Will Adam Everett Be the Tigers' Shortstop Again?

“Can someone please explain to me why – aside from reputation – Adam Everett is considered an excellent fielder?

He used to be very good but there’s not a single defensive metric I’ve seen that suggests he is still elite enough to make his .613 OPS acceptable. His fielding rate and his FRAA actually suggest that he’s a below average fielder. And while his UZR is one ot the 3 best in the AL I don’t think that makes up for his bat.

I agree with the President, Vice President and Secretary of the Casey Crosby Fanclub (can I be the Treasurer?) – despite his error totals this past season – Dlugach is considered an excellent defender. Most translations and reports that I’ve read suggest that he’s probably a .250 hitter with an OPS around .700. That’s nearly 100 points of OPS higher than Adam Everett. Is Dlugach a great option? No. But if the choice is between good defense, terrible offense and $2M+ or good defense, relatively average offense for a SS and $400K, I’m taking the latter.

Concerns about Dlugach and Sizemore coming up at the same time I think are overblown. In fact since Sizemore and Dlugach PLAYED TOGETHER they’d probably have an easier time finding a rhythm than just about any other option.

Adam Everett is a nice guy but a sub-standard baseball player. If he isn’t in a Tiger uniform next season we’re a better team and roughly $1.5M dollars richer."

“I’m fully aware that the reputation is earned but his reputation isn’t what turns batted balls into outs.

My point is that fans and sportswriters throw around "excellent fielder" a lot and I think it’s because he’s regarded as such, not because he actually is an excellent fielder anymore. Sure, if we go by UZR he’s one of the three best in the AL but other metrics that used to rate him very favorably didn’t in 2009. Ultimately he’s a good fielder but in my opinion he’s not nearly good enough to make up for his bat.

His defense used to be worth nearly 2 wins a season but this year he had a WAR under 1 and a WARP of -0.6. This is not a guy I want to bend over backwards trying to resign."

“What I’m saying is that he was NOT an excellent fielder in 2009. What I am also saying is that being an excellent fielder in 2006 does not make you an excellent fielder in 2009.

Does being an excellent fielder in 2006 make you an excellent fielder in 2010? Maybe. But for the sake of a few million dollars and a hundred points in OPS I’m willing to miss out on that chance.

Stats:
His Fielding Runs Above Average was -3 and his Fielding Rate was 97 which is below average. Among traditional stats he was among the bottom 3 in range factor and fielding percentage.

I don’t want to choose any of these stats over UZR. My only point is that choosing ONLY UZR paints an incomplete picture.

As mentioned before the guy has definitely lost a step and he absolutely isn’t the fielder in 2009 that he used to be, nor is he – in my opinion – a fielder who can shoulder his abysmal offensive production. If you want to stake your claim that his reputation will see him rise again as THE elite fielder in his league (which is exactly what he was in ‘06) at the age of 33 that’s fine, I simply disagree."

“The only thing I disagree with here is this notion that our competition will be so much better. The sox probably have less payroll flexibility than the tigers do. And while they did add peavy we don’t have a clear picture of how he’ll adjust to the AL or how he’ll fare in a park so drastically different from petco. On top of that thome may not return and the sox may actually depend on rios over dye to generate offense in RF.

The Twins aren’t adding any big names either but they will potentially have full seasons from mauer, morneau and slowey. That said I think the tigers can expect improvements too. Granderson likely has a better season in him and even 2/3 of a healthy season from guillen and/or bonderman will be huge.

We certainly aren’t the class of the division but I have trouble believing that 2010 will play out worse than 2009.

I also don’t understand why you have iorg – who clearly isn’t ready – leapfrogging dlugach."

“Petco is the hardest park to hit in for both left- and right-handers—it reduces offense by four percentage points more from each side than the second most difficult stadiums in those categories, and a big part of that is homers. It’s the toughest park for homers from both sides of the plate, but unlike Fenway (for example), where doubles are increased at the expense of homers, Petco just taketh without any giveth in return. Peavy’s new digs are in the top five for homer-friendliest for both lefties and righties, which is a huge swing; throw in the fact he’s moving to the AL, and you get the feeling Peavy isn’t quite sure what he said yes to yet.

Peavy already gives up his share of homers on the road—he gave up 13 in 75 2/3 innings against four in 98 at home last year, and even when he was on, the split was apparent (eight in 98 road innings against five in 125 home in 2007). If his base rate for homers allowed is over one per nine—or well over, as his road numbers from 2008 suggest—then The Cell is going to be a nightmare for him, especially when you factor in how well lefties hit the right-handed Peavy even with Petco in play (.248/.316/.406 from 2006-2008, and .276/.355/.442 this year).

Offensively the Sox had 4 players with an OPS+ over 100. One of them was traded and the other may not return if his option is declined.

How you guys figure they’re going to improve by 8 wins is beyond me."