the joy of sox: Manny's Offensive Decline

November 13, 2005

Manny Ramirez had another great season, but as he has gotten older, his production has dropped (although his HR totals have increased (33-37-43-45)):

       AVG   OBP   SLG    OPS
2002  .349  .450  .647  1.097
2003  .325  .427  .587  1.014
2004  .308  .397  .613  1.010
2005  .292  .388  .594   .982

I still would not trade him.

A loooooooong post on AL MVP coming soon.

Anonymous said...: I wouldn't either, though the team may not have a choice.

But an interview today with a St. Louis sportswriter on XM about Pujols' MVP victory reminded me of our discussion here on the impact of Manny's loss on Ortiz' production.
The writer pointed out that Andruw Jones had his great production "despite little protection" in the line-up, and that many said that was a plus for him. "But," he said, "Albert had even worse protection much of the year, so that argument favors him more!"
Get it? Neither hitter was affected by who batted behind him, and that was still used as further proof of how important "protection" was, because these guys were so great it didn't matter to them!

Thus do myths thrive despite any basis in fact whatsoever...; November 15, 2005 at 11:54 AM