stop short
ok, nomar ain't on the list, but he didn't play a full season. for some reason he's listed as a dh. we'll talk about him then. when we talk about dh's. i know it's a terrible solution but i don't want to deal with excel right now.

Player           aab   w   k hr 23  wal  con  pow  avg

izturis,cesar    673  43  70  4 41 .060 .896 .075 .288

cesar became useful offensively. with his great defense, that makes him valuable in low-run situations, like the playoffs. he's a strong contributor.

tejada,miguel    667  58  73 34 42 .080 .891 .128 .311

what can you say when you see that kind of contact with that kind of power but difference maker.

rollins,jimmy    659  60  73 14 55 .083 .889 .118 .289

ditto. i should say something new. look at those doubles (plus triples)! jimmy's hittin his prime.

wilson,jack      657  30  71 11 53 .044 .892 .109 .308

another breakout year. the shortstop landscape is changing. just needs a little patience. strong contributor.

you could characterize izturis, rollins, and wilson as breakouts this year.

jeter,derek      645  60  99 23 45 .085 .847 .125 .292

those are good numbers. and i'm starting to think his defense isn't as bad as sabermetricians think. many of them think he's one of the worst of all time. i don't know. i can't say anything definitive here. i mean, it's true that he consistently gets terrible ratings while other yankee infielders, like third basemen, look good, but he does seem to make good decisions. he seems to be in the right place at the right time. he senses things, somehow. yes the famous play against the a's in the playoffs jeremy giambi didn't score. how did he know to do that?

that's what the tv says any time you see playoff highlights but there's something to the tv's argument. i don't know how much. but he's easily a strong contributor.

cabrera,orlando  628  42  54 10 41 .063 .914 .089 .264

strong defense, great contact. power dropped off a little. another strong contributor.

renteria,edgar   596  40  78 10 37 .063 .869 .091 .287

i don't know. looks like the sox moved down. how's edgar's defense? they say it's great. is he a strong contributor? i guess so, but what about the next guy?

lugo,julio       589  59 106  7 45 .091 .820 .108 .275

borderline. we gotta draw the line somewhere. but those are balanced skills. he is a good baseball player.

yeah, i know. obviously.

guzman,cristian  580  31  64  8 35 .051 .890 .083 .274

great defense. needs a little more. power, patience.

clayton,royce    576  52 125  8 40 .083 .783 .106 .279

in coors that's the best he could do? why do people still employ this guy?

vizquel,omar     573  58  62  7 31 .092 .892 .074 .291

omar had some nice years, although he was overrated his entire career. now he's just a guy.

cintron,alex     568  33  59  4 38 .055 .896 .083 .262

cintron fell back from his rookie season. he struck out more and had less power. he just turned 26, so you gotta think he'll get it back.

gotta gotta gotta. i keep saying that word. writing it.

eckstein,david   568  55  49  2 25 .088 .914 .052 .276

yeah. whatever. useful in certain low-run situations. typical middle infielder. guy.

furcal,rafael    568  59  71 14 29 .094 .875 .087 .279

quality quality. power developing. strong contributor, with his defense. and don't forget baserunning.

gonzalez,alex    565  30 126 23 33 .050 .777 .128 .232

yikes, the strikeouts! serious on-base issues.

crosby,bobby     551  67 141 22 35 .108 .744 .139 .239

up-and-comer. along with cintron. should've said that.

guillen,carlos   526  54  87 20 47 .093 .835 .153 .318

yeah, i didn't see that coming. i mean nobody did. i'm feeling kind of uninspired here. like i'm putting boring comments. like i keep repeating things. like i keep repeating things.

berroa,angel     514  34  87  8 33 .062 .831 .096 .262

another guy who declined. he was nothing special anyway though. another guy.

uribe,juan       507  35  96 23 37 .065 .811 .146 .283

breakout season? uribe's 25, so it's safe to label him an up-and-comer. but he's a second baseman. right? what are the white sox doing at short this year?

greene,khalil    492  61  94 15 35 .110 .809 .126 .273

up-and-comer. high quality stuff at petco.

counsell,craig   475  64  87  2 24 .119 .817 .067 .242

counsell doesn't still play short, does he? whatever. he's a guy.

matsui,kazuo     462  41  97  7 34 .082 .790 .112 .272

turns out he's not worth all those millions after all. just some of them.

valentin,jose    452  46 139 30 23 .092 .692 .169 .216

that's a lot of strikeouts. what are the dodgers gonna do with him?

cruz,deivi       403  20  32  7 32 .047 .921 .105 .292

interesting contact/power combo. but no patience.

aurilia,rich     402  41  71  6 23 .093 .823 .088 .246

once a power-hitting shortstop. now a guy.

hall,bill        392  21 119  9 23 .051 .696 .117 .238

second baseman. too many strikeouts.

everett,adam     387  25  56  8 17 .061 .855 .076 .273

it's all guys from here except for some up-and-comers near the bottom. here's a link to everett.

vizcaino,jose    360  20  39  3 24 .053 .892 .084 .274

larkin,barry     349  35  39  8 18 .091 .888 .084 .289

gonzalez,alex_s  285  15  64  7 19 .050 .775 .118 .225

graffanino,tony  280  30  38  3 11 .097 .864 .058 .263

lopez,felipe     265  28  81  7 20 .096 .694 .147 .242

mclemore,mark    251  42  33  2 14 .143 .869 .073 .248

reese,pokey      245  17  60  3  9 .065 .755 .065 .221

mentioned in red sox article.

reyes,jose       220   5  31  2 18 .022 .859 .106 .255

up-and-comer. must learn patience.

woodward,chris   215  15  46  1 17 .065 .786 .107 .235

lopez,jose       208   9  31  5 13 .041 .851 .102 .232

up-and-comer.

luna,hector      176  15  37  3  9 .079 .790 .086 .249

cantu,jorge      174  11  44  2 21 .059 .747 .177 .301

up-and-comer. contact will develop.

upton,b.j.       160  16  46  4 10 .091 .713 .123 .258

the other up-and-comer devil ray shortstop. even younger.

vazquez,ramon    117  11  24  1  5 .086 .795 .065 .235

izturis,maicer   107  12  20  1  7 .101 .813 .092 .206

what will maicer do in the majors? i have no idea. are there any other up-and-comers? probably. good night.

oh yeah ranking.

1. tejada
2. rollins
3. guillen
4. tie among all strong contributors.

lots of strong contributors and up-and-comers. as i said, the landscape is changing. landscape. i can't believe i said that. there's gotta be a better way. to communicate. that idea. than to use tired cliches. i'm just kinda rambling here. my girlfriend is mad at me for staying up all night writing about baseball. she's mad about other stuff too. this is about to turn way too personal. i've been warned about stuff like that. she's going home. i'm sleeping alone tonight. see what you made me do? see what you've done? yeah i know i know i know. i have no one to blame but myself. sorry baby. i do the best i can.
- posted by julien @ 2:47 AM