Comments on: Alfonso Soriano as a Granderson replacement seems far-fetched

By: anxovies

anxovies — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:30:24 +0000

Mustelier is a good bet to replace Granderson for a while. He is a 28 year old Cuban defector who has hit for average and power wherever they have played him (.314 and 15HR at AA-AAA last year). Despite the fact that he looks like a fireplug, 5’10″ or 11″, 200+ lbs, he is pretty fast and a plus infielder/outfielder (he can play 2B, 3B and the outfield). I have been intrigued about how he has rocketed through the minors and it would be nice to see him get a chance.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:00:40 +0000

johnk653, church. . .:

Granderson was below average at making productive out last season. Granderson 27%, NYY 31%, AL avg 32%. For Granderson to be average, he would have had to have three more productive outs, or one every two months. Since PO% was negatively correlated with wins in the AL last season, and four of the five AL playoff teams had average or below PO%, I don’t see where that is a big deal.

Scoring runners from 3b with less than 2 out: Granderson 50%, NYY 48%, AL avg 52%. There only four AL teams below average at scoring runners from third with less than two outs. All four of them made the playoffs.

The Yankees score a lot of runs and win a lot of games not because they are particularly good at these things but because they lead the league in getting runners on base and have more opportunities.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2012-situational-batting.shtml

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:06:02 +0000

Define: straw man

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:55:30 +0000

Then could not figure a way to get Ortiz..lol

Are you talking about David Ortiz? When was he available to get? After he was released by Minnesota in ’02 and had put up a .266/.348/.461 (108OPS) line with 58 TOTAL HRs? yeah, the Yanks definitely should have gone after that.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:53:06 +0000

I can’t even count how many times he came up with men on base and couldn’t even get the ball in play to move runners along, let alone bring them in

2012 splits per bref [HUGE SAMPLE SIZE WARNING]

runners on 2nd and 3rd:
.308/.444/.692 for a 1.137 OPS, this is a 179 OPS+ vs league average (sOPS+)

bases full
.400/.417/.750 for a 1.167 OPS, or 219 sOPS+

times he hit worse than league average:
runner on first only, 73 sOPS+
runner on third only, 13 sOPS+ (17 PA)
runner on first/second, 75 sOPS+
runner on first/third, 42 sOPS+ (14 PA)
runner on first, 2 out, 83 sOPS+

Overall he was league average with men on (100sOPS+) and was 22% better than average with RISP.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:45:25 +0000

Granderson last year was one of the worst hitters in making productive outs that I can remember seeing,

[citation needed]

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:43:22 +0000

Oh well, I guess there is no convincing some people that Granderson is not the reincarnation of DiMaggio and Mantle combined.

By: jolink653

jolink653 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:49:18 +0000

I completely disagree with your assertion that a strikeout is very different than any other out…Granderson last year was one of the worst hitters in making productive outs that I can remember seeing…I can’t even count how many times he came up with men on base and couldn’t even get the ball in play to move runners along, let alone bring them in…A big part of winning championships is being able to move runners and at times play small ball and Granderson was completely useless when it came to that…Kevin Long has essentially turned him into Adam Dunn/Carlos Pena, an all-or-nothing type hitter, when Granderson used to be a doubles and triples machine with Detroit…I’m still upset they gave up Austin Jackson in that trade, a trade I was against from the start, and we can see how that’s turned out

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:27:16 +0000

Word, mazblast. Foo Fighters is a MUCH better band.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:20:34 +0000

I thought the name of that and every other Nirvana record was “Bleccccchhhhhh”.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:18:33 +0000

Yeah, the Yankees certainly fleeced the Pirates when they paid Pittsburgh to take A.J. Burnett last year.

By: bolweevils2

bolweevils2 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:47:15 +0000

That brings up an interesting question: Would it actually have been worse for the Yankees if it had been Jeter? The Yankees have a more viable replacement for Jeter in Nunez than they do for Granderson. And, based on WAR at least, Jeter was only slightly better than Granderson last year and Granderson’s 3 year WAR is 5 wins better.

That of course ignores the intangible “The Captain”, the gritty face and leader of the Yankees stuff, which depending on your point of view is either the most important factor or entirely irrelevant.

By: bolweevils2

bolweevils2 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:40:10 +0000

I believe there is some kind of requirement (sometimes openly flaunted though) that teams play a certain number of starting lineup guys in all spring games to keep the road games from being a joke with just minor leaguers playing. The starters have to play sometime to get ready anyway.

By: ctony1216

ctony1216 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:27:31 +0000

The Yanks have two outfielders who played at Double A last year who could fill in for Granderson for a month: Zoilo Almonte and Ronnier Mustelier. The nice thing about bringing up one of these guys now would be that he would get to play every day, and even if he struggled, it would be a good experience and could speed up his development at the big league level.

The tough part about bringing up prospects as bench players is they don’t get enough at bats to get into a groove at the plate. So, this would be a nice opportunity to bring up one of these guys.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:24:53 +0000

I would guess the Cubs would take a chance on low minors prospects. Soriano is pretty much useless to the Cubs right now. He’s still a good player, but the Cubs are — at best — a couple years away from the playoffs. Why would they want to spend any money at all on a someone who doesn’t help them in 2015?

By: genericcommenter

genericcommenter — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:07:10 +0000

I hope you weren’t one of those guys who posted ridiculous stuff a couple months ago about how they had to re-sign Ichiro and other guys who “get on base” and drop Granderson and let Swisher walk… even though those guys get on base MORE than guys like Ichiro

I will take lines like these:
.232/.319/.492 w/ 195 SO
.272 /.364/.473 w/ 141 SO

Over these every day:
.272/.310 /.335 w/ 69 SO
.283/.307/.390 w/ 61 SO

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:51:47 +0000

Yes! They should take him. Hell, I’d be willing to throw Don Kelly in too. He’s got experience in the bigs.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:29:04 +0000

Careful there, PC. One does not want to provoke the Sith.

By: southofheaven81

southofheaven81 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:24:43 +0000

Well, as the article said, they HAD Dickerson, but why not bring in the ghost of someone who was great in 1989 instead?!

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:05:03 +0000

It looks as if Lawrie was actually hit by a Yankee pitcher after Granderson was hit. If the Yankees want to play this game, Cano is now the only healthy Yankee worth hitting.

By: polonelmeagrejr

polonelmeagrejr — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:42:26 +0000

That;s how players get nicknames. Maybe alll his teamates will start referrring to him as “Bleach” – incidentallly, the name of a Nirvana Record.

By: jfk69

jfk69 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:59:10 +0000

The old way would have had George making a bone head deal before the X Rays were dry. Remember his three headed first base move, Then could not figure a way to get Ortiz..lol
Me/Cashman
I am doing nothing and will listen to all callers while watching my players in spring training fight for a job. Then I ‘ll will have 4 or 5 weeks to see who has won the backup spot. If some other team is desperate enough and the deal is good . Then I WILL ACT.

By: joewilliesshnoz

joewilliesshnoz — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:18:02 +0000

Looks like they’ll be calling their AAA team, the Pgh. Pirates, for either Tabata or Presley.

By: xjokerz

xjokerz — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:19:47 +0000

Boesch has alot of right field power … Would fit good at Yankee park

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:36:41 +0000

No kidding. My first thought, jokingly, was that the Jays are REALLY going after the AL East this year. Stocking up on talent isn’t enough. They’re going right after their competition. Pedroia better wear some body armour when he faces them.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:33:42 +0000

…..and prepare for real competition how?

By: dickclydesdale

dickclydesdale — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:46:40 +0000

That could very well have been Jeter getting drilled. Time for starters to skip spring training and only participate in intrasquad games.

By: dickclydesdale

dickclydesdale — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:44:48 +0000

Girardi is a donkey for playing starters in these meaningless spring games.
Fonzy Soriano is the only legit option the Yankees have.

By: rgledz

rgledz — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:44:03 +0000

Wow, nice work Hardball talk guys…..6 hours since the last post. It’s not like spring training just started or anything…….right??

By: gammagammahey

gammagammahey — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:45:53 +0000

Pujols is a once-in-a-generation player. Using outliers like him to justify personnel moves is a bad idea.