I guess if you can handle shortstop you could play somewhere in the outfield. Or maybe both he and Cronenworth can provide mix-and-match potential at several positions.

As a Jays fan all I can say is 'dang it'. Well, and keep it clean for the site :)

Cronenworth is going to the Cubs in the Darvish trade

Anybody know what KBO translation produces? I see Eric Thames hit something like 350/440/700 over there but that was quite a few years ago now. I'd guess that career line doesn't translate better than about 265/340/420 which would be pretty good for a 2B.

I had assumed Choi had been in the KBO but he was signed by the Ms at age 18 back in 2009, became a minor-league FA and bounced around organizations for a couple of years before landing with the Rays where he's done just fine.

Cronenworth isn't really a sure thing. He's already 27, and came out of nowhere in AAA in 2019. I'd want to have another option if I was going all in on 2021. Pretty good chance Kim beats him out for 2B.

Cronenworth isn't really a sure thing. He's already 27, and came out of nowhere in AAA in 2019.

Agree any 26 year old rookie is not a sure thing, even with a strong debut, but he didn't really come out of nowhere as I look at him. He looks like a pretty good hitter at Michigan, then shows good BA and OBP skills his first two years in the minors while steadily moving up from A to high A in year 1, then high A to AA in year 2. For some reason he struggled a bit with his next season at AA, could be injury related as it looks like he missed a few games, but then bounced back and crushed AAA with a big increase in power. I wouldn't bet on him having a long successful career though, just doesn't really quite look like he came out of nowhere. Definitely agree with you it's a good idea to get someone like Kim in to compete with him. If he succeeds, great, if not hopefully he can be a useful piece off the bench (probably what he's best suited for long term).

Anybody know what KBO translation produces? I see Eric Thames hit something like 350/440/700 over there but that was quite a few years ago now. I'd guess that career line doesn't translate better than about 265/340/420 which would be pretty good for a 2B.

Dan posted translations and a projection back in October.

ZiPS has his 2019 translation as .289/.355/.475 and .274/.345/.478 for his 2020 season. ZiPS projects him to hit .274/.343/.477 next year (117 OPS+) with the projection staying almost identical from 2022-2025, except the slugging percentage creeps up to .490. That's good for 4 WAR/season, assuming average defense at shortstop. I'm not sure I believe those numbers, but Dan's summary is fairly glowing.

If he's really just 167 lbs, I'll take the under on the 200 ISO. I know Altuve (166 lbs listed) has sailed past that once and Mookie's listed weight isn't much heavier and he's sailed past 3 straight years now and everybody ISOs at least 200 now but I'll still take the underon the ISO or the over on the listed weight.