A look at double play turning, from FanGraphs

The amazing crew at FanGraphs has added ARM runs and double play runs (DPR), so we have new ways to fill time picking apart potential defensive combos for the season before the team ever takes the field. Tonight we’ll check out some of the middle infield candidates, and see how they stack up against one another when it comes to making the pivot on double plays.

Player                        2008          Career
Mike Aviles SS               0.7             0.7
Alberto Callaspo 2B        0.9             1.2
Willie Bloomquist 2B       0.2             0.4
Willie Bloomquist SS      -0.1            -0.9
Tony Pena Jr SS              0.1             2.3
(For the record: Best among regulars in the MLB: Bobby Crosby with 3.1. Worst: Yunel Escobar with -3.9. None of our middle infield candidates are even close to the bottom 8, so there’s that. Via Beyond the Boxscore.) 

The argument for keeping TPJ on the roster has always been his defense, but I’m not sold on that. I guess he hasn’t been a major leaguer long enough to show whether his really good 2007 defensive season was the real TPJ or if his “meh” ’06 and ’08 seasons were the shortstop he really is. If he really is as good a defender as his ’07 suggests, then sure, he’s a somewhat valid defensive replacement.

(Although, side note: I don’t love the idea of defensive replacements in general. Unless you’ve got an absolute butcher in the field, I don’t like disrupting the group that’s been playing all night with a guy who’s been chewing Dubble Bubble on the bench all night. If it ain’t broke…)

But if his defense is truly closer to his other 2 seasons, then why bother having him on the roster as an infielder? I’d hate to lose an Esteban German in order to keep a TPJ.

Obviously this stat isn’t an overall assessment of someone’s defense, even though I sort of went off on a full-defense tangent. It’s just a number I figured I’d point out about our potential pivot men since FG has blessed the world with it.

We might peek at some outfielders tomorrow, or we might get a bunch of work heaped on us and not have time after all. And we might stop referring to ourselves in the plural right about…now. 

Related posts:

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2. Guillen can play