Comments on: Wither Chipper?

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:11:06 +0000

Yeah, I guess aging sluggers don’t age anymore – only 10 years ago. History never repeats itself in baseball huh.

By: scott

scott — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Moneyball was written like ten years ago…what the hell are you talking about?

By: Choo

Choo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:31:25 +0000

I’m curious, because history tells us BB rates increase with age even when everything else is falling apart . . . but perhaps it just appears that BB rates increase with age when, in fact, the players who enjoy longer career are those with better BB rates.

There has to be a study on that topic published somewhere.

By: R M

R M — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:26:42 +0000

I am in a deep keeper league waiting on Pedro Alvarez to come up next year….Chipper would probably be his perfect compliment.

By: MBD

MBD — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:19:32 +0000

His oblique injury sapped his power, and I agree with Temo that they played him more than his body could take. He’s a 125-to-130-game guy now. Once he heals over the winter and they start giving him regular days off, they’ll get the best out of him. I think it’s a good sign that he continued to take his walks all year.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:41:22 +0000

He is aging, David Justice was quoted in Moneyball after a routine flyball, “That used to be out,” and the players didn’t question him.

He had some tough luck, but he is not hitting the ball as hard or as far, he could have a steep decline pending injury.

By: Temo

Temo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:58:32 +0000

As a Braves fan who watched 130 games or so this season, I think I can explain Chipper’s season thus far.

He started off well, hitting about as well as he did last year and his luck factor was fine (not too bad luck, not too good).

Then he went into a stretch where every ball he hit was caught and he himself was quoted as saying something to the extent of “I’m feeling fine, hitting the ball fine, and everything’s going well. When I’m actually struggling, you’ll notice that my strikeouts go up, and I haven’t been striking out lately.”

And then his injuries just started to pile up and he DID start striking out and started to actually struggle. Towards the end he was quoted as saying that he’s so banged up that “drawing a walk is a victory for me right now. I’m doing what I can.”

So really, if he stats appear to be a mixed bag, that’s because his season was a mixed bag too. Last year when he got hurt, he sat. This year, with the Braves in contention the whole way, he played through all his injuries and they accumulated, resulting in the performance that we see now.