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Around SBN: A Look At Strikeout Rates By Pitch Type


Opinoins on Most Overrated and Underrated Free Agents!

Most Overrated:  Mark Teixeira  don't know why I say this, just don't like the guy, he had great numbers in 08 but don't like him.  I feel like he only played that well because it was a contract year and he's been on record as saying he'll play for whoever pays the best.

Most Underrated:  Raul Ibanez, I had to live in the Seattle area for 3 years and going to watch Raul was one of the only cool things to do in that state...its unfortunate he was never a part of Cardinal Nation, I think he would've been a fan favorite.  The Philles picked him up for probably the rest of his career, he's startin to get up there in years.

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The MooCow Says..

Moost overrated: I almoost said Orlando Hudson, but it has to go to Oliver Perez, who’s frightening, roller-coaster-like performances start-to-start remind this cow of Busch Garden’s Loch Ness Monster: massive ups and stomach-churning downs. He walks too many, gives up too many dingers, hits too many batters, and tosses a lot of wild pitches. Because of his high walks his career WHIP is almoost 1.5. But, when his head is screwed on straight, he is capable of cowpletely shutting down the opposition. Thing is, you have to hope that the planets are aligned just right, that the moon is hovering in the house of Jupiter, and that the sheep entrails are just right. He is just too risky, IMO, to trust in anything beyond a one year contract. Someone, moost likely the Mets, will give him a moolti-year cowtract and suffer moore headaches than triumphs because of it. One thing to remember: he is still fairly young (27) so he still has ceiling.

Moost under-rated: I gotta agree with Ibanez, although Randy Wolf comes close. Ibanez was a ‘late bloomer’, so even though he’s 36 he’s playing about 3-4 years younger than he really is. he is cowsistantly in the .290/.350/480 range, giving you lots of HRs and doubles and driving in runs. Yes, his defense in the outfield is far from stellar, although he did play an adequate 1B for a time (he even played 3B once!). Aside from a sub-par defense, Ibanez gives you what you need from a corner OF who can also play 1B, and can do so at a decent price (these days). If I were the Giants I would have signed him to play first.

:=8)

by The MooCow on Dec 15, 2008 9:39 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Re: Ibanez

One, he’s a corner outfielder, meaning he has to hit pretty well just to be valuable at a bat-heavy position. Two, like you mentioned, he’s bad at the whole fielding thing. When you put it all together he’s worse than a league-average player. There’s more to baseball than hitting.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Dec 15, 2008 6:28 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Put Him at First...

…or DH in AL, and you’ve a decent player. Even so, a “worse than league average player”??? League average has moore production than his bat? Sorry, I just don’t see it…
:=8/

by The MooCow on Dec 16, 2008 11:01 AM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Underrated

is some coombination of Dunn/Burrell-the Dodgers or Giants ought to pick one of them up.

Overrated would have to be A. J. Burnett. There is no way the Yankees don’t regret that contract sometime during the next 5 years.

Blake to the Dodgers could turn into a disaster too.

Best high/risk high/reward move is Wood to the Indians. The Indians could do that because they have only one other dumb contract-of course, it’s a long one with Travis Hafner…..

She isn't crazy, she's just not impressed.

by jillsinmo on Dec 15, 2008 9:54 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Interesting subject...

Overrated- I’ll have to go with Orlando Hudson. I was a big fan of the O-Dog a couple of years back, but he looks like the second baseman’s despair (turning 30), is beginning to catch up with him, as his offensive numbers have been pedestrian if you adjust for park, his defense looks to have regressed, and wrist injuries can do bad things to a players’ bat speed. (See our own Juan Encarnacion for details.) People still fawn over Hudson, though; I think it’s definitely one of those cases where everyone thinks he’s still the player he was a couple of seasons back.

Underrated: Ben Sheets. How many times do I have to stump for this guy before someone, anyone, listens?!!?! Look, I know he gets hurt a lot. So does A.J. Burnett, and he just got five years and 80 mil from the Yanks. I think Sheets is probably the second best FA pitcher on the market this year, and yet he’s strictly been back-burner so far. Very puzzling, to me, at least.

It was half my fault, and half the atmosphere.

by the red baron on Dec 15, 2008 12:36 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Yeah, the way Sheets is getting treated this offseason is baffling.

I’m actually starting to gt mad that the cardinalshaven’t made an offer the way that things are playing out.

But then again, maybe they have.

They say that it's never too late, but you don't get any younger...

by Valatan on Dec 15, 2008 4:57 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Oh, also,

you should really look at Texeira’s career numbers again. He’s a pretty damned good player, on both sides of the ball. As for the whole ‘playing where they’re paying’ thing, eh, at least he’s honest about it.

It was half my fault, and half the atmosphere.

by the red baron on Dec 15, 2008 12:37 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Oh Yeah...

…outside of Pujols, I’d love to have Texe on my team: he bangs and brings the leather. As for Sheets, I think he’d be an awesome 2 year pick-up, but beyond that he is risky because of his injury history. No GM wants to be the next to sign a Mulder or Zito. That being said, Sheets is everything that Burnett is, without the need for a 5 year deal, so I too am puzzled. I wish the Cards would snag him!
:=8/

by The MooCow on Dec 15, 2008 12:57 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Disagree

Mark Teixeira is an outstanding player. He gets on base, he has power from both sides of the plate, he is a great fielder, and he seems like a good guy. I mean, a 134 career OPS+ is nothing to spit at, and his combined VORP last year was 65.3 between the two leagues, which ranks third amongst 1Bmen. He was the Angels best player once he was traded, hitting 13 bombs and posting a 1.081 OPS. He would be the best player on any team he signed with, minus the Cardinals and maybe the Yankees. Furthermore, I don’t see the fact that he wants the most money as a bad thing. Wouldn’t you?

Raul Ibanez, on the other hand, is merely okay. He’s a decent bat who will post about the same numbers every year. However, he’s getting quite old (36) and has never been any kind of decent fielder. The Phillies were foolish for signing him when they could have just arby’d Pat the Bat…Neither can field, but Burrell is a better offensive player and is younger.

I think Hudson may indeed be the most overrated. The guy has a reputation as a good infielder, but over the past two years he hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire. He made a ton of OOZ plays in ‘07, but his RZR wasn’t very good either of the past two years and his UZR has been negative three years straight. With his wrist issues I have doubts about his ability to bounce back offensively. He smells like a lemon to me.

Underrated? Well, I think I have to agree with theredbaron on this one as well…it’s gotta be Sheets. The dude can flat out pitch. Period. When he’s healthy, he’s nasty. Of course he’ll probably miss some time here and there. However, this only drives his price down, so the team that takes him will get an elite-level arm at a bargain price. I’d still imagine he’ll be able to throw 160-80 innings this season, and what a marvelous 160-80 innings it would be.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Dec 15, 2008 1:01 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

More on Ibanez

This is what FanGraphs has to say about the dude, and it pretty much supports what I said.

Linky.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Dec 15, 2008 1:03 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Overrated – Fuentes. I hate FA valuation of closers.

Underrated — Furcal. Average offense and average defense at SS is more valuable than most realize.

by azruavatar on Dec 15, 2008 1:17 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

underrated:

Dunn and Sheets

this line is dedicated to '09

by Cards Fan in Chitown on Dec 15, 2008 4:17 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Overrated:

Fuentes.

Underrated: Randy Johnson/Oliver Perez

Sadly, we’re headed toward signing the first and neither of the latter…

by guayzimi on Dec 15, 2008 6:44 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

WOW.

He looks worse than Chris Duncan. Not saying he is worse, but that is some ugly, ugly baseball.

Love the pitcher reaction in the last one.

by spants on Dec 15, 2008 9:10 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

He is worse

Duncan has more footspeed, and UZR has him at about a -7, where as Ibanez has been a -23, and a -11 the last two seasons.

by JI on Dec 15, 2008 9:17 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Sweet mother

of all that is holy and good! He is fucking TERRIBLE!

by spants on Dec 15, 2008 9:30 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW

Those are three of the funniest baseball videos I’ve seen, particulary the last two. That throw in the middle one is even worse than Ray Lankford’s throw into the stands a few years back. I wish I could find video on that one, but it was quite hilarious.

However, the one in the middle may actually be the worst throw ever.

I love King Felix’s reaction shot.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Dec 16, 2008 2:33 PM EST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Most overrated

is every single closer on the free agent market. I guarantee that if Chris Perez gets a shot to close this year he will be within 5 saves of K-rod, with very similar peripheral numbers (high walks, high strikeouts, low hits).

I think though that Fuentes is underrated compared to other closers. According the this article, Fuentes was the 5th best reliever in baseball last year. If you take the leverage of the situation into consideration, he was the 2nd best.

Most underrated is Adam Dunn. How can a guy with with 5 straight seasons of 40+homers and 100++ walks and a career .899 OPS not be considered better than Ibanez, Burrel or Abreu. He is the most consistent player in the majors right now, not including Pujols.

by vivaelpujols on Dec 15, 2008 10:40 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Jon Garland is pretty overrated

Hudson too

I like Randy Johnson and Sheets as most underrated.

Hyperventilating prospect geek @ Future Redbirds.net

by erik on Dec 16, 2008 1:46 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

overrated; burnett who only pitches to his potential in contract years

underrated; lowe, who is more dependable and a more consistent pitcher than burnett.

i’d like to see the cards make a big push to sign lowe. he would solidify the rotation and is a made for duncan ground ball pitcher. he doesn’t want to take a pay cut so i’d offer two years at 16 with an option or three at 15. then trade to fill in bullpen.

victim of the sixties

by victim of the sixties on Dec 16, 2008 5:35 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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