J.J. Hardy looking out for J.J. Hardy

April 12, 2008

This MLB article about J.J. Hardy gets around to some greedy quotes, but first, it sets the table with something we’re accepting too unquestioningly.

Yost is batting his pitchers in the No. 8 hole when catcher Jason Kendall is in the lineup, relying on extensive statistical data that says such an alignment will boost the Brewers’ run production over the long haul.

How many people are writing about this “extensive statistical data” without actually seeing it? I haven’t found any publication of the data or list of metrics that contributed to the data or any of the specific findings of the data. I’ve only been told that there is data, and that this data has already proved the doubters to be incorrect.

Look, Brewers, I don’t care one way or the other if you bat the pitcher eighth. Just don’t pretend like you know something I don’t, unless you’re going to tell me what you know that I don’t. (And don’t pretend it’s working just because Jason Kendall has been hitting a lot of doubles.)

Now, here’s J.J., not hiding very well that individual numbers matter to him.

“It’s not going to be the 80 RBIs, for sure, if it stays that way all year,” he said. “I don’t want it to sound like I am unhappy. If we’re going to score more runs with Jason as the second leadoff guy, OK. But at the same time, it’s going to take away opportunities for me to produce runs. It’s, ‘flip a coin.’”

Exactly, flip a coin. No Brewer fan cares who produces the runs. Only J.J. Hardy and rotisserie baseball players who drafted J.J. Hardy and the future Mrs. J.J. Hardy, who will be living off J.J. Hardy’s salary, care whether J.J. Hardy produces the runs. (Bear with me here. I’m pretending J. J. Hardy said his quote referring to himself in the third person and mocking him accordingly.) Who is hearing this argument and agreeing, “Yes, he’s right. We need J.J. Hardy to be the one producing runs. This does not work for me when other people produce as many or possibly more runs.”

He did have a pretty good quote in the Journal Sentinel, though. Something that should make him a few friends in the pitching staff.

“When you’re hitting .180 (.212 now), it’s kind of like a pitcher anyway. It’s like back-to-back pitchers.”

And when Kendall finds his stroke, it’ll be three in a row.

Kendall hitting ninth just got dumber

March 9, 2008

This catcher-batting-ninth business is getting closer to reality. In fact, Ned Yost has told a few news outlets that the upside of Jason Kendall hitting after the pitcher has been “thoroughly researched.”

“You’ve got to have a special player in order to do it,” said Yost. “You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy …

Let me stop you right there. Last season, Kendall’s on-base percentage was a high .301 — worse than every other non-pitcher the Brewers will start on opening day. Back to that quote.

“You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy that …

Hold up, sorry. Let me stop you again. You want to say “a high on-base percentage guy who,” not “a high on-base percentage guy that.” I don’t blame Ned here. It’s a direct quote, but as a journalist, Tom Haudricourt has the right to not embarrass his speaker. He chose to let it go, and now Ned looks like some uneducated southerner.

“You’ve got to have a high on-base percentage guy that puts the ball in play, takes a lot of pitches. The advantage of it, for us, is you’ve got a dual leadoff guy, so to speak, in the No. 9 and 1 spot.

“Two, Jason Kendall is the only player on the team that is an extreme groundball hitter. All of our other hitters are fly-ball hitters. Jason, being a high-contact, high-groundball hitter, puts the ball in play every time, and you get a lot of double plays.

This used to be true. Kendall even led the AL in GIDP in 2005. (Let’s capitalize on this?) But last season, for the first time in his career, Kendall made more flyball outs than groundouts. Not sure it matters.

I was hearing them out at first. The original point of all this was to move Fielder and Braun up one spot each in the order — to 2 and 3, respectively. Over the course of the season, that means more at-bats. I’m for that. But you want guys on base when your meat comes up, so you increase your chances of that (a bit) with Kendall ninth instead of a pitcher.


So now Ned’s going to leave Fielder and Braun at 3 and 4, but he’s still doing the Kendall ninth thing, too.

The first time Braun leads off an inning with a hit, then Nos. 5 and 6 make outs and they walk No. 7 to get to the pitcher, I think it’ll get mentioned here. And also here.

And let us not forget: Sometimes Jason Kendall is so good at getting on base that he breaks his leg.

Major holiday passes without news from Doug Melvin

December 26, 2007

It was almost a trend. Doug Melvin’s last three major off-season moves had come on major holidays, which had me thinking something would happen around Christmas.

  • Thanksgiving 2006: The Doug Davis, Johnny Estrada, Claudio Vargas trade.
  • Christmas 2006: The Jeff Suppan free agent signing.
  • Thanksgiving 2007: The Jason Kendall signing.

I started to notice this because I was never at home when I first heard about the deals. I was always away with family.

So, does Doug have some motivation? Does he want to capitalize on the buzz and get people talking about the Brewers at all of their get-togethers? Or does he think the holidays are a time when people are away from their computers and newspapers, and maybe he can slide some unpopular announcements by without anyone seeing? As a Canadian, does he even recognize Thanksgiving and Christmas?

(And no, Gabe Kapler doesn’t count as news.)