Re: Chone Figgins

[badnews]

Why is BABIP for hitters silly? You don't say Miguel Cabrera is just lucky of course, but it's maybe a good indication not to buy high on guys like Matt Diaz.

 

Figgins' Isolated Power is usually works out to be around the same regardless... his G/F ratio shot way up so if that trend continues I don't bet on him to have a lot more home runs. His BB/K ratio has stayed the same the past 3 years.

 

His position is, of course, a problem.

[haltz]

Why is BABIP for hitters silly? You don't say Miguel Cabrera is just lucky of course, but it's maybe a good indication not to buy high on guys like Matt Diaz.

Because it's different for different hitters and different types of hitters. There's a skill aspect to it (much moreso than for pitchers), but I'm not sure it's easily nailed down in the short term, since it's sans BB, SO and HR, leaving you with even smaller samples than one might think. Plus, if the objective is to hit the ball hard, then for a lot of guys that means the ball is going to go over the fence. I'd rather not ignore that for hitters coupled with the fact that pure BABIP is a skill already.

 

Maybe Meph or someone wants to weigh in here. I've just always been skeptical of the utility.

 

Figgins' Isolated Power is usually works out to be around the same regardless... his G/F ratio shot way up so if that trend continues I don't bet on him to have a lot more home runs. His BB/K ratio has stayed the same the past 3 years.

But, like I said, his BB% is steadily increasing. His HR/FB is also down. And of course hitting more grounders will increase his BABIP. More for him even than your average player. I'd just expect him in the range of .775 OPS with value on the basepaths. That's not a bad player.

[JeffH]

Chone is a tough guy to figure out how much you should trade for him. There's a decent chance you'll be able to get a sammich pick for him next offseason, but it's not a sure thing, especially if you use him in less-than-fulltime duty.

[CuseCubFan69]

SS is going to be a hard position to fill this off season and the Tigers made a good move by jumping ahead and grabbing a good one before the market opened. I like Tejada and always have but my projections for him are 25HR and a 275/320 line and getting worse on D for the for the next 2 years. Is that good enough to spend a lot of young players on? I think what he costs the Cubs is the biggest factor too. As you can see I'm off again on again with this player.

 

IMO, the Cubs have to look for the best CF or RF they can find and go from there. If they get an impact guy in right, they can play Pie and Theriot. I don't see Chone as being that guy, not enough of an improvement over Derosa at second and not enough of an improvement over what I think Pie could do in CF. If he CAN play SS, it's possible he's a decent improvement and that's the same for Roberts. This is why I'd go after Fukedome and trade Pie, Murton, and some pitchers for the best RF or LF out there if Soriano can play RF.

[nilodnayr]

Chones babip also came with a 26% LD rate and as mentioned earlier a huge amount of GBs. It realty wasn't terribly flukey. In precious years he's also posted LD rates over 20%. Take a look at him compared to someone like Michael Young. They aren't too dissimilar. If he keeps on hitting liners and GBs he could definitely repeat his 2007 #s.

[badnews]

Chones babip also came with a 26% LD rate and as mentioned earlier a huge amount of GBs. It realty wasn't terribly flukey. In precious years he's also posted LD rates over 20%. Take a look at him compared to someone like Michael Young. They aren't too dissimilar. If he keeps on hitting liners and GBs he could definitely repeat his 2007 #s.

 

Often when I look them up though, it seems like groundball hitters have higher LD percentages even when their BABIP is low, on guys you don't think can hit the ball out of the infield. Izturis was pretty high this year, and in 2005. Theriot was at 21%, Mark Loretta and Brandon Inge are up there... I don't think it'll be that high next year and I don't think he can repeat a BABIP that high again, I don't really see a reason to believe why he should be able to do it. His 2005 rate stats with his 2006 steals is what I personally would be more apt to expect from him.