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I've Just Experienced a Sudden Increase in Affection for Aaron Miles
Fri, 02/13/2009 - 6:52am — Cubnut
From Tracy Ringolsby...
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa began lobbying last fall for the release of second baseman Adam Kennedy, wanting to keep Aaron Miles instead. Now he winds up with neither, the front office letting Miles go back in December, and then this week giving in on Kennedy and his $4 million salary when it became apparent there was no trade market for Kennedy.
Comments
Re:
How is Tony LaRussa like David Paterson?
Both gave up on Kennedy even though they could no longer see Miles.
Seriously though, this is way 3/44.
huh?
Huh? So you like him more because La Russa wanted to keep him, even though he still sucks?
But yea... as John Beasley said... WAY 3/44.
Re: huh?
Yes.
Re: huh?
I think that's a legitimate reason to be optimistic. Maybe Miles will suck less.
A player's manager is really the only one that can place a value on his intangibles.
It could be MUCH worse
According to his stats, Miles has succeeded in the #2 slot with (doing this from sketchy memory, for you extra-literal posters) with around a .313 BA and .355 OBP - and tough with two strikes.
The largest amount of his PA's (over 900) which are pretty sucky, come from lead-off, where he just doesn't get the job done.
I'm hoping Lou realizes that even Sori is a better choice than Miles, The Who notwithstanding.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
Trying to be positive...maybe we are planning on keeping Miles hidden until the playoffs. Playoff stats are better than anything we've seen the past two years - (BA).364 (OBP).417 (SLG).545
why does every KMOKEFE post have an SNL "debbie downer" tone ringing in the background?
Re: It could be MUCH worse
not sure, kmokefe is a real douche though
hope he forgives me down the road
___________________________________________
that was fun
In reality, my previous post was a reply refering to Miles sucking. Hence sucking less would an improvement, and the "debbie downer" becomes the optimist.
maybe a stretch
Also, if the bulls do not obtain Amare, they may lose my loyalty.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
they lost my loyalty when they broke the team up in '98.
John Paxson makes Ed Lynch look like a good GM...
Re: It could be MUCH worse
Amen to that! Time-honored sports tradition - you honor the streak. That team should have been kept together until they lost in the playoffs....period. The key parts (Jordan and Pippen) would have stayed for 1-year contracts.
I will forever hate Krause for his arrogance and petulance, and Reinsdorff is guilty by association and complicity in the disaster that has become what passes for the NBA on West Madison Street.
No wonder I could care less if the Sox ever win a ballgame.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
You can join me on the Memphis bandwagon. We've got PLENTY of room and some pretty decent youngsters.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
I took my Daughter to the Grizzlies/Clipper game last Friday. The arena was beyond flat atmosphere wise. Less than half-capacity. Grizzlies down 20 at the half. Zach F"n Randolph had 20 points at the half.
The funny thing is. Memphis University plays in the same building. The forum is sold out every game. Ton's of atmosphere. Loud and rowdy.
Sad state of affairs when the local College outdraws the professional team in town.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
to be fair, you went to a Clippers game which is like going to a WNBA game...
Re: It could be MUCH worse
The sad part is that they tooled the Grizz.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
"The funny thing is. Memphis University plays in the same building. The forum is sold out every game. Ton's of atmosphere. Loud and rowdy."
Point in case people care more about college basketball than the NBA. Personally i love basketball but I can't watch any NBA game ever (except the playoffs). It's boring, one-on-one nonsense and just can't stand it.
Also I bet the price of tickets to the Memphis game are about half of the tickets for the Grizz. Also Memphis could play with the Grizz. They have some good young players but they aren't any good.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
The Memphis Tigers could most definitely NOT play with the Memphis Grizz. It would be ugly. Those young players on the Grizz that "aren't any good" looked pretty good in college.
It just bugs when anyone says that some college team could play with, hang with, or even beat a pro team. They couldn't.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
I'm really not seeing the argument that a guy is a completely different hitter in the #1 spot than in the #2 spot. Maybe slightly different levels of success, but not that vast. I'm gonna have to go with correlation does not equal causation.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
I can't cite specific stats right now, but I do know that Soriano's spread between the leadoff spot and his performance in other lineup slots is pretty wide. I believe his best BA/OBA numbers are as a lead off guy, and when the Cubs got him Lou cited those numbers as the motivation for leading him off. (At least publicly.)
Re: It could be MUCH worse
Yeah. I'm not a big believer in that, but I buy it a little more.
Part of my trouble in this case is that we're talking about the #1 and #2 spots in the order, which unless you bunt or hit and run A LOT have basically the same approach. And typically the #2 hitter is gonna come up with no one on base in front of me in the top of the 1st about 35% of the time. It's basically the same spot, except you've got a more feared hitter batting behind you.
I'm gonna say again, probably a case of correlation does not equal causation. When and where did Aaron Miles bat second as opposed to leadoff (or 8th or 9th, as was often the case with the Cards)? Maybe he got a lot of ABs in the two hole when he was hot--got switched there from the 8th spot. Maybe he hit second a lot against left-handed pitchers while he was in a platoon with somebody. Maybe it's just not a huge sample and the fact that his performance coincided with a particular spot in the lineup doesn't have much to do with anything (I suspect this is a big part of Soriano's numbers).
Re: It could be MUCH worse
Miles hit more often #2 (151 ABs) than anywhere else in the lineup in 2008. He posted .358 avg/.390 oba/.834 ops numbers there.
He hit 7th (.351/.398/.866) and 9th (.255/.311/.602) next most often. As a leadoff hitter he did OK (.286/.348/.729) but only made 23 appearances in that spot. Not sure how many games he started as a #1 hitter.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
About 43% (163/375) of Miles's total career plate appearances in 2-spot came in 2008--his best year to date.
This doesn't prove much, but here's the two most obvious takes on it that I can see:
1. My take: That a Miles's career numbers in the two spot are inflated by his good year last year, which I think he'll have trouble repeating. Also, it could be that his numbers in the #1 spot have been deflated by his poor years in Colorado--maybe he's improved since then and he really is the .350 OBP guy he was last year.
2. Another take: Maybe part of Miles's good performance in 2008 is due to his increase in plate appearance in the 2-hole, where he can hit behind the runner, has Pujols batting behind him, lay down a bunt once in a while, and possibly feels most comfortable.
Also, since we brought up Soriano's numbers, I ran through some of his season splits on Baseball Reference. I noticed that in during some years he actually hit better in the #5 or #3 spot than he did in the leadoff spot that year. Maybe Lou should take a look at that. His OBPs in those spots are a somewhat below his career norm, but his slugging percentage is pretty good. Oh, and he's experienced lower BABIP in those spots than the leadoff spot. Which could mean a number of things.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
You're right on both points, and it's true, the figures are going to be affected by so much from year to year. Soriano could have hit better 1st or 3rd or 5th in the seasons you cite because he was in a better lineup, or a lineup more suited to his hitting philosophy (such as it is).
As for Miles, he won't be batting 2nd in a lineup featuring Pujols this season. And I wonder what affect having a position player batting 9th had on his approach. Probably very little with Pujols behind him, but it might be interesting to ponder.
Re: It could be MUCH worse
Thank you for pointing that out. Miles probably saw 10 breaking balls in his 151 PA's batting 2nd in 2008.
Re: I've Just Experienced a Sudden Increase in Affection for Aar
The Who would agree with him. They can see (for) Miles...
Re: I'v Affection for Aaron Miles
Some nice drawings of the soon-to-be coldest ballpark in baseball.
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ym...
miles
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the same LaRussa that ran out:
Brent Gates
Walt Weiss
Mike Bordick
Frank Menechino
FP Santangelo
Eckstein
As his starting middle infielders a lion's share of his managing career?
So he likes scrappy white guys. What are you going to do?
Re: miles
I think he may be referring to the manager who has won, what - three or four rings and has the highest winning percentage over the longest career of anone currently in the biz.
He's proven he's the best in the business an an innovator, all hate aside.
Re: miles
He's won 2.
And one could argue that Dave Duncan and PED's have as much to do with it than LaRussa.
Even though I do really like LaRussa as a manager. He does seem to really love to small-ball it up. Other than Miguel Tejada and Edgar Renteria. I can't think of any dynamic middle infielder that LaRussa has managed.
Re: miles
For the record, when Miles initially signed with the Cubs, LaRussa called him the "best teammate" he's ever had. Referring to those fabled intangibles, I would imagine.
Re: miles
I'll have to file this under "who cares?"
Sorry, Cubnut, but I just fail to see why this matters. Maybe it's like when you're talking to that slightly unattractive girl you don't have any real interest in, then she gets a boyfriend or starts talking to some other guy, and all of a sudden you want her.
So... I guess in this case Miles is the slightly unattractive girl and Tony LaRussa is the boyfriend. And the Cubs are the emotionally damaged guy stuck in the middle.
Eh...
Nevermind. Hey btw, Aaron, you mad at me for calling you a douche a while back? I hope you didn't take that too seriously.
Re: miles
It's an internet message board.
Ive gotten over it
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