Almora had a higher hard contact against right handed pitching than lefties last year. He also had a 10% IFBB against righties vs 0% against lefties. (Soft contact % was fractionally lower vs righties last year). It will be interesting to see if the IFBB% was flukey last year. I’ve always maintained that Almora is underrated on this board.
And I've always maintained Almora is overrated on this board. Almora has never really hit above A ball. He was mediocre at best in AA and AAA, and has been league average-ish at the MLB level. But his MLB starts have come more often against LHP, and most of his starts against RHP come against guys who get hit by righties. He doesn't walk. His defense hasn't been as advertised at the MLB level. You can cite his hard hit rate all you want...but his overall results over the last 4 full seasons point to him being an average hitter at best.
Almora being a 2-3 WAR player making less than $1 million helps the Cubs more than Yelich. I like Yelich. He’s a great player, but the acquisition cost is too great for what Happ/Almora can provide in CF for 1/8 the cost of Yelich’s AAV.
Almora was a 1.2 fWAR player in 2017 (and a 1.0 rWAR player). Steamer projects him to be a 1.1 WAR player in 2019. If he took everyday ABs, maybe he'd boost his WAR some...but he'd also be facing tougher RHP pitchers, which would probably drag his WAR down. I think you're dreaming if you think a 2-3 WAR season is likely. And even if a 2 WAR season was likely, I'd say paying the extra $6 million in 2018 for a 4 win player would be worth it.
I think Almora is the next Reed Johnson. That's a good major league player. He can build a good career starting for third/fourth place teams and platooning for contenders. The Cubs aren't a third place team, and everyday players are preferable to platoons.