Tagged: Jeremy Hermida
The All Currently-On-The-DL Boston Red Sox & an Introduction to WAR
(Photo Cred: boston.com)
As the Red Sox take the field against the Orioles tonight, they do so with their 69th unique lineup in their 80th game of the season. Without further ado, I bring you the July 2nd, 2010 edition of the All Currently-On-The-DL Boston Red Sox. As a side note, I will explain what WAR means after the roster. Also, I will dip into the minor leagues when necessary to fill the gaps (there aren’t many).
Catcher
Jason Varitek; 23.4 Career WAR, 0.8 2010 WAR, DL since 7/2/10
We start off with the captain and the newest member of the All-DL team, Jason Varitek. With a broken left foot, he is expected to miss up to 6 weeks. He has exceeded the expectations of most this year and has performed more than admirably in the role he has been assigned.
First Base
Mike Lowell; 29.3 Career WAR, 0.1 2010 WAR, DL since 6/23/10
Lowell has been the odd man out on the team from the get go, and even with all these injuries there really is no place for him. Lowell’s injury is listed as a strained right hip, but you better believe that if the Sox needed him he would be playing through it. The sad truth is, we need the roster spot more. You may think it is a bit of a stretch to put him at first base, but he has actually played 6/10 games there this year (not including when he was the DH).
Second Base
Dustin Pedroia; 17.6 Career WAR, 3.6 2010 WAR, DL since 6/26/10
Pedroia has been the best player on this team this season by most metrics. For this reason his injury is probably the most widely known. He was recently joined by Jason Varitek on the All-Broken-Left-Foot team, but we’ll list those guys another time. This list is starting to look like an All-Decade team…
Third Base
Jed Lowrie; 1.5 Career WAR, has not played in 2010, DL since 3/26/10
Remember him? Lowrie is one of the longer-tenured members of this team, and has been forgotten by most fans. He is out with mononucleosis right now, but has been ailed by several aches and pains over his short career. The once highly regarded prospect sure is missed by the Sox right about now.
Shortstop
Jose Iglesias; hasn’t played in ML- WAR unavailable for minor leagues, DL since 5/29/10
I had to reach a little for this one, down to AA, but Iglesias is one of the team’s top prospects. He has a broken right index finger. Although he would almost certainly not have been called up to the Sox to help out at this point anyway, the injury is not helping his development into our first consistent shortstop since Nomar Garciaparra. Not that we have high expectations for him, no pressure Jose.
Left Field
Jeremy Hermida; 3.5 Career WAR, 0.0 2010 WAR, DL since 6/10/10
Hermida makes the list by virtue of his broken ribs. He, like Varitek, played better than a lot of people were expecting and was a great role player. Speaking of outfielders with broken ribs…
Center Field
Jacoby Ellsbury; 6.5 Career WAR, -0.2 2010 WAR, DL since 5/25/10
The date here is a little deceiving as that is just the start of Ellsbury’s latest stint on the DL. In reality, he has collected just 45 plate appearances this season. It’s pretty amazing when you take one of the best players and the spark plug out of this team and they are still one of the best teams in baseball.
Right Field
Zach Daeges; hasn’t played in ML, DL since 2009
Another bit of a reach, Daeges is probably one of the lesser known Sox prospects. This is because he has not played yet this season and missed most of 2009 as well with a severe ankle injury. When he has played though, he has shown some signs of promise, so here’s hoping he can overcome the injury bug and return as soon as possible.
Designated Hitter
Victor Martinez; 23.4 Career WAR, 1.2 2010 WAR, DL since 6/28/10
Martinez gets the nod at DH, since sadly he is not the best defensive catcher on this list. He was just heating up before he broke his left thumb. Hopefully he will back sooner rather than later to spare us Sox fans from the offensive efforts of a Kevin Cash/ Gustavo Molina platoon.
Starting Pitcher
Josh Beckett; 22.8 Career WAR, -0.9 2010 WAR, DL since 5/19/10
Beckett is out with a lower back strain. He obviously was expected to be at least an above average pitcher this season, and it just hasn’t happened. Remarkably, the rotation has been a strong point for the Red Sox, even with their ace on the mend.
Closer
Manny Delcarmen; 3.5 Career WAR, 0.2 2010 WAR, D
L since 7/1/10
L since 7/1/10
Delcarmen is a new member of the team as well, having just gone down with a strained right forearm. Bullpen depth is always crucial, but Manny hasn’t provided an irreplaceable service thus far. A triple-A replacement will do just fine.
This list will mean a lot more if you understand what WAR means, so I’ll try to explain it here for those who are unfamiliar with it. It is one of my favorite statistics and I plan on using it frequently on this blog in the future. WAR, which stands for Wins Above Replacement and was created by Sean Smith of baseballprojection.com, is defined on Baseball-Reference as “A single number that presents the number of wins the player added to the team above what a replacement player would add.” Pretty powerful concept, right? All these other stats we have mean nothing if your team doesn’t win games, so why not put a player’s performance in those terms? A replacement player is defined as someone on the cusp of the Major Leagues, a “AAAA” player if you will (between AAA and the majors). Essentially, the replacement level player will have a WAR of 0.0 and neither hurt nor help the team. It is important to note that these are not the worst players, many players have accumulated negative WAR totals with poor play.
I love this stat for a few reasons. Not only does it put everything in terms of wins, which just makes sense to me, but it also incorporates EVERY part of the game. Offense, defense, baserunning, pitching, even an adjustment for high leverage situations. I’m not going to post all the actual calculations because there are a couple different methods, I don’t fully understand them, and I don’t think you need to in order to appreciate and understand the stat. The other reason I love WAR is because it is used for both hitters and pitchers. There really has never been a way to compare Ted Williams to Roger Clemens before, but we now can see that by this method at least, Roger Clemens contributed just a hair more (128.4 to 125.3 Career WAR). All of the WAR numbers in this post and for all players can be found on www.baseball-reference.com.
Finally, to put the single season numbers into perspective a little (keep in mind that the 2010 numbers are for a partial season, through 7/1/10), Baseball-Reference provides this handy dandy scale. A 0-2 WAR season is typical of a reserve/bench player, 2+ is a starter, 5+ is an all-star, and 8+ is an MVP. There’s a lot I could say about WAR, but I’ll leave it at this for now and talk about it more in future posts as it becomes relevant.
Make This Trade For David DeJesus
Dear Theo Epstein,
As I’m sure you know, the Red Sox outfield is in a sorry state of affairs right now. With Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, and J.D. Drew all out with injuries and Mike Cameron hobbled to the point where he cannot play in back to back games, we have been forced to throw out replacements such as Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Josh Reddick, and Bill Hall. They have performed admirably for the most part, but we all know that this is not a long-term solution. With Dustin Pedroia breaking his foot, Bill Hall won’t even be available to help out in the outfield every day as he will be playing second base. Amazingly, your team has chosen this injury-riddled stretch to begin winning games- and they find themselves just two games behind the Yankees for the AL East and the best record in baseball. This trade will help them make that playoff push. Here’s how it will break down:
BOS receives:
David DeJesus, OF
(Photo Cred: operationsports.com)
KC receives:
Lars Anderson, 1B
(Photo Cred: zimbio.com)
Derrik Gibson, 2B/SS
(Photo Cred: mlb.com)
The case for Boston:
DeJesus is making $4.7M this year and has a club option for next year at $6M ($0.5M buyout). At 30 years old, he is well on his way to his best season, currently hitting .326 with an OPS of .872. He is yet to make an error in the outfield and has recorded 4 assists. DeJesus could provide the spark that pushes this team to the top of the standings. You gain outfield depth and some great hitting and you lose a couple of prospects, one of whom (Anderson) has been disappointing thus far. Gibson is good, but you get to keep your real gem- Jose Iglesias.
Mike Cameron and J.D. Drew are both signed through 2011 and Ellsbury is arbitration eligible through 2013. Cameron and Drew are both pretty high risk in terms of injury and Ellsbury has hardly played at all this year, so having a guy like DeJesus around next year would be great security. If there is one thing I’ve learned about baseball over the years it is that you can never have too much talent. Everything always works itself out and everyone gets enough playing time. Except Mike Lowell.
The case for Kansas City:
You are 10.5 games behind the worst division leader in baseball, the Minnesota Twins. So I hope I’m not the first one to break it to you, because that would just be awkward, but you’re not going to make the playoffs this year. Initiate selling mode. You lose an outfielder for the remainder of the year (and maybe next) and you get two prospects. Lars Ander
son is one who is close to Major League ready. Entering 2009 he was rated as the 17th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America before turning in a stinker of a year for AA Portland. He has shown some signs of improvement this year, but if he ever returns to his .934 OPS of 2008, then this is a steal for you, Kansas City.
son is one who is close to Major League ready. Entering 2009 he was rated as the 17th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America before turning in a stinker of a year for AA Portland. He has shown some signs of improvement this year, but if he ever returns to his .934 OPS of 2008, then this is a steal for you, Kansas City.
Because of the uncertainty there, you also get prospect Derrik Gibson. He is a few years removed from being big league ready, but he has great raw talent. Scouts admire his speed and his fielding ability, and I admire his numbers with A-level Lowell last season: .290 average with 28 steals in 67 games. I know, I know, you love Jose Iglesias, but so do we. Consider Gibson a consolation prize, and a pretty good one at that.
We already know we will be buyers at the trade deadline- so why not make this deal now and secure an extra month of DeJesus’s services? It’s not like the Royals are waiting to see if they can contend this year. Don’t be shy. Make this trade.
Sincerely,
The 26th Man
Close Calls & DMac
Before tonight’s 2-0 victory over Toronto, check out the last time the Red Sox won by more than 1 run:
That’s right, not since April 14th, 2 weeks ago. The BoSox may have gotten back to .500 with tonight’s win, which is always good to see, but the fact of the matter is they still have a lot of work left to do if they want to contend this season. I am encouraged by the way Clay Buchholz has been pitching and by Jon Lester‘s last two starts. If John Lackey and Josh Beckett can pick it up, then the rotation will be in good shape even if #5 remains a mystery with Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Don’t look now, but Lester hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13.1 innings.
One of the more interesting and surprising bright spots for the Sox thus far has been Darnell McDonald. Carrying a .286 average and 2 home runs through just 25 plate appearances into tonight’s contest, many fans are wondering where the heck this guy came from. That’s where I come in.
McDonald is 31 years old and in his fourth major league season. He made his major league debut back in 2004 at the tender age of 25 with the Baltimore Orioles, who selected him with the 26th overall pick in the 1997 amateur draft. Since then he’s been all over the majors and the minors, logging just 147 big league at-bats coming into this season. During that time he posted a below average slash line of .231/.276/.333.
So where is this new found success coming from? Your guess is as good as mine, but I can tell you one thing. He’s not the young prospect that some interpret him as, and for this reason he doesn’t have a legitimate chance of staying with the team long term. He may be a fan favorite already, but something’s gotta give when both Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury (remember them?) return from the DL. The team can’t afford to carry more than four outfielders at a time, and there’s just no way that McDonald can play himself ahead of Ellsbury, Cameron, J.D. Drew, or Jeremy Hermida. Thanks for the memories DMac, but I’m afraid your time is almost up.
The 26th Man 