With his 14th big league season in the books, Brewers first baseman Lyle Overbay sounds ready to call it a career. The first baseman said on MLB Network Radio (Twitter link) that he is “99.9 percent” certain that he will retire this offseason.
If that indeed holds true, he’ll finish as a lifetime .266/.347/.429 hitter with 151 homers. Those numbers were compiled over stretches with the Blue Jays, Brewers, and Diamondbacks along with shorter stints with the Pirates, Yankees, and Braves. Overbay’s best season, perhaps, came in 2006 with Toronto, when he slashed a robust .312/.372/.508 over 640 plate appearances and hit a career-high 22 long balls.
In his second run with the Brewers this year, Overbay served as a platoon mate to Mark Reynolds. On his left-handed side of the ledger, Overbay put up a .233/.328/.333 line in 296 plate appearances. After starting his career as an 18th-round draft pick, the University of Nevada, Reno product has managed to rack up $36MM in career earnings.
Very impressive run for a very unimpressive player.
Brett Wallace is a very unimpressive player. Overbay at least did some things. Plus, there are several SS/Backup C/Utility dudes that stick in the league for a decade or more that were far less impressive than Overbay, but they all get in where they fit in. Good for them, certainly no shame.
Lyle Overbay is a very unimpressive player. Just because Wallace is worse doesn’t change any of that.
While he never had super star power he put up a pretty good run for 6-7 years. He had a season with 53 doubles, one with a 125 OPS+, and batted .312 one year. In that 7 year stretch he had an OPS+ close to 110 or slightly higher. He was a good player in his prime, much better than you are giving him credit for. He still made over $30 million dollars and at one point making 7mil in a year. He had many years of 2.5-3 WAR production also. You are treating him like he is Yuniesky Betancourt and was always average at best.
You saying he has no skill is a bit baffling…how do you come up with that idea?
Lyle Overbay has the kind of mediocre career most players probably dream of. Yes, we laud the Jeters and the A-Rods, the King Felix’s, etc. We even dissect the guys who have a couple of banner years, resulting in a bloated contract that puts them in record books for all the wrong reasons.
It’s rare when a guy like Overbay comes around and never quite hits star status, never gets The Big Contract, but he contributed consistently and his bat was underrated.
I love guys like Overbay. He’s the reason the Big Stars look better. Kind of a Nick Swisher-type, minus any hype.
He’s kind of a Nick Swisher type minus any skill. Unlike Swisher, he’s been a replacement level for quite some time. He’s more like a dingleberry that you can’t quite shake off.
I’m a Swisher believer/apologist/enthusiast, etc. so I want more than anybody to see him hit 30 HR’s with 100 RBI’s again. But after seeing him on the Indians I have to accept that he is worthless without serious protection. He’s a B- player who puts up A numbers when surrounded by A+ players. Get him on a remotely average team where he won’t get as many pitches to hit and he becomes the liability the Indians are now dealing with….I think if he’d have signed with the Yankees he’d still be mashing.
I mean, he was pretty good last year. Not elite and perhaps not the best use of the Indians’ resources, but nothing to scoff at either. This year was really bad. He’s older and that might not change, but one bad season doesn’t have to completely wreck a player.
Swisher is over-rated. Look at his play-off numbers as an example. A follower, not a leader. C+ sums up Swisher very appropriately. He worked well within the Oakland A’s underdog formula… Team.
Brantley, Kipnis, Bourn, Santana, and Chisenhall isn’t enough protection for him? He’s done
Swisher may just be at the point of his career that he’s beginning to decline, rather than it being a matter of lineup protection.
Someone needs to play 1st and provide veteran leadership on second division clubs. He was the K-Mart you shopped at because Target and Wal Mart were 30 miles away.
It’s only been the last four years that he hasn’t really been a good player. From 2004-2010 he hit .274/.358/.451. No, he wasn’t as good as Swisher, but he was pretty good for a while.
Only the last four years, huh?
It’s not really his fault teams kept signing him, is it?
I had forgotten he was part of that Brewers/Diamondbacks trade in December 2003, where the Diamondbacks sent Overbay and several others for 23 games worth of Richie Sexson.
Ah, those bright moves that guarantee a 111-loss season.
He had a very good start to the majors once he got a chance to play everyday, posting a .296/.375/.479 slashline from 2004-2006. However he only managed to hit close to that slashline only once throughout the rest of his career. Had he continued to put those numbers up, he would have gotten at least a semi-big contract. He just peaked way too early.
I look forward to the unlikely day that a players career earnings aren’t cited at retirement.
Why?
I don’t feel I’m alone in being worn down by the financial chatter about the game, especially when its of little bearing interest. Its already taken place, but players have become $ signs. The contract is listed next to a stat line. Listen to Bud Selig… he’ll talk about the games financial success… and fans own it like its theirs… it came from their pocket actually. Sometimes we’re sold garbage and convinced it’s awesome garbage.
I don’t think Bud Selig is very popular. One criticism I have of him is every response to every question nearly always ends with a reference to money. If you don’t want money to be a subject and no doubt the billionaires that the commissioner works for would like that, the game would have to change. Its a monopoly for no reason other than the interest of a few dozen people.
It sounds as if you’d like to cling to some dreamy romanticism.
I’m not trying to cling to dreamy romanticism. I don’t actually feel that baseball is even progressive. I just never felt it wise for a private business owner to gloat about profits while sitting in a publicly funded facility
I propose 4 regional leagues, and a lower ticket price offset by travel savings and an increased global market. I’d square up the integrity of the game as it is played on the field and ensure that teams aren’t selling popcorn to empty seats
Its just saddening to see the game embrace so much of the excitement that Bill Veeck brought to it without an ounce of his heart. He was a man who understood the game as a public trust.
For better or worse, it’s a huge part of what we do here. It’s not everything for a retiring player, of course, as reflected in the minimal billing I gave that particular fact.
Ultimately, the game generates a lot of money. It is good and right for a large portion of that money to be shared with the players, though we can all debate how much.
Jeff, I didn’t intend to imply my statement to this site, but in general. To the more avid fan, the money does make for conversation. The advent of fantasy baseball has fed this as well. But I bet during Ruth’s time his salary was debated in many a saloon. I just get the sense that even with the high revenues… the fans are still missing something potentially wonderful
Yeah, no worries — I didn’t mean to come off defensively (if I did). And I like how you put that Ruth point!
I actually have a positive view of the current state of the game itself. In spite of all the money, you still get that ridiculous A’s-Royals game. And you still get to celebrate guys like Overbay, who emerge from obscurity to become regulars. The spirit of the game is head and shoulders above football and basketball, in my opinion, even with the $$$.
Now, if only teams would ensure that their stadiums don’t overwhelm fans with too much artificial noise and too many flashing lights …
Certainly times change, and it’s a global market now. My fear is that sporting events have historically decreased in popularity as they’ve moved up the social spectrum. And the thing that can keep the game going strong… the game itself… is being mismarketed.
I grew up and lived 30 years in the KC market… I can certainly attest to that games importance. It even had my retired mother up until midnight watching it. She’s collected every Royals Topps card since their inception. That’s what that game meant to me.
I draw zero issue with the players sharing in revenue. I actually envision a day when the players have bought out the current ownership model and own the leagues. They are essentially 50/50 partners now
He must be a great guy in the clubhouse, because his career ran three or four years longer than it really should have. Normally, a guy like Overbay is gone as soon as he has one bad season in his 30s, but he got three more.
No matter what other standards you might hold him to, Overbay absolutely surpassed Lyle Mouton as the best player named Lyle to hit in the Major Leagues… you can’t take that away from him.
But not if you count Sparky!
The DH really curtailed Sparky’s odds of putting up HOF worthy offensive stats. Had he been able to bat after 1972. Its clear that Steinbrenner inking Reggie would have clearly been overkill
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