Seattle Sports Insider

POTD Brendan Ryan = Jack Wilson v2.0

Posted by

12/12/10

Edit to add, now we see that everybody heard the Jack Wilson echoes in this movement. Good on yer, Capt Jack :- )

Q. Ryan is pretty much Jack Wilson, or fairly similar to Jack Wilson, or just like Jack Wilson, or ?

A. Brendan Ryan differs from Jack Wilson in no important way whatsoever. Just think of him as a younger, healthier Wilson ... and you won't make any decisions about him incorrectly.

Jack Wilson v2.0, and v2.0 is supposed to mean "Here's the version with the bugs worked out. v2.0 is the one you want, especially if you're buying Microsoft."

Ryan is indeed the v2.0 of --- > what was a noble concept, that concept being a Whitey Herzog shortstop.

Q. The Shtick Center is okay with glove-first shortstops?

A. I don't think there has ever been a major league manager who wasn't juussssst fine with an 80 OPS+ hitter who could pick it at shortstop. Have there ever been any?

So, what does the collective intuition tell you, when all the experts like a certain idea?

..........

Whitey thought that your ballclub's karma depended on having a glove-first, team-captain type at short. They've got to know that the middle of the field is solid when they show up to the clubhouse, thought Whitey.

His Cards teams started with the trade for Ozzie Smith.

Whitey had a talented prima-donna SS before Ozzie, that being Garry Templeton, and Templeton was a minor star in the NL back then. But the guy didn't come to play. "He don't want to play if it's too wet, and he don't wanna play if it's too hot," Whitey told the owner. "I've got to have a shortstop I can count on."

...................

With the Royals, too, Whitey had a shortstop similar to Brendan Ryan, that player being the 5'5", 140-lb. Freddie "the Flea" Patek. Whitey liked to know that if the ball was hit into the middle of the field, that good things happened for his ballclub.

Q. Does SSI buy into Wilson's UZR's? Forget the stats and the scouts. What's the shtick?

A. When Capt Jack traded for Wilson, the shtick was, this guy's a wonderful shortstop, a guy who will not only show up in the stats, but who will have you ooh'ing and aah'ing, a guy you'll fall in love with defensively.

It's the same thing with Brendan Ryan. He's an old-timey dirt dog who works miracles at SS.

Q. OK, let's hear why Ryan = Wilson ... beyond their being glove-first NL Central shortstops.

A. First of all take a second and watch this hacky sack video and this one.

It's fun to listen to the nice lady with the camera try to describe hacky sack when she's never seen it before. :- ) Of course, Dr. D doesn't know much about hacky sack either, since he's using the term to describe somebody who can do it with a perfectly smooth, round rock, rather than with a little bean bag.

Jack Wilson, of course, is a soccer player first and Dr. D always loved that about Wilson. Dr. D never gets tired of watching Jack Wilson make up new ways to contort a ball over to first base.

Brendan Ryan is a guy who's obviously scary-good at hacky sack, considering he can do it with a baseball, and Dr. D loves infielders who are that light on their feet.

Comments

It's quite a little pool of

It's quite a little pool of middle infielders Jack and crew is building up. Just barely enough to stretch over to third base. Checking around the horn he's GEEK-O-LICOUS and checks out under the microscope. No viruses and such. It doesn't really help much in a global sense. More importantly though I think it sends a message to veteran and rookie middle infielders alike. Sorta like tossing a mongoose in with a rattle snake.

Geek-o-licious

One of my fave geeks said it was a logical move, nothing brilliant... but the brilliance will come in if Ryan's defense is as good as Taro thinks it is.
If Ryan turned out to be an Omar-type player (Gold Glove, 75-80 OPS, glue that allows you to put bats elsewhere) then the move would go down as one of those historic decisions that set up a pennant winner
If (much more likely) Ryan provided an acceptable SS for a year or two, then a championship-level 5 infielder after that, it would still be sweeeeeet.
Solved the SS problem for pennies on the dollar. Way to go.

3 diffs ...

... from Jack Wilson
1) He's WAY cheaper. Granted, Jack wasn't a bank breaker, but $5 million to league minimum IS a significant jump. (Okay, don't know what his 2011 salary is precisely, but it's still going to be a 3-4 million savings.
2) He's 3 years younger. Not a major deal, really. But, Jack had ZERO chance of improving anything about his game. He was ALREADY in the decline years when acquired. While Ryan's chances of improving are very close to zero, his lack of "major" MLB playing time suggests there is some sliver of hope that some aspect of his game might still be improved nominally. Instead of a "decline aged" player - we've got a "sweet spot" aged player. Granted - this isn't a panacea - Kotchman was a "sweet spot" aged player, too.
3) Health. This to me is the biggie. Jack has been employed for a year and a half, and is still 60 games short of a full season. Health issues do not reduce as a player ages. While Jack "could" surprise and have a full season left in him, the odds are steadily shrinking. For an org with ZERO decent SS prospects less than 3 years away, the health of your SS actually becomes important -- else you end up giving 300 PAs to Ronnie Cedeno. Think of it this way - if your starting SS is "really" a backup SS, what does that make your backup SS?