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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Morrissey: Curtis Granderson a good fit for Chicago Cubs

Charismatics are sucking the life out of baseball!

Statistics are sucking the life out of baseball.

I know this to be true because some Cubs fans are concerned Curtis Granderson struck out too many times last year. Being worried about Granderson’s strikeout total is like being worried about Gisele Bundchen’s arches.

Let’s stay focused here, folks.

The Tigers center fielder is a wonderful baseball player, and the Cubs should pursue a trade for him with the relentlessness of a Justice Department probe. His career numbers will tell you he’s a good performer—.272 average, .344 on-base percentage and 299 RBIs in a little more than four full seasons—but they won’t tell you the whole story. The numbers won’t tell you he’s the self-effacing leader others pretend to be.

The numbers will have something to say about his ability as an outfielder, but they will come up short in terms of eloquence. And there’s not an on-field statistic that reflects how popular the charismatic Granderson is with teammates and fans.

Repoz Posted: November 22, 2009 at 03:38 PM | 29 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: cubs, sabermetrics, tigers

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1. Gamingboy Posted: November 22, 2009 at 03:49 PM (#3393862)

Statistics are sucking the life out of baseball

Statistics are Vampires? Are they the cool kick-ass vampires, or the lame Twilight Vampires?

2. cercopithecus aethiops Posted: November 22, 2009 at 03:52 PM (#3393864)

Are Cubs fans really worried about Granderson's strikeouts? I would think they'd be more concerned about giving up too much for a guy who can't hit left handed pitching to save his life.

3. Juan V Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:08 PM (#3393867)

Is it just me, or is there more anti-stathead backlash this offseason than in the recent past?

4. My guest will be Jermaine Allensworth Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:08 PM (#3393868)

So I'm assuming Granderson is the annual offseason Perpetual-Cub-to-Be?

5. Gamingboy Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:10 PM (#3393870)

So I'm assuming Granderson is the annual offseason Perpetual-Cub-to-Be?

Someone had to replace Brian Roberts eventually.

6. Greg K Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:11 PM (#3393871)

but they will come up short in terms of eloquence

Maybe Morrissey should paint us a vulgar picture

7. TerpNats Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:13 PM (#3393874)

You know, perhaps if the Cubs stopped obsessing about "their fans," treating them as something sacred, they might actually win something for a change. Someone should send the Ricketts family a copy of the "Seinfeld" episode "The Opposite."

8. Brian

Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:16 PM (#3393875)

the relentlessness of a Justice Department probe.

So they'll check out Granderson to see if he is a Liberal/Democrat and drop the matter immediately if he is?

9. Best Regards, President of Comfort, Esq., LLC Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:27 PM (#3393879)

Statistics are Vampires? Are they the cool kick-ass vampires, or the lame Twilight Vampires?

"Okay, Father, I lit the book on first but I don't think that did the trick"

10. zachtoma Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:39 PM (#3393893)

Is it just me, or is there more anti-stathead backlash this offseason than in the recent past?

Now even strikeouts are seeing the backlash. Strikeouts, probably the 3rd or 4th thing that people noticed tended to happen in baseball games way back in 1850-whatever.

11. Infinite Yost (Voxter)

Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:46 PM (#3393903)

One thing I find entertaining is the way in which some people are prone to rail against certain things as though they were cooked up in the phalanx of basements out of which we all work -- for instance, an allergy to strikeouts, which if course is the opposite of one of the earliest sabermetric lessons one learns (ie, strikeouts are not as bad as people thought for established players). My personal favorite is those who get red in the face about pitch counts, as though pitch counts were invented by Bill James and imposed by papal fiat by Billy Beane and his Legion of Statistical Doom, when in fact the shortening of pitcher starts has been happening slowly over the course of the last 40 years, since before Bill James joined the Army, let alone retired to his mother's basement to ruin baseball by forcing people to hate Joe DiMaggio and forget all the good times playing pickle with their friends.

12. TVerik - Dr. Velocity Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:53 PM (#3393910)

Sometimes I turn on the FOX news just to watch those I disagree with be all alarmed at an issue that I care about.

For instance, in the early days of autumn this year, most of the liberal media that I consume made it sound like health care reform would be a long shot. But FOX made it sound like a virtual certainty. So when I started thinking that it was never going to happen, I was always happy to hear their "analysts" saying that it was a lead pipe lock.

It's kind of the same thing here. Instead of idly pissing in the wind about statistical evaluation, our movement was able to get actual votes into the BBWA process. So sometimes I despair about whether anyone is listening to our points or thinking like us, I look up and see old-school columnists firing with both barrels. That means that we're winning; you don't bother to use ill-informed ad hominem attacks on an idea if you aren't scared that this idea may become the common wisdom, and that your ideas may become extinct.

13. Shooty would run in but these bone spurs hurt!

Posted: November 22, 2009 at 04:54 PM (#3393911)

So they'll check out Granderson to see if he is a Liberal/Democrat and drop the matter immediately if he is?

Some of you guys just can't help yourselves, can you?

14. New York Necks Posted: November 22, 2009 at 05:53 PM (#3393956)

Stat geeks: the Ringleaders of the Tormentors.

15. I Am Not a Number Posted: November 22, 2009 at 07:42 PM (#3394006)

Wouldn't Granderson be a good fit on the Cubs because of all their righthanded bats? The team faced LHP only 20% of the time in 2009 (the Tigers were at 27%).

16. Walks Clog Up the Bases Posted: November 22, 2009 at 08:20 PM (#3394019)

As a Michigan Cubs fan, this story is doubly interesting. I can tell you a lot of people around me are freaking out about the prospect of Granderson being moved to any team for anything. Fans ####### adore him around here.

17. OCD SS Posted: November 22, 2009 at 10:00 PM (#3394085)

WCUtB, would most Detroit fans rather see Miggy tradd? Is there a sense that anyone might need to be traded for monetary reasons?

18. Tricky Dick Posted: November 22, 2009 at 10:03 PM (#3394086)

Good post, no. 11. The first thing I noticed was the irony of equating fear of strike outs with sabermetrics. Mainstream writers who hated Adam Dunn, because of his high strike out rate, would scold sabermetrics for suggesting that he had high offensive value in spite of his strike outs.

19. Shock of the Desert Posted: November 22, 2009 at 11:22 PM (#3394141)

Some sportswriters won't be happy until the game replaces the concept of "scoring runs" with some end-of-game judges who choose the winner not based on statistics, but based on which team showed the most grit, heart, hustle, hunger, want-to, determination, battle-mentality and erstadian ecksteinism.

20. You Cannot Transcribe Zonk Posted: November 22, 2009 at 11:34 PM (#3394148)

So they'll check out Granderson to see if he is a Liberal/Democrat and drop the matter immediately if he is?

As evidenced by the fact the current DoJ filed the motion to vacate Ted Stevens' conviction with prejudice due to misconduct by the last DoJ, while at the same time - secured a conviction and record prison time for William Jefferson, I think it's safe to assume you're thinking of a different justice department.

21. Cyril Morong Posted: November 23, 2009 at 01:49 PM (#3394400)

Here are the guys the White Sox drafted ahead of him in 2002

Royce Ring
Jeremy Reed

The guys the Cubs drafted ahead of him
Bobby Brownlie
Luke Haggerty
Chadd Blasko
Matt Clanton
Brian Dopirik
Justin Jones

I suppose you could say that at least the Sox traded Reed to get Freddy Garcia. Are any of these other guys still prospects or did any of them get traded for someone important? Granderson was born in Blue Island (near Chicago) and went to UIC or the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was right under the noses of the Sox and Cubs.

22. Cooper Teenoh Posted: November 23, 2009 at 06:30 PM (#3394670)

Me: Rick Morrissey bad fit for people who like reading good or useful writing

23. Greg Pope Posted: November 23, 2009 at 06:47 PM (#3394694)

...and forget all the good times playing pickle with their friends.

Not sure what pickle is, but this reminds me. WTF is "pepper", as in "no pepper games" and why is it so irresistable that professional ballplayers need to be warned against it?

24. Walt Davis Posted: November 23, 2009 at 07:29 PM (#3394773)

what's pepper? Oh my lord civilization has come to an end!

Pepper is a game with a batter and 3-4 fielders. The fielders, standing fairly close, toss the ball at the batter who smacks it back at them. It's practice for quick reflexes -- and hacking at balls a foot off the plate! You'll have to experience its irresistability for yourself.

As to why it's banned -- I've never really understood. You get the occasional line drive or hard foul ball, so if you played it right next to the stands where there's no screen, a fan might get bonked but that's just a reason to play it near the screen or in the middle of the field.

So I'm guessing it's banned because pepper was revealed as a Commie plot in the 50s though I'm also expecting to read an article blaming the ban on Keith Law any day now.

25. cercopithecus aethiops Posted: November 23, 2009 at 07:34 PM (#3394784)

I don't know why pepper was banned at the professional level, but we banned it for my kid's JV team because they were killing too many assistant coaches.

26. cercopithecus aethiops Posted: November 23, 2009 at 07:35 PM (#3394787)

Oh, and "pickle" is a base-running game.

27. Buddha Posted: November 23, 2009 at 07:37 PM (#3394792)

WCUtB, would most Detroit fans rather see Miggy tradd? Is there a sense that anyone might need to be traded for monetary reasons?

The Tigers aren't trading people for monetary reasons. Or, I should say, they're not trading players because they can't afford to pay them.

The Tigers have a lot of holes on their team, if they want to fill the holes, they have to trade something of value to get value in return. Preferably something overvalued. I would argue that Granderson is overvalued. So is Edwin Jackson. The idea of trading them for a couple of stud prospects should always be on the Tigers' radar.

They're are no plans to shop miggy. If they were dumping salaries - which they're not - he would be the first on the list.

28. Spahn Insane Posted: November 23, 2009 at 08:10 PM (#3394838)

Oh, and "pickle" is a base-running game.

Or "hotbox," as we called it where I grew up.

29. Cris E Posted: November 23, 2009 at 09:15 PM (#3394917)

We were playing pepper before a game in seventh grade. One of our guys was something of a card and faked a pretty good swing, ha ha ha. Trouble is he actually hit the ball, and as must be the case in a situation like this, it just crushed the crotch of one of the other guys. (It doesn;t take much when you're ten feet apart.) Anyway, lots less pepper during the second half of that season.

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Morrissey: Curtis Granderson a good fit for Chicago Cubs

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