Also you’ll note his lifetime RE24 is right in line with his wRAA, which means he didn’t strike out more in clutch situations than he did the rest of the time. So his Ks weren’t especially bad as far as Ks go (and they’re better than GIDP).

I think the biggest point that I came away with was in the Yahoo! article–Jon Daniels’ comment, “Those guys have value, as long as they’re productive otherwise,” referring to guys that strikeout a lot. And I think I might propose that that production could come offensively or defensively. And a guy that did all three–that is, struck out a lot, but produced at least above average offensively, and above average to well above average defensively–well then, he’d be worth all those strikeouts.

It’s not that strikeouts don’t matter, but they don’t matter as much as you think they do. Drop the hate, embrace your inner K.

Exactly. For an interesting exercise, compare his GIDP to Beltre’s.

That wasn’t really the point I was trying to raise with GIDP. I am just concerned about Cammy’s legs and wondering if an increase in GIDP and a drop in SB attempts and SB % (granted smaller sample size) isn’t a sign of decline. That said his defensive metrics were still very strong last year.

As far as the strikeouts, just annoying that’s all. I despise platinum sombreros.

Similar batters to Mike Cameron through age 36:

Ron Gant (1 more good year as a part-timer)
Darrell Evans (effective ’til age 41)
Brady Anderson (done at 36)
Rick Monday (so-so as part-timer at 37 then done)
Ray Lankford (one more so-so part time year at 37)
Bobby Murcer (done at 36)
Bobby Thomson (done at 36)
Reggie Sanders (a couple more decent years as a part-timer)
Devon White (2 more part-time seasons but average at best)
Don Baylor (1 good year at 37 then played on in decline for 2 more years)

Pardon my asking, but isn’t that exactly what the goal would be in acquiring him in the first place? His defense has shown no signs of letting up. As for his hitting:

Focussing on strikouts over OBP and OPS is kinda focussing on the wrong thing, hm? And GIDPs needs something else, like BABIP, to round out the analysis, too?

Exactly. For an interesting exercise, compare his GIDP to Beltre’s.

For any other concerns about Cammy, I’d refer you to this article by Dave.

Link

My point was simply that we need a third baseman and he’s the best available….it should be a priority to sign him

That argument could’ve been made last offseason for a first baseman and Texeira, or an arm in the rotation and Sabbathia (both things the M’s needed). And if you’re the Yankees, you can follow that logic. But if you’re a team with a more limited payroll, it doesn’t make sense to always chase “the best available” if it’s possible to accumulate the same number of wins in different ways using less dollars. In this case, as much as I love watching Beltre play, it might make sense to plug the hole at 3rd with somebody less awesome and devote the dollars saved to buying value at other positions. Such as, say, signing Felix.

Living within a budget sucks, but outside of New York (and maybe even there, sometimes) that’s reality.

Why isn’t resigning Beltre more of a priority??

How do you know that it isn’t? The Mariners don’t usually make announcements about the players they’re targeting. Just because you’re not hearing about it doesn’t mean it’s not something they might do.