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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

N.Y. Sun: Kahrl: Barry Bonds Treatment Of Pujols Helping Cards

And so did Pujols scoring from second on a grounder to 2B tonight!

Even so, Pujols has this reputation as an RBI guy, and it’s been earned, however flexible the label itself might have to be on a year-to-year basis — whether he’s been among the best or not, he’s always been above average. Indeed, Pujols’s reputation is so important to the Cardinals that manager Tony La Russa has gone out of his way to maximize the value of Pujols’s at-bats with men on base by increasing the number of opportunities that Pujols might get hitting in the third slot of the lineup, doing so by batting his pitcher eighth and having a position player — usually shortstop Cesar Izturis — bat ninth. The math gets a bit involved, but it’s a solid proposition that having an essentially powerless position player, such as Izturis, swap places with the pitcher should theoretically help you score a few extra runs. Since this is what La Russa’s doing, who’s geeking who?

If you look at Pujols’s non-teammate-dependent stats, he’s been remarkably consistent in terms of average and power, in both his counting stats and his rate stats. The far more important news for fans in St. Louis is that their franchise slugger has been surrounded with an extended group of power sources that have helped the team move past the decline and subsequent disposal of former critical components such as Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen. There’s enough in the track records of Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan, and Eric Ludwick as power sources to make the gambit of walking Pujols intentionally a bad bet, and that’s without getting into whether or not former All-Star Troy Glaus can warm up to his new league. The Cardinals’ offense ranks second in the NL in on-base percentage, and second in Major League Baseball in BP’s total offensive metric, Equivalent Average. With Pujols on base and nevertheless still contributing the power for which he’s known, it’s not implausible to suggest they’ll be a better offensive ballclub than they were last year.

Repoz Posted: May 06, 2008 at 12:35 AM | 8 comment(s)
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   1. OUTL13R  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 12:09 AM (#2770422)
There’s enough in the track records of Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan, and Eric Ludwick


Ryan's evil twin brother?
   2. Elston Gunn  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 12:16 AM (#2770431)
Oh my God, Eric Ludwick actually exists, and he's the brother of Ryan. He has a career SLG of .ooo though, so I don't know how much of a power source he is.
   3. Primakov is once again done with politics  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 12:21 AM (#2770438)
My first thought was, how is Barry Bonds treating Pujols? Then I thought, "helping the Cards"? Uh-oh....
   4. Jeff K.  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 01:01 AM (#2770457)
My first thought was, how is Barry Bonds treating Pujols? Then I thought, "helping the Cards"? Uh-oh....

Yeah, that headline is worded três confusingly.

Interesting to see Kahrl getting a mainstream gig. Has this been going on long?
   5. Levi Stahl  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 08:48 AM (#2770550)
What's weird is how quickly this has caught on this year among opposing managers, kinda like everyone was e-mailing this winter about how they were going to handle Albert this year, and they all decided to walk him all the time.
   6. Craig K  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 09:17 AM (#2770576)
What's weird is how quickly this has caught on this year among opposing managers, kinda like everyone was e-mailing this winter about how they were going to handle Albert this year, and they all decided to walk him all the time.

Fine by me.

In 2004 (the year when Bonds got walked 232 times), he only played in the cleanup spot all season. The fifth-place hitters, were Edgardo Alfonzo for 57 games (95 OPS+, 4 HRs in the fifth spot), Pedro Feliz (100 OPS+ 9 hrs in fifth spot.), and Pierzynski for 26 games (86 ops+, 1 HR in the fifth spot).

----SMALL SAMPLE SIZE WARNING BEGINS HERE-----

Pujols, on the other hand, has played 32 of 33 games in the 3-hole. Rick Ankiel a 121 OPS+, and projected to hit ten homers from the 4-hole.Troy Glaus has an 81 OPS+ Ryan Ludwick has a 167 OPS+.

So, even if the rest of the league gives him the Bonds treatment, it won't hurt him or the team too badly; while the Giants at the time really didn't have anyone else to work with if Bonds was IBBed, Pujols is far from the only power source the Cardinals have; walk Pujols, and you risk letting Ankiel, Glaus, Ludwick, or Duncan beat you.
   7. Van Lingle Mungo Jerry  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 09:33 AM (#2770593)
Let's just hope that Barry Bonds' treatment of Pujols hasn't included the administration of flaxseed oil, or that Albert hasn't responded with "Like, whatever, dude" if it has.
   8. Karl from NY  Posted: May 06, 2008 at 11:35 AM (#2770727)
Haven't we already heard enough about how Barry Bonds treats his poo holes? ... Or was that Clemens?
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