[image title="129272_orioles_yankees_baseball" size="full" id="14064" align="center" linkto="full" ]
Yesterday, I discussed my feelings about UZR, and suggested that a weighted average of 3 years worth of UZR data would be a more useful metric than our current version of UZR. I was informed that Fangraphs does in fact have a leaderboard for defense that can be sorted into a “past 3 seasons” category, which is not weighted but does provide a relevant sample. Glancing at the list, the thing that struck me was that no Yankee was listed in the top 35 for UZR/150, while a number of Red Sox and Rays were, and only two Yankees had a positive UZR/150 over the time span. Here are the relevant defenders, among qualified players (those who have relevant samples at their primary position):
4) Carl Crawford
13) BJ Upton
14) Adrian Beltre
17) Kevin Youkilis
19) Dustin Pedroia
20) JD Drew
30) Mike Cameron
32) Mike Lowell
39) Curtis Granderson
49) Mark Teixeira
51) Carlos Pena
Obviously, this is simply anecdotal and does not say much about team defense. It does suggest, however, that the Red Sox, and possibly the Rays, have the components necessary to having a significantly better defensive team than the Yankees. Brian Cashman does seem to be cognizant of this, as the two Yankees on this list have been brought in over the last two offseasons. Hopefully, he can continue remaking this club into a team that can excel in all facets of the game.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
4 Responses to The Yankees Defense Is Just Adequate
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
You know what? Adequate is just fine.
The Yankees could very reasonably have all 5 starters in their rotations have strikeout rates above 7 per 9 innings (well, Pettitte may be at something like 6.5 per 9), and it wouldn’t be crazy to suggest that 4 out of 5 could have rates of 8 or more. With those kinds of numbers, you don’t need a stellar defense to be great. I’ll take very good strikeout pitching, fantastic offense and adequate defense over stellar defense and ‘adequate’ offense any day of the week.
Agreed. I do think Cashman is trying to have both- guys who hit and defend. In the past, the Yankees might have been all over Jason Bay- guy who played well in AL East? There would have been some sort of offer. Instead, there wasnt even speculation, it was obvious the Yanks would not touch the guy.
I think that’s more due to the fact that Jason Bay’s offensive peripherals are very scary. Compare him to Richie Sexson at the same age. Frighteningly similar – guys with good power but poor contact who simply drop off the face of the earth as their bat speed slows in their early 30s.
There is nothing similar between Sexon’s and Bay’s swings or pitch selection ability. Bay has a career OBP of 376 and BA of 280. These are both marks that Sexon only topped TWICE in his entire 11 year career. Someone is always looking for a reason to hate the Canadian Clipper. He is what he is. He hammers bad pitches.