Comments on: Positive rethinking

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:25:54 +0000

wow. I had no idea it was that bad. And they paid him HOW much to go to the Nats?

By: egrissom

egrissom — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:42:29 +0000

No question that Werth was miserable at situational hitting. 186/353/314 with runners in scoring position, and that’s pretty bad. He had almost as many plate appearances with men on base (304) as he did with the bases empty (348), but hit twice as many homers with the bases empty.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:18:47 +0000

Total bases. yes, I missed your point (my wife is used to this facet of my personality). But I do agree that both senses of “quality” are germaine. Apparently Werth’s doubles did not offset howard’s drop off in home runs. And while i do not have statistics to back up my sense that they did not hit well in situations, I do remember yelling at the TV screen more in 2010 than in the previous two years. And as I noted, Werth made me nuts last year when he had men in scoring position.

By: egrissom

egrissom — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:56:09 +0000

That’s pretty interesting. When I was talking about the quality of hits, I meant that the hits didn’t go for as many bases. The Phillies got more hits, but didn’t hit with the same power. It sounds like what you mean is that the Phillies didn’t hit well in situations, which was also true.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:45:31 +0000

The quality of the hits became a real issue in 2010, didn’t it. Given the fact that Werth did not get a hit with men in scoring postiion for what seemed like three months, he was a MAJOR player in the drop off of hit quality.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:42:39 +0000

Jim, I agree. I am a little surprised that chooch did not break into the top 100.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:47:39 +0000

Fascinating list, DM.

If I had to pick a 7th Phil to put on the list, I would have taken Chooch over Vic. But Vic over JRoll still makes sense.

By: egrissom

egrissom — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:47:19 +0000

I think it’s interesting, too. I don’t think it will be news to anyone, but it means that the quality of the hits got worse.

The Werth thing and the strikeouts is an interesting question. Werth draws a lot of walks, but he strikes out a lot, too. I think that Brown eventually will strike out a little less than Werth does. In 2011, though, he’s going to strike out more regularly. Maybe a lot more regularly. I think Francisco is a lock to strike out less than Werth, so it might wind up being a matter of how much time each of them gets in 2011 when we look if the loss of Werth means more or less strikeouts.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:23:21 +0000

BTW, MLB has been doing their “100 Best Players Today” thing. We have seven guys on the list. Conspicuous by his absence is Jimmy Rollins. I am hoping it pisses him off. A lot.
2. Roy Halliday
25. Ryan Howard
26. Chase Utley
31. Cliff Lee
51. Roy Oswalt
71. Cole Hamels
82. Shane Victorino

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:15:51 +0000

It will be interesting to see how losing jason werth makes the numbers move. (I assume they will move because of that.. ie, strike outs will go up, would they not?) Was he not one of the top guys in the league in number of pitches per at bat? It will REALLY be interesting to see how Ryan Howard’s desire to return to the very top of home runs hit moves those numbers also. Will he strike out more? Is that something the Phillies will be happy to see, assuming his home run totals rise also?

Given that the major players had what we deem to be off years, it is also interesting to see the hits rise and strike outs fall.