The Un-Official Orioles Statistics

(and useless ramblings) Page

 

 

May 20, 2004

“Larry Bigbie:  Joltin’ Joe or Paully O ???”

 

In the 2004 preseason baseball predictions, Tom Verducci of CNNSI identified Larry Bigbie as “…Paul O’Neill with Speed…”.  This got me to thinking, as prior to reading that, I had thought of Bigbie as more of a Joe Orsulak type player – solid defense, good hitter, not a masher though.  We’re now 35+ games in the season, and Bigbie has amassed 400+ ABs over the last two seasons, enough to compare versus Orsulak and Paul O’Neill at similar ages…looks like Verducci was closer than I was. 

 

 

 

Orsulak had the highest BA (bet you wouldn’t have guessed that), but Bigbie has the highest OBP and SLG.  We’ll see if that stays up as it looks like the league has adjusted somewhat to him.  In terms of HR power, he’s about even with Paully O.  Bigbie doesn’t quite have the speed of Paully O yet, but lets just hope he’s a late bloomer in that regard.  Lets see where Bigbie’s career goes from here….  And hopefully he’s more of a Paully O then a Joltin’ Joe…even though I loved Joltin’ Joe.

 

Side Note:  I’m a bigger Larry Bigbie fan than most Orioles fans, and have been ever since the summer of 2002 when I was picking up bats for my men’s league team, and found out that Larry Bigbie gets his bats from the same place – Talbot Turnings (http://www.talboturnings.com/).  On a side note, my NABA wood bat team hit about 40 points higher (.239 vs .198) than our opponents (http://www.eteamz.com/nabadc/stats/index.cfm?subsite=1601426&league=750497) with mostly TT / Chesapeake Thunder bats.  But I digress…

 

 

May 20, 2004

“Just Say No to Beltran in 2005…and Yes to an ACE”

 

Call me old-fashioned, but I like the homegrown and / or longtime Orioles, the Cal Ripkens, Brady Andersens, etc.  In addition, we’ve had mixed success (at best) w/free agents signings:  Scott Erickson, Albert Belle, David Segui, and Marty Cordova to name a few.  Now this past offseason, I think we were smart.  First, of the four main guys we brought in, one was homegrown Oriole (Sir Sid) and another was essentially a longtime Oriole (Raffy).  Considering it was a) a bargain year for free agents, b) we needed catching and shortstop”ing”, c) Lopez and Tejada were available, then I like the signings, as they really were steals considering the offensive / defensive prowess they bring to the table.

 

With all that said, there’s a lot of talk about bringing in a marquee Outfielder to this team, a la Carlos Beltran from KC for 2005.  I just don’t see the need for it – I think our Os are just fine as is offensively, and we need to add a solid Pitcher and / or give our young arms time to develop.  Here’s the support to my argument:  A decent benchmark for a “good” power hitting team is surpassing the 200 HR plateau.  With 41 bombs in 36 games, we’re currently on pace to hit 185 HRs.  Last year in the AL, only 5 teams hit more than 185.  In addition, if you do some projections on our current squad, the 200 number doesn’t seem so obtainable.  

 

The key is that we get power where other teams don’t – from Catcher and Shortstop.  Bottom line – Save your money for an ACE Pitcher, then Sidney becomes your #2, then put your best 3 of {Bedard / Cabrera / Maine / Riley / R. Lopez / DuBose / Carrouthers / C. Ray / Loewen / Hannaman / Cannon (j/k)} behind them…not too shabby.

 

 

 

May 20, 2004

“But … if we do sign Beltran…”

 

So if we do go out and sign a big power hitting outfielder…who do you get rid of.  If you take a look at the three, Gibbons is the power-guy, Matos is the speedy centerfielder, and Bigbie is the tweener in terms of speed and power …but clearly the better hitter in terms of BA and OBP.  I still love Gibbons and think he is a true Oriole and plays “the Oriole Way” but if you’re going to drop one of these guys…I’d say Gibbons based on the age and lack of defensive range…  I like Matos’ defense too much and if we can get .260 / 14 / 55 out of him at the plate, he’s worth keeping.  And Bigbie, well, he’s the next Paul O’Neill (read above).

 

 

* HR, RBI, and SB are pro-rated to a 550 AB season.

 

 

May 15, 2004

“Gimme some Mora”

 

Since the beginning of last year, Melvin Mora has been unconscious…it weren’t for a Greg Maddux fastball on the wrist, we’d be mentioning his name in conjunction w/Jeter, Nomar, Ichiro as one of the AL’s best hitters.  In any event, look at his combined numbers for 2003-2004…in less than a full seasons worth of work, he’s put up some serious all star numbers.

 

 

Now, unfortunately, Melvin hasn’t always been such an all start.  Here is what he averaged over 2001 and 2002.

 

 

So how does a hitter go from .241/13/56 to .333/21/73?  Orioles broadcaster Jim Palmer has said on numerous occasions, that it is his “approach”, that he’s less focused on power, is more patient at the plate, and is more willing to sacrifice power for contact (i.e., he Walks more, sees more pitches). 

 

The numbers below indicate that his patience has remained the same, while his power has actually gone up significantly, and his strikeout ratio is pretty much the same.

 

Thus, I agree he’s drastically changed his approach, but not based on patience…Melvin’s always been a patient hitter…I think his approach change is that he now hits the ball from Gap to Gap versus just being a pull hitter.

 

 

May 15, 2004

“B-Rob Update”

 

It has been roughly a year now that Brian Roberts has been sitting atop the Orioles lineup as the leadoff hitter.  Here are his cumulative numbers…pretty damn impressive.

 

 

 

Now, Lets compare him to another, more well-known leadoff hitter.  B-Rob stacks up pretty darn well, if you ask me.  I focused on leadoff-hitter stats for the comparison.  Be sure to note that the un-named leadoff hitter played 15 more games and had 82 more AB than our B-Rob.

 

 

Who is the other “un-named” leadoff hitter…none other than Ichiro!

 

May 10, 2004

“B-Rob Versus Jerry”

 

Lots of Orioles fans are wondering what is going to happen at 2^nd base this year for the Orioles.  We have two good solid and relatively young second baseman, not to mention a pretty good prospect at AAA.

 

Take a look at B-Rob’s combined stats for 03 and 04 since taking over the job late May 2003.  In comparison, you take Hairston’s best full year (2002) and pro-rate to the same number of Abs (584):

 

 

Overall, they’re very statically similar numbers, but Roberts has a significant edge in RS and SB...and we're talking about a leadoff hitter here. Plus, Roberts is younger and a switch hitter. IMO its a no-brainer to keep Roberts and deal Hairston. Just don't deal him to the Yankdees.

 

April 20, 2004

“All Ex-Orioles Team”

 

I play in several fantasy leagues, so for fun, in one of the (free) leagues, I drafted all Ex-Orioles…you’ll be happy to know this team is in last place… (I have an All-Maryland team too, and they’re slightly more competitive).  In addition, I recently picked up David Dellucci on waivers.

 

 

 

Any questions / comments, just email me at [email protected].