C Brian McCann
2011: 51 runs 24 home runs 71 RBI 3 steals .270/.351/.466
2012: 44 runs 20 home runs 67 RBI 3 steals .230/.300/.399
1B Ryan Howard (dishonorable mention to Gaby Sanchez, Todd Helton, and Carlos Lee)
2011: 81 runs 33 home runs 116 RBI 1 steal .253/.346/.488
2012: 28 runs 14 home runs 56 RBI 0 steals .219/.295/.423
2B Dan Uggla
2011: 88 runs 36 home runs 82 RBI 1 steal .233/.311/.453
2012: 86 runs 19 home runs 78 RBI 4 steals .220/.348/.384
3B Ryan Roberts
2011: 86 runs 19 home runs 65 RBI 18 steals .249/.341/.427
2012: 51 runs 12 home runs 42 RBI 10 steals .235/.296/.360
SS Troy Tulowitzki
2011: 81 runs 30 home runs 105 RBI 9 steals .302/.372/.544
2012: 33 runs 8 home runs 27 RBI 2 steals .287/.360/.486
OF Justin Upton
2011: 105 runs 31 home runs 88 RBI 21 steals .289/.369/.529
2012: 107 runs 17 home runs 67 RBI 18 steals .280/.355/.430
OF Chris Young
2011: 89 runs 20 home runs 71 RBI 22 steals .236/.331/.420
2012: 36 runs 14 home runs 41 RBI 8 steals .231/.311/.434
OF Logan Morrison
2011: 54 runs 23 home runs 72 RBI 2 steals .247/.330/.468
2012: 30 runs 11 home runs 36 RBI 1 steal .230/.308/.399
SP Roy Halladay
2011: 19-6 2.35 ERA 1.04 WHIP 220 strikeouts
2012: 11-8 4.49 ERA 1.22 WHIP 132 strikeouts
SP Daniel Hudson
2011: 16-12 3.49 ERA 1.20 WHIP 169 strikeouts
2012: 3-2 7.35 ERA 1.63 WHIP 37 strikeouts
SP Tim Lincecum
2011: 13-14 2.74 ERA 1.21 WHIP 220 strikeouts
2012: 10-15 5.18 ERA 1.47 WHIP 190 strikeouts
SP Randy Wolf
2011: 13-10 3.69 ERA 1.32 WHIP 134 strikeouts
2012: 5-10 5.65 ERA 1.57 WHIP 104 strikeouts
SP Jair Jurrjens
2011: 13-6 2.96 ERA 1.22 WHIP 90 strikeouts
2012: 3-4 6.89 ERA 1.86 WHIP 19 strikeouts
RP Fernando Salas
2011: 5-6 2.28 ERA 0.95 WHIP 75 strikeouts 24 saves
2012: 1-4 4.30 ERA 1.42 WHIP 60 strikeouts 0 saves
CL Heath Bell (also considered John Axford, Brian Wilson and Frank Francisco)
2011: 3-4 2.44 ERA 1.15 WHIP 51 strikeouts 43 saves
2012: 4-5 5.09 ERA 1.56 WHIP 59 strikeouts 19 saves
Scroll down to see the AL team. To see the 2011 NL team, go here.
Showing posts with label Uggla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uggla. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Uggla's Benching Unwarranted
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| The sight of Uggla swinging and missing has become all too familiar in 2012 (SBNation) |
But he does not deserve to ride the pine while Atlanta makes a push for the playoffs.
Over the weekend, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez finally benched Uggla, a move some would call merciful given the latter's horrific summer swoon. It goes without saying that the keystone slugger has been a massive disappointment this year. The numbers--almost all of which will represent career lows--speak for themselves. It's not quite the second coming of Adam Dunn's 2011, but it's in the same league as far as precipitous drop-offs are concerned. Over the past three months, Uggla's statistics are downright ugly, even worse than his brutal first half slump last season. He's batted a pathetic .152/.304/.276 with 90 strikeouts in 243 at-bats and just three multi-hit performances. His once steady power stroke disappeared, as he's accumulated only seven home runs and 27 RBI. Because all of Uggla's value is tied up in his offense--he rates as a subpar defender and has no speed to speak of--when he's not hitting, he's not contributing. The Wild Card leading Braves cannot afford such a black hole in their lineup as they try to avoid another September collapse with four weeks of pressure-packed baseball left to play.
But here's the thing; Uggla hasn't been that bad, especially relative to his peers at the position. Among NL second baseman, Uggla ranks first in home runs (17), second in runs scored (72) behind Brandon Phillips, and third in RBI (64) after Phillips and Neil Walker. His 80 walks pace the Senior Circuit, fueling a respectable .339 OBP. And while his power figures have plummeted, his .164 ISO is still great for a middle infielder. His 42.4 extra-base hit percentage (xbh/hits) is a near match with his career 43.3 percent mark, so although he had fewer hits he was still getting a good bang for his buck. Even his 92 OPS+ and 96 wRC+ how his offensive production has been much closer to average than one would initially think.
But wait, there's more. Enhanced by improved defense, Uggla's 1.7 bWAR indicate that he's played well enough to earn an everyday spot (remember that the average big league starter should record at least two bWAR over the course of a full season) and is actually right in line with his performance in 2007 (1.6), 2009 (1.8), and 2011 (1.6 again). And while it seems like forever ago, Uggla enjoyed a strong start to the season. Through the first week in June he had compiled a .276/.384/.492 batting line and was on pace to eclipse 30 home runs and reach the century mark in RBI, runs scored and walks. A month later, he was the National League's starting second baseman at the All-Star Game in Kansas City, even though his triple slash stats had plunged to .221/.351/.395 and would only continue to deteriorate throughout the summer.
But lately Uggla had started to show some signs of life at the plate. He'd notched hits in five consecutive games and swatted a pair of home runs, giving him five for the month of August along with 15 RBI, numbers that project to a 30-90 pace over the course of an entire season.. After sticking with him for that long, it would have made sense for Gonzalez to ride out the storm a little longer and see if his struggling second baseman was on the verge of a late season tear, perhaps an abbreviated version of his monster second half from 2011. At this point, what do you have to lose? With Martin Prado moving from left field to second, you can't tell me that a platoon of Jose Constanza and Reed Johnson in left is going to outproduce Uggla from this point forward. I'd rather take my chances with the three time All-Star with five straight 30 homer seasons everyday of the week, and twice on Sundays.
Especially since he's making $13 million this year, and each of the next three, for that matter.
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