A couple of months ago there was chatter that the Pirates should go after Cincinnati Reds 3B Todd Frazier. After seeing his swing and performance at the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in that pathetically small ballpark in Cincinnati, Frazier was like sliced bread.
At the time, I had looked into his stats and they were decent, but hardly anything that I would go on social media to tout and argue as a need. Offensively he has power and that is what people see and love, but he has power that has been developed for play in Cincinnati
Away from the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Todd Frazier in 2015, batted .233 with a .448 SLG and .733 OPS.
We can look at the extremely small sample with how Todd Frazier has fared at PNC Park, but considering that his power seems to be generated at a very home run hitting friendly ballpark. You should assume a reduction in his overall production numbers. Which is why his numbers are much worse on the road.
If not Todd Frazier then who?
So if Todd Frazier isn't the be-all, and he's not even a Free Agent, who then?
How about Pedro Alvarez?
Before diving into more stats, here is one that I find to be most important since the comparisons between the 2 are power numbers..
Pedro Alvarez averaged a Home Run for every 16.1 AB's in 2015. Todd Frazier averaged a Home Run for every 17.6 AB's in 2015.
Pedro didn't play as much or get as many at bats but when he did, his power was as productive or better than Todd Frazier's. Pedro also didn't do it in a hitter friendly ballpark either.
Todd Frazier has decent gap power. Compared to Pedro Alvarez in 2015 who produced a Double in every 24 AB's, Todd Frazier had one in every 14 AB's. On the road in 2015, Frazier's numbers dipped slightly to a double for every 17 AB's. 23 and 17 are career consistent's for both players. The nod goes to Todd Frazier there but it's not enough to make up for the cost in players.
Pedro Alvarez's defense has been rotten by MLB standards. He was shifted from 3B to 1B to make use of his power and get his mind off of the defense, but he struggled in 2015. We must also take into consideration that he's learning a new position and that poor defense should be expected. It doesn't have to be accepted, especially the route gaffes, but he was still learning a new positikn.
At $5.17 million per year, the Pirates aren't going to get a better option in the market until Josh Bell is ready. Considering the Pirates finished with the 2nd best record in MLB, there's zero reason to rush Bell, who is learning 1B himself.
Todd Frazier is making $6 million per year in the last year of a 2 year contract. Expect that number to increase to around $10 million per year.
There's not a ton differing Pedro Alvarez and Todd Frazier and if you like homeruns, Pedro has the near 40 power despite his short comings elsewhere. For at least 1 more season or half of a season as we wait for Josh Bell's development, Pedro deserves another chance in 2016.
Pedro frustrates the hell out of me, but to your point, there isn't much of an option. I can only pray that he improves as he gets more experience. I look at his improvement against left handers as reason to believe he can get better.
