January 24, 200818 yr http://www.fishstripes.com/story/2008/1/24/65357/3106 Thanks Craig for a really good read. Check out the Baseball Prospectus piece he posted a link to on his website on middle infielders. It turns out no one is better offensively than our double play combo. Check it out.
January 24, 200818 yr It turns out no one is better offensively than our double play combo. Let's not forget that Utley missed a month due to injury. The Phillies DP Combo only had 3 less XBH in 25 LESS at-bats than the Marlins DP Combo. Both are very impressive, but Rollins and Utley are still a better combo than Hanley and Uggla
January 24, 200818 yr I have great difficulty detaching the words "double play combo" from their horrid defense. It's a pretty bad misnomer. I would have preferred it to say "middle infield" because let's face it, they are no Gonzalez/Castillo. Amen to that. Let's just call it the "Shortstop Second Base" combo...or like you said, the middle infield combo
January 24, 200818 yr I have great difficulty detaching the words "double play combo" from their horrid defense. It's a pretty bad misnomer. I would have preferred it to say "middle infield" because let's face it, they are no Gonzalez/Castillo. I agree with that, but it is still interesting to see the hype that they are getting. Maybe the defense will sure up, hanley gets better uggla gets better?
January 24, 200818 yr I have great difficulty detaching the words "double play combo" from their horrid defense. It's a pretty bad misnomer. I would have preferred it to say "middle infield" because let's face it, they are no Gonzalez/Castillo. Uggla is far from horrid at second base. And Hanley is certainly going to improve. He's too physically gifted not to.
January 25, 200818 yr It turns out no one is better offensively than our double play combo. Let's not forget that Utley missed a month due to injury. The Phillies DP Combo only had 3 less XBH in 25 LESS at-bats than the Marlins DP Combo. Both are very impressive, but Rollins and Utley are still a better combo than Hanley and Uggla uh...yeah...and they play 81 games a year in a sandbox sized stadium...
January 25, 200818 yr It turns out no one is better offensively than our double play combo. Let's not forget that Utley missed a month due to injury. The Phillies DP Combo only had 3 less XBH in 25 LESS at-bats than the Marlins DP Combo. Both are very impressive, but Rollins and Utley are still a better combo than Hanley and Uggla uh...yeah...and they play 81 games a year in a sandbox sized stadium... If you look at Rollins and Utley's Road Splits, they put up monster numbers on the road as well. Certainly the park they play in may add to their home run totals but playing in a small park like that makes it harder to hit doubles and triples, whereas in Dolphin Stadium it is easier to hit doubles and triples.
January 25, 200818 yr It turns out no one is better offensively than our double play combo. Let's not forget that Utley missed a month due to injury. The Phillies DP Combo only had 3 less XBH in 25 LESS at-bats than the Marlins DP Combo. Both are very impressive, but Rollins and Utley are still a better combo than Hanley and Uggla uh...yeah...and they play 81 games a year in a sandbox sized stadium... Certainly the park they play in may add to their home run totals but playing in a small park like that makes it harder to hit doubles and triples, whereas in Dolphin Stadium it is easier to hit doubles and triples. Maybe triples, but Dolphin Stadium may make it harder to hit doubles. The outfields are so spacious it gives outfielders more time to run down balls. The balls deep in the gaps they can't get to are what turn into triples a good amount of the time.
January 25, 200818 yr Author The bottom line is the Marlins played 162 games, the Phillies the same. Even with Utley out a month the difference in at bats was a paltry 25 over 1,450+/- innings of baseball, Rollins after all had 716 ABs so the numbers are what they are (Rollins btw was also the one who was more productive per at bat). And just to even things out if you feel the absolute need to do so, take Iguchi's first 25 ABs as Utley's replacement and add them in. In that period he had a grand total of two extra basehits. That still makes it 166 vs 165. In other words with exactly the same number of at bats the Marlins duo still bested the Phillies middle infielders. People can make all the rationalizations they want, diminish the accomplishment all day and night but in the end, it is what it is. To quote Basball Prospectus, in the history of baseball "no double-play combination has ever combined for that many extra-base hits in a season". I don't think there's a person here who has been harder on the Marlins defensive shortcomings longer than I have and I took sh*t all last summer for calling a spade a spade pointing out Hanley's woes in the field, but this isn't about defense, this is purely an offensive accomplishment. Enjoy it. Hope they repeat in 2008. Hope they improve every facet of their games because they need to lest we have a very long summer. At least for a few minutes, sit back and reflect on the fact the Marlins own another record in the history of baseball and it remains theirs until someone takes it away.
January 25, 200818 yr He was average at best. Even if you consider him to be middle of the pack (and I would certainly buy that), his skills are nothing to be praised. As for Ramirez, I won't believe it until I see it. He was arguably the worst SS in the NL last season. Having said that, I am glad that the offensive capabilities of both players are being recognized. I hate Jose Reyes just as much as anyone else does. Let's just hope that Uggla is placed properly in the lineup next season and Gonzalez/Beinfest don't regard him as something he is not. He is a very capable number 6 hitter. getting to see hanley in the minors I will say he was a solid defensive player, and he was always looked at as a great fielder that could hit, I think his hitting has been unbelievably better and his fielding will get better as he continues to adjust.
January 25, 200818 yr I am happy with Ramirez to Uggla to Jacobs. I think Uggla will be a .275 avg hitter with 35 HRs per year. (Jeff Kent would be happy with those numbers) And Hanley is well...the best hitting SS in baseball (Rollins kiss his cleats).
January 25, 200818 yr The bottom line is the Marlins played 162 games, the Phillies the same. Even with Utley out a month the difference in at bats was a paltry 25 over 1,450+/- innings of baseball, Rollins after all had 716 ABs so the numbers are what they are (Rollins btw was also the one who was more productive per at bat). And just to even things out if you feel the absolute need to do so, take Iguchi's first 25 ABs as Utley's replacement and add them in. In that period he had a grand total of two extra basehits. That still makes it 166 vs 165. In other words with exactly the same number of at bats the Marlins duo still bested the Phillies middle infielders. People can make all the rationalizations they want, diminish the accomplishment all day and night but in the end, it is what it is. To quote Basball Prospectus, in the history of baseball "no double-play combination has ever combined for that many extra-base hits in a season". I don't think there's a person here who has been harder on the Marlins defensive shortcomings longer than I have and I took sh*t all last summer for calling a spade a spade pointing out Hanley's woes in the field, but this isn't about defense, this is purely an offensive accomplishment. Enjoy it. Hope they repeat in 2008. Hope they improve every facet of their games because they need to lest we have a very long summer. At least for a few minutes, sit back and reflect on the fact the Marlins own another record in the history of baseball and it remains theirs until someone takes it away. Welll said.
January 25, 200818 yr The bottom line is the Marlins played 162 games, the Phillies the same. Even with Utley out a month the difference in at bats was a paltry 25 over 1,450+/- innings of baseball, Rollins after all had 716 ABs so the numbers are what they are (Rollins btw was also the one who was more productive per at bat). And just to even things out if you feel the absolute need to do so, take Iguchi's first 25 ABs as Utley's replacement and add them in. In that period he had a grand total of two extra basehits. That still makes it 166 vs 165. In other words with exactly the same number of at bats the Marlins duo still bested the Phillies middle infielders. People can make all the rationalizations they want, diminish the accomplishment all day and night but in the end, it is what it is. To quote Basball Prospectus, in the history of baseball "no double-play combination has ever combined for that many extra-base hits in a season". I don't think there's a person here who has been harder on the Marlins defensive shortcomings longer than I have and I took sh*t all last summer for calling a spade a spade pointing out Hanley's woes in the field, but this isn't about defense, this is purely an offensive accomplishment. Enjoy it. Hope they repeat in 2008. Hope they improve every facet of their games because they need to lest we have a very long summer. At least for a few minutes, sit back and reflect on the fact the Marlins own another record in the history of baseball and it remains theirs until someone takes it away. Don't get me wrong. In no way am I diminishing what Hanley and Uggla did. I understand that it is what it is. All I'm saying is that if Utley wasn't injured for a month, the Phillies middle infield duo of Utley and Rollins would have had more XBHs than the Marlins duo of Hanley and Uggla...simple as that. You can't even begin to use Tad Iguchi as a replacement for 25 at bats...that's just out of the question.
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