I am diligently working towards rounding out my third semester of law school, so let me make this post brief, to the point, and unsubstantiated by proof (like about 1/2 of all plaintiff law suits):
1. The Cubs signed Carlos Pena to a 1-year/$10 million dollar deal last night. I could not be happier. Sure, the Cubs will not be competition in 2010 (barring some unforeseen lightning in the bottle a la the 2010 Padres), but at least we'll be hitting home runs again. I can't remember the last time a Cub hit 40 home runs in a season. Oh wait, yes I can: 2005 Derrek Lee!
2. Speaking of home runs, the Cubs came this close to trading for my perpetual man crush, Chris Davis, last night. The deal would have sent catcher Robinson Chirinos (plus an unpolished 22-year old arm, Rafael Dolis, who has periodically hit triple digits on the radar gun) to the Rangers for Davis and Darren O'Day. Even with Pena briefly in the fold, I would like this deal (Davis is only 24, had 4 seasons of team control remaining) for the long term and even 2011, if the Cubs end up flipping Pena for a prospect mid-season. I won't repeat myself for the billionth time, but Davis is a high power, high strikeout, some walk, tons of line drives hitter. A .280/.335/.520 line is more than plausible at Wrigley.
3. White Sox re-sign aging Paul Konerko to a 3-year/$37.5 million dollar contract. Can't blame Kenny on this one. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf stepped into Williams' affairs and pulled the trigger. Williams in now reporting the Sox are out of financial wiggle room, which might be problematic with 2 of the team's best bullpen arms (Putz, Jenks) leaving via free agency, while Linebrink (overpaid, but effective last year) has been traded away. The Sox seem to be riding big on Thornton/Santos/Pena in the pen with a splash of Chris Sale, who is supposed to be a promising starter, placed in the mix.
Showing posts with label Carlos Pena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carlos Pena. Show all posts
Non-GOI Carlos Pena Analysis
DRays Bay has an absolutely fantastic analysis of Carlos Pena up on their site.
I highly recommend a read.
I highly recommend a read.
Kevin Youkilis > Carlos Pena
A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I predicted at the beginning of the baseball season that Kevin Youkilis would be better than Carlos Pena. I took a lot of shit for this. And now I am vindicated, because even though Pena ended up leading the AL in HRs, Youkilis has been better. Now I also thought Pena would be hurt most of this year thus making Youk better by default, but even still, Youk was better.
I would like to start by saying Youkilis had 588 PA and Pena 570. This is essentially the same amount so you can't really make an argument that so and so was injured for part of the year, because, statistically speaking, the difference in PA is so small, that it's practically negligent.
Our first comparison, and DME's favorite's category- fantasy baseball. This year, Youkilis rated 9th and Pena rated 19th among all first baseman in Yahoo!'s player rater.
But now onto what really matters- on the field performance and using fangraphs statistics. Pena had more homers, a better walk rate, SLG percentage, ISO, and was more clutch than Youk. However, Youk had a better:
-OBP
-BA
-K%
-WAR
-wOBA
-OPS
-LD%
-Spd
-K/BB
-UZR/ UZR/150
Youk was worth $24.9 and Pena was worth $12.3
Now granted, Pena's BABIP was extremely low causing is awful awful awful BA and lowering his OBP and OPS; but over the course of this year
KEVIN YOUKILIS WAS BETTER THAN CARLOS PENA
I would like to start by saying Youkilis had 588 PA and Pena 570. This is essentially the same amount so you can't really make an argument that so and so was injured for part of the year, because, statistically speaking, the difference in PA is so small, that it's practically negligent.
Our first comparison, and DME's favorite's category- fantasy baseball. This year, Youkilis rated 9th and Pena rated 19th among all first baseman in Yahoo!'s player rater.
But now onto what really matters- on the field performance and using fangraphs statistics. Pena had more homers, a better walk rate, SLG percentage, ISO, and was more clutch than Youk. However, Youk had a better:
-OBP
-BA
-K%
-WAR
-wOBA
-OPS
-LD%
-Spd
-K/BB
-UZR/ UZR/150
Youk was worth $24.9 and Pena was worth $12.3
Now granted, Pena's BABIP was extremely low causing is awful awful awful BA and lowering his OBP and OPS; but over the course of this year
KEVIN YOUKILIS WAS BETTER THAN CARLOS PENA
Pedroia Replaced by.... Carlos Pena?
When I was watching ESPN today, I was pleasantly surprised to find out Dustin Pedroia, a retarded fan pick, would not be playing in the All-Star game. This made me happy because I thought the two AL 2B SHOULD have been Aaron Hill (a current ASG back up) and Ian Kinsler. This made me think that D-Ped would actually be replaced by Kinsler because I know Joe Madden isn't a retard and would pick the right candidate. But then I found out Pedroia would be replaced by Maddon's Rays 1B Carlos Pena.
Know don't get me wrong, I absolutely think Carlos Pena is an All-Star. He leads the AL in HRs and is the ASG coach's player. But to replace a 2B with a 1B seems ludacris! (LUDA- and yes I realize I spelled "ludicrous" wrong). The fact remains, these coached and players still need to play a game and having four first baseman (with no DHs) and one 2B is just not practical. My guess is that Ben Zobrist (currently an OF reserve) will probably back up Aaron Hill if need be or maybe a guy like Jason Bartlett (currently a SS reserve) could easily move over as well, but it does not seem like a good idea to not have a back up 2B on the team.
Also, remember what happened to Dan Uggla last year in the ASG, makes sense to have a GOOD or even half way decent defensive 2B.
Know don't get me wrong, I absolutely think Carlos Pena is an All-Star. He leads the AL in HRs and is the ASG coach's player. But to replace a 2B with a 1B seems ludacris! (LUDA- and yes I realize I spelled "ludicrous" wrong). The fact remains, these coached and players still need to play a game and having four first baseman (with no DHs) and one 2B is just not practical. My guess is that Ben Zobrist (currently an OF reserve) will probably back up Aaron Hill if need be or maybe a guy like Jason Bartlett (currently a SS reserve) could easily move over as well, but it does not seem like a good idea to not have a back up 2B on the team.
Also, remember what happened to Dan Uggla last year in the ASG, makes sense to have a GOOD or even half way decent defensive 2B.
Carlos Pena Hits HRs, Signs Tacos
This might be the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Especially because they eat the taco.
