Sidney Ponson, BJ Surhoff and The Texas Ranger Massacre
by SC
on Aug 7, 2005 7:52 PM EDT
in News
2.1 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 ER - pulled due to a strained right calf. O's lose 9-3 because Williams, Byrdak and Julio all get beaten on, too. Gary Matthews Jr. strikes again.
Ponson is probably going to be waived and dealt this month, or at least I would think so. I don't think we'll be seeing Kline much longer, either, and I wouldn't be stunned to see Sammy waived.
BJ Surhoff hitting cleanup with his .669 OPS is a joke. Surhoff has been positively horrible this year. Are you telling me it wouldn't be at least interesting for the club to bring up Walter Young instead of never-was Midre Cummings? Young could've at least gotten a tryout during Palmeiro's absence; instead, Cummings sits around on the bench and we trot Surhoff out there every day.
Young is not lighting AAA up (.290/.337/.452), but so what? Surhoff is 41 and beyond finished. The season is over. They had an opening, and unlike say, Atlanta, a team which uses openings to give young kids serious looks in the majors, the Orioles instead use it to give BJ Surhoff a final first name, when he has been one of the worst hitters on this team, which is saying a lot because a bunch of these guys have been pretty damn bad.
And Perlozzo batting him fourth today - yeah, that raised my eyebrow toward Perlozzo in a big way. Lineup order is overrated, yada yada, but look, there is a way a lineup is built, and it's generally accepted, and it's not going away, and of course the rest of the argument is, "...as long as you don't do something incredibly stupid." I think this qualifies.
We're coming home to play the Devil Rays starting Tuesday, after an off-day tomorrow. Should be truly exciting.
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Mmm.
No, he's not hitting well, numbers-wise. But he gets clutch hits. And you don't know that he's going to be an out, the way you did with Sammy during his slump.
There's a whole lot of others I'd get rid of on this team way before I'd lose BJ.
by CarrieIC on Aug 7, 2005 8:22 PM EDT 0 recs
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Well, numbers-wise is kind of how it works.
But he gets clutch hits.
With runners on and two outs, his OPS is .578.
RISP, 2 outs: .472
RISP: .609
Runners On: .721
Bases loaded: .000
So, no. There is no evidence of this, unless you want to base it entirely on him being 4-for-8 (all singles) with a man on third and less than two outs.
And you don't know that he's going to be an out, the way you did with Sammy during his slump.
Yes I do. Considering he has a .285 OBP, it's pretty easy to predict.
Excellent defensively? I think that's a stretch. He's a better first baseman than Gibbons. He's a perfectly fine corner outfielder. But I'm pretty certain his glove is not so good that it makes up for his bat. He's 41 and a waste of time. There are countless players that could give you a decent glove and better offense.
by SC on
Aug 7, 2005 8:47 PM EDT
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*raises eyebrow*
He's hitting .300 with runners on, .278 with runners in scoring position, which is far better than his .234 with the bases empty. Ergo, he is far more likely to get a hit when it's critical than when it is not.
His RISP batting average is better than Sal Fasano's, Javy Lopez's, Chris Gomez's, Melvin Mora's, Eric Byrnes', Jay Gibbons', David Newhan's, and Sammy Sosa's. He's only a couple of points behind Miggy.
So, he's not lacing a lot of doubles when guys are on second, no. But your chances are damn good that he's going to hit in that situation when compared to the rest of the team. So I'd say the qualification as "one of the worst hitters on the team" might be just a hair on the side of extreme.
He had an ugly April and a bad July (along with, you know, the entire club). But May and June were good and August is looking nice so far. And given the fact that overall we have a fairly young club and it's looking like we've lost Raffy as a clubhouse mentor, not to mention we've just lost our manager mid-season, I'm not entirely convinced that this is the absolutely most wonderful moment to purge our clubhouse of veterans.
by CarrieIC on
Aug 7, 2005 10:05 PM EDT
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He's making an out 69% of the time with runners on (.311 OBP) and 73% of the time with RISP (.276). Bases empty, he makes an out 74% of the time.
So I'd say the qualification as "one of the worst hitters on the team" might be just a hair on the side of extreme.
The numbers reflect this. They do not reflect him being a good clutch hitter. It's not about batting average. It's about the fact that he's making outs at a very high rate.
Orioles OPS (min. 90 AB with team)
B. Roberts .942
M. Tejada .932
R. Palmeiro .826
M. Mora .813
J. Gibbons .794
S. Fasano .794
J. Lopez .762
L. Matos .733
S. Sosa .729
C. Gomez .704
L. Bigbie .688
B. Surhoff .669
D. Newhan .614
G. Gil .568
by SC on
Aug 7, 2005 10:22 PM EDT
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Actually the chances are only damn good that he has already hit more in that situation compared to the rest of the team, not that he will continue to do so. He's pretty awful.
by Awesome Mike Awesome on
Aug 7, 2005 11:04 PM EDT
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i hadn't looked at bj's numbers
by birdman on Aug 8, 2005 4:31 AM EDT 0 recs
Can't we just get rid of them both?
Shamu is fat and lazy and needs a new career.
I know....BJ can run a food drive, and help feed Shamu!
by elktonfan on Aug 8, 2005 9:35 AM EDT 0 recs
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