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Another walk through ESPN’s stats
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73 Responses to “Another walk through ESPN’s stats”
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Twittah
Can’t you sort it the other way, so Willie is at the top? That makes me feel better.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
What does he need to get extra-base hits for? As Blowers exPERTly noted tonight, (loose quote) “..you may as well just put him at 2nd base.. he’ll steal it eventually.”
That, in itself, was pretty damn funny.
But what made it more hilarious was that when he said it (with Willie on 1st), Richie “the trudge” Sexson was logjamming him ahead at 2nd base.
I am more amazed of how Cairo managed to pick up 2 extra base hits.
Who was it that asked Dan Wilson: “So, how much development does Willie have left and how do you think he’d do as an everyday player?”
By the hammer of Thor, that tickled my puke-bone.
I would also like to point out that Bloomquist’s reputation as a ‘team-player’ appears to be somewhat unwarranted: 0 sacrifice hits. Sounds pretty selfish to me.
Yes, WFB sucks … but he’s not the worst player on the team. Pick on the worst one.
IMO, WFB is a good #25 utility guy … as long as you don’t expect any hitting production.
Toooooo much Willie hate here. I mean come one, the dude can’t hit more than a single. We all know that. Otherwise, he’s kind of okay — especially off the bench.
How about picking on our LF (intentially unmentioned), who can’t seem to track down or pick up a ball in many cases except in 2 or 3 attempts. Our LF should be DH.
Which then leads to the who is our DH arguement … I say lay off Willie … he is what he is … and on this team he’s an excellent #25 player. On a good team, he’d be in AAA.
Can we please stop using the word “hate” on this blog in that context? 9 times out of 10, it’s a completely disingenuous representation of the actual attitudes of the posters here. Nobody is “hating on” Willie. A stat was presented. He is creeping into all-time worst streak of non-XBH hits. It’s worth discussing. Furthermore, it is 100% funny.
Chimera, I trust you mean well, but we can’t just post on the most important problem over and over and never do anything else. And we’ve talked over and over about our valuation of WFB, which agrees largely there with yours.
And we did do the DH already. I’m sure if you stick around you’ll see us get to Ibanez.
But this hate thing… dude.
Well, Willie obviously shouldn’t be used for offense — the stats are I guess “funny” — unless you’re Willie, I don’t expect he thinks they are.
In any case, Willie has no business being played day to day — he’s a bench player — he’s good at defense, he’s fast on the bases (and I think fairly good at it), and he sucks at hitting anything other than singles — if that. It’s all pretty damn obvious.
Now a serious discussion would be WHY we have Turbo as DH (I know we’ve been recently playing in NL parks, etc) and WHY we have Raul in LF.
After that we should start 1/2 a dozen, if not more, other questions.
I just think Willie, at #25, is the last player we should be picking on.
DMZ … I just posted that last post, and I wasn’t finished until it showed up after I read your response. Please understand, no disrespect intended.
I do not have a chance to watch the games so often, but that slide I saw against the Mets the other day and the hustle all the way to a homeplate definitely convinced me that he belongs here as a utility, fill in. I rather see a guy on my team with no extra point in SLG who still manages to have the best OBP
I don’t know how to say this without sounding at least somewhat standoff-ish, but–
We’ve written about those topics. A lot. There’s no point to coming around and crapping on a post because you feel like your topics aren’t adequately or frequently covered to meet your tastes.
If you don’t think it’s enough, you’re welcome to start your own blog and post about whatever you wish, whenever you want, and I’ll wish you all the success in the world.
+1
I just don’t think he’s being picked on. Every team in the league has a 25th man. None of those guys are close to breaking a major league record. So we talk about Willie. There isn’t much else to it.
As for the other things you’d like to see discussed…well, you either don’t come around here very often or you’re being difficult just for the sake of being difficult. Raul and Vidro get the treatment every.single.day. on this blog. It has been discussed to DEATH, and then discussed some more.
Sorry DMZ, I read here all the time, and know you have written about all of the issues … I guess I’m just frustrated with the team. I appologize if I came off the wrong way.
I do come around, every day as a matter of fact, and I beleive in SABR.
As I mentioned above, I guess I’m just soooooo frustrated that Turbo is still on the team, and Raul out in left. Obviously, this is not the thread for that discussion, so I’ll just shut up. I hope the M’s brass get the balls to fix that situation however.
Baseball Prospectus’s new baserunning stat, which measures all bases someone runs except when forced, had Willie as a big zero last year. Mind you, zero was pretty good for the Mariners, but it doesn’t exactly enhance his reputation for the thing he’s supposedly best at.
I agree with everyone who found this really funny. Didn’t notice the hover-tags at first, an entire second level of funny. This must have been a lot of work – thanks DMZ.
My wife and I were at the game were Willie hit his first homerun – a grand slam against Tampa. That was back in 2003, and for the longest time that one hit convinced us he had some pop in his bat.
And then you had Dan Wilson talking about how great it is when Willie is in the line-up… doesn’t that mean the Mariners will re-sign Bloomquist to a 3-year-extension and hire Dan Wilson as the manager this offseason…
Perhaps it’s flat Dr Pepper
Only thing I can think here is, at least he has been hitting lately…
Wow, good thing for Boom-Boom this current management/FO does not look at things like OBP, Slugging percentage, or OPS.
Sadly, I would rather have Mr. Bloomquist in the line up than Mr. Vidro.
Willie is fast on the bases, and from when he recently played 2nd, he obviously had much greater range than Lopez … as for slugging he absolutely 100% sucks … there is nothing to dispute in that fact … he hits some singles and basically nothing else … but off the bench he’s an asset as either a pinch runner or a defensive replacement. #25 is good fit for him, especially since he can play a number of positions. He has value there.
Willie’s pursuit of history is continuing apace. Tonight he had 3 more official ABs without getting an XBH!
The excitement is in the air. This is almost as great as Dimaggio’s 56-game hitting streak or Ted Williams hitting .400
Best part about articles like these is that (aside from the “bonus step” bit) no comments are necessary. Just let it do the work for you.
If I was Jeff Clement or Wlad Balentein or any other hitting prospect we have, and I see a roster spot on the big-league club filled by a guy with those numbers on a team that desperately needs hitting, I’d seriously question what the hell was happening.
The graph would look completely different if you sorted on the “grit” column. Of course, since WFB doesn’t play often, you’d have to calculate (grit / game) to get a fair statistic.
Willie is a marginally decent baserunner. He is NOT good defensively (just because he plays multiple positions doesn’t mean he is any good at them).
He is very, very bad, and should almost never start a game. The fact that the Mariners carry about four players worse than Willie doesn’t make it acceptable to have him around.
Willie is a utility player. His value comes from his defensive versatility and baserunning skills. He’s a bench player. I wouldn’t say that Willie’s being on this team is ridiculous. I would say though that he would not have a spot on a good, well-constructed team (which this isn’t).
At =>75 PA Willie’s only 1 XBH behind the rest of the stragglers. But if you bump minimum plate appearances to =>100 (only 10 more than Willie’s got today) the lowest XBH number is 3. Willie not only gonna be in the basement forever, he is truly nearing greatness in the unpower hitting department.
Point taken, but the team (IMHO) needs more productive hitting right now, better than they can get at replacement value. Willie’s skill set seems much more replaceable.
I would go one further and say that Willie’s utility-ness, at this point and in terms of a roster spot, isn’t worth trumping the value of getting our hitting prospects time at the major-league level.
jro, #31:
True, but I think chimera’s point (and I agree) is that Willie isn’t the one that doesn’t belong, rather Vidro, Cairo, Sexson. I don’t think we’ve got 3 hitters ready for big league. Pretty much just Vlad, right? So replace one of those guys, in that order, not our Util. He’s got more value.
For someone who’s an adequate 25th man but not anything else, Willie’s sure playing close to starter numbers the last week.
Of course, this is dues to his .905 OPS the last 2 weeks… but it’s just another illustration of how dumb Mariner management is, since that’s .905 based entirely on singles.
He’s going to be starting every night at some position in the near future. The media loves him. The team is playing “better” since he’s been starting. And since he has come out and said he’s leaving after the season, they could honestly be trying to see what they could get for him in a trade. He will be out there every night.
And honestly, I can’t believe I’m about to write this, I might rather have him out there than Yuni at short.
Am I the only one that feels like hidden in this TERRIBLE season is the obvious fact that Yuni came around a couple years ago, looked like a future All-Star (at least defensively), and hasn’t really improved at all? He swings at absolute GARBAGE. I’d honestly rather have Willie at short, trade Yuni, and look for a long team SS through a trade or free-agency.
I do think that DMZ or Dave need to put a counter up…that would be hillarious…
Oooh, I kind of agree on the counter. But then again, I don’t want to jinx it. I mean, this is a serious record we’re talking about here, MLB history. I don’t want to take that opportunity away from Boom Boom.
As much as I love them, counters are too much work. They require manual updating. They’re a pain in our butt.
I like his lack of perspective when he talks to the media (the Kitsap Sun counts as the media, correct?). I can’t imagine other guys with similar XBH numbers saying they’re unhappy where they are, and are considering changing leagues. Most of those guys are probably just thankful they tricked a team into actually having them on their roster.
38- Thanks for the consideration Derek…
Couldn’t we just have a counter of Willie’s XBH?
It’d stay at zero for the foreseeable future, so no manual updating required!
Brilliant!
I was also going to suggest a counter for Willie too.
Or how about a big picture of Willie on his pony?
I wish Willie would make Ginuwine’s “Pony” his at bat song.
My guess is that comment has been made 37 times before.
in fact….
I have no idea why people have such a strongly held belief in the idea that crappy players can somehow be “showcased” for a trade such that you’ll get anything for them.
(not picking on you in specific, this comes up all the time with Vidro and Sexson along with Willie)
The only team in MLB that doesn’t value Bloomquist like the end-of-bench guy that he is already HAS him, so they aren’t going to trade anything of value for hm.
46- I agree that we wound’t get anything for him, but that doesn’t mean that they might WANT to trade him…
Well, sure. I’d love to see them trade Sexson or Vidro for value too, I just don’t think it’ll happen.
I’d much rather be wrong, believe me.
I think the point that the Mariners have bigger problems than the performance of WFB is valid. But I also suspect that the authors of this blog are aware of this. A snarky post about the guy’s lack of XBH seems to me just a flippant and amusing way of highlighting his massive deficiencies. I doubt we’ll see a serious, lengthy analysis of Bloomquist’s struggles as the plate as was composed for Johjima. And that’s fair enough: he’s Willie F’ing Bloomquist.
But the idea that any player (including Bloomquist) should be immune from criticism because he’s the ‘25th man’ is egregious. For a start, Bloomquist has the tenth most at bats amongst Mariners players this year, and has played in the ninth highest number of games. He isn’t the last guy off the bench; he’s the first. Besides which, teams should be looking to make improvements and add value wherever possible. Of course, DFA’ing Sexson and Vidro and/or moving Ibanez to DH would be more profitable moves than replacing Bloomquist. But where there’s a chance for improvement, there’s a chance for improvement.
A Brian Bocock shoutout?
Awesome.
Baseball Reference ran a list of players with most at bats in a season without an XBH. Willie currently ranks 12th with 79 ABs. Dwain Anderson at 124 is the current record holder and must be getting nervous.
I really don’t think that he’ll break the record…he just HAS to hit a double right? He’s pretty fast. If he hits the gap at all, he’ll go for it.
And he HAS to know that he is nearing the record…
At the other end of the XBH list, tied with Josh Hamilton for the most XBHs in the American League, is Jose Guillen.
Yes, a hustle double will wipe out the record even if it occurs after surpassing 124 at bats. This will be a difficult record to hold on to for him considering he is now playing every day.
eddie, #53, you jerk. Now I’m sad.
Given the composition of the M’s bench, this actually makes a lot of sense. Recently we’ve had a few more options, but for most of the season, was there really anyone you’d like to see off of the bench more than WFB?
Sadly, the answer is “No.”
The point isn’t “Willie is the biggest problem on this team”. We know he’s not. We know Raul’s defense is a bigger deal. But, as Derek has pointed out, we’ve talked about Raul’s defense here a lot. We’ve talked about Cairo here a lot, about Vidro, about Sexson, about all of these things. It’s only fair that we talk about Bloomquist sometimes too.
If we talk about Willie too much, that’s not our fault. It’s not us who start it. Announcers and fans haven’t adopted Miguel Cairo as their team mascot; you don’t hear the people in the row behind you talking about how [Cairo] is the sparkplug of this team, and the only guy who’s any good. I’ve heard people say that very thing about Willie. You don’t hear Niehaus talk about how Vidro’s “really hitting well lately”. You don’t hear Dave Valle talk about how Sexson “just needs a chance to play”. We haven’t been hearing for YEARS AND YEARS about how this year’s Al Martin is “really showing us what he can do”. But you hear those things about Willie. Constantly.
If people said “Willie’s an adequate, versatile utility guy”, no one here would ever mention his name. But you DON’T hear that; you hear “Willie’s been on fire lately”. SLG .260 is not by any remote stretch of the imagination “on fire”; it is, in actual fact “sucking”. His OBP is decent, and we need a guy like him around to fill in defensively so that the manager has the freedom to use his (sadly nonexistent) pinch hitters. That’s what utility guys are for.
Need I mention the fact that Willie has been on this team for SEVEN YEARS NOW, and we’ve been hearing this same untrue stuff about him for SEVEN YEARS, and he’s now earning real money, a million bucks, which is not utility guy money, it’s solid-contributor money?
Willie is bizarrely more popular than the GOOD players on this team, and people — MOST people, possibly even ALMOST ALL PEOPLE — believe that he’s REALLY GOOD. Believing that Willie deserves more playing time is an opinion (a stupid opinion, but still an opinion); believing that Willie is hitting well this year is just plain contrafactual.
Continually harping on the contrafactual is a good way to piss off the reality-based community.
And that’s what we’re getting. The only place you’re going to hear “Willie is a decent utility guy” is HERE. Everywhere else, you hear “I don’t understand, with all the problems they’re having, why they don’t give him a chance to play everyday; he’s proven that he can do it”.
And THAT is why I do, indeed, hate Willie Effing Bloomquist.
Case in point: If Willie is such a great utility guy, WHY IS HE STARTING EVERY GAME?
Steve, I edited your post a little bit because I think you said Bloomquist in one spot where you meant Cairo, or someone else.
Hope I understood your intention right; if not I can fix it.
If Willie does in fact break this hallowed record, USS Mariner must do something to commemorate this event.
Not trying to play a race card, but I think that most “fans” of WFB are infatuated because he is like them…a middle class, average guy…and he is white…he’s the little guy that “never gets a chance”…
He’s had chances, and he sucks…
I can’t wait for him to get a starting job in the NL next year and stink up the place…
Call me a “hater” all you want, but he sucks…sad thing about this guy is that he’s playing better than a lot of guys on the team…
there have been voices on KOMO who point out that Willie is not an ‘everyday player’ and is probably doing what he does best– not Pitman, mind you
Absolutely: the root of this problem is the FO’s inability to construct a more valuable bench. When people talk about their dislike of WFB, it’s surely because he’s being placed (through no fault of his own) in a role for which doesn’t have the skills. He’s a borderline major league being utilised like a borderline starter.
Its was Angie, and she asked: So Where is Willie at in his development? Is this guy ready to be aeveryday player.”
Dan kinda works his way around the question by saying Bloomquist is certainly playing well at the moment. He didn’t want to say yes it was funny.
We need to rein in our enthusiasm for a pending “major league record”. The Baseball Reference list (linked from #51 above) only covers “full season without an XBH”. WFB would have to make it all the way through Sept to claim the record.
Some quick searching on Baseball Reference (without a premium account):
Wayne Tolleson, 1987 – ended the season with 201 ab, 24 bb, 0 XBH
Jose Valdivielso, 1960 – ended with 72 g, 195 ab, 15 bb, 0 XBH
If we allow multi-year streaks, Valdivielso continued into ‘61, getting to 221 ab + 17 bb + some hbp and sac = more than 240 plate appearances.
There are probably others that are even longer.
So, Willie has some work to do before he can claim The Record. But, we’re all pulling for him!
Yes, I tried to make that clear, but apparently didn’t. But I think it only adds to the intrigue as the season wears on. This will not be an easy record to break, especially if he stays healthy and continues to play everyday.
So, Willie has some work to do before he can claim The Record. But, we’re all pulling for him!
If we do multiple years, his streak started in July of last year. So we could add some AB’s to his total from this year.
I wonder if there is any way to figure out what the actual streak records are (most consecutive ABs without an XBH, which is a different question from the most ABs in a complete season without an XBH.)
Excellent point. His streak started on 7/15 of last year putting him at 143 at bats by my rough calculations.
Baseball Reference can run reports for “longest streak”, but they give the result in games, rather than AB or Plate Appearances. That’s how I got the info on Tollesen and Valdivielso.
Without a premium subscription, it shows you results with the first and then skips a bunch and then shows you some more.
With a premium subscription, you could see more data and get a better answer.
Nailed it.
I must be in the minority, but I don’t even think Bloomquist is worth having as a utility player. In my opinion, a well constructed bench does not include Bloomquist (and certainly not Cairo).
Joe D. had ‘The Streak’, so I guess this is ‘the steak’. When he breaks the record, I hope the game ball and cleats go in the Hall. It’s a funny/sad string, sad in how the Willy stuff is a commentary on the season. Also, I’m pretty sure Willy isn’t tooting his own horn, it’s just the media people blowing it for him, but I don’t follow every source that covers the M’s. Willy is the feel good spot of happy sunshine in a crappy season. Run Willy Run! Plus it’s fun to yank the chain of the reality based community, you get some great stat analysis that way, whole new ways of looking at the game. You get educated. Another win for Willy!
Bocock, Hernandez, Hu and Bixler are all now in the minors.
Ensberg was released by the MFY and is now on the Indians’ AAA team.
So Robb Quinlan, Bloomquist and Cairo are the only guys on that list that are still in the majors.