11-23-2009, 07:17 PM
To start with, I like Granderson. We were born at the same hospital (St. Francis, in Blue Island) he has a pretty much sterling rep as a stand-up guy, a great clubhouse figure, and he plays pretty good ball.
He also is much better at playing day games than playing at night : Granderson is a career .280/.360/.518 hitter during the day, substantially better figures than his .268/.336/.466 at night. Unless the Cubs' new owners get the 50 annual night games at home they want right away in 2010 (they won't), that could be a meaningful statistic. (I got this info from another Cub website)
He's an All-Star, has World Series experience, and seems like a cool guy.
Let me play Devil's advocate now...he has been a regular for 4 seasons. In one of those, three years ago, he was excellent. In another, he was very good. The two other years, including last year, he sucked.
He cannot hit lefty pitching. At all. He's batting .210 lifetime against left-handed pitching. IOW, he HAS to have a caddy, a platoon mate, in order to not be a complete <i>hole</i> in the batting order every 3rd or 4th day.
He's a good fielder, not a great fielder. He has speed, but has only averaged 17 SB a year since becoming a regular.
Again, I like the guy, but I want us to be clear what we're getting. Ace and Scarey will soon contradict me with glowing stats that show him to be the next Willie Mays, which is cool.
But I don't believe that we should obliterate the farm system in order to land a guy the Tigers are already trying to shop.
He also is much better at playing day games than playing at night : Granderson is a career .280/.360/.518 hitter during the day, substantially better figures than his .268/.336/.466 at night. Unless the Cubs' new owners get the 50 annual night games at home they want right away in 2010 (they won't), that could be a meaningful statistic. (I got this info from another Cub website)
He's an All-Star, has World Series experience, and seems like a cool guy.
Let me play Devil's advocate now...he has been a regular for 4 seasons. In one of those, three years ago, he was excellent. In another, he was very good. The two other years, including last year, he sucked.
He cannot hit lefty pitching. At all. He's batting .210 lifetime against left-handed pitching. IOW, he HAS to have a caddy, a platoon mate, in order to not be a complete <i>hole</i> in the batting order every 3rd or 4th day.
He's a good fielder, not a great fielder. He has speed, but has only averaged 17 SB a year since becoming a regular.
Again, I like the guy, but I want us to be clear what we're getting. Ace and Scarey will soon contradict me with glowing stats that show him to be the next Willie Mays, which is cool.
But I don't believe that we should obliterate the farm system in order to land a guy the Tigers are already trying to shop.
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance