On a recent podcast DME, expressed an extreme dislike of Justin Morneau. Now he mainly didn't like him because of where Morneau was rated pre fantasy draft (because god forbid DME thinks of players on how they realistically perform).
First, he made an irrational assumption and thought Morneau mainly went in the second round in fantasy drafs. However, Morneau was not pre-ranked in the top 25 (which means in a 12 team league he's NOT a 2nd rounder). Plus in the four leagues I'm in, he was a top third rounder in three of them and the last pick in the 2nd round in the fourth league. Secondly, we played the name game with players like El Caballo and Manny that he thought Morneau was drafted ahead of. In all four of my leagues Morneau was NOT drafted ahead of ANY of the players DME played the name game with and I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find any league in which Morneau went ahead of guys DME thought he was drafted ahead of.
Now I can undertand anyone beiong down on him because his numbers, mainly HR numbers, have decreased the past three years, but to have an outright hatred of him is ridiculous. Plus, even if you did draft him in the second round, he would be worth it to you. According to the Yahoo! player rater right now, Morneau is the fourth best performaning player overall, just under Pujols, Fielder, and Carl Crawford.
Right now, Morneau is batting .317 with 23 homers, 84 RBIs and 63 runs. He is also Awesome is real life as well. Not only does he (along with Mauer) put the Twins offense on his back to help them win games but he is 9th out of everybody in wOBA and 8th in OPS. He is also top 5 in the AL in RBIs and HRs and I would guarantee before the season that he would be top 5 in the MLB in RBIs.
DME, are you ready to apologize about Justin Morneau? I'm a White Sox fan and even I greatly respect the dude.
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5 comments:
While i fully admit i was wrong about where he was drafted in the preseason, im still not a big morneau fan.
His power numbers, prior to this season, were on a 3 yr decline to sub 200 levels. a 200 ISO hitter is a 25 HR guy, but not a guaranteed 30+ hitter. When looking at the draft, you want some big power/RBI from your corner guys and while morneau is an RBI/AVG guy, i didnt buy into a 30 HR season and I could easily get high RBI/HR later from guys like Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena and Joey Votto (who has comparable ISO numbers, AVG and RBI potential, only he went 4 rds later). I still say Morneau in the 3rd is high when you can get guys like Agon/Pena/Dunn/Votto in the 6-7-8 rounds. If the power was more consistent and not declining prior to this season, id like him much more.
Other points of gripe: JMs LD% by season has been very low 2 of the past 3 seasons (including this one). Elite hitters clip LDs at a 19+ rate, J.M. is sub 16. While he may have a career .300 BABIP (league avg), the .331 number this season calls for some regression, esp. considering the low line drive rates and ridiculously low 1.9 speed score (by comparison, matt kemp has a 22+ percent LD rate and 7.2 speed score and is hitting .320 with a .390 BABIP that i think is a bit high, but legit)
This season, Morneau's pitch recognition is way up and he's producing more value per pitch than he's done each of the past 3 seasons; yet he's still hitting below his 2006 levels on fastballs, curveballs and change ups
Basically, he's better this season than i gave him credit for, but i still say hes over rated as the great american slugger. very good player, but hes only gotten better and more legit this season
H e
How can you still hate on him though!!!!
Sure, the decline in his numbers the past three year would make you suspicious, but he still went in the third round and he was still worth it!
He's number four out of every single player in fantasy baseball! NUMBER FOUR!
He's much much much better in real life and in fantasy than all the players you mentioned! He's batting above .300 right now!
You next comment better be, "I was wrong. I had reason to not believe in him, but I was wrong. My bad."
That's all you have to say
He is most certainly NOT more valuable than Joey votto in real life. If not for the Dizziness that sidelined him for 4-5 weeks, Votto would have just as good numbers. Votto has a .436 wOBA thanks to a better wOBA and BB%. He's also much younger.
Morneau has a .412 wOBA. Pena has a better ISO and BB%, but the high K percentage makes his OBP too low to top the 400 wOBA level, although Pena is apparently a less shitty fielder than Morneau at 1st. Also, Adam Dunn is almost as good as an offensive force (.400 wOBA, negligible difference)
If i had to rank who i'd want most on my real life baseball team, assuming all played 1st, it would be Votto, Dunn, Morneau, Pena.
He is most certainly NOT more valuable than Joey votto in real life. If not for the Dizziness that sidelined him for 4-5 weeks, Votto would have just as good numbers. Votto has a .436 wOBA thanks to a better wOBA and BB%. He's also much younger.
Morneau has a .412 wOBA. Pena has a better ISO and BB%, but the high K percentage makes his OBP too low to top the 400 wOBA level, although Pena is apparently a less shitty fielder than Morneau at 1st. Also, Adam Dunn is almost as good as an offensive force (.400 wOBA, negligible difference)
If i had to rank who i'd want most on my real life baseball team, assuming all played 1st, it would be Votto, Dunn, Morneau, Pena.
If you ask why dunn over morneau its a simple fact of consistency and career. Dunn always produces the same numbers each yr consistently, morneau was on a decline and surged back. Dunns had the better career too
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