From the archives of Dr. Nerd–a young Roger Nelson combining two of our favorite things: nerds and distorted faces.
Archive for January, 2009
Roger Nelson Bonus!!!
Saturday, January 31st, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityThese Are Your Hall of Fame Voters…
Friday, January 30th, 2009 by Nerdicus FinchI was watching “Yankees Hot Stove” on the YES Network today (I think it was a repeat from sometime this week) and the topic of the suprising continuing free agency of certain players came up. One of the panelists, George King, the Yankee beat writer from the New York Post a Yankee beat writer from one of the New York papers (I forget his name, but it wasn’t Jack Curry of the New York Times, who was also on the panel) spoke about Bobby Abreu. He expressed how shocked he was that a player of Abreu’s caliber could not get a job and finished his comments by saying (I am paraphrasing): “I’d rather have Abreu than Manny Ramirez.”
This statement was not qualified by any mention of the relative costs of the two players, so I am pretty sure that he meant, if he could choose either player, regardless of cost, that he would rather have Abreu on his team than Manny Ramirez. Both are horrible defenders, so the comparison should be based purely on the offensive value of the two players. And, as I Love Nerd York City noted in a recent post, Ramirez absolutely destroyed the ball in 2008, which was apparently also the season in which he gave up on his teammates and cemented his “bad teammate” reputation. Specifically, Ramirez posted a 1.031 OPS in 2008, as compared to Abreu’s respectable, but unspectacular, .842.
This is just another example of Ramirez’s “bad teammate” label making the mainstream sports media forget that they are talking about one of the greatest hitters of all time. And these are the people who vote for the Hall of Fame and MVP awards. No wonder they so often get it wrong (Jim Rice, Tim Raines, and the frightening number of votes for Jack Morris, to name a few).
Roger Nelson
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York City
(23 votes, average: 4.52 out of 5)
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Really?
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityFrom Bill Price (The Bitter Bill) of the NY Daily News:
I can see it now. It’s Sunday, Sept. 6 and the Mets are clinging to a 3-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East. They are trying to avoid a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Cubs at new Shea.
The Mets send Oliver Perez to the hill, looking to stem the tide, while the Cubs counter with their 18-game winner and leader in the NL Cy Young award race. This new Cubs ace shuts the Mets out over 8 innings, sending them to their third straight loss and on their way to another September collapse.
Ah, I guess it’s never too early to start worrying about which Cubs Cy Young candidate is going to kill the Mets this September. Ok Bill, who should I be having nightmares about…Zambrano? No? Ok, Harden? Still no dice? Maybe lightning strikes twice…Dempster? Oh, I see you said “new Cubs ace!” I guess your’re going for the angle that the Peavy talks will be rekindled. No? Then who?
The pitcher’s name: Aaron Heilman.
It, of course, is a Mets’ fans worst nightmare, and honestly, wouldn’t surprise me if it became a reality.
Oh.
Really? You mean the same Aaron Heilman who has a career record of 5-13 in 25 career starts? With a 5.93 ERA?
Who knows, maybe Heilman will work out as a solid #3 or #4 guy with a change of scenery and a shot at the rotation (something he’s always wanted), but if I’m going to start worrying about the Cubs pitching, Heilman is way down on my list.
Full disclosure: Would I rather have rolled the dice with Heilman as the Mets #5 than Tim Redding? Yeah.
Dunn-derheaded General Managers
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 by Nerdicus FinchThe continuing free agency of Adam Dunn is perplexing. ESPN.com’s Buster Olney is reporting that Dunn may have to settle for a one-year deal for 2009. Let’s take a step back: a 28-year-old left fielder with no injury risk, who hit exactly 40 home runs in each of the last four seasons, and owns a career OPS of 899, may have to settle for a one-year deal. Tough economic times notwithstanding, this is crazy.
To help illustrate just how crazy this is, here are the details on some recent contracts signed by other corner outfielders who have similar offensive (lots) and defensive (not much) value as Dunn. It is important to note that these contracts were all signed prior to the current economic crisis, but even that does not explain the chopped-liver treatment that Dunn is getting this off-season.
In 2005, J. D. Drew, a right fielder, signed a 5 year/$55M deal with the Dodgers at age 29. After the 2006 season, Drew opted out of that deal and signed a 5 year/$70M deal with the Red Sox. Drew’s career OPS? 893. Granted, Drew is a defensive upgrade over Dunn, but he’s also an incredible injury risk (he missed 53 games in 2008), while Dunn routinely plays over 150 games each year (from 2004-2006, he played at least 160).
In 2005, Magglio Ordonez, another oft-injured, but great hitting, right fielder, signed a 5 year/$75M deal with the Tigers at age 31. Ordonez’s career OPS? 890.
In 2003, Bobby Abreu, a right fielder, signed a 5 year/$64M deal with the Phillies at age 29. Recent reporting on ESPN.com has indicated that Abreu is one of the worst defensive outfielders in the game. His career OPS? 902.
If we want to look to the future, Jason Bay, a left fielder, will be a free agent after the 2009 season, when he will be 31. Bay’s career OPS? 891. Any chance Bay will have to settle for a one-year contract next year?
What all of these comparisons tell us is that Dunn is not getting a fair shake this off-season and is incredibly undervalued by GMs throughout MLB. Most likely, the state of rational thinking in MLB is more to blame than the state of the economy. Here’s the proof: just last month, Raul Ibanez signed a 3 year/$31.5M deal with the Phillies. Yes, that Raul Ibanez. The 36-year-old left fielder with the 818 career OPS. The amazing thing about this deal is that the Phillies actually took a look at the free agent field and chose to fill their left field hole with Ibanez rather than Dunn. In looking ahead to defending their World Series championship, the Phillies consciously opted for the worse player.
Why the lack of love for Dunn? I don’t know. It could be J.P. Ricciardi’s nonsense comments about Dunn a couple of years ago or just the unwillingness of MLB GMs to understand that a one-dimensional player is supremely valuable if his one dimension consists of hitting home runs and getting on base. Either way, Dunn is getting screwed.
If I were a GM, I’d love to have 9 Adam Dunns in my lineup (in the AL, I don’t want Dunn pitching). Clogged bases lead to a hell of a lot of runs.
Why not Manny?
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityAs a Mets fan living in Boston, I got to watch Manny play hundreds of times over the past 7 years, including all of last July, when popular opinion now says that he was tanking it and dogging his way out of Boston, actively sabotaging the Red Sox season. To clarify: sitting out two games in a contract protest…inexcusable. Going crazy and pushing an old man down because he couldn’t get you enough tickets…nuts. OPS’ing 1.060 while batting .347 in July…NOT tanking it. So let’s move on…
With that in mind, can someone explain to me why the Mets seem to have no interest in signing this guy?
Mets 2008 payroll: 138.6 million
Mets current 2009 payroll: approx. 123 million
So the Mets have about 15 mill to spend before they reach last year’s payroll, and about 40 mill before they reach the luxury tax threshold. I figure they’ll spend 10 mill on their next starter (Perez or Sheets).
Looking further down the line, the Mets have about 40 million coming off the books after the 2009 season (Delgado 12, Wagner 10.5, Schneider 5, Castro 2.5, Redding 2.5, Cora 2, Tatis 2, Anderson 1, Schoenweis 1.5). Unfortunately, compared to this year, next year’s FA class seems to have a big drop-off in high end talent.
So unless the Madoff swindling is actually affecting the Mets payroll, why not sign Manny for 2 or 3 years? It would bump them way up over last years payroll, but still not over the luxury tax threshold…in a year when theyre opening a new stadium. I understand the need for payroll flexibility, but even if they had Manny for 3 years, he’d still come off their books after the 2011 season, when they’re currently set to lose control of Reyes and Beltran. David Wright is under their control through 2013. I realize his defense will cost them some runs in LF, but still…
Why not get Manny?! Or at least Adam Dunn…
(23 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
