Way to ignore the rest of his post. Let's quote the rest of it, shall we, as ignoring portions of relevant information is a logical fallacy: Yep. Methinks the Wizard and Mr. Concepción won a few WS titles between them.
concepcion was a good hitter first of all, and was a great hitter in the postseason. ozzie smith stole 40 bases/season. neither of them were anywhere close to as one-dimensional as everett. please don't mention adam everett in the same breath as either of them. it is an insult to baseball history.
forgot to include my most important rebuttal: in this, everett's 5th year in the big leagues, he hasn't shown one iota of improvement at the plate, and if anything, he's regressed.
If Everett doesnt turn that mind boggling game ending double play in Game 4 vs St L.....or if he doesnt "sell" that phantom tag on the double play in Game 6, we may not have seen the World Series. He cannot hit...I dont even think you would get AE himself to argue that point....but you cant dismiss what he brings to the table defensively as if its commonmplace amongst all major league shortstops.
It is certainly NOT common place but it is hardly spectacular...Everett is no Ozzie Smith, he is a very good defensive player, but his offense is WELL below par. I don't mind him being in there every day, but that means we need 7 other solid starters in the lineup and right now we only have 6 on a good day.....Ausmus and Everett together are each great at their own position, but weaklings in the offensive scheme of things, and I would love to have only one of them playing instead of both. DD
I wouldnt even call Ausmus great anymore. I agree that with 2 holes in the lineup, we suffer. I actually think its time to let Ausmus only catch Clemens and give Munson a shot at more at bats.
i wonder if he's reached shaq/FT status and just given up? i've never heard, good or bad, anyone really talk about everett's work ethic as a hitter - how hard does he work? how hard do the coaches work with him? is he taking extra BP? logging extra time in the film room? he has no eye; a career OB% of .305 is just awful. is that something that can be improved....? well... if you look at ozzie's #s when he was adam's age (24-28), they're eerily similiar. his highest BA was .248; highest OB% was .339; he never hit more than 3 HRs or drove in more than 50 runners. AE tops out at .273; .320; 11 and 54. AE obviously has more pop, but ozzie also averaged 33 steals a year (AE topped out at 21 last year). anyway, in ozzie's 7th year, at the age of 29 (AE's current age), it seemed to click. over the next 10 seasons, his OB% was.350 or better 7 times; it averaged out to .357 with a high of .392. his average also improved, hitting .280 or better five of those 10 years. HRs stayed minimal, but he started driving in more runs (50 or more 8 times) and, of course, he continued to steal bases. IOW, later in his career, ozzie's offense became more than passable. wonder what turned it around for him, and is AE capable of a similiar turn?
Let me start by saying that I hate "Automatic-Everett" and his bat, but I totally see the value of his glove. I'm not in any camp. I do have a question for the PRO-EVERETT team, though. The fans, in the last All-Star Game, voted in Jose Reyes for the NL team and Derek Jeter for the AL team. The PLAYER vote, though, decided on by players and executives, went to Edgar Renteria (and later David Eckstein) for the NL and Michael Young (and later Miguel Tejada) for the AL. Let's compare the reserves, as voted on by the players & executives: Edgar Renteria: .320 BA, 107 H, 9 HR, 37 RBI, 63 R, .467 SLG, .401 OBP David Eckstein: .312 BA, 114 H, 1 HR, 19 RBI, 55 R, .362 SLG, .371 OBP Michael Young: .308 BA, 120 H, 7 HR, 58 RBI, 51 R, .442 SLG, .351 OBP Miguel Tejada: .311 BA, 118 H, 18 HR, 65 RBI, .64 R, .507 SLG, .361 OBP Adam Everett: .242 BA, 70 H, 2 HR, 32 RBI, 28 R, .325 SLG, .297 OBP And here's the defensive stats: Edgar Renteria: .977 fielding %, 8 errors, 47 DP, 4.51 range factor, .807 zone rating David Eckstein: .987 fielding %, 5 errors, 65 DP, 4.48 range factor, .873 zone rating Michael Young: .982 fielding %, 8 errors, 63 DP, 4.93 range factor, .839 zone rating Miguel Tejada: .969 fielding %, 12 errors, 69 DP, 4.65 range factor, .815 zone rating Adam Everett: .990 fielding %, 4 errors, 70 DP, 5.08 range factor, .916 zone rating Clearly, Adam Everett is FAR AND AWAY the better defensive player, when compared to the All-Star reserves. But his defense didn't get him (or Vizquel) selected now, did it? With the game now meaning something, it appears that players and executives skew towards offensive-minded shortstops to represent them in the All-Star Game and help win home field advantage. Does that mean that defense is overrated in the eyes of players and executives (the people closest to the game)?
no, it means players and executives don't care enough to do much more than scan obvious stats. it's an exhibition. for the fans.
Hmmm... another majorly derailed thread due to people's complaining about Everett. You would think we'd be over this topic.
But the game means something now. You think Ozzie, as AL manager, viewed it as a simple exhibition? His team has a great shot to go to the WS again, and I guarantee he'd love to have home field advantage.
sure, but even ozzie has to take a royal, devil ray, oriole & indian... likely at the expense of a better, more deserving player who's more likely to care about WS homefield advantage. and why? because it's an exhibition. besides, do you really think devil ray players are pouring over VORP or defensive range stats? they're opening ESPN.com, if that, and voting on best offensive numbers. or simply going by long-held reputation. the all-star roster proves nothing, either way.
If the Astros were to get Linebrink or Greene for Ensberg, I would ask for Mike Cameron as well even if it cost a 2nd tier propect (not Patton or Hirsh). He's an older player, but he is a much better defensive CF than Burke. Cameron also brings more to the plate offensively than Biggio and Wilson. Burke could slide to 2nd base or LF. If it was Greene that the Astros got, any outs lost at SS would most likely be gained back with Cameron in CF and Burke in LF/2nd. Well, that is only true if Greene is anywhere close to being as good defensively as someone has suggested earlier in this thread.
You may be right, but player voting may still illustrate the type of stats players value, i.e. offense. Plus, keep in mind it's not just players voting, either. Also, if what you say is true, then there shouldn't have been a big difference between fan voting (who chiefly use reputation + hometown + "google" offensive stats) and player voting. But there was a difference.
offensive stats are easier. i mean, like some random KC royal has any knowledge of AE's efforts; and/or the inclination to try and quantify something that even hardcore statgeeks struggle with? tejada's hit so many homers - slam dunk. no effort, no thought, no wasted energy. and i'm not sure what difference you cite: it seemed both the voted and named players excelled offensively, no?
btw, i have no feeling either way. i appreciate AE's glove; i think he makes a difficult position look easy. but i agree, he's useless at the plate. and yeah, some of it is guilt by association - ausmus' poor bat makes AE's worse and vice versa. it's hard to field a line-up of three nearly automatic outs and then a mish-mash of inconsistency elsewhere around berkman. which means, getting back to the point, i really hope ensberg is hurt, that he does get healthy and that he does come back to '05 form down the stretch. unfortunately he and the team wasted so much time, i'm not sure there's enough left to make any determination prior to the deadline. which is why i think they may be counting him out this year and looking for bats elsewhere. btw, back briefly to ausmus/everett - i think it would be interesting to ask astro pitchers which player they'd sacrifice for another bat.
This is the best possible situation for the Astros offensively. I'd still like to get someone like Cameron to play CF and move Burke to an easier position for him.
Here's the list of mlb SS's: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats...d=a&league=mlb&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&qual=false There's a whole bunch of weak hitters there...why? Maybe because SS's who can hit & are good with the glove are at a premium. Who should the Astros go after? They like Tejada, couldn't get him. The Astros are not averse to making a change at SS, most of their fans wouldn't be either, that's not the point. Who else is a realistic alternative that's going to be a definite upgrade?
