Fan Scouting Report

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Tired of DEWAN, UZR, AAA, P-NIS and other confusing newfangled defensive stats?

How about the wisdom of crowds? Specifically, crowds of people who all wear the same color hats and shirts?

Figuring that you can learn a lot from the opinions of those who watch each team religiously, Fangraphs/Baseball Cube-r Tom Tango put out the call to each team's fans to give it the ol' eyeball test and rate each of their team's players on various aspects of defense without referencing outside sources or stats.

The results of this year's survey-- the seventh overall-- are here, and very informative. They're also about what you might expect, at least as far as Flushing's Finest are concerned.

(And yes, A's and Rockies and Red Sox fans agree with the defensive metrics about Holliday versus Bay.)

[Frayed Knot]

Sorting the included players (min 90 innings played in 2009) by position shows: (Scores shown for best/worst 5.0 excellent, 1.0 = poor)

RF:
Best = Ichiro (4.59), Brett Carroll, Nick Markakis
Worst = Matt Stairs, Eric Hinske, Jack Cust (1.81)
Church = 3.83; Francoeur = 3.50

CF:
Best = Drew Stubbs (4.64), Franklin Gutierrez, Carlos Beltran (4.41)
Worst = Willy Tavares, Gary Mathews, Jason Michaels (2.63)
- Angel Pagan = 3.49

LF:
Best = Nyjer Morgan (4.46), Carl Crawford, Endy Chavez
Worst = Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr (LF?), Chris Duncan (1.94)
- Jeremy Reed = 3.26; Fernando Martinez = 3.20; Nick Evans = 2.60; Gary Sheffiled = 2.21

SS:
Best = Jimmy Rollins (4.60), Alcides Escobar, Troy Tulowitski
Worst = Julio Lugo, Ramon Martinez (2.01), Yunieski Betancourt (2.00)
- Jose Reyes = 4.17; Alex Cora = 2.97

3B:
Best = Adrian Beltre (4.56), Scott Rolen, Brandon Inge
Worst = Josh Fields, Cody Ransom, Jake Fox (2.29)
- David Wright = 3.59

2B:
Best = Brandon Phillips (4.39), Andres Blanco, Aaron Hill
Worst: Alberto Callaspo, Edgar Gonzalez, Aaron Miles (1.99)
- Anderson Hernandez = 3.37; Luis Castillo = 3.07

1B:
Best = Albert Pujols (3.96), Travis Ishikawa, Adrian Gonzalez
Worst = Ryan Garko, Kevin Millar, Wilson Betemit (1.44)
- Daniel Murphy = 2.81; Fernando Tatis = 2.54; Carlos Delgado = 2.50

C:
Best = Joe Mauer (4.29), Yadier Molina, Gerald Laird
Worst = Chris Coste, Bryan Pena, John Buck (2.10)
- Brian Schneider = 2.90; Ramon Castro = 2.76; Omir Santos = 2.67

[Guest Edgy DC]

They didn't get Daniel Murphy in left there.

[Frayed Knot]

Off the charts maybe?
Or maybe someone has to actually see him catch a fly ball first?



Holliday = 3.40
Bay = 2.81

[ashie62]

Bay 36 HR's

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Thanks to some of the Extra Innings previews early on and a few trips for work, I saw a little Jack Cust in the field. Dude's like a dancing bear out there.

It's kind of criminal that Franklin Gutierrez didn't get a GG this year. (Torii's not nearly as good as friendly sportswriters think he is.)

[Frayed Knot]

Thanks to some of the Extra Innings previews early on and a few trips for work, I saw a little Jack Cust in the field. Dude's like a dancing bear out there.

It's kind of criminal that Franklin Gutierrez didn't get a GG this year. (Torii's not nearly as good as friendly sportswriters think he is.)[/quote:1ck10ppp]

A recent article in Baseball Prospectus called Gutierrez the best outfielder in baseball adding that he "did more to keep runs off the board than any non-pitcher in the game". Yet, given three slots, the gold glove voters still couldn't come up with the right answer.

btw, your description of Cust is an insult to dancing bears everywhere. He's not nearly that fluid.

[metirish]

This is great....thanks LFWS....

A quick look at the Mets and the first question I have is this

Does Wright's " throwing accuracy " merit a low 2.4 , I think he has improved on that this past season...

[Guest Edgy DC]

I haven't seen Gutierrez so I just watched some highlights. He plays shallow --- almost Gary Maddox shallow --- and goes back like a steam train. He almost over-runs the ball.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

This is great....thanks LFWS....

A quick look at the Mets and the first question I have is this

Does Wright's " throwing accuracy " merit a low 2.4 , I think he has improved on that this past season...[/quote:21xbbp40]

Probably, yes-- I voted a little higher than that, IIRC. The people to complain to, though, are other Met fans.

I haven't seen Gutierrez so I just watched some highlights. He plays shallow --- almost Gary Maddox shallow --- and goes back like a steam train. He almost over-runs the ball.[/quote:21xbbp40]

Saw that a little, too. RIGHT NOW, he's the best defensive CF in the game. Bad habits are bad habits, though (perhaps "indulgent" might be a more accurate descriptor than "bad").