The Hardball Times
September 5, 2005 2 Comments
I wanted to hold off making this announcement, but there’s no point to doing so anymore: I’m going to be writing regularly for The Hardball Times! No, this does not mean that I’m abandoning this blog, rather that I’ll just have something to link to on Mondays. Like today:
Whatever happened to Ichiro?
I should be back with my power rankings later on.
It can be contended that a right-fielder, devoid of home run power, and with a low
walk rate, could NEVER be MVP material. Check and you will see his OBP has never
been close to MVP country, either. Definitely, Ichiro is one of the most over- rated
players of is generation. If he brought his career numbers to the SS or 2B position,
it would be an entirely different matter, and all the plaudits he has received over
the years would be deserved.
Ichiro, in 2001 and 2004, was one of the top players in the game. Seriously. Good defense, good offense, good base running–based on Win Probability Added, he was tops last year in the AL. He’s been pretty good, regardless of his weaknesses.