A group weblog for Oakland A's fans
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Tejada vs Garciaparra
In one of the comments from the previous post was this, from Jason:
I'd take Garciaparra right now over Tejada. Jeter and Tejada are close because of defense, but defense can't make up the offensive gap between Miguel and Nomar.
Jason writes a nice blog called Beaneball which features a nice story on switch hitters. But Jason, I don't know what you are talking about when you say "offeisive gap between Miguel and Nomar" Here are some numbers over the last 3 years:
Garciaparra
year hr rbi avg obp
2002 4 8 .289 .352
2003 24 120 .310 .352
2004 28 105 .301 .345
Tejada
year hr rbi avg obp
2002 31 113 .267 .326
2003 24 131 .308 .354
2004 27 106 .278 .336
I guess if you want a guy with marginally better BA and 26 less homers and 117 less RBI over 3 seasons, Nomar is your man on offense. Maybe since nomar hurt his wrist he is not the same player? That's what I think. Nomar is no longer better than Tejada on offense or defense. And Tejada has played in every game for 5 straight years, which I think is a big plus.
In one of the comments from the previous post was this, from Jason:
I'd take Garciaparra right now over Tejada. Jeter and Tejada are close because of defense, but defense can't make up the offensive gap between Miguel and Nomar.
Jason writes a nice blog called Beaneball which features a nice story on switch hitters. But Jason, I don't know what you are talking about when you say "offeisive gap between Miguel and Nomar" Here are some numbers over the last 3 years:
Garciaparra
year hr rbi avg obp
2002 4 8 .289 .352
2003 24 120 .310 .352
2004 28 105 .301 .345
Tejada
year hr rbi avg obp
2002 31 113 .267 .326
2003 24 131 .308 .354
2004 27 106 .278 .336
I guess if you want a guy with marginally better BA and 26 less homers and 117 less RBI over 3 seasons, Nomar is your man on offense. Maybe since nomar hurt his wrist he is not the same player? That's what I think. Nomar is no longer better than Tejada on offense or defense. And Tejada has played in every game for 5 straight years, which I think is a big plus.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Chavez vs. Tejada
The A's signed Chavez, and by now everyone knows its for 6 years 66 mil. They didn't make an offer to Tejada, but I suspect he would have taken that same deal. He also got a 6 year deal and about 10 mil more. I love both players, but keeping one and letting one go didn't sound like a bad plan.
I would bet a lot of work went into running scenarios about which player would help the team maximize wins. Maybe equations like this:
Tejada - Crosby < Chavez - Average Replacement Player
but 2 years ago it woulda looked like:
Tejada - Crosby vs Chavez - Hinske, and now the equation isn't so clear.
When comparing their 162 game career numbers:
player HR RBI AVG
Tejada 27 105 .270
Chavez 29 101 .277
Darn close. Eric has better D but misses some games, and Tejada has played in more consecutive games than anyone since Ripken. I'd say those 2 cancel eachother out. These players are of virtually equal value even if Tejada is more than 2 years older than Chavez. If Tejada is really 30 right now, then that's a reason to keep Chavez.
The other thing is, Tejada's D has noticably improved in the last 2 year, as has his leadership, his clutch hits, and he is really fun to watch. 2 years ago Tejada was the 4th best SS in the AL, but right now, he is #1. ARod went to 3b, and Miggy's better than Nomar and Jeter offensively and defensively right now. Chavez hasn't seemed to change at all in the last 3 years. Did they keep the wrong guy?
I'd guess this decision was based on more than sabermetrics, and it might have been made by the time Hinske was traded. But Crosby seems like he'll be ok, same with Dye and Rhodes. Things are looking up.
The A's signed Chavez, and by now everyone knows its for 6 years 66 mil. They didn't make an offer to Tejada, but I suspect he would have taken that same deal. He also got a 6 year deal and about 10 mil more. I love both players, but keeping one and letting one go didn't sound like a bad plan.
I would bet a lot of work went into running scenarios about which player would help the team maximize wins. Maybe equations like this:
Tejada - Crosby < Chavez - Average Replacement Player
but 2 years ago it woulda looked like:
Tejada - Crosby vs Chavez - Hinske, and now the equation isn't so clear.
When comparing their 162 game career numbers:
player HR RBI AVG
Tejada 27 105 .270
Chavez 29 101 .277
Darn close. Eric has better D but misses some games, and Tejada has played in more consecutive games than anyone since Ripken. I'd say those 2 cancel eachother out. These players are of virtually equal value even if Tejada is more than 2 years older than Chavez. If Tejada is really 30 right now, then that's a reason to keep Chavez.
The other thing is, Tejada's D has noticably improved in the last 2 year, as has his leadership, his clutch hits, and he is really fun to watch. 2 years ago Tejada was the 4th best SS in the AL, but right now, he is #1. ARod went to 3b, and Miggy's better than Nomar and Jeter offensively and defensively right now. Chavez hasn't seemed to change at all in the last 3 years. Did they keep the wrong guy?
I'd guess this decision was based on more than sabermetrics, and it might have been made by the time Hinske was traded. But Crosby seems like he'll be ok, same with Dye and Rhodes. Things are looking up.
