Comments on: Week #22 in Review

By: Adam S

Adam S — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 15:01:44 +0000

True, but isn’t going from Morse/Valdez/Bloomquist to Betancourt a serious upgrade? Any easy way to see what the Giants DER is before and after Winn?

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:28:04 +0000

Going from Winn to Ibanez in LF is a significant downgrade.

By: Adam S

Adam S — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 03:31:14 +0000

What’s happened to the Mariners defense? Much of the season the defensive efficiency was the highlight of the weekly summary. After 16 weeks it was 71.7, the past few weeks it’s been near 70.4 (3rd or 4th in the league), this week it’s 70.0 (7th). If my math is right, that means ,approximating by weeks rather than games, a DER of ~61.5 last week and ~66 over the last six weeks.

Is this random variation, playing Bloomquist and Ibanez, something else?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:31:17 +0000

FWIW, Ichiro’s OPS is 25 points higher at home this year than on the road. I don’t think he would be helped much by playing elsewhere.

Unless his style of hitting really is changing.

By: Steve Thornton

Steve Thornton — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:00:19 +0000

OPS doesn’t take park into account. Ichiro plays in the toughest hitter’s park in the league. VORP has him third in the AL; go with VORP, not OPS, or push his OPS up by 10%.

The best RF are in the NL nowadays. Suzuki is seventh overall. With a push he could easily finish fifth; with a fade he could end up tenth.

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:58:53 +0000

I was using VORP for all comparisons.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:56:56 +0000

Jermaine Dye has a .262 EqA. Craig Monroe has a .274 EqA. Both are poor to mediocre defensive outfielders.

Ichiro has a .278 EqA. He’s a terrific defensive outfielder.

Ichiro is far, far superior to either of the others you mentioned.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:52:59 +0000

Only Vlad and Sheffield are more valuable RFs in the AL this season. Heâ€™s not having a great season, for sure, but heâ€™s giving us about as much production relative to his position as Ibanez is

I agree with the comparison, but am disappointed in Ichiro’s season.

Amongst rightfielders who have enough AB to qualify for batting title, Ichiro’s .784 OPS ranks 12th out of 22. If you limit it to the AL, he’s 5th out of 13. So, just a little above average.

Al RF’ers with higher OPS than Ichiro are Vlad and Sheffield but also Dye and Monroe in Detroit.

OTOH, your comparison to Ibanez is apt. If we consider Ibanez to be a left fielder, his .811 OPS would be 6th out of 12 in the AL, and 14th out of 22 overall.

The above are from ESPN, and for some dumb reason they consider Ibanez to be a firstbaseman.

By: David J Corcoran

David J Corcoran — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:37:58 +0000

very good. Any idea what is option status is for next year? Is he out? Looks like he was purchased in 03 but I could be wrong.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:35:18 +0000

Yea, he’ll be in the mix to get a look in September.