Rather than risk alienating half our reader base by publishing a third-consecutive post "critical" of a Cardinal player, we decided to "go positive" on the team’s latest acquisition, D’Angelo Jimenez (B-Ref name: D’ Jim), signed today to $600,000 split contract.

We like John Mozeliak’s explanation that "We think there’s some offense there, and that’s what we’ve been looking to add." Jimenez isn’t exactly Rogers Hornsby, but he at least offers an on-base percentage starting with the number 3, something that Cesar Izturis and Adam Kennedy will struggle to do. We realize that that sounds like damning with faint praise; Jimenez actually is better than that: ZiPS projects him to have a .346 OBP, which would put him tied for second-best on the team among players expected to play at least 100 games, and Bill James expects him to get on-base at a .370 rate.

And certainly his contract isn’t going to break the bank, though at this point (post-Edmonds), it wouldn’t seem that salary is as important a consideration. All the same, spending too much money on a particular asset is never a good practice, no matter how much payroll you can afford. Jimenez is essentially a no-risk addition.

Though he’s a switch-hitter, he is not super-strong vs. LHP, which is where the team is weak in the infield — unless you consider Brendan Ryan, whom we hope the team is; in limited major-league PAs vs. lefties (86), the Flyin’ Irishman has a .297 GPA. Here are the career GPA numbers vs. LHP for the other contenders:

So it appears that Jimenez is going to be the best option other than Ryan to start against southpaws. We’ll see how it all plays out in Spring Training, of course, but it would be interesting to see if Jimenez can win the starting role not at shortstop but at second base, where he’s an average fielder. If the Cardinals consider Kennedy’s contract a sunk cost, then his position is up-for-grabs. If Jimenez is the regular starter, then Kennedy becomes a fairly decent, if overpaid, pinch-hitter, and the Cardinals improve in two areas.

A final possible positive that Jimenez offers is that he could solve the leadoff-man problem. As already noted, he should be one of the team’s best in getting on base, and he has an above-average walk rate; compare his career 11.9% to Izturis’s 4.8%, Kennedy’s 6.4% or even David Eckstein’s 6.9%.

Speaking of Eckstein, here’s how he stacks up against his heir apparents in the middle infield using ZiPS projections:

So let’s not forget about Brian Barden, not to be confused with Brian Barton (man, it’s going to be fun up in the press box during those double switches). If ZiPS has anything to say about it, Barden might just keep Jimenez in Memphis.

Then again, maybe the Cardinals signed Jimenez to solve their pitching woes. After all, he does have a career 3.49 DERA.

This entry was posted by Pip on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 1:22 am and is filed under analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.