Comments on Ghostrunner on First: Iron Age

His +/- was excellent as of August 5th, it remains...

2009-10-27T20:13:59.416-04:00

His +/- was excellent as of August 5th, it remains to be seen if it fell off like the rest. The injury fears are legitimate, but so is reluctance to invest in an aging player.

Drew

Regarding Scutaro, I'd be interested to see how he...

2009-10-27T19:01:37.718-04:00

Regarding Scutaro, I'd be interested to see how he rates out according to TotalZone for 2009 and I don't subscribe to Bill James Online, so I'd like to know how he did +/- for '09 as well.

UZR liked Scutaro last season (+14.4 including positional adjustment), but not nearly as much as TZ (+25, incl. PA) or +/- (+15 at 3B and +12 at short).

What are our other options?

2009-10-21T16:53:14.925-04:00

What are our other options?

Defense gets girls? I thought that chicks dig the...

2009-10-21T15:26:13.088-04:00

Defense gets girls? I thought that chicks dig the long ball.

I agree Anon, Cito certainly should rest him more ...

2009-10-21T00:44:34.698-04:00

I agree Anon, Cito certainly should rest him more often.

Which speaks to my larger concern, especially if he's to play short everyday. Are you going to dictate he can't play winterball? Do you believe a 35 year old man will discover the kind of conditioning required to play shortstop on concrete every day? AFTER you've made him unthinkably rich?

I dunno. Again, I like Scutaro and think he could be a good third base stopgap for a year or two, if EE doesn't work out. But the hole at shortstop isn't going anywhere soon.

Maybe Cito should have given him a day off here or...

2009-10-20T21:40:03.118-04:00

Maybe Cito should have given him a day off here or there.

couple of possible mitigating factors: 1. the inj...

2009-10-20T10:58:00.224-04:00

couple of possible mitigating factors:

1. the injury as mentioned above

2. the fact that this was scutaro's first season of everyday play. i remember johnny mac declining defensively late season a few years ago, he attributed it to not being used to playing every day, and so worked hard in the offseason to improve his stamina over the season.

also the fact that scutaro plays winter ball may have affected him - usually it wouldn't matter, as he would have plenty of rest during the season. but when he's been playing everday for practically 18 months, it's got to add up. maybe a better offseason preparation would see him have a strong full season next year.

of course, it may be that he's not up to it. but i hope (for his sake and possibly the jays') that he can do it

I remember, on more than one occasion, Cito saying...

2009-10-20T08:05:24.788-04:00

I remember, on more than one occasion, Cito saying that Scutaro's foot had been pretty seriously hurt for the last 2 or so months of the season. I'm paraphrasing, but Cito said he kept running him out there every day because "he wanted to play every day."

Anyways, I think what we need to take out of this is that we don't know how much of Scutaro's decline was due to fatigue, and how much was due to his injury. The fact that his play dropped so dramatically right around the same time he supposedly got hurt seems to point to the latter.