@HighEliteMajor Let me preface this with saying that Salvy is my favorite Royal and I have his signed jersey hanging in my office as we speak.
I was worried about it this season, but I think we have already seen the best of Salvy. We are 6 years removed from his best season at the plate, and will be 7 now… Without a monumental shift in his plate approach, the signs point to him being a 20ish HR guy who hits in the low .200s, that doesn’t walk, strikes out a lot, and is a huge rally killer for the rest of his career. Compared to other catchers, that’s fine. It’s expected. Hell, it’s kind of good depending on the season. But that from your 1B or DH, you’re looking to replace them at that production. Even a minor dip compared to what he did at the plate last season makes him a near unplayable hitter. His advanced stats show that, as a hitter and baserunner he was 10 runs worse than an average player.
A great example of this scenario is Victor Martinez while he was in Detroit. Once he made the switch to DH, his value changed completely. He has only had a positive RAA (Runs Above Average) twice since he was switched to DH/1B in 7 seasons and he was a significantly better hitter than Salvy has ever been in 4 of those 7 seasons.
I think, if Salvy moved to DH, we would see a similar story. Only, Salvy isn’t ever gong to put up OPS over .800 ever again so it would be worse. We are talking close to 50 runs below an average player and thus, a below average player.
