Not according to John Sterling, who buhnered up…“What Ichiro can give the Yankees with his arm! His legs! His bat!...It’s just phenomenal!”
For all of his international superstardom, Ichiro rates as a marginal improvement at best. He’s simply no longer the Ichiro in the catalog anymore, the player who collected at least 200 hits every year from 2001-2010, and set a major league record with 262 in 2004. A quick look at his stat lines suggests he’s suffering from Acute Bat Death Syndrome, hitting .261/.288/.353 this year, down from an already awful .272/.310/.335 last year, his first truly subpar season. Some of that owes to pitcher-friendly Safeco Field, where he has hit .245/.283/.320 in 2011-2012; away from there, he has hit .289/.320/.362.
Even so, for a corner outfielder, those are abysmal numbers. His .235 True Average this year ranks 24th out of 25 who qualify for the batting title, with Jeff Francoeur (.232) the only one who’s worse. It’s also worse than all 16 qualified leftfielders, the position where Ichiro is likely to spend the majority of his time with New York, and 19 out of 20 qualified centerfielders. Digging further down into the numbers, it appears that the lefty swinger, whose career splits against lefties and righties are virtually equal, has tailed off more sharply against lefties (.261/.288/.297 with just 14 unintentional walks and one homer in 371 PA) than righties (.271/.308/.364 with eight homers and 25 unintentional walks in 773 PA) during the 2011-2012 period.
...It’s possible the change in scenery and the move to a more friendly park for hitters will reinvigorate Ichiro’s bat; recalling stories of his batting practice power shows, many fans on Twitter have salivated at the thought of him discarding his slap-hitting ways in favor of taking aim at the short porch. Such an extreme shift in approach isn’t likely to happen, nor is the move likely to alter the Yankees’ chances at reaching the postseason; at 57-38, with a six-game lead in the AL East, they already hold the majors’ best record, and that’s after being swept in a four-game series in Oakland entering tonight’s game in Seattle. Still, the move of a likely future Hall of Famer to the pinstripes is one that rates watching, even if only for curiosity’s sake.
Repoz
Posted: July 24, 2012 at 07:58 AM |
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1. Harveys Wallbangerswhat in the wide, wide world of sports has happened to justin smoak? wasn't he supposed to be a somebody?
Now if we could only figure out a major reason _why_ your team had the most losses.
Truly, if you're not part of the solution...
I think 'contain' is the word you are looking for there...
...you're part of the precipitate.
And 11th grade chemistry comes flooding back in an unstoppable wave of nostalgia.
You're right, there is no real downside here but I think the above is where the backlash is coming from.
I believe True Average (TAv) is a newer label on Eqa.
He looked good in college, but has never really hit all that well as a pro. Prospect analysts mostly gave him a pass on the numbers when he was coming up, and in retrospect, they probably shouldn't have.
A's fans were almost in tears that we missed him by 1 pick and ended up with Jemile Weeks instead.
Just a large ovation on Old Timers Day. Even if The Magic of Pinstripes cause an Ichiro resurgence, he'll probably only be with the Yankees for the remainder of 2012.
- and some astros fans were in tears that we passed him up to pick jason castro The Catcher Of The Future who can't block balls, throw out runners or hit
real question is - why all of a sudden (past 3-4 years) can't hitters hit in seattle? there were lots of winning teams and good hitting players at safeco - now can't nobody hit?
Other than Figgins, are there other good hitters who went to Seattle and just dropped off a cliff? Is it possible they just have a collection of bad hitters?
Look at Adrian Beltre's numbers - career year at 25 in LA, goes to Seattle for 5 seasons where he never puts up an OPS+ over 112 despite being in his prime (ages 26-30), then leaves Seattle and puts up 2 straight seasons over 130 (and is on pace to get close to that again this year).
Damnit. I shouldn't be allowed to make comments before my 10th coffee of the day. I missed the obvious lame viagra joke...
I could have sworn Ichiro! was older than Gardner, but maybe he didn't want to be. Plus, isn't Gardner still alive?
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Sexson also sucked as soon as he stepped onto Safeco.
I Split G GS PA AB BA OBP SLG OPS tOPS+ NYY-Yankee Stad 37 37 173 164 .341 .372 .439 .811 107 NYY-Yankee Stad3 15 15 68 63 .333 .353 .492 .845 114 SEA-Safeco Fld 926 923 4160 3845 .320 .366 .416 .782 100Yeah? It'd shock the hell out of me. Of course if he did, Ray's head would probably explode, so it would be worth it just for a chance of that happening.
Apparently he's still a decent fielder, so if they slot him low in the batting order and he can pick it in the field, this could work out. And it could be fun, in its own way.
But I have to think there was something better out there for the taking.
The prospects they gave up were fringe at best and they only are paying a fraction of the last year of his deal.
Reports say the Yankees inquired on Upton and Span, but the asking price was too high, not surprisingly.
Only? Any higher and it would have meant he played better in Safeco than on the road. Playing exactly the same at road and at home might not be so strange with Ichiro's skillset though.
(tOPS+ is normalized, when you average up all the splits it will always end up at 100)
Is there really any question about that? Dewayne Wise is a 34-year-old journeyman with 196 career hits and a .222 career batting average.
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