User Comments, Suggestions, or Complaints | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertising
Buy MLB playoff tickets, plus 2011 World Series, 2011 ALCS tickets and NLCS game tickets. We also have Texas Rangers playoff schedule, tickets to Red Sox games and Yankees game tickets. Plus, buy Phillies baseball tickets, Tigers playoff tickets and the biggies like ALDS baseball tickets and 2011 NLDS tickets. |
Demarini, Easton and TPX Baseball Bats
|
AllianceTickets.com has cheap MLB Tickets. Get all your Colorado Rockies Tickets, Seattle Mariners Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and all your favorite baseball tickets here. We also carry cheap Denver Broncos Tickets, Seattle Seahawks Tickets and Denver Nuggets Tickets. |
Page rendered in 1.5825 seconds
40 querie(s) executed
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
Casey's a decent hitter for a backup, and by most accounts a good guy. I like it.
I can see the rationale behind it, though; a veteran with a good clubhouse reputation that hits .300 and will take an occasional walk isn't a bad thing to have on the bench, even if first base is his only position. I expect the Red Sox also have a mind to flip him at the deadline if they can and scoop up a 19 year old pitcher from somebody.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! !! ! !!!!
Anyway, I can't see how this hurts - as already stated, it's not like he'll actually take PT away from a healthy starter, and while Hinske might've had more defensive "flexibility," the guy's a decent source of OBP. And if he hits a few timely pinch-hit homers while Youk's in a 2-for-38 slump, it'll give the Boston Ministry of Information something to print in their literature. Everybody wins!
i hate it when teams sign players like this and i feel obligated to defend the signing. the situation you describe won't happen (youk @ 3rd) unless something goes really wrong (like lowell dies or breaks his leg). i can't see casey playing the field, let alone starting, much at all. maybe 5 or 10 times?
"Play" being a word rich with meaning and interpretations in this case.
Wilkerson would've been a better choice (but he probably wanted more playing time that was likely to come in Seattle), and I would've let Moss have a go at it.
Moss (in Boston): .264 .334 .424
Casey (in Detroit): 283 .346 .388
Moss looks like a very slightly better hitter, but Casey is presumably a much better 1B and is far more of a sure thing. Overall, it's a reasonable if uninspired signing.
I'm not sure what you're saying. The situation described was that Lowell will need some days off and on those days, Youkilis will shift to 3B. Are you saying Lowell won't need days off? Are you saying they'll put someone else at 3B on Lowell's days off? Youkilis logged 108 innings at 3B last year in 13 games (I assume therefore almost all starts). Lowell played 154 games. Shazam!
So the question is -- does Lowell need more time off given his age? If so, sitting him 15-20 times against tough righties with Youkilis to 3B and Casey starting is perfectly reasonable. Other than 6 innings from Clayton in 2007 and 50 from Alex Cora in 2006, all the Sox innings at 3B have been Lowell or Youkilis (merely 200 by Youkilis). If Lowell needs 200 innings off this year instead of 100, who do you think gets them?
First of all, I think your analysis is spot on. But I also want to say that Lowell might need some time off because he's not going to hit as well this year as last. Right? And I'm okay with that. I'm just not sure Casey should be our guy getting those 5-10 starts. Oh well, at least he's a nice guy; he'll offer a distraction to Shaughnessy and the other a-holes and keep them off of Manny's back.
This just goes to Theo's obsession with redundancy, which I think is a pretty healthy obsession to have. Esp. with a team relying on post 32 year old players at the 3-4-5-6 spots.
More moves will have to be made before the 25 man is locked in, as I think they have 14 pitchers without options, and a 15th (Lester) who will likely be in the majors anyway (and a 16th, Buchholz, who is better than most of the rest).
That looks like about 35 intended starts for Casey. Of course how things actually work out will depend on injuries, Casey's performance (I'm thinking more as in he gets cut than that he plays his way into more time), etc. And by the way, the 2006 number of non-Youk/non-Ortiz 1B starts (35) and the number of non-Lowell 3B starts (14) were both higher, so 35 is probably an underestimate ... though it's also fair to say the Sox have more faith in Youkilis now.
(B-R doesn't have games started for the fielding stats yet if you're wondering why I'm guessing on the 2007 games started).
Don't care about him being a veteran.
Don't care about him having a good clubhouse rep.
Don't care that he "hits .300."
He won't kill them, I guess, in the role that they've signed him for, but he's a really uninspired choice. I'd rather give the 250 PAs to a career minor leaguer with at least the chance that he'll do better than suckitude.
And the career minor leaguer would also be more exciting to watch, IMO.
Casey's SLG has exceeded the league average _once_ in the last six years.
And I suppose the 'career minor leaguer' will exceed the league average?
Right.
It's a solid bench signing. I can't believe Sox fans, or anyone else, can be THAT snarky. It's as if a guy isn't a five-tool player, he should hang it up as the bum he really is.
On a "career minor leaguer" - how about a name? Which free agent, specifically, should the Red Sox have signed. I agree that if they could sign someone obviously better than Casey, that would be good, but that's just a tautology.
On Moss, I don't think it makes sense to put him on the bench when he has pretty clear development needs - he has to start making contact more consistently. While I don't know this in the specific case, it seems much more likely that Moss will be able to work on his game playing everyday in Pawtucket rather than sitting on the bench in Boston. That ZiPS doesn't seem right - I have trouble seeing him OBP'ing 334 in the majors without pretty substantial improvement in his contact skills.
The purpose is to take 150 ABs when Youk/Lowell/Ortiz is hurt, a few PH appearances, and a credible everyday guy if one of the three mentioned above goes down.
Moss can sit and wait another year at little cost, and presumably will be called up if there's an OF injury. He might hit better, but he most likely won't. And it's better to have both (and legit backup at 1B and effectively at 3B) than just Moss anyway.
Suggesting someone like Wilkerson is reasonable, other than that there's no reason to suggest he was interested in this type of situation. Seems like the timing here suggests the Sox preferred him, too, but he took a different (and likely larger) opportunity. Is there a better 1B/OF type out there who is going to take this kind of role? Tony Clark...I'd just as soon have Casey.
Debatable whether he is better, but Russ Branyan is still an FA.
agreed. if his strikeout rate doesn't improve significantly, he's either going to need to draw alot of walks (doubtful), hit alot of line drives, or find alot of gaps to get to 334 obp.
I don't disagree with any of that. I said that he won't kill them (just as you presumably don't think he'll be the greatest bench player ever).
I just think he'll suck. We're picking him up mainly for his bat off the bench, and yet he has EqAs of .254 and .211 the last two years. Pass.
Not that I'm quibbling with this signing, but I thought he ONLY played first.
He does. I don't know what people are talking about either.
He backs up 1B/DH for obvious reasons.
He backs up 3B b/c Casey can go to 1B and Youkilis can slide to 3B.
I don't think he backs up LF, but presumably people think Youkilis can play LF and, therefore, Casey goes to 1B and Youks to LF.
I bet they go with 12 pitchers and see if they can sign a RH bat for the minors, or Van Emery (who can play CF) is their #5/6 OF (with Moss as the left handed version who can't play CF). But, maybe they sign Kielty to a major league deal and go with 11 pitchers. I very much doubt that after their roster is cut from 28 to 25, though.
That looks to be a sample size issue - I don't think he's getting too many plate appearances against CC Sabathia or Johan Santana.
This confused me at first, but it seems clear from subsequent discussion that this actually entails Youkilis subbing at 3B and LF, with Casey replacing him at 1B. That way the acquisition of Casey provides a de facto backup 1B, 3B and LF. I'm not sure if that was the original poster's intent, but it sorta works out to the same conclusion.
EDIT: Or what Josh said.
He plays 1b and DH Youk plays 3b and LF. So by substitution he backs up the other positions.
Hinske's got a career OPS+ of 99 with an OPS+ of 83 in 2007, for which the Red Sox paid him $5.6 million. Casey has a career OPS+ of 110 with an OPS+ of 96 in 2007, and the Red Sox just signed him for $700,000. How is that not an improvement?
"Casey's SLG has exceeded the league average _once_ in the last six years."
Thats a really deceptive interpretation of his statistics. No one is saying he is a moster masher.
And hell, how many guys could you get on a one-year, 700k contract that are consistantly above-average in slugging?
What about his on-base ability? He has posted some above-average OBPs over that same 6 year span and generally been an above-average hitter.
People...it's one year at damn near minimum MLB wage.
It is a good signing at that price
Now one of those OBP hitters is being bashed because despite getting on base more, he doesn't hit enough home runs.
I bet if Casey had put up the same quality of performance over his career but it was lower-average and higher-homer there would be half the griping
Another possibility is that the team starts him 162 times, batting behind Manny and Ortiz, with the idea that he'll make a run at the single season GIDP record. If he gets it he makes Jim Rice look a little better to the HoF voters.
I think that a lot of people are just guilty of holding onto an early impression of a player. Sean Casey was overrated by the media and overpaid by the Reds for a while and so the shorthand for that sort of becomes - overrated, overpaid first baseman. But, of course, $700,000 isn't an overpay, and the Red Sox aren't counting on him to be more than a backup first baseman who's decent enough that a team could theoretically go to the World Series with him as their starting first baseman (see the 2006 Tigers) in a worst-case scenario for the Red Sox. But old perceptions sometimes die hard - we're all guilty of it from time to time.
A guy like Casey, with lots of singles and some doubles and walks, seems to have less of a drop-off. Most players, though, do hit worse in PH roles due to the irregularity of at-bats.
Also, I think this kind of guy might be a better fit situationally as a pinch-hitter. Often when you go to the bench you already have runners on and the game close, so you might not need a walk or a homer. You might just need a single to drive a run in, or even a flyball to move 'em up, but a strikeout would be killer.
Furthermore, I would much rather have a veteran as a go-to PH than a rookie. And no not because of some "presence".
First, if you like your rookie enough to be on the 25-man you probably want him getting more at-bats than pinch hitting every other day.
Second, getting at-bats at such a random frequency is something many big leaguers say is very hard to get used to. It does seem like the best PHers in each league are often older guys. A guy like that (Casey) has gotten tons of major league at-bats over the years and doesn't have any "adjusting" left to do vs. major league pitching, but the rookie might.
I can't whip out a study to prove what I have observed about how well suited various types of players are to PH roles, I will admit, but this is what I have observed.
Casey's not exactly "high OBP."
I agree with that.
But then again, and maybe I'm just me, I think Casey got a bum rap from some as a Red. He was inconsistant, yes, but also had some very strong years there..years similar to what Todd Helton is doing now.
How much money and years did Hinske want?
"Casey's not exactly "high OBP.""
Simple math here buddy. Like you said Casey isn't very often above-average in slugging. Yet only three times in his career has his OPS+ been BELOW average. So what does this mean?
He is often ABOVE average when it comes to getting on base.
.366 for his career with a high of .399
I agree with the complaints that I should have also cited his OBP earlier. However, by the same token, we can't overlook his SLG deficiency.
Anyway, EqAs the last three years:
2007: .254
2006: .211/.273 (Detroit/Pittsburgh)
2005: .280
(Whoops -- in post #29 I cited his EqA in 2006 as .211; I didn't notice that that was only his Detroit EqA, and that it didn't include his Pittsburgh EqA.)
Casey isn't replacing Youkilis in the everyday starting lineup. He's filling a bench role. So what CAN he do well?
(1) Sit on the bench for low $$$ without complaining about his lack of PT. Judging by Eric Hinske, he will likely see 150-200 AB over the course of the season. Most superior players (e.g. Wilkerson) would want more PT than that. And it is best if the in-system talent (e.g. Chris Carter and Brandon Moss) is allowed to play full time in the hopes of developing their skills. Don't count on Casey getting all of the PT if Lowell or Youkilis goes on the DL.
(2) Hang in against both RHP and LHP, striking out relatively infrequently and hitting more singles than almost anybody who doesn't have a starting job somewhere. Tying run in scoring position, Lugo at the plate. Do you send up Hinske or Casey? There are times when an all-in-one measure of offensive production does more to obscure than to illuminate -- this is especially true of bench players.
(3) Play solid defense at first base, albeit with limited range. He has only six errors over the last three years combined in full-time play. Hinske and Wilkerson may be more versatile defensively, but they aren't as skilled/experienced at that one position. And how useful was Hinske's versatility anyways? He was a crappy defensive outfielder and (because of Youkilis) didn't play a single inning at third base last year. If you want somebody to play first base, find somebody who can play first base WELL, not somebody who can do a half-decent job covering five different positions.
Besides, it's $700k and there isn't anybody else out there I particularly covet. If he bombs, or if there is a need for somebody to step in to cover a long-term injury, the Red Sox can always replace him mid-season.
Casey 2007 ISO .097
Hinske 2007 12.84 BB%
Casey 2007 7.86 BB%
Hinske 2008 ZiPS .248/.335/.437
Casey 2008 ZiPS .283/.346/.388
Plus Hinske is capable of (if not particularly good at) backing up all 4 corners. Casey is 1B or bust. Hinske's K rate was higher than you'd like to see, but it can't be easy to make consistent contact when you go from basically an everyday player the previous year to being a guy that's only getting 8 or 9 PA a week. I wouldn't be suprised to see that drop back down to his career rate this year.
The Red Sox did not pay Casey $5.6M last year. Most of his salary was covered by Toronto. I think the Sox are saving less than $600K.
Also I'm pretty sure the Sox have no intention of putting Youks out in LF ever again. If Manny goes down for any length of time an actual OFer will be called up [/straight man]...
I kid.
We'll see if his new handle changes the content of his posts.
Hinske didn't play a single inning at third base last year, and given his mediocre range there had BETTER be superior alternatives in the outfield. So his defensive versatility is worth about the same as his bat to the Red Sox. Nothing.
OCD, I believe the Red Sox paid half of Hinske's salary last year. Source Cot's Contracts. So they save over $2.1M on this. That's irrelevant, though, since Hinske isn't going to be making $5.6M this year. He might even sign for less money than Casey, or retire.
RR,here's the deal: Because I was arguing that the noose was a symbol of racism and therefore I support the people who were offended by it, some boob came into the discussion saying that my username offended them, because they had someone in their family who had a mental illness all his life, yada yada, and if I was sincere and compassionate I wouldn't have "Crazy" as part of my name, and that he hoped Szym would ban me. I told him to knock himself out getting satisfaction on that count, at which point Szym came in and said I was a hypocrite. So I changed it.
It was ####### ridiculous, but c'est la guerre.
Edit...if you wanted to check out the "noose" thread, it's too late. They've "disappeared" it.
Nice work, guys. [/golf clap]
Not really all that excited about Casey, as he reminds me of JT Snow. Maybe if I compare him to Olerud I'll feel better?
They were paying him that much!?! I'm outraged! Shocked!
Or I'm transposing the 1 and the 2 (I remembered $1.2M, but wasn't sure).
Anyway around I guess it's hard to (really) get too upset about this; I'd rather the last player on the bench have a bit more flexibility (IF and OF) given how many pitchers the team tends to carry but the 25th guy isn't going to make or break the team.
Long story.
Dan and I were duking it out for the heavyweight title, and just as I posted the killing rhetorical riposte, the thread mysteriously closed.
I suspect foul play...
But I also don't see the need for another lefty bat off the bench when they already have Cora
Cora counts as a bat?
In what key?
The team said they don't want Youks to get so banged-up this year, and are going to rest him far more often to prevent this. Expect to see Casey pretty often if he can still go 290/365/410 or whatever.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main