{"id":89734,"date":"2024-11-15T17:44:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T22:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=89734"},"modified":"2024-12-28T10:55:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T15:55:31","slug":"veteran-outfielder-taylor-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/15\/veteran-outfielder-taylor-free-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"It Could Be A Long Wait For This Outfielder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is any team looking for a veteran outfielder who will turn 34 in March after a dismal 2024 season? That\u2019s the dilemma facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/taylomi02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-15_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael A. Taylor<\/a> after hitting .193\/.253\/.290, 5 HR, and 21 RBI for the Pittsburgh Pirates this past season. The right-handed-hitting Taylor spent much of 2024 sharing center field with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suwinja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-15_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Suwinski<\/a> on a platoon basis. However, he was almost equally ineffective against both types of pitchers. He hit .196 against left-handers and .192 against right-handers.<\/p>\n<h2>It Could Be A Long Wait For This Outfielder<\/h2>\n<p>Taylor has played primarily in center field in his 11-year career. For his career, he\u2019s hit .235\/.290\/.381, 100 HR, and 353 RBI. A 2009 draft pick of the Washington Nationals, he debuted with Washington in 2014 and remained there through 2020, picking up a World Series ring in 2019. Despite three consecutive years of subpar offense in 2018-20, the Kansas City Royals signed him as a free agent, giving him a $1.75 million contract. The Royals saw enough that they gave him a two-year, $9 million <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/michael-a-taylor-signs-extension-with-royals\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extension<\/a> for 2022 and 2023. After one year, they had seen enough, period. They were so desperate to dump him and his weighty salary that they <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/01\/24\/michael-a-taylor-twins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">traded<\/a> him to the division rival Minnesota Twins. \u00a0With Minnesota in 2023, he hit .220\/.278\/.442, but with a career-high 21 home runs. Taylor parlayed that performance into a one-year, $4 million <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/03\/15\/michael-a-taylor-signs-pirates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">deal<\/a> with the Pirates.<\/p>\n<h3>The Good<\/h3>\n<p>Where the veteran outfielder shines is in the field. Taylor is credited with 66 Fielding Runs Above Average (FRAA) and 83 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) over his career. He\u2019s never been charged with more than four errors in any season. According to Inside Edge, he\u2019s made 45.8 of \u201cunlikely\u201d plays that have come his way. (Inside Edge also says he\u2019s made zero percent of \u201cimpossible\u201d plays. I guess that makes sense.) In 2022, his 16 FRAA in center field led the major leagues. In 2021, he won his only Gold Glove Award.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N881UaO_460?si=Bo_qFX8PX3Z3dcBn\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>That same sparkling defense was evident in Pittsburgh. He registered 14 FRAA and 12 DRS in center field in 2024. Even so, and although his 0.9 WAR (just barely) indicates otherwise, he wasn\u2019t a plus player for the Pirates because of his weak hitting. In late August, the Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/26\/pirates-oneil-cruz-center-field\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">moved<\/a> shortstop and budding superstar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cruzon01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-15_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oneil Cruz<\/a> to center field. Taylor\u2019s Pirates career was essentially over at that point. However, he drew praise for being the proverbial \u201cconsummate professional,\u201d aiding Cruz with the transition. Finally, the Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/09\/24\/pirates-dfa-tellez-taylor\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">designated Taylor for assignment<\/a> with six games remaining in the season.<\/p>\n<h3>The Bad And The Ugly<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s Taylor\u2019s offense that will make it difficult for a team to find room for the veteran outfielder. Somehow, he\u2019s managed to earn more than $25 million in baseball with an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/02\/pirates-improvement-michael-a-taylor\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">odd offensive approach<\/a> that doesn\u2019t take advantage of his tools. To be specific, as a runner, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorswift.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taylor is swift<\/a>. With his speed, he should emphasize getting on base and making contact. Instead, he chases pitches and swings for the fences. He has struck out in 30.3 percent of his plate appearances while walking in only 6.9 percent. Both ratios are worse than the major league average over his career. This prevents him from taking advantage of his .316 BABIP. Taylor has power, but he\u2019s not a <em>power hitter<\/em>. The veteran outfielder has reached double digits in home runs only four times in his career.<\/p>\n<p>On the bases \u2013 the rare times he\u2019s there \u2013 it\u2019s a different story. He\u2019s stolen 120 bases in his 11 years, getting caught only 32 times. His 79 percent rate is above the major league average. So is his 47 rate of extra bases taken.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>Old dogs don\u2019t learn new tricks, especially when the old tricks keep landing the old dogs lucrative contracts. Unfortunately for Taylor, based on his 2024 performance, he may have seen the last of those contracts. He\u2019s proved himself to be a fifth-outfielder type, i.e., a guy who comes in handy as a defensive replacement and a pinch runner, and nothing more. Whether teams have room for that type of player is questionable in this era of 13-man pitching staffs and shorter benches. The prediction here is, like last year, he\u2019ll get a contract in the spring with a small market team when there aren\u2019t many free agent outfielders from which to choose. Like a last-minute gift on Christmas Eve, he\u2019ll find a buyer when all the other merchandise has been picked over.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is any team looking for a veteran outfielder who will turn 34 in March after a dismal 2024 season? That\u2019s the dilemma facing Michael A. Taylor after hitting .193\/.253\/.290, 5 HR, and 21 RBI for the Pittsburgh Pirates this past season. The right-handed-hitting Taylor spent much of 2024 sharing center field with Jack Suwinski on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":89768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071],"tags":[5720,6136,2262,3434],"class_list":["post-89734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","tag-jack-suwinski","tag-michael-a-taylor","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-oneil-cruz"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}