So what's happened to Michael Barrett anyway?

[inari]

Whether you loved him or hated him during his time with the Cubs, you'd be making a losing argument if you tried to say he wasn't a pretty good hitter. In his first three years with the Cubs, he put up an OPS of .826, .824, and .885. Nothing amazing, but for a catcher, way more than acceptable.

 

This year, his overall OPS is .666 (yeah, yeah...), which is only that high because of the power he showed with the Cubs. With the Padres, his OPS is .522. .522! He just recently drew his first walk and has yet to hit a home run.

 

By comparison, Juan Pierre's 2007 OPS is .647. In 2005, Neifi Perez posted an OPS of .681. The 2003 OPS of Alex Gonzalez was .704. Perhaps most damning of all, the 2001 and 2002 OPS of Todd Hundley were .642 and .722, respectively.

 

Moral of the story is that Barrett has been way more than bad, he's been an automatic out. What the hell happened?

[UMFan83]

He doesn't play for us anymore, I personally don't care. In fact, his bad numbers just make the justification for his trade better. But I will say that playing at Petco couldn't help his offensive numbers.

[Sammy Sofa]

It's really baffling.

 

I went into this year thinking the Cubs were going to be mashing the ball like crazy, with Barrett being a big part of that.

 

Whoops on both counts.

[DiamondMind]

He and Jacque Jones are similar in the way that their current attitude and frame of mind directly translates into their production on the field.

[TruffleShuffle]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

[inari]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

[TruffleShuffle]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

 

well home runs are down by more than 10% this year - if anyone can give me an explanation for that other than performance-enhancing drugs, i'd sure like to hear it

[inari]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

 

well home runs are down by more than 10% this year - if anyone can give me an explanation for that other than performance-enhancing drugs, i'd sure like to hear it

 

While you're probably right, I'll throw this one out there... has there been any dramatic weather differences around the country? If it's been unusually cool everywhere, that could account for some difference.

 

But yeah, it's probably steroids. Just throwing out an alternative theory.

[treebird]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

 

well home runs are down by more than 10% this year - if anyone can give me an explanation for that other than performance-enhancing drugs, i'd sure like to hear it

 

randomness

 

weather

 

baseballs that aren't juiced

[CubmanPi]

Wasn't the end of last year when Barrett had his foul-tip-induced intrascrotal hemorrage? Personally, I'd understand if he needed a couple years to fully recover from that one.

[Pushfrog98]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

 

well home runs are down by more than 10% this year - if anyone can give me an explanation for that other than performance-enhancing drugs, i'd sure like to hear it

My guess is the complete banning of amphetamines. I'm not sure exactly how long they've been completely banned, but I can bet that a lot of Cubs players used them in the past with all the day games...

[CyHawk_Cub]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

Why now? The testing is still pretty lax.

 

well home runs are down by more than 10% this year - if anyone can give me an explanation for that other than performance-enhancing drugs, i'd sure like to hear it

 

randomness

 

weather

 

baseballs that aren't juiced

 

That's my gut reaction too..

[TruffleShuffle]

randomness

 

Don't buy this one at all. If this were random, it would start to even out over the course of the season. A change of within 5% could fall within randomness, but when the change is this large there has to be something else at play, IMO.

 

weather

 

No. Above-normal warmth throughout most of the spring and summer. So unless winds just happen to be blowing in a lot more than previous years (sure doubt it), this isn't realistic.

 

 

baseballs that aren't juiced

 

this one is certainly plausible, and if it's true, i wish they would just keep the baseballs the same from year to year

[Geech]

what's happened to a lot of guys this year? unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind for me is steroids.

 

There has been no change in testing taking place this year to justify that. I don't think it makes any more sense than random variation.

[Elrhino]

Catchers tend to not decline gracefully, but rather fall off a cliff. That could explain Barret.

 

Don't ask me what happened to Lance Berkman and Andruw Jones.

[treebird]

2002 al 1.08

2002 nl 1.00

 

2003 al 1.10

2003 nl 1.04

 

2004 al 1.14

2004 nl 1.09

 

2005 al 1.07

2005 nl .99

 

2006 al 1.12

2006 nl 1.10

 

2007 al .98

2007 nl .99

 

are all these changes to be attributed to steroid use and non-use?

 

i'll also point out that the national league was at this exact home run level just two seasons ago.

[Little Slide Rooter]

He was probably on the juice. That would explain the temper.

[SouthSideRyan]

2002 al 1.08

2002 nl 1.00

 

2003 al 1.10

2003 nl 1.04

 

2004 al 1.14

2004 nl 1.09

 

2005 al 1.07

2005 nl .99

 

2006 al 1.12

2006 nl 1.10

 

2007 al .98

2007 nl .99

 

are all these changes to be attributed to steroid use and non-use?

 

i'll also point out that the national league was at this exact home run level just two seasons ago.

 

They're cycling off of them.

[rickrolled]

Looks like Barrett is headed to the DL with concussion-like symptoms.

 

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/1-0&fp=46bdf6662cb53501&ei=YkO9RrKrDqWuoAKh6rG8Dw&url=http%3A//www.signonsandiego.com/sports/weblog/2007/08/barrett_to_dl.html&cid=1119259285

[badger1679666666]

SD is a pitcher's park too.