Kevin, what do you think Hellickson's ceiling is now? Obviously the performance is fantastic, and every Rays fan loves him, but is James Shields a fair comp? Not in terms of style, but in terms of major league production.
Arm aside, Varitek's been productive with the bat this year. His contributions framing pitches (which, if you believe certain pitch/fx studies, can have a huge factor) and with the stick are more than enough to make up for his throwing problems over 160 games... though in a short series against the Rays, the Sox will always have issues.
I agree with you offensively about Navarro vs Jaso - whatever offensive upgrade Jaso (who has solid career minor league numbers) would present will likely be negated by a 2007-esque hot 2nd half bat from Dioner. However, the defensive statement is wrong. He hasn't thrown people out with the same vigor as last season (though you can credit Jeff Niemann with some of that), but there have been way too many sloppy moments behind the plate for Dioner this year. Even if Jaso's a butcher, he can't get much worse than Navarro's been.
This is a wonderful comment and I have to wonder how much this has to do with guys like Nate Silver moving on to other projects. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a daily BP reader - but as far as advanced metrics and accurate performance analysis go, it's way behind the curve now and that's a shame. Sheehan, Carroll, Goldstein, and everyone else are fine writers... but exploring the metrics are this site is not only a waste of time, it's time consuming and clumsy as well. Considering we've really seen how massive a factor defensive performance in baseball is, it's a complete catastrophe that Baseball Prospectus can't keep up or at least challenge UZR and the Fielding Bible.
Also, please give Marc more work to do beyond Fantasy stuff.
Andruw Jones 2008 UZR: -0.03
Marlon Byrd 2008 UZR: 1.8
As of right now, Jones has 0.04 rating in LF and Byrd has a -2.0 in CF... but, small sample size alert right there.
Most Rays fans are in agreement that Kaz is probably going to get dealt at some point, but right now or at the deadline doesn't really make sense. As wonderful as David Price is, Kaz is going to give us (well, not me, but the Rays) a really good chance to win a pennant this year and flags fly forever. Yes, he has a high risk profile and yes, his arm could fall off at some point this year, but flags fly forever.
Also, like some of the other comments have noted, you're kind of under selling Kaz's effectiveness.
As for Percy, it's shame that Maddon is too loyal. He understands the concept of high leverage relievers instead of closers... hell, when he first arrived, he used the phrase "amorphic bullpen". Hopefully he has a shorter leash with Percival than he did last year. If he doesn't or Friedman doesn't issue an ultimatum (or better yet, take the sunk cost and DFA Percy), it could cost the Rays October.
For the sake of argument, weren't most scouts convinced Delmon Young was going to be an impact player, not a singles hitter with no walks, no power, and no defense?
Not saying David Price is Delmon Young by any means, but he DOES have some issues locating consistently. It was pretty obvious in spring training and you could even make a case that some of his strikeouts against the Sox in the ALCS were not exactly on the spot either. Also, the Rays aren't thinking in terms of "What is our best 25 man roster" but "What is our best 30-35 man roster in the event of injury?" Depth at a major league and minor league level last year was a HUGE reason why the Rays beat out the Sox and the Yanks. In a race that's going to be as tight as it looks, that will probably be the case again... that and everyone from the 2008 roster should be even better than they were last year. Having Hammel and Niemann at the major league level and Price in the minors for a month allows the Rays to prepare for any possible injury scenarios (like say, Garza or Kazmir getting injured, which are distinct possibilities.)
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