The Bernstein curse.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Boys, the whole story was an exercise in baiting by Dan. He knows how foolish this kind of analysis looks six weeks into the season. He just wanted to throw something contradictory/iconoclastic out there to get people riled up.

Everyone knows you don't take a guy with a history but only review a snapshot of six weeks as defining who he is. You also don't take a guy with no history and extrapolate with the same limited sample.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Clearly.

Abreu and Rizzo are both talented but have different skill sets.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

It isn't concerning that you have a first baseman who you don't think should be a three hitter in a league without a DH?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The truth is Rizzo will most likely revert to the norm established over his first 1,100 at bats...unclutch with RISP, bad against LHP, pedestrian OBP/power numbers and a BA

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Jimmy has hated Rizzo from day one.

I wont even dignify the "he doesnt get the big ribbies" nonsense


Rizzo has improved against lefties. That was the only thing stopping him from being a very good hitter.

He's looking real good this year and gettting on base is a good thing (despite what Frank Costanza would have you believe about OBP)

And Dolphin, as per usual, Ill have to point out that Rizzo is 23 and is better than Konerko was thru 1100 at bats.

His WAR was 2.2 in 2012, 2.8 in 13 and looking like its trending up again this year. This is called development. Everyone screams that there are peaks and valleys in development, but then they go insane at the first valley.

What?

Roughly 6 first baseman in all of baseball bat third.

Where do most bat then?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

1261AB .281BA 55HR 207RBI
1185AB .242BA 45HR 153RBI

I know there are stats beyond what I have quoted but I don't think they are going to support your assertion either.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

According to yesterday's box score, 5th is the most prevalent, followed by 4th, then 3rd, then 7th, then 2nd.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

All different places.

2nd, 5th, 6th

I mean its a power position traditionally but its not like you NEED to have your best hitter there.


I used to think Rizzo would be a good 6th hitter on a good team. If the improvement against lefites continues then I think he'll end up as a #2 or #5

Where should Rizzo be batting?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Second. I've already said this.

He is a younger Joey Votto, and Joey Votto has finally been placed in the order where he contributes the absolute most value to his team. More AB's...more chances to get driven in...pretty much the same amount of chances to drive runners in.

None of this will matter much if Lake, Castillo, and Olt will always strike out behind him when he gets on base.

_________________
Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Full disclosure, I have said Rizzo is off to a pretty good start this year. He is also only 23 so yes the arrow is and should be pointing up.

However, if the guy Theo and Jed traded for TWICE only ends up as a 6th hitter on a good team, or a 2nd hitter, isn't that kind of an indictment on them? If they were so high on this guy, he should be the 3rd or 4th hitter on an NL team.

Castro should be the 2nd place hitter IMO.

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If we're looking at total runs scored over the course of the season the batting order is absolutely meaningless. You look at pitching that way, Frank, why not hitting too?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Castro could also be a good 2 hitter. I love that his aggressiveness is back, but he still needs to avoid swinging at inside balls. Just because you can make contact doesn't mean you should all the time.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

24 and will be 25 in three months

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Im not sure which at bats you're using for Konerko. How did you come up with 1261?

Anyway

Konerko thru 1478 AB's WAR= 2.5
Rizzo thru 1185 AB's WAR= 5.8

And just for your sake, lets take away defense and just use oWAR
Konerko 1478 2.5
Rizzo thru 1185 3.2

So he's a first baseman who is playing in a position normally not reserved for first baseman in a league where you don't even have a DH to take up the third or fourth spot?

Also, can you clarify what "younger Joey Votto" means, because earlier in the thread Sox fans were accused of being overly optimistic and not remembering Gordon Beckham.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

My mistake. Still young enough to trend upwards, but it seems he isn't going to trend as high as Theo and most Cubs fans thought he would.

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Basically same age as Viciedo. bernstein (Cub fan) logic: Viciedo will regress to the mean. Rizzo will keep getting better.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I know I'm trolling 75% of the time, but you are aware that Konerko wasn't all that good at that stage?

Is Rizzo a "young Paul Konerko" or a "young Joey Votto"?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

First off, I dont think it matters what happened before he got to the Cubs. I mean I dont care that they acquired him twice. He's either good or not.

If he becomes Joey Votto-ish (not as good, but a good defensive extremely high obp guy) then its fine.

#2 hitter should be the guy that has the best plate vision and takes a lot of pitches, imo

Im aware of what he was. You need to tell dolphin.

If this site was around then, dolphin would be telling you Konerko will always be that guy.

Interesting because dolphin seems like a guy who understands the peaks and valleys.


If he becomes anything close to Konerko or Votto, Ill be good

That's a very traditional viewpoint and not really supported by advanced statistics.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I know.

Im not handcuffed to every viewpoint like Bernstein.

Let's get this back on track. Abreu is noticeably superior to Rizzo as of right now. Great call Steve Stone!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You should really stop applying Bernstein's stuff to Cub fans.

And if you think Cub fans are the only ones who are optimistic about their own players, I suggest you read some posts from your Sox fan friends on this board.

So right now there is a noticeable difference between Rizzo and Abreu this season. Thanks for clarifying.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I wonder if Stone would even support his own statement at this point.

Hopefully someone asks him