Re: Official Game Thread - 5/10 - Bucs vs Cubs
Posted: Sat May 11, 2024 1:44 am
Tellez being soundly booed before he even gets to the plate
Agree 100%. On another message board I said pretty much the same thing. My point was when you add another MLB team you just let 25 AAA guys become major leaguers. The argument I got was that the population keeps growing so there should be more available guys who are major league level. I do not agree with that.Doc wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 10:26 am I'm as guilty as anyone for taking some of my frustrations out on the players, but I shouldn't. They're just not very good major league players. What we're getting from them is about what they're capable of doing. Occasionally, someone will do something out of the ordinary, like get an extra base hit, or follow a player who gets a hit by getting one himself, but we shouldn't expect those things often.
This collection of players is a great example of why contraction of MLB should be considered.
This is why I value batting averages. They are strong indicators of the frequency with which players hits safely. Critics will pick the numbers apart but when you see a .300+ hitter, you can expect somewhat frequent hits. Even a 3-game span of 1 for 4, 1 for 4 and 2 for 5 is .308 (4 for 13). That doesn't seem like a great deal of hitting, so think about the .200 hitters. That's the occasional hit with a lot of 0-fers.Doc wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 10:26 am I'm as guilty as anyone for taking some of my frustrations out on the players, but I shouldn't. They're just not very good major league players. What we're getting from them is about what they're capable of doing. Occasionally, someone will do something out of the ordinary, like get an extra base hit, or follow a player who gets a hit by getting one himself, but we shouldn't expect those things often.
This collection of players is a great example of why contraction of MLB should be considered.
Great post, Bobster. I want to scream every time I hear someone say that Batting Average is a useless stat. I'll go to my grave thinking it's the best measurement of a hitter. I know that getting on base, without making an out, is the objective but, even when I was in Little League, I never believed my coaches when they said a walk was as good as a hit. A walk guarantees one base and very rarely directly results in a run. A hit can be multiple bases and can immediately result in multiple runs. Every single person who's ever picked up a bat would prefer getting a hit over earning a walk. The guy standing at the plate is called a "hitter" not a "walker".Bobster wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 12:23 pmThis is why I value batting averages. They are strong indicators of the frequency with which players hits safely. Critics will pick the numbers apart but when you see a .300+ hitter, you can expect somewhat frequent hits. Even a 3-game span of 1 for 4, 1 for 4 and 2 for 5 is .308 (4 for 13). That doesn't seem like a great deal of hitting, so think about the .200 hitters. That's the occasional hit with a lot of 0-fers.Doc wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 10:26 am I'm as guilty as anyone for taking some of my frustrations out on the players, but I shouldn't. They're just not very good major league players. What we're getting from them is about what they're capable of doing. Occasionally, someone will do something out of the ordinary, like get an extra base hit, or follow a player who gets a hit by getting one himself, but we shouldn't expect those things often.
This collection of players is a great example of why contraction of MLB should be considered.
So the Pirates have Tellez (currently .194). Added to the team after batting .219 and .215 the past 2 years.
Taylor (.222). Added to the team after batting .220 last year with a career BA of .238.
Grandal (.154). Added to the team after batting .234 last year, .202 the year before that and a career .236 hitter.
Oliveras (.222). Added to team after serving KC as utility OFer with career .257 BA.
Bart (.195). Career .217 hitter.
These players were added to a roster that had Suwinski (.171) who "hit" .202 and .224 in his previous 2 seasons, Davis (.162 prior to being optioned) who "hit" .213 last year and 37-year-old Cutch (.175) whose .256 last year was hit best since 2018 after hitting .222 and .237 in 2021 and 2022. Triolo gave them reason to be hopeful after hitting .298 last year. But he looks like a different player now at .210. Reynolds is always a threat because of past production. But he's currently a .240 hitter. That's the same BA that has kept Hayes on the bench since Tuesday.
Cruz has been hitting steadily. So has Joe, but he often sits (the twisted logic of Cherington and Shelton). So essentially, the Pirates send out a daily lineup of players for whom the likelihood of a hit is very small. And barring HRs, a combination of hits from such players in the same inning is required to score. In any given game, there is little reason to expect the Pirates to get enough hits to score enough runs to win. The last time they played a game in which they scored in more than two of the innings was April 14. They are 6-17 since then. New addition Gonzales provided the only run-scoring inning last night. They need a lot of new blood on this roster because most of the players currently on it have only proven that they lack the ability to contribute offensively. There is no reason to expect different results.