Friday, May 18, 2007 |
The Clinker: Pierre vs. Matthews, Jr. Redux
"You can't go wrong with either one," Figgins said.Quoting Jon (see comment 40):That opinion was far from unanimous during the winter, after Matthews and Pierre each signed a five-year deal to play in the Southland.
The Angels paid $50 million for Matthews, and the critics howled: way too much for a guy coming off a career year! The Dodgers paid $44 million for Pierre, and the critics howled again: way too much for a singles hitter with a spotty on-base percentage!
Yet, if you base the early returns on the standings, the investments are paying off. The Angels are in first place with Matthews, the Dodgers are in first place with Pierre, and isn't that the point?
"To some people," Pierre said.
The Angels are getting all of what they wanted from Matthews, the Dodgers most of what they wanted from Pierre.
The Dodgers are in first place with me as a fan and my kids waking up feisty and the skies being hazy this morning. There's stuff that's relevant, and stuff that's irrelevant. Pierre is not relevant to the Dodgers being in first place this year, and part of the reason the Pierre harangues never shut down is because this is what they come up against.Exactly. Pierre currently owns a -0.6 VORP score, meaning he's about as valuable as ... Alfredo Amezega. Meantime, Gary Matthews, Jr. is tied for fourth-most valuable centerfielder, with Ichiro Suzuki, both having 12.9 VORP. Factor in defense (GMJ has a 103 Rate2, slightly above average, while Pierre is slightly below average at 96 Rate2), and this one isn't even close. While I do expect the two players to converge a bit over time, Pierre's failings haven't improved; and so far, Matthews, Jr. has managed to make his 2006 look like it might just be repeatable.In 190 plate appearances, Pierre's TB + BB + HBP + SB - CS are 72. That is an objective negative. You can touch it up with sacrifices or running from first to third if you want or his general good-guyness, but I'm pretty convinced there are other good guys that can do better. His EQA is .240. It's just not good. An article like this only serves to rejuvenate the anti-Pierre campaign.
I've never felt that Pierre would make or break the Dodgers this year, but to credit him for being in first place, or for him to say people are picking on him unfairly - I just can't get on board. The criticisms may be all too frequent, but they're not off target.
Update: There is one thing that I had forgotten about, a justification the Angels have used for using Chone Figgins as a leadoff man: he scores a lot of runs. Just so, Pierre is currently tied for second in the league for runs scored by a centerfielder, only one behind Aaron Rowand of the Phillies and tied with Carlos Beltran of the Mets at 26. (You may notice that he isn't, however, first on the team in this category; Russ Martin beats him with 27.) Bill James said that scoring runs was an underrated ability, and so maybe there lies some means of recovering a bit of value; but with GMJ having scored 28, it's still tough to sell that Pierre = Matthews.
Labels: angels, dodgers, players, times
A negative VORP should basically mean that no one should have to argue about weather or not Pierre has been good.
Yet the LA times still tries .....
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