Mike Piazza thought he could be a good hitter for a few more years in a DH role. Instead, he's going to be catching for the San Diego Padres on a one-year, $2 million deal.
Now, Piazza is going to the Hall of Fame. He is the best-hitting catcher to ever play baseball. But in that park at 37 years old, I just cannot see him having a productive season. Or even if he wasn't catching. And Piazza seems to think he can only put the gear on 70-80 times this season, with Kevin Towers saying he could play 10-15 games at first and DH in their interleague road games.
Let's say Piazza catches 80, plays first for 15, and DHs nine times. That's 104 games. I want to project Piazza in San Diego myself just for kicks.
AB AVG OBP SLG HR RBI 385 .251 .320 .424 11 54
He's going to hit cleanup apparently. I don't think that will last. I just really do not see this turning out well for him at all.