Yes, it is time for the monthly post.
I had planned on trashing Phil Sheridan's Fantasyland column from this morning's Inquirer that suggested the Phillies lay down during their arbitration hearing with Ryan Howard.
But Keith Law beat me to the punch.
So instead, I will pick on the Daily News' new Phillies beat writer, David Murphy. I am certain that Murphy will be an upgrade over the DN's previous beat guy, Marcus Hayes, but he is off to a rough start. Apparently he has quite a hard on for batting averages. This is from today's spring training report regarding Pat Burrell:
Eight years into his career, it's still difficult to find the proper perspective through which to view the man who at one point was cast as a franchise's savior. On one hand are his 218 career home runs, fifth in Phillies history. By the end of the year, he'll likely move back Greg Luzinski (223) and Chuck Klein (243).
I had planned on trashing Phil Sheridan's Fantasyland column from this morning's Inquirer that suggested the Phillies lay down during their arbitration hearing with Ryan Howard.
But Keith Law beat me to the punch.
So instead, I will pick on the Daily News' new Phillies beat writer, David Murphy. I am certain that Murphy will be an upgrade over the DN's previous beat guy, Marcus Hayes, but he is off to a rough start. Apparently he has quite a hard on for batting averages. This is from today's spring training report regarding Pat Burrell:
Eight years into his career, it's still difficult to find the proper perspective through which to view the man who at one point was cast as a franchise's savior. On one hand are his 218 career home runs, fifth in Phillies history. By the end of the year, he'll likely move back Greg Luzinski (223) and Chuck Klein (243).
On the other hand are his .258 career average and numerous injuries.
Batting average, home runs. These are the only criteria used to judge Pat Burrell. What about his career .357 OBP or .482 SLG?
In 2002, the year before he signed a 6-year contract extension that will earn him $14 million this year, he hit .282 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI. The following year, those numbers plummeted to .209, 21 and 64.
Burrell had one awful year and it was five years ago. It is time to let it go.
Only once has his batting average improved in two straight seasons (from .209 to .257 to .281 from 2003-05). After hitting .281 with 32 home runs and 117 RBI in 2005, his batting average dropped to .258 in 2006 and .256 last year.
When David Murphy was young, he would open up a package of baseball cards and organize all his new cards by the player's batting averages. What is the difference between hitting .258 and .256? Last year for Burrell, it is one hit. One more hit and he would not have landed on the dreaded Murphy Sliding Batting Average List.
No one is expecting Pat Burrell to hit .300. We do expect him to get on base and hit home runs. Burrell's OPS the past three seasons have been .893, .890, and .902. While he may have his ups and downs throughout the season, at the end of the year his numbers always end up around the same place. There aren't too many teams that would turn down the idea of having a left fielder put up an OPS of .890 on a yearly basis.
"But what about his batting average?!?!"
Hopefully the learning curve is not a steep one for David Murphy.
In 2002, the year before he signed a 6-year contract extension that will earn him $14 million this year, he hit .282 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI. The following year, those numbers plummeted to .209, 21 and 64.
Burrell had one awful year and it was five years ago. It is time to let it go.
Only once has his batting average improved in two straight seasons (from .209 to .257 to .281 from 2003-05). After hitting .281 with 32 home runs and 117 RBI in 2005, his batting average dropped to .258 in 2006 and .256 last year.
When David Murphy was young, he would open up a package of baseball cards and organize all his new cards by the player's batting averages. What is the difference between hitting .258 and .256? Last year for Burrell, it is one hit. One more hit and he would not have landed on the dreaded Murphy Sliding Batting Average List.
No one is expecting Pat Burrell to hit .300. We do expect him to get on base and hit home runs. Burrell's OPS the past three seasons have been .893, .890, and .902. While he may have his ups and downs throughout the season, at the end of the year his numbers always end up around the same place. There aren't too many teams that would turn down the idea of having a left fielder put up an OPS of .890 on a yearly basis.
"But what about his batting average?!?!"
Hopefully the learning curve is not a steep one for David Murphy.
