I think this is where I get hung up: DH penalties are invented. They are not actual penalties. Nobody ever said "wow, all AL teams are punished by having us randomly take a run off the board every 9 games that they play for having a DH."
It's for helping to assess positional difference when comparing Edgar to Bagwell, not for declaring worth on a field. Morales doesn't cost anyone 17 runs a year just because it's a non-fielding position. The DH position will be manned by someone or someones for every AL team. If I'm comparing the relative value of Morales to Seager (who doesn't play the easiest fielding position in addition to being a MOTO hitter) then the positional deduction has some merit.
But every run Morales plates is a real run, and the comparison is not Morales vs. Seager, it's Morales vs. all other DH possibilities, so the 17-run guesstimation isn't a factor at all. They don't take a 17% deduction on DH RBIs. Yes, his running loses him some value. Yes, he hits into a ton of DPs. Since every team fields a DH, though, there has to be somebody in that spot for the 150 games a year that a DH gets to play in. Maybe we could get by with a platoon there and save ourselves some cash - but it's a risk.
Mariners DH sOPS+ since 2003: 124 (Gar!), 92 (Gar...), 88, 63, 88, 58, 91, 62, 72, 60, 114 (Kendrys!)
Between Gar and Kendrys there was NOT ONE player or group of players that managed even a league average positional output at DH. If it was easy to do you'd think we'd have done it by accident before now.
BTW, you know the only two positions that we have had plus output at this season? DH (114) and 3B (116). First base, left field and center field are about average. Everything else lags on the year. Now, Miller and Franklin should bring us up to average at 2B and SS, but we still only have two plus hitters.
I don't care where the second (or potential third) one hits as long as he DOES hit.
~G
Add new comment
1