Ryan Mountcastle 2020

[HowAboutThat]

And now, back to Ryan… I still have shivers about his defense, but if he keeps hitting like this, stick him anywhere. Hell, let him play catcher. But I think we’re going to want his bat at the plate as much as possible.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, makoman said:

Even more amusing is the guy who stood next to him on defense had 9 WAR and finished 14th.

I looked back starting in '19 for the last total nut job MVP voting performance.  Like, less than three wins and finishing in the top 10.  Looks like the last one of those was Jeter in '12.  2.2 rWAR, finished ahead of Verlander (8.0), and at least a half-dozen guys with 4-6 wins.

Howard was pretty egregious the year prior, and several other years (probably worst in '08).  In '10 Delmon and Vlad finished 10-11 for sub-two-win seasons.  In '08 Carlos Delgado finished 9th in the NL with a 1.3 win season with six 6+ win players behind him.  In '05 Delgado finished 6th with a 2.8-win season.

King of all might be Dante Bichette's 1.2-win 2nd place finish in '95 before sportswriters had figured out park effects.

[Frobby]

7 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Okay.  That year the O's outscored their opponents by 29 runs.  They had the characteristics of an 84-win team, but due to sequencing, or bullpen leverage or dumb luck they won 89.

It helps when your closer goes 47 for 47.

[LA2]

21 hours ago, Frobby said:

You know, Trumbo was a lousy fielder but I feel that 1.6 rWAR really understates his value to that team.   I just feel like he came through in key situations a lot that year.   I don’t think we would have made the playoffs without him.   So shoot me.

I agree--I remember that season consistently feeling in close games that, if we could get to Trumbo's turn in the lineup with men on base, we had a good chance to tie it up or win. I just looked up his clutch and RISP stats and they largely bear that out. There was also the curiosity of him having extreme reverse-platoon splits that season: he was a terror vs. RHP (.932 OPS), i.e. in the preponderence of his at-bats.

Trumbo had great opening and closing months of the 2016 season and it was his two-run homer that kept us in the wild card game until Buck's eternally mystic decision in the 11th inning. Personality-wise, he and Adam were an interesting contrast in leadership style; I think they somehow managed to complement each other. If you look at that roster, in fact, one could say the team had a lot of unit leaders (Britton, Wieters, Hardy) and more balance than we give it credit for. It also had the unforgettable Hyun Soo Kim: .302/.382/.420/.801 (116 OPS+).

[wildcard]

I thought Mountcastle looks good at 1B yesterday.  Good stretches. Long reach.   Saved some errors of his fielders.   

[bobmc]

13 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I looked back starting in '19 for the last total nut job MVP voting performance.  Like, less than three wins and finishing in the top 10.  Looks like the last one of those was Jeter in '12.  2.2 rWAR, finished ahead of Verlander (8.0), and at least a half-dozen guys with 4-6 wins.

Howard was pretty egregious the year prior, and several other years (probably worst in '08).  In '10 Delmon and Vlad finished 10-11 for sub-two-win seasons.  In '08 Carlos Delgado finished 9th in the NL with a 1.3 win season with six 6+ win players behind him.  In '05 Delgado finished 6th with a 2.8-win season.

King of all might be Dante Bichette's 1.2-win 2nd place finish in '95 before sportswriters had figured out park effects.

With dementia settling in I has to axe what is obvious to everyone else, "Who is this Howard you reference?"  Stern?  Desmond?  Frank?  Help an old pharte!  

[weams]

20 hours ago, Frobby said:

You know, Trumbo was a lousy fielder but I feel that 1.6 rWAR really understates his value to that team.   I just feel like he came through in key situations a lot that year.   I don’t think we would have made the playoffs without him.   So shoot me.

I feel the defensive metrics were flawed. So this whole argument is a bit skewed to me. I really wish we did not always just fall back to WAR with it's huge dependance on these wrong statistics. 

[MurphDogg]

47 minutes ago, bobmc said:

With dementia settling in I has to axe what is obvious to everyone else, "Who is this Howard you reference?"  Stern?  Desmond?  Frank?  Help an old pharte!  

[VaBird1]

8 hours ago, LA2 said:

I agree--I remember consistently feeling in close games that season that, if we can get to Trumbo's turn in the lineup with men on base, we had a good chance. I just looked up his clutch and RISP stats and they largely bear that out. There was also the curiosity of him having extreme reverse-platoon splits that season: he was a terror vs. RHP (.932 OPS), i.e. in the preponderence of his at-bats.

Trumbo had great opening and closing months of the 2016 season and it was his two-run homer that kept us in the wild card game until Buck's eternally mystic decision in the 11th inning. Personality-wise, he and Adam were a curious study in contrast of leadership style; I think they somehow managed to complement each other. If you look at the roster, in fact, one could say that team had a lot of unit leaders (Britton, Wieters, Hardy) and more balance than we give it credit for. It also had the unforgettable Hyun Soo Kim: .302/.382/.420/.801 (116 OPS+).

There wouldn’t have been extra inning playoffs without his bat either

[24fps]

54 minutes ago, bobmc said:

With dementia settling in I has to axe what is obvious to everyone else, "Who is this Howard you reference?"  Stern?  Desmond?  Frank?  Help an old pharte!  

The eminently forgettable Ryan Howard.

[bobmc]

1 hour ago, 24fps said:

The eminently forgettable Ryan Howard.

Wow - the Chris Davis prototype  - I remember him! @DrungoHazewood

[Yardball85]

1 hour ago, MurphDogg said:

His facial expressions when Kelly said stuff about babies and being together for ever... priceless

[HowAboutThat]

 Regarding Trumbo one last time, if we had kept Cruz we would not need Trumbo. 

In 2016, Cruz had 43, 105 and 4.4 fWAR.

We should have kept Cruz.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Philip said:

 Regarding Trumbo one last time, if we had kept Cruz we would not need Trumbo. 

In 2016, Cruz had 43, 105 and 4.4 fWAR.

We should have kept Cruz.

[weams]