Comments on: Writing the Book (8 Dec 08)

By: Geoff Young

Geoff Young — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:53:25 +0000

#4@Pat: Thanks, bud; the support is much appreciated. As for Alomar, it’s interesting to look at his and Biggio’s career from age 33 onward:

Alomar: 502 G, .285/.357/.421, 105 OPS+
Biggio: 1311, .269/.344/.432, 97

The only thing Alomar didn’t do that Biggio did was hang around too long at the end. Incidentally, a late-career slide didn’t seem to hurt Sandberg much. Here’s what he did from age 33 onward:

Sandberg: 459 G, .266/.325/.417, 94 OPS+

And Whitaker: 695 G, .277/.379/.464, 128 OPS+

I’m still not sure how voters elect Sandberg but completely dismiss Whitaker. I’d call Whitaker the Ted Simmons of second basemen, but I think that title probably belongs to Grich.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:43:11 +0000

Alomar should be a no-doubt Hall of Famer. I say SHOULD because that’s what I think, but I have no idea what the voters think.

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:55:07 +0000

Good to hear you made so much progress on the book, Geoff.

Boy, I hope Alomar isn’t left out of the Hall because of a couple of bad late career seasons and a horrendous public blunder. Yes, his last 2.5 seasons played were very poor, but he was a great offensive and defensive 2B. His top 5 seasons of OPS+ were all 129 or higher (he had a 6th at 134, but didn’t qualify for the batting title, which I used as a cutoff) — exceptional for a 2B.

There have only been 161 such seasons: OPS+ 129 or higher, 50% of games played at 2B, and qualified for the batting title. The only 2B who had more than Alomar’s 5 are:

Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Joe Morgan, Nap Lajoie, Charlie Gehringer, Ryne Sandberg, and Larry Doyle (who the heck is Larry Doyle? a question for another day, no doubt.).

The only ones with as many as Alomar’s 5 are:
Bobby Grich (who should be in!), Craig Biggio (who will be in), and Jeff Kent (another guy who may have a tough time getting in due to personality, but who should be in based on performance).

Granted OPS+ isn’t the be all, end all measurement of a player, but it gives one a pretty good idea of where Alomar ranks offensively amongst 2B. He also stole 474 bags at an 80% success rate. Only Collins and Morgan stole more. Robinson almost certainly would have eclipsed him in OPS+ seasons, but not necessarily in steals.

It will be interesting to see how he is treated. I think it would be a shame if he weren’t given his due. McGriff was a great one, no doubt. 1B is such a storied position though that it will be hard for him.

By: LynchMob

LynchMob — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:20:32 +0000

DePo+ at Vegas starting today for the Winter meetings …

http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-happens-in-vegas.html

By: Steve C

Steve C — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:10:33 +0000

Here is 6-15:

http://www.baseball-intellect.com/Articles/san-diego-padres-6-to-15.html

By: Steve C

Steve C — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:06:52 +0000

A bit OT but Baseball Intellect has posted their top 15 Padres prospects.

http://www.baseball-intellect.com/Articles/san-diego-padres-top-15.html