The Good, The Bad, and The Kotsay

by gondeee on Jan 16, 2008 10:12 AM EST in Braves Trade News

I'm past my upset phase of the Mark Kotsay deal and I've moved on to acceptance. One reassuring comment that helped ease my pain came from Tyler Bleszinski of Athletics Nation. For those of you who don't know, Blez is one of the preeminent baseball bloggers around the web and one of the driving forces behind SB Nation, as well as a rabid A's fan. He had this to say when I asked him to reassure me that there was an ounce of value in Kotsay:

To be completely honest, I loved Kotsay. He was probably my favorite Athletic the last few years but mostly because he was one of the greatest centerfielders I'd ever seen. He gets a break on a ball better than anyone I've ever seen. He's moving as the ball hits the bat so he doesn't have the Hunter-like highlights of diving for balls because he's generally already there.

At the same time he's a little slower now and back surgeries haven't helped. I think he could have a good season if he's healthy, but I'm not sure if it's going to last.

Thanks and best of luck to him. I'm going to have to retire my Kotsay tee. (cries)

This is the part of Kotsay's game that we can't read about in a box score and something that doesn't show up in his end of season stats. I had heard that he was a good defender, but perhaps we need to upgrade that to above average defender. Still, we have to "hope" that Kotsay is healthy and that he hasn't lost a step.

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

For What Its Worth

Here are baseball Prospectus' Fieldings Runs Against Average for
Kotsay. The last column is that of Andruw Jones

2003 21 21
2004 15 16
2005 -7 8
2006 -12 2
2007 -1 13

This suggests he is quite good but losing a step. I think BP's numbers undervalue Andruw somewhat -- although they do confirm that he was one of the best in baseball history in his prime.

Does anyone have the Fielding Bible?

by mhsiegel14 on Jan 17, 2008 2:20 AM EST reply actions

Kotsay's back

started bothering him during the 2005 season.

Based on those numbers, he's nearly as good as Andruw when he's healthy.

by kray1000 on Jan 17, 2008 5:44 AM EST up reply actions

Andruw

Albeit I have never watched Kotsay on a regular basis but I do watch Sportscenter religiously and I dont think I have ever seen anyone "nearly" as good as Andruw. Hunter can go back on the ball and make some highlight reel catches but when Andruw does it ...its more like..."yawn"...ho hum...yeah, he does it all the time.

A few years ago Andruw had over 500 putouts in CF...no other outfielder even had 400. Thats more than a 20% increase in putouts over the next Gold Glove outfielder. Granted, he is not that fast anymore but he gets a good jump and the Bravos have always positioned their defense well.

by jadarm on Jan 21, 2008 3:07 PM EST reply actions