I love that Ozzie cares about OBP, and even more that he realizes how awful his was.

Serious question. Is this just a horribly unlucky slump or have his offensive skills deteriorated that much? Do any of the sabermetrics on him suggest a bounce back year in 2010? Can we hope he at least posts a .330 OBO and a +.430 Slug% next year?

You’re not going to take anything away from the pitching staffs that we’ve faced, but we’ve been facing some pitchers this year it’s like, ‘Who the [bleep] is this guy?’ " Guillen said. “They don’t even belong in the [bleeping] big leagues, and they just kicked our ass. … I know who beat us, and I know who should beat us. We’ve faced some guys where they’ve called him up, faced us and get him back to [bleeping] Double A. … That’s how bad we’ve been.”

1) Forgot how to hit. He’s been pretty healthy over his career, no reason for his performance to be hampered. So he just simply has lost his swing in a big way, and can’t find it again. This is solvable, probably with a new hitting coach or voodoo blood rituals. Get his LD% back up to 20 at least, take a few walks, shorter swing, much improved baBIP (.154? Ouch.), higher hr/FB%…nothing insurmountable, he just needs a cluestick.

2) PED use that tapered off after he got his contract year. He had a sub .700 OPS from 18-21, when it hit 750. At 22? .924. Scuffled a couple years at first, then up around .850 for two years. What changed? Same rough K:BB rate. Bout the same speed. Only thing that appears to change was power…take homers for example. 1, 10, 17, 24 by 2007 (15 in 2008 and 2009 so far). Not Sosa-esque, but it IS quite a jump. Even in the minors in his banner year he only popped 11 in 563 PA. Perhaps he dabbled in the use, got his contract, and quit them.

If that’s the case, uh oh.

I’m hoping it’s just his horrible, ridiculous swing.

Neither good. Hope for #1 I guess. Can Sox fix a bad swing? Haven’t seen evidence of that. Given how prevalent PED use was, worried that is a possible explanation for his declining offensive numbers. Could be in real trouble on that front. Right now he’s making Juan Uribe look like an offensive juggernaut.

  hows that?

        i was thinking late last nite how with day off tomorrow and day game yest aj would play despite no day off in a while and versus lefty kazmir. i would assume without data he has passable history versus kazmir? yes no? so indeed, i am here to badmouth castro per carbiners request.

Someone pointed out Uribe is hitting 5th for a contending team in the NL. Ozzie said “Uribe was 9th on this club because we didn’t have 10 players”.

This year is history.
Start 2010 by letting Dye and Dotel walk. Trade Pena, Linebrink, Fields, Wise, and Castro for whatever you can get which probably won’t be much. Trade Jenks for some bullpen help and turn over the closer role to Thornton. Promote Hudson, Nunez, and Flowers. I’d also let Cox go. He cost us too many runs this year with his poor judgement. Resign Pods 1yr, move Q to right, and look to bolster bullpen in off season through FA or trade. Rios will improve. Can’t get any worse.