When we got you from the A’s, we thought we had landed an All-Star shortstop. Strictly speaking, we had; the fans voted you onto the team in 2016, and we’re sure you felt honored about that.
But let’s be real; you made the team because you played for the Cubs and we had a huge fan base that would have voted Clark the Mascot onto the All Star team if they could have. You know you haven’t played like an All-Star shortstop.
You hit .250 with a .317 on base and .340 slugging. Given that this is your fourth season and your career slash line is .242/.313/.392, your numbers are beginning to look strongly like water finding its level.
Your exit velocity is nothing remarkable, and when you go out of the strike zone it drops down to around 75 mph, which might break a pane of glass if the ball stayed in the air long enough to hit the glass.
You got $3.2 million this season, and you’re arbitration eligible next year, so we have to assume you’ll make more next year. In exchange, we got 2.1 of WAR from you. Cole Hamels did that much, and he’s only been around since August. Javy Baez had a 6 WAR, and we paid him a fifth what we paid you.
I’m not suggesting you ought to be Javy Baez. I am suggesting you ought to be better than you are, especially if the pay meter is going up, which I assume you want it to be.
We also suspect that your off-field, domestic issues are a factor, and maybe a significant one, in your flatline performance chart. MLB has already set you down, and we don’t know how that’s going to play out. We don’t know what the facts are in all that or where the blame lies, but we do know the team has been affected. We can’t have that.
Therefore, this is the plan for you. First, we’re going to have to see how MLB resolves your eligibility situation. If it’s possible to do so – it probably won’t be, given both the legal and onfield issues — we’re going to go to the winter meetings and try like heck to turn you over for a starting pitcher. You may have noticed we need one or two. It won’t hurt our defense any, we can plug Baez in at short and Happ, Zobrist or Bote at second. You’ll be off to another team where you’ll be a starter and we’ll wish you all the best. You’re a hell of a defensive player.
If that doesn’t work, and again assuming you’re eligible to play, you’ll hit spring training and continue to divide time at short with Baez while he moves between short and second, pretty much like this season. If you hit like we think you’re capable — .280 with a .335 on base – we’ll slide him back to second full time and trade Bote and/or Happ. If not, candidly you’ll be a part time player until the game’s economics persuade us that we can’t justify your increasingly expensive presence.
But we’re willing to wait to next year to make that decision. In the meantime, our suggestion is that you spend the off-season putting the off-field issues firmly behind you. If – and we’re not saying you do, but if – you need counseling or behavioral rehab help, we’ll be glad to provide it. Understand that under the best of circumstances, you are not guaranteed a job next season.