I think RJ had a productive 2008 and Freel has always been a catalyst when he plays against us. I wasn’t referring to there current stats when I said more of the same.

So I guess Soriano magically learned to become clutch

Oh no. Not the clutch argument again.

Is it sad, or awesome, that I had the exact same thought?

Definitely awesome.

The key to success will be the young talent. … and we need more of the same from Fuko, RJ and now Freel.

Not sure if you meant to imply that those three were young. But I do know that I don’t want more of the same from RJ and Freel. RJ (with a major sample size caveat) is currently hitting .224/.316/.265 – I am not interested in more of the same from him. Freel, while also getting limited plate appearances this year, has also been pretty awful (though has at least gotten on base).

I wouldn’t want Sample size to get in the way of my argument on Soriano. Career in those situations

Sure… but that isn’t what you said. I agree that Soriano has always been better with the bases empty than with runners on, but his 33 pa’s in those situations this season isn’t very meaningful.

Not sure why you are just looking at batting average though. OPS in those situations are as follows:
RISP (1282) – .789
Men on base (2112) – .809
No Men On (3368) – .871

Still a drop off, but that 789 ops isn’t terrible. Definitely not good, by any means, but not terrible.

By the way… I think these types of numbers are somewhat meaningless also, and last year was a perfect example (another sample size caveat):
RISP (142) – .975
Men on base (199) – .860
No Men On (304) – .885

So I guess Soriano magically learned to become clutch with RISP last year, and then forgot again? Any stat that has such fluctuation from year to year is a questionable one. Clutch stats are notoriously unreliable, and have significant fluctuations.

Career in those situations (Plate Appearances in Parenthesis)

RISP (1282) – .251
Men on base (2112) – .266
No Men On (3368) – .291

It’s a visible difference

The bullpen needs to improve.

This was Hendry’s biggest mistake during the offseason. I said months ago it was going to be a problem, and thus far they’ve proven me right.

Bradley will come around. I don’t think he’s going to put up numbers like he did last year, but they’ll be respectable. With DLee and A-Ram down, this is a perfect time for him to batten down the hatches and show everyone he can be the man. Or the goat.

Sample size alert!!

Is it sad, or awesome, that I had the exact same thought?

The key to success will be the young talent. If the farm can fill the holes we will succeed. If we are going to rely on Dlee and Bradly to supply production I think we will be dissapointed. Micah needs to have a good season, which he is so far, and we need more of the same from Fuko, RJ and now Freel.

The bullpen needs to improve.

Coming into the game with RISP, Sori was hitting .080 in 33 plate appearances. With men on base in general, just .154.

Sample size alert!!

The official scorer should have probably scored it a double and a mental error on Soriano, but instead Kendall got himself closer to 2000 career hits.

Wouldn’t Kendall have gotten himself closer to 2000 career hits whether Soriano hustled on that play or not, and whether the scorer called it a double or triple?

Would that have been the final piece needed to completely win back the skeptics?

I actually really like Kosuke, but I am still not completely sold. Or, more accurately, I am still not completely sure what kind of player he really is, or what level of production we should expect. The encouraging thing, to me, is that in recent weeks he has “struggled” but has still been able to draw walks. Last year, in the second half, when he was really struggling, his walks also went down. If he can continue to be patient and draw walks, even when he isn’t getting hits, that will be a very encouraging sign.

For those that think he can’t field, he made the play at first after being speared.

One play doesn’t mean he can field. He is somewhere between awful and pathetic defensively, even if he made a play after getting speared with a bat.

The survey is a little flawed.
I didn’t choose anybody from the bullpen and it wouldn’t let me complete the survey until I did. Reluctantly I chose Kevin Gregg as the best of that bunch.

That should be fixed Doug….Thanks for letting me know. Spread the word on the survey.