By Terry Benish
Special to The Sports Paper
I’ve attached a link at the bottom to a really nice piece at Lookout Landing on Jacoby Ellsbury. In addition there also is a link to his Baseball Reference page. Pay attention to his stats in 2011. He had an absolutely monstrous year, all kinds of power, the running and on-bag, just a marvelous season. Kind of like Brady Anderson’s season in 1996 when he hit 50 bombs. Right now their career OPS is almost identical, .787 for Anderson to .789 for Ellsbury.
I’m a blogger and not a reporter, so I think I’m burying the lead here pretty bad, but despite being similar now, the game is really different now than 1996.
How different you ask?
In the just completed season there were 29 hitters that had OPS of .800 or better. There were two hitters in excess of 1.000 in Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and Chris Davis of the Orioles. Nobody from the Mariners in 2013 was part of that group of 29.
In 1996 in the American League there were 53 players that had OPS in excess of .800, and there were 10 players in excess of 1.000, including Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. In addition to those three hitters, Jay Buhner’s OPS was in excess of .900 and a forgotten first baseman named Paul Sorrento had an OPS OF .878.
Tons more offense and drugs all kinds of things come into play as explanations.
So they hit in the Kingdome too and there were no drug tests then. I’m not accusing anyone, but, well, it’s out there.
It was an 85 win team for Seattle in 1996 that today due to wildcards would have nudged into playoffs, but the format then did not allow for that.
If Ellsbury played in 1996 his 2013 .781 would be 56th best. This year he’s 37th best in the league.
Now teams run more. There is no more – paraphrasing Earl Weaver baseball ‑ a walk, a bloop and a blast.
In the American League with the designated hitter you don’t see much bunting, but there are some exceptions, Texas and Houston bunted in the high 40s, successfully. The M’s were near the bottom with 26 successful sacrifices in the park most conducive to small ball. Next to Detroit, Seattle was last in league in stolen bases with 49.
So tell me Sterdly the bookworm, what’s the point?
Last winter the M’s signed or traded for Raul Ibanez, Michael Morse, Kendrys Morales, Jason Bay, Kelly Shoppach and counted on Franklin Gutierrez to provide epic baseball, 1996 style, to score more runs.
The Wedgester managed like that too. He was doing classic Earl Weaver stuff. The M’s did score five more runs than last year, but not 100 more.
Why do I keep saying that?
There are fewer boppers in the game now as the simple exercise before showed. None of the guys they brought over last winter should have been expected to be big boppers. That Ibanez went nuts for three months was like a time machine event that probably will not be replicated. The rest were either breaking down or already demonstrably bad.
A hitter like Jacoby Ellsbury is more valuable now than he would have been in 1996.
Is this a recant of what I wrote yesterday?
Nope, there are no real talks underway, right now. It’s against the rules.
But what is really possible is Ellsbury’s agent is using Ken Rosenthal, who first reported the M’s would sign Ellsbury on FOXSports.com, to troll the Mariners around to start the bidding, with the Ms being the bait.
The M’s don’ even have to have talked with Ellsbury’s agent Scott Boras yet, but there is still a big hook in their shorts as they get pulled through the water.
Jack Zduriencik’s voice might be a little squeaky right about now. If Jack is talking to Boras, if he is, he’s probably a little angry at Boras now.
If he is not, then he’s really pissed.
There have been Scott Boras clients that played for the Mariners as free agent signings. Kevin Millwood is an example of that. Dustin Ackley and James Paxton are Boras clients.
Joe Saunders and Jeremy Bonderman had somebody named Greg Genske as their agent, which is the LS Legacy Sports group. They have a bunch of Mariner guys.
Is Ellsbury going to be a Mariner?
Anything might be possible, but I would be shocked if he took their offer, unless they were bidding against themselves.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/e/ellsbja01.shtml