Outfield Blues

Sorry I've been more sporadic than usual in regards to this place. I'm taking classes this semester and working, so finding the time to even read a sports section let alone update this blog is difficult. In all fairness though, nothing really is going on.

Sure Nady re-upped and avoided arbitration. And yeah, Melky did the same -- but giving 2 guys a combined raise of $4 MM isn't really that big a deal in a Winter where you signed 3 guys for almost a half a billion dollars. Looking at those numbers, man, I shoulda tried harder in Little League. Every fat, quasi-athletic kid from the Dominican needs a Melky Cabrera poster on his wall. Anything's possible.

Switching gears a little, the Hardball Times, via RAB, has an interesting take on the 2008 outfielders. With a bunch of math and even more free time, John Walsh of THT has produced a number that is representative of the amount of runs that a player would save in a given season playing half the season in his home ballpark. Yeah, I don't get it either so check out Mr. Walsh's site for a better explanation.

Anyway, I've been searching for the right numbers to prove how piss poor Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon were in the outfield last year. I finally found them. Thank you, Hardball Times! Both Damon and Abreu cost the Yanks -9.7 runs below the league average.

This makes perfect sense. Abreu has no range in right, it's nonexistent, and he's afraid of the padded OF walls. He's also one of the slower guys to get the ball back in too once it's past him. He never stretches out and is happy to field the ball on a hop as opposed to actually try and make the out. Wonder why he's still looking for a job?

Damon is a lousy outfielder as well. See. Line drives and fly balls he easily caught with a B on his cap were incredibly elusive once he donned the interlocking NY. Plus simple choppers that bleed through Jeter's glove side are doubles in a Johnny Damon manned CF due to how deep he needs to play and his shocking lack of arm strength. Hopefully he gets the same deal as Giambi next year, DH in Oakland.


How do I know all this? I watch the games. I have no numbers to justify this. Until now. It's great!

Oh and Melky saved 3.0 runs above average and Nady put up a positive 4.4 between Pittsburgh and New York. I tried to find Swisher's numbers, but they're not listed. Whatever. I'm just glad that slowly but surely the truth about Damon's ability is slowly leaking out in his walk year.

Hey Harball Times, next year can you rank the shortstops?