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Looks like the Marlins' fortunes are turning around:

 

FLA 935: William Mays, Center Fielder, Sinclair CC

 

That's awesome. I wonder at what point they made him a centerfielder. Do you think he had to work at that or did they just put him out there right off the bat?

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BA is terrible offensively, though defensively he has been doing quite well.

 

I just like that picture, because Mabry looks like he is doggy paddling in a bitch fight.

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Brian Anderson

 

Avg HR RBI Runs SB

 

.163 5 15 18 2

This is why he's sponsoring the thread. He needs something else to do since he's not spending any time on base. The best part is, he's not even having the worst offensive season on the team. Uribe is. :o

 

Anyway, I think Anderson will get it together and the White Sox will be/are fine. One and done indeed.

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I am pleased with the Mets.

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What the hell happened in that Sox game last night?! I saw clips on the news this morning, but didn't catch the whole thing. Padilla hit Pierzynski w/ pitches his first two at-bats (which was enough to make me smile) and Ozzie sends Tracey down to triple-A for not being able to bean Blalock?!

 

23913701.jpg

 

I fucking love it. :yay

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What the hell happened in that Sox game last night?! I saw clips on the news this morning, but didn't catch the whole thing. Padilla hit Pierzynski w/ pitches his first two at-bats (which was enough to make me smile) and Ozzie sends Tracey down to triple-A for not being able to bean Blalock?!

 

23913701.jpg

 

I fucking love it. :yay

That's pretty much it. Padilla hit him with consecutive pitches (first pitch of each at bat) and Ozzie waited for a reliever to retaliate, so he didn't have to use the bullpen for the whole game.

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That's pretty much it. Padilla hit him with consecutive pitches (first pitch of each at bat) and Ozzie waited for a reliever to retaliate, so he didn't have to use the bullpen for the whole game.

 

I don't know much about Tracey, but please tell me he was doing a crappy job outside of not being able to hit a guy last night.

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He was only in for one batter. He got a groundout. That wasn't what he was supposed to do.

 

In general, no, he's no great shakes and the White Sox just traded for a veteran reliever and sent him down.

 

Now, it happens to be a veteran reliever with nagging back problems. Ugh.

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Last week, responding to the struggles of rookie centerfielder Brian Anderson, who is hitting .163/.263/.296 in 157 plate appearances, the ever-unpredictable Ozzie Guillen announced the team was going to stay the course in center. Bolstering Guillen's support was his belief that no one else in the organization "can play center field [well enough] to win a championship."

 

Usually, such proclamations are based upon a misguided understanding of the dynamics of winning baseball, in that run production is inherently far more valuable than defense, and also easier to accurately evaluate. Last year's White Sox team, however, revealed just how powerful elite defense can be, and thus Guillen's words can't be simply laughed off. Anderson has indeed been horrific at the plate, with a negative 8.8 VORP. Through his first 54 games in center, though, he has saved 10 runs more than the average center fielder by RAA, and 15 more than a replacement glove. Anderson is producing on defense at a RATE of 124, meaning that if he keeps up his current play he'll have saved an astounding 24 runs above the average centerfielder (think the once-spectacular Andruw Jones since 2004) over 100 games. Since 1900, no centerfielder has kept up a 124 RATE for a full season--not Willie Mays, Tris Speaker, Curt Flood, or Jim Edmonds:

 

Ten Best Defensive Seasons by a Center fielder, by RATE (minimum 100 games)

 

 

Player Team Year Games RAA RATE

----------------------------------------------

Curt Welch STL-A 1887 123 34 128

Eric Davis CIN-N 1987 124 26 122

Darin Erstad ANA-A 2002 143 29 121

Eddie Milner CIN-N 1984 108 18 121

Kirby Puckett MIN-A 1984 128 26 121

Thurman Tucker CHI-A 1944 120 25 121

Johnny Mostil CHI-A 1923 135 26 120

Torii Hunter MIN-A 2001 147 28 119

Otis Nixon ATL-N 1992 102 17 119

Paul Blair BAL-A 1973 144 22 118

 

Thanks to Clay Davenport for the defensive figures.

 

Anderson's work in centerfield has been worth a full win to the White Sox over an average defender (10 runs=roughly 1 win), thanks to catches like the running grab he made last Friday, so that he's managed to compile 1.1 WARP despite the fact he's been worse than a AAA lifer at bat. Sox fans might be shocked to note Anderson has been basically as good as Aaron Rowand (1.2 WARP)--notwithstanding his legendary grab of Xavier Nady's deep fly that earned him a facial fracture and the undying devotion of blue-collar Philadelphia, Rowand has not had nearly the kind of year in center Anderson is enjoying. The comparison accentuates just how much GM Kenny Williams improved his team by dealing Rowand for Jim Thome, whose 29 VORP has already doubled the total offensive output of Chicago's designated hitters last year and helped the club upgrade 2005's middling attack to the one that ranks fifth in runs scored this year.

 

Before gorging at the feast that is BP's unique offering of defensive statistics, one must remember that Anderson has played less than half a season in center at the major league level, a huge sample size concern. The fact that the observational data coming from Guillen and others (you can also see Anderson's prowess for yourself) agrees so strongly with the statistics is a good indication that Anderson is indeed an elite defensive player, but history and statistical regression tell us he won't continue to win games with his glove at this rate. Defensive performance is notoriously fickle, a fact emphasized by the lack of repeat performers in the above chart, and Anderson's minor league defensive translations were less than outstanding, leading PECOTA to project that he'd be around average with the glove. Then again, Anderson also won't continue to masquerade as former North Side center fielder Timo Perez at the plate, either. Given his strong offense in the minors--he put up a solid .265 EqA last year in Triple-A and garnered a PECOTA weighted mean projection of .269/.329/.468--you'd probably be better off betting on his RATE to continue than his offensive ineptitude, although the extent of his struggles indicate that Anderson's personal development would likely be best advanced with a trip back to Charlotte for a period to get reacquainted with his swing. Strictly in terms of wins and losses, however, without regard to the long term, replacing Anderson in center with Scott Podsednik (owner of a career RATE of 98 in center) or a platoon of the lefty Rob Mackowiak (90 career RATE in center) and righty Pablo Ozuna (6 career games in center), the two in-house options, would be a net loss.

 

Ozzie Guillen, then, can justifiably call Brian Anderson a championship-caliber defender, and if Anderson starts hitting like he's capable, it could become awfully tough for AL challengers to block Guillen from backing up his statements with a second ring.

 

--Caleb Peiffer

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white sox on the fast track to becoming the most hated team in baseball. as a yankee fan I appreciate the effort.

 

"I tell you one thing, if Padilla hit me twice, right now I'd be in the hospital or I'd be dead. But I will fight. I will fight," Guillen said.

 

 

"Everybody's got a different way to go about their business," Guillen said. "But hit me and we'll fight. I might get my butt kicked but we'll fight. I grew up fighting. I played the game the way it should be played. I manage the way you have to manage in this game."

 

 

brilliant stuff.

 

Arizona left fielder Luis Gonzalez reacted angrily Thursday after the Diamondbacks' top executive told a newspaper there have been "whispers" about whether the five-time All-Star used performance-enhancing drugs.

 

"Just to have your name thrown in it -- I've had phone calls from 7:30 this morning till right now' date='" Gonzalez said. "I don't want to be in this situation. I don't think any of my teammates do.[/quote']

 

too bad. get on the players association to agree to real drug tests. then you can lift the public impression that baseball is only interested in the impression that they want to get rid of drugs. if you're not doing drugs it's easy to agree to a policy that will actually help weed out cheaters. they should suspend everyone of these guys that whine about this stuff right now.

Edited by gershon
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white sox on the fast track to becoming the most hated team in baseball. as a yankee fan I appreciate the effort.

 

For me, they're only behind the Yankees and Orioles (who are basically tied).

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funny, but what I've seen they draw more or as much as anyone, and they unmerchandise everyone by far. if it were my business and that's what you consider hated I'd take it.

That's one of the reasons they're most hated.

 

Only one of them, though.

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