Here's a look at the Rays as the celebrate their ninth-straight home win over the Yankees..
- In an interview on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio with Jim Bowden, General Manager Andrew Friedman praised the all-around ability of B.J. Upton and said that it is premature to speculate on whether the outfielder could be dealt (audio link). Speaking broadly, Friedman did concede that he is open to anything and will consider the team's present needs as well as future interests when looking at trades.
- Friedman told Bowden (via Twitter) that teams are focusing more on players with at least two years of team control rather than free agents because of the new CBA.
- The GM also opined (Twitter link) that there will be more strength/weakness deals at the deadline rather than buyer/seller pairings.
I would like to see something with the dbacks, maybe like a switch of two young potential CF who never produced. BJ for Chris Young
~36 WAR between them in ~12 seasons
shame they never produced
Compared to what their talent levels were, they didn’t. Young was supposed to be a 30/30 guy but could never seem to keep his strikeouts down, and take walks.
Upton was supposed to be a star shortstop (he was a #1 pick) and another 30/30 guy at least, he had great power potential, and 40+ sb speed. He had a couple decent years but nowadays he really isnt good.
BJ is a weird hitter. I’m not sure I’d say he isn’t good, but he’s definitely weird. He really strikes out a ton, but his walk rate is pretty darn good, too [it’s dipped a few points this season, however]. Good defender as well.
His HR totals are just really up and down and he has not shown the ability to hit for average outside of two seasons. One of his better seasons came with his lowest HR totals, though, when he walked 97 times while hitting just 9 HR.
yeah. you’re just wrong, that’s all. here is the list of more productive centerfielders over the last 4 seasons than upton & young:
hamilton (18.2)
victorino (18.0)
kemp (17.8)
granderson (17.7)
ellsbury (16.0)
bourn (14.0)
upton actuall has 15.6 in that time and young has 12.2. both are consistent 3-4 WAR players (i.e. very good) and have only been bested by legitimate stars
they’re both very good players who actually had/have the potential to be even better. what bums!
I’m talking about his production this year when i say he isnt very good. He may still have the speed to catch many outs, but his hitting production is definetely subpar. This on a career year doesn’t bode well for him.
I think it depends how the Rays handle themselves in July, if they stay close and in the race I think he stays ,
The Rays are average against everyone else. Good pitching. beyond pathetic Offense…but you can throw all that down the window when they play the Yankees.
Playing like is the 7th game of the World Series. #DFARusselMartinPlease
You mad bro?
Yes.
Martin’s playing with a bad back. It’s not an excuse, because if you’re hurt you shouldn’t play and if you can play then you’re not hurt. Still, he’s not the same guy as last year due to back issues.
You want to go with Stewart and Cervelli, instead?
Not me!
then he should go to the DL. I prefer Stewart at this point… Martin is batting under 190. at this point in the season.
Ooh, I love this part! Let’s play the stats game!
Russel Martin’s career BABIP is .289, while his BABIP in 09, 10, and 11 was .284, .287, and .252, respectively. This year, his BABIP is .194. This proves he’s been very unlucky.
That being said, his walk rate is still in line with his career norms, and his OBP is still over .300. This says that if he wasn’t having such an unlucky season, he’d be doing almost exactly as well as he was last year.
Brought to you by #RussellMartinCouldn’tWinTheLotteryWithATimeMachine
Yeah, this is true, however it needs to be said that it’s been shown that some players have an ability to hit for a higher BABIP. Obviously it fluctuates, but there are players who consistently [whether through high contact/low strikeout rates, spray hitting ability, good line drive rates, ability to consistently pull the ball for power] hit for a high BABIP.
When it’s that bad, you have to start looking at maybe if there is a reason for it besides luck. In Russell’s case most of the peripherals seems to be in line: walk rate as you said, line drive %, fly ball %, ground ball %, ISO. Nothing is really out of the ordinary, except his strikeout rate has ticked up by almost 3%. He’s swinging at fewer pitches in general, too.
My guess is he’s suffering from Mark Teixeira syndrome and trying to hit home runs at YS3.
Yeah, I definitely don’t disagree. My point was that everything he’s doing is in line with his career norms and except his BABIP and K rate, which isn’t up a whole lot. There’s no standard for BABIP except for the player, and if they set that standard across a few years, and then it deviates, it indicates something beyond said player’s control, at least for the most part. This is just an example of such.
The only way they trade Upton is if they get a “steal” of a deal. Otherwise, he’ll stay put.
Upton isn’t that good, his obp is below .300 this year, and the power isn’t really there.
The Rays over-value their talent so they are going to hold out for a bargain of a deal or just keep him and take a compensation pick at the end of the year.
To get the draft pick you have to offer ~$12.5M. It is highly unlikely that they do that, with the season that upton is having 95% chance that he would accept that. They are better trading him now, they would have to eat salary if they signed and traded.
I can see them offering him that for a few reasons. CF is a scarce position and he brings speed, power, and defense to the position. Other teams will offer him more and outbid the Rays. That’s a possible scenario.
He has really been getting progressively worse, his ops is below .700. Fast player but has been having trouble gettng on base, and keeping his strikeouts down. The rays don’t have money to do gambles like that.
Odds are they go with Desmond for CF next year, It has been pretty much a wash between their production this year.
I believe that Upton will be better elsewhere. He just doesn’t have enough firepower surrounding him to be successful Tampa. Especially with Longoria missing long stretches of time over the years, and (in particular) this year’s injury bug. He’s got the tools, I just don’t think Tampa suits him. Upton will only be back if the Rays can attain him for a bargain of a price. But like you said, odds are Desmond will be in CF next year.
I could be wrong here but why does it seem like no matter how good the Rays are doing they are always sellers?
Because of money issues. Like when Shields was on the market last year, everyone was pointing to the surplus of pitching(Moore/Cobb) that could replace him and he has a larger contract than most of the players on the team.
Although it may seem to be so, that is not the case. Perhaps the issue is that they rarely are buyers for big time players, so we forget their efforts to buy, but in years they have competed (2008-11) they have added complementary pieces like Bradford, Qualls, Shouse & Zaun to fill a hole or deepen a position. And except for 2009, late, they were not sellers in those seasons.
They also, apparently, were finalists in the negotiations to get Jason Bay from Pittsburgh. In fact, it is possible that if the rumors of the offer are correct, the Pirates would have done better to take the TB deal.