Will Mora Be This Season's OH Tejada?

[Old#5fan]

Short story with Mora is that he is pretty good at any aspect of baseball that only requires athleticism or coordination to do. He's quick, good hands, good arm, good feet, the bat is still fairly quick.....

But from the neck up he's one of the worst baseball players I've seen. Any aspect of the game that requires some thought or quick decisions, he is not good at. He is tremendous - Gold Glove caliber - at fielding grounders to his left or right. He is NEVER in position to field bunts well or to charge slow rollers. That's a serious weakness in a 3rd baseman's defensive game. He constantly makes baserunning gaffes or head-scratching plays like his interference call yesterday.

I like Melvin. I think getting him for a rental of Bordick was an all-time great trade for the Orioles. But sometimes his bone-headedness is so frustrating.

Excellent post that I completely agree with. Your assessment of Mora is spot on. What is particularly annoying about this is charging a slow roller is purely mental as the physical aspect of it is relatively easy. Brooks Robinson could do it in his sleep I firmly believe as could Cal.

[mefogus]

Excellent post that I completely agree with. Your assessment of Mora is spot on. What is particularly annoying about this is charging a slow roller is purely mental as the physical aspect of it is relatively easy. Brooks Robinson could do it in his sleep I firmly believe as could Cal.

Jeez talk about high expectations. Only the two best defenders ever.

-m

[The Goob]

At this point I would be happier if we used Mora as a super sub the way the Angels used Figgins. Let him get his ABs at third and all over the outfield but give a majority of the ABs at third should go to Moore.

[Old#5fan]

I hate to agree with gurgi, but he's right about that. If it can't be quantified with a number, there's a certain contingent of people who dismiss it.

Well, well, well. If your post is sincere than we actuallly agree on something! Stop the presses!

Just like Tejada bungling routine DP balls where he gets one out instead of two there is no stat on Mora bungling on the bases and he also doesn't always get an error on bungling many slow rollers that other more alert thirdbaseman routinely handle, so Mora appears to be a better defensive third baseman (at least stats-wise) than he truly is. His baserunning blunders and mental errors are also not statistically measured either. All in all, I view Mora as the next guy on the runway behind Tejada as either needing to go or be moved to the OF.

[Old#5fan]

Yes, they are called Fantasy Baseball Enthusiasts.

-m

True, and some cannot seem to separate "Fantasy" from "Reality" in separating what is actually observable during a game to what is recorded in the stats books.

[El Gordo]

Well, well, well. If your post is sincere than we actuallly agree on something! Stop the presses!

Just like Tejada bungling routine DP balls where he gets one out instead of two there is no stat on Mora bungling on the bases and he also doesn't always get an error on bungling many slow rollers that other more alert thirdbaseman routinely handle, so Mora appears to be a better defensive third baseman (at least stats-wise) than he truly is. His baserunning blunders and mental errors are also not statistically measured either. All in all, I view Mora as the next guy on the runway behind Tejada as either needing to go or be moved to the OF.

I'm curious, since there is no stat for Bonehead Plays for Mora(BPM) can you list the ones he made last year. I'm sure you've been keeping copious notes.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm curious, since there is no stat for Bonehead Plays for Mora(BPM) can you list the ones he made last year. I'm sure you've been keeping copious notes.

Writing stuff down is only for propeller-headed stat geeks! Pencils and paper are just one step away from sitting in a darkened room, staring at Excel spreadsheets, figuring out the VOWARPAO of players you've never seen. If you need something other than your own vivid memory to tell you who's good and who's not then you have no connection to real baseball played on real dirt.

[Old#5fan]

I'm curious, since there is no stat for Bonehead Plays for Mora(BPM) can you list the ones he made last year. I'm sure you've been keeping copious notes.

No, I can't. However, I do know I have seen more than enough of them from him. Kind of like watching Captain Popup Jay Gibbons batting with runners in scoring position last season. Pretty predictable, but very old to watch happen again and again.

[DrungoHazewood]

...so Mora appears to be a better defensive third baseman (at least stats-wise) than he truly is.

I don't think you have the tiniest glimmer of the slightest clue of what the stats say about Melvin Mora's defensive abilities.

[Old#5fan]

Writing stuff down is only for propeller-headed stat geeks! Pencils and paper are just one step away from sitting in a darkened room, staring at Excel spreadsheets, figuring out the VOWARPAO of players you've never seen. If you need something other than your own vivid memory to tell you who's good and who's not then you have no connection to real baseball played on real dirt.

Not true, but what you describe is how I would have formerly perceived a radical Fantasy Baseball enthusiast, although I do know from a survey I postulated here last year there are many others who vastly differ from this sterotype, and thus I was proven wrong.

[Old#5fan]

I don't think you have the tiniest glimmer of the slightest clue of what the stats say about Melvin Mora's defensive abilities.

True, because I don't care. My observation of Mora tells me he is good on hard hit balls to either his left or right but very weak on any balls he must charge. Thus, he is average at best and below par in my view because in simple terms (how I see it - he makes the difficult plays but botches the easy ones - and I know this will go right by you at Mach I speed because I haven' t quantified it statistically.)

[Gurgi]

Writing stuff down is only for propeller-headed stat geeks! Pencils and paper are just one step away from sitting in a darkened room, staring at Excel spreadsheets, figuring out the VOWARPAO of players you've never seen. If you need something other than your own vivid memory to tell you who's good and who's not then you have no connection to real baseball played on real dirt.

Stats are fine. We do need them. There are somethings that dont get defined well. Hustle, running the bases well, knowing when to eat the ball and not make a bonehead throw and many others.

Stats have done wonders with figuring a better way to arrange teams to function as assembly line run producing machnes in a long marathon season. But as Billy Beane has said himself "My **** doesnt work in the playoffs". I wonder if Billy was using observations or statistics when he said this? Could be he was just using a small sample size? LOL.

[Old#5fan]

Stats are fine. We do need them. There are somethings that dont get defined well. Hustle, running the bases well, knowing when to eat the ball and not make a bonehead throw and many others.

Stats have done wonders with figuring a better way to arrange teams to function as assembly line run producing machnes in a long marathon season. But as Billy Beane has said himself "My **** doesnt work in the playoffs". I wonder if Billy was using observations or statistics when he said this? Could be he was just using a small sample size? LOL.

Or maybe he didn't extrapolate or quantify it correctly to correlate to the sample size of the median target data?

[RVAbird]

Or maybe he didn't extrapolate or quantify it correctly to correlate to the sample size of the target data?

Please stick to the unintentional humor. You do it much better.

Defensively, Mora and Moore are probably a wash, at least this year. Mora's declining offensive skills are what worry me more, but he's still got a little production left in him. His ideal role would probably be as a super-sub, but let's nip the crucifixion gag in the bud right now please.

Mora is not a travesty of a third baseman, he's probably around league average. We could do better, but, right now, we probably can't. As long as Moore finds his at-bats there's no reason for you to start a thread every day shouting from your soapbox about your biased observations as if they were objective truth and refusing to bend for the slightest bit of logic.

This process nearly killed my interest in these boards last season...please, please, please let it go.

[Gurgi]

True, because I don't care. My observation of Mora tells me he is good on hard hit balls to either his left or right but very weak on any balls he must charge. Thus, he is average at best and below par in my view because in simple terms (how I see it - he makes the difficult plays but botches the easy ones - and I know this will go right by you at Mach I speed because I haven' t quantified it statistically.)

I do think this observation of his skills is rather accurate. I dont see him making much errors on hard smashed balls. He also doesnt appear to make that many throwing errors. I honestly do think most of his errors seem to come on softer hit balls and thinking about throwing before he catches the ball. Lots of little dribblers that he muffs because he is thinking to much.

So over the course of a long season his defence might be fine. If we ever got into a playoff game where the winning run was on third and they laid down a bunt I would want some other guy out there. Since we are years away from the playoffs I dont have much problem with Mora playing third. Except that I would rather see a young kid out there. I understand letting him play now, especially if it boost his value and he will waive the no trade.