Smith had a great '14. Other than that, he's a guy that needs to DH...and there he needs a platoon partner. He's terrible vs. LHP. I know, I've pointed that out before and it's getting trite.
Vs. RHP he's an interesting machine, a machine that is a bit more than the sum of its parts. Well, what he really does is walk well. 90 pts. Ca-ching, ca-ching, clorkwork.
from '12 -'16 he's walked 93,83, 89, 88 and 87 pts: Tick-Tock!
He hits .260. Tick-Tock!
He slugs .412 or .455. Take your pick.
His value vs. RHP is that he doesn't do anything badly. Until you put him in the field. Then all those good things get sucked down a black hole. Throw away his career year in '14 (+3.2 WAR) he runs WAR totals of 1.1, -0.4, 1.2, -0.5. So over those 4 years he's a +1.4 guy. If you take his glove away from him he's pretty nice in a platoon sense. If you don't take his glove away from him he's borderline. Or worth the bullpen arm everybody gets for him.
I am not convinced that we start '17 with Heredia-Martin-Gamel. It's KC-like if you look at KC in '16, where the entire OF runs 90-ish OPS's across the board. But last year Cain and Gordon were both north of 120. And KC '15 is the template we're shooting for...not KC '16. Martin and Heredia are 100 OPS guys, tops. Gamel has a higher upside because he might hit 18 homers some day....maybe. If you had Heredia and Martin career it at 100 OPS and Gamel bonk his way to 110...then you have a pennant-type of OF. But not 3 guys at 90. Even three way glovey guys.
We may well keep Smith in '17. I think it is slightly better than a pick-em. But I'm not going to be surprised if we try to roll his $7M into a RHB with a better glove to man a COF.