Aside from the fact that Cameron, even at the age of 35, will be an upgrade defensively in centerfield, here are some other numbers that I find a little frightening (having a day or two to think about it).
Cameron's lefty vs. righty splits: He hit .222 vs righties, managed a sub-.300 on base average, with a Matilda-like slugging percentage of .402 -- OPS of .700. Yikes. Considering 72% of his plate appearances occurred against righties, the potential for a dreary season is good.
Cameron did play in a very pitcher-friendly park (Petco) and his numbers are correspondingly dismal and almost identical to his righty splits. The away numbers are a bit better: .254 BA, .341 OBA, .449 SLG and .790 OPS. Still not great, though.
These numbers should frighten anyone. They are his post all-star numbers. Anyone see a downward trend: .213 BA, .332 OBA, .410 SLG and .742 OPS.
Again, the only real positive is he's signed in reality for only one year, and fairly cheaply. Plus, the defense in centerfield will be improved. I suppose he could bat 7th ahead of Kendall, though those bottom three spots are going to hurt the overall attack.
Monday, January 14, 2008
More on Mike Cameron
Posted by Other Side at 9:19 AM
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1 Swings of the bat:
As a Brewer fan I'm slightly mixed on the signing. I realize the runs saved are most likely huge, but I will premise that with that most were expecting Braun to not improve at third. I found that slightly ludicrous and not a bit insulting to a professional athlete.
I watched the Brewers game in, game out. Braun could get to balls just fine. He had a problem with his throws. That seemed entirely correctable to me via repetition and coaching.
All in all, the Crew will be much improved because of this deal over the long haul of the season.
In the playoffs (darn right, we'll be in the Playoffs and not you Cub fans!) I think they're going to be highly susceptible to the better RHP that they might meet: Peavy, Webb, Lowe, Billingsley, maybe Schmidt, Pedro, etc.
Plus, I wonder at this offense- they're just going to try and bludgeon opponents. Once again, over the course of the regular season I think this will work, but in the playoffs there comes a time when you have to get just one darn run. This whiff-prone club is not set up to generate runs without the chick-diggin longball.
The one thing that may be the biggest boon to the clubs is the revamped pen: the Crew should stop blowing so many late leads now thanks to the Riske/Torres additions.
btw...when does Vargas get traded? The Crew have waaaaaaay too many pitchers and Parra needs to learn in the bigs ala Chuck Newhouse. Earl Weaver would be proud.
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