Feb
07

The Yanks and poor defense

By

The Yankees’ defense over the past few years, perhaps over the bulk of the decade, hasn’t been very good. Whether they trot out a crew of all-bat, no-D players, or whether they give playing time to guys whose D has drastically declined, the Yanks have been below-average preventing batted balls from turning into hits. Eric Seidman at FanGraphs takes a look at the phenomenon using UZR. I know that some have a problem with defensive stats, but what our eyes, or at least my eyes, saw in 2005 is consistent with the numbers. The Yanks D was terrible. Thankfully, it appears that the team will field potentially average or above average players at every position (except Jeter, of course) this year.

Categories : Asides

88 Comments»

  1. A.D. says:

    Jeter was just below avg, and hopefully Cano goes back to ’07 D

    Definitely looking forward to better D this year

  2. Based on what someone said in the Fangraphs comments, it looks like defense could actually save us some runs this year.

  3. jsbrendog says:

    arod will have a knoblauchian year at this rate

  4. i smell 27 (65hughes) says:

    arod has to go

    • Matt says:

      You’re joking, right?

      • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

        unfourtanetly im not im starting to think that while this guy is on the team it doesnt matter how many good players the yanks have they will never the championship while his there

        • Jack says:

          How does that even make sense?

        • Kevin G. says:

          That’s wrong. 1 player does not make up a whole team.

        • Matt says:

          You are an idiot.

          The reason the Yankees haven’t won a championship has much more to do with shitty pitching than Alex Rodriguez.

          I’m gonna do a little experiment here, just for shits and giggles. I’m gonna use BP’s WARP1 for this, since it adjusts just for a season.

          2004: 8.9, let’s round up and take 9 wins from the Yankees in 2004, they’d miss the playoffs.
          2005: 10.7, let’s take 11 wins off the Yankees in 05: They’d miss the playoffs!
          2006: 6.8, so let’s take 7 wins: they’d win a weak AL East.
          2007: 11.9, take 12 wins off. They miss the playoffs. By a lot.
          2008: 8.9: they are below .500.

          You see the pattern, right?

          • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

            im not saying his not a good player he is good but his a virus in the clubhouse when youre a group players you can take so much

            • Matt says:

              How is he a virus in the clubhouse? Does he fight with guys? Does he bring scores of whores all around? Does he do narcotics? Does he? No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t create a circus, the media does. If he and Jeter don’t get along like they used to, who gives a shit? Didn’t Munson and Jackson have a much worse relationship than Rodriguez and Jeter? My god.

              So would you rather the Yankees never have traded for him? Do you think they’d've been better w/Boone at third? If you honestly say yes, you’re the definition of biased and, frankly, moronic.

              • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                the yanks should of never resigned him this guy can never stay out of trouble but if you rather see a somebody ridicilous numbers instead of watching your team win the championship then thats your choice

                • Kevin G. says:

                  How does A-Rod exactly prevent the team from winning the WS?

                • Mike Pop says:

                  Lol, what trouble man? The most trouble this guy gets into is dating an older lady or having a bad season where it would be a All star season for pretty much every other player in the league.

                • Matt says:

                  HAVING. ALEX. RODRIGUEZ. BRINGS. THE. YANKEES. CLOSER. TO. A. CHAMPIONSHIP. Without him for the last five years, they make the playoffs ONCE.

                  If they didn’t re-sign him, who would’ve played third? Some replacement scrub? You think the offense was bad in the time A-Rod missed, just imagine what it would’ve been like for an entire season.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  so if they would of let him go last year then the yanks would of spend all season long crying of how they missed him c’mon thats pathetic

                • Matt says:

                  Yes, because they would’ve been a below .500 team w/o him. Would you have preferred Wilson Betemit be the everyday 3B over A-Rod because he’s “drama-free” or whatever? If you say yes, you shouldn’t be allowed to look at a baseball, let alone watch professionals play the game.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  dont you think the yanks would of done something to get a player better than betemit

                • Matt says:

                  Thankfully, they didn’t have to.

                  And even if they did, I’m not sure trading the farm for Miguel Cabrera would’ve been a good call. Actually, I know it wouldn’t have been, considering he had to move to first by the end of the season. If you don’t see that A-Rod makes the Yankees better, you have no business rooting for the team.

                • Kevin G. says:

                  So you would rather trade the farm(maybe even Hughes) to get a player worse than A-Rod than just resigning A-Rod and keeping the farm.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  trading for cabrera wasnt a solution your right but having a good solid player would of been good

                • Mike Pop says:

                  Just stop the argument, lol.

                • Matt says:

                  Like who? Cabrera was the only player available who is even close to A-Rod caliber; so, who would you have traded for?

                • Mike Pop says:

                  trading for cabrera wasnt a solution your right but having a good solid player would of been good

                  We did have better than a “good solid player” in A-Rod and he only cost the team money. Not Hughes, IPK, Melky, Ajax, etc.

                • Kevin G. says:

                  But having A-Rod would be better.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  somebody like garret atkins or dan uggla

                • Mike Pop says:

                  Exactly.

                • Mike Pop says:

                  “somebody like garret atkins or dan uggla”

                  Which would of cost Hughes. No thanks, plus Atkins splits….not too pretty.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  c’mon a doubt atkins would cost hughes no way

                • Matt says:

                  Lol. Seriously? You would’ve rather had Garret Atkins at third than A-Rod? Really?

                  Not only are his home/away splits AWFUL, he has gotten progressively worse from 06 to 07 to 08. He’s also got a career UZR/150 of -8.2. You’re a silly guy.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  this is probably crazy but why not offer minaya a rod his wants his team to be all latin so a rod for wright and the yanks pay half of his salary

                • Matt says:

                  It would take more than A-Rod and salary payment to get David Wright from the Mets, I think.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  well you can call me silly cause i dont follow none of “UZR/150″ shit

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  add the melk man then

                • Tom Zig says:

                  I’m not saying this to personally attack you, but please can you type your posts in Microsoft Word before you post them? Or at least read them out loud to yourself?

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  explain

                • Matt says:

                  “well you can call me silly cause i dont follow none of “UZR/150? shit”

                  Okay, then I’ll make it more basic. That means he’s 8.2 runs below average at 3rd base. A-Rod has a career UZR 150 of 0.9 at third. Is that glowing? No, it’s basically average. But it’s much better than being 8.2 runs below average. To make it more basic:

                  Here are Atkins Holy Trinity numbers the last three years:
                  .329/.409/.556, 29 HR, 120 RBI, 157 G
                  .301/.367/.486, 25 HR, 111 RBI 157 G
                  .286/.328/.452, 21 HR, 99 RBI, 155 G

                  Notice anything?

                  Worth noting, as well, is the drastic difference in his H/A splits:

                  .337/.394/.527/.921 home
                  .260/.328/.424/.752 away

                  I wonder if Garret Atkins is a Coors Creation…

                  “add the melk man then”

                  And Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes or Austin Jackson…

                  Or, keep all that good young talent AND one of the best players in baseball history. Hmm, the latter seems like a no brainer to me.

                • Tom Zig says:

                  Some of your ideas are a bit far fetched, but every one is entitled to their own opinion. But my grief is that your posts will come out a lot better if you just do a little spell check here or there. I know its the internet, but some common courtesies still exist.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  ah i see but im saying add melky to the proposed david wright deal and im sorry after this i dont consider a rod the best player in baseball

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  yeah youre right i do have some spelling problems

                • Matt says:

                  No, he isn’t Albert Pujols.

                  And adding Melky Cabrera to that deal would not help that deal at all.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  what do you think the yanks would have to add so they would acquire wright

                • Matt says:

                  Make pigs fly out of Omar Minaya’s dick hole. It’s not gonna happen. You should be happy to be “stuck” with A-Rod.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  its good and bad in the same way

                • Matt says:

                  How is it bad? I’d really like to know. If you say “the media circus,” I’m going to lose my goddamn mind. While I agree that this is something to make a big deal of, his personal problems and issues should not be fodder for the media. That stuff being back page news is not his fault. Mickey Mantle had a ton of personal issues, hell, probably a lot more than A-Rod what with the constant womanizing and alcoholism, but you wouldn’t hesitate to take him on your team, would you? No you wouldn’t. This “clubhouse cancer” bullshit is a complete and total fabrication of the media.

                • Kevin G. says:

                  How is having one of the beat players on your team “bad”?

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  we have to wait and see

                • Matt says:

                  Wait and see for what?

                • Kevin G. says:

                  “Mickey Manyle had a ton of personal issues.”
                  Ty Cobb stabbed a guy.
                  (h/t TSJC)

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  how the season starts

                • Matt says:

                  “how the season starts”

                  I still don’t see how that justifies your thinking that having A-Rod is a bad thing.

                • A-rod has to go (65hughes) says:

                  hahaha you guys know your info

      • Kevin G. says:

        Unfortunatley, I think he’s serious.

    • Kevin G. says:

      Even if the Yankees did want to trade A-Rod, who exactly would take his contract?

  5. Bryan V says:

    It’s not the first time I’ve heard this. But, of course, that doesn’t mean it makes more sense since multiple people have said it.

    How is having a 3-time MVP (with 6 more Top 10 MVP voting finishes) and 11-time All Star a bad thing for a team?

    • a realist says:

      That depends on a lot of things. I mean how does having 3 time MVP and multiple time All Star really even help a team outside of marketing and public perception. The only number that matters with A-Rod, especially at this stage of his career, is World Series rings, and as it stands, he’s got none. This is how you are ultimately judged in Sports. MVP and All Star nominations don’t amount to much once the career is over. Especially if they guy winning them is a lighting rod for controversy and especially when everything he does overshadows the team and the team’s accomplishments as a whole. The A-Rod drama isn’t necessarily worth the price tag and production, or at least that what a lot of fans are starting to figure out.

      Oh and our defense sucks. We need C.C. A.J. and Joba to miss a lot of bats this year. If they do, our defense will appear better than it actually is.

  6. Hankenstein says:

    Yo, not to be whatever, but WHO THE FUCK CARES ABOUT THE YANKEES SUSPECT DEFENSE RIGHT NOW???

    This is hardly a day to dissect the flaws in Jeters range at short. Come on guys.

    The issue has to be A-Rod, and any subsequent reports or statements which may be filed after the bombshell fallout.

    I TOLD HAL WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE RE-SIGNED THIS GUY!!!!!!!

  7. Hollywood says:

    I guess when you have a huge fanbase like the Yankees have, it will tend to represent the entire population, and thus have a large number of idiots in it.

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