A simple game, a Saturday-before-Xmas parlor trick...
Behold the '24 Yankee leaderboard in On Base Percentage, minus the dearly departed legion of the lost. Our roster sports three with OBPs above .300, which - frankly - ain't much. Not listed is the newcomer, Cody Bellinger, at .325.
Basically, opposing teams last year did their best to pitch around Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Now that Soto is gone, it's a long, steep drop in putting runners on base.
I look at these ghastly numbers and wanna puke. WTF? How is it that Anthony Volpe could not grind out an OBP above - at least - .300? Did anyone ever coach him to bunt? (As Soto did, now and then?) Did anyone coach him to grind, to work the count, to bleed the pitcher? If Volpe added 40 walks to his season, he might steal another 15 bases.
Then there is DJ LeMahieu, the man known for his fundamentals. Dear God...
How does anybody feel the Yankees last year were well managed? They were a team that chased HRs, that's all.
Wanna see what a championship team looks like? Here's the OBP of the 2009 Yankees, along with games played.
Eleven batters with OBPs above .325. And this was not one of history's greatest teams. They were just willing to grind.
Listen: The 2025 Yankees don't need another HR masher. They need pests. They need walks. They need runners on base. They need a Brett Gardner, a Bobby Richardson, a Mickey Rivers.
MEANWHILE... Jose Trevino has been traded. A Yankee overachiever, he never seemed to recover from that midseason undressing, when the Redsocks ran wild, exploiting his creaky throws to second. Another bullpen arm. Hey, ya never know...
Good luck, Jose.
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18 comments:
Trevino is gone and we got a mid-30s relief pitcher who had a 4.59 ERA last year. When he does get guys out, though, they whiff a lot of times.
Scuttlebutt is that Cashman is looking hard at Goldschmidt, who is 37 and supposedly wants a multi-year deal.
We still have Stroman and Rodent.
I don't have a very warm, fuzzy feeling about this stuff.
Comparing the OBP was very telling. The lack of understanding of fundamental baseball throughout this organization is astounding. I suppose this means we will sign Santander, another HR or bust guy with the added attraction of being unable to field or run. He’ll fit right in.
This was a small salary dump, nothing more. Doubtful either one of one of these players we obtained lasts the year.. No to Goldschmidt, we have enough past their prime “stars”.
El Duque, please email these stats to Brian Cashman. Maybe they'll hire you as another special assistant to the GM. You'd think that Cashman understands this.....but he doesn't. Perhaps analytics no longer cares about getting on base.
In any event, BTR hit the nail on the head and is echoing what most here have been pulling out their hair over for years:lack of fundementals taught and competent coaches at every level. I can almost see Cashman fiddling while his team is burning.
Of course Hal is doing a small salary dump this week. It's Christmas bonus time!
I had expected to see Stanton on the 2009 list. Seems he's been around forever and will be, much like Arod...
I wanted Goldy...like 7 years ago. It's like when we got Ichiro or Irod or at least a dozen other players I could name, far too late. And yet the Yanks keeps doing it over and over. Definition of insanity.
When you look at it side by side it really shows how the game has changed for the worse.
Doug....do you think it's baseball in general or the Yankees in particular? I guess one would have to take the time to do research over a 20+ year period. I'd volunteer, but my time is taken up by spiked eggnog consumption, gummy bear ingestion and holiday fatigue.
Incredible, Peerless! And so indicative. And yes, analytics is SUPPOSED to be about getting on base, as well as slugging. I guess that's out the door. Which is a lot of what I've been writing about here recently: the Yanks don't even do what they say they're doing. They just don't care.
Goldschmidt it 'tis.
Your new 1B-man:
Per Jeff Passan:
“ First baseman Paul Goldschmidt and the New York Yankees are in agreement on a one-year, $12.5 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Goldschmidt adds a strong veteran bat to deepen the Yankees’ lineup. First on the news was @JackCurryYES.”
Could the team possibly get any older and slower?
RIP Rickey
Best baseball player I ever saw.
RIP, Rickey Henderson. Your Game may never be seen again. Prayers for his family. Rickey looked like he would still be playing in softball leagues at age 100 with the ability to outrun most men in their thirties.
That OBP comparison is starling, but the roster construction in 2009 is interesting. Five of the top seven OBP from ’09 were FA signings.
As for the Yankees moves this off-season. I'm not going to knock them for not getting Soto. One player does not make for a great, or even good team. See Mike Trout. But man, I think that I speak for everyone here; what has the GM been thinking all these years? How can a team fail to develop even a first baseman in their organization? Afterall, "they're EASY to find". Well, I'll follow them with interest for awhile, but I can find other things to do if they tank. Getting to old to piss my time away with sports.
RIP Rickey. A one of a kind.
Yeah, Henderson was incredible—and incredible they could not win even a division with him, Mattingly, and Winfield in the same lineup,
Also, that 2009 team? Jose Molina would've had a much higher OBP, too, if he could have just got his weight under 500 pounds.
Poor pitching, Hoss. Late Gator, Rags, and very little else.
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