Apologise for this taking so long (kidssss!!!!!!!!) Also, this particular software won’t make nice neat charts and it takes me like forever to get the columns lined up even a little bit, so sorry that they don’t look real too good.
(Stats from ESPN, Hardball Times, baseball-reference.com)
B/R is BA with RISP (and you notice it isn’t RBIs/PA – IBB with MOB – an extremely useful stat which, if it existed, I can’t find…)
Player PA R H 2B/3B/HR RBI SB/CS BB SO GDP ——- B/R OPS+ RCAA
C I Rodriguez — 260 26 60 - 11/2/7 — 30 – 0/2 – 11 54- 11 .183 245/.278/.392/.670 – 77 (-)12
1B Berkman —- 362 49 79 – 18/1/18 – 55 - 6/2 — 66 59 — 9 .260 271/.403/.526/.929 -147 23 2B K Matsui — 252 28 56 — 8/1/3 — 21 – 9/3 — 19 43 – 2 .262 252/.313/.338/.651 – 75 (-)8
SS M Tejada — 375 48 116– 30/0/7 - 49 – 2/2 — 10 26 - 14 .318 329/.357/.473/.830 – 120 9
3B Blum ——— 226 19 56 —- 8/1/2 – 27– 0/1 — 19 27 – 4 .263 281/.350/.362/.711 – 91 (-)1
LF C Lee ——– 357 35 101 –17/1/13- 49 — 2/2 — 24 28 – 10 .257 308/.353/.485/.838 – 122 10
CF Bourn ——– 376 57 95 — 15/8/3– 25 –32/8 — 38 72 –1 .391 286/.360/.407/.767 -105 11 RF Pence ——- 358 45 95 —-15/4/11- 37 - 9/6 — 36 50 - 12 .274 298/.366/.473/.839 -123 9
3B Keppinger —189 20 44 –10/2/3 — 15 0/2 —- 19 16 – 6 .189 273/.353/.416/.769 -106 (-)1
UT Erstad ——– 95 10 14 — 3/2/1 — 5 0/2 —– 8 17— 2 .143 165/.234/.282/.516 - 38 (-)9
OF J Michaels — 82 6 13 — 8/0/1 — 6 1/1 —– 7 21—- 2 .158 176/.256/.324/.580 – 54 (-)5
C Quintero ——– 79 3 19 – 3/1/0 – 9 0/0 —– 1 15 — 3 .162 247/.266/.312/.578 — 54 (-)6
IF Maysonet —— 61 7 17– 2/0/1 – 7 0/0 —– 4 13 —- 0 .300 315/.356/.407/.763 -104… 1 UT Matt Kata —- 35 1 6 — 1/0/0 — 4 0/0 —– 0 3 —- 1 .300 182/.200/.212/.412 – 11 (-)4
IF Jason Smith —27 1 0 – 0/0/0 – 1 0/0 —— 0 9 —– 1 -0- – 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 (-)100 (-)5
C J R Towles —- 13 2 2 — 0/0/0 — 1 0/0 —— 0 4 —- 0 .333 182/.250/182/432 46 (-1)
C Chris Coste —–2 0 0 0 0
You will notice that the SB/CS for all players not named Bourn is 28/23. This is bad. This is called giving away outs. Bourn is the only guy who steals at a success rate of at least 75% and this means Erstad, Pence, Keppinger and Carlos better cut it out. And Lance had best be darn careful.
You will also notice that the Astros have 81 GIDP. This leads the majors. You will also notice that the 2 young players who Coop doesn’t want on the team both have a higher BA/RCAA than the 2 veterans Coop DID want – Kata and Smith. You will also notice they both have higher BA than either Michaels or Erstad (seing as how BA is to be worshipped.) I will also remark that Mike Hampton has better hitting stats than either Erstad or Michaels. Yes, I know – small sample size…
You will also notice that Berkman is the only guy on the team with more walks than Ks. He also is the only guy with over 40 walks at all. Tejada has the highest BA, but Berkman has a higher OPS+ and higher RCAA and higher WS. He is also leading the team in RBIs because Carlos hasn’t been doing his share, not at all.
Checking fielding:
Pudge: 3 Errors/570 innings and 2 PB. FPT .994 and 25% CS. (He’s worse than that, as this doesn’t count all the bad throws that were not called errors)
Quintero: 5 errors/186 innings (highest in the majors) and 2 PB, FPT .971 is worst in the NL – also has 10% CS. (As I’ve been saying, he is NOT good. And why Coop prefers him to Towles I do NOT get)
Berkman: 6 errors/735 innings – and just like last year, he’s second to Uncle in fielding – 27 out of zone plays (but Uncle has 45) and 117 plays on balls in zone (but Uncle has 138) and he’s turned only 5 DPs – but that is NOT his fault as he’s had to deal with Miggy and his, uh, lousy fielding.
Matsui is 5th in the NL in RZR at .822. He doesn’t make many plays on balls out of the zone (only 11) and yeah, it is a little harder to compare him to some of the other second basemen who have around 150 more innings played. He is doing quite well with DP started – tied for the lead with 22, and is in the middle of the pack with DP turned, with 27 (Freddy Sanchez leads, with 42.) He only has 2 errors, which is hard to believe.
Maysonet, with only 102 innings, had a MUCH higher RZR at .854 and Keppinger, no surprise, has a much lower RZR at .733
Third base is a little tough – only 8 guys in the NL have played over 450 innings, and Wright, the leader, has played 758, so direct comparisons are a bit tough.
- Blum’s RZR is .745, which is surprisingly good, behind leaders Pedro Feliz, Casey Blake and leader Andy LaRoche at .781. However, his OOZ plays are quite low – only 12, compared to Ryan Zimmerman with 48 plays in 735 innings. I was also surprised to see that Pedro Feliz, who has an outstanding rep with the glove, has only 13 OOZ plAYS OVER 711 innings. Blum has only 2 errors and a .983 FPCT. In fact, I think he hasn’t made as many errors as he did last year. He’s just fine if balls go near him, but has like zero range to either right of left.
- Keppinger, playing in half the innings Blum has (275) has more OOZ plays, 13, but a lower RZR, .730, and more DPs started, 12 to 9. He also made 4 errors. I’m not surprised about the OOZ plays because, unlike Blum, at least he tries.
Miggy Tejada – well, he looks like the 07 version. He’s only been tagged for 12 errors and really, there should be at LEAST 10 more – or at least 10 DPs not turned that I can think of offhand. His RZR is second lowest among SS at .775 (The Riot is best at .855) and Miggy has been about average with the others at fielding plays on balls OOZ – 25. Fileding % is .968, 3rd lowest among SS. Ah well, no one cares (except the pitchers) because he is hitting .320)
Carlos Lee. sigh. Clank. Let’s say that he doesn’t drop balls hit right to him, but about any ball not hit right to him is going to go for a double. And he has a very weak and inaccurate arm. He’s been hit with only 2 errors, but at the end of the year, he’s gonna lead the majors (LF) with plays not made. RZR is .843 and he has 27 OOZ plays – Nyjer Morgan, naturally, leads with 51. He has 6 assists (how did THAT happen) which leads the league..
And, by the way, here we are at the break at .500, which I personally thought was a miracle. Matthew Carruth, however, prefers to call it “luck” and mathematically “proves” that the Astros are THE luckiest team in the majors AND by 13 games. We are 22-18 in close games, but we have allowed 30 more runs than we have scored. Hardball Times says that by RA/RS, we should be 41 – 47, which is not exactly the 31 – 57 record that Matthew calculates.
This year, the only really GOOD team in the NL is the Dodgers, but we all know that means exactly zero after the playoffs start. I seriously disbelieve that Roy, Wandy and whoever could go head to head vs Cain/Lincecum and whoever and come out on top. But then again, they could get hurt, Pujols could get hurt and when it comes to baseball, younverknow…
Tags: Houston Astros
Looking at Blum’s numbers shows precisely why it’s so hard to judge defensive ability by stats. Blum’s RZR is very good but his OOZ is bad. The best is Zimmerman, whose defense is MISERABLE. He’s tied for the lead in errors on the team that leads the Majors in errors. So, the question that always comes up…do you want a who gets to lots of balls outside the zone but gives guys extra outs and extra bases, or a guy who can only field a ball hit straight to him but actually does that quite well?
You mentioned Hampton’s BA in comparison to other position players. I’d add that his BA is also better than his own pitching stats. Maybe Coop should be taking a serious look at having Hampton as Lee’s defensive replacement, since he’s dedicated to removing Lee from games and dedicated to keeping Hampton on the team regardless of performance.
Interesting study about the Astros’ luck. I couldn’t agree more. I pointed out the runs scored difference earlier this year and got laughed down by people who said margin of victory doesn’t matter. True, but it sure doesn’t look good when record belies the numbers. That can’t hold up for long.
Lisa, you are completely correct that it is a miracle we are at .500. Damn lucky, also.
But it will be practically an apotheosis of sorts to go 12-8 over the next 20 games, which is what would be needed to stay in the hunt over these last 70 games and prove this team actually has a chance.
Given the inconsistent offensive and defensive performances combined with totally whack management, it stretches bounds of imagination and reason to see this happening.
But youneverknow
austin,
absolutely right about hampton – i wish there were good defensive stats for pitchers. hampton should have won more GG, but he was up against greg maddux.
hampton might could have made it as a middle IF, in spite of his shortness, IF he could throw as a righty. funny that if he could pitch as well RH as he does LH, he most likely wouldn’t never have been given a chance. same with wandy.
steve,
all i can say is that i hate never being sure whether or not i should start saving for playoff tickets or not.
well, that and that i agree with richard justice that any positive accomplishments of this here team are in spite of Cooper, not because of him
Lisa, when did Justice say that? Everything I’ve read has him on the Coop bandwagon. He’s more devout than my friend, Travis, who finally admitted Cooper stinks.
At the beginning of the year he credited Coop for the Astros being the only team in MLB with a winning record despite a negative run differential last year, and said that extending him through 2010 was a good move. And the most recent thing he wrote about Cooper on his blog was that he should be up for consideration for manager of the year rather than next to be fired because he’s taken a lousy team and gotten them to .500. He manages to give credit everywhere while downplaying their weak schedule and doesn’t mention that until June and their weak schedule they were dead last in the NL Central.
http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2009/07/astros_so_close.html#comments
I should add that I read something else by him that said that if the Astros were bad, it wasn’t really because of Coop. He was criticizing Drayton for going through coaches like he “changes shirts” and seemed to indicate that if the team stunk, it would be because the front office assembled a bad team, and not because of Cooper. While I agree with the statement generally, it doesn’t mean Cooper doesn’t stink. He’s not THE problem, but he’s part of it.
you haven’t been reading his stuff lately (read just about everything he has written over the past 3-4 weeks or so)
he is more than clear that coop is not a good manager and that most of the players and basically all of the pitchers, to put it mildly, disprespect him
the manager of the year thing was sarcasm
and yeah, he has most DEFINITELY changed his opinion of cooper since the beginning of the year.
so have i, for that matter. he’s even worse than i had concluded after the end of last year. i was suspiscious that the shawn chacon thing was not exactly an isolated incident and i was dead right
I read something where he said that players, especially relievers, don’t respect Coop. Justice also said, in effect, so what. That players always think they’re smarter than the coach and that he’d heard players all over the place knock managers, with Bobby Cox possibly being the ONLY exception. In the thing I read, he was actually batting away the argument that players disrespected a coach was an indication he was a bad manager.
Maybe I do need to read more, but everything I saw (most of which was very recent, written over the All-Star break) indicated he thinks Coop is doing a fine job considering what he’s been given. Maybe I read it differently, but that’s certainly how it seemed to me.
My point is, in that most recent blog entry that I posted, he is basically taking up the same argument he did at the beginning of the year in defending Cooper. Saying the team is performing well, despite all odds, and that MUST mean the manager is doing something right. That’s what he said about their run differential last year. Then he posts this article about their run differential again and talks about them being good against all odds…again. It seems to me he’s taking the same line of defense on Cooper. Again, I could be misreading it, but that’s really how it seems to me.
And now he’s pulling Berkman in the 7th inning for a defensive replacement. I hate Cooper more than words can express. It takes a special kind of moron to pull your #3 hitter, who has been on fire lately and just about the only guy on the team hitting, for a defensive sub with 2 and a half innings left to play in a three run game.
Oh, and great job pulling Tejada out of the 2 hole. This guy runs away from everything that works. Just amazing. He makes Phil Garner look like freaking Tony LaRussa.
I miss ol’ ScrapIron.
I too was absolutely enraged by pulling Berkman, and moving Tejada out of the 2-hole. I guess Coop’s feeling is that he is one of the few guys hitting well with RISP, so he should move him down to drive in more runs, but Kepp (or I guess Blum???) are not going to get on base enough to allow Tejada, who bats much better from the 2-hole anyway, to drive them in. This is almost as asinine as when he used to bat Blum ahead of Pence. Why he can’t just settle on a lineup is beyond me. Even though this team is madly overacheiving at this point, and WandyRod is continuing to BEAST, I can’t help but think that Coop’s idiocy will kill this team.
On pulling Berkman…
“Jul 17 Berkman left Thursday’s game against the Dodgers in the eighth inning with a mild left calf strain, the Astros’ official site reports.
Recommendation: Berkman, who went 0-for-3 with a walk, was removed from the game after going hard down the line while trying to beat out a ground ball to first base in the top of the eighth inning. Consider him day-to-day for now.”