The New Toonces?

 

I saw some fugitive blip of a stat cross the screen on a YES broadcast the other day, and it so surprised me that I just had to track it down.  

It seemed to say that our new gloveman at short, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a.k.a. IKF, a.k.a. Falafel, had some sort of great rating as a third baseman, but a "-7" rating as a shortstop.

Whaaat? That can't be good. I have no idea what it means, but -7 can never be good!

As many of you have gleaned over the many years, I look upon some—not all!—of the new statistics, and particularly fielding statistics, with a gimlet eye.  But once we got a look at Falafel's wretched play in the field in the BoSox series—and once he was sat down, already, for the great Marwin Gonzalez last night... 

I needed to run this down and confirm that what I saw was not just (another) bourbon-induced delusion, but a real thing. (Realizing, of course, that whoever allowed it to appear on YES has already been executed and had his naked body dumped in the Meadowlands.)

Could it be that our new gloveman at shortstop...is not really a gloveman at all???

Here's what I found, courtesy of our brethren and sistren over at Pinstripe Alley, a piece by Jesse Dorsey. 

It's dated Nov. 30, 2021—back when we were still deluding ourselves into believing the Yanks were all in on the Great Shortstop Bonanza.

https://www.pinstripealley.com/2021/11/30/22808964/yankees-trade-target-isiah-kiner-falefa-shortstop-statcast-texas-rangers-corey-seager

Its ultimate assessment—gulp, Scooby-Do "Rought-roe" sound:

 "Is Kiner-Falefa the answer at shortstop? I would certainly hope not, to say the least."

Most of the piece goes over what a Punch-and-Judy hitter Falafel is, able to make contact but not "good contact." But part of it also assesses his fielding prowess. 

IKF, it seems is an outstanding third baseman—the position he won a Gold Glove at in 2020...

...but not necessarily much of a shortstop. Here is where we find out "-7":

"Outs Above Average, on the other hand, is not nearly as kind to Kiner-Falefa the shortstop. Despite posting positive career results at third and second, his OAA at shortstop was a -7. Based on Statcast's calculations, Kiner-Falefa is above average when fielding the position laterally, but struggles when it comes to charging the ball." 

Okay, okay. Deep, deep breaths. And full disclosure: yet another fielding stats analysis finds him to be quite good at shortstop. 

But how essentially...Cashman, to take a guy who's really a terrific third baseman and just assume he can easily transition to short, a more important position. 

It reeks of the same Cashie the Brain who wasted untold numbers of prospects and high draft picks on pitchers who he described as "bargains"—once they just had that little ol' Tommy John operation. He is a classic man with a fixer-upper, DIY obsession, good for flipping houses or souping up cars—not so much so for a baseball GM.

But I digress.

The bigger question here is: Pop gun hitter, versatile but not exactly a world-beater at shortstop; why, again, did you need to trade for this guy when you have Tyler Wade ready to step in and be pretty much the exact same player? 

(A man always ready, willing, and able to play short in his shorts?)

Afraid that I was somehow misremembering Wade's facility at short, I looked up his numbers—and Falafel's—at baseball reference.

When it comes to hitting, they're very comparable. IKF has a .667 OPS, to .601 for Wade; IKF has 16 homers in 1,535 plate appearances, Wade, 6 in 505; IKF has stolen 38 bases in 53 attempts, Wade, 30 of 39.

And when we talk about fielding at short, BR's fielding stats, at least on range, are somewhat kinder to Falafel than those other calculations. 

BR's "Total Zone Total Fielding Runs Above Average Per 1,200 Innings"—described as a combination of "the Rtz, Rdp, Rof, Rcatch numbers into a total defensive contribution HEY LADY"—put IKF at "6" as a shortstop, not "-7." While Wade is a -11.

But here's the interesting thing. When it comes to errors, in 739 total chances at short, Falafel has made 21.

Tyler Wade, in 112 chances at short in the majors...has never made an error.

Hey, I know, I know: small sample size, range is more important, etc., etc.  But 21-0?

When it comes down to it, Brian Cashman released a perfectly adequate utility player who could have easily served as the stopgap the Yankees wanted at shortstop before one of their highly touted prospects comes up...

...and then traded for someone who is pretty much the same ballplayer, a "gloveman" who is maybe a little worse in the field at short.

So we have our new Toonces: Falafel CAN play shortstop. Just not very well.  Expect to see a lot more Marwin Gonzalez. 

Oh, and the larger question of why Cashie would do this? Tune in tomorrow for the classic horror reveal!