All those Ricky haters...

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Just for you, "teacher" -- Ricky's career numbers when not with the Cubs:

692 Games
2149 AB
558 Hits
.260 BA
80 2B
20 3B
13 HR
.334 SLG
227 BB
22HBP
.337 OBP

And I was wrong about his age -- he's 32 this season.

His range at second base is half the league average; his range at short is 7% below league average.

Crappy fielder, old and getting older, crappy OBA and SLG, all his numbers inflated by two years with the Cubs.

No, there is no upside to this guy, but people want him to hit second in the order? Why, so we can have another automatic out in the middle of every rally?

Exactly how does playing this old loser instead of Johnny Mac help the club "rebuild"?

[Hawaii007]

Y'town,
I don't believe that Ricky played 2B at all last year, so they can't really factor his RF as a SS vs those of a 2B.

THank you very much to Bye! for answering my question. I am dissapointed that all of the rest were not willing to put down real numbers for someone who is making 3-4 million dollars, which in today's market is quite low. Yes, if it was known Johnny Mac was going to kick ass this year, I doubt Ricky was going to be signed, but they didn't , and they just want to make sure. Just think if Mac's appedectomy did not occur until opening day? Who would we be left with at 2B for at least one month in the season without the signing of Ricky. Definitely 3+ million is too much to pay for a primary backup player, but it provides depth for the club.

I believe that Ricky hitting .280+/.360+/.400+/15+ SBs/ 10+ HRs along with .980+ fielding percentage at 2B is worthy of the 3mill.



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[Alex]

I believe the contract calls for 2-3 million this year, 4 million next year, then 5-5.5 million in his third year.

We seem to keep "back-loading" contracts.

We all know that Johnny Mac can play defense, so unless you think he couldn't hit .250 in the majors, which I think he can, he would have been an amazing bargain at $ 200,000.

So would Enrique Wilson, so Would Dave Roberts, these three guys, while many would argue are "journeymen" type players at best, are in fact amazingly good deals at the league minimum, and would have freed up money to sign or keep your marquee players, which in turn keeps the attendance figures high.

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[srg]

Johnny Mac is an automatic out in Tripple A Buffalo (.244 last year) but Youngstown wants him playing over an established player who hit .290 last season in the major Leagues? Brilliant , BTW Guitterez is just 4 years older than everyones favorite career utilty infielder MacDonald.

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[supersleuth]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Alex:
I believe the contract calls for 2-3 million this year, 4 million next year, then 5-5.5 million in his third year.

We seem to keep "back-loading" contracts.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Which will bite us just when we need $$ to resign Thome. I don't believe Shapiro needed to offer Ricky that much- as I pointed out, the fact that he was willing to come here and convert to 2B is a pretty good indication that there were no other teams seriously interested in him. Shapiro bid against himself in his haste to have a new 2B to introduce.

Shapiro is entitled to a few rookie mistakes, but we don't need to congratulate him on them!


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[This message has been edited by supersleuth (edited March 23, 2002).]

[the teacher]

Y'town,
thanks for providing the numbers. Now I know what you mean. I'd argue that you're wrong, though.

You made the statement that Ricky is a .250 hitter when not in Wrigley, and backed it up with his numbers when not playing for the cubs. There are things wrong with this (not counting that .250 is not .260): (1) even with the cubs, 1/2 his games are at wrigley, so to pull the seasons when he was with the cubs out of the numbers is only 1/2 right;(2) he was with the cubs the past two seasons, so what you're really saying is that "ricky hit .260 not counting the past two seasons". The past two seasons are the most relevant to his expected performance this season.

Also, as I previously pointed out, Ricky hit .284 at Wrigley last year. You're drawing the wrong conclusions from the stats.

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Gramen artificiosum odi.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Ytown Tribe fan:
Well, gosh -- Ricky is 28, he only hits about .250 (outside of Wrigley), with NO power and NO walks, and he's below average in range at every single position he has ever played.

What's not to like?

<font size="3" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now that is funny.