I was on Dale and Holley today at about 1:45 today talking about Michael Young, anyone catch it?
I was looking at Michael Youngs stats last night to prepare for a blog post so the numbers and info were fresh on my mind.
What I found was Young has declined a ton from his peak in 2005. He had a great run for a few years in his late 20's but since then his SLG% (power) has dropped 70, 40, and 20 points to the point where he was literally a league average hitter last season.
Young's OPS (on base + slg) was the same as Lowrie's. And his line of 285avg, 402slg, and 12hr was pretty much the same as Ellsburys line but with 3 more HR and 35 less steals.
So everyone that called Dale and Holley today was saying we should upgrade our power and defense by getting Young. Noone was really against it. So I decided to call in and give my take.
My point as a caller was that people haven't payed attention to Youngs decline. They are still thinking of him as the guy who in 2005 had a 900 OPS, 24 HR, and a line that looked like Nomar's from 2002. And the current Young is not even worth the 5 yrs at 80mill he is going to be paid. Nevermind Boston having to trade Buchholz in order to have the opportunity to overpay for him. Holley agreed with me and we both thought the difference between Lowrie and Young in the field wasn't that significant but Dale had an issue with it.
Last night I found that Young does very bad on most defensive metrics because of bad range to his right. He does have soft hands though and a good arm that helped him win the gold glove. So his defense is overrated to me but I said to Dale that regardless if he is great in the field, it doesn't make up for paying an avg hitter 16mill and giving up Buchholz.
Oh yea, at one point I said that people have a hard time believing that Ellsbury and Young had a similar line last season. Dale goes OK I've seen the numbers but I think last year was more of an abberation. And I said well his slugging went from 528 to 460 to 420 to 402 last season since 2005 so that sounds like a trend to me. Holley was like Man I'm enjoying this keep preaching, haha.
Calling in was kinda sick, never done it before. Might start trying to call Dale and Holley once a week or something. Wow imagine the hits we would get if I could plug the blog? Actually if any of you can get on the air and say the name of the site before they cut you off I'll give you some dough. 888-525-0850
-Wolfie on the blackberry
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I listen to D&H all summer at lunch. Holley's the man and knows his stuff, but Dale is almost clueless at times. I'm shocked he didn't agree with you about Ellsbury and Young. Dales has a massive man-crush on Smellsbury and thinks he's a destined god most of the time. Props on the call though, I agree that Young's possible slight improvement of the lineup doesn't outweigh the long term cost.
ReplyDeleteThanks. That was a well written and well put together comment. You should make an account and weigh in more often.
ReplyDeleteYea, Dale and Holley is the best show going on that station. The Big Show is just a yell-fest and Im against pretty much everything Dennis and Callahan stand for. Oh god the way that Callahan emphasizes certain words makes me want to punch my eye.
True point with Jacoby. Dale sweats that kid irrationally. I kinda stumped him when he said Young's last year was an abberation and I rifled off the declining slug %'s. Kind of sad that that was the highlight of my week, whatever though.
lso, I cant really get mad at Dale though. Hes a an old nerd but hes lovable. And yes I just called him lovable. Holley is my duude. Keep your ears open though, Im going to try and call again soon and more often
By the end of the summer I coulda got Lowrie out....he got figured out FAST. That is all I have to say on this matter really....don't forget we still have Lugo's 10 mill on the payroll, get rid of that rat chooooch.
ReplyDeleteTough to move a contract like Lugo's without absorbing a chunk of it in the process. I think if the Sox were truly worried about the SS position they would've tested the waters on a free agent like Furcal or Cabrera. When it comes down to it, the catcher situation is more important right now. The word is Zona's Montero for Bowden and/or Daniel Bard since Texas's asking price includes Suckholtz.
ReplyDeleteAh how fast the people turn. Annonymous, you probably said no way to trading Buchholz last year for Johan and now he's Suchholtz. Cute nick name, I guess, and catching is kind of important, i'd say SS is more of a priority because league average catching as a whole sucks, whereas SS can be a real negative when comparing the Sox to other teams. The answer isn't Young, and it isn't Lowrie, it's hoping Lugo performs to his career norms going into his age 32 season (275/350/400) with some steals and good range. He's better than Lowrie, much like Coco was better than Ellsbury (who if you think was exposed last year wait til June of this season, I'd be happy with 260)
ReplyDeleteI would have traded Buchholtz for Santana last year. Kid can has great stuff, but some guys just don't have the make up and mental toughness to be successful. I personally see some Zack Grienke in him, a guy who hasn't been able to mentally do it, but has the tools. But talking about turning on a kids and not giving them a chance, doubting Ellsbury and Lowrie is similar. I'm not saying these two are going to be studs but they've had less of a chance or equal to Buchholtz. I don't think it's important to fill a position in order to compare teams position by position. Adding to make the team function better should be the focus. Add a catcher as a start and give Lowrie the job. It'll be his to lose to Lugo but his bat will have to be bad to lose it because of Lugo's defensive issues. Lugo in 81 appearances 16 errors while Lowrie had 2 errors in 80 appearances. Only 5 more SS's had more errors than Lugo last year and each other them played a minimum of 55 more games than him. Did anyone else love slick fielding Alex Gonzalez? Guy was fire and it broke my heart when we told him to leave and brought in Renteria.
ReplyDeleteNothing about Agon made me cry. Especially his .290 career on base percentage. And Lowrie had less errors because he has much less range. Going forward he's probably a 2nd baseman, but we have an MVP locked up there. Adding a catcher isn't easy, all the good hitting ones get moved to 1b in the minors.
ReplyDeleteI def heard that yesterday and I had a weird feeling it was Wolfie, but I've never heard you speak. That was a great point and I agree with the first point that Dale is obsessed with Ellsbury. Also agree with the point about Dennis and Callahan, this morning Gerry tried to say Clinton was a worse President then GWB. Woah. I listen to D&H a lot because they give the callers a chance to weigh in and won't explode them immediately, def get on there again.
ReplyDeleteBy the way that latest post wasn't the original it's Chris Donovan (the younger one) but it wouldn't let me state my name. I'll make an account later.
ReplyDeleteI like the Buckholz to Grienke comparison, its pretty accurate. Watching Clay Aiken...I mean Buckholz in the dugout last year was absurd. He was pouting and pacing around like a little bitch. When its crunch time do you really want a guy like that on the mound? I'd trade him for the Yankees bat boy (Who is probably making $1.8 million this year)
ReplyDelete(Formerly Anonymous) At least if they add a young catcher like Montero, it improves the lineup (since Tek's line was the worst of the lineup) and is an investment to the future. True it is hard to add catching but if you can add a young kid and are successful you are one up on the league. Better idea than making SS a "priority" and then praying for Lugo to right the ship. Sign a catcher a platoon shortstop.
ReplyDeleteWeirdest spot for this comment trail
ReplyDeleteI'm with Fred "Mr." Rogers....
ReplyDeleteSorry if you hate that nickname man, you probably get it all the time and want to one punch me right now.