How many more games will Chris Getz start during his career? That isn't a leading question. I don't have an answer or really even a good guess. Getz has started 226 games thus far. Is his career at a midpoint? Just beginning? Coming to an end?
Getz has shown some slight improvement at the plate this season, and combined with decreased offensive performance across the league, his OPS+ of 78 is a career high. Offensively, he's been below average but above replacement level (according to some metrics). Given that he's 27, that might be his peak.
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | SB | CS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 25 | CHW | AL | 107 | 415 | 25 | 2 | .261 | .324 | .347 | .670 | 73 |
| 2010 | 26 | KCR | AL | 72 | 248 | 15 | 2 | .237 | .302 | .277 | .579 | 61 |
| 2011 | 27 | KCR | AL | 71 | 287 | 14 | 4 | .263 | .325 | .299 | .624 | 78 |
| 4 Seasons | 260 | 957 | 55 | 9 | .256 | .318 | .314 | .632 | 71 | |||
His Fangraphs WAR at the moment is 0.8, thanks to good (not great) fielding numbers, some bonus for being fast, and the fact that he's a second baseman. WAR isn't a great stat to do "on pace" analysis for (few are) but he's set himself up to be, I dunno, a 1.3 win player or something like that. For a guy making $443,000 this season, that's acceptable. Especially since the Royals are going nowhere.
However, although Getz has raised himself above replacement level after a rough 2010 (when the Royals bench you for Mike Aviles, and you're a recent Dayton Moore pickup, you know you've played poorly) this might be the highpoint. Getz is about to getz more expensive and soon the Royals will want to play some of the 2Bs from the farm system.
I could see Getz ending up on a bad National League team somewhere and playing regularly for another three or four years. Or, I can envisage that he begins to get phased out of his Royals existence next season, fails to find the right home, plays sparingly for four teams in six years and spends an awful lot of time back in AAA. Assuming his reputation as a decent gloveman and his speed, he profiles as an acceptable 2B. Good enough for a team to want if they have a need in March, not really good enough for a team to want in July.
He's started 226 games thus far, will he start another 226?