Comments on: Curtis Granderson starts taking fly balls in left field

By: djpostl

djpostl — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:36:25 +0000

Still don’t understand how it’s a “weak argument”. You hit the nail on the head with the reads part, that is Granderson’s kryptonite. he gets horrid reads, especially if anything is right at him.

Maybe a shift to LF solves this somewhat and his recovery speed helps minimize it even more, but there is nothing weak about saying there are zero guarantees this move will work out.

Especially since anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention to baseball the last five or more years knows they toyed around with the idea of him in left before with the Yankees (and I am somewhat certain in Detroit too) and he was struggling so bad they scrapped the entire thing in short order.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 02:25:26 +0000

Fangraphs’ ARM rating does attempt to measure how well an outfielder limits extra bases. Since joining the Yankees, Granderson is third among all qualified CF, but it doesn’t come close to making up for how much he gives back with his poor range.

By: anxovies

anxovies — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:07:15 +0000

Not sure about fielding metrics but do they take into account runners who did not advance because his shallow play cut off ground balls up the middle? That and catching bloop hits is the real point of playing shallow and should be considered in any evaluation.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:14:10 +0000

He plays a lot shallower (more shallow?) than someone at his age should. I’m not sure if it’s his choice or the Yankee coaches, but there are a ton of balls hit over his head that he would catch if he played deeper. He also makes more false steps than most I’ve seen, which doesn’t help in the just-out-of-reach plays.

By: jayscarpa

jayscarpa — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:50:53 +0000

I’ve watched a lot of games. I used to think (2011) that maybe his metrics were lower because Gardner was in left and reached just about anything hit in the gaps. Last year he had Ibanez/Jones in left and his metrics still sucked. He often breaks late/breaks the wrong way. He plays very shallow with the belief he has the speed to catch up to a ball and he just doesn’t.

As a NYY fan I love the idea. Gardner is superior and even if Granderson has some trouble adapting to LF he has to be better than the senior citizens of 2012. WIth Ichiro in right field the OF will save them some runs and they will need them.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:37:27 +0000

I took djpostl’s comment to mean that there was no guarantee he wouldn’t go from being a ~-15 CF to a ~-15 LF, but if we’re talking defense+positional value, I still think it’s likely that the move allows him to hold steady, if not improve his defensive value.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:31:46 +0000

I remember reading a comment from someone familiar with advanced defensive metrics saying the reason Granderson grades out so poorly with advanced metrics because he is horrible at going back on balls hit over his head…but that he does well in other regards….so his mistakes often turn outs into 2B or 3B but are difficult for casual observers to realize that they should have been caught.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:28:38 +0000

yes, but a “league-average defensive left fielder” is not a good defender….because most LFers are horrible and play there because they can’t play anywhere else.

By: Darkoestrada

Darkoestrada — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:41:31 +0000

But Curtis Granderson is a professional center fielder

By: hammyofdoom

hammyofdoom — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:35:07 +0000

I really need to look up the stats, but from my eye Granderson isn’t exactly a great center-fielder (and being a Sox fan I’ve seen him play tons). He reminds me of Ellsbury when he first came up, tons of speed but his actual routes to balls are terrible. I’ve seen so many times where Granderson took a few steps in the wrong direction, but his speed and the ability to make diving catches allowed him to make up the difference. He’s one of those guys who you see make TONS of spectacular diving catches…because he didn’t break the right way in the first place. That’s just what i’ve seen, but I’ll look at the stats when I can

By: kaladin69

kaladin69 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:33:41 +0000

should have done this a couple of years ago. Gardy is the better CF.

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:32:20 +0000

This is good news. Having him work on NOT striking out over 150 times would better, but its a start.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:21:18 +0000

That’s a pretty weak statement. Sure, there’s no guarantee of anything, but there’s tons of evidence that centerfielders who are fast but don’t perform well due to poor reads and route-running (as is the case with Granderson) do significantly better in left field where there’s less ground to cover and their speed can more easily cover their mistakes. There’s no reason to expect Granderson can’t be a league-average defensive left fielder.

By: uspoika

uspoika — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:14:40 +0000

thats a ridiculous statement and obviously havent watched a yankees game in three years

By: djpostl

djpostl — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:57:30 +0000

Good. He’s God awful in CF (though there is no guarantee he won’t be worse in LF)