Silver Sluggers (Again, No Cards)
by stl tyler on Nov 10, 2007 6:29 AM EST
13 comments
AMERICAN LEAGUE AL
C Jorge Posada, NYY
1B Carlos Pena, TB
2B Placido Polanco, DET
3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY
SS Derek Jeter, NYY
OF Vladimir Guerrero, LAA
OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
OF Magglio Ordonez, DET
DH David Ortiz, BOS
NATIONAL LEAGUE NL
C Russell Martin, LAD
1B Prince Fielder, MIL
2B Chase Utley, PHI
3B David Wright, NYM
SS Jimmy Rollins, PHI
OF Carlos Beltran, NYM
OF Matt Holliday, COL
OF Carlos Lee, HOU
P Micah Owings, ARI
But hey, one former Card. Congratulations to Polanco. It's hard to be upset about these as opposed to the Gold Gloves, the only players who could really be argued for here are Pujols and Wainwright. Wainwright had a pretty great offensive year for a pitcher, but Owings was retarded good. I'd argue that Pujols was a more complete hitter than Fielder (nice sub-.300 average, chubs), but it's not called the silver SLUGGER for naught.
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Ah well...
by mynameistyler on Nov 10, 2007 12:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Rollins
by Dave Barry on Nov 10, 2007 12:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I skipped over that thought
I'm not entirely sure how the Silver Slugger awards are determined, but playing for Floria may have hurt Hanley's chances. Everyone except Pena and C Lee play on a team that was contending for a playoff spot. Hanley over Rollins is a more glaring mistake than Fielder over Pujols, which could be debatable. Fielder did have a better slugging and OPS than Pujols, it's just his average was considerably lower. I'm too lazy to look this up at the moment- haven't had my coffee yet-but looking it over I'd guess that Fielder had the lowest average of any of the recipients with the possible exception of Owings.
by stl tyler on Nov 10, 2007 2:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Post Coffee
Batting Lines and HRs for Award Winners:
C Russell Martin, LAD .293/.374/.469 19HR
1b Prince Fielder, MIL .288/.395/.618 55HR
2b Chase Utley, PHI .332/.410/.566 22HR
3b David Wright, NYM .325/.416/.546 30HR
SS Jimmy Rollins, PHI .296/.345/.531 30HR
OF Carlos Beltran, NYM .276/.353/.525 33HR
OF Matt Holliday, COL .340/.405/.607 36HR
OF Carlos Lee, HOU .303/.354/.528 32HR
P Micah Owings, ARI .333/.329/.683 4HR
The lowest average was Beltran, with .276. The lowest slugging was Martin, but his was still far superior as it relates to catchers, so I'm going to raise the cut off to a clean .500. Parameters set.
Batting Lines and HRs for Non-Award Winners
with >.276 AVG and >.500 SLG:
SS Hanley Ramirez, FLA .332/.386/.562 29HR
1b Albert Pujols, STL .327/.429/.568 32HR
1b Derrick Lee, CHN .318/.400/.513 22HR
1b Adrian Gonzales, SD .282/.347/.502 30HR
1b Lance Berkman, HOU .278/.386/.510 34HR
3b Chipper Jones, ATL .337/.425/.604 29HR
3b Miguel Cabrera, FLA .320/.401/.565 34HR
3b Aramis Ramirez, CHN .310/.366/.549 26HR
OF Aaron Rowand, PHI .309/.374/.515 27HR
OF Alfonso Soriano, CHN .299/.337/.560 33HR
OF Corey Hart, MIL .295/.353/.539 24HR
OF Brad Hawpe, COL .291/.387/.539 33HR
Martin, Utley, and Owings are clearly in a class all their own, no other hitters at their positions came near to their levels of production. Wainwright isn't too far off in the pitching category, and almost certainly would have won if Micah Owings hadn't pulled his best Rick Ankiel impersonation. Looking at his line versus that of the rest of the run-starved Diamonbacks, it would almost make sense for them to stick him in the outfield. Wagonmaker gets the last laugh though--he's vastly superior at the primary aspect of their job.
As I said above, when I woke up today I wasn't entirely sure how the Silver Sluggers were determined. Never having given it much thought, I kind of always assumed they went to the best batting average at each position, but as it turns out coaches and managers vote on them, same as the Gold Glove. Coaches aren't allowed to vote for their own players. The award is intended for the "best overall offensive producer" at each position in each league, and power bats tend to dominate the award (see Suzuki, Ichiro).
Shortstops Jimmy Rollins, the actual winner, and Hanley Ramirez, were the only NL shortstops with a .300+ average and .500+ slugging. Rollins hit 30 home runs, Ramirez 29. Ramirez had a higher average, a higher OBP, and a higher SLG percentage. Ramirez was flat out robbed, there is no way you could possibly argue that one home run is worth the difference in their batting lines.
First baseman Prince Fielder has the distinction of being the NL home run leader, which I would imagine won him the award flat out. His slugging is considerably higher than the other qualifying first baggers, but Albert Pujols and Derrick Lee both hit for a better average by a considerable amount, and had better OBP. In the end I think both are more well rounded hitters than Fielder, but am willing to accept Fielder as the rightful winner of the Silver Slugger by merit of being the home run leader.
Third base is a little tricker. Cabrera hit 4 more home runs than Wright, and slugged about .020 points higher. Wright has a better average and on base percentage, but by a very slim margin. Chipper Jones, had 1 less home run than Wright and 5 less than Cabrera, but let in all three batting line categories. The home runs are close enough to be a wash, I think Chipper Jones deserves the award here.
On to the outfield. Matt Holiday is the clear leader of the pack, and Carlos Lee appears to be deserving also. I have some issue with Beltran. As much as I hate to give a leg up to a Cub, Soriano clearly outperformed him with the stick--as did Rockies post-season dud Brad Hawpe.
It's certainly possible that the voters consider stats beyond the batting line and home runs, but I think that's pretty indicative of a hitter's overall production, certainly more so than RBIs, which I have a feeling probably enters into the voter's mind in many cases.
My biggest complaint about this and the Gold Gloves is that the voting is imperfect. It becomes something of a popularity contest. All the voters know that Jimmy Rollins is an MVP candidate, and there's a clear possibility that they may have overlooked Ramirez's performance because he was less-hyped. The same could be said for David Wright, who was also out-performed by a player who hits balls out of a mostly empty stadium. And there's no need to extrapolate on Jeter's Gold Glove shelf. One of the great things about baseball the abundant and readily available statistics that could grant these awards without room for human error. Add AVG, OBP, and SLG together, assign a value--let's say .010--per home run, and there's your winner, no room for argument.
by stl tyler on Nov 10, 2007 4:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
d'oh
Should read:
The award is intended for the "best overall offensive producer" at each position in each league, and power bats tend to dominate the award, but there are exceptions to that rule (see Suzuki, Ichiro). I don't think anyone would ever mistake Ichiro for a power bat.
by stl tyler on Nov 10, 2007 5:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Honestly...
by mynameistyler on Nov 10, 2007 3:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I thought the highest batting average per
by Red Blazer on Nov 10, 2007 3:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
The voters must add in some bias
by Birds on the Bat on Nov 10, 2007 5:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Makes sense to me...
by Red Blazer on Nov 10, 2007 7:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Legal question for those inclined:
http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/sports-bird-land/2007/11/bracing-for-a-bombshell/
"It's a very good question, and I'm not sure we'll know the answer until it happens," Mozeliak said. "You could look at a player and start speculating either way. You could arguably get into a situation where you say you'll wait to see on a player because you suspect, but then you don't do anything. And by the time the (Mitchell report) comes out it's too late to address your needs. I don't know how it will affect things."
The question is this: While trades based upon an exchange of players under contract may not require an endorsement of the players themselves, a new contract made with a Free Agent does. Is it not therefore possible for the club issuing a new contract to request the free agent acknowledge if they have been interviewed by Mitchell, or ever used drugs that are presently listed as against the rules? Furthermore stipulating that if the player is subsequently suspended for drug use that their salary would be suspended as well?
Such a contract element could actually make the free agent market safer than trade.
by Birds on the Bat on Nov 10, 2007 5:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Concerning legality, no idea
It's gotten to the point that I don't care about the Mitchell report. We as fans all need to realize that almost everybody was on the stuff at some point or another. That doesn't make it ok, but it does make it incredibly unfair to the players who are singled out. What Selig needs to do it step up and say "You know what? I fucked this whole thing up." He ignored the problem and it became an epidemic. I really think the players, from Bonds to Ankiel, Canseco to Byrd, and all the players in the Mitchell report should be given a clean slate. If you used steroids in the past, the voters will probably keep you out of the hall, but no suspensions, no fines, and we'll acknowledge it as a stain on baseball that was widespread. But if you're caught tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next season, there should be fines and suspensions, and in certain cases (say a repeat offense) I think a team should be able to drop your contract.
It will be interesting to see how Selig handles the Mitchell report as it pertains to current free agents.
by stl tyler on Nov 10, 2007 6:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Wright close, but not right...
Found it interesting that the Red Sox only landed a DH on the list vs. the Yanks with 3 position players. Lowell musy be wondering what he has to do, other than hoping Rod lands in the NL if he stays in Boston next season.
Mitchell is the Grand Inquisitor, MLB history is going to remember him as a different version of Canseco in a suit and tie.
by cardschinmusic on Nov 11, 2007 6:56 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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