Alejandro De Aza and the Co-Op

While Alejandro De Aza did move to Baltimore recently, as far as I know, he did not join the New Day Co-Op. Instead he joined the Baltimore Orioles as their a reserve outfielder. In my imagination he sat down with the rest of the O’s players and held a meeting of sorts, where they collectively decided to handle the gang from New York.

De Aza was traded from the Chicago White Sox just before the deadline and since joining the O’s he has hit second in the lineup or leadoff in his five games. He was hitting just .243/.309/.354 prior to the trade, well below his .263/.331/.401 career average. Five games is hardly anything to judge him by, however the early returns for the O’s appear to be great. Yesterday De Aza cracked a pair of home runs (plus a double) in a 3-for-5 game. Comparatively, even in the hitter friendly confines of U.S. Celluar Field, De Aza had just seven extra-base hits in all of August.

For last season our own Guts! page has U.S. Cellular as the ninth best home run factor for left-handed hitters at 107. Luckily for De Aza, we rank Camden as the second best with a 114 mark. The 2012 season is similar, again posting 107 and 114 marks respectively. StatCorner has in-season park factors and have the Cell at 108 for lefty home run power and an eye popping 131 home run index for left-handed hitters in Baltimore. A park overlay courtesy of HitTrackerOnline shows Camden having a shallower right field pole as well as a left-center field alley that isn’t as far as the Cell. The actual dimensions (as listed on the MLB sites) are below.

	Left	Left-Center	Center	Right-Center	Right
U.S. Cellular	330	377	400	372	335
Camden	333	364	400	373	318

While power isn’t the only factor when evaluating a ball park, for fantasy purposes it is certainly useful. De Aza isn’t exactly a power hitter although the move should benefit him. Perhaps a few balls that would have been caught in Chicago now end up clearing the fence at Camden. I’m more concerned about De Aza’s steals than his power. Since the trade he has attempted three steals and has been successful just once. As a team the O’s are dead last in baseball with 38 steals. I don’t think it is an organizational philosophy to not run, but rather the low steal total is due to the fact the O’s didn’t have a ton of speed on the roster outside of Jones. For example last season the club allowed Nate McLouth to attempt 37 steals and he was successful 30 times. Of course if De Aza keeps running into outs then either his playing time will decrease or he’ll get the red light.

The biggest question mark surrounding De Aza’s fantasy value is how often will he play? The O’s have to be aware of his struggles against left-handed pitchers (career 84 wRC+ verses southpaws) and they have sat him when they faced Drew Smyly. The club has also kept him on the bench against several righties, something that doesn’t bode particularly well for playing time. Officially listed as the backup left fielder and center fielder behind Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones respectively, De Aza may not make it into the lineup more than 3-4 times per week.  The designated hitter slot is filled up by Delmon Young, but De Aza could get some starts there as Young hasn’t hit right-handed pitchers very well for his career. A platoon of sorts at DH plus the occasional outfield start would make De Aza worthwhile in deep leagues and of course AL-only formats. He is available in over 80% of CBS, ESPN and Yahoo! leagues. If you’re looking for a bit of speed and the occasional home run from an outfielder, De Aza has the potential to provide both.