I would say that Yasiel Puig should be seriously considered for comeback player of the year award this year. Roberts has worked a minor miracle - he grew Puig up into a responsible baseball player who puts the team ahead of himself and has given us some much better at bats this season, along with a cannon that is, IMHO, unmatched in the majors. Last person I saw come close was Mondesi, but he didn’t have the pinpoint accuracy of Puig.
Puig’s head is in the game this year and it shows. It was nice to see him swarmed by his teammates (many of whom wouldn’t have given him the time of day last year) after his walk off double last night. If he keeps it up, he may have a very long career.
And they proceeded to throw it away with the relievers, starting in the 6th inning again. This mania that the Cubs have for the idea of mandatory use of a reliever in the 6th, another in the 7th, etc. is just absurd. They did it today even though it wasn’t a starter on the mound at the end of the 5th (Lester was lit up and gone by the end of 2). :mad:
I thought that i recognized your assertion that Puig should be called the comeback player of the year, and sure enough it was a headline that i had seen in my Google search earlier in the day. Here’s the article, which appears on a Dodgers fansite, and is titled, “Dodgers: Yasiel Puig a Candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.”
I’m not sure if you made the argument independently of the article, or if you saw it and thought it was a good argument for Puig, but i’m going to suggest that both you and the author of the article might want to take off those blue-tinted glasses.
There is no doubt that Puig is having a better year than he had last year. That really wouldn’t be very hard. But he’s not exactly setting the world on fire. Baseball Reference has his 2017 WAR at 2.0, and Fangraphs has it at 1.4. His OPS+ is 109, helped by the fact that he seemed to have some power back. He’s doing fine, but i think calling him the comeback player of the year is a little over the top.
And the author of the article completely loses his shit with this claim:
Emphasis mine. What the everloving fuck?
Puig has played 113 games this season for a WAR of about 1.4 - 2.0 (depending on whether you prefer FanGraphs or BR) and an OPS+ of 109.
In 2013 Puig played 104 games for a WAR of 4.1 - 4.9, and an OPS+ of 159.
In 2014, he played 148 games for a WAR of 5.4 (both sources agree) and an OPS+ of 145.
Hell you don’t even need advanced stats like WAR. Look at his batting lines:
How anyone could say that 2017 is his best season beggars belief.
I’m not even going to weigh in on the whole “selfishness” and “not a team player” stuff that seems to follow Puig around, for two reasons. First, i don’t watch the Dodgers often enough to know whether there’s any validity to it. Second, and much more important, people were making those same sorts of accusations about him in 2013 and 2014, when he was hitting the crap out of the ball and contributing a whole hell of a lot to the Dodgers’ performance.
I like Yasiel Puig a lot. I like seeing him play baseball. He does have a cannon for an arm, and when he hits he’s a lot of fun to watch. But if he’s the comeback player of the year, it must be a pretty thin field of candidates, and if anyone thinks this is his best year for the Dodgers, they should apply for a job as his agent, because that sort of optimism might help him next year when his contract is up.
Speaking only for myself, I think the comments about Puig are about far more than the big offensive numbers. I’m not trying to make an argument for Comeback Player of the Year, but for those of us who have watched Puig consistently over the last five seasons, I can understand the big difference everyone is seeing. He is a man with enormous talent who is playing far smarter than we’ve ever seen him play.
[ul]
[li]It shows in his increased plate discipline (he’s on pace this season to walk the most times he ever has in his career).[/li][li]It shows in his base running (though not a huge sample size, 12 steals is already the most in his career, and only being caught 4 times is by far his best ratio).[/li][li]It shows in his fielding (yes, one of the greatest arms in the game, but he’s also hitting that cutoff man and doing a better job of holding runners).[/li][/ul]
You’re comparing all of his numbers this year to his numbers from 2014. But when we’re talking “comeback,” we’re looking at what he’s doing this year versus what happened to him the last two seasons, after the league found all the holes in his swing. As to his batting average this season, he’s also been a bit unlucky, statistically—his BABIP is by far the lowest of his career, and he’s hitting into a lot of hard outs.
Again, I’m not comparing him to the rest of the league in this category. Just noting how much of an improvement there has been in his overall play this season. It’s been eye-opening for those of us who have watched closely. Look, I was in the stands quite a bit during his first two seasons in the bigs, including the night he hit his first two homers in his second game at the Major League level. Was it a blast watching him destroy the league in 2013 and 2014? Absolutely. But am I really, REALLY happy to have a guy who was in danger of being out of baseball because of his arrogance and petulance come back, smarten up and produce consistently—largely from the number eight slot—for a really good team? You bet. He’s not the hero, but he’s a huge part of making sure there are no holes in this lineup, and therefore, a huge part of why this team is where they are in the standings right now.
The Cardinals had my hopes up for about a week – then we traveled to Boston, where we always get slaughtered. Seriously, ever since the 1960s (or early 2000s I guess) or so the Cardinals have been Boston’s little wench.
You won’t have to worry about the Cardinals catching the Cubs as long as Mike Matheny manages the Cardinals and Joe Maddon manages the Cubs. Maddon could probably manage the Iowa Cubs to a sweep over the St Louis Cardinals, in fact.
Of course you’ll take it, and we’ll keep taking it in the rectum until we reassign #22.:mad:
I like Matheny as a person, and I think he’s been a good character guy. He’s got the right kind of character and gritty personality that young players need, but he’s made some just mind-blowingly dumb moves at the worst moments. “Oh yeah, I know, let’s bring in a starting pitcher who’s recovering from an injury and hasn’t pitched in 8 weeks and see if he can get a critical out with the game tied in the 9th inning of the NLCS.” He doesn’t develop players and I think veterans like Molina, Wainwright, and Matt Carpenter have probably had as much to do with keeping them at least competitive since 2012.
Cool, Congrats. They were the first to reach 10000 also as the Phillies were first to 10000 losses.
Weird fact, Phillies still have not reached 10,000 wins and are the only one of the original 8 teams shy of that mark. The Yankees are the 8th team to notch 10000+ wins. Despite starting 20 years later.
Granderson to the Dodgers is an interesting move. I suppose he is an upgrade on Joc?
Honestly, with this move and Gonzalez back in the lineup I’m not really sure what the team looks like anymore. But they have a month to figure it out I suppose.
Actually, my first thought on seeing this was, “So, is Ethier’s rehab not going well?” Because with Gonzalez back, you assume Taylor, Bellinger and Puig in the outfield, no? Then you’ve got Pederson and Ethier if you want to go all-lefty. As you say, they’ve got time to figure it out. Play everybody in September and take the hot hand into October.
Personally, I really like Granderson, and I’m glad he gets a chance to go the playoffs this season. Hope we can get him a ring!
Max Scherzer placed on the DL after he “forgot” to do his exercises that were prescribed after his previous neck injury.
“This is my own fault,” Scherzer said after the Nationals pulled together a 7-1 win without him Friday. “Look, I was feeling good after this last start and I know it’s an excuse, and I hate excuses, but I forgot to do the neck exercises during this go around.”
This feels sort of inexcusable, considering how many Nats are already injured (and Max’s $15M paycheck).
See, I was thinking Taylor gets moved to the bench with Gonzalez back because Pederson’s defense is more valuable up the middle. I will be very surprised if we ever see Ethier play in Dodger Blue again. With his injury his whole career might be done. I always liked him, so that’s a bit sad.
I doubt Ethier ever plays another game. Joc has been fading as a hitter lately, so Granderson fills that spot handily. He’s just a rental for the end of the season. Next year they get Toles back, so why trade for someone long-term?
Like NAF observed, at this point I have no idea which configuration will be fielded at any given time. My main concern at this point is the amount of playing time Hernandez will get.
Taylor to the bench? Gonzalez better come back on fire to force that one. I don’t see Dave Roberts willingly sacrificing Taylor’s bat (.310/.379/.549) and average to above-average outfield defense just to start Adrian every day.
I don’t understand both of your positions on this one. Ethier has played in four minor league games in the last week and is off to a slow start at the plate, but that’s not shocking given he hasn’t played all year. He’s handled his defensive chances fine so far. Barring some horrific setback, I don’t see any way he doesn’t get called up September. Why in the world wouldn’t you put him back on the field, especially with the division (and almost certainly home field advantage) wrapped up, and let him compete for a spot on the post-season roster? If he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t get it. But they’re going to let him play.
So the Astros have been through a rough spell, which is kind of meh, but the big concerning thing was that Dallas Keuchel had not had a good start since he returned from injury rehab. Now he’s had two excellent starts in a row, and things are looking back up. (Correa is supposedly going to start taking batting practice this weekend, which could put them close to full strength going into the playoffs.)
Didn’t know about that article. Thanks for sharing it.
Asimovian already gave an eloquent response that pretty much sums up my feelings on the topic.
I don’t know if this award is decided strictly by the numbers. If so, you make an excellent case. But it is only a small piece of the story. Anyone who has watched his entire career knows that this year, we are seeing an entirely different player, more mature, more of a contributor to the team’s goals, rather than his own. Far more plate discipline, far more focus. Yes, they are intangibles, but my opinion is that you have to weigh those factors as well, not just the stats.
Bets? I really like Andre, but he isn’t what he used to be, he’s been replaced by younger, better players and his start in rehab doesn’t show me that he’ll be an asset in October. And with the addition of Granderson he is truly “in excess of needs.”
