In Hindsight

by waitonhim on Sep 16, 2006 5:28 PM CDT Comment 13 comments

Looking back over the 2006 season I am convinced that had Aaron Rowand been in CF we would have a half dozen more wins than we currently have. BA's overall weak offensive output and the continual platooning of Mack have cost the Sox dearly. Having the stability that Rowand provides from both a defensive and offensive standpoint would, I believe, have us in first place today.

Now to have Rownad in CF that means we don't have Thome as DH. It is easy to say this now but it is becoming clearer each day that we would have been better off staying with Frank Thomas. Thomas started out slowly, but as DJ likes to continually remind us about Uribe's capabilities, is carrying the A's into the post season.

I do not have the stats to prove the following statement but I would wager they are true. HR for HR I believe more of Thomas' homers have been game changing than Thome's. This is no attack on big Jim, he has had a remarkable season but is it just me or are a large number of Thome's HRs non-game chamging? So often he has failed to deliver one when we needed it!

KW was wrong on this on. Depending on Thomas for production this season was a gamble but then again trading away probably your best defensive position player was a gamble as well. Now had we received a quality arm in exchange then a case could be made. The cold hard facts are that Thomas has been every bit the offense machine as Thome. Oh to have that production along with Rowand in CF. What a thought. If the Sox finish out without making the post season the gamble will be a losing one.

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it's all about pitching

and saying rowand was our best defensive position player is a bit hyperbolic. it's amazing how the legend that is aaron rowand just keeps growing. in a couple years, we'll be hearing about how he could levitate and used his breath to suck flyballs towards him.

i personally think it's quite debatable whether PK would still be here if the thome trade had not been made.

by larry on Sep 16, 2006 6:00 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Read the Comment

I didn't say Rowand walks on water. What I did say is he has consistency, which is something we have sorely lacked in CF from both a defensive and offensive perspective period! Rowand's bat is nothing to write home about but it is a consistent .265/.270 which is something we haven't had all season.

Can you sit there and tell me that the lack of consistency in CF hasn't cost us at least six games??????? We would be better off with Rowand in CF! Rowand is not Cooperstown stuff be he gets the job done, consistently.

Only Crede could be considered better defensively. OK I'll re-phrase it, Rowand was our best defensive outfielder. With the stats that Thomas is producing it is crystal clear that trading Rowand has turned out to be a major mistake no matter how you slice it.

Keep the emotions out of the comments and let's review the stats.

by waitonhim on Sep 16, 2006 6:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

i read it

i'm not so sure that we wouldn't have seen mack in center quite a bit even if we had rowand. ozzie seems obsessed with "offense" this year and mack is clearly a better offensive player than rowand.

i don't think trading rowand was a mistake at all. i don't think he's anything more than an average player. and i certainly don't think dumping thomas was a mistake. he was a huge gamble on his health and a poison in the clubhouse. i really don't think PK would be here if thomas was brought back. the two of them do not get along at all.

and offensive consistency from rowand? not sure i buy that, either. i'd have to go back and look at his splits but, if memory serves, he's pretty hot/cold (like uribe) - but maybe i'm just thinking of last season where he was good from may-july and junk the rest of the season.

like i said, i think people have been coming down with a little of the "grass is greener" syndrome when it comes to rowand. he's an average MLB player - nothing more.

by larry on Sep 16, 2006 6:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Comment About Konerko

You also mentioned that PK might not have resigned without the Thome trade. That is a true statement and would have been a problem. But the money saved on Thomas over Thome could have been thrown at PK. Even though Philly is picking up a chunk of Thome's contract I believe he is still more expensive than Thomas?

by waitonhim on Sep 16, 2006 6:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

so then we'd be over-paying for PK?

that's not a good idea, either. like i said above, i don't think PK would be here if thomas came back.

thome is certainly more expensive than thomas, by about $4.5 mil or so.

by larry on Sep 16, 2006 6:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

one more point and i've said my piece

i don't think aaron rowand vs. BA in center is the debate. it's ozzie's insistence on platooning there - something i'm not so sure he wouldn't have done even if rowand was here. if we had BA playing CF everyday, i think we would have been a better team this year and just as good as if we had aaron playing in center everyday. and the addition of thome/BA instead of aaron was certainly worth more wins. (i don't believe for a second thomas would have ever been brought back by the sox so i'm not even going to consider that scenario. he burned his bridges with management and the players long ago.)

six wins seems a bit of an extravagant estimate but if someone wants to quantify it by doing something more than pulling a number out of the air i'd be interested.

by larry on Sep 16, 2006 6:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That is extravagant

That's saying that the combination of Brian Anderson's defense and offense and Rob Mackowiak's defense and offense cost the Sox about 60 runs. Plainly, Brian Anderson has been above average when you combine his defense and offense, and has been very good since June 11th, batting something like .285/.335/.420 with outstanding defense.

Mackowiak hasn't performed as well, due to his defensive deficencies, but he hasn't been awful. Together, the pair's been about as good as Rowand would have been had he played the whole year. With his injuries, our pair is better than him.

The difference b/t Aaron Rowand hitting like 2004 and fielding like 2005 would probably have been about 4 games. Sadly, Rowand will never hit like that again.

So I'd say the difference between BA+Mack and Rowand is about 0 games, to perhaps 2 games on the outside, depending on how awful Mack's defense has been.

by Stealfirstbase on Sep 16, 2006 7:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Say what?

Plainly, Brian Anderson has been above average when you combine his defense and offense

On the season, Anderson is batting .234 and has an OBP of .301. With all of his speed, he only has 4 stolen bases. He has 80 strikeouts in just over 320 at bats, which means he strikes out once every four at-bats. That's a lot for a power hitter and absolutely unacceptable for a hitter like Anderson.

He could be the best defensive player in the history of baseball and you couldn't combine that with his offensive numbers make a good case that he is above average.

He's been a bad player and he should be sent packing after this season.

by Ooga on Sep 17, 2006 7:59 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Anderson's been a good player

In the last three months.

Since June 11: .284/.334/.430
Aaron Rowand: .238/.313/.369

That's Rowand in the same amount of ABs, since he's been on the DL for the last couple of weeks. Anderson's also grounded into seven fewer DPs during that stretch.

Impatience is a virtue of many a terrible team. The guy's a rookie, for chrissakes. Joe Crede and Jon Garland would've been on other teams two years ago if KW was half as fast to give up on a guy as some Sox fans. I don't hear anybody bitching about them now.

Sox Machine

by Sox Machine on Sep 17, 2006 8:18 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually Ooga

Steal first base is absolutely right, no matter if you are looking at a recent split or the season as a whole. Anderson's WARP-1 is 2.3.

by kaskomm09 on Sep 18, 2006 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ozzie gut instincts = puking and vomitting:

"After Frank's home run, he was still throwing the ball pretty good," Guillen said of Vazquez.

Then why the pitching change? Guillen, the guy who won a pennant managing with his gut, said he was going by the book, calling on Thornton so he would have the lefty-lefty edge against Nick Swisher and Dan Johnson, Oakland's No. 7 and 8 hitters.

by southsidefan on Sep 16, 2006 10:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Hindsight, not so much 20/20 for you...

Aaron Rowand, Brian Anderson, Rob Mack, Frank Thomas, and Jim Thome have very little to do with why the Sox are where they are. It all has to do with inconsistant pitching - first with the starting pitching, and now with the bullpen.

by DeeDubs24 on Sep 18, 2006 9:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs