Dave Schoenfield espn.com page 2 article

[Spaceman Spiff]

Good article, even though he dumps on B-rob in the opening bit...its a lot to copy and paste, so just check the link...i did, however, copy and paste my favorite part though :)


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/050426&num=0

New York Yankees: Baseball Prospectus keeps track of a statistic called "Defensive Efficiency," which is simply the percentage of batted balls in play that each team turns into outs. The top team through Sunday was the Marlins, who turn 74.75 percent of balls in play into outs. The league averages are 69.3 percent in the AL, 69.8 percent in the NL. No team is below 66.8 percent ... except the Yankees, who have turned just 63.87 percent of balls in play into outs. The Prospectus Web site lists this statistic back to 1972, and the worst team in that span has been the 1999 Devil Rays, at 66.17 percent. In other words, the 2005 Yankees are looking like a historically awful defensive team, one of the worst of all time. And that, Yankee fans, is why your team will miss the playoffs.

[TheDoyler23]

Of course the Yanks have a poor defense. Besides Posada and Mussina when he pitches, they have NO excellent defenders. Giambi? Horrible, Their 2b platoon is ok, A-Rod is still making errors at third, Jeter makes a bunch of errors and all three starting outfielders are slower than molasses.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally posted by TheDoyler23
Of course the Yanks have a poor defense. Besides Posada and Mussina when he pitches, they have NO excellent defenders. Giambi? Horrible, Their 2b platoon is ok, A-Rod is still making errors at third, Jeter makes a bunch of errors and all three starting outfielders are slower than molasses.

It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? :)

[aejm1400]

Yeah, it dumped on Roberts a little too much. What was it he said"A guy who hits .273 with four home runs doesn't suddenly become one of baseball's best hitters."

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but until the 2003 season Mora didn't break the .300 mark. Then when he gets a position with no competition, he went and hit .340. So Roberts, who now has no competition at 2B shouldn't see an increase in production? Come on, maybe he was pressing last year because he had someone looking over his shoulder. Maybe we are starting to see the real Roberts...well, except for all the homeruns..lol. Either way, it's not that hard to believe that a guy who works hard starts to see the ball better because he's not pressing so much. It's just a nice surprise when it's one of your guys doing it.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Originally posted by aejm1400
Yeah, it dumped on Roberts a little too much. What was it he said"A guy who hits .273 with four home runs doesn't suddenly become one of baseball's best hitters."

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but until the 2003 season Mora didn't break the .300 mark. Then when he gets a position with no competition, he went and hit .340. So Roberts, who now has no competition at 2B shouldn't see an increase in production? Come on, maybe he was pressing last year because he had someone looking over his shoulder. Maybe we are starting to see the real Roberts...well, except for all the homeruns..lol. Either way, it's not that hard to believe that a guy who works hard starts to see the ball better because he's not pressing so much. It's just a nice surprise when it's one of your guys doing it.

I think most of what he's saying is tongue in cheek. Granted, I think it's POSSIBLE for Roberts to continue to hit like he is, but I'm not going to hold my breath for him to challenge for the triple crown...

The truth is, 9 out of every 10 of these April players end up falling back down to earth...here's to hoping BRob is the exception!

:cheers: