Putting TPJ's bat in perspective

by loyal2sdad on May 27, 2008 2:21 PM EDT

I'll not bother with my usual comparison to NL pitchers, but rather go another direction to explain this:

Look at VORP, which represents runs above a theoretical defined level of readily available replacement talent.

Our top two run producers this season have been Olivo, at +9.6, and Gordon, at +8.9

Add that together, and you get +18.5

TPJ is at MINUS 14.8 (next worst is at -9.8)

So, essentially, the playing time given to TPJ at SS, when combined with Gordon and Olivo, is equivalent to having all 3 positions filled by a bottom of the barrell, replacement level, readily available players.

That's the sort of damage a bad player can do, if given the chance.

He is good defensively, which certainly counts for something, but nobody can ever convince me his defense is worth enough to offset this, and if Hillman really believes it's OK, if the 1-6 guys hit, like he said in the Star this morning, then that causes me to have serious doubts about him as well.

Christ, Ozzie Smith in his prime, on a pitching staff full of left handed ground ball pitchers, would STILL not be good enough defensively to justify that batting record.

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yes... thats what the people always forget

for his era, Ozzie was an average hitter

the TPJ situatin should have NEVER got to this point

Dayton clearly thought he had the problem solved

"So whattya say, should we clean this place up?" - Tom Cruise

by DyeFan187 on May 27, 2008 2:26 PM EDT 0 recs

Heh, that's OK

if Moore thought he had it solve. He is allowed to make mistakes – but at this point it’s time to acknowledge the mistake and try again to solve this glaring whole.

Honestly, shortstop on this team, save for a year here and there by somebody like Gagne, has been a giant black hole for over two decades now. It gets pretty damn old, frankly.

by loyal2sdad on May 27, 2008 2:33 PM EDT 0 recs

Hey, what's Gagne doing now?

I bet he’s available.

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by devil_fingers on May 27, 2008 2:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

and he's a born again

by royalsreview on May 27, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

Just out of curiousity

Who is second worst in the big leagues in VORP?

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on May 27, 2008 2:38 PM EDT 0 recs

Bottom 10

T Pena -14.8
A Kearns -9.6
T Tulowitzki -9.2
A Jones -8.0
A Cabrera -7.9
B Bocock -7.8
J Jones -7.5
Y Torrealba -7.4
J Bard -7.3
J R Towles -7.2

Interesting list: 4 middle infielders 3 catchers, 3 outfielders. Sorta points to teams willingness to put him with offensive crap for defensive players “up the middle”. Still, position scarcity is factored in to VORP…

Good thing Moore didn’t sign A Jones instead of Guillen (I was wrong on that one); we would be even more pathetic offensively than we already are. My God, if Jones continues to struggle that badly in the NL, can you imagine how bad he would have been in the AL?

by loyal2sdad on May 27, 2008 3:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Play Callaspo, no seriously

Pena’s defense needs to be superman like(like fielding linedrive in between CF and RF) to make up for his offense. And he isn’t even the best defensive SS in the majors now by a lot of measures, he’s usually around 5-10. Which with his bat, doesn’t cut it.

by playingwithfire on May 29, 2008 3:54 AM EDT 0 recs