Seriously, you watch the Jeter jump throw and this Alexei play and they take a loooong time to complete. They’re good playts getting to the balls, but those shouldn’t be outs.

The plays that I value as a coach, bsides the obvious, are ranging plays made by IF’s with a runner on second. Even if they don’t get an out, just the fact that they got to the ball, knocked it down, or whatever prevented the runner from rounding third and scoring. I coach that point all season long.

IF’s getting balls like that may save a base here and there, but the only way they get a guy out is if he’s a “piano mover” or “plowhorse”.

I’m guessing Joey Cora also speaks Spanish. *grin*

My guess is Ramirez has been hearing “defense, defense, defense” from Vizquel and Cora (and getting little positioning and mechanics reinforcers consistently).

I would love to see Ramirez be a serious value at SS, and Beckham to return as solid player in 2011. With Rios in center, that goes a long way to being “strong up the middle”. It would be atough trio for other teams to try and match in value.

[1] Alexie has actually, and sur[prisinginly lowered his walk rate from 8% to 4%. Ozzie (3.4% Walk rate for his career) must be thinking "Atta boy".

[2] ARam last year was worth 2.3 WAR and this year already at 2.7WAR. Why?

[3] His offense is up across the board (except walks of course), better BA (BABIP 10 pts above career), better SLG (2B’s and HR’s), but the BIG difference is fielding.

[4] 2009 he was +3 runs fielding, this year he’s +10 runs (2008 = -10 runs). How much of this is SSS and how much is due to having a better defender playing 3B (Vizquel) next to him?

[5] His WAR is way up due to defensive value (1.0 WAR) and change in replacement level.

In Chicago, Alexei has always been rather recognized, and his ability/talent has been a focus of Ozzie. AR10 is extremely athletic (and I don’t use that as some coded knock on his work ethic), but I am skeptical of the fielding runs jump.

I’m glad to see his offense metrics jump up because his “power and speed” combo, given his size, and his position, could be where his most value is.

Again, the defensive value concerns me (the accuracy). Last year the talk was about returning Beckham to his original position (SS) and having Ramirez play 2B. Now, Ramirez is a good defensive SS. It could be accurate, I’d just like to see it for multiple years. -10, 3, 10 could be variance, or could be improvement.

When i see plays like Alexei versus SEA or Jeter’s jump throw, my first reaction is “Who the Hell was running to 1st?” followed by “Were they running hard out of the box?”. I’m more amazed that somebody actually got thrown out on those plays, than I am that a fielder actually made that play.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=10370475

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJo8TGYFVA