On June 3, Yasiel Puig's Major League career turns a year old. In that span, he has gone from five-tool phenom to over-rated youth to untamed bronco to retroactive kidnapping victim to legitimate star, where he stands today.
It turns out that, histrionics over his home run posturing aside, Puig is every bit the player he appeared to be at the start.
After 155 games, Puig is abusing NL pitchers at a .328/.408/.564 clip. His results can no longer be attributed to solely to a ridiculously hot debut (1.180 OPS in his first month.) In fact, after Puig cooled off in the second half of 2013, he has elevated his game this year (1.064 OPS in 2014) both at the plate and in the field. IN his first full year, Puig has added nearly eight wins to the Dodgers, squarely in MVP territory.
Indeed, Puig has demonstrated that he could adjust to the league's adjustment to him, and then adjust to subsequent adjustments. He has much better command of the strike zone than he showed last season, lowering his rate of swings outside the zone. He has better calibrated his game as well, demonstrating restraint on throws to bases and diving for balls in close games that he lays off in blowouts. Amid all the fanfare, it's easy to forget what a stud this 6'3", 235-pound athlete Puig is.
Puig is still a bit unrestrained on the basepaths: for all his speed he's been gunned down on 12 of his 28 SB attempts and occasionally still runs into outs after hits. But he's just exiting his rookie status, after all.
On the subject of admiring his home runs and hotdogging in the field, let me offer a word of advice to offended opponents: Shut the !@#$%^&* up. (You got three words free.) If you don't like the way Puig -- or anyone else -- runs out his long balls, don't serve them up.
Puig will make $6 million each of the next six seasons, an amount he will have earned in its entirety by the end of 2014, barring injury. So for all the controversy surrounding his debut and subsequent performance, the bottom line is that Yasiel Puig is a spectacular baseball player whom any fan should want on their team.
Showing posts with label shut the !@#$%^&*! up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shut the !@#$%^&*! up. Show all posts
31 May 2014
06 July 2013
The Post I'd Like To Write, But Don't Have The Data To Support
If only I were a Sabremetrician.
If only I had access to big piles of data about older players and their return from injury.
Then I could write this blog post.
The one about how Derek Jeter's career could be effectively over even if he returns from his ankle injury and performs well in August and September, and even beyond.
(Which reminds me: Jeter tweeted yesterday that he's almost ready to begin his rehab assignment in the Minors. I wonder if Brian Cashman is going to respond by telling Alex Rodriguez to shut the !@#$%^&*! up.)
Somewhere out there is a warehouse of data about how 39-year-olds perform after major injuries that sideline them for eight months, which is how long the Yankee shortstop's been laid up.
My guess is that it does not bode well, not only because there aren't a whole lot of 39-year-olds performing at a high level to begin with, and not only because those who do generally play more sedentary positions like 1B or DH. Mainly it's because when it comes to 39-year-olds, major injuries never completely heal.
Compounding that, the ankle is the worst joint for a shortstop to injure. Every move on defense is a fast-twitch explosion at the ankle. If we thought "Pastadiving" was Jeter's first name before the injury, it might get shortened to "Past" following his return from injury. In addition, pain will likely accompany sprints around the bases.
So if playing shortstop and running the bases -- two staples of Jeter's career -- are problematic, what joy will there be for him on the field?
Keep in mind, that's the best case scenario. The worst case is that he can't return at all, or he returns and re-injures the ankle, or gets hurt some other way, or just isn't the Derek Jeter of old --even the one of age 38.
It's easy to see Jeter gutting it out for a couple of months in 2013 and then concluding he can't make it through a whole season of the pain at age 40. It's not far-fetched to imagine every twinge adding to the argument that he's gotten everything he can out of his career. There's really no reason for him to drag a shell of his talent -- if that's what he becomes -- through another 162-game season to tarnish his legacy and leave a sad, withered image on our minds' retinas, the one many of us have of Willie Mays as a Met.
The Yankee captain has an $8 million player option for next year, so he wouldn't be leaving large sums of money (in baseball superstar terms) on the table if he retired. It's easy to see the Steinbrenners keeping him on the payroll for that sum in another capacity.
So here's the conclusion I believe I'd reach if I had the data: don't bank on Derek Jeter returning to star form again, and don't be surprised if last year's playoffs were effectively the end of his career.
If only I had access to big piles of data about older players and their return from injury.
Then I could write this blog post.
The one about how Derek Jeter's career could be effectively over even if he returns from his ankle injury and performs well in August and September, and even beyond.
(Which reminds me: Jeter tweeted yesterday that he's almost ready to begin his rehab assignment in the Minors. I wonder if Brian Cashman is going to respond by telling Alex Rodriguez to shut the !@#$%^&*! up.)
Somewhere out there is a warehouse of data about how 39-year-olds perform after major injuries that sideline them for eight months, which is how long the Yankee shortstop's been laid up.
My guess is that it does not bode well, not only because there aren't a whole lot of 39-year-olds performing at a high level to begin with, and not only because those who do generally play more sedentary positions like 1B or DH. Mainly it's because when it comes to 39-year-olds, major injuries never completely heal.
Compounding that, the ankle is the worst joint for a shortstop to injure. Every move on defense is a fast-twitch explosion at the ankle. If we thought "Pastadiving" was Jeter's first name before the injury, it might get shortened to "Past" following his return from injury. In addition, pain will likely accompany sprints around the bases.
So if playing shortstop and running the bases -- two staples of Jeter's career -- are problematic, what joy will there be for him on the field?
Keep in mind, that's the best case scenario. The worst case is that he can't return at all, or he returns and re-injures the ankle, or gets hurt some other way, or just isn't the Derek Jeter of old --even the one of age 38.
It's easy to see Jeter gutting it out for a couple of months in 2013 and then concluding he can't make it through a whole season of the pain at age 40. It's not far-fetched to imagine every twinge adding to the argument that he's gotten everything he can out of his career. There's really no reason for him to drag a shell of his talent -- if that's what he becomes -- through another 162-game season to tarnish his legacy and leave a sad, withered image on our minds' retinas, the one many of us have of Willie Mays as a Met.
The Yankee captain has an $8 million player option for next year, so he wouldn't be leaving large sums of money (in baseball superstar terms) on the table if he retired. It's easy to see the Steinbrenners keeping him on the payroll for that sum in another capacity.
So here's the conclusion I believe I'd reach if I had the data: don't bank on Derek Jeter returning to star form again, and don't be surprised if last year's playoffs were effectively the end of his career.
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