Rays Interested in Jeff Keppinger?

(see here) but he can play 2b, ss, and 3rd in a reserve role as well. Seems like a minor league/MLB invite type of addition

A Jeff Keppinger or Theriot signing as the final piece in this off-season would make me very sad. If they sign Pena and/or make a trade, then it is a great thing; since I would not see Elliot Johnson anymore.

At first glance last night I wasn’t too impressed. But the more I look at him, the more I think he would be a nice fit on the team.

Keppinger’s defense is just about proven at this point: A liability at short and not an asset at second.

My man Elliot put up 0.5 WAR in 181 PAs of 57 wRC+ hitting — to have a positive WAR while using a baguette as you bat is pretty incredibly impressive to me.

Saying “Theriot has been the better defender according to UZR, but it’s virtually a wash at the plate” is the baseball version of ….of…of saying “Theriot has been the better defender according to UZR, but it’s virtually a wash at the plate.” There’s just nothing else to comp it to. When Ryan Theriot is a better anything than a player at anything—hitting, running the bases, fielding, spitting seeds, parallel parking, it’s tough to get interested.

Johnson had a .252 wOBA last year and was worth almost as much WAR (0.5 WAR in only 181 PA) as Theriot (0.7 WAR in 483 PA) and more than Keppinger (0.4 WAR) had in more than 2X as many PA.

Spending any marginal salary money on Jeff Keppinger or Ryan Theriot is a waste of money. They’re abysmal defenders who are not a better option than Johnson a a late-inning defensive sub or a utility guy who is spelling the starting SS or Zobrist.

I’d rather have Theriot personally.

He is an absolutely awful defensive SS (but serviceable at 2B) and can really only hit lefties, and is a very bad baserunner. People also talk about him being a clubhouse guy, but he wasn’t that nice about being moved to 2B in Chicago, LA, or St Louis. Plus there’s this:

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/9/19/2435449/ryan-theriot-egotist

VEB has a collective aneurysm when we talk about him or think about him

I think…

…and I’m now thinking the account is fake. Keppinger never contacted the Giants directly to try to verify it (according to the team’s director of social media), and there are definitely some oddities about the account if you look at the tweets. It’s probably safe to assume it isn’t real, at least for now.

His low K% is very nice, but it’s mostly negated by his lack of patience/power. And his defense at second base, the only position he’s realistically capable of playing right now, is AWFUL. He has a serious lack of range. Pretty sure he was last in the majors in DRS at 2B, and the eye-test confirms his shortcomings.

If he could provide average glovework, he’d be useful, but I wouldn’t count on it, personally.

I got a couple of tweets from Matt Bankston who is the perso who originally tweeted that Keppinger had met with Joe Maddon.

His tweets to me are as follows:

" @RaysDigest the Jeff Kepp account isn’t a fake, I attended Parkview HS w/him and remain friends. I assure that the info I post is accurate."

“@RaysDigest the call was just a preliminary type deal, they did offer something (low) and he has interest from a few other teams. Tb is fav.”

“@RaysDigest @draysbay the account was started in the offseason with pressure from friends. He’s not a social media guy.”

So that’s that…for what it’s worth. But I am now a little more confident in the validity of the rumor.

Via DM on Twitter:

“Most of his tweets are made from a friend (not me) but they are accurate. Jeff told me about the Maddon call himself, he expressed interest”

“And that he would be a situational hitter for the rays. Jeff is originally from Miami and with his location in ga, tb would be a good fit.”

“I think some effort has been made to verify, but I don’t know how that works, and Jeff really doesn’t care himself. It’s just for some buzz”