Don't Blame Eric

When Travis Snider got sent down today – my twitter feed exploded. At least as much as a person who follows 60 people’s feed can explode. It goes without saying that I’m new to twitter. In any case, there was a fair amount of frustration, sarcasm and or indignation – it’s hard to tell in 140 characters sometimes, on Snider being sent down. Now I am as bummed out as the next guy that Luchbox (see, I know that’s his nickname from twitter), won’t be starting the year in Toronto. He is a talented player with more upside than any of the left field candidates, but that doesn’t mean we should entirely write off Eric Thames either.

Much has been made about Eric Thames and what he can’t do. He is a poor left fielder, swings and misses too much and can’t get on base. Eric Thames is 25 years old. He has only played 95 Major League games. In those games he struck out too often, played a poor left field and didn’t take enough walks. He also slugged .456 and posted a .333 wOBA. Both of those numbers are better than what Colby Rasmus posted in his breakout (let’s hope it was a breakout) 2010 season. Last season Thames posted a higher walk rate than Snider (5.8 to 5.4) and according to Fangraphs comprehensive base running stat UBR, comparable value on the bases (2.4 to 1.4). Thames has never posted a minor league OBP of less than .360, and we should remember that defensive metrics usually require much more than a 95 game sample to determine a fielder’s true defensive value. That said, it would be hard to suggest Thames passed the “eye test” of defensive evaluation either last year.

The point here is not to suggest Thames is or will be a better player than Snider in the long run; only that it is possible, if things break right for Eric and wrong for Travis. As much as it sucks to see Snider get sent down, we shouldn’t take it out on Thames, by writing off a player who could be valuable, whether it’s for the Jays, or as a trade chip. The shitty thing about the situation is that it has become a dichotomy of one against the other. I’m bummed Snider isn’t playing, but that doesn’t mean I hate the idea of Thames playing either. Let’s give it a shot and see what happens. We always know where to find another left fielder if we need to.