Tuesday, October 16, 2018

An Article for the All the Miguel Andujar’s Defense Haters by Daniel Burch



Good morning Yankees family and welcome back to the blog. The New York Yankees fans are the worst, at least that is what I wrote earlier this offseason, and since the elimination from the postseason they have not gotten much better. The hottest topic of them all appears to be the possible acquisition of Manny Machado, Miguel Andujar’s defense at third base, and a potential move for the 23-year old next season. There have been many doom-and-gloom posts about his “historically bad” defense this season, but here is a post giving Yankees fans everywhere a little hope regarding Andujar and his potential future as a Major League third baseman.

When looking at prospects and young players the scouts, analysts, and fans always look to other players to compare these young players to. How about this comparison for Andujar, how about Adrian Beltre? Beltre is highly respected around Major League Baseball both on and off the field and is considered to be one of the best third baseman defensively in the game. This was not always the case for the former Texas Rangers third baseman and soon-to-be free agent. When Beltre broke into the Major Leagues he was 19-years old, granted that is a lot younger than Andujar who is 23-years old, playing in 77 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Beltre’s bat left much to be desired, and so did his defense, and it wasn’t until the 2004 season that the Dodgers finally saw his true potential come to fruition.



As a rookie, Beltre committed 13 errors. In his first full season in 1999 the right-hander committed 29 errors which was good for a .932 fielding percentage. In 2000, Beltre committed another 23 errors. From 2001 – 2003, Beltre committed 16, 20, and 19 errors respectively. It was not until the 2004 season, the same season that Beltre began to find his groove at the plate as well, that we started to see the defensive wizard that we have seen over the past decade or so. Yet, for whatever reason, some writer at another publication writes an article that we cannot just assume that Andujar’s defense will improve, and everyone loses their mind. Everyone is preaching that article like it is the gospel, yet history (and common sense) would say otherwise.

Just as an FYI, for those who need a reminder, Andujar committed just 15 errors for a .948 fielding percentage in 2018. If you want to compare apples-to-apples, Andujar had a better defensive season than Beltre in his first two-or-three seasons. Beltre improved drastically on the defensive side, yet Andujar can’t according to many Yankees fans, writers, and journalist? I call bullshit. The numbers don’t lie. Be patient, and root for your team… or go root for the Mets.

9 comments:

  1. I saw Andujar make some pretty good plays at 3B , there were some plays he made because of his plus arm so if there had been a better fielder the play would not had been made because the arm would not had been as strong.
    I like him , that said let us look at the Didi situation, Yankees doctors could not get a time table correct for return to action if their life depended on it.With that said I say we sign Machado , Corbin and a better pitching coach.
    Bring back DRob and Britton and build on that and extend Betances but no more than 3 years .
    I still believe in Bird over Voit only because Bird is LH , walks more and hits more doubles .
    We have a log jam in the OF , Gardy I like better than Ellsbury , one can't be traded and the other can be bought out . I like Frazier potential and think we could package a deal of Gray and Hicks and Holder for top starter.
    My ideal 2019 roster

    Sevy,Tanaka,Corbin,Happ,Sheffield
    Holder,Green,DRob,Britton Betances,Chapman
    Sanchez,Romine
    Bird,Voit(One of these will also make room for the Scranton Shuttle)
    Torres,Torreyes
    Machado
    Andujar
    Stanton
    Judge
    Harper,Ellsbury
    Frazier,Gardner

    Didi((DL)Montgomery(DL)

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  2. Yankees doctors aren't performing the Tommy John surgery I don't think, so to bring them into the equation seems a bit redundant. No offense.

    Team also announced that the entire coaching staff, including the pitching coach, would return for 2019.

    Trading Hicks is crazy. Second best WAR for all center fielders in all of MLB in 2018. The first was Mike Trout. So Hicks is essentially the best CFer in the game not named Mike Trout according to WAR. Trade Frazier before you trade Hicks. Hicks is also a switch-hitter, which helps.

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    Replies
    1. Hicks is streaky and injury prone and older than Frazier and was a platoon CF with Ellsbury before Ellsbury got hurt in 2017.Switch hitting is not his strength, now Bernie Williams was a switch hitter and Mickey Mantle was switch hitter and Hicks war as you say being so good now time to unload him.
      Harper over Hicks and I am not sold on Harper that much but impossible to get rid of Ellsbury with that contract.

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    2. Streaky is one thing, but WAR doesn't lie.

      Harper can't play center field. If he could he would have in Washington.

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    3. I feel like you are either in on Machado or not. He's a perennial all star at 3rd base and a free agent at 26. That doesn't happen often. Hey, maybe they sign him as an ss. Maybe they aren't interested period. I think if you sign him, you play best alignment, which is Machado at third. But how about this--sign Machado, let him play short stop and third until didi is back. Then move him between third and DH.

      No knock on andujar. But Machado has been doing this for 7 years, and he's only like 2 or 3 years older than andujar.


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  3. When the Yanks are eliminated....all baseball stops for me in years past.
    This year is different. Why? Who knows...But go Red Sox! Cowboy-up!

    The Yankees could learn a lot from the Sox, as they put together their rosters. They are winning.

    I'll not stop all winter...Sign Bryce Harper.
    Harper protected in the Yankee line-up, will create a LH monster.

    No more RH big salary bats. Balance the line-up.
    Acquire championship pitching, please. Not the patch work we
    have had to live with. No more Germain / Cessa. Enough!

    Look at a line-up with Harper any where in it. It sizzles.
    Somethings are not that complicated. Go Sox.

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  4. Outfield...
    Harper
    Hicks
    Judge (Frazier)

    Infield
    3rd Machado/Andujar
    2nd Gleyber
    1st Andujar/Bird
    SS Lindor/Didi

    Catchers
    Sanchez,Romine.

    Trade Stanton and Didi open up room for Machado, Harper and Lindor!
    This gives the team better hitting and will have about the same HRs.

    Good looking balance, but, no way is Hal going to buy it! Too much $$$$$$$! + we still need a dam good pitcher!

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  5. there is more to defense than errors. Example-a player dives for a ball, bobbles it, and throws it away. Error. The lesser player w/ worse range doesn't come close. Ruled a hit. He doesn't make plays that we see other good to great (right, I know yall don't like arod, but he is one of the best third basemen I've ever seen)
    Some thoughts.
    1. Every defensive stat I've seen has andujar as #19 or worse for 3rd basemen. I use fangrpahs, and I like rzr. Basically, what portion of balls hit are successfully played for an out. It seems to me that he was one of the worst across various categories. And a comparison,, didn't torres blow him away with errors? Not sure about you,, but torres is clearly the better fielder despite errors.
    And,, all stats show beltre as a top 3rd baseman in 2000, so I'm not sure what you are going by.

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  6. The first part...about errors, is the same thing I have been saying for years! We had a SS that made regular plays look great because he had limited range, not that he was bad...I'd say about average! We need a SS that gets to most balls that would have been hits before...Lindor/DiDi are not any better but they aren't bad !

    As for A-Rod, look him up in the Hall of Fame Jaws standings for SS. He is at #2, only behind Honus Wagner (I am sure, I think). I would call him a very good SS!

    Have a great day!

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)