Whoa...an Andruw Jones sighting!

[fbc_fan]

Never really understood why Byrd got the obvious nod over him...

Byrd was legitimately a good player the last 2 years and is doing well to start this year, he deserves playing time. Murphy's PT could be toast though.

He's an average player at best, why you keep that in the line up instead of seeing what someone w/ Jones talent will give you is silly IMO.

actually i was thinking the same thing. i had to go look it up in prospectus but byrd's VORP for the last two years was 25ish in 450 pas. not too shabby. i was surprised to say the least.

[hybrid]

Take away his home stats and he really isn't much of a hitter.

[fbc_fan]

agreed. it was still somewhat of a surprise that he was that productive.

[gmq]

Is it a consensus that Jones' collapse was due to probably steroid use, or? What else could do it? He developed some psychological issues?

[hybrid]

Is it a consensus that Jones' collapse was due to probably steroid use, or? What else could do it? He developed some psychological issues?

I think the consensus is that he got fat and lazy, just didn't take care of himself at all. Not to mention his swing has always been a bit long and prone to slumps/k's.

[WickedSmaat]

could have been those orange glasses, or is he still trying to use those?

[DSheppard]

You cant just take a players road stats and use those as his "real" self, thats not how it works.
Applying a park factor to all his stats is much better analysis, and won't be nearly the huge hit simply looking at road stats is for byrd in particular.

1) Sample size. Don't ever delete half your sample size. A couple partial seasons is a small sample as it is, you can't ignore half of it.
2) MLB home/road splits.. the league as a whole typically has a ~35 point or so split.
3) Road schedule.. the rangers play a disproportionate number of road games in the other 3 al west parks, all pitchers parks who have generally had above average pitching in recent history.
4) History.. the rangers ballpark has historically had about a 90 point ops split for the team between home/road.. When compared to the league with 35 point split its significant and obviously a hitters park, but when you see the occasional 200+ point split you cant decide thats the "real" advantage.

and various other contributing factors...
sorry to rant a bit, but its an argument i see used all the time.

[garf112]

i'm andruw jones and i am hitting .600.

[gmq]

PT for AJ! Let's get this show on the road Andy!

[rookies and cream]

Very curious how TEX is going to handle this. I realize that Byrd/Murphy are going to see a PT decrease, but I really hope Davis doesn't lose a lot of AB's also.