Podsednik's Poor Defense

[bmags]

and relies solely on catchup speed to make 80% of his plays out there.

I don't need stats to see that.

 

I don't want to speak for anyone here, but I think you guys are missing each others points. SABR Sox was pointing out that, in comparison to other left fielders, Podsednik wasn't nearly as bad last year as some of you are making him out to be. Why is that? Because of his catchup speed. It may be his only asset, but in a position like left, you can usually get away with that.

 

And that is likely why the stats ended up where they did.

[SoxAce]

I'll say this. There is two LF's that quickly come to mind that make Pods' D look like Willie Mays in LF. I give you Manny Ramirez and Garrett Anderson.

[Maverick0984]

having played baseball for over 12 years (through high school), i can attest to people and the naked eye not always being a great judge of talent. thats why stats are used in scouting reports...

 

if a guy makes 1 bad play and 10 good ones, 9 times out of the 10 people will only remember the bad play. it's just human nature.

 

also, not trying to make excuses...(i played left field ), but line drives off of the bat straight to left field can be difficult to judge, i know they are professional ball players and it should be a problem. however, specfically left field (on pull right hitters) the line drives can be hit pretty hard, and balls can sail on you pretty easily, or dip down pretty quick. doesn't account for the bloopers he didn't leg out, but i can't really defend a lack of hustle.

 

for whatever reason, it sounds like some of you are focusing on a few bad plays. now i know a few of you are gonna say "oh man it's been soooo many more than a few," so just save it, don't waste more time on the topic saying the same thing in the 30 other topics about this. at the end of the day, he's doing decent, nothing special, but he's doing decent. i'm not calling him an allstar left fielder, but Pods is far, far, far from "horrendous" or any other adjective with similar meaning.

[AngelasDaddy0427]

I still think Pods will come around offensively... but defensively I think he is playing himself off the team... I wouldn't mind getting a better LF and aquiring another leadoff hitter at another position such as CF or SS...

[Capn12]

Pods, honestly to me, seems WAY too complacent while playing defense. And he always seems to take his ABs with him to the field mentally, which here lately the way he is hitting, is not good.

[Rowand44]

Pods, honestly to me, seems WAY too complacent while playing defense. And he always seems to take his ABs with him to the field mentally, which here lately the way he is hitting, is not good.

The one thing about Pods that has really come to annoy me is his lack of hustle at the plate and in the field. That's another reason I think if Pods doesn't get his head out of his ass that you're just going to keep seeing Ozuna threads pop up because not only is he hitting the crap out of the ball but you know he's going to leave everything on the field.

[beautox]

No offense but this is one of the reasons some people can't stand sabermetrics. If you're basing players soley on stats, you're missing a lot of the story.

 

Sabermetrics, Bill James, Billy Beane, The Oakland philosophy all FTL

 

IsoP & IsoD are the worst stats ever, infact they're down right laughable. Sabermetrics can't quantify what a base stealer does on the base paths therefore if you can't quantify it, it most not exist and is solely luck, or else why haven’t the A’s won the world series?

[hammerhead johnson]

for whatever reason, it sounds like some of you are focusing on a few bad plays. now i know a few of you are gonna say "oh man it's been soooo many more than a few," so just save it, don't waste more time on the topic saying the same thing in the 30 other topics about this. at the end of the day, he's doing decent, nothing special, but he's doing decent. i'm not calling him an allstar left fielder, but Pods is far, far, far from "horrendous" or any other adjective with similar meaning.

 

And yet another guy who simply does not watch enough games. But you played baseball for 12 years? That's great. I wonder why Ozzie Guillen is chastising Pods for his defense? It's a f***ing mystery to me.

 

You're seriously not going to find anyone who's watched the guy consistently (especially in person) who's going to say he's anything but horrendous.

 

I can watch him out in LF, getting horrible jumps, taking the worst routes imaginable to get to the ball, throwing with no authority what so ever, jogging to balls in front of him that should not be dropping but are, flat out dropping balls in LF, losing balls in mid flight, diving unnecessarily and many many many other blunders he's committed over the past 2 seasons.

 

Sabermetrics are not needed when anyone can simply watch the guy and see that he sucks.

 

Here, reread this. Yeah, just a few bad plays is all.

[Maverick0984]

And yet another guy who simply does not watch enough games. But you played baseball for 12 years? That's great. I wonder why Ozzie Guillen is chastising Pods for his defense? It's a f***ing mystery to me.

Here, reread this. Yeah, just a few bad plays is all.

 

of the nearly 70 games this season, i've watched over 55 of them, the other 15 i was at work at followed them on espn's gamecast. i have followed and been involved in every game this season, as well as last season, except for a 2 or 3 games. not counting previous seasons before these 2.

 

please don't try and tell me how many games i've seen, you have no idea, there is no argument to try and conjur up from made up stats about how many games you "claim to think" i've seen.

 

and i'm not saying i've only seen them on tv, i've been to 13 home games this year so far...and will be at the Houston game on Sunday.

 

Here, reread this. Yeah, just a few bad plays is all. laugh.gif

 

quoting what i've already commented on about not being a correct assumption, and just telling me to "reread" isn't exactly a valid argument, not sure why you would think it is, boogles my mind how people do that, oh boy, good zinger there pal.

 

to chastise -

1. To punish, as by beating. See Synonyms at punish.

2. To criticize severely; rebuke.

3. Archaic. To purify.

 

none of these seem to describe what i see Ozzie doing, Ozzie pointed out a problem, commented on it and gave hope that'd he would get better, since he should be playing better, implying this isn't the real Pods. he sure didn't beat him...hmm, isn't exactly "purifying" anything. sure isn't being "severe" about anything. maybe you should choose your words more carefully and use them in the context they deserve.

 

 

 

separating from all that, i'm no baseball slouch, why everyone keeps trying to change opinions of other people is beyond me. it's an opinion...get over it. my opinion is more closer to that of Ozzie's. He should be player better, but it's not awful as some of you have exclaimed. if Ozzie thought it was "awful," "horrendus," or anything else you've said, don't you think he would NEVER be playing? that makes sense to me...

Edited June 20, 2006 by Maverick0984

[hammerhead johnson]

of the nearly 70 games this season, i've watched over 55 of them, the other 15 i was at work at followed them on espn's gamecast. i have followed and been involved in every game this season, as well as last season, except for a 2 or 3 games. not counting previous seasons before these 2.

 

Okay, so you're obviously not paying enough attention, because Pods is pretty much the equivalent of Stevie Wonder out there in LF. Kalapse gave a nice review that 99% of soxtalk would agree with, so that's why I quoted it.

 

He's playing because of his plate discipline and speed on the basepaths, but make no mistake about it: he is a major defensive liability. He will do more harm than good over the course of an entire season. You're not supposed to win games with Scotty Pods.

 

Scotty Pods is a career minor leaguer that somehow slipped through the cracks. His fundamentals are atrocious.

[Maverick0984]

Okay, so you're obviously not paying enough attention, because Pods is pretty much the equivalent of Stevie Wonder out there in LF. Kalapse gave a nice review that 99% of soxtalk would agree with, so that's why I quoted it.

 

He's playing because of his plate discipline and speed on the basepaths, but make no mistake about it: he is a major defensive liability. He will do more harm than good over the course of an entire season. You're not supposed to win games with Scotty Pods.

 

Scotty Pods is a career minor leaguer that somehow slipped through the cracks. His fundamentals are atrocious.

 

i don't agree, but i'm not going to continue to argue about it, because it isn't going anywhere. i think 99% is a bit much to say as well.

[Kalapse]

The only thing that matters is that Ozzie is getting pissed. He's calling out Podsednik publicly for his s*** defense, so obviously he must be pretty subpar out there huh?

[SleepyWhiteSox]

The only thing that matters is that Ozzie is getting pissed. He's calling out Podsednik publicly for his s*** defense, so obviously he must be pretty subpar out there huh?

 

No such comments last year so maybe it wasn't as s***ty last year as has been suggested...

[Balta1701]

No such comments last year so maybe it wasn't as s***ty last year as has been suggested...

Podsednik's D last year wasn't great, but it was tolerable. This year he has been significiantly worse than last year. Just for an example, he already has 6 errors this year in LF, when all of last year he had 3.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

Podsednik's D last year wasn't great, but it was tolerable. This year he has been significiantly worse than last year. Just for an example, he already has 6 errors this year in LF, when all of last year he had 3.

 

Exactly. It was passable last year and worse this year, but not equally as bad.

[Kalapse]

No such comments last year so maybe it wasn't as s***ty last year as has been suggested...

I said it numerous times last year but yes he has gotten much worse this year. Like I said before when he's hitting most people tend to ignore his defense, it's tough to ignore him on D when he's doing absolutely nothing on offense.

[CanOfCorn]

I'll say this. There is two LF's that quickly come to mind that make Pods' D look like Willie Mays in LF. I give you Manny Ramirez and Garrett Anderson.

 

 

Ah yes, but he led the league in outfield assists.

[hammerhead johnson]

Defensive qualities don't just drastically change from one year to the next if we're talking about a player who is in his late 20s/early 30s.

 

To say that there is a difference between last year and this year is some total bulls*** if you ask me. He sucks just as hard as ever when it comes to reading fly balls, taking the proper angles, etc. Those are the things that you look at when you talk about OF defense, not some rare drops here and there (inflation of his error totals).

 

This guy was stuck in the minors for TEN YEARS, and it wasn't plate discipline or baserunning skills that held him back.

[beautox]

What round was podsednik picked in? and what year?

[Kalapse]

What round was podsednik picked in? and what year?

3rd rounder by the Rangers in '94.

[beautox]

thanks

[Guest JimH]

Again not making excuses for this guy but it clearly looks like he's not 100%, to me anyways.

 

He is tiptoeing around out there in LF and he has no explosiveness running to 1B either.

 

And if that's the case, the logical question becomes why don't they DL him? I wouldn't be shocked if that happens right after all these interleague games and perhaps building in the All Star break, assuming Anderson serves his 5 games during that time.

 

I believe the injury is frustrating as hell to him, he wants badly to contribute but unfortunately he's taking the frustration into the field with him. Not good.

[WCSox]

Defensive qualities don't just drastically change from one year to the next if we're talking about a player who is in his late 20s/early 30s.

 

They can if said player is still having problems with a groin injury.

[MSHAWKS]

Again not making excuses for this guy but it clearly looks like he's not 100%, to me anyways.

 

He is tiptoeing around out there in LF and he has no explosiveness running to 1B either.

 

And if that's the case, the logical question becomes why don't they DL him? I wouldn't be shocked if that happens right after all these interleague games and perhaps building in the All Star break, assuming Anderson serves his 5 games during that time.

 

I believe the injury is frustrating as hell to him, he wants badly to contribute but unfortunately he's taking the frustration into the field with him. Not good.

 

 

To be honest, Pods has always looked like he's prancing around in the outfield and I've noticed no difference in his baserunning. Do you have any proof of Podsednik being injured or is this some Hangar-like theory you've conjured up?

[Balta1701]

Defensive qualities don't just drastically change from one year to the next if we're talking about a player who is in his late 20s/early 30s.

 

To say that there is a difference between last year and this year is some total bulls*** if you ask me. He sucks just as hard as ever when it comes to reading fly balls, taking the proper angles, etc. Those are the things that you look at when you talk about OF defense, not some rare drops here and there (inflation of his error totals).

 

This guy was stuck in the minors for TEN YEARS, and it wasn't plate discipline or baserunning skills that held him back.

Edgar Renteria says hi.

Edited June 20, 2006 by Balta1701