AND he hits into a lot of double-plays. Neither of those things drop his overall value much. And because he doesn't play the field (much) he doesn't have defensive woes. I've never understood the need to "punish" DHs for defense. They don't play it, so some players would actually improve their value by moving to DH instead of hurting their teams in the field. DHs do bat every game, though. If the thought is that any idiot can sit on the bench and just bat 4 times a game, well... that hasn't been my experience. There are plenty of terrible-glove players who can't DH because they need to play the field to keep their rhythm. Not needing to do that actually helps Kendrys have value to us since we don't have the personnel to rotate through the position and could use a full-time DH who can drive in runs.
Full-time DH is a hard position to fill. Well, not for the As every year, but for the rest of us. Half the DHs that played this year are basically worthless and we can't afford to have one of those. Morales is a top-60 hitter by wOBA and as you say, is around his career mark at that ranking. People can get flustered about WAR/$ figures and think he isn't worth the $14 million, but if he's worth 10 (and he is) then do you risk an overpayment to make sure you don't lose him? Sure you could use that other $4 million on someone else, but if you don't get him and don't have a DH who can hit (or a 1B who can drive in runs) then you are required to find a corner OF who can.
I'd like both, so make sure Morales comes back, whether it's for 7 million, or 10, or 14. Like I said it shouldn't take 14, but if we have to lay that bet against losing him I'd understand it. I don't think we'll have to. We'll see how Jack feels.
~G
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