Great Trivia Questions: Only ONE player in the history of MLB with at lease 50 post season at-bats has a lower batting average than Nick Swisher's .169. Who is he?
A Rod is a special case...if he wasn't as good as he was in 09 the Yankees probably don't win a title but at the same time if he wasn't as bad in other post seasons maybe they win more
Okay, I'm not sure how relevant it is to look at their entire careers at this point, considering both players are now on the wrong side of 30, Cuddyer more significantly so. But fine... let's do it. You get the same RBI and 40 less HRs from Cuddyer... and it took him an additional two-thirds of a season to do it. Yikes. Let's look at the last three years... since that's a bit more relevant: Swisher - .267/.368/.486/.854 - 81 HR, 256 RBI Cuddyer - .276/.341/.465/.806 - 66 HR, 245 RBI And keep in mind that Cuddyer had an additional 101 ABs with runners in scoring position over this time frame (an effect of being the Twins cleanup or #5 hitter for most of the time, while Swisher spent time hitting 2nd, 6th, or 8th). Never mind that Cuddyer was just flat-out bad last year, and the two previous seasons were the only seasons that he was above league average. Factor in that Cuddyer is two years older and signed a three-year deal, and this is a no-brainer. Cuddyer for three years? Or Swisher for only this year? It'll cost you roughly the same amount of money (Swisher $10.25M, Cuddyer $10.33M) if you assume the Yanks could have paid the same amount for him. By the way, I think it's hilarious that 74 post-season ABs is a "proven track record" in your book. I guess Shane Spencer had a proven track record after his breakout season in 98, huh? Gosh, I wonder what happened to him?
Stats are just tools. And just like any tool, the "best" one depends on the job you're asking it to do. What's the best golf club? Depends how far you are from the hole. What's the best rake? Depends on whether you are raking leaves, thatching, or tilling soil. What's the best stat to use to measure productivity? It depends... each stat gives you different information, and you can use the whole of that information to make judgments. The "best" stats (insofar as you can rate them for our purposes here) are the ones that most reliably predict future performance of whatever it is you're trying to measure. In this comparison, though, regardless of which metric you use (runs created, runs above average, WAR, VORP, etc.), Swisher has been anywhere from marginally to significantly more productive than Cuddyer, and is likely to be so next year as well. And I might as well just get this out of the way now, before the stat-geek epithets start getting tossed about: I'll just remind you all again that all these metrics are are measures of shit that happens on the field, hits, walks, HRs, etc... they're just packaged differently.
As "Hilarious" as that record may be, you can not argue that Cuddyer has not been more porductive with his 74 AB's than Swisher has been with his 124.
That's exactly right. Cuddyer has been more productive. How meaningful is that. If I may use him again as an example, Shane Spencer was "more productive" than just about anyone in baseball history in his seventy-some-odd plate appearances in 1998. Perhaps the Yankeees should have given him an A-Rod-ian contract? In other words, several dozen ABs give you information about what has already happened, but that's not enough to be very good at telling you what's going to happen. And when you're talking about signing someone to a contract, which do you think is more important?
So then, by your logic, Swisher should have been signed to an extension? And for the record, I am really not trying to be a smart-ass. I am honestly trying to underrstand your point of view.
Not at all. You already have one more year of Swisher right now... who is - by almost any metric - likely to outperform Cuddyer. Why would you commit more money and years to someone who is two years older and is likely a downgrade? Especially when you'd then need to find something to do with Swisher and his $10.25M? Keep Swisher for 2012. Next year, go after Andre Ethier or Carlos Quentin or Grady Sizemore or whomever you want. That's better than Cuddyer for the next three years.
I don't think so. He started doing this late last year early in games. He would be 90-92 for, say, the first time through the order, then would regularly be 94-96 the rest of the game. With a rotation spot guaranteed this spring (regardless of what Joe says) he can go a little easy and not air it out from the very beginning of camp like he did last year, hitting 97 a few times in his first spring start and causing him to wear out a little bit down the stretch. And he actually hit 93 and 94 more than a couple of times in his last start. Remember last year at this time, Hughes couldn't break 88.
Hopefully Pineda will work out because the Yankees traded Montero to get this guy, & the front office doesn't want to get disappointed.
Personally, I'd like to see a lineup of: 1. Gardner 2. Granderson 3. Cano 4. Teixeira 5. A-Rod 6. Swisher 7. Jeter 8. DH 9. Martin
That'd be cool but I'll be shocked if Jeter isn't leading off on opening day. Guy would have to hit below the mendoza for 2 months before Girardi takes him outta there or near the top of the order. I think we'll see: 1. Jeter 2. Granderson 3. Cano 4. ARod 5. Teixiera 6. Swisher 7. Ibanez/Jones 8. Gardner/Martin 9. Martin/Gardner The bottom three flipping around based on handed-ness of the SP.
