I am shocked Purpura was able to pull this off. Of course with our luck both the guys we traded become All stars within 3 seasons. Great trade though. Good job, Timmy.
Yeah, asking someone to stop taking pitches right down the middle of the plate is whack. No wait, on second thought it's whickity whack.
and it's completely strange to me that you want to analyze every position in the lineup as if they're all the same. as if you're not expecting different things from different guys in the lineup. as if you're expecting the 2 guy in the lineup to be judged on the exact criteria you are the cleanup hitter. i want him to drive in runs. that's baseball. when a guy is on second and you need to get a run, can you drive him in? i can't factor in, with numbers, how many good pitches to hit a guy watches...that's where stats fail you. i guess we could look at his average with runners in scoring position...but ii'm sure you'd tell me that's whacked out because average doesn't mean anything anymore. looks like the emphasis on "be more patient" has made ensberg a far less productive player, frankly...maybe we should be criticizing purp for that, then. i asked you this earlier and i don't think i got a reply....ensberg has a higher OBP than berkman right now. berkman leads him in every "counting" stat known to man. are you honestly telling me that ensberg is more productive than lance berkman?
1) Actually, no. It compares the player against the baseline which represents a "replacement" player. Average, in terms of baseball, is actually pretty good. Explain why it's illogical to make this comparison? 2) It's not meant to provide a total valuation of the player, despite the "value" part of VORP. it's meant to provide offensive valuation only. Your complaint is invalid. PS - i'm a huge Everett fan.
it's not necessarily illogical..but it's certainly subjective, not a quality i "enjoy" in statistics arbitrary setting of the "replacement" player. my complaint is "invalid??"
In order to win a baseball game, one team has to score more runs than the other. In order to score runs, someone has to drive the runs in. It usually helps if there is more than one person in a line-up that is able to do this. I think that is what everyones fascination is with RBIs. If only they tallied walks instead of runs to decide a game.
The problem is that being selective is good in that it gets you better pitches to hit. If you're not hitting those better pitches, you're not helping your team. Yes, walking and having a nice OBP is nice. But when you do everything else terribly, there's a problem there and the walking isn't worth all that much, unless you're leading off. If Ensberg is in the lineup, he should be a leadoff hitter or #8 hitter (to be bunted over by the pitcher) right now.
It's nice for making lists of players sorted by VORP. Sorry, but it doesn't really tell me much of anything that I can't get from looking at other stats in addition to watching the games. And it's fun to say. And apparently it frustrates Nohmali when we do. Don't get me started on PECOTA.
Nice deal...Now they need some bullpin help. We should see if Pittsburgh is willing to part with Mike Gonzalez or Demaso Marte.
This better not cut into Lambo's playing time. This is my preferred lineup: Biggio 2B Burke CF Lamb 1B Berkman RF Huff 3B Wilson LF Everett SS Munson/Ausmus C Pitcher
the more i think about it, the more i really like the many wrinkles this deal causes. ensberg has always hit left-handers better, and the astros went out and found a real rarity - a left-handed hitting third baseman. if they're wise, they'll plant berkman in right and platoon lamb and ensberg, with huff playing 1st or 3rd. this gives ensberg a chance to face lefties exclusively, which inreases his chances of success, which hopefully will help him rebuild his confidence down the road and maybe get him closer to '05 form down the stretch. and hey, whaddya know, 2 of the first 4 pitchers they face out of the gate are lefties. but they need to stay proactive. ensberg's on notice; he has 19 days to show rapid improvement or the team needs to make another move.
Heard a pregame interview with Morgan earlier this year (don't know if it was quoted online). He described his hitting approach as: "I'm a mistake hitter. That's what I'm looking for, and if a pitcher is "on" and makes his pitches, I'm dead." Ensberg's problem, what I've been saying for a month, is that he is watching too many very hittable pitches - mistakes - almost every at-bat. Is it because he's hurt? I dunno, but he has a history of downplaying & trying to play through injuries (and hiding the extent from the club until after the fact). That doesn't mean that he can't or won't get it back. I think he can. But that doesn't mean that he's not struggling terribly right now. Walks are great. Being selective is great. Nobody is suggesting he needs to start swinging at crap out of the strikezone. But mostly you'll get maybe 2 (if you're lucky) good pitches to hit each at bat. Watching them into the glove doesn't help your team, especially when your job on the team is to punish those pitches, and especially when there's runners on. That's what a 3-4-5 hitter does. That's Ensberg. And it's painful to watch him right now. He needs to snap out of it. If that means he's in a platoon situation w/ Huff/Lamb/Berkman for awhile, so be it. Gar has options now. It's great. It's on him to deal with it, and maybe try communicating with the coaches, and maybe even listening to what they say.
Thats really interesting that you say that. A buddy of mine went to spring training and ws sitting with some NL scouts. They basically said that you have seen the last good days of Mo because pitchers know exactly how to pitch to him now. Granted, he DID have a great first month or so....so perhaps thats all BS....but it does go along with what Mo says about himself. If pitchers make THEIR pitches, he's in trouble.
Morgan couldn't hit it. Any bets? Morgan's OBP is quite impressive given that he can't hit; all pitchers have to do is throw strikes.
