Has there ever been a more hollow .292?

G. Keenan · Post by **G. Keenan** » May 21 07, 12:52 am

docellis wrote:Yadier Molina generates posts in threads.

Which is good, because this team doesn't give us much to say except, "we're still waiting for you guys to stop sucking, any day now guys..."

fulldeck · Post by **fulldeck** » May 21 07, 5:04 am

Balltilyafall4 wrote:Matheny's stats with the Cards

2000 - .261 in 400 PA
2001 - .218 in 381 PA
2002 - .244 in 315 PA
2003 - .252 in 441 PA
2004 - .247 in 385 PA

Oh, and he averaged just under 6 HR's a season with the Cards and right around 45 RBI's..

Point is..no one was complaining during Matheny's time here because we had players who could hit and we didn't NEED Matheny to hit....it's not Molina's fault that the team is constructed differently then what it was back then...they were looking for a guy to do exactly what Matheny did while he was here...I'm pretty sure Molina would be a mirror image of Mike at this point, both offensively and defensively

But Yadi is everyone's favorite whipping boy (along with Juan E)...so continue bashing his obviously improving offensive ability and avoid discussing how our "stars" can't hit for crap right now

There was plenty of Matheny bashing during his time with the Cards when it came to his hitting. Towards the end he was even being bashed defensively. I blame most of this on fantasy baseball.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 21 07, 7:02 am

You're talking productive number-wise. If you've watched the games, neither Rolen or Albert have done much to win us any games. 5 for 5 and 4 for 4 help pad the numbers but did very little to help the team.

You are way off base with the Pujols comment. You are remembering the last series and applying it across the board.

April 15, bottom 1 Brewers up 1-0. AP hits a 3 run homer.
April 22, top 10 tie game. AP hits 3 run homer.

You don't remember those?

Memory in a game like baseball with all of the games can be tricky. Do you mind if I use a statistic to show something? WPA - Win probability added. The way this stat works is it calculates a teams chance of winning the game based on the situation (score, innings, outs, runners on base) and adds or subtracts to the batter his result based on how it impacts that probability.

Using your example, the HR that AP hit the other night did nothing but pad his stats. If his WPA went up, it was only by the smallest margin. The other day, Delgado walked with the bases loaded in the 9th to win against the Cubs. There were 2 outs, I'm guessing the WPA was probably at about .80 for the Mets in that situation. After the walk, their win probability went up to 1.00 (they won the game). Delgado gets a +0.20 added to his WPA - probably 100 times more than AP's homer the other night.

So it is measuring those important hits and events.

Here are the *ONLY* Cardinals who have a positive WPA batting - all four of them:

Duncan 0.47
Pujols 0.35
Taguchi 0.10
Keisler 0.08

Not Molina. He's at -0.06. Overall, Molina has slightly made our chances of winning worse at the plate. Miles is ahead of him, and so is Adam Wainwright. You're memory serves you well on Rolen, his WPA is -0.79 right now.

The .293 average is being fueled by alot of hits on balls in play. Last year, Yadi had an unusually low number of hits on balls in play, so maybe the baseball gods are just evening things out a little. As a hitter, Yadi isn't as bad as his numbers were last year and probably isn't as good as his numbers show this year.

Is it an "empty" .293. I'd say so, most guys hitting .293 are going to have a little more impact on run scoring than Yadi has. I'll certainly take it, I certainly expect it to come down some, and for the umpteenth time I'll say I don't pay much attention to batting average, and I expect his OPS to be in the 650-ish range (+/- 50) at the end of the year. Based on his start, I'd say he will be north of 650 this year.

Leroy · Post by **Leroy** » May 21 07, 7:36 am

I like how I'm not supposed to enjoy a player having a little success.

businessmansspecial · Post by **businessmansspecial** » May 21 07, 7:42 am

Leroy wrote:I like how I'm not supposed to enjoy a player having a little success.

Watch it Leroy, we're watching you. Don't do it!

Dillagii · Post by **Dillagii** » May 21 07, 7:43 am

Yadi will never get a free pass on this board. Never.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 21 07, 7:43 am

Leroy wrote:I like how I'm not supposed to enjoy a player having a little success.

This post, in a nutshell, sums up why it is so difficult to objectively look at players.

Please point to a post that said you can't/shouldn't enjoy a players success?

docellis · Post by **docellis** » May 21 07, 7:45 am

jim wrote:
Leroy wrote:I like how I'm not supposed to enjoy a player having a little success.
This post, in a nutshell, sums up why it is so difficult to objectively look at players.

Please point to a post that said you can't/shouldn't enjoy a players success?

The title of this thread sort of says not to enjoy it, in a way.

jim · Post by **jim** » May 21 07, 7:48 am

docellis wrote:
jim wrote:
Leroy wrote:I like how I'm not supposed to enjoy a player having a little success.
This post, in a nutshell, sums up why it is so difficult to objectively look at players.

Please point to a post that said you can't/shouldn't enjoy a players success?
The title of this thread sort of says not to enjoy it, in a way.

You read more into things than I do then. Except for the fact that it's been beat to death, I think it's a valid point and something interesting to discuss (if it hadn't been discussed so much already).

JL21 · Post by **JL21** » May 21 07, 7:50 am

A few things....

1. Yadi Molina DOES call a good game, whether it's measurable or not.

2. Isn't an empty .293 better than the empty .216 he had last year?

3. While it's not likely to continue, for as "empty" as it is, Yadi's OPS+ is 97, and his OPS is .722. The average NL catcher's OPS is .692. For all the [expletive], Yadi's actually been better than the average catcher, done so while providing above average defense, and also done so for a much, much smaller salary. His OBP is above league average.

Ultimately, does this thread tell us anything we didn't know already? That Yadi's not likely to continue hitting .292? Really, I never would've guessed. I assumed that his fatass was a .300 hitter.