also dead last in the AL

all these stats are on ESPN’s stat page btw

When you take his likely offense and defense into account, he comes out as average for the position. Of course his defensive numbers have been kind of all over the place, but if you average them out (as d_f has done), you get a CFer who is above average defensively and below average offensively. And, given the positional difference between Crisp and Teahen, Crisp is better. More specifically, DDJ in LF/RF and Crisp in CF makes for a better OF than Teahen in LF/RF and DDJ in CF. Of course the OF would be better overall with DDJ, Crisp and Teahen than with Guillen in there, but that’s another discussion.

He’s a below average hitter, but he was a legit defensive monster in 2005 and 2007. Not so much in 2006 and 2008. Who’s the real Crisp? Scouts says he’s a stud in the field. If you buy the numbers, and use weighted average and stuff, well, his monstrous +2 win year in 2007 gets mitigated a fair bit to the point where he’s more like above average, but enough to at least balance out his crappy offense.

Defensive numbers and projections aren’t as reliable as offensive ones, of course. And some see him as average at best. I in a discussion right after the trade, when I was trhing to get a handle on it, MGL said he had Crisp projected as about 1.25 WAR next season —if this is the case, the Royals did get screwed, particularly when salaries come into play. But that was just one guy’s projection (although that guy is one of the bets sabermetric minds out there).

My point just being that I can definitely see what you’re saying, but that there are also reasons to think Crisp will be at least average, overall, this season. And that’s a valuable thing.

its really like a lot of other things, more to be used as evidence of how your management thinks or if anyone is even paying attention to details and the fact that guys suck

a very, very little bit… of course, not too much, because the Royals don’t have very many good baserunners (although Crisp is really good, apparently. Gordon, DDJ, and Teahen are all decent, but sadly, Teahen is going to be sitting on the bench watching Guillen limp out DP balls). Getting good baserunners in front of DDJ, for example, would be a really good idea, because while he’s a good hitter, he doesn’t have a ton of power and good baserunners are more likely to be able to go first-to-third, score from first on a double

The other interesting thing is that you can save two runs a year (which is a lot relative to most of these changes) by putting a good hitter who has a really bad GIDP tendency in the leadoff spot. See, now you’ve got me started… Other than the “gordon leading off” theory, here’s another suggestion for the first four hitters vs. RHP… look out AL Central if Hillman does this:

1. Butler
2. Gordon
3. Crisp
4. DDJ

Both CHONE and PECOTA see Butler as the Royals’ best hitter in 2009. He doesn’t have enough of a record for us to project such a heavy platoon split for him… Anyway, so he hits first because of his GIDP problems (although hopefully those will decrease), and also because he doens’t project for a ton of power yet, but just a good OBP.

Gordon hits right behind him because he projects for the most ISO on the team, so he is more likely to be able to drive Butler along the basepaths. Of course, he also has good OBP stuff. If you read the book, Ks are the least “harmful” in the #2 spot among the top 5, and Gordon has plenty of those… so that minimizes that problem. Hitting him in front of Crisp and DDJ, who are low power hitters, also leverages his baserunning and basestealing better, since they don’t have much power.

Crisp hits 3rd because, well, we’re pretty much at the end of the string of guys who can hit righties well and aren’t lefties… And hitting in front of DDJ takes advantage of the things he does excel at (baserunning and basestealing).

DDJ hits 4th because he’s probably going to be the best hitter outside of Alex against RHPs, and his relative lack of homers means that Crisp and Alex’s skill on the bases are well leveraged…

Just something I thought about. there are other variations. It was just a fun variation on the more predictable Crisp/DDJ/Butler/Gordon lineup, which isn’t the end of the world, either. But Butler in the #3 spot puts him in too many DP situations. Yeah, I know it won’t happen, but a nerd can dream.

Yes, I do have many other lineup suggestions, but I’m going to dole them out, so don’t beg…

The latter part shows how unimportant managers are. They contribute to their team’s wins and losses, but only to a very small degree. And as far as being “well run,” I think the Twins are still living off of the largesse of the prior administration, which the current GM is chiselling away at. And Kenny is schizophrenic. He vacillates wildly between very good moves and very bad ones. He appears to be in a down cycle right now.