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glmuskie's picture

I wonder why I'm not more enthused about him, too.
But I think I can explain it.
Gonzalez started playing MLB full time at age 24. His OPS+ was 127. Next year, age 25, his OPS+ was 126.
Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero were OPS+'ing 150 *at age 23*. Ditto Prince Fielder, who was at 157 at that tender age.
So with Gonzalez, you're projecting a late-blooming career arc that feels not super-likely to happen. The big boppers, the 'aircraft carriers', seem to be just that from pretty early on.
For Gonzalez to OPS+ 166 at age 27 with experience, feels like a career year. It feels like there's a good chance he slides back down to his career average OPS+ of 134 from here on out. Speaking from a purely stats-based point of view, of course.
Throw in to the mix that he did this in the NL (yes, like Vlad), that adds another veneer of skepticism to the pile.
Look, when the Angels signed Guerrero, he was 29 and had a full 6 years of averaging a 150 OPS+. There was *no doubt* about that dude's ability to crush balls. With Gonzalez, there's the possibility that you're going to get something significantly less than 2009 from him.

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