Nelson Cruz is 40...

[HowAboutThat]

https://www.twinkietown.com/2020/7/27/21340261/mlb-minnesota-twins-news-nelson-cruz-wins-player-of-the-week-american-league-homers-bombas-award

[MurphDogg]

[byrdz]

That’s surprising and still clubbing the ball!

[DrungoHazewood]

Not often you have a top comp at 29 of Ryan Ludwick, and at 39 it's Frank Howard.  He's 5th all time in homers from 35-39, behind Bonds, Aaron, Ruth, and Raffy.  Tied for 739th all time in homers through age 29.  9th among players in their 30s.  Had fewer homers in his 20s than Rafeal Furcal or Jonathan Villar, more than Reggie, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams or Frank Robinson in his 30s.

I'm going to try to move on from "this can't be natural" to "I hope he plays until he's 55".  I know it's very unlikely with career earnings of $111M, but I'd love to see him hitting 27 homers for some indy league team in 2032.

[Uli2001]

Worst move of the last decade for the O's was to let this man walk. And then sign Davis (now I am unsure, maybe Cruz was the second worst move). They put a chip on  Nelson's shoulder for sure. I am sure this has served as motivation for him.

[Can_of_corn]

51 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

Worst move of the last decade for the O's was to let this man walk. And then sign Davis (now I am unsure, maybe Cruz was the second worst move). They put a chip on  Nelson's shoulder for sure. I am sure this has served as motivation for him.

I don't think that's what driving.him.

[Number5]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:22 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

Not often you have a top comp at 29 of Ryan Ludwick, and at 39 it's Frank Howard.  He's 5th all time in homers from 35-39, behind Bonds, Aaron, Ruth, and Raffy.  Tied for 739th all time in homers through age 29.  9th among players in their 30s.  Had fewer homers in his 20s than Rafeal Furcal or Jonathan Villar, more than Reggie, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams or Frank Robinson in his 30s.

I'm going to try to move on from "this can't be natural" to "I hope he plays until he's 55".  I know it's very unlikely with career earnings of $111M, but I'd love to see him hitting 27 homers for some indy league team in 2032.

While this is true, Ted Williams left for Korea - where, incredibly, he was John Glenn's wing man - after 6 games in 1952.  He returned for the final 37 games of 1953.  He hit 13 HRs in those 37 games.  Gotta think he would have hit a good number of home runs had he played full seasons in 1952-53.  And, of course, missing 3 full seasons during his 20's to serve in World War II undoubtedly cost his career stats big time.  Hard to believe the man put up the huge career numbers that he did despite missing the bulk of 5 seasons to serve his country.  Truly a great player.

[Uli2001]

11 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think that's what driving.him.

Not what is solely driving him, but it's part. The man deserved an extension.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Uli2001 said:

Not what is solely driving him, but it's part. The man deserved an extension.

And he was offered one.

From all I've seen the O's offered him three years.  They hardly insulted him.  I've not heard of him harboring any ill will the O's only offered three years.  Have you?

[DrungoHazewood]

3 hours ago, Uli2001 said:

The man deserved an extension.

By bb-ref's figuring Cruz' most similar player at age 32 was Henry Rodriguez.  At 33 it was Gus Zernial.  At 34 Kevin Mitchell.  Rodriguez played his last MLB game at 34.  Zernial was worth about win below replacement in his age 34-36 seasons then retired.  Kevin Mitchell was worth 0 WAR from 34 to the end of his career.

I don't know about any deserved.

[Uli2001]

7 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

And he was offered one.

From all I've seen the O's offered him three years.  They hardly insulted him.  I've not heard of him harboring any ill will the O's only offered three years.  Have you?

At the end of the day, the message is "we don't believe you have more than three productive years in you." They let him walk. Cruz is too classy to go the media complain.

[Uli2001]

I like fan banter too, but come on, that was an awful call by the Orioles. You may say that hindsight is 20/20, but it was awful and you know it. It was the first of a series of bad calls following their peak in 2014. It was downhill from there.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

I like fan banter too, but come on, that was an awful call by the Orioles. You may say that hindsight is 20/20, but it was awful and you know it. It was the first of a series of bad calls following their peak in 2014. It was downhill from there.

It's completely a hindsight call. 

The VAST majority of players that had similar careers up to that point went on to do little else. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

At the end of the day, the message is "we don't believe you have more than three productive years in you." They let him walk. Cruz is too classy to go the media complain.

This is pure supposition on your part. 

 

[25 Nuggets]

3 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

It's completely a hindsight call. 

The VAST majority of players that had similar careers up to that point went on to do little else. 

So much so that it unfortunately makes a late-age surge like this suspicious.