I've been thinking about a couple of our veteran guys and their lack of playing time. First let me start with Matt Stairs. He's a fourth outfielder who hasn't been given a chance to bat more then 500 times in a season since 1999 in Oakland when he hit 38 HR with 102 RBI. He's older now, but if you project his power numbers out, in even recent seasons, he's still quite productive. In 2005, he hit 13 HR with 66 RBI in 396 AB. Project that at 550 AB and he hits 18 HR with 91 RBI—a shade better than Emil Brown's "breakout" season a year ago (17 HR, 86 RBI in 545 AB). Stairs has 6 HR and 24 RBI this season in just 125 AB. Those numbers project out to 26 HR with 105 RBI in 550 AB. You can see where I'm going with this—why isn't Matt Stairs in the line up every day? Is Emil Brown really the left fielder of the future at the age of 31? Since the obvious answer is no, then why not play the better player?
The other veteran who deserves to play more is Tony Graffanino. That's a tough argument to make given the way Grudzielanek has played. But let's look at the numbers. Graf has never had more than 300 at bats in a season, but if you take his average his career home runs and runs batted in and project them out over an entire season (550 AB), he'd hit 11 HR with 45 RBI. Mark Grudzielanek's best season ever was in 2001 with the Dodgers where he hit 13 HR with 55 RBI in 539 AB. In three other seasons, he had more than 600 AB's and never equaled those numbers. And if project out his career power numbers for a 550 AB season, you get the following: 7 HR with 48 RBI. Grud is just about to turn 36 years old. Graf is 34. So, why all the fuss over Grudzielanek? And before you say fielding, Graf and Grud both have an identical career fielding percentage—.975, and Graf has played many more positions. You might be able to make a case that Esteban German ought to get a shot to start over both of them since he's so young, but in his 201 career at bats, he has only hit 1 home run and driven in 16 runs. And his career fielding percentage is .957.
I've been thinking about a couple of our veteran guys and their lack of playing time. First let me start with Matt Stairs. He's a fourth outfielder who hasn't been given a chance to bat more then 500 times in a season since 1999 in Oakland when he hit 38 HR with 102 RBI. He's older now, but if you project his power numbers out, in even recent seasons, he's still quite productive. In 2005, he hit 13 HR with 66 RBI in 396 AB. Project that at 550 AB and he hits 18 HR with 91 RBI—a shade better than Emil Brown's "breakout" season a year ago (17 HR, 86 RBI in 545 AB). Stairs has 6 HR and 24 RBI this season in just 125 AB. Those numbers project out to 26 HR with 105 RBI in 550 AB. You can see where I'm going with this—why isn't Matt Stairs in the line up every day? Is Emil Brown really the left fielder of the future at the age of 31? Since the obvious answer is no, then why not play the better player?
The other veteran who deserves to play more is Tony Graffanino. That's a tough argument to make given the way Grudzielanek has played. But let's look at the numbers. Graf has never had more than 300 at bats in a season, but if you take his average his career home runs and runs batted in and project them out over an entire season (550 AB), he'd hit 11 HR with 45 RBI. Mark Grudzielanek's best season ever was in 2001 with the Dodgers where he hit 13 HR with 55 RBI in 539 AB. In three other seasons, he had more than 600 AB's and never equaled those numbers. And if project out his career power numbers for a 550 AB season, you get the following: 7 HR with 48 RBI. Grud is just about to turn 36 years old. Graf is 34. So, why all the fuss over Grudzielanek? And before you say fielding, Graf and Grud both have an identical career fielding percentage—.975, and Graf has played many more positions. You might be able to make a case that Esteban German ought to get a shot to start over both of them since he's so young, but in his 201 career at bats, he has only hit 1 home run and driven in 16 runs. And his career fielding percentage is .957.
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