FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

The Hitters

Bottom line for the hitters is that they were pretty average for the national league, and that's a good point for the team. Still not healthy, Reds fan's best hope is that the team cobbles together average pitching while the main 8 of the lineup stays healthy and scores a ton of runs.

For the year, the Reds were tenth in runs scored. But their OBP was on the league average, and they slugged just ever so slightly BELOW the league average. So, .OPS is pretty near the league average.

Here's a player by player run down, comparing their OPS to the NL average for their position.

Sean Casey--Team MVP. Both OBP and SLG well above league average. Hitting 24 dingers with a .324 BA and 46 walks will make you a valuable producer. 44 doubles don't hurt. A great comeback season for Sean, when many Reds fans were ready to cut him loose.

Adam Dunn--Also well above the league average for LF. His SLG @ .569 is almost a point above the league average, while his vaunted .OBP is a little closer to the league average. He walks plenty (108), but doesn't get that many actual hits (151), a novel concept in BeaneBall. Most of all, he K's (195!!), but if you accept the moneyball philosophy, you have to accept that K's are just like any other out. Which they are not, but they are probably closer than people think.

D'Angelo Jiminez--A surprise. For what we are paying, a fine ballplayer. Right on the league average for 2b.

Ryan Freel--Fans love Ryan. I like Ryan a lot. His OBP is OK for a 3b, but NL teams are getting a lot more power from their 3B than Ryan provides. For that, he is below the league average. We need to figure out how to make 3B a power position to compete, which explains the Kearns experiment. Ryan would be an adequate 2B.

Jason Larue--An above average offensive catcher.

Barry Larkin--even in his last year as a Red, he was above average compared to NL shortstops.

WMP--interesting case here. Depends on the positon. If he's in CF, he's above average offensively, but probably not defensively. If he's in RF, he's not sufficient based on an anemic OBP. His power is above average for the position. In short, even if he doesn't improve at all, he's a RF of the future, and a reward to the Reds for patience.

Junior--An above average offensive CF. All numbers above the average, while healthy. Injuries are a shame, because he was getting the job done.

Juan Castro--Below aveage offensively, notwithstanding a hot start. Don't get me wrong--good teams need guys like this, and he has a spot on our team. What you don't need is five guys like him...makes Ryan Freel expendable.

Felipe Lopez--Another surprise. Felipe is basically on average with NL Shortstops based on the 264 BA's last season. He's still only 24. I have hope he may turn into a decent ML Shortstop.

Austin Kearns--Below average, but I don't think anyone doubts he will rebound and become a top offensive force again.

Valentin, Cruz, Larson, Hummel, Bragg, VanderWal, Romano and Clark--all well below the league average--many woefully so. VanderWal a huge disappointment.

Finally, Anderson Machado. Just a point so it doesn't get under the radar, but he was above average in 56 Abs for NL SS. He could be something if we keep an eye on him.

Final result...a healthy offense for this team could contend, if 3b is shored up and Lopez continues to improve along with WMP. Not healthy--we can't afford depth. We really can't.