How Nelson Cruz beat aging

[Moose Milligan]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-nelson-cruz-seattle-mariners-offensive-success/

Good article, worth a read and it's got enough saber stuff to keep the statheads happy...found this part interesting:

?Someone might look at Nelson Cruz and say, at this age, based on typical-type players, he could see a decline,? Zduriencik says. ?But he just seems to be like one of those guys that is just really kind of hitting his stride. ? I think what this might suggest is that he keeps himself in great shape, he?s a great liver in terms of how he handles himself, his rest, his preparation for the game, and this is going to continue for a while. There was a selling point on bringing him to Seattle, which is he is not your typical 34-year-old. He?s a guy that is a little bit younger based on his career, certainly on his lifestyle and how he carries himself.?

:vader: Makes so much sense. I understood the difference of not giving him a 4th year but at the same time I had a hunch that we'd be making a mistake in letting this guy walk. I steal a line from Buck, I like our guys when it comes to personnel decisions (never thought I'd say that) but I do believe this will be the one that got away.

[PA724_Oriole]

Money money money. More interested in the bottom line rather than doing what it takes to put the team in the best position it can be.

I still say they messed up. Those who want to reserve judgement until they see what he does in what would be that fourth year can keep hoping and waiting that they will be able to say Os made the right play. However, my stance has always been, if Cruz plays this way for the rest of this year and next I couldn't careless how bad he is in the final one or two years of that contract because chances are this team won't be as good as it currently is, even with a hot Cruz.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Walker will make the team better than Davis and maybe Alvarez becomes a solid corner outfielder. But you never know. Just like no one can know Cruz wouldn't be worth the money in three years.

They were in the driver's seat to land one of hottest players in the MLB. People say he's not worth it just to be a DH, Boston win multiple titles with Ortiz as a pure DH and Manny, a guy who couldn't play the field one lick and he did daily.

Scared money don't make money!

#TheOrioleWay

[Frobby]

Money money money. More interested in the bottom line rather than doing what it takes to put the team in the best position it can be.

I still say they messed up. Those who want to reserve judgement until they see what he does in what would be that fourth year can keep hoping and waiting that they will be able to say Os made the right play. However, my stance has always been, if Cruz plays this way for the rest of this year and next I couldn't careless how bad he is in the final one or two years of that contract because chances are this team won't be as good as it currently is, even with a hot Cruz.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Walker will make the team better than Davis and maybe Alvarez becomes a solid corner outfielder. But you never know. Just like no one can know Cruz wouldn't be worth the money in three years.

They were in the driver's seat to land one of hottest players in the MLB. People say he's not worth it just to be a DH, Boston win multiple titles with Ortiz as a pure DH and Manny, a guy who couldn't play the field one lick and he did daily.

Scared money don't make money!

#TheOrioleWay

Sigh. I think we should create a whole separate forum called "We should have kept Cruz and/or Miller" and let people post there. Nobody has anything new to say on this topic that we haven't heard at this point. It's not that your point of view is unreasonable (though I disagree with it), but I'm just sick to death of this subject.

[PA724_Oriole]

With so much knowledge about how money works, you must be just killing it financially and set for life. Congrats.

Note: I wish we had Cruz too. I'm just not as savvy about these things as you seem to be so I don't pretend to know what Dan was dealing with financially when he made this call.

Doesn't matter if it's Dan's call or Angelos'. The fact is an extra year or two with Cruz getting 14 per shouldn't have been too.much to ask for. Most of us stuck by this team for the past twenty years while they were complete ****, still cheering them on. And they can't throw the fans a bone and try to keep this team in the best position it can be for 6. I am very happy with how they've been able to turn this thing around. At the same time I'm not happy with them being "content" at just being good enough.

And to frobbys point. I think there are like 15 already but ppl keep making new ones. I'm sure this will be moved into one of the similar ones at some point.

[DJHJR86]

I kind of think in 2-3 years from now, we won't be regretting letting Cruz get away.

[pwhite]

I kind of think in 2-3 years from now, we won't be regretting letting Cruz get away.

Agreed. I loved having Cruz on the team last year and I wish he was still an Oriole. However, he is performing the best he possibly can be right now. It's all downhill from here. There were parts of the season last year (July and August) where he was abysmal at the plate. I'm not saving his contract will be the worst ever or anything, but I don't think anyone will be too sad about him not being on the team this time a year or two from now.

[Nevermore]

Doesn't matter if it's Dan's call or Angelos'. The fact is an extra year or two with Cruz getting 14 per shouldn't have been too.much to ask for. Most of us stuck by this team for the past twenty years while they were complete ****, still cheering them on. And they can't throw the fans a bone and try to keep this team in the best position it can be for 6. I am very happy with how they've been able to turn this thing around. At the same time I'm not happy with them being "content" at just being good enough.

And to frobbys point. I think there are like 15 already but ppl keep making new ones. I'm sure this will be moved into one of the similar ones at some point.

As I wrote earlier, O's management should have resigned Cruz. I think that DD has done quite well with most of his personnel/signing decisions. But this is one where DD simply blew it, haggling over the 4th year. DD should have taken that chance.

Having said that, this is water over the dam.

[Ruzious]

Sigh. I think we should create a whole separate forum called "We should have kept Cruz and/or Miller" and let people post there. Nobody has anything new to say on this topic that we haven't heard at this point. It's not that your point of view is unreasonable (though I disagree with it), but I'm just sick to death of this subject.

I'm game if we can also talk about how signing Cruz would have been much smarter than signing De Aza and Hardy.

[mdbdotcom]

And I figured it was the 'roids.

Never flunked a test. His name just came up in the Biogenesis evidence. That's why he was suspended. If he tests positive at some point during the Mariners contract, I won't be surprised. While he was an Oriole, I was always afraid he'd get caught.

I wish him all the best, and I hope he's not cheating anymore.

[Can_of_corn]

Money money money. More interested in the bottom line rather than doing what it takes to put the team in the best position it can be.

I still say they messed up. Those who want to reserve judgement until they see what he does in what would be that fourth year can keep hoping and waiting that they will be able to say Os made the right play. However, my stance has always been, if Cruz plays this way for the rest of this year and next I couldn't careless how bad he is in the final one or two years of that contract because chances are this team won't be as good as it currently is, even with a hot Cruz.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Walker will make the team better than Davis and maybe Alvarez becomes a solid corner outfielder. But you never know. Just like no one can know Cruz wouldn't be worth the money in three years.

They were in the driver's seat to land one of hottest players in the MLB. People say he's not worth it just to be a DH, Boston win multiple titles with Ortiz as a pure DH and Manny, a guy who couldn't play the field one lick and he did daily.

Scared money don't make money!

#TheOrioleWay

I'm just going to keep posting this here graph.

Feel free to keep ignoring it.

[El Gordo]

Cruz' history does not suggest he keeps himself in such great shape. He is a poor fielder and becoming more so. He strikes me as someone who can be a decent DH for the next two or three years but not worth the 4/56 by a long shot. Would you pay big Pappy that for the next 4 years? It's hard for me to forget that though he played more than 130 G for the second time in his career last year, he was virtually absent from them for three months. There are arguments to be made for both sides of signing/not signing Cruz, but neither is a no brainer, so why not just give it a rest.

[weams]

They were in the driver's seat to land one of hottest players in the MLB. People say he's not worth it just to be a DH, Boston win multiple titles with Ortiz as a pure DH and Manny, a guy who couldn't play the field one lick and he did daily.

Scared money don't make money!

#TheOrioleWay

Manny and Ortiz both juiced. And. Well. I loved having Cruz as an Oriole last year. I'll tell you what. Ain't no one scared in the Warehouse.

[PA724_Oriole]

I'm just going to keep posting this here graph.

Feel free to keep ignoring it.

Who cares about comparing them to other teams payrolls.

If I'm reading it correctly, it's funny how teams like White sox and Blue Jays who have been just as bad or worse than the Os for the past fifteen years are willing to spend more than the Os.

And just for the record, that's the first time I've seen that graph.

[Wish]

And I figured it was the 'roids.

Never flunked a test. His name just came up in the Biogenesis evidence. That's why he was suspended. If he tests positive at some point during the Mariners contract, I won't be surprised. While he was an Oriole, I was always afraid he'd get caught.

I wish him all the best, and I hope he's not cheating anymore.

This.

Guy is smart enough to know how to beat the system. Most players do. Only the dummies get caught.

[weams]

Who cares about comparing them to other teams payrolls.

What else should they be compared to?