With nothing amazing on the horizon, this post will be twofold: a quick rundown of some news and numbers, and as an open discussion thread.
John Kruk recently stated that if the D'Backs win the NL West Craig Counsell should be the MVP...I'm not sure if this beats his Chone Figgins idea of last year, but let's take a look at some numbers anyways:
VORP Leaders
- Derrek Lee 57.6
- Bobby Abreu 42.1
- Brian Roberts 41.8
- Miguel Tejada 41.5
- Alex Rodriguez 40.7
- Albert Pujols 38.7
- Carlos Delgado 37.1
- Jason Bay 32.5
- Miguel Cabrera 30.8
- Nick Johnson 30.5
42. Craig Counsell 20.5
There are a few players in front of him on the list. Obviously only the NL players apply for this award; he is ranked 25th in VORP among NL Players, and behind teammates Troy Glaus, Tony Clark, and Luis Gonzalez. Oh Kruk...when will you ever research something? Just once, please. Also...
Nook Logan
.297/.328/.380
AB: 192
HR: 1
2B: 9
3B: 2
SB: 14/17
BB: 9
SecAvg: .188
Iso: .083
EqA: .275
VORP: 6.6
FRAA: 2
Rate: 104
Curtis Granderson (AAA)
.282/.348/.443
AB: 262
HR: 6
2B: 18
3B: 3
SB: 11/16
BB: 25
SecAvg: .277
Iso: .161
Logan is not that special with the bat and his defense is not outstanding enough to make up for it. Granderson on the other hand would more likely help the club more than what I am seeing to be offensively an Alex Sanchez clone (albeit with better base stealing). I hope Logan isn't even on the roster (or is just a pinch runner) by the time this team is a playoff contender.
And finally, Pedro Martinez lost for the first time in his career to the Seattle Mariners. This was something I was hoping he could escape by going to the National League again, but alas, I was wrong. Let's look at his career line against Seattle in 14 games:
W-L: 13-1
IP: 103.0
ERA: 1.57
WHIP: 0.85
K/BB: 137/25 (5.48)
K/9: 11.97
BB/9: 2.18
HR/9: .524
H/9: 5.50
With at least 100 innings pitched that has to be one of the top career lines of all-time against any one team. Of course someone could always check up on that to prove me right or wrong.
Open Discussion Thread time!
Whatever topic you want is fine of course, but let me get you started. Best free agent signing so far as far as value per dollar is concerned, and where you think the rest of the contract will head as far as performance goes.