3205 replies to this topic

[Rich]

The hope is he can rise to the occasion for ten weeks and then into the playoffs. Old Yankee fans will remember Johnny Mize. For $2.5 million there's not much downside expect for designating Wise for assignment.

I was hoping he would go to AAA for five weeks, and then return 9/1. Played well as an outfielder and aganist the right-style pitching can add some hits and pop.

[tighe]

His numbers the last two seasons are scary.

But he cost nothing, and he's going to be hitting 8 or 9. He's not the old Ichiro, but it's not an old Ichiro contract.

And his average is 80 points higher away from Safeco Field. He also had a bunch of sub-.250 hitters with no power around him in the order. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has a resurgence in NY. It was the right move for him and for the Mariners.

[Adrian]

Here's a startling statistic (not entirely irrelevant to the Ichiro pick-up, I think).

Derek Jeter is fourth in the MLB standings for hits. The re-invented Melky Cabrera leads with 135, Jeter has 124.

But Jeter is 177th in the standings for RBIs. 177th. Maybe there are other explanations, but this is telling me that Jeter is consistently at the plate without runners in scoring positions. Ichiro batting eight or nine can only make that better.

No clutch anymore. No clutch.

[Wilfrid]

That doesn't explain it. His SLG is .409 (best in three years). He's on course for around 40 doubles, and he's only once done better than that. If there were runners in scoring position, he could hardly avoid batting them in.

[Wilfrid]

Or look at this. In his last full season, 2010, his batting average was way below what it is now (.270) as was his SLG (.370). He collected only 179 hits the whole season (he has 124 already this year). Yet he had 67 RBIs. This year, he'll be lucky to get to 60, even though all his numbers are much better.

This suggests to me that it's not Jeter who's responsible for the paucity of RBIs this year.

[Adrian]

I'm kidding.*

*Remember, I don't believe in clutch hitting.

[Wilfrid]

Never mind, you made me look up baseball stats instead of working. This is good.

[Stone]

This suggests to me that it's not Jeter who's responsible for the paucity of RBIs this year.

I thought lead-off batters were not expected to have a lot of rbis.

[Wilfrid]

Sure, but my point is that this season Jeter has far fewer RBIs than you'd expect from him, even though his other figures are excellent. He's fourth in the league for hits, 177th for RBIs. That's not demonstrating a general rule about lead-off hitters. It's weird.

[mitchells]

Sure, but my point is that this season Jeter has far fewer RBIs than you'd expect from him, even though his other figures are excellent. He's fourth in the league for hits, 177th for RBIs. That's not demonstrating a general rule about lead-off hitters. It's weird.

Wilf, I believe your thesis is correct about his lack of opportunities. In 2010, Jeter had 166 at bats with RISP and hit .271. Thru 93 games this year, he has only had 71 at bats with RISP and hit .268.

[Wilfrid]

Ah, that's the stat I was looking for. Thanks. The effect of Gardner's absence becomes tangible.

[mitchells]

And it's not just Gardner. In 2010, there were many games where Granderson hit 7th and Gardner 9th. Plus their catcher in 2010 who batted 8th a lot got on base a lot more than Martin.

[bloviatrix]

Or look at this. In his last full season, 2010, his batting average was way below what it is now (.270) as was his SLG (.370). He collected only 179 hits the whole season (he has 124 already this year). Yet he had 67 RBIs. This year, he'll be lucky to get to 60, even though all his numbers are much better.

This suggests to me that it's not Jeter who's responsible for the paucity of RBIs this year.

You've got to remember that Jeter bats lead-off which means in the first inning of every game he's not going to come in in an RBI situation (this is also means that by this point in the season he has probably had about 10 extra at-bats than other guys). Plus, the Yankees don't have much of a circular line-up this year which means when he does come up to bat in later innings there's a good chance there aren't people on base to drive in.

Edited to add: perhaps I should read subsequent posts before responding.

[Wilfrid]

Yankees making assertive noises. He'll play left field and he'll bat down the order.

[tighe]

Maybe Ichiro can play some 3B.