The open stance
DMZ · June 15, 2008 at 10:23 am · Filed Under Mariners
Sexson, up to May 26th: .200/.277/.413
Sexson, since returning to the lineup with that new, open stance: .263/.349/.263
Assuming for a second that his performance coming back is entirely representative and a reflection only of his open stance change, that’s +72 OBP, -150 SLG.
Yup.
If I remember correctly, Boone used to take an approach at the plate where he would position to swing “as a slugger” anytime he had less than two strikes, but would open up his stance & shorten his swing when he had two strikes. It would be interesting to note Boone’s numbers in 2000/2001/2002 in less-than-two-strikes vs. two-strike counts. Anyone know how to grok those numbers?
Even though it’s a major improvement for Sexie, it’s still $15 million for a .260 singles hitter with zero speed. No wonder this front office doesn’t like performance-based evaluation.
That’s not a major improvement.
I must have dyslexia, because I was transposing the slugging percentages. Yes, that would be an improvement in the negative.
Never mind. 😉
“If I’d just tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around
.600.265.†–Babe RuthRichie SexsonHaven’t seen a topic on this but [deleted, ot]
Is that really any improvement at all? At least he was a power threat before. Seems like we’ve just traded a crappy hitting power threat for an average hitting non-power threat.
I can’t wait for the stories next spring training about how Sexson has been working all offseason with a hitting coach, he may have been hiding an injury, he is in the best shape of his life, he got laser eye surgery, the Mariners didn’t have a “winning attitude,” the fans booed too much, and he is just a few years removed from being an RBI machine. I just hope it is some other team’s beat reporter writing the story.
Huh. If we DFA’d Sexson, Vidro & Cairo, would anyone pick them up? I doubt anyone would waste a roster slot on Vidro/Cairo, maybe someone grabs Sexson for a backup role & RH PH. How much worse can it get than starting players — including a cleanup hitting DH — who couldn’t even crack a roster anywhere else?
How in the name of Jose Baez can the M’s continue to send these sinkholes to the plate?
(BTW, Jose Baez’s numbers were similar to Vidro’s, and Baez had some defensive value. He was also Manny Mota’s cousin.)
Did this come up at the USSM/LL shindig yesterday?
Sorry I missed it…
Nope.
So essentially the M’s have turned a guy who could occasionally hit a homer or a double into a guy who can’t ever hit a homer or a double, in return for a few points of batting average (which he’ll probably give back to the league once pitchers realize which pitches he can’t hit at all with that stance. The phrase “Big Whoop” is running through my head, but that sort of fits every other move by this management, too.
Generally, changing to an open stance is as of a result of a batter not being able to get around on fastballs. This just further confirms that Sexson is done.
I guess for a positive spin – don’t some people consider a point of OBP 3x as valuable as a point of SLG?
Grasping at straws. Sexson sucks.
I don’t know if the stance has anything to do with it just yet. Just a guess, but is a small sample size to work with so far.
But whatever the case, he doens’t have bat speed and he is aging like Milk, so even if he has lost his power, I doubt moving his foot back to normal will bring it back. he’s done.
I believe the M’s will not be satisfied until they run out a lineup of nine sub-.600 hitters out there. A whole team of Willie Bloomquists! The KJR crowd will finally get what they’ve been screaming for for the last five years.
Nobody considers a point of OBP 3x a point of SLG. More like 1.4x.
Re: 16 – You must not have read Moneyball.
for reference…pg 128 – “He (Paul Depodesta) proceeded to tinker with his own version of Bill James’s “Runs Created” formular. When he was finished, he had a model for predicting run production that was more accurate than any he knew of. In his model an extra point of on-base percentage was worth three times an extra point of slugging percentage.”
So, yeah. At least one person considers a point of OBP 3x a point of SLG.