D-Lee - #3 Hitter?

So what do you all think of our very own Derrek Lee? Personally, I think he is ULTRA over-rated, that is if anyone thinks all that much of him these days other than Lou Piniella. But if you read the comments from The Lou blog, you already know this. Actually, if you have ever talked to me about D-Lee, you already know it too.

While he may be finally out of his DP funk from 2008, he is still just simply NOT clutch and that is a TREMENDOUS flaw for your #3 hitter. Here's a Cubs team that led the NL in runs scored last year, but the #3 hitter in a career high number of plate appearances couldn't manage even 100 RBIs. How is that possible? I'll tell you how...NO POWER! D-Lee finished with a very respectable .291 BA, but managed only 20 HRs in a hitter friendly home ball park. Hmmm. To me, BA is the most overrated stat in baseball. It is not about how many hits you get in a game; its how many runs you score. To that end, the #3, 4, and 5 hitters have the biggest responsibility to drive in those runs. Sometimes you just need a single, but a lot of times you need extra bases so while he hit a respectable .308 with RISP, he only drove in 63 runs in over 180 plate appearances. Now, I won't compare him to Albert Pujols because, as much as it pains me to say it, he's just the best ball player in the game right now although he plays for the mortal enemy (sorry White Sox, I know the Cubs are your mortal enemy, but we just really aren't that concerned about a team we play 6 times a year) Cardinals. But let's compare him to Ryan Howard, shall we? Hey, it's my blog! Ryan Howard batted a smooth .320 with RISP and drove in 90 runs in 223 PAs. For all you anti-math guys out there, that's 27 more RBIs in just 43 more PAs. Further examination shows D-Lee had only 1 HR with RISP while Howard had 12. As a matter of fact, out of D-Lee's pathetic 20 HRs in 2008, only 5 of them were NOT solo while Howard hit 26 out of his 48 HRs with runners on base.

So while Lee hit for a .291 BA, he only drove in 90 RBIs while Howard "only" hit .251 but drove in 146 RBIs. How do you like BA now for an offensive stat?

Just for Rob...since you couldn't lay off protecting your boy D-Lee in my The Lou blog, here's another stat for you...while D-Lee is "average to slightly above average in rbi opportunties", he's tied for the team lead (Ramirez has been hurt and Bradley has been AWFUL) in RBIs with the likes of little Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot (my personal favorite Cub), and Mr. April (a.k.a. Kosuke Fukudome). Even with Fukudome's inflated salary ($11.5 million), if you add all of them together (Theriot - $500K, Fontenot - $430K), they still don't surpass D-Lee's ($13 million).

So, is it D-Lee's fault he just isn't that good? A little, right? But what about the knucklehead that has implanted him in the #3 or #4 spot in the lineup since he's been here? Ya, you know who I'm talking about...The Lou! How long can you live off a career year that happened 4 years ago? That's ancient history at this point, isn't it?

My thanks to the Cot's Baseball Contracts blog for all the salary data - http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/chicago-cubs_112114177768677294.html.

The Lou

What in the world was that lineup against last year's NL Cy Young Award winner? This whole left/righty thing is killing me! Did anyone look up Lincecum's numbers against lefties and righties? Lou went with mostly lefties yesterday (forget that they were mostly AAA players for a second), yet a simple check of the stats shows righties hit .279 off him this year while lefties .197. Does Lou even have a computer? Someone should let him know about www.baseball-reference.com (THE BEST website in the history of the world, by the way) where you can check every stat imaginable. That's a HUGE disparity, don't you think? Maybe something Lou should have been aware of, right?

WHY bench Theriot when he's ON FIRE as he has been all weekend? This is just another big mistake by Lou benching a guy when he's seeing the ball so well. Dusty used to do the same thing. It's like he made a calendar last week and regardless of the situation, he's going with it. Let's see if Theriot can get it going again tonight in Houston.

WHY did Sean Marshall go out there to start the 8th inning? He had a very gutsy effort going to that point and everyone "knew" Marshall was done after finishing up the 7th; everyone apparently except Lou. So very predictably, Marshall goes out there and promptly walks the first batter and allows a single to the second batter. THEN Lou goes to the pen and sticks Samardzija in a jam instead of letting him start the inning fresh. I've got nothing else to say other than that was really STUPID Lou.

Is it me or is Derrek Lee the LEAST clutch player to ever sign a $65 million contract? I'll have another Post dealing with DP Lee as there is too much to say here.

Let's face it...Lou gave away this game. I thought it was called "get-away day" not "give-away day" referring to the fact the Cubs were traveling to Houston right after yesterday's game. Too bad the fans had to pay full price for this give-away. It was a sham from the very first pitch.