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The Six-Hole: Great futility by O's shortstops

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via www.qualitycards.com

There has been much (very deserved) talk this season about the totally inept players the O's have run out to the shortstop position. Currently, veteran Alex Cintron is occupying the spot, with Trembley and Co. threatening to recall Brandon Fahey from Norfolk, which is just terrible, terrible, terrible news. I assume it has something to do with his positional flexibility, mythical or not.

Fahey will play shortstop, second base, third base, left field, and has volunteered in the past to serve as an emergency catcher, so I suppose that does make him a shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, left fielder, and emergency catcher. And I also suppose if you sent him into a space a few times, that'd make him an astronaut. But other than that, he is no more a major league shortstop, second baseman, third baseman or left fielder than he is an astronaut. (tip of the cap to Bill James and those that spotted the reference, and a virtual high-five of sorts to those that know the former Oriole who was the subject of the original James joke)

For this, we have to ignore defensive ability, and to be perfectly and brutally honest, knowing what we do now about the values of hitting and fielding to the overall outcome of the game (and there is still much to learn, yes), it is rather hard to defend Mark Belanger as a very good player no matter how great his glove was. He had a couple years where he was around league average offensively, but most of the time he was terrible. He was a Gold Glove guy to be sure, but give me a competent fielder that can hit.

Let's take a look at what The Big Three did this year before Cintron thankfully was awarded the job. You can't say he won it, only that everyone else lost the hell out of it.

Player Year AB AVG OBP SLG adj OPS+
Freddie Bynum 2008 99 .192 .238 .242 30
Brandon Fahey 2008 25 .200 .231 .240 27
Luis Hernandez 2008 79 .241 .295 .253 50

Not a pretty picture! But despite the fact that the Orioles do have a rich history of shortstops, including two Hall of Famers (Ripken and Aparicio), the truth is that some of the bigger and better names are about to pop up on the next list: all-time crappy Oriole shortstop seasons.

Player Year AB AVG OBP SLG adj OPS+
Billy Hunter 1954 411 .243 .281 .304 66
Willy Miranda 1955 487 .255 .313 .310 74
Willy Miranda 1956 461 .217 .287 .282 57
Luis Aparicio 1967 546 .233 .270 .313 72
Mark Belanger 1968 472 .208 .272 .248 58
Mark Belanger 1970 459 .218 .303 .259 56
Mark Belanger 1973 470 .226 .302 .262 61
Mark Belanger 1975 442 .226 .286 .276 64
Mark Belanger 1977 402 .206 .287 .274 58
Mike Bordick 1997 509 .236 .283 .318 59
Deivi Cruz 2003 548 .250 .269 .378 69

Notes:
1957: Miranda (314 AB) was at 30
1958: Miranda (214 AB) was at 40; Foster Castleman (200 AB) was at 37
1959: Chico Carrasquel (346 AB) was at 64; Billy Klaus (321 AB) was at 86; Miranda (88 AB) came in at 22

Conclusion: Willy (or Willie, depending on the listing) Miranda was f-ing terrible.

Past Ripken and the contemporary Miguel Tejada, the best shortstops in O's history (post-STL Browns) are largely considered to be Belanger, Aparicio and Bordick. All three were glove men who generally carried a weak stick. Aparicio would be ridiculed as a leadoff hitter in today's game -- if there were blogs in Luis' heyday and the same statistical understanding we now have, he'd be Adam Everett. Simply put, if the game were the same then as it is now, Aparicio would never have even sniffed the Hall of Fame. He was not a bad player; he could run and he could field like crazy. But Hall of Fame? No disrespect meant to Mr. Aparicio, but his credentials are fairly shaky.

Belanger was the heir to Aparicio, and was simply a taller, caucasian version most of the time. That and he didn't steal a whole lot of bases. And he had a lot more truly awful seasons at the plate. Bordick had one freaky good year with a 113 OPS+ (2000), which is how we wound up with Melvin Mora. Thanks again, Mike!

Just so this isn't all gloomy (if you choose to take it that way, anyway), here are the ten best offensive seasons by OPS+ in O's shortstop history. It's a pretty exclusive list.

Player Year AB AVG OBP SLG adj OPS+
Cal Ripken Jr. 1991 650 .323 .374 .566 162
Cal Ripken Jr. 1984 641 .304 .374 .510 145
Cal Ripken Jr. 1983 663 .318 .371 .517 144
Miguel Tejada 2004 653 .311 .360 .534 131
Cal Ripken Jr. 1988 575 .264 .372 .431 128
Miguel Tejada 2005 654 .304 .349 .515 128
Miguel Tejada 2006 648 .330 .379 .498 126
Cal Ripken Jr. 1985 642 .282 .347 .469 124
Cal Ripken Jr. 1986 627 .282 .355 .461 122
Cal Ripken Jr. 1982* 598 .264 .317 .475 115

* Ripken played 94 games (813 innings) at SS in 1982, and 71 games (604 innings) at third base

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actually, it's funny...

in the bill james historical abstract, it lists ripken as the 2nd or 3rd best ss of all time. beyond the fact, that his offensive numbers are pretty great, james tells a story of how he had read in baseball america that kurt stillwell had the best ss arm, so he went to take in a royals-o’s series and determined it was no contest: ripken was FAR superior in the filed. he played really deep, had a cannon and just great judgment.

foghat goes with everything--birdman, 5/16/08

by j.q. higgins on Jun 25, 2008 12:46 PM EDT   0 recs

I love me some Bill James

I have his 1994 Player Ratings Book, and I still flip through it to see how his predictions panned out: for instance, I recall that he saw Tino Martinez having a few monster years before he was done, but he also panned the hell out of Rudy Seanez (who is still pitching, which is as much an indictment of the quality of MLB pitching as anything). I also get a kick out of his digs at players and teams. Of Shawn Hillegas, he said: “Truly a horrible pitcher…I have no idea what in the hell he’s still doing in the majors.”

As far as Cal, he really did play out of his mind in ‘91. I’m surprised to see that 1988 was his fourth-best season, considering that the team as a whole was total dogshit.

by Brotz13 on Jun 25, 2008 1:53 PM EDT   0 recs

SS is a sad state of affairs

for us right now, no doubt. But what’s the solution? We sure as shit don’t have anyone in our system. Anybody have any ideas on this? Because the future is looking pretty bleak for a long time coming.

by Jonny Pops on Jun 25, 2008 4:22 PM EDT   0 recs

Trade from the pitching surplus

That’s what MacPhail has suggested all along. Draft strong pitchers and athletic outfielders. Then you trade from the glut of pitching to fill out the infield and you’re set. ...also, you have a catcher in there somewhere.

by Dr Orpheus on Jun 25, 2008 4:46 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

I have an idea

Ask the Florida Marlins really nicely if they could send the Orioles Hanley Ramirez.

by yurizanow on Jun 25, 2008 4:58 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

I started

to type that exact same thing. Well, not exactly but the Hanley Ramirez part.

I've got two nickels and a paradigm. - RWH

by BPinOK on Jun 25, 2008 5:37 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

oh it's a lost cause for this season

Revisit it in the offseason, when you can see what pitchers did well or whatever within the system, find out who needs what, etc.

Honestly I’m having as much fun as I can watching these guys as they make me want to pull my hair out.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 25, 2008 6:58 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

All true, but

not entirely fair to Aparicio and Belanger. Remember that before Cal, SS was not expected to be much of a production center. They were expected to plug the hole, bat leadoff, draw some walks, do the hit & run, and immediatley bunt if (God Forbid) anyone was on base when they came to the plate. That’s why they were mostly short—a tiny strike zone was their main offensive asset (as a group). Classic example: Phil Rizzutto. OK, so Belanger didn’t exactly fit the mold, but his gangly arms made him extra good at plugging the hole. Post Cal, it’s a whole new world. Also, a lot more lefty hitters in the game (I think) so 2nd is as important defensively as short.

by fishoutawata on Jun 25, 2008 11:30 PM EDT   0 recs

Oh, I know, and agree. You don’t go back and change the times. The game was the same, but it was played differently. Shit, Bordick was essentially Belanger/Aparicio and we’re talking late 90s.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 26, 2008 9:26 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Shorstops in the 1950's and 1960's

Were in that Phil Rizzuotto, Pee Wee Reese, Maury Wills mode at best. Before that there were a number of higher OBP guys with some pop like Eddie Joost, Vern Stevens, Joe Cronin, and Luke Appling (who didn’t have a ton of power, but lived on base).

Also, the shortstop revolution didn’t exactly start with Cal Ripken. Robin Yount and Roy Smalley were playing in a Ripken-esque manner before him and Alan Trammel emerged about the same time as Ripken.

by yurizanow on Jun 26, 2008 12:48 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

yeah

But Ripken was a LOT bigger than any of them, which was the real establishment he made in the changing of major league shortstops. He had about 40 pounds on the biggest (which was Smalley) and was 3-4 inches taller than all of them. Guys like A-Rod and Jeter (who are 6’3” to Cal’s 6’4”) are very post-Ripken.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 26, 2008 4:22 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Size is the biggest difference

The big revolution caused by Ripken moving over to short and doing well was other teams saying “hmm, maybe our corner infielder/outfielder could play there as well.” As a result, better hitters started manning the position.

Offensively speaking, there were other guys who could hit who played shortstop, but as you said, they weren’t big guys. From basically the end of World War II to Yount and Smalley, teams accepted really horrible baseball players at short like Belanger, Dave Concepcion, and Bert Campaneris because they thought shortstop was such an important defensive position that it didn’t matter that those guys were designated outs.

If Cal Ripken is the player who revolutionized the offensive expectations of the shortstop position, then Derek Jeter might be the player who revolutionizes the defensive expectations of the shortstop position. His defense was always lousy, but it never substantially hurt the Yankees. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of GM’s have looked at him and said, “gee, maybe a good defensive shortstop isn’t so important after all.” Mayo Smith thought that in the 1969 World Series when he put Mickey Stanley at shortstop so he could get Al Kaline in the game, it could be he was ahead of his time and it took the rest of baseball 40 years to catch up.

by yurizanow on Jun 27, 2008 12:17 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

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