Yeah Hernandez!!!!!!

[olehippi]

If you only want to look at what he did right, this would be correct.

Of course, there is the lack of getting on base, no power and no hits that hurt the team as well.

Personally, I prefer to look at Hernandez's contributions so far from a glass half full viewpoint....

[BaltimoreTerp]

Personally, I prefer to look at Hernandez's contributions so far from a glass half full viewpoint....

Shot glass? For a Barbie doll?

[Sports Guy]

No, my eyes and observation skills easily tell me Tejada was deficient at turning routine DP balls compared to even average ML shortstops. In other words he was fourth best on the team at making a routine DP last season which is abysmal and is why he is gone.

Your eyes told you wrong...Tejada was average to slightly better than average(in all of baseball) in turning and starting DPs last year.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/index.php?view=fielding&linesToDisplay=50&qual_filter=1&season_filter%5B0%5D=2007&league_filter%5B0%5D=All&pos_filter%5B0%5D=6&Submit=Submit&orderBy=dps&direction=DESC&page=1

Your problem is you get your idea in your head and all it takes is the occassional miscue and you jump all over it and treat it as if it always happens..That is foolish and completely wrong.

[Sports Guy]

Guthrie started 26 games last year...In those games, the Orioles were 10-16...That is a winning percentage of .384.

DCab started 34 games...In those games, the Orioles were 13-21 for a .382 winning percentage.

Trax started 25 games for the orioles last year and the team went 9-16...That is a winning % of 36%.

So, by OldFan's logic, Trachsel and DCab were as good(or very close to as good) as Guthrie was last year.

Raise your hand if you believe that to be true.

Old Fan...No response to this?

You don't like DCab yet by your logic, he was as good as Guthrie, right?

[BaltimoreTerp]

Old Fan...No response to this?

You don't like DCab yet by your logic, he was as good as Guthrie, right?

He didn't see this post, so it's not true.

[Old#5fan]

Your eyes told you wrong...Tejada was average to slightly better than average(in all of baseball) in turning and starting DPs last year.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/index.php?view=fielding&linesToDisplay=50&qual_filter=1&season_filter%5B0%5D=2007&league_filter%5B0%5D=All&pos_filter%5B0%5D=6&Submit=Submit&orderBy=dps&direction=DESC&page=1

Your problem is you get your idea in your head and all it takes is the occassional miscue and you jump all over it and treat it as if it always happens..That is foolish and completely wrong.

Again, you apparently don't understand what I am even talking about. I am not talking at all about number of DP's he turned, it is how many he BOTCHED!!!!Good Lord am I that difficult to understand here????

[Old#5fan]

Old Fan...No response to this?

You don't like DCab yet by your logic, he was as good as Guthrie, right?

Guthrie didn't get any run support and this has nothing at all remotely to do with LH in comparison to Tejada. LH excels compared to Tejada who is a bum on defense especially in bungling easy DP balls. Tejada' lone asset is he can hit. LH's lone asset is he can field but he also appears to maybe have more talent in situational hitting as in advancing runners, and making productive outs than many realize.

[Old#5fan]

Your eyes told you wrong...Tejada was average to slightly better than average(in all of baseball) in turning and starting DPs last year.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/index.php?view=fielding&linesToDisplay=50&qual_filter=1&season_filter%5B0%5D=2007&league_filter%5B0%5D=All&pos_filter%5B0%5D=6&Submit=Submit&orderBy=dps&direction=DESC&page=1

Your problem is you get your idea in your head and all it takes is the occassional miscue and you jump all over it and treat it as if it always happens..That is foolish and completely wrong.

Again, unless you had your head buried in the sand last season I don't know how you could have missed the infield coach publicly commenting about how Tejada had trouble with ball transference in turning routine DP balls. Dave Johnson the Oriole announcer and former pitcher also commented about it. How you missed this I haven't the foggiest as it was also discussed ad nauseum on this board as well.

[blueberryale77]

Oh my! Can't we just forget about Tejada and be happy for Little Luis that he's looking like a real ballplayer the past couple of days?

[BaltimoreTerp]

Again, you apparently don't understand what I am even talking about. I am not talking at all about number of DP's he turned, it is how many he BOTCHED!!!!Good Lord am I that difficult to understand here????

Well, someone without the problem he described would take his post and think, "Hmm...maybe if he was above-average in turning double-plays, unless the Orioles were getting an absolutely unrealistic number of double-play balls to shortstop, he is not as bad as I remember him being.

"It might or might not be accurate, but it is worth thinking about, so I don't look like I'm ignoring things that are important."

[Old#5fan]

Oh my! Can't we just forget about Tejada and be happy for Little Luis that he's looking like a real ballplayer the past couple of days?

No, they can't! SG has some kind of fixation on Tejada who most of use are happy he is gone. LH is twice the fielder and he is doing fine so far at situational hitting.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm not spinning anything. Look, it's really simple: you gotta factor in both runs created and runs prevented (and we know that a run-prevented is worth more than a run-created). We can look at OPS everyday and see half of that equation. But we can't see the other half. If we could see +/- Plays updated once a day (or once a week, or whatever), then we could. I bet all the MLB teams can, but we can't. So, people are shooting in the dark based on half of the truth. AFAIK, we don't even know what his +/- Plays were for last year, but his range data was off the charts. Really.

In the absence of this kinda information, try watching to see where he is. For example, a couple games ago, Melvin made a great diving stop to his left. If you ran back the TIVO of it, you could see LH in the background: he was in position to maybe make his own stop had Melvin not got it. For another example, I've seen three bloop singles to CF and, by the time they fell in, LH was way out in CF, almost to where Blair used to play. You gotta consider this stuff too. Just OPS doesn't tell you everything you need to know, it only tells you half of what you need to know.

ps: O's history trivia: Right before LH got the game-winning hit, the announcers were making a big deal about how shallow Ichiro was playing. If you've still got it TIVO'd, go look at where he was. That's more-or-less where Paul Blair played most of the time.

But you don't believe that there are accurate ways to measure (or especially predict) defensive performance, so you can always say LH is worth it. If the numbers justify it, great. If not, the numbers are wrong.

[Old#5fan]

Well, someone without the problem he described would take his post and think, "Hmm...maybe if he was above-average in turning double-plays, unless the Orioles were getting an absolutely unrealistic number of double-play balls to shortstop, he is not as bad as I remember him being.

"It might or might not be accurate, but it is worth thinking about, so I don't look like I'm ignoring things that are important."

What is that supposed to mean? Unless you are legally blind and follow baseball by braille (I know somone who does that, I am not making light of it) you would have to have witnessed first hand the frustrating problems Tejada had on turning routine DP balls last season. He made any routine DP ball hit to him seem like a potential adventure, and far too many times he managed to get only one out of what should have been an easy two. The problem is if you don't watch the frigging games and merely look at his stats of course you wouldn't realize this. I am getting tired of arguing with people who either

A.) don't watch the games or

B.). if they do watch the games either aren't paying much attention or have no idea what they are seeing!

This is it. for now. I am done beating a dead horse. Its that simple!

[Frobby]

Again, unless you had your head buried in the sand last season I don't know how you could have missed the infield coach commenting about how Tejada had trouble with ball transference in turning routine DP balls. Dave Johnson the Oriole announcer and former pitcher also commented about it. How you missed this I haven't the foggiest as it was also discussed ad nauseum on this board as well.

But an important question is, how many times did this really happen? Tejada was 11th in innings played among AL shortstops, 10th in DPs started, 9th in DPs turned. That certainly suggests he didn't blow more DP's than the average shortstop did, though you'd have to know how many DP chances he had to do a more sophisticated analysis.

I can certainly remember some occasions when he botched a DP. But it might have only been 5 times over last season.

[Pedro Cerrano]

What is that supposed to me. Unless you are legally blind and follow baseball by braille (I know somone who does that, I am not making light of it) you would have to have witnessed first hand the frustrating problems Tejada had on turning routine DP balls last season. He made any routine DP ball hit to him seem like a potential adventure, and far too many times he managed to get only one out of what should have been an easy two. The problem is if you don't watch the frigging games and merely look at his stats of course you wouldn't realize this. I am getting tired of arguing with people who either

A.) don't watch the games or

B.). if they do watch the games either aren't paying much attention or have no idea what they are seeing!

This is it. for now. I am done beating a dead horse. Its that simple!

If you watched every game Miguel Tejada played SS for us and came to the conclusion that he could never turn routine double plays, you were the one not paying attention.

Major league players don't often keep their jobs if they can't make routine plays regularly.