the preferred spot for the 24-year old outfielder. He actually wasn't as bad as this last season, so maybe he suffered a defensive position lump or two? For whatever reason, it is clearly true he doesn't belong anywhere near centerfield. Now are we losing because of that? Grimes' WAR is -1.9. I would venture to guess that we have indeed suffered a couple of extra losses because of it, but on the other hand, it wouldn't have made a difference in the overall standings for my team this season, especially with the state of the bullpen. I still have moves to make this offseason, and the financial situation is coming around.
I do have Victor Hoffman, a 10-rated CF, down at AAA, who is actually injured at the moment. Hoffman has had 121 games at the big league level in 2017 and 2018, but he has accumulated a -2.3 WAR in that time in the MBWBA. He is 26 now, and probably not the long term answer either, though he would certainly help the pitching staff. Anyway, I would like to thank Vancouver for giving me something else to write a TN about.
