Checking The Killed-Bs Platoon At Third

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December 22, 2008

Checking The Killed-Bs Platoon At Third

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A certain someone wrote me an email, saying that I hadn't been really fair to either Blum or Boone, as I had given their total stats, not ther stats as they wold be if platooned.

Ok, a reasonable point.

Let's check out the prowess of the Blum-Boon-no platoon.

Let's say that Blum will ONLY hit against rightys and Boone ONLY against leftys. Now, these guys have been playing in the majors for over 10 years and have long since passed any peak they might could have, so I will concentrate on their numbers over the past 3 years, and also, please remember that in 06, Boone was in the AL.

Let's also assume that these guys will hit 6th or 7th (well, if they hit 5th, this team in massively SERIOUS trouble) with a lineup of Matsui, Bourn/Erstad, Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Pence, Blumboono, some suckulous catcher, pitcher.

I will assume, for fun, that no one else will get one AB at third, that the #6/7 hitter will get 3.5 PAs/game average (567 PA) and that 20% of pitchers faced will be leftys. Therefore, Blum will get 454 PA (oh dear LORD) and Boone 113 PA. I will also assume (because I am not swift enough to do Marcel projections which would show that given the fact that these guys are past their peak and a year older, that the numbers would actually most likely be a bit lower) that they will equal their past 3 year average:

Blum (06-08) 827 PA, 41 double, 3 triple, 23 HR, 54 BB, 124K: .254/.302/.405/.707

- 454 PA, 23 doubles, 2 triples, 12 HR, 26 BB, 64 K (yeah, I know. He's not had that many PAs since 03, when Jimy Williams preferred him to a much superior Mo Ensberg. I should most definitely mention that he GIDP 15 times that year.) And his past 3 years average almost exactly mirrors his lifetime stats vs RHB: .254/.313/.393/.706.

Boone (06-08) 245 AB: 13 double, 1 triple, 6 HR, 34 BB, 45 K: .265/.364/.400/.764 (historically, Boone has hit better vs rightys than leftys, but I guess his knee accident in 04 changed his stance/stroke, either that, or he got older...)

- 113 PA: 6 doubles, 3 HR, 18 BB, 23 K

We are talking an average of around .720 OPS from the 3rd base position, with a .403 SLG. Take a guess on the average OPS for the NL third basemen last year (hint - a LOT higher than .720.)

sigh

Well, I thought I'd take a look at their numbers vs NL Central teams over the past 3 years:

Team.....(PA).....Blum................(PA)...Boone

Cubs:----(59).200/.250/.327/.577------(18).357/.500/.571/1.071
Cards:---(72).294/.333/.458/.818------(24).182/.231/.318/.549
Reds:----(76).250/.286/.444/.730------(28).261/.393/.391/.784
Brewers:-(58).321/.373/.566/.939------(43).195/.233/.293/.526
Bucs:----(57).235/.310/.373/.683------(44).171/.227/.268/.495

Yeah, I know, small sample size.

Boone has spent the last 2 years in the NL East and Blum, 2 of the last 3 in the NL West, the other in the NL Central.

Still, these guys can't hit PIRATES pitchers?????!!!!

Then again, I don't know whether or not they were facing leftys or rightys for these ABs.

Just the same, I see nothing that would inspire confidence. But, you know, thre is nothing that would stop the Astros from signing some other hitters later in the year and DFA Boone in Spring Training. But I guess that would be wishful thinking, as Richard Justice is busy commending their grit and heart. Which are nice things to have, but I sure wish they also had bats and gloves to accompany them...

Tags: Houston Astros, MLB

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14 Comments on "Checking The Killed-Bs Platoon At Third"

Posted by Steve Schramm, December 23, 2008 8:34 AM

Oh no, not another gritty player. Oh yeah, he's white. Did we ever come up with a black or brown gritty player? What is up with all this grit? I prefer grit on my sandpaper. Baseball players should have at least an .800 OPS on the team, no matter how rough or smooth they are...

Posted by Austin, December 23, 2008 6:49 PM

Looking at a .403 slugging percentage from a power position. Hope all you people who were pissing and moaning about Mo Ensberg's walks and trying to run him out of town on a rail talking about how Roy Oswalt would be a better option at third are happy now. We got two old men who were never good and only hit when they get lucky platooning at third and no real prospects. Fan-freaking-tastic.

But, maybe we'll be okay if we abandon the lefty-righty thing and go with Blum against the Cards and Brewers, Boone against the Cubs and Reds (oooh, heated homecoming...take note Sports Center!) and...I don't know, somebody else at third against the Pirates. Hey! Wigginton did well moving from third to left field last year. How about, with this "abundance" of outfielders, we move Carlos Lee to third against the Pirates. I really think it could work.

PS - this is the only non-sarcastic thing I'll say in this post: Ed Wade, Cecil Cooper and Drayton McLayne SUCK. This is the fastest a championship team has fallen to tatters since the Chicago Bears.

Posted by Lisa Gray in reply to comment from Austin, December 24, 2008 2:10 AM

steve,

i would guess that juan pierre would qualify as "gritty" if he had a little less flava..

austin,

best i can tell, fans HATE players who walk unless they are leading off or they are shtty hitters and no one is on base

and yeh, we most definitely DO have the triumvirate of suckage

Posted by jimbo in reply to comment from Lisa Gray, December 26, 2008 6:52 PM

well mo ensberg would sure qualify as a shtty hitter alright.

Posted by jimbo in reply to comment from Austin, December 26, 2008 7:08 PM

austin, you can!t hardley blame wade or coop for the fall of this team, cause they just came in in 2008 and in fact took a 73 and 89 team and turned it around and improved it to a 86 and 75 team in one year. you blame purpua, garner, and mclane for the down fall.

Posted by Lisa Gray in reply to comment from jimbo, December 27, 2008 2:35 AM

coop is a lousy manager, but even TLR wouldn't have gotten this team the pennant

as for fast eddie, well, like purpura, he does what drayton/tal tell him to

trust me on this, i blame drayton pretty much exclusively for this team falling faster than a lead balloon

i blame fast eddie for signing villareal - he was in the NL east for years and he should have known better than to take ANY braves pitcher schuerholz didn't want.

i ALSO blame him for getting such a piss poor haul for brad lidge. and for talking brandon backe down so much at the GM meetings that he couldn't get even a nibble for a trade.

i do CREDIT him for the valverde trade, which definitely worked out.

i don't hold him responsible for the tejada trade, because that was drayton's doing

we'll just have to see how bad this year's team is. i'm not gonna let myself get too upset.

and lets ALL remember that before carlos lee went down, ty wigginton hit like michael bourn only worse with MOB...

Posted by jimbo in reply to comment from Lisa Gray, December 27, 2008 1:11 PM

coop is far from a lousy manager. this was his first year, yes he made mistakes as do all managers especially rookie managers, but under much adversity, and injuries i think he did a very commendable job for his first year at the helms.Now garner was a lousy manager.

wade was alright also. no gm is going to make 100% good deals, as you might think they should, but valverde, blum, erstad, wolf, hawkins, wright, byrdak, brocail, and even matsui were good acquisitions and these guys all contributed to the stros 86-75 season which was a big improvement over the 2007 season and if it wouldn!t have been for ike we might have just sneaked into the playoffs or have come much closer than we did.I can!t see how one can argue so much against some of the actual facts.

Posted by Bruce, December 27, 2008 11:38 PM

Jacque Jones was kind of gritty. Al Bumbry, as well.

Posted by Bruce, December 27, 2008 11:48 PM

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=511781&w=2006/open/tp/archive08/081506_chnhou_jones_hr_tp_350.wmv

This is what Jacque Jones did after Roger Clemens brushed his jersey across the letters...

I was there. Also the night Roger got plunked, and he responded by plunking poor Ryan Theriot (lucky enought to draw the straw to pinch hit for their pitcher) in the back.

#10

Posted by Lisa Gray in reply to comment from jimbo, December 30, 2008 3:15 AM

first, ed wade -

i think i have been MORE than fair about ed wade. especially knowing that he takes marching orders from drayton/tal smith. i never blame a man for obeying orders to keep his job. i know darn well who he was ordered to get rid of, who he was ordered to get. i KNOW that drayton wouldn't let him trade major leaguers for prospects. i don't blame him one bit for that.

he made a mistake getting a castoff braves pitcher and signing hom to a 2 YEAR contract. BIG mistake. he got lucky with hawkins. VERY lucky. same with wolf. we'll have to see what happens with that prospect he traded for hawkins. if he turns into a HOFer, well then, they misjudged the guy and THAT was bad.

unless bourn turns it around this year, he made a really lousy trade for lidge. he made a really lousy trade for tejada, but THAT is not his fault, as he got rid of 3 guys he as told to get rid of in just 1 trade.

i blame drayton/tal for getting rid of albers/patton/scott, because it was THEIR decision.

i complimented fast eddie on getting byrdak/wright. THOSE were good pickups. so was newhan.

i disagree that matsui was this good pickup - he was hurt/will be hurt at least 30-40% of the time, and if you don't have someone to replace him (and i don't mean matt kata, who will make burke look like babe ruth) it is a bad BAD idea.

i DO blame him for getting rid of newhan and replacing him with matt kata.

i DO wanna know why none of the minor leaguers are being given a chance, especially saccomanno

i DO wanna know why JR towles has been consigned to the rubbish heap in favor of quintero, who is worse than ausmus ever was.

- as for cooper,

sorry, i disagree that he was a good manager. the players OBVIOUSLY do not like him or support him - you remember the chacon incident? you remember ANY player saying ANYTHING in support of either cooper/fast eddie?

nope

saying he wasn't as bad as phil is what they call damning with faint praise. he was a poor handler of players and every bit of strategy he ever came up with is straight from the book. he has no imagination or inspiration

#11

Posted by jimbo in reply to comment from Lisa Gray, December 30, 2008 3:30 AM

I won!t waste anymore of my time arguing with you. so I will just say HOGWASH,lisa.

#12

Posted by Austin, January 3, 2009 8:16 AM

Jimbo -
I do blame Wade and Coop in part. Mostly McLane for the reasons Lisa already listed. But those two have a share of the blame as well, and I'm not only looking through the scope of what they did this season. I'm looking at the warning signs on the horizon. I'm looking at another GM and head coach who had the same tendencies as those who preceded them. I'm looking at a team that's getting older without getting better and getting WASHED OUT in most of its trades (Lisa's right - we got robbed BLIND on the Lidge trade; the Tejada trade wasn't much better). I'm looking at a team that's not great and appears to be getting worse.

And I could forgive Coop making rookie coaching mistakes if he was a kid, like maybe Joe Girardi. But he's a rookie manager who has been around the game WAY too long to be managing a team the same way Phil Garner did. No, Ed Wade and Cecil Cooper do not get all the blame, and I know there's still some residual stuff from Poopie and Garner. But I'm still not impressed by them.

Y'all keep talking about their final record and seem to ignore the way they SUCKED most of the season, clawed their way back into it (only with some help from some other late-season sucknatiousness....BREWERS) and totally imploded again. Regardless of final record, that is not an impressive outcome. I am NOT impressed by a team that plays well one or two months of the season, and I'm frankly stunned that the rest of you are.

#13

Posted by Jimbo in reply to comment from Austin, January 5, 2009 1:57 PM

86-75 sure and the hell beats 73-89 in my books anyday and Wade!s first draft, thou not spectacular was still a far cry better than the past several years and definitely a step in the right direction. and frankly am stunned that some of you can!t see some of the facts.

#14

Posted by Lisa Gray in reply to comment from Jimbo, January 8, 2009 5:42 AM

86-75 beats 73-89 in everybody's book

no question about THAT

but the question REALLY is - how much of that is due to ed wade and could it have been BETTER

as for the draft,

well, i would like to give ANY draft at least a few years before i make a decision, partly because so often, high picks suck and sometimes guys pick for filler do a lot better than they expect. except the 07 draft because that sucked the big fat hairy one by anyone's definition - and they've already released a bunch of the few who they DID sign, including the guy they picked in the 6th round.

but back on the draft, we'll have to see if not drafting smoak in the first round (because he cost more, lets be real here) was the best idea - and of course i know we don't NEED a 1B, but he'd be fantastic trade bait

i also remember that a WHOLE lot of moves are dictated by drayton mclane and if drayton tells ed - get these 7 guys off my team and go get this one, well then, i'm not gonna include those on fast eddie's resume

and if drayton told hunsicker then purpura - look, we are NOT paying over slot, then there are a WHOLE lot of players they can't get.

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