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Thursday, August 28, 2008

SportTicker: Angels place 2B Kendrick on DL

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim took another hit to their ailing infield on Thursday, placing second baseman Howie Kendrick on the 15-day disabled list with tightness in his left hamstring. Kendrick joins infielder Maicer Izturis, who is out for the season with a torn ligament in his left thumb, on the DL.

Third baseman Chone Figgins and shortstop Erick Aybar are also nicked up, with toe and hamstring injuries, respectively.
...
To take his spot on the roster, the Angels recalled third baseman Brandon Wood from Class AAA Salt Lake. Wood, 22, is batting .296 with 31 homers and 84 RBI in 103 games for the Bees.

Every time I see Wood’s name, I’m reminded that the guy made the reasonable choice of going by his middle name when his pro career began, rather than his given name of Richard - which led to the unfortunate situation of him being listed as “Dick Wood” during the 2003 draft.

NTNgod Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:30 PM | 21 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralLA Angels

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   1. Chase Utley, Shooty's Favorite Robot (Joey Belle)  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 08:43 PM (#2921061)
Already been posted.
   2. Halofan  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 08:46 PM (#2921063)
Loss of Dick Beckett > Loss of Howie Ken DrICK
   3. scareduck  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:02 PM (#2921080)
Nothing will ever surpass Dick Pole.
   4. Golfing Great Mitch Cumstein  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:32 PM (#2921101)
Dick Trickle and Rusty Kuntz beg to differ.
   5. El Hombre Triple MVP (Alex)  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:40 PM (#2921114)
Johnny Dickshot, Lance Dickson, Dick Drago, Dickie Flowers, Dick Hunt.
   6. Rough Carrigan  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:48 PM (#2921130)
Ahhh. Rusty Kuntz. I remember how Ned Martin, the Red Sox play by play guy would take an inordinately long time to very slowly and precisely pronounce his name. "On deck for the Tigers, Rusty . . . Kooooooooooooooooontz."
   7. aleskel  Posted: August 28, 2008 at 09:52 PM (#2921136)
Johnny Dickshot

that's Ugly Dickshot, sir
   8. Walt Davis  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 12:11 AM (#2921238)
Ahh, Howie, another of those guys folks seem much higher on than I am. He's still relying on incredible (read "likely unsustainable") BABIP numbers -- if memory serves substantially higher than guys like Gwynn, Boggs and roughly the same as Carew. Obviously since they did it, it's possible he'll do it too, but they all K'd much less frequently than he does (not that he's particularly bad or anything) so he won't match their BAs. Given his low walks and modest power (125 ISO), even if he does maintain that, he won't be better than his 100 OPS+ self to date. In the likely scenario that's not his true-talent BABIP, he needs to add walks and/or power.

Of course he's still just 24 (and hits a good number of doubles) so there's time and even if he is a true 100 OPS+ player, that's fine in a 2B (assuming average or better defense ... and folks here give his defense good reviews), so he's far from a bum.

But I wouldn't really have hesitated trading him for Cabrera. (Note, there were a lot of reasons not to trade for Cabrera.)
   9. Baseballs Most Beloved Figure  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 03:21 AM (#2921283)
Ron Tugnutt?
   10. NTNgod  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 03:31 AM (#2921284)
Dick Trickle

The pride of Wisconsin Rapids!

C'mon, the guy would have a cigarette during races. The fact he had ashtrays and lighters in a race car is hilarious. Very Northern Wisconsin.
   11. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory)  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 12:45 PM (#2921624)
Johnny Dickshot, Lance Dickson, Dick Drago, Dickie Flowers, Dick Hunt.

Harry Scrotum
   12. Random Transaction Generator  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 12:51 PM (#2921632)
Dick Pound (IOC)

Pete Peters (NHL goalie)

Randy Johnson
   13. Ned Garvin: Male Prostitute  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 01:21 PM (#2921665)
Nobody ever seems to remember the great Dick Cox.
   14. Gonfalon Bubble  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 01:30 PM (#2921676)
Or the legendary Hyman Testicleface.
   15. Los Angeles Waterloo of Black Hawk  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 03:24 PM (#2921936)
Ahh, Howie, another of those guys folks seem much higher on than I am. He's still relying on incredible (read "likely unsustainable") BABIP numbers -- if memory serves substantially higher than guys like Gwynn, Boggs and roughly the same as Carew. Obviously since they did it, it's possible he'll do it too, but they all K'd much less frequently than he does (not that he's particularly bad or anything) so he won't match their BAs. Given his low walks and modest power (125 ISO), even if he does maintain that, he won't be better than his 100 OPS+ self to date. In the likely scenario that's not his true-talent BABIP, he needs to add walks and/or power.


Do you have this on a macro?

I am glad to see to that you've acknowledged other players have maintained these "unsustainable" (and irrelevant) BABIP numbers. Next time, maybe you can acknowledge that Kendrick's average while not striking out in the majors appears to be roughly in line with what we would expect from his minor league performance (or, at least, provide an alternative translation of his minor league numbers that might shine light on the issue).
   16. Erik, Pinch-Commenter  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 05:54 PM (#2922178)
With how Wood has been playing in AAA lately, it could be possible that he plays shortstop through the playoffs for this team, even with Aybar healthy.
   17. Zuvella!  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 07:08 PM (#2922272)
I really like Kendrick as a player. I do think he's one of those hitters who can sustain high BABIP numbers. His bat speed and coverage is pretty spectacular, and he has just a great swing. Of course, the big issue for him seems to be his durability. He's been having leg issues all year. Worrisome. He already seems like an old man.
   18. ?Donde esta Dagoberto Campaneris?  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 08:07 PM (#2922354)
Thanks Waterloo. There seems to be a BBTF rule that someone must always pretend that Kendrick is just about to stop doing what he's been doing throughout his professional career. I'd be willing to bet on virtually every occasion its someone who hasn't watched the guy play. Yes, he still struggles on breaking pitches off the plate (thus the K numbers) and a failure to improve in that area will keep his career numbers about where they are now. However, when a pitch is over the plate, sometimes it looks like the guy is swinging a tennis racket. He is a special, special talent. I look forward to seeing what he does over the next ten years, hamstrings be damned.
   19. Petunia: Pursuing a Prurient Pastime, All the Time  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 08:41 PM (#2922407)
With how Wood has been playing in AAA lately, it could be possible that he plays shortstop through the playoffs for this team, even with Aybar healthy.

Isn't it more likely that Wood plays third with Figgins at second and Aybar remaining at SS? I've not heard a thing about Wood's recent defensive reputation.

Seems like Wood keeps getting buried, no matter how well he hits at AAA. He's always been a monster at pretty much every level of the minors but every time the LAAoA get a chance to send him down, they do.
   20. AROM  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 09:12 PM (#2922461)
Wood has not earned the right to stay in the majors, he's been overmatched and pretty much hit like a pitcher. His MLE's have shown him as a .200-.225 hitter with 20 homer power, not quite good enough to convince one that he belongs in the majors. That is, until this season, specifically the second half. He's hit 296/375/595, almost a 100 point improvement on last year's slugging.

Since the allstar break he's hit 361/448/755. I think this time he finally hits big league pitching a bit.
   21. Joe C and the Pop Culture Portmanteau  Posted: August 29, 2008 at 09:31 PM (#2922494)
Thanks Waterloo. There seems to be a BBTF rule that someone must always pretend that Kendrick is just about to stop doing what he's been doing throughout his professional career.

I think you guys were a little too sensitive to what Walt wrote myself. Isn't he basically saying that Kendrick will have to either be one of those 1-2 guys per decade who can maintain that level of BABIP, and that if he doesn't, he won't hit for the same crazy averages that Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, and Rod Carew did (three of the best all time hitters for average, and deserving HoFers all). And, that if his power doesn't kick up, and it turns out he isnt one of those guys (and Walt does concede that he *may* be, even if he doesn't think Kendrick is, which is purely a matter oif his opinion anyway), then he's only a pretty good player instead of a great one. Is that really so far off base?

As for BABIP translating from the minors - I haven't really studied this, but it seems like, anecdotally anyway, that the BABIP ceiling in the minors is generally higher than that in the majors. Does anyone know if that's true? It seems intuitive that it might be.

This is not to say that Kendrick might not hit for super high averages and more power down the line, and win a few batting titles or even have an MVP type season here or there. None of that would surprise me one bit; his minor league numbers are exceptional (as you pointed out). However, guys who can hit for average (and on BIP) like Boggs et al are so very rare that the burden of proof is really on Kendrick to show he can do it at the highest level before we ascribe that talent to him.
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