Comments on: Position roulette, Inge and Guillen edition

By: Mike R

Mike R — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:09:21 +0000

People saying that Guillen is most likely to get dealt need to realize the amount of money he has left on his deal.

When was the last time a player coming of a year with 420 AB’s and 3 years, $36 million (I think) left on his contract was traded? Carlos Guillen is not leaving Detroit this year via a trade.

By: Chris in Dallas

Chris in Dallas — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:25:45 +0000

Well there is of course the one and only Mario Mendoza.

By: Brenden

Brenden — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:19:18 +0000

Personally, I think that Sheffield, Guillen, or Inge need to be traded. Out of the bunch, Guillen probable has the most trade value for a team looking for a DH. I just dont think his back is going to hold no matter where we stick him on the field. I really don’t think that he is going to make a smooth transition to LF. Sheffield might have some value to a team that is looking for an old reliable bat. Inge, on the other hand, would just attract a new bat boy. I think that Inge going back to 3B will help his average some, but he is going to have to make some big changes to convince me that he deserves to play all the time.

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:18:57 +0000

As for your first question, the closest I can come is Dave Kingman, who hit below .205 three times in his career, although all of those seasons were in the NL, and he only played 100 and 112 games in two of those seasons.

My research methods are far from scientific, though.

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:10:45 +0000

Do shortstops count? Cause Ozzie Guillen played a long time and had a career-high OPS+ of 85.

By: stephen

stephen — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:43:52 +0000

Or how about this one?

Has any AL batter ever played eight years and batted at or below the league’s OPS seven out of those eight years?

By: stephen

stephen — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:40:32 +0000

I asked if anyone has ever hit below .205 four times in a career for the same team in the DH era. This will be Inge’s fourth year of doing it.

By: Mike R

Mike R — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:33:15 +0000

Stephen: Not 100% sure why you’re asking for .205 BA’s when Inge has hit .287, .261, .253, and .236 from 04-07, but I’ll bite, I suppose.

With at least 40 AB’s in a year, in the AL, since 1973, exactly 13 guys have hit .205 or worse.

Inge doesn’t qualify for that list since it’s due to AB’s … He’ll have around 348 if you give him 4 in today’s make up game which wouldn’t be up there. If you make the requirements at least 340 AB’s in a season, a player has hit .205 or worse, 22 times. Rob Deer hit .179 in 448 AB’s with the Tigers in 1991. 448!

By: Smoking Loon

Smoking Loon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:14:13 +0000

Ah, game on. Good deal.

By: Smoking Loon

Smoking Loon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:13:11 +0000

I’m fine with Inge at 3B. If he put up his career 162-game average in 2009 – .237, 16 hr, 67 RBI, 84 OPS+ – I could live with that. His defense at 3B is worth that, I’d say.

Guillen in LF – well, they must be hard-pressed to find a spot foir him and unable or unwilling to let go of Sheffield, or at least unable or unwilling to say so at this point. At first glance it would seem that now Marcus has got to go… but maybe not.

Hard to put much stick in this announcement at all, really. It’s waaaaay too early. If it’s for effect, I’m not sure what the effect is supposed to be. “We’re making changes, yes sirree!” maybe?

By: Smoking Loon

Smoking Loon — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:50:58 +0000

Curtis Granderson in September, 25 G, 114 PA:

.200/.298/.450/.748 6 HR 14 RBI 29 K 14 BB 1 SB

Unfortunate, is all I’m saying. Had some HRs, anyway.

Brandon Inge in September, 22 G, 85 PA:

.151/.238/.260/.498 1 HR 8 RBI 23 K 8 BB 3 SB

Ouch, is all I’m saying.

By: Angie

Angie — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:42:57 +0000

Rereading my earlier post, I think I sounded like I think Guillen physically can’t play left at all. That’s not exactly true. While he’s healthy, I think Guillen can do just fine in the outfield. The problem is, as far as I’m concerned, that Guillen has had lots of little to moderate injuries throughout the past two years, coupled with chronically bad knees. I think there’s going to be largish gaps during which he isn’t in any condition to play any position, especially since he’s only getting older. Guillen is/was a good baseball player, but if we didn’t already have a traffic jam of people who could DH, I would recommend that if only to keep his bat in the line-up longer (even though he didn’t have a typical year at the plate, but again, probably caused by the injuries).

By: greg

greg — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:21:05 +0000

Not that he will be mistaken for Curtis Granderson as far as his mobility and range in the OF, but I don’t see mobility as a problem. He’s probably more mobile the Maggs is in RF, and much more mobile than Thames in LF. The concern I heard expressed by the Tiger brass was his knees, which take a beating at SS with runners sliding in to break up double plays(which is against the rules btw, yet rarely enforced even if they slide 2-3 yards away from the bag).

jud – I hear ya, the problem is, while that’s a huge concern, it pales in comparison to our pitchers inability to get hitters out, until they do that, they could have 9 Miguel Cabreras and it probably wouldn’t matter. Inge would decrease the number of outs our pitchers have to get.

By: jud

jud — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:36:51 +0000

angie you might be right on!

By: jud

jud — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:33:57 +0000

this will change in oct then nov then dec then jan then feb and hopefully in march Inge with his .203 batting average will be back to super-sub…..cause he CAN’T HIT major league pitching no matter where he plays