MLB - 2006 Season! Continued!

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Why would you stunt his development? He'd play the same time as he is, but just all around the diamond instead of just at 2B. Like Frank Catalanotto did a few years back.

?

Where is he going to play? He cannot play SS. AFAIK, he cannot play 3B. 1B? The OF is crowded as it is.

Soriano is a liability at 2B. If you sign him, you sign him for his bat and use him in the OF, where he is an asset.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
You're going to bring the O-Dog at me?

Hudson is a great defender. But only a few posts ago you asserted that Cano's superior defense (vis a vis Soriano) didn't close a gap in the hitting department. Cano out-hits Hudson by a lot... more than Sori outhits Cano.

Hudson is a far better defender than Cano than Cano is over Soriano. In fielding WS, Hudson was tied for the second best defensive 2B in the majors (behind Mark Ellis of Oakland) along with Mark Loretta of Boston. That elevates him by a decent amount even though his hitting is not so good. Though this year he is hitting far better than he has in the past. Arizona seems to agree with him more than Toronto.

Cano had one injury, Imran. I think it's a tad early to dock him as an injury prone player. Ditto in the reverse for Uggla, a rookie. Uggla might develop and become a better player. Or he might get hurt next year. We don't know. What we know is what he did this year. Runs created per game equal to Cano? How does that work when Cano has the higher average, OBP and SLG? That strikes me as impossible.

The Hardball Times uses a RC formula that does the basic OBP*TB but adjusts it for RISP and park effects. Florida is almost as bad a pitcher's park as Washington is. And Yankee Stadium is a hitter's park (according to baseball-reference.com).

Take a look:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats//main/player/index.php?lastName=Uggla&firstName=D

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats//main/player/index.php?lastName=Cano&firstName=R

Uggla also has not had major injuries in the minors. Cano may not be injury prone, but it was a fairly serious injury and about 200 extra PAs have to count for something. Can't just cast them aside.

Durham had a great year, certainly. How old is he, though? And I mentioned him. He and Utley out-played Cano this year. That's two. I dispute Uggla and laugh at Hudson (not really laugh at him - Hudson's a good player, but he's not as good as Cano).

Would you prefer Kent? I didn't mention him because he had only 473 PAs which is pretty low. Sure his OPS is less than Cano's, but his RC/G is a phenomenal 7.5. Probably partly as a result of a .385 OBP (even though his SLG has gone down significantly from last season), which is higher than Cano's.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
Where is he going to play? He cannot play SS. AFAIK, he cannot play 3B. 1B? The OF is crowded as it is.

Soriano is a liability at 2B. If you sign him, you sign him for his bat and use him in the OF, where he is an asset.

And who are you really going to move from the OF? If Matsui could do 1B, they'd have done it already and have Abreau, Damon, and Sheffield in the OF and Giambi as DH. A-Rod never played 3B before coming to New York, Cano can learn other positions and share time with Soriano, because Soriano is going to want to play some 2B.

I mean Soriano was almost a Yankee this season at the trade deadline, but the Nats wanted Philip Hughes and the Yanks balked, realizing they could go after him during the offseason and not deal away a prized arm.

[Arrian]

Ah, but since then they've gotten Bobby Abreu, a superior player. The need for another bat is now MUCH less. The upgrade from "some guy" (Ghost of Bernie, Kevin Thompson, Terrance F'in Long) in RF to Sori or Abreu was huge. The upgrade from ____ to Sori (___ = anyone on the team now) is not that big.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
Noone, which is why I don't think Sori fits for the Yanks. The end.

-Arrian

Yeah, because it really stopped the Yankees from getting A-Rod because Jeter was already occupying SS! They'll move someone around.

[Arrian]

The Yankees had a huge ... HUGE... hole at 3B.

So ARod made a lot of sense. Where is the hole now?

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
Ah, but since then they've gotten Bobby Abreu, a superior player. The need for another bat is now MUCH less. The upgrade from "some guy" (Ghost of Bernie, Kevin Thompson, Terrance F'in Long) in RF to Sori or Abreu was huge. The upgrade from ____ to Sori (___ = anyone on the team now) is not that big.

-Arrian

Abreu basically took over for Matsui for the few months he was injured. Now Matsui is back so it wasn't necessarily an upgrade from "some guy", because the team knew Matsui was coming back. What hole did he really fill? A temporary replacement for Matsui? The cost is a bit steep for that. No, they got him because he was another big bat and they'd make room for him.

[Arrian]

No, Abreu replaced Sheffield. Melky subbed for Matsui.

Trust me: I know my Yankees better than you do. Just as I would expect you know the Mets better than I.

Abreu for Sheff made sense in several ways:

1) They lost BOTH corner OFers and were uncertain about what they would get from them upon their return. They could win the division with one of those guys down, but not both (at least until Boston collapsed under their own injuries).

2) Sheff's contact is up this year. Abreu is a perfect replacement. Younger, better fielder, better baserunner, better OBP, lefty. Bingo. You plug him in and left Sheff walk.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Arrian
The Yankees had a huge ... HUGE... hole at 3B.

So ARod made a lot of sense. Where is the hole now?

-Arrian

They needed a 3B... so they got a Shortstop. Yes, they moved him, but that just shows the Yanks are willing to move players around the diamond to get the big boppers.

As for getting a replacement for letting Sheffield walk, that is what free agency is for. No other team deals for a big salary player to replace another big salary player while he's injured for a few months, except for the Yankees, who have no problems with overlapping players and moving people around.

[Ming]

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