Numbers, numbers, numbers
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Feb 17, 2010 
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One of the great things about blog interaction is that it often leads me to post information I would otherwise ignore. This is a prime example.
I was never one to care about jersey numbers – truth be told, I still don’t pay much attention to them – but I’ve gotten several emails wondering what numbers the new guys will be wearing. I don’t know how many of these will carry into the regular season, but here are the numbers for the new Yankees in spring training.
Most of the minor leaguers are given extremely high numbers — No. 98 Colin Curtis is the highest – but those numbers rarely carry into the season. Of all the guys on minor league contracts, the lowest number went to catcher Mike Rivera, who landed No. 12.
New additions
Greg Golson, 61
Curtis Granderson, 14
Jamie Hoffmann, 73
Nick Johnson, 27
Boone Logan, 48
Javier Vazquez, 31
Randy Winn, 22
Minor league free agents
Reid Gorecki, 66
Dustin Moseley, 40
Royce Ring, 47
Mike Rivera, 12
Zach Segovia, 70
Marcus Thames, 38
Jon Weber, 79
David Winfree, 78
New to the 40-man
Reegie Corona, 76
Hector Noesi, 74
Ivan Nova, 75
Eduardo Nunez, 94
Kevin Russo, 77
Romulo Sanchez, 67
Organizational minor leaguer
Wilkins Arias, 90
Jeremy Bleich, 86
Colin Curtis, 98
Grant Duff, 82
Kyle Higashioka, 92
Jason Hirsh, 60
Kei Igawa, 17
Brandon Laird, 97
Zach McAllister, 80
D.J. Mitchell, 72
Jesus Montero, 83
P.J. Pilittere, 85
Ryan Pope, 69
Austin Romine, 84
Amaury Sanit, 93
Jorge Vazquez, 95
Kevin Whelan, 81
Here’s Girardi wearing his new number:
http://www.daylife.com/photo/0.....?q=Yankees
i can’t wait to scream “HEY ONE FOUR” from the CF bleachers
also, these are not the numbers i was expecting considering the general tone of discussion today lol…
Can’t wait for that #83 jersey to drop at the pro shop
I didn’t guess the direction of this post from the title at all!
Thanks for the info Chad.
Thanks Chad, I’ll be heading down to Tampa in a few weeks and this will come in handy.
lol, I, too was expecting a different set of numbers.
Back to UZR, how do they figure out runs saved? I thought UZR measured range?
UZR takes the field, slices it up into ‘zones’ (hence ultimate zone rating, its so extreme!!), and then denotes the ‘average’ width of the zones for each position. Making plays outside of your zone helps you. Missing plays inside of your zone hurts you.
This is tracked by people who watch the games.
Doreen,
Just to respond to you from before because Jerkface basically covered everything I would say.
I never said my stats are better than your stats. Or only the most advanced statistics matter.
The problem was that you were not using ANY relevant statistics to make your point. “Power pitchers” on baseball reference does not tell you how Gardner performs against fastballs. Performance in his first at bat or later in the game do not tell you how Gardner performs against fastballs.
Or at least they are not relevant UNTIL you provide other statistics that say power pitchers throw X% of fastballs. Pitchers in the 1st inning throw X% of fastballs. Bullpen guys throw X% of fastballs.
What Jerkface posted ACTUALLY tells you how Gardner performs against fastballs. It is not that his statistic was more advanced so it was correct. It was that he actually used a directly relevant statistic.
Since your statistics do not actually answer the question at hand, they were simply conjecture as I said.
m,
My bad, I thought we were talking about CF’s overall – not just defense.
If we are discussing just defense I’d say the best ones in the MLB are
1. Gutierrez
..
huge gap here
..
then in some order: B.J. Upton, Mike Cameron, Carlos Gomez
Dunno after that really. A lot of the “good” fielding CF’s aren’t that good anymore and there are also a bunch of young guys that don’t have a big enough sample for me to say they are great.
2 things.
I wonder if anyone is going wear the number 21?
Is number 0 or 00 retired? Its time to bring those out for this generation to have single digit numbers. Id say 00 goes to C.C. and O the next closer. If the nba can have these numbers, why cant mlb?
I have to say I’m a little disappointed that Javier Vazquez didn’t ask Nick Swisher for the #33 back. When they were in Chicago together, Swisher wore #30 and Vazquez #33. I could be wrong, but it seems like that’s been his number is entire career, including the year he played for the Yanks in 2004. Why change it now? It’s Nick Swisher who would have to give up his number, not Derek Jeter…
Take that back. MONSTERO should be # 0.
“Can’t wait for that #83 jersey to drop at the pro shop”
I think he likes number 35. maybe by when Jesus is called up, we’d feel more at ease giving moose’s number if you don’t feel “at-ease” doing so already.
austinmac
February 17th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Lets go Yankees–I have significant doubts about Gardner’s ability to hit enough to play regularly. To suggest that makes me or anyone else who has watched him and formed that opinion foolish, seems an insult and an overstatement. Players are gauged from high school, college and at every professional level on many fewer at bats than that.
—————————–
That would be an insult, but fortunately I did not say that.
My exact words were: If you are “writing off Brett Gardner after 400 at bats no matter what your eyes, stats, heart or anything else tell you, you are frankly clueless.”
Having doubts about Gardner is fine. Having doubts about any baseball player is usually fine.
What I was addressing was the several people who have proclaimed and already determined that Gardner will NEVER amount to anything after watching less than 400 at bats.
http://www.wfan.com/pages/6383585.php
More audio!
Why change it now?
=====
Maybe he wants to turn the page on the 2004 debacle and have a fresh start.
I would vote Pedroia over Cano, but you can not make an argument for Pabelbon over Mo – it’s not close.
The Yankees are a notch better than the Sox because while the pitching staffs are close (even if you want to give the nod to the Sox), the offense is not.
Chip, I have not heard or read any rumors suggesting the Yankees want Phil to win the #5 spot over Joba, nevermind because of Joba in the pen last post-season. For some reason, people think Joba was lights out in the post-season and he wasn’t close to being that. He blew game 4 of the WS and only a crazy Yankee rally prevented a very likely loss as the Phils would have bombed Phil Coke.
lets go yankees -
If you had explained to me how I was misreading the statistics rather than tell me when I could support my opinions with statistics then you would listen to me, perhaps we could have had a dialog instead of what did transpire.
I am very willing to learn new things.
In fact, I was trying to look something up, to find something out. But I was not doing so correctly. I don’t take offense when someone points out I’ve made a mistake. And I have no problem admitting my mistakes. I do get upset when I am pretty much told I am irrelevant.
And I bristle when people are lumped together.
I don’t live in a black and white world – lots of different shades out there. It’s a lot more interesting when you’re open to everything (well, maybe not EVERYTHING…). And that goes for people who say metrics do no good at all.
But just as some say merely watching and going by gut feelings isn’t enough to support an opinion, so I would ask you that if I never watched a baseball game, but knew every statistic of every player who ever played, would you consider my opinion to be valid?
Cool…I’m the proud owner of a Mike Rivera jersey!
Or as I like to call it…it’s my M. Rivera jersey.
Now who is he again?
“Maybe he wants to turn the page on the 2004 debacle and have a fresh start.”
Very true…
I should have done some research prior to posting that comment because he was #23 with the Expos and Diamondbacks and #33 with the Yankees, White Sox, and Braves…
SOS -
Gosh what a mess giving out #21 stirred up!!!!
But if it’s not retired, and a player requests it, I think the Yankees should honor the request, along with a tutorial on what that player can expect just from the mere act of wearing that number.
Vazquez wore #33 his first time around, but that number now belongs to Nick Swisher. Rather than try to get it back, Vazquez settled for #31 in honor of one of his favorites, Greg Maddux.
nothing wrong with that.
I wonder what Montero’s ultimate number will be.
“If you had explained to me how I was misreading the statistics rather than tell me when I could support my opinions with statistics then you would listen to me, perhaps we could have had a dialog instead of what did transpire.”
I apologize if I approached you the wrong way. I was not trying to dictate to you when you are allowed to use statistics, but simply that you make conclusions on the incorrect statistics.
“But just as some say merely watching and going by gut feelings isn’t enough to support an opinion, so I would ask you that if I never watched a baseball game, but knew every statistic of every player who ever played, would you consider my opinion to be valid?”
Depends what the opinion is in regard to.
Chad, could you post information about attending a workout at Legend’s Field? Planning on going on Friday with my boys. If you or any posters have any information or insight about best time to get there, getting autographs, etc I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Yankee fans know their players. I could never figure out why people buy jerseys with names on the back. The Yankees have never had names on the back in their history.
what number did montero wear in the minors?
Good list from Posnanski on the best players in the AL East.
The only thing I disagree with is Lackey. I do not think he is going to perform particularly well in the AL East and will end up with an ERA in the low 4′s. I think Vazquez will perform better than him next season.
If V-Mart can stay behind the plate for the whole season remains to be seen. But to be fair, if Jorge can handle a full season behind the plate is questionable as well.
Other than that, no real objections.
Doreen,
#21 should not be retired. I want some big name or stud rookie to wear it and get this drama over with. It wouldnt hurt for Oneil to put his pride aside and say that its o.k.. Hell have him put it on in a press conference. That will make him feel important. Dont get me wrong, Oneil was a great Yankee. But not good enough to hang up that number.
“Vazquez wore #33 his first time around, but that number now belongs to Nick Swisher. Rather than try to get it back, Vazquez settled for #31 in honor of one of his favorites, Greg Maddux.
nothing wrong with that.”
I agree, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I didn’t realize why he had picked the #31. I’m just used to seeing him with #33. That’s all.
Greg Maddux was a heck of a pitcher, so good choice for Vazquez.
Why wasn’t No. 18 issued ? Why did Igawa get issued No. 17 instead of a football number. Phil Hughes likes a 5 as part of his number. Why not No. 35 ? Jose Molina is gone. Why doesn’t Joba take No. 26 ?
“Phil Hughes likes a 5 as part of his number.”
He has 5 in his number already…
Rick,
Does it count if i bought a Yankee jersey with my baseball number on it when i played and a personalized last name on the back?
Doreen – Ain’t it Just “Grand”? says:
February 17, 2010 at 1:17 pm
The argument is getting ridiculous and rather pointless. He is being given an opportunity to be a starting outfielder. There is a possibility that he will end up being a platoon player. If he does better, is anyone going to complain? Of course not. If he doesn’t do well, he will be replaced.
———————————————————–
Who will replace him. It’s awefully over simplified to assume the Yankees will find an outfielder In the middle of the season when they failed thus far in the off season.
Why wasn’t No. 18 issued ? Why did Igawa get issued No. 17 instead of a football number.
======
Good point on 18. It is abviously the best number in the history of football. Football number? Thats too nice, he should have a paper with pins on his back like when little league players try out. 3 digits minimum.
SOS -
I think if a big name or stud rookie takes it, there won’t be a problem. Except maybe O’Neil’s ego might be a little bruised.
I agree that as good a player he was for the Yankees, the number should not be retired for him.
Heck, the standard has to be very, very high, or else there will really be no numbers left (well, unless they go to triple digits!).
Plus, the more numbers you retire, I think the more you devalue those very numbers you’re trying to elevate.
Plus, the more numbers you retire, I think the more you devalue those very numbers you’re trying to elevate.
======
From all the players in the past decade or so. The ones that should be retired are Jetes, Arod(once hes done owning ever record immaginable accept hits), Mo, Pettitte and possibly Posada. Everyone else is in the same line that Oneil stands in.
“Yankee fans know their players. I could never figure out why people buy jerseys with names on the back. The Yankees have never had names on the back in their history.”
Because for some reason the ones with the name on the back cost less?
“This is tracked by people who watch the games.”
And people who watch the games are incredible biased by there personal opinions of players.
#31 will always be Davey Dave for me.
Aaron Small was also 31 IIRC.
Montero will be #6 as a future HOFer !
MTS -
2 threads ago, or 3 threads ago?
And the statement isn’t anything that many people have stated over and over again.
They will replace him with someone on the roster or they will get someone at the trade deadline. You never know who could be available.
Or maybe they don’t.
Maybe he just isn’t all that important to the lineup and they can get through the season with him as a platoon player. Or maybe he’ll be an all-star.
Who really knows?
Sheesh.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articl.....ndex.jhtml
Lebron predicts a repeat for the Yanks.
S.o.S.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Why wasn’t No. 18 issued ? Why did Igawa get issued No. 17 instead of a football number.
======
Good point on 18. It is abviously the best number in the history of football.
********************
I think O’Neill’s ego would be bruised seeing the various misspellings of his name by the “Yankee fans” here.
Rich-
Around .350
SOS -
Would you add Tex to your list?
O’Neil was a great Yankee, but his number should be reissued.
“And people who watch the games are incredible biased by there personal opinions of players.”
This is an assumption. Also, each game is done by three people. And games on the road are done by many, many different people. For all I know the games at home are done by many different people. So even if there were biases, which you don’t know actually exist, how do you know the multiple scorings from multiple people don’t drown out the biases? You don’t. The wisdom of crowds sort of thing.
What’s the difference between UZR and UZR150 ?
Montero has worn 45, 35, and 38 in the minors.
For some reason I’m really edgy today and fighting the urge to bicker any further.
But, Crafty Lefty -
You never made a typo – or misspelled something in haste? Can you spell Teixeira? Can you spell Mientkiewicz?
So because someone misspells a name they’re a only a “quote” fan. Okay.
MTU-
Tom B linked to this earlier but it answers many of the basic UZR questions:
http://www.baseballthinkfactor.....3-03-14_0/
“This is an assumption. Also, each game is done by three people. And games on the road are done by many, many different people. For all I know the games at home are done by many different people. So even if there were biases, which you don’t know actually exist, how do you know the multiple scorings from multiple people don’t drown out the biases? You don’t. The wisdom of crowds sort of thing.”
How do you KNOW the opposite isn’t true? Oh you don’t. Wisdom of the crowds sorts of thing. Humans have all types of biases based on personal experiences.
I meant 48 not 38
Thanks Wave.
Doreen:
With all these rookies in blog camp, sometimes there are days like this
By the time we break camp and head North, some of them won’t be here anymore.
Remember, girl. You’re on the Blog’s starting 25 and they’re not!
Hoffman #73, Thames #38 . . . tell tale sign or not?
When they do these defensive numbers do they account for the speed of the ball as it’s traveling to the outfielder?
Do they account for defensive positioning? Do they put a gps tracker on the ball and one the players to get a more accurate measurement?
Ray-
I was thinking the same thing when I asked about how ratings were made.
I wondered what the “difference” was between the “raters” , and
ordinary fans making their “judgements”.
I asked if, for instance, the raters were former baseball players,scouts, or the like. Something that might raise their observations above the “ordinary” fan.
SOS -
Would you add Tex to your list?
=====
Im not so sure about that Doreen. I guess the question to ask is do you retire a jersey of someone that played his last half of his career with the Yanks but is being retired by a previous team. For example Clemens. Do you retire his number if he get voted into the H.O.F. even though he wasnt a Yankee for long and is remember mostly by playing with the Sox. If he continues to go on a tear for the remainder of his contract, maybe. Im hesitant saying that. Some H.O.F.ers wouldnt have had their numbers retired as a Yankee. So in conclusion, retired Yankee numbers is greater than the HOF or any other team retiring it. I might be a bit bias.
Hoffman #73, Thames #38 . . . tell tale sign or not?
–
Thames most definitely has an upper hand on Hoffman, he is a major league quality player. While I would not read too much into the number, it would be disrespectful to give Hoffman 38 and Thames 73 when Thames has proven MLB experience.
Defensive positioning would affect a play I would think. Especially on an extreme shift or no-doubles defense.
Vazquez doesn’t deserve to have a number of his choice, especially doesn’t deserve to take it away from Nick Swisher, a fan favorite. I fully expect Vazquez to be a joke this year, if anyone thinks he’s going to repeat what he did in Atlanta, you are simply not paying attention.
“Obviously, other factors play into how a defender fields a ball. First up is Park Factor, a metric I’m assuming we’re all relatively familiar with. UZR breaks down park factor into positions, including the infield as one position. The idea here is to make small adjustments for how certain parks play. If an infield plays badly — has high grass, has messy lips — that factors into defense. So does outfield space. Those all get factored into UZR.
Batted ball speed is seemingly the most important adjustment. A third baseman might be able to not only field a tapper between him and the shortstop, but have enough time to set his feet and throw. On a sharp grounder, however, the play becomes more difficult. Game stringers — people who watch the game and record every event — classify ground balls as soft, medium, or hard, and fly balls as easy, medium, and hard. Those all factor into UZR as well, with each zone getting a weight for each batted ball speed. It takes into account the difficulty of catching a lightly hit fly ball to a shallow zone, as well as a hard fly ball to a deep zone and everything in between.
Batter handedness plays a part, too, since that can cause fielders to adjust. Also, batters of a certain handedness tend to hit balls harder to certain zones and softer to others. This adjustment is made so that, for example, a shortstop defending against a left-handed batter doesn’t get extra credit for fielding a ball in the 6M zone — i.e., shortstop up the middle — when he might have been positioned there in the first place.
Then there’s pitcher ground ball ratio. This doesn’t make a huge difference, since on average a pitching staff has a, well, average GB/FB ratio. It still gets factored, though, to ensure accuracy.
Finally, we get to the base-out situation that I mentioned earlier. Again, this has to do with positioning. Middle infielders are more likely to get to their middle zones with a runner on first, since they’re playing closer to the bag for the double play.”
for past # wearers – http://www.yankeenumbers.com/
A primer on UZR:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/bl.....mlb,212311
I don’t expect Vazquez to be awesome, but I expect him to repeat what he did in AL before, maybe a bit better. 4+ERA guy.
I expect him to be a good 4th starter…like we brought him in to be.
Rosenthal reporting Damon doesn’t want to go to the Tigers. White Sox offered 1 year/$4.5 range with heavy deferrals.
MTU
February 17th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
What’s the difference between UZR and UZR150 ?
UZR 150 is extrapolated or interpolated UZR values of a player to a standard of 150 games.
4:13pm: Rosenthal tweets that the present-day value of Chicago’s offer to Damon is in the $4.5MM range, considering deferrals. He’s hearing that Damon doesn’t want to go to the Tigers. As for Damon’s wife’s preferences, the player texted to SI’s Jon Heyman that “It’s up to me. She’s going wherever I go.” Cowley tweets that the Sox “are going from long shots to frontrunners in the Damon sweepstakes the last few hours.”
*********************************
This makes me wonder if the Tigers ever really made an offer. This leak, the Damon loves everything about DET, and the leak about DET approving 1/7 and 2/14 offer can’t all be true. This really makes it look like a last ditch effort by Boras to create a market.
Meanwhile, Damon will likely accept less than the Yankees offered, maybe much less.
What a maroooooon.
I wouldn’t want to go to Detroit if I were Damon’s wife either. That place is literally a post apocalyptic wasteland. I went to a wedding there last april and only after I could scrounge up some fire was I able to ward off the feral detroit natives.
Ray-
Thanks.
murphydog -
Thanks!
It’s just been one of those days. Maybe it’s them, maybe it’s me. You know? 
SOS -
I know. Teixeira could be a tough call. It will depend on what his accomplishments are as a Yankee, I think, and he’s got 7 more years to go. I guess, in a way, he’s a Yankee rookie.
Clemens is a Red Sox. Did some great things as a Yankee, but he’s a Red Sox, for sure. (Plus the whole way he went on his retirement tour and then, oh, not so much!)
See, what messes with the whole thing, you know, is Reggie……….
let’s go yankees, great quote, which I’d already read, but thanks anyway.
My question is, how is batted ball speed measured? By a person’s eye? How is a player’s speed measured? Again by a person’s eye?
How do they account for top spin of the balls being hit? Because balls with different spins on them tend to react differently.
What I consider a hard hit ball might not be what the next person considers to be a hard hit ball.
What I consider fast might not be what another person considers fast, etc. etc.
Where is the Tigers 2 year offer Heyman tweeted about last week?
The White Sox have made one offer to Johnny. They haven’t moved off that offer.
It has nothing to do with his wife not wanting to be in a “non-cosmopolitan city”.
It has more to do with Dave Dombrowski convincing his owner to let him do his job. In other words, if they can make a sensible deal with Johnny, so be it. If not, you move on.
If the White Sox get him, Johnny takes an over 10 million dollar present day ($$$-wise) hit for turning down the Yankees offer in December.
Not good.
Doreen,
Its not you! LOL
Murph, as usual, said it best!
raymagnetic
February 17th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
When they do these defensive numbers do they account for the speed of the ball as it’s traveling to the outfielder?
Do they account for defensive positioning? Do they put a gps tracker on the ball and one the players to get a more accurate measurement?
No they don’t account for the speed of the ball or the positioning of the player. They don’t even account for the field dimensions. It has some basics like flies & line drives, but those are hard to quantify. High fly, soft liner etc. What would be interesting is how heady the player is in positioning. Also, how far the player moves to get a ball. Cano is often critized for not getting to balls to his left, but not given credit for ones he catches over the middle. Basically, Cano plays closer to 2B than most 2B players. Jeter crowds 2B as well. The Yanks have two very strong corner infielders so the Yanks get hits for positioning at 2B & SS. Same goes with CF. A OF player who plays deep gets more credit. LOL! If you take the dimensions of an inverted triangle and you cover the wider base of the triangle because you play near the base near the fence you get more credit. Likewise the narrower range near the point of the triangle doesn’t negate your fielding as much. So guys like Gardner and Ellsbury who play deep and run fast get more credit. Cameron who plays very shallow gets hit in the UZR fielding because he is positioned shallower. I might add he goes back very well, but playing shallow he can’t cover the base of an inverted triangle as much. Those bonus points given for catching balls outside of the range are skewed in favor of players playing deep.
m
February 17th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Defensive positioning would affect a play I would think. Especially on an extreme shift or no-doubles defense.
————————————————————
I’m happy to see more than me that brings up things that are beyond a defender’s sphere of influence…such as field conditions, weather, the type of pitch and how badly the pitcher missed his spot. How many times do we see a pitch designed to be on one corner or the other and the pitcher misses by a foot? Until these factors are figured in, these numbers will be less than desirable to use. Imagine how many times Jeter has made fools out of the defense because he decided to pull a pitch or take an inside pitch and shoot one past the 1st and 2nd basemen or drop it into right field.
How many times has a manager move an infielder or outfielder only to watch the ball get hit to the spot just vacated. Until they hire The Amazing Kreskin or Jean Dixon types, it’ll never be as simple “marking zones” as some would want you to think it is.
“It’s up to me. She’s going wherever I go.”
http://www.jillstanek.com/caveman.gif
The whole Michelle Damon doesn’t want to live in Detroit thing makes me think of Gammons infamous “Leigh Teixeira doesn’t like the shopping in Boston”
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/.....g2mMXRejcJ
Really just more speculation -I don’t buy it. It’s not like Joba was lights out in the post-season anyway.
Per pics today, Phil was already working on his change – good to see
Nick Johnson is number 26.
Check the team roster on Yankees.com
Here is where the “cosmopolitan city” angle fails the sniff test.
Find me a more cosmopolitan city than NY. If it was about being in a “cosmopolitan city”, he would be with the Yankees working out in Tampa today.
The Damon’s were happy in NY. They had a house next to CC in Alpine, NJ and Damon’s wife loved NYC.
They wrongly judged the market and the end result is, at least as of today, no job.
If he gets an offer from somebody in a “non-cosmopolitan city”, he’s going to have to take it because time is wasting.
The entire negotiation was handled poorly from the Damon side.
Johnny is a good guy. He just made a big, big miscalculation and his agent certainly was of no assistance.
At this point, he doesn’t have any leverage at this point. He just needs to find employment.
Getting back to the earlier silliness on Gardner, I don’t recall anybody saying that he was a bad outfielder. What I saw was more than a few saying that he was a great outfielder and using flawed stats to try and make it believable.
Could he get to the “great” diminsion? Sure…if he learns how to go back on the balls hit over his head. Right now, that’s a huge problem…judging flies hit straight at him. He’s outstanding to the left and right, though.
New post
Erin
February 17th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
The whole Michelle Damon doesn’t want to live in Detroit thing makes me think of Gammons infamous “Leigh Teixeira doesn’t like the shopping in Boston”
————————————————————
I assume that finding stylish adult style clothes that small would be an issue in Detroit and Boston. Most women’s clothes sold there come with free signage at says “Caution: Wide Load Ahead”.
GB,
That’s just it. Nobody is saying he’s a bad OF. What some of us are saying is, despite his UZR rating, he’s not a great defensive player and wasn’t great last year. Geez, watch the darn games! Even balls he caught were often adventures.
Personally, I think he will do fine in the OF, whether its in LF (my preferred spot for him) or CF. I just cringe when people twist themselves into a pretzel defending a metric that most of MLB doesn’t deem as reliable.
Its why teams are spending a lot of money developing their own, proprietary, defensive metric systems.
Is UZR useless? No. Is it the ultimate judgment of defensive ability? Absolutely not for reasons Ray VT has spoken about time after time. Most recently in his 6:16 pm post.
Betsy,
I thought Joba was pretty good in the pen this postseason. The inning he gave up that bomb, he looked electric. He missed one pitch and it wasnt missed. As far as Hughes is concerned. I still need to see him be able to get more than two pitches over the plate. When he went into the pen, all i saw was fastballs coming from him. He rarely threw his great curve.
I think Joba has more in his repotuire, but he doesnt let loose when starting. Which is why i would have him throw in the 8th. Hope Hughes can show he has taken that extra step to being a starter and refined his other pitches.
SJ, you got it. Gardner’s a good outfielder….just not great. Left field is a good spot for him, because if it goes over his head, it’s going to be a homer anyway. With his great left/right speed it’s going to allow Granderson help out Swisher a lot and in left field, his somewhat weak and inaccurate arm will be less of a factor with cutoffs by Rodriguez and Jeter.
On the other side of the ball, I was happy to see him spend a lot of time working with Iron Mike on his bunting. That could be a huge weapon for him….one that hasn’t been seen since the days of Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph.
Swisher wouldn’t Just give up 33 after he bought it off Bruney last Season.