Willie Bloomquist Has Returned to Being Willie Bloomquist
by Freneau on Jun 30, 2009 3:58 PM EDT
in Kansas City Royals News
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June hasn't been kind to St. Willie. In 85 PAs, he's hit .259/.294/.321 thus far. Really, it's been a classic Bloomquist month: an empty batting average that isn't even good on its own.
Actually, May wasn't great either: .258/.309/.387. Interestingly, this downturn has also coincided with his heaviest playing time of the season. Willie's season peaked on May 3rd, the day after his miracle homer, when he had a line of .372/.462/.558. Since then, he has absolutely devastated the team's chances of scoring runs. Over his last 142 PAs, he's hit .241/.282/.301. He has hit second in the majority of those PAs, by the way.
Of course, earlier this season we heard about how much better he was doing thanks to the regular playing time he was getting for the first time in his career. That was not the case. In over 1500 career PAs, St. Willie is a .264/.323/.328 hitter. Over enough time, a variation of that is what you"ll get. Well, until he declines. Though, to be sure, at some point, we'll certainly hear that he wore down and was a little over-exposed as a full-time player. St. Willie, you see, can do no wrong.
I don't understand why this is so hard: Willie Bloomquist does not make the Royals better. He is a very bad hitter. Yes, he is a decent baserunner, but he is never on-base. He is, at the very best, a generic fielder. He can somewhat play multiple positions, yet at many of them, he is not good. You have to have a particularly curious understanding of "flexibility" to treasure a guy who can hurt you in so many ways.
Willie had a wonderful April and pushed the Royals to some glorious victories. April's over.
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Sadly,
those stats he is compiling, even now when they are basically “empty”, still DWARF the contributions of Tony Pena & Luis Hernandez – so I guess that means he should play shortstop. (Actually, what it really means is that Moore should trade for a real shortstop, assuming Aviles is done for the year, as rumors seem to suggest)
Tony Pena: 105/150/132
Royals pitchers combined: 150/190/200
Wow.
Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!
by loyal2sdad on Jun 30, 2009 4:02 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
the problem with this whole article....
is the premise that Willie Boom Boom doesnt make this team better. The sad thing is, that he actually does make them better. If Willie is playing, that means that Mitch might not be…or TPJ or TPJJ
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Jun 30, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions
well dejesus should be playing CF
Thorman should be playing LF over Bloomy!
by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2009 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions
i cannot imagine that thorman is even passable in LF defensively....
and he’s really not a good hitter either. In fact, WIllie Boom Boom has been significantly better than Thorman.
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Jun 30, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions
he's in AAA" he's 25 too
he needs a chance before you can guarantee stuff like that
by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2009 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions
so TPJ deserved his chance too?
you have to earn a chance….pounding for 100 ABs in AAA after having signficant MLB experience isnt really earning a shot either.
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Jun 30, 2009 5:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Well its 175 AB's
and he hit another HR today. THat’s .381 OBP, and a .970 OPS. Its funny his MLB stats for several years ago aren’t that much worse than our “emotional leader’s.”
Give him a shot RF and put Guillen at DH. Thorman might be a slight upgrade and at basically no cost either
by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2009 9:06 PM EDT up reply actions
His minor league numbers tranlslate to 262/303/483...
which isnt much better than Jogui….and theres absolutely no reason to believe that a 6’3 235 lb converted 1b will play better in the field than Jogui….
oh, and thormans translated numbers are still based on a small sample size that could still be very fluky. If he does it the rest of the year, then give him a shot…he’s far from earned it at this point.
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Jun 30, 2009 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions
yeah I agree with you guys here
When I see him in LF, CF or RF I want to fucking puke. I think other teams probably laugh too. But when he’s at SS, or 3b, 2b (Callaspo/Teahen days off) It’s not as bad, but since his defense is not as good as Pena/Hernandez it’s not that much better.
If TPJ gets hot, who knows!!
by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions
I saw that hit. Much good karma.
humble the ball little grasshopper.
Yeah? From what I hear, you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a f@#%ing boat.
also according to fangraphs, Willie has been worth $1.3M this year
he has a $1.4M salary, so as long as he contributes at least minimally for the rest of the season, he will have “earned” his salary according to fangraphs (not that i necessarily subscribe to the precision of this method — i think it’s a little bit like using a crummy ruler to measure a piece of wood which is cut and then used to measure a pipe which is cut and then weighed with the reading on the scale telling you how much sand you need and then counting how many grains of sand as your result).
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1066&position=OF
Yeah, but since baseball lacks the precision tools, these have to do for now
It’s really just a better way to make comparisons than BA, HR, and RBI.
i'm with you
i just seek to qualify a statement of mine like “Bloomquist has earned his salary” since really it’s just our best guess, not a fact
it will be interesting to see if he can stay above replacement level the rest fo the season
I wonder what would help him more: playing the OF, where he might be about average, but where there’s a more severe positional adjustment, or playing SS, where he’s horrific on defense, but where the positional adjustment is better.
Remember when Ross Gload was 0.6 WAR in 2007?
I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.
by Matt Klaassen on Jun 30, 2009 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions
in our hearts we know he's gritty enough
to play SS with the best of them. and i mean this only half-jokingly because i really do believe he’s a better infielder than he’s shown (with no evidence whatsoever).
Willie's hitting in April means that he should be batting #2 in June
Still suffering from the greatest robbery of all time: The stealing of the 1994 AL Central title from the Royals
it's called playing the percentages
I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.
by Matt Klaassen on Jun 30, 2009 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
is there a scientific quotient for grit available?
where i'm "day-to-day" but i won't play again happens!
or is there a scientific formula for grit quotient available?
that’s what i really meant…
where i'm "day-to-day" but i won't play again happens!
by blue bandwagon on Jun 30, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes, NYRoyal made one somewhere
there have been others suggested as well
"Well, if we destroy Kansas the world may not hear about it for years." Blofeld
The General Theory of Royaltivity
But he plays a lot of positions!
Therefore he is good!
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
I don't know if I can buy that Willie isn't a good baseball player
after all, I read somewhere that he was underpaid and that this whole offseason “wasn’t a giant ball of suck”
I disagree with "Willie Bloomquist does not make the Royals better."
Willie Bloomquist absolutely makes the Royals better, if her were used properly, on a properly put together roster.
In a better, smarter, more ran by RR bloggers world, Willie Bloomquist would be playing the role of Luis Hernandez or Tug Hulett. Actually, scratch that. Willie Bloomquist would be playing the role of BOTH players, since there is no fucking point in having all 3, let alone 2 of them on the roster at the same time.
Mark Teahen would be playing the role of Bloomy (- the occaisonal SS duties), which would indeed make the Royals a better team.
Just like w/ Gload last year, and Desi Relaford before him, it isn’t Bloomy’s fault that he is being mis-cast into an everyday player by an orginazation that is increasingly showing that no matter who is in charge, they don’t know what the fuck they are doing.
BOOM! ROASTED!
by GoBabies!! on Jun 30, 2009 5:03 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
great post
Its because Gordon is out mostly. Seeing Bloomy at SS is not a bad thing at all. He’s a better hitter than the clowns behind him. BTW, why does it take Gordon twice as long as Arod to come back from the same injury???
by GobbleforCyoung on Jun 30, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions
probably because
the Yankees and ARod actually take injuries seriously, and the Royals wait for injuries to become more serious before acting.
Ask Coco, Mike Aviles, and Gil Meche
Still suffering from the greatest robbery of all time: The stealing of the 1994 AL Central title from the Royals
yeah...883 ops with AWFUL babip luck....
and a 400 obp….i cant believe they brought him back so quickly
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Jun 30, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
he's robbing the franchise blind!
thank Xenu someone is calling out that total pussy
I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at Driveline Mechanics.
by Matt Klaassen on Jun 30, 2009 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Based on "most starts by position"...
…our lineup this year (excluding the Spork and anyone currently on the DL) has been mostly:
Olivo, Butler, Callaspo, Teahen, Hernandez, DeJesus, Maier, Guillen, & Jacobs.
That lineup has an average OPS+ of 85.
With the Spork insead of TPJ, the lineup has an OPS+ of 97.
I’d rather hit 3% worse than the rest of baseball than 15% worse. That seems like a pretty significant difference to me.
In a better, smarter, more ran by RR bloggers world, Willie Bloomquist would be playing the role of Luis Hernandez or Tug Hulett.
In a better, smarter, more ran by RR bloggers world, Tug Hulett would be playing the roles of Luis Hernandez and Willie Bloomquist.
"Do they have people that tall in Mexico?"
gotta agree with this
he’s being mis-used and I don’t think anyone sees him as just a tough, hard-nosed, dare I say, grittttttty ball player. The team doesn’t have enough talent, has had some injuries, therefore, Willie Ballgame is overexposed.
by I need more Esteban on Jun 30, 2009 8:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Karl Ravech asks.....
Yes, I know Willie Bloomquist….duh, I work at ESPN….sheesh…
but—
Who are these other Royals players that I hear people talking
about?…last night I mentioned Luke Hoe-chuh-ver and
Yokeum Soria…..I never heard anyone else pronounce
these names…..are these recent callups?
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