Is John Jaso an upgrade over Pedro Alvarez?

On Dec. 2, 2015 the Pittsburgh Pirates non-tendered first baseman Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez spent parts of six years with the Pirates but his poor defense and frustrating approach at the plate ultimately led the club to part ways with the 29 year old slugger. 

The departure of Alvarez left a hole at first base with the only other first basemen on the Pirates' 40-man roster being the 6'5" giant Michael Morse, the offensively inept Sean Rodriquez, career minor-leaguer Jake Goebbert and top prospet Josh Bell. Morse can't handle full time duties at first, Rodriquez profiles best as a utility player, Goebbert is unproven in the majors and Bell likely needs at least one more year in Triple-A before he can make the jump to the majors. Enter one John Jaso.

The Pirates signed John Jaso on Dec. 23 to a two year, $8 mil. contract to serve as the left-handed half of their first base platoon. One problem though, Jaso, a former catcher/left fielder, has only logged a total of five innings playing first base in the majors. 

As the Pirates attempt to convert another player to first base I ask myself, Is Jaso reall an upgrade over Alvarez? And if so by how much? To answer these questions I am going to be comparing both players in three areas; offense, defense and price.

Offense

John Jaso and Pedro Alvarez are about as different as two major league hitters could be. Alvarez is a good of a power hitter as you'll find in the game today. In six years (2500 at bats) in Pittsburgh Alvarez hit 131 home runs with a .441 slugging percentage. However he did not get on base consistently (career .236 batting average, .309 OBP) and struck out way too much (809 strikeouts in 2784 plate appearances). Jaso on the other hand hits for almost no power (37 career HR in seven years) and is a more patient hitter that focuses on getting on base (career .263 BA, .361 OBP). 

So which one is better? To answer that I want to look more closely at their hitting stats. They have both been used primarily as left-handed platoon hitters in their careers so I will look at their stats specifically against right-handed pitching. Alvarez is really good versus righties, slashing .246/.320/.473 against them in his career. Jaso also rakes against right-handers, slashing .274/.368/.429 in his career.

I am going to call this one a wash. It is hard to compare these two players' offensive skill sets because they are so different. Alvarez is a middle of the line-up power bat who drives in runs while Jaso and his high on-base-percentage fit better at the top of the order. They both have their strengths and weaknesses and can be productive big league hitters.

Defense

Alvarez had a historically bad season defensively last year as he made the transition from third to first, committing 23 errors at his new position. Jaso is more of an unknown at the position, having only ever played five total innings at first. 

Below is two videos from piratesprospects.com of first base fielding drills from Jan. 11 and Feb. 17. The first video includes Jaso, Jake Goebbert and Josh Bell taking grounders. Goebbert is clearly the most comfortable of the three, but Bell and Jaso show good instincts. I think it's a good sign to see Jaso getting time in at first so early before the start of the season. the second video is Just Jaso receiving throw at first. He drops a couple but overall it is pretty encouraging.

For this comparison I think it is appropriate to look that the kind of fielders these two were before they attempted the transition to first base. Alvarez has always been a below-average fielder, committing 110 errors in five seasons as the Pirates' third baseman. Jaso, on the other hand, committing a mere 13 errors in six seasons as a catcher and no errors in 96 innings in the outfield. 

Based on their career numbers I am going to give the edge here to Jaso. I'm also giving Jaso the benefit of the doubt and assume that he probably isn't going to commit anywhere close the the 23 errors Alvarez made in 2015.

Price

This is an easy one as Jaso will make $4 million for each of the next two years while Alvarez was projected to make $8.1 million in arbitration for 2016.

For comparable offensive value and presumably better defense for half the cost and double the years I am going to say that John Jaso is indeed an upgrade over Pedro Alvarez. While Pedro's power number will be difficult to replace I think Jaso's superior on base percentage will play very well in the Pirates' line-up. Pair that with improved defense at a lower price I think the Pirates' acquisition of John Jaso may prove to be one of the best value off-season pick-ups of any team.