Could be a pretty good outfield in.............

[fathom]

Anderson sucked against righties and lefties, its not like he's Eduardo Perez against left handed pitching. I'm sick of the ridiculous love BA gets on this board. The guy was one of the most awful every day starters as a rookie as I've seen in a long time (from the offensive perspective).

 

I think you know that I'm definitely not one of the Anderson's lovers on this board. I would have had no problem if we acquired someone like Pierre this offseason, and sent Anderson packing. With that in mind though, I'll play the percentages of having a righty bat against a tough LHP than a crappy lefty hitter.

[witesoxfan]

If it means anything at all, lefties hit Johan Santana at a better clip than do righties

 

Obviously, that really pretty much only applies to Johan, but it's worth noting at the very least. I wouldn't mind seeing Erstad, Mackowiak, Thome, and Pierzynski all in the lineup in games he starts.

[fathom]

If it means anything at all, lefties hit Johan Santana at a better clip than do righties

 

Obviously, that really pretty much only applies to Johan, but it's worth noting at the very least. I wouldn't mind seeing Erstad, Mackowiak, Thome, and Pierzynski all in the lineup in games he starts.

 

Ozzie doesn't believe in that though, as he even has told Hawk that he'd rather get beat with as many righties as possible vs Johan.

[CWSGuy406]

Anderson sucked against righties and lefties, its not like he's Eduardo Perez against left handed pitching. I'm sick of the ridiculous love BA gets on this board. The guy was one of the most awful every day starters as a rookie as I've seen in a long time (from the offensive perspective).

 

I'm sick of the love Darin Erstad gets on this board. The guy isn't good, and is living off of one good year. If he has a good Spring Training, it means he's our starting CFer, and that sucks. If given equal opportunity this year, Anderson would outplay Erstad by quite a bit when taking into account both offense and defense.

[Chisoxfn]

I'm sick of the love Darin Erstad gets on this board. The guy isn't good, and is living off of one good year. If he has a good Spring Training, it means he's our starting CFer, and that sucks. If given equal opportunity this year, Anderson would outplay Erstad by quite a bit when taking into account both offense and defense.

I'd be absolutely stunned if a healthy Erstad was worse than a healthy Anderson...STUNNED.

[CWSGuy406]

I'd be absolutely stunned if a healthy Erstad was worse than a healthy Anderson...STUNNED.

 

Why? At this point in their careers, Anderson is the better defender. In Erstad's last 700 ABs, he's hitting at about a .265/.320/.365 line. One player is coming off of a solid minor league career and a bad ~350 ABs, while the other will turn 33 in June.

 

Erstad's offensive ceiling is extremely limited. Compared to last year, Anderson has a lt of potential.

[Jim Spencer]

When we signed Erstad I thought good finally a decent back up who can play CF. I never ever once thought of him as the starter

 

I sure hope BA has a good spring and beats him out.

[witesoxfan]

Ozzie doesn't believe in that though, as he even has told Hawk that he'd rather get beat with as many righties as possible vs Johan.

 

My largest beef with Ozzie is that he doesn't use logic to make a ton of his decisions. He goes lefty-lefty and righty-righty pitching wise because it's supposed to work, and he sends righties up against lefties and lefties against righties batting wise because it's supposed to work; the problem is that it doesn't always work.

 

A little common sense and book-looking would solve a lot of problems.

[Jordan4life_2007]

I'd be absolutely stunned if a healthy Erstad was worse than a healthy Anderson...STUNNED.

 

Prepare to be stunned. 2000 was a long time ago.

[gosox41]

Could be a pretty good outfield in Charlotte this year.

 

Ozzie said if Pods comes back sonner than expected, Anderson, Sweeney, and Owens will be down in Charlotte. The only way any of them stays is if they make the team as a starter or someone gets hurt. Ozzie did say that he couldn't see BA as a platoon player and I must agree. He would be better off getting his ABs down in Charlotte than sitting the bench in Chicago.

 

I wonder how Brian would take a demotion???

 

 

In today's Trib, KW compared Anderson to Crede saying he needs to take his lumps. I didn't get the impression he'd be in the minors for opening day but I can see them keeping a short leash on Anderson. I doubt they're going to allow him to get into June with a .150 avg. like last year.

 

 

Bob

[hitlesswonder]

Why? At this point in their careers, Anderson is the better defender.

 

In my opinion, Anderson's defense is overrated. Both Scott Gregor and Greg Couch wrote articles saying that people assumed Anderson had good defense just because he couldn't hit. Gregor specifically mentioned Anderson had difficulty going back on balls straight at him. I trust a beat writer's opinion on that, since he saw way more games in person than I did. I admit, I thought Anderson looked good in the field, but I'm no scout and I think it's possible BA just looked good to me in comparison to Mack.

 

And for those of a statistical bent, Chris Dial's defensive metrics had Anderson as a plus defender before the ASB and an exactly average one after the ASB. As more data accumulated, Anderson's defensive stats continued to go down. I've heard it really takes 2 years of data for Dial's metric to give meaningful results. I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson's defensive ranking continues to decline.

 

Anyway, the point is probably moot, since I'm pretty sure the CF combo will be Erstad and Terrero.

[badatbest]

In my opinion, Anderson's defense is overrated. Both Scott Gregor and Greg Couch wrote articles saying that people assumed Anderson had good defense just because he couldn't hit. Gregor specifically mentioned Anderson had difficulty going back on balls straight at him. I trust a beat writer's opinion on that, since he saw way more games in person than I did. I admit, I thought Anderson looked good in the field, but I'm no scout and I think it's possible BA just looked good to me in comparison to Mack.

 

And for those of a statistical bent, Chris Dial's defensive metrics had Anderson as a plus defender before the ASB and an exactly average one after the ASB. As more data accumulated, Anderson's defensive stats continued to go down. I've heard it really takes 2 years of data for Dial's metric to give meaningful results. I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson's defensive ranking continues to decline.

 

Anyway, the point is probably moot, since I'm pretty sure the CF combo will be Erstad and Terrero.

 

 

Those defensive analyses can be fun to mess around with, but i dont think anyone really thinks they are that accurate. Really i think watching lots of games is the only way to determine defensive ability. Anderson is very good in CF. Very good.

[Heads22]

Anyway, the point is probably moot, since I'm pretty sure the CF combo will be Erstad and Terrero.

 

 

If that's the case, I'm pretty sure we're out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

[witesoxfan]

In my opinion, Anderson's defense is overrated. Both Scott Gregor and Greg Couch wrote articles saying that people assumed Anderson had good defense just because he couldn't hit. Gregor specifically mentioned Anderson had difficulty going back on balls straight at him. I trust a beat writer's opinion on that, since he saw way more games in person than I did. I admit, I thought Anderson looked good in the field, but I'm no scout and I think it's possible BA just looked good to me in comparison to Mack.

 

He's not a gold glover, but not many players are as rookies.

 

And for those of a statistical bent, Chris Dial's defensive metrics had Anderson as a plus defender before the ASB and an exactly average one after the ASB. As more data accumulated, Anderson's defensive stats continued to go down. I've heard it really takes 2 years of data for Dial's metric to give meaningful results. I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson's defensive ranking continues to decline.

 

And I'm sure that had nothing to do with inconsistent playing time.

 

Anyway, the point is probably moot, since I'm pretty sure the CF combo will be Erstad and Terrero.

 

I completely doubt Terrero makes the roster. Terrero makes Anderson look like a good hitter.

[greg775]

We can't win a pennant with Erstad, Mack and Dye outfield.

Even though it pained me to watch Brian bat most of last year, I was really hoping he'd be

the guy to win the job in cf.

I hope Oz is just trying to fire up Brian.

[Wanne]

Anyway, the point is probably moot, since I'm pretty sure the CF combo will be Erstad and Terrero.

 

Right. And who's playing left? Hey...I can see Erstad staring...but not in center. Pods will not be healthy for a good month and a half (which doesn't break my heart really). But let's see how ST plays out before we start annointing people.

[CWSGuy406]

In my opinion, Anderson's defense is overrated. Both Scott Gregor and Greg Couch wrote articles saying that people assumed Anderson had good defense just because he couldn't hit. Gregor specifically mentioned Anderson had difficulty going back on balls straight at him. I trust a beat writer's opinion on that, since he saw way more games in person than I did. I admit, I thought Anderson looked good in the field, but I'm no scout and I think it's possible BA just looked good to me in comparison to Mack.

 

So, pretty much, you think Anderson is a mediocre defender because beat writers say so? These are the same beat writers that think Scott Podsednik is a good baseball player. These are the same beat writers that believe we won it all in 2005 because of 'Ozzieball', because we bunted and 'did the little things'.

 

If Anderson was above average at the ASB and average in the 2nd half of the season, wouldn't that still round out to an above average defender, if only slightly?

 

You don't give yourself, and more importantly, Sox fans. Anderson rated highest in Tango Tiger's 'Fans Scouting Report'. Everybody saw that he got very good reads on the ball (damn well considering it was his first year at USCF), and everybody saw that he was very good at balls hit in front of him. Sure, he had his flaws out there -- particularly going back on deep balls, but I'm not insinuating that he's Carlos Beltran out there. He has his flaws, I admit that, but there also has to be a reason why Darin Erstad has been in CF for all of 27 of the last 416 games he's been in, even if the only reason is injuries.

 

I've heard it really takes 2 years of data for Dial's metric to give meaningful results. I wouldn't be surprised if Anderson's defensive ranking continues to decline.

 

These two statements contradict each other. If they take two years to give meaningful results, why are you making a judgement?

 

Also, I'd like to see more systems, not just one. How did he rank in UZR? How did he rank at Baseball Musings (I believe that's the site)? How did he rank in Dewan's "Fielding Bible"? ZR? I'm pretty sure that he'd come out slighly-above-average-to-very-good in most of these systems.

 

Yikes... this offseason has turned you quite pessimistic.

[hitlesswonder]

These two statements contradict each other. If they take two years to give meaningful results, why are you making a judgement?

 

Yikes... this offseason has turned you quite pessimistic.

 

I'm assuming that Dial's metric becomes more accurate as the data accumulates, and for Anderson it looked liked it was converging to average. So, I don't think it's contradictory. That said, it's possible that BA will absolutely kill with the leather this year. Even if he was only slightly above average last season, he's young enough to improve (Rowand did) and may end up being a great defensive CF. My point (what there was of it) was simply that I'm not sure BA is a better defender than Erstad. If Erstad is healthy and close to what he was when he played CF fulltime, Erstad is probably the better CF. I do think BA has more offensive upside at this point, and I really hope he hits in spring training.

 

As for my pessimism, that stems from the loomimg shadow of Pods and Erstad starting and hitting 1-2. The trib already quoted Ozzie as saying he was leaning to starting Ozuna and Erstad in the OF against Sabathia. That implies to me that BA isn't even in the platoon picture right now, and is probably headed to AAA. I don't see any other backup CF option besides Terrero in that case. Who know what will happen, but I'm not happy with hoow the OF looks right now.

 

Overall, I'm not that pessimistic. The Sox have the talent to contend for the playoffs, and I'm ready to do my part -- on opening day I'll wear my new jersey, pop open a beer and grab seat in front of my TV.

[CWSGuy406]

As for my pessimism, that stems from the loomimg shadow of Pods and Erstad starting and hitting 1-2. The trib already quoted Ozzie as saying he was leaning to starting Ozuna and Erstad in the OF against Sabathia. That implies to me that BA isn't even in the platoon picture right now, and is probably headed to AAA. I don't see any other backup CF option besides Terrero in that case. Who know what will happen, but I'm not happy with hoow the OF looks right now.

 

I would assume that means Ozuna at 2B and Erstad in LF. At this point, I don't think they're even considering Podsednik being ready for the opener against Sabathia.

 

And yes, I realize that's not ideal. You'd hope that Perez will get a chance to repeat his opening day of last year, this time for us. Ozuna vs Iguchi at 2B on opening day? I don't really care... Let's see how Iguchi fares against lefties in Spring Training. I don't like using ST stats to justify something like that, but it's only one start, and maybe the ~30 ABs Iguchi gets against lefties will give us some clue as to how he's seeing them -- hopefully more 2005 (.812 OPS vs lefties) than 2006 (.728).

[hitlesswonder]

I would assume that means Ozuna at 2B and Erstad in LF. At this point, I don't think they're even considering Podsednik being ready for the opener against Sabathia.

 

I honestly don't know what Guillen's plan is. According to the trib:

Guillen hinted that right-handed hitter Pablo Ozuna could lead off on Opening Day against Cleveland left-hander C.C. Sabathia, with Darin Erstad starting in center.

 

The Sox 1-2-3 against LHP was pretty bad last year. I agree that sitting Iguchi would against LHP would be wise if hits them like last season (either Ozuna or Cintron would be worth a shot at 2B in that case). But I'd even give Iguchi several starts into the season to see if can hit lefties better. And I really want him to stay in the 2 slot.

[jackie hayes]

From the Tribune :

"My headache right now is a lot of outfielders," said Guillen, who is trying to find playing time for Pablo Ozuna, Rob Mackowiak, Brian Anderson, Ryan Sweeney and Jerry Owens, along with starters Darin Erstad and Jermaine Dye.

It's interesting to me because Erstad is already considered a starter, on par with Dye, while Anderson is just another guy looking for pt. At least Terrero is not listed.

[witesoxfan]

From the Tribune :

 

It's interesting to me because Erstad is already considered a starter, on par with Dye, while Anderson is just another guy looking for pt. At least Terrero is not listed.

 

No mention of Pods.

 

I'm happy because of it.

 

I'd assume he's handing LF to Erstad, and if Podsednik can get healthy in time, then it's a matter of who is playing better between Erstad and Anderson. I also assume Podsednik is going to land himself on the DL too, atleast for the greater portion of April.

[fathom]

There was a mention in the paper that Ozzie is likely to start Erstad and Ozuna on opening day in the outfield. The writing is on the wall that if Anderson sucks this ST....he's going back to AAA.

[jackie hayes]

No mention of Pods.

 

I'm happy because of it.

 

I'd assume he's handing LF to Erstad, and if Podsednik can get healthy in time, then it's a matter of who is playing better between Erstad and Anderson. I also assume Podsednik is going to land himself on the DL too, atleast for the greater portion of April.

I'm not convinced he's handing lf to Erstad. Ozuna and Mackowiak won't be in the mix in cf, after all. (I pray.) And there's no mention of a competition between Erstad and Anderson. Anderson's competing with everyone else, Erstad's a sure thing.

[witesoxfan]

I'm not convinced he's handing lf to Erstad. Ozuna and Mackowiak won't be in the mix in cf, after all. (I pray.) And there's no mention of a competition between Erstad and Anderson. Anderson's competing with everyone else, Erstad's a sure thing.

 

It's respect to a veteran I suppose.

 

I also have no problem if Anderson is competing against those other 5, because he'll win it (with the exception of maybe Sweeney, and I still think he needs another year in Charlotte to further develop his power). Now, if Mackowiak ends up in CF again next year on more than 3 occasions, then Ozzie has failed.