Anyone watching Japan vs. USA?

by Travis G on Mar 22, 2009 11:11 PM EDT in New York Yankees News

It happens to be a very good game. The U.S. just scored twice in the top of the 8th to bring the Yanks within two.

- The trend of 're-emphasizing' the importance of defense continues. John Dewan, creator of The Fielding Bible, quantified defense as being almost exactly half as valuable as offense. So when a free agent is being evaluated for an upcoming contract, he should be valued as such: 67% based on offense and 33% based on defense (not counting, of course, for other variables like injury history, age, position, etc.).

- The New York Yankees lost for the first time in 10 games (5-0 to Tampa). David Price started for the Rays and, while inconsistent, got enough 'big outs' to prevent any runs. Outside of Damaso Marte, no Yankee pitcher was terribly effective. Each gave up at least one run (including Igawa's first of the spring).

Robbie Cano went 2-3, Austin Jackson had the only extra-base hit (a triple), and Brett Gardner went 1-2 with a walk. He was caught stealing when Tampa's second-baseman put his foot in front of the bag, blocking Gardner's outstretched hand. I have to admit I've never seen that before, which leads me to believe it was an accident - but the Rays' announcers sure made it sound purposeful and heaped praise upon him.

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Jeter

again Team USA made the mistake of starting Jeter. He is washed up and worn out. I don’t know why he is on the team.

by howardryan6 on Mar 22, 2009 11:25 PM EDT reply actions

Jeter is MLB's poster boy

I wouldn’t exactly say washed up as he still is a very capable hitter. However, starting Jeter at SS over the defensively-superior Jimmy Rollins (DH) is highly debatable.

by BigSlim on Mar 23, 2009 2:49 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't know why he's on the team either

I wish he was in Yankee camp getting his ABs in so he can be ready for another .316/.387/.458 season.
Sure, a line like that is only 20% better than league average, but since it comes from a shortstop it’s worth about 50 VORP, easily 15-20 points behind the likes of Rollins and Ramirez, but still 15-20 points ahead of the next best AL shortstop.

Sure, I know Jeter’s defense is terrible. Absolutely, no doubt, god-awful. I do watch him every day.

But even if the Yanks had an open position to move him to, they would have to have someone around capable of more than just filling the position.

To move Jeter to (for instance) right field, Jeter SS+ Player x RF < Player x SS+ Jeter RF.

So, if Jeter bounces back and hits to his career averages (basically his 2007 stats), rather than the slightly below he posted in 2008, the Yanks will get 5 Wins ARP from Cap’n Intangibles. The combination of Abreu and Nady/Swisher have averaged slightly below 5 WARP3.

To justify a move, Jeter would have to play enough better defense than the others to make up his light (for position) bat and our mystery shortstop would have to play as well as, let’s see, 2008 Jimmy Rollins.

It’s easy to look washed up compared to someone 5 years younger, but then again, we’ll see how much love there is in Philly for Jimmy in 5 years. Assuming the Mets don’t sign him to play second base for 2012.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Mar 23, 2009 4:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Unfortunately

there isn’t really a viable solution to bring a true All-Star Team USA to the next WBC due to the demanding schedule of the MLB season.

The outcome was predictable when you’re running out mediocre defensive players like Adam Dunn, Mark DeRosa, and Jeter (over Rollins) against a very efficient small ball team like Japan. Also, Japan making the decision to pitch Yu Darvish to close out the game exemplified how much they really wanted win this ballgame. Hats off to them.

by BigSlim on Mar 23, 2009 3:02 AM EDT reply actions