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.

Runs battled within

March 24, 2008

During the radio broadcast Sunday, Bob Uecker talked about running into J.J. Hardy before the game and wincing at the shortstop’s appearance. After missing a string of games with flu-like or parasite-like symptoms, Uecker said Hardy had lost 10 pounds, and noticeably.

Uecker stopped just short of the weight-loss details:

“He’s had some stomach problems … and by that, I think you know what we mean.”