Pawsox help?

External Since: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 1070

I think for those of us looking to improve our middle infield offense, we
need to take a deep breath. It doesn't look like it is that close... at
least from here.

Pedroia- 62 ABs....338 OBP....339 SLG....242 AVG
Machado- 77 ABs...351 OBP....364 SLG....195 AVG
Wilson- 69ABs....312 OBP....406 SLG....246 AVG

External Since: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 386

Bob-Nob wrote:
> Dano venit, vidit, et dixit:
> > "Bob-Nob" <rpmachemer.DeleteThis@note.amherst.edu> wrote...
> >> Dano venit, vidit, et dixit:
>
> >>> I think for those of us looking to improve our middle infield offense,
> >>> we need to take a deep breath. It doesn't look like it is that
> >>> close... at least from here.
>
> >>> Pedroia- 62 ABs....338 OBP....339 SLG....242 AVG
> >>> Machado- 77 ABs...351 OBP....364 SLG....195 AVG
> >>> Wilson- 69ABs....312 OBP....406 SLG....246 AVG
>
> >> Indeed. Ah, the fun of small samples. Pedroia may be a lot
> >> better than he looks in his small sample; but then again, so may
> >> Loretta. (So may Gonzalez, for that matter, but unlike Loretta
> >> and to a lesser extent Pedroia, Gonzalez doesn't have as much of
> >> a history for good hitting).
>
> >> Come on, Loretta! Stop doing such a damned good Tony Clark
> >> impersonation! (The "good" refers to the impersonation, not to
> >> how Tony Clark played in Boston, of course).
>
> > I'm not looking at these numbers as true indicators of future performance,
> > but if they haven't been faring better against AAA pitching, there isn't a
> > whole lot of hope for improvement in the majors right away.
>
> I'd take a slightly different tack in describing it: if they've
> hit this poorly against AAA to this point, there is little reason to
> think the Sox would have been better off playing their AAA middle
> infielders instead of the detritus who have been playing. I think
> there's still PLENTY of hope that Pedroia (who is, after all, coming
> off an injury in spring training, for one mitigating circumstance) is
> better than Gonzalez, at least (though how Pedroia's defense is at short,
> I have no idea).
>
> > That is what we're looking for...immediate improvement.
>
> *nods*
>
> > I have heard there have been
> > players who actually hit better when brought up (Nomar?...Boggs maybe?),
>
> I'm sure there are others (though I can't say for certain who they
> are). I'd guess Piazza and Pujols, for two. The truth is that probably
> anybody who comes up and immediately hits like a Hall of Famer is probably
> someone who, on some level, is hitting better in the majors than he did
> in the minors (again, off the top of my head without anything to back that
> up).
>
> > but
> > I don't think it's wise to count on that. In time it may be worth giving
> > it a go with Pedroia though. If A-gon can't do better soon, there might be
> > little harm in trying.
>
> I'd bring Pedroia up the second he feels comfortable enough at AAA
> to warrant taking the next step. I'd worry less about his overall numbers
> (because, again, a slow start can mask how well a hitter has hit lately)
> than his confidence level -- I don't want to ruin the future Pedroia by
> bringing him up too soon. I'd also tell him when he got up that there was
> no pressure on him to be a star. Just make the plays and do the stuff
> he did well in the minors and that the stardom will come. The truth is
> that Gonzalez is playing badly enough right now that Machado could probably
> be an improvement, much less a Pedroia who plays as well as he played
> last year.

Here are some interesting AAA numbers:

Individual Stats (Batting) (click column headers to sort)
Player POS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG
AVG OPS E
Lou Merloni 3B 19 73 7 26 9 0 2 10 41 6 13 0 1 .427 .562 .356 .988 1

Andy Marte 3B 24 88 14 26 9 0 0 5 35 17 19 1 0 .402 .398 .295 .800 6

The much ballyhooed Mr. Marte is batting for a decent average and
reaching base successfully, but has zero HRs and 5 RBI with 88 ABs.
Meanwhile as usual our old buddy Lou Merloni is exceeding expectations.