Comments on: Rays done with Pat the Bust?

By: Church of the Perpetually Outraged

Church of the Perpetually Outraged — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:28:18 +0000

Fielding % is a horrible measure of a defender's worth because all it is is errors/total chances. If you take player A, who never moves from his outfield position but catches everything hit at him, he has a 1.000 F%. Is that a good defender? http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=949&position=OF#fielding Burrell has been a below average defender his last two years playing the field ('07 and '06). he was average in '05 and slightly above average in '04, but considering his age it's most likely he's only going to get worse.

By: PatFan

PatFan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:00:09 +0000

PhilsFan: Nice summary. I think Pat would definitely help a team like the Cubs. All you have to do is watch their leftfielder misjudge fly balls, throw to the wrong guy and cost the team a win to know this. How many other teams have outfielders having brainfarts on a regular basis.
The Phillies knew his limitations and made a good decision not to sign him for big bucks. Pat ALWAYS hustled on the bases, just in slow motion. In Phily he played to the best of his ability.
I’m just not sure he’d do well with a hyped up manager like Pinella. Pat did not do well with Bowa cursing every time he struck out. He needs a low-key manager that doesn’t add stress to players.

By: PhilsFan

PhilsFan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:30:05 +0000

My main disagreement is with the “myth” that Mr. Pouliot has repeated, regarding outfield defense. While obviously not a speed demon out there, Mr. Burrell had a fielding percentage in the very respectable .990′s for most all of his career, and, most importantly, his outfield assists totals were consistently among the top 15 yearly in the National League! In other words, for years he caught most everything he got to, and threw out runners more consistently than most in the National League, and certainly led or was second on the Phillies in put outs for as long as I can remember. And throwing baserunners out, changes the outcome of games, as much as home run can do! In fact, for much of the 2008 World Series season, Mr. Burrell led ALL National League outfielders in assists, and finished in a tie for 3rd with 12 I believe (despite reduced innings being taken out for, you guessed it, defensive purposes). For those put outs alone, he has this die-hard Phils fan’s Thanks. So, if one’s “narrow” definition of outfield defense is Sportscenter catches at full speed over the wall, that is / was not Pat Burrell. However, if you consider a high fielding percentage, combined with an uncannilly accurate arm, in sometimes the toughest of circumstances, and the fact that I pesonally NEVER saw him miss a cut-off man (which can happen weekly with some flashy outfielders!), as positive attributes when considering overall defense, then Mr. Burrell contributed more to the Phillies over the years than deserves the “poor defense” myth repeated in this article.

By: Hank

Hank — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:10:51 +0000

Having watched Pat play in Philly for his career, he was always a terrible DH in interleague play. Coming into this season, he had a career .199 average against AL pitching. With an OPS of .706. Why on earth would the Rays, or any AL team, want him on their roster as a DH? The last few years he would have a high avg early in the season, disappear for the bulk of the summer, then re-appear in Sept.
The Rays should have known better, especially after he batted a stellar .071 against them in the World Series. Any wonder why their franchise struggles?

By: TheWizard

TheWizard — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:31:23 +0000

Is everyone such a stat nerd now that we can’t just post batting average alone?
Such literary clutter.