I'm Calling You Out, Butters

[FearTheBako]

I'm glad he's hot right now, and I hope it keeps up.

 

I still have little confidence that it's a long term change though. The guy has been bad for too long now to just suddenly figure it all out again.

 

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong, and I'm certainly enjoying it right now.

 

These are my thoughts exactly. It's great that we finally seem to have a big bat in the middle of our lineup, but lets see him stay consistent for a couple months before we declare "DLee is back".

[Butterscup1679666578]

*heats up more crow*

[sneakypower]

Jeremy Papelbon?

[SouthSideRyan]

Lee gets bizarrely below average range rankings in sabermetric fielding stats, whatever. He's probably not as good as our eyes would lead us to believe, he makes some nice flashy plays, he's definitely good getting the ball.

 

 

I know that at least UZR doesn't figure receiving into their ratings. I don't think any of them really do, but I could be off on that. That's Lee's strong suit, he doesn't have great range.

[Three Finger]

There isn't a single defensive statistic that isn't a flawed representation of a defender's overall quality. Its impossible to quantify range and defense in general. Watching D-Lee play, I would suggest he is still top five in the league as far as first basemen go.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Jeremy Papelbon?

 

what about him?

[BigSlick]

There isn't a single defensive statistic that isn't a flawed representation of a defender's overall quality. Its impossible to quantify range and defense in general. Watching D-Lee play, I would suggest he is still top five in the league as far as first basemen go.

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I would suggest his is still top 5" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

[BigSlick]

There isn't a single defensive statistic that isn't a flawed representation of a defender's overall quality. Its impossible to quantify range and defense in general. Watching D-Lee play, I would suggest he is still top five in the league as far as first basemen go.

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I would suggest his is still top 5" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

And for the record I do think he is a good defensive first basemen.

[manbearcub]

And for the record I do think he is a good defensive first basemen.

 

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I think he is a good defensive first baseman" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

[CyHawk_Cub]

And for the record I do think he is a good defensive first basemen.

 

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I think he is a good defensive first baseman" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

 

Don't mean to stick my nose in, but he wasn't making a comparative statement... He merely stated that he views DLee as a "good defensive first baseman." He didn't rank him nor compare him to anyone else

[Ski]

And for the record I do think he is a good defensive first basemen.

 

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I think he is a good defensive first baseman" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

 

Don't mean to stick my nose in, but he wasn't making a comparative statement... He merely stated that he views DLee as a "good defensive first baseman." He didn't rank him nor compare him to anyone else

Sarchasm

[Tracer Bullet]

Jeremy Papelbon?

 

I lot can happen in 3-4 months, including trades and a meteoric rise

[jersey cubs fan]

Lee doesn't field ground balls well, but he's good at picking most throws. But all first basemen pick it, and he's not nearly the best at it. Plus, he was an extremely disappointing hitter for 6 straight months, and has now been good for 1.5. Let's not get all excited. He's still a high paid 1B, and anything short of great production out of a player like that is unacceptable.

[BigSlick]

Yo manbearcub I don't think I've ever seen a bigger miss of the point in my life

[Rob]

Bumpy bumpy.

[Butterscup1679666578]

http://www.tonymarini.com/Images/eating_crow.jpg

 

nom nom nom

[weis21]

Is that a side of collards?

[Careless]

.955 and .973 OPS in May and June. I'm so glad to be wrong.

[Guest]

I kept thinking last year that DLee would have the type of year in 08 that he had in 07. He didn't get there but it's good to see him getting closer this year.

 

Also, kind of interesting, he's right on his career numbers this year:

 

2009: .285/.363/.502/.865

Career: .282/.366/.496/.863

[hotshot13422]

Was he really this good when he was on the Marlins? I had never even heard of him until the NLCS that shall not be named.

[BCVM22]

Was he really this good when he was on the Marlins? I had never even heard of him until the NLCS that shall not be named.

 

See for yourself.

 

Looks like as a Marlin he put up fairly solid peripherals (OBP/SLG/OPS) and power numbers about on par with what he's done as a Cub the last two seasons. His career line says most of what it needs to, really: he'll hit for a solid average, decent OBP with good power (particularly with 81 games a year at Wrigley) with excellent defense and quiet leadership in the clubhouse. There are better first basemen today, but the Cubs could do way, way worse than D. Lee right now.

[Three Finger]

There isn't a single defensive statistic that isn't a flawed representation of a defender's overall quality. Its impossible to quantify range and defense in general. Watching D-Lee play, I would suggest he is still top five in the league as far as first basemen go.

On what basis could you even make such a statement? How often do you see every single first basemen in the National League? You couldn't possibly be able to make a good judgment on how he compares to everyone else.

 

I'm not trying to finger you out in particular, but statements such as "I would suggest his is still top 5" well... on just anecdotal and observational evidence its very hard to make a strong claim to that.

 

I don't see every single first basemen in the NL, thats true. But I See at least one other every time the Cubs play, and watch just about every game that is on ESPN. Its a moot point, though, simply judging based on what you see is as good as a method as any. You really think things like fielding percentage are infallible? If not, perhaps we should just simply not make judgments on defense, because we can't "see every first basemen play." Not even Kurkjian or Gammons watch every single baseball game. Derrek Lee saves errors constantly. It seems every game, one of our middle infielders makes a piss-poor throw that D-Lee has to dig out. Being that there are sixteen teams in the national league, and thus, roughly sixteen starting first basemen, I don't think its a big stretch to say he's top five in the NL.