Bluebird Links and Yunel Escobar Love
by masterkembo on Jun 6, 2011 10:37 AM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Links
Email
PrintAfter Yunel's big homerun yesterday, I thought it was time to give him a bit of love, in a similar fashion to what I did for JPA a couple of weeks ago. FanGraphs isn't a big fan of his D, or his baserunning overall so far this year, but hitting wise, Yunel is among the best in baseball at SS (4th in wRC+) and since he came into the league, he's 6th overall in the league among SS (5th if you don't count Michael Young). We have one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball right now, let's enjoy Yunel's bat!
| Player | 2011 wRC+ | wRC+ (since 2007) |
| Hanley Ramirez | 72 | 139 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 111 | 117 |
| Jose Reyes | 151 | 116 |
| Derek Jeter | 83 | 113 |
| Michael Young | 124 | 110 |
| Yunel Escobar | 128 | 108 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 102 | 105 |
| Jason Bartlett | 93 | 101 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 149 | 100 |
| J. J. Hardy | 111 | 98 |
Lots of draft related links after the jump. Any predictions for tonight?
Jays Links
Six Blue Jays Selected as All-Stars
For the Florida State League All-Star Game. Deck McGuire, Nestor Molina, Was Etheridge, AJ Jimenez, Brad Glenn and Justin Jackson all get the nod.
Tar Heel for the Jays?
Bob Elliot writes about tonight's amateur draft.
Picking 21st in MLB draft a ‘crapshoot’ for Jays
Robert Macleod of the Globe also has some notes on the draft.
Zach Stewart Interview, June 2011
I'm not sure if anyone watches these, but I'll keep linking them just in case!
After the contest, I spoke with the 6-foot-2-inch tall 205-pound Stewart, who was acquired from Cincinnati as part of the 2009 Scott Rolen trade, about his ups and downs, his potential to change roles as he advances toward higher levels, his pitches and plenty more.
1BlueJaysWay has another interview, with Henderson Alverez.
An Interview with Darold Knowles, Dunedin Pitching Coach
Batters Box has a great (written) interview, where the Dunedin pitching coach discusses the five Dunedin starting pitchers.
Jays had head start on Jose
Ex Jays scout, Mike Berger remembers how the Bautista trade unfolded. And in a point completely unrelated to the main article:
Roy Halladay has pitched at least six innings in 60 consecutive road starts, the longest streak of six-plus outings on the road since Walter Johnson posted 82 straight from 1911-15
2/5 Farm Report
The Southpaw updates the top performers and disappointments in the minors at the 40% mark.
Patterson settling into No. 2 slot in lineup
Blue Jays left fielder Corey Patterson has found a home batting second in the order. Manager John Farrell has continually kept him in that spot, and Patterson has responded by having one of his finest seasons as a Major Leaguer.
Around the League
AL East Mock Draft
Thanks to Minor League Ball. I don't know any of these guys, but John Sickels seems to like it.
Oakland's Josh Outman Tops List Of Great Pitcher Names
Rob Neyer gives us the top 10 pitcher names in baseball.
2011: The year that evil became stupid?
Chris gives us his annual look at add-on fees to MLB tickets. The Jays have the 5th highest add-on fees of all MLB teams. And in 2007, they had one of the lowest fees in baseball. Interesting stuff.
Posey sure to recover, but thanks to Sabean, Cousins probably won't
Scott Cousins (the guy that hit Posey) has had a rough week - death threats and some bush-league talk from the Giants general manager.
No, we won't call them "The Terribles"
Batter's Box composes a team of players with the name "Ivan", and wonders how they would do in the AL East (okay, it's a slow news day).
If you want passion, start with this roster
Nick Carfado presents the top 25 most passionate people in baseball. One Jay makes the list.
30 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Any predictions for tonight?
I predict that many folk will be initially disappointed and ultimately pleased (or at least satisfied) with the 1st pick. My gut says that AA is going to make a “safe” selection at 21.
Taking a stab at specific players… I’ll guess one of Kolton Wong, Levi Michael, or Cory Spanenberg.
Don't see any of those three taken with the first pick
This time around I think AA and company go more after the high rish / high reward kid in the first round ( and subsequent rounds) Like someone else said on another post, “go big or go home”.
With an already stocked minors...
You can afford to gamble. With the Jays now having a strong system, a mediocre prospect won’t prosper. You have to have something special to advance, so it makes sense to pick high-reward, high-risk prospects. You will flame out on 90% of them, but you could also get a major league talent too.
You really only need your minor league system to produce 1 or 2 regular players a year so you can afford to whiff on a bunch of prospects if you can uncover a few good ones.
HAHA I like B^3's new slogan.
Or is it new? I’m not very perceptive.
...and make sure you vote for Jose
by craig in calgary on Jun 6, 2011 11:05 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I think its new….
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
I like how cafardos article is full of Red Sox people
Choose me, Ash!
by Pikachu on Jun 6, 2011 11:13 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Read teh Sun Article "Jays had a head start on Jose"
The Pirates made TWO dumb moves related to JBau:
Bautista was sent down after the Pirates acquired Laroche. How’s that for two bad moves by the Pirates: Sending JBau down to play LaRoche and then trading him for Diaz!
Diaz is in the minors somewhere, but not in the Pirates organization. LaRoche was DFA’s over the weekend.
Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic
by bluejaysstatsgeek on Jun 6, 2011 11:59 AM EDT reply actions
the Pirates SBN blog talked about it a little while ago
obviously the move looks awful now, but LaRoche was a reasonably well-regarded player, and JoBau wasn’t. simple as that
I remember being very displeased when the Jays decided to give Bautista regular playing time.
Choose me, Ash!
Most here were saying how it was a big mistake and he was a platoon player.
I distinctly remember arguing that he was a good platoon and versatile player. Nothing is wrong with that of course and he was a very useful and good piece to have, but he was not everyday player.
I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...
Can't complain about trading for Yunel.
Especially when you do a simple numbers comparison. I liked A-Gon when he was here. He was certainly a pretty good FA pickup and really exceeded expectations.
Currently as of today, here are their numbers.
Yunel
.290/.371/.447 2.1 WAR
A-Gon (Atlanta version)
.263/.295/.379 1.4 WAR
In honor of the Jays 2nd Baseman who played with fire in more ways than one.
by Damaso's Burnt Shirt on Jun 6, 2011 12:05 PM EDT reply actions
for what it is worth
although UZR isn’t liking Yunel’s defense this season thusfar, both Defensive Runs Saved and +/- have him ranked slightly above average. Couple that with the fact that he has never had a full season below average at short by UZR standards, and I’d be surprised if he weren’t providing at least average defense at short.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
was thinking the same thing
and even an average defensive SS is pretty valuable, regardless of his (excellent) offensive ability
UZR
I think the artificial surface in Toronto is hurting Yunel’s defense. Last season with the Braves his UZR/150 was 10.6 and his UZR was 5.6, but when he got to Toronto he was only at UZR/150 -4.1 and UZR -1.3. I still find it humorous that Braves fans complain about how “lazy” Yunel was with the Braves. I just don’t understand how a guy with range like that could be lazy. Oh, well we have to get Yunel Escobar in the All-Star game!!!
I don't think that
because he’s looked fantastic to pretty much everyone’s eyes and other metrics rate him quite well. you’re also using quite a bit less than a full season of data to make conclusions by UZR, when you need basically 3 seasons to start getting a player’s true talent
Still...
When a player has +UZR over the past few seasons and as soon as he starts playing half of his games on artificial surface and his UZR starts to dip into the negative I would think it has to have some affect on the player. There is no question that Yunel is an above average fielder, but just by taking a look at his UZR numbers from last season after the trade he had a -3.2 UZR and -18.6 UZR/150 at home and on the road he had 1.8 UZR and 6.8 UZR/150. Is it a small sample size? Yes, but it’s a real trend that in my mind is hurting him. Even though he is still a top defensive SS in my mind.
ok using UZR and UZR/150
is totally useless because UZR/150 is just UZR multiplied by a constant. if he keeps it up for the entire season (remember he’s never had a full season below average) then we’ll talk.
Okay
Not sure why you have to continue to scorn my comments…. All I was trying to say is that the artificial surface in Toronto might be having an affect on his defensive abilities. I wasn’t trying to bash anybody or trying to sound like Mr. Sabermetric. I was just putting a theory out there that has some credible evidence. I understand if you don’t agree with my theory, that’s totally cool. I’ll say it again, Yunel Escobar is my favorite SS in MLB and I think he is greatly underrated. With that said, so far he’s played 118 games in Toronto and has had a -UZR at home over that period, but has a +UZR on the road. That’s just a theory I’m putting out there that someday people might use when breaking down Yunel’s defense.
I'd love if Bubba Starling fell to the Jays.
But even with his commitment to Nebraska for football he seems destined for a top 10 team.
Yeah, I don't think there's much chance he'll fall to us.
Somebody is probably going to offer him enough to keep him from going to Nebraska.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bluebird Banter
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
