Why are we so right handed???

by foulpole on Oct 10, 2008 3:39 AM EDT

If JB is such great a GM then why do we have a team that is so heavy on the RHB side??

If we lose O-Dawg we will probably get even more right handed. Trade CJ for what ever we can get for some LHB.He's a poor defensive 1b and ...at best...an average defensive lf that can't hit more than 12-15 bombs.

Approx. 75% of our PAs will be against RHPs.

We neeed LHB's

Great roster contruction...JB.

All RHBs. give me a freaking break!!!

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Well

who do you suggest? And why trade away one of your best offensive producers?

We are gonna get drunk with Adam Dunn and we're gonna head-butt some damn kangaroos.

by soco on Oct 10, 2008 10:59 AM EDT reply actions

phunny how

he is willing to throw the top producer on the team under the bus to fit his personal agenda.

"So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish!"

by unnamedDBacksfan on Oct 10, 2008 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Good call

“We don’t have enough left-handed batters. So let’s trade away a right-handed batter who’s hitting RHP nearly as well as he’s hitting LHP! Oh, just dump him for whatever we can get, as long as they’re left-handed.”

Hey, foulpole, my father-in-law is left-handed- think the D-backs should bring him in for a try-out?

"Now, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard [Hank Steinbrenner] say, and this is the third time I've said that this season."

by kishi on Oct 10, 2008 11:43 AM EDT reply actions

Raises (left) hand

Over here! Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!

Ah, dammit. I forgot, though I’m left-handed in just about everything else, I bat right-handed. There goes my career in the big leagues. Curses: foiled again.

by Jim McLennan on Oct 10, 2008 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Hmmm....

my mom is left-handed.

But by foulpole’s criterion, she might better serve as a baseball analyst — she knows absolutely nothing about baseball, but if given the pulpit of a Diamondbacks Blog and if allowed to spew random nothings, she might be correct from time to time. Even more than foulpole.

"If the government's nuclear football ever were to fall into the wrong hands, Chris Horton would be called upon to intercept it on behalf of the Pentagon." -Kissing Suzy Kolber

by DbacksSkins on Oct 20, 2008 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions

+infinity

"So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish!"

by unnamedDBacksfan on Oct 20, 2008 2:59 AM EDT up reply actions

I swear.

This just gets funnier and funnier.

by Azreous on Oct 10, 2008 12:41 PM EDT reply actions

I'll answer your question

with another question, though.

by Azreous on Oct 10, 2008 12:56 PM EDT reply actions

Well that's

not the image I posted at all.

by Azreous on Oct 10, 2008 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought it was a sardonic comment

On the incomprehensibility of the original post?

I think you got nailed by anti-hotlinking. Some sites won’t let you post pics from their site elsewhere, because it’s basically leeching off their bandwidth, so they block it. Me, I just change the picture name on my page to something else, and replace the pic they are linking to with something extremely disturbing – so that’s what appears on their site. They tend not to come back. :-)

by Jim McLennan on Oct 10, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

You give me far too much credit.

Although it certainly does work that way.

by Azreous on Oct 10, 2008 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Missing the point entirely

CHC: 72.0% of their at-bats were by right-handers, compared to only 63.8% in Arizona. And they merely scored – by a margin of more than fifty – the most runs in the National League. Demanding more left-handed hitters is pointless. What we need is better hitting, regardless of what side of the plate they stand. Finding some team willing to take on Byrnes’ salary, so we can invest it more wisely, would be a huge step forward in that direction.

by Jim McLennan on Oct 10, 2008 2:47 PM EDT reply actions

+1

My sentiments exactly.

-Sent by a Blackberry
(invented by John McCain)

by C. Wesley Baier on Oct 10, 2008 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Everybody recognizes

we need better hitters, but that’s like saying we need more runs or more wins – or more hitters like the Cubs, frankly. All true, but these dont appear to me to be especially focused or useful assessments in today’s real Diamondbacks world. Cant we all recognize, by now, that this team also suffers from a particular and acute vulnerability to right handed pitching (.727 OPS v RHP before park adjs; RHB v RHP .698 OPS before park )? In context, we hit near league average v lefties, near league bottom against righties – the latter comprising more than 70% of our at bats!

Aside from the CoJack tangent, the heart of Foulpole’s rant (sidedness) deserves attention because acquiring hitters universally recognized as “better” comes at a high price (especially thru the eyes of this front office); hitters of equivalent market value, however, whose skills from the other side serve to soften or negate our most profound current vulnerabilities, may be more obtainable via trade and provide more bang for the buck.

It’s not that we need left handed hitters, per se. We need to hit right handed pitching better, and left handed hitters of roughly equivalent value are a traditional and less expensive source to accomplish that than the pool of right handed batters who happen to crush right handed pitching. You know, people like Albert Pujols :-)

by Diamondhacks on Oct 11, 2008 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

"Aside from the CoJack tangent"

It’s not a tangent. It’s his central theme, and the RIght Handedness of the lineup is a convenient vehicle he can use to forward his agenda.

It only took him till the 2nd sentence to get around to the words “trade CJ”.

:-)

by shoewizard on Oct 11, 2008 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Golly

I feel so….used.

by Diamondhacks on Oct 11, 2008 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Aside from the CoJack tangent…

For those of you that are concerned only with batting stats as an indication of a players value:

CJ vs starting 1bs (with a min of 350 PAs)

OPS (.823) 11 out of 16 Well below ave.

SLG% (.446) 12 out of 16. well below ave.

OP% (.376) 5 out of 16. above ave

href=“http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?split=0&league=nl&season=2008&seasonType=2&sort=avg&type=reg&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=1b&startDate=null&endDate=null&minpa=350” >BA (.300) 3 out of 16. above ave

HRs (12) 13 out of 16.
well below ave

RBI (75) 13 out of 16. well below ave

2b (31) 9 out of 16. below ave

As a 1b, I see a punch and judy hitter. Not exactly what you want to see from a poor defensive 1b.

CJ vs starting lfs (min 350 PAs):

OPS 9 out of 15. below ave

SLG% 9 out of 15. below ave.

OP% 2 out of 15. well above ave.

HRs 10 out of 15. well below ave

RBI 6 out of 15. 1 above ave.

2b 4 out of 15. above ave.

As a ave to below ave lf, these numbers don’t make me feel great about CJ being a n above ave lf either.

What is it now? 4 seasons playing at the ML level? On a team that is already way to right handed?

’08 splits vs RHP:

OPS .782

OP% .351

SLG% .432.

BA .295

Career vs. RHP:

OPS .774

SLG% .424

BA .280.

Out of our “young guys”, after 4 seasons on ML exposure, sounds like one of the 1st RHBs that we should shop to a team that needs RHBs to me.

by foulpole on Oct 13, 2008 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions

So, to sum up your poorly edited comment: “CoJack doesn’t have the power as a hitter that I think he should, because every first baseman needs to hit 30+ home runs every year.” RBIs are a stupid way to evaluate a batter, and nearly everyone of your other stats is based on the fact that he doesn’t have power. So again, this becomes less a question of “why are we so right handed” and more a question of “why doesn’t CoJack hit more home runs for me”.

Let’s look at where CoJack ranks in another comparison: A batting average of .295 (3rd of 14) and an OBP of .351 (3rd of 14)- that’s CoJack’s numbers against RHP, and where he ranks among Diamondbacks with 100 more at-bats against RHP this season. Yeah, CoJack hit pretty well against right handed pitchers, especially for our team.

So, explain to me again- why are we trading away one of our best hitters- not sluggers, but hitters- just for someone who stands on the other side of the plate?

Oh, right, you aren’t going to read this.

"Now, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard [Hank Steinbrenner] say, and this is the third time I've said that this season."

by kishi on Oct 13, 2008 9:31 PM EDT up reply actions

It is amusing, though...

How in the course of three posts, faced with the stuff in the other thread, CoJack has gone from a “below average” left fielder to a “below average to average” LF. How does that happen.

The more prevalent point is: why are we comparing Jackson to other 1Bs when he A) spent more time in LF than at 1B this season and B) is being referred to seemingly as an outfielder for the future?

Oh, right, the agenda. Silly me.

by Azreous on Oct 14, 2008 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Really

I don’t get the point of comparing batters by position anyway- unless you’re a pitcher or a DH, you’re either a good hitter or you’re not. A good hitter should be a good hitter no matter where he plays on the diamond.

"Now, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard [Hank Steinbrenner] say, and this is the third time I've said that this season."

by kishi on Oct 14, 2008 1:03 AM EDT up reply actions

While it's not true in Little League,

aggregate hitting prowess at a given defensive position in the majors tends to be inversely proportional to the complexity of skills the position requires. That there are more good hitting first basemen than good hitting catchers is not a coincidence, but the direct result of natural selection, where defensive demands disqualify larger pools of hitters from playing particular positions.

Good hitters at more demanding positions are rarer, and thus, more valuable. There will always be fewer athletes with world class proficiency at two complex skill sets (ie hitting mlb pitching & playing shortstop) than just one. That’s why there are very few good hitting pitchers and even fewer good hitting concert pianists, and also why there are about as many good hitting first baseman as there are good hitters who can tie their shoes :-)

by Diamondhacks on Oct 14, 2008 2:54 AM EDT up reply actions

It’s a mystery to me why some people just don’t understand the HUGE difference between playing catcher, ss, 2b or even cf over other positions, especially 1b.

The concert pianist and shoe tying analogies were pretty clever. ;-)

by foulpole on Oct 20, 2008 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

It’s a mystery to me why some people just don’t understand that, when our offense is as inconsistent as it’s been over the past couple years, it’s probably counterproductive to complain about a guy who’s succeeding in any capacity at the plate.

"And a note to self that we must tread carefully if we wish not to give gratuitous offense, and even more carefully if we do wish to give it."
-Stephen Fry

by kishi on Oct 20, 2008 12:48 AM EDT up reply actions

+1

Thus Spake Kishi.

"If the government's nuclear football ever were to fall into the wrong hands, Chris Horton would be called upon to intercept it on behalf of the Pentagon." -Kissing Suzy Kolber

by DbacksSkins on Oct 20, 2008 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions

keep flogging that horse.

at least it keeps the flies away

"So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish!"

by unnamedDBacksfan on Oct 13, 2008 10:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, at least he came out and finally admitted it.

The entire point of this thread is that he flat-out hates Conor Jackson.

"If the government's nuclear football ever were to fall into the wrong hands, Chris Horton would be called upon to intercept it on behalf of the Pentagon." -Kissing Suzy Kolber

by DbacksSkins on Oct 20, 2008 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions