I Think I Offended Juan Pierre

by Satchel Price on Aug 20, 2010 4:57 PM EDT

Because after I mocked how little value he, among others, was providing relative to the strength of his stolen base total, he decided to absolutely turn it on. In the past five games since I put up that FanShot, Pierre has batted 11-for-21 (all singles, of course) with 2 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches and 4 steals without getting caught. He's gotten on base 60% of the time since my apparently offensive snarkiness.

I've been critical of the Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox before for insisting that Pierre bat lead-off, but with his OBP up to .349 and a league-leading 48 steals at a solid 77% success rate, maybe the criticism wasn't totally warranted. Factoring in the 9.7 UZR only helps things, as even with a complete lack of power Pierre is still proving to be a solid contributor.

I mean, my critical thoughts certainly were warranted at the end of April (.260 OBP), or even as recently as July 26 (.320 OBP). But since May 2, the recently-turned 33-year-old has batted .298/.370/.347 while going 39-for-50 in steals, while providing above-average defense. Not too shabby, I say.

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It's okay

Juan Pierre offended you first.

by vivaelpujols on Aug 20, 2010 5:09 PM EDT reply actions

Juan Pierre gets a bad rap.

He doesn’t hit for power at all, and he rarely walks, yet he’s been worth 22.4 wins over his 11 year career, an average of 2.03 WAR. He’s not someone who will set the world on fire, but he’s not a bad player.

www.stealingfirstbase.com

by Nate Rose on Aug 21, 2010 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

Maybe a little, but his performance has always been tied to his batting average and walk rate

So in those years when his BABIP wasn’t high or his walk rate was dipping below 5%, he wasn’t really an effective hitter.

He provided some good defensive value back in the day, and he still does now albeit at a less valuable position. But in the last six years, he’s been an above-average hitter exactly once. Doesn’t sound to me like a guy that’s worth getting too excited about.

The fact of the matter is that he’s a useful player, but people get on him a lot because he’s paid to be more than that.

I like baseball.
I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Aug 21, 2010 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions