A few random things I noticed...

[DrungoHazewood]

... now that the season is over.

1) Prince Fielder played every single game and was worth 1.7 rWAR. If I were the Tigers I might be a tiny bit concerned that he set career lows in any number of categories on the eve of his 30th birthday, and they're paying him $24M a year for each of the next seven seasons.

2) Ryan Howard LOL. Over the past four years he's been paid $79M for 1.9 wins. He's owed at least $85M for the next four seasons. He's almost 34.

3) If we'd just played "retired or not?" with Juan Uribe I might have guessed retired. Nope, 4 win season for the Dodgers.

4) Omar Quintanilla was kind of the Mets starting shortstop this year.

5) Jimmy Rollins is done.

6) Remember when Giancarlo Stanton was going walk 225 times with nobody else in the lineup? He had 69 UIBB, which was a career high but only by five.

7) Arizona has like five players who were really good that I couldn't pick out of a police lineup.

8) When the O's played the White Sox one of the announcers remarked that Alejandro DeAza played an unconventional CF but "it obviously worked for him". By bb-ref he was a -20 CFer this year.

9) From July 3rd, when he was the greatest player in the history of the universe, until the end of the regular season Yasiel Puig hit .272 with an .815 OPS.

10) For all the talk about Raul Ibanez having a spectacular age 41 season, he had a .306 OBP and was a -19 LFer, leaving him just above replacement level.

11) Eric Young led the NL in steals, which ain't half bad for the 1992 ROY. What? Oh.

12) Yuni Betancourt hasn't had a season where he reached replacement level since 2007. By rWAR he's -2.5 wins for his career in 4278 PAs.

13) Mike Morse was nearly two wins below replacement and from May 22nd through the end of the season he OPS'd .507. From June 17th-on he had 15 hits in his last 117 PAs (.135 average).

[DrungoHazewood]

Oh, I almost forgot, most importantly:

14) Willis Otanez, former Oriole and Oriole farmhand, played his age 40 season split between the Long Island Ducks, the Aguascalientes Railroadmen, and the Saltillo Sarape Makers. He hit .326/.408/.587 with 28 homers and 101 RBI. He now has 2771 career minor league hits (2821 total professional hits), over 500 doubles, and over 400 homers. It does not seem totally out of the question for him to play long enough to amass 3000 professional hits.

[bobmc]

Oh, I almost forgot, most importantly:

14) Willis Otanez, former Oriole and Oriole farmhand, played his age 40 season split between the Long Island Ducks, the Aguascalientes Railroadmen, and the Saltillo Sarape Makers. He hit .326/.408/.587 with 28 homers and 101 RBI. He now has 2771 career minor league hits (2821 total professional hits), over 500 doubles, and over 400 homers. It does not seem totally out of the question for him to play long enough to amass 3000 professional hits.

This is awesome! What a life but isn't it Serape???? :scratchchinhmm: Odds are he could outhit Betancourt....but Yuniesky is a name I love!

[Can_of_corn]

3) If we'd just played "retired or not?" with Juan Uribe I might have guessed retired. Nope, 4 win season for the Dodgers.

Someone on Twitter compared his season with Machado's. If you equalize the at bats...

[isestrex]

6) Remember when Giancarlo Stanton was going walk 225 times with nobody else in the lineup? He had 69 UIBB, which was a career high but only by five.

You have to remember he missed a good chunk of time this season. But he still wasn't on pace to reach those expectations anyway. Pitchers went after him and got him to swing and miss more times than not.

7) Arizona has like five players who were really good that I couldn't pick out of a police lineup.

And Martin Prado had a down season (for him) only coming on hot at the end. The D-Backs are really well put together offensively. They just have several holes pitching.

9) From July 3rd, when he was the greatest player in the history of the universe, until the end of the regular season Yasiel Puig hit .272 with an .815 OPS.

Nate Ravitz saw this coming a mile away and was screaming from every pulpit he had Puig's numbers only looked good because of that hot start.

11) Eric Young led the NL in steals, which ain't half bad for the 1992 ROY. What? Oh.

I can't believe he was actually DFA'd by Colorado... right in the middle of the season too.

[DrungoHazewood]

This is awesome! What a life but isn't it Serape???? :scratchchinhmm: Odds are he could outhit Betancourt....but Yuniesky is a name I love!

Oh, I'm sure it is. I just know the English translation of a lot of Mexican League teams and was going from memory. And I am forced to use a steam-powered browser here at work that doesn't do spell checks.

[waroriole]

Puig's BABIP was around .450 when everyone declared him king.

[Can_of_corn]

Puig's BABIP was around .450 when everyone declared him king.

Bet he is the one that peed in the pool.

[DrungoHazewood]

Puig's BABIP was around .450 when everyone declared him king.

Evolution happens. He could be from a higher species. And just slumped in the second half.

[Redskins Rick]

Evolution happens. He could be from a higher species. And just slumped in the second half.

Was it a coincidence that his performance started slacking with TMZ picked him up party hard and long?

Yes, for years, guys like Ruth and Mantle partied hard and played hard, but different era than now.

[DrungoHazewood]

Was it a coincidence that his performance started slacking with TMZ picked him up party hard and long?

Yes, for years, guys like Ruth and Mantle partied hard and played hard, but different era than now.

Probably a coincidence, yes. It was almost preordained that his BABIP would slip at some point.

[slakattack]

13) Mike Morse was nearly two wins below replacement and from May 22nd through the end of the season he OPS'd .507. From June 17th-on he had 15 hits in his last 117 PAs (.135 average).

..and yet there is already talk about how much attention MM will attract in the offseason because of the weak FA market.

I hope none of that attention comes from W. Camden St.

[DrungoHazewood]

..and yet there is already talk about how much attention MM will attract in the offseason because of the weak FA market.

I hope none of that attention comes from W. Camden St.

If someone knows what's wrong with him and knows that it'll get better he might not be a bad buy-low backup plan. I find it hard to believe anyone would give him much more than a 1/1 kind of deal.

I hate to say it, but Mike Morse is kind of a Chris Davis cautionary tale. Obviously Morse's best year wasn't as good as Davis' 2013, but they're similar hitters and Morse is only two years removed from a .910 OPS and a handful of MVP votes. I'm sure any number of Nats fans thought Morse would keep OPSing .900 for years, maybe with some slight decline. This past offseason more than a few O's fans here thought Morse should have been one of our primary targets.

[skanar]

... now that the season is over.

1) Prince Fielder played every single game and was worth 1.7 rWAR. If I were the Tigers I might be a tiny bit concerned that he set career lows in any number of categories on the eve of his 30th birthday, and they're paying him $24M a year for each of the next seven seasons.

Richie Sexson

7) Arizona has like five players who were really good that I couldn't pick out of a police lineup.

Only 3 players over 3 WAR, though.

9) From July 3rd, when he was the greatest player in the history of the universe, until the end of the regular season Yasiel Puig hit .272 with an .815 OPS.

Well, duh. But he still hit .925 on the year - 5.0 WAR in a partial season. And even an .815 OPS is solid for a +defensive outfield who can steal bases. Yes, the media attention based on 1 month was silly.

10) For all the talk about Raul Ibanez having a spectacular age 41 season, he had a .306 OBP and was a -19 LFer, leaving him just above replacement level.

That's the 36th highest WAR for a 41 year old player. The three best seasons by a 41 year old, per WAR? Musial (3.6), Bonds (4.0), and Honus Wagner (5.5!)

12) Yuni Betancourt hasn't had a season where he reached replacement level since 2007. By rWAR he's -2.5 wins for his career in 4278 PAs.

I wonder how many players who topped out at AAAA or got only a limited shot and retired at 29 or 30 could have had better or longer careers than Betancourt. There must be at least 1, right? But is the number 10? 100? 1000? Not an easy thing to estimate!

I hate to say it, but Mike Morse is kind of a Chris Davis cautionary tale. Obviously Morse's best year wasn't as good as Davis' 2013, but they're similar hitters and Morse is only two years removed from a .910 OPS and a handful of MVP votes. I'm sure any number of Nats fans thought Morse would keep OPSing .900 for years, maybe with some slight decline. This past offseason more than a few O's fans here thought Morse should have been one of our primary targets.

Cecil Fielder. Age 26: 51 HRs (led league), .969 OPS, struck out 27% of the time (led league in Ks). An .860 OPS the next year was the highest of the rest of his career, and he hit .245/.345/.467 from age 27 to retirement.

[Frobby]

Too bad Trea is gone or we could rub his nose in that Fielder data. But, I'll wait another year before declaring victory.