A's get Stewart

The A's finally got a decent right handed bat to replace Jay Payton in the outfield: Shannon Stewart.

Stewart has dealt with plantar fasciitis problems in both feet over the past
three years. The injury limited him to 92 games in 2004. The A's were among a
number of teams that were on hand to watch the injury-prone Stewart work out in
Miami last week.

The right-handed hitting Stewart would join an outfield
that now consists of starters Nick Swisher, Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley.
Stewart and Bobby Kielty would give the A's two solid outfield backups.

It's a pretty simplistic assumption that Stewart will be Payton's replacement, but really, what else could he be? He is an injury prone player who would most likely benefit from limited playing time as opposed to being a starter. Like Payton, he can play all 3 OF positions competently although the bulk of his time has been spent in LF, where I assume he will most likely split his time with Kielty, barring simultaneous injuries to both Kotsay and Bradley. The injury risk aside, I don't think the A's could have gone out and found someone more like Payton if they tried. Look at the offensive comparison:

3 Years (2004-2006) : Breakdown = BA / OBP / SLG / HR / 2B / BB / K

Shannon Stewart:
0.287 / 0.347 / 0.405 / 0.752 / 23 / 49 / 95 / 136

Jay Payton:
0.276 / 0.320 / 0.409 / 0.729 / 36 / 65 / 89 / 155

The edge goes to Stewart in BA and OBP as he had fewer K and more BB with roughly 300 fewer at bats. Regardless, both are good contact hitters who may not walk a lot but also don't strike out too often. However, one area will Stewart will be a clear advantage is with runners in scoring position:

Stewart - 0.343 / 0.418 / 0.517
Payton - 0.288 / 0.358 / 0.424

Let's look at their defense:

Career : Breakdown = FPCT / RF / ZR

Shannon Stewart:
As LF - 0.984 / 2.05 / 0.874
As CF - 0.978 / 2.46 / 0.877
As RF - 0.971 / 2.56 / 0.816

Jay Payton:
As LF - 0.992 / 2.18 / 0.846
As CF - 0.986 / 2.66 / 0.887
As RF - 0.980 / 2.31 / 0.884

Here Payton has the edge, although Stewart has a better ZR in LF, which is where I assume he will play most of the time.

In fact, while neither player may enjoy it too much, a platoon in LF of Kielty/Stewart would be ideal, and I wonder if Beane & Co. already had this in mind when looking at Stewart, knowing he could be limited by injury. Here are the splits for Kielty/Stewart below:

3 Years (2004-2006) : Breakdown - BA / OBP / SLG / HR / 2B / BB / K

Kielty vs LHP:
0.303 / 0.367 / 0.519 / 17 / 30 / 38 / 54

Stewart vs RHP:
0.299 / 0.350 / 0.424 / 18 / 39 / 61 / 88

As has been mentioned time and time again, Kielty mashes LHP. While Stewart doesn't show a lot of power against RHP, he does show great contact and a decent OBP and certainly has more power against RHP (0.424 SLG) than against LHP (only 0.355 SLG). Perhaps Beane & Co. had all of this in mind when they got Stewart: Kielty should be in the lineup every single day against LHP and Stewart should be thrown in there against RHP.

Overall, I think it's a nice addition and gives the A's plenty of depth in the OF, which is one of the reasons they were able to succeed last season. Not having to play everyday should help keep Stewart off the DL and he can spell Kotsay or Bradley if they go down with injuries. It also makes things easier to juggle 1B/DH roles should Geren want to move Swisher into those spots occasionally.