First & Right To Be Dee-Tight Next Year?
Posted by Steve L. on September 29th, 2008 · Comments (11)
Via Baseball Prospectus, here’s how the Yankees ranked, this season in the A.L., in terms of their Defensive Efficiency (meaning the rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs by their defense):
# TEAM PA H SO HR ROE DEF_EFF 1 TBA 6,145 1,349 1,143 166 53 0.717 2 TOR 6,067 1,330 1,184 134 52 0.711 3 OAK 6,112 1,364 1,061 135 58 0.707 4 BOS 6,180 1,369 1,185 147 52 0.706 5 ANA 6,161 1,455 1,106 160 53 0.699 6 KCA 6,214 1,473 1,085 159 56 0.696 7 CHA 6,152 1,463 1,129 156 65 0.696 8 BAL 6,414 1,538 922 184 61 0.695 9 MIN 6,190 1,563 992 182 58 0.694 10 CLE 6,164 1,530 986 170 58 0.694 11 DET 6,374 1,535 983 171 59 0.692 12 NYA 6,175 1,478 1,141 143 50 0.687 13 SEA 6,368 1,544 1,016 161 54 0.686 14 TEX 6,506 1,647 963 176 68 0.679
That’s pretty close to being the worst in the league. Based on feel, I would have to say that A-Rod, Cano, Giambi and Abreu were all a big part of that poor showing here. (Jeter too…but, that’s a dead horse.)
A-Rod and Cano are capable of doing better. But, if the Yankees do let Giambi and Abreu go, hoepfully the Yankees will improve their defense at first base and right field next season.
Jeter was decent this year.
I don’t remember any A-Rod miscues in the field. Do you have #’s to back up that statement?
Nope. Like I said, it was “feel.”
FWIW, I recall A-Rod going to his right to make a good play, maybe two or three times, all year. And, I recall him going to his left to make a great play maybe once.
Plus, there’s the issue with his throws at times.
He’s far from a “plus” fielder at third. Perhaps the BIS Fielding Bible +/- system would confirm this?
Anyone have a subscription to Bill James On-Line?
Just from watching A-Rod…I don’t think he is a great 3B either…his reaction time is slow over there and he doesn’t guard the line well…I don’t remember him making many diving plays and if you watch the highlights of other teams you see at least 3 or 4 different 3B making diving plays a night…I don’t think of ARod as a bad 3B but he’s far from a great one…he’s probably middle of the pack.
I concur.
Honestly, I don’t think he cares about diving for balls, etc.
Every starting Yankee has a range factor below league average, except for the one who usually doesn’t hustle all the time: Cano. Kind of ironic when you think of it.
Here are the BIS +/- figures for all of the Yankee regulars:
1B – Giambi -18; Enhanced -18. Rank: 29nd among regular firstbasemen (Bunts: C+)
2B – Cano -16. Rank: 32nd (DP Rank: 19th)
(Compare with 2007, +17, Rank: 5th, and DP Rank: 1st. Just a rotten season all the way around for Cano.)
SS – Jeter -12. Rank 26th. (DP Rank: 13th)
3B – Rodriguez +3; Enhanced +2 Rank: 17th (Bunts: D, Rank 34th)
LF – Nady +2, Enhanced +2 (Not enough innings to qualify as a regular.
Damon +6; Enhanced +7, Rank: 9th. (Throwing – Rank 4th(!). Explanation…they rank throwing not on assists, but on the % of runners who have an opportunity to take an extra base who do take that base. 59 runners had an opportunity while Damon played left, and only 20 took the base, probably due to his speed and hustle to the ball.)
CF – Damon -3 (in about 20% of a season’s worth of innings. Too few innings to be considered a regular. Enhanced is also -3. 22 of 35 runners took an extra base on him in CF.
Melky +2; Enhanced +6. Rank: 11th. (Arm: 53 of 95 runners took the extra base on Melky, a pct of .558, which ranked him 13th) Melky is a good, not great, CF.
Gardner +3 Enhanced +6 (In about 160 innings, or approximately 11% of a season! In addition only 7 of 19 runners took the base on Brett in CF.) Outstanding numbers, but the sample is way too small.
RF: Abreu -16, Enhanced -24, Rank: 32nd. (Arm: 75 of 151 runners took the base on Abreu, a % of .497, good for 13th). So his arm is still slightly above average, but his range is horrible and plummeting; he was 26th (-7, -14) in 2006, and 28th (-7, -14) in 2007
Nady (mostly with the Pirates) -4, Enhanced -4. Rank: 20th. (Arm: 53 of 96 took the base on Nady, a % of .553. Rank: 20th)
Thank you Evan3457!
So, I stand corrected on A-Rod. Must be my bias, or something, influencing me.
Thank you Evan3457!
So, I stand corrected on A-Rod. Must be my bias, or something, influencing me.
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well he was pretty terrible 2 years ago with the glove
So, I stand corrected on A-Rod. Must be my bias, or something, influencing me.
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I’ll remember you said that.
[...] This ties back to an earlier thought that I had here – regarding the shortcomings in Bobby Abreu’s defense. [...]