Comments on: Manny speaks! http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/ Media, Baseball, Boston, the Red Sox, Music, Literature, and Mnookins Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:33:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Joe in NYC http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-34347 Joe in NYC Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:46:57 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-34347 Since this article came out, just about everybody has been referring to Manny as the best right-handed hitter of the past 20 years, clearly removing from the discussion any comparison to Bonds (and perhaps Griffey or. But putting aside the Red Sox-Yankees context (and yes, I live in NYC and root for the Yankees, but above all I am a baseball fan), is Ramirez really a better hitter than Rodriguez. Of all the other great right-handed hitters of the past 20 years, Vlad, Bagwell, Piazza, Sheffield, Schmidt, McGwire, the 3 that rise to the top in terms of being the best are Thomas, Manny and ARod. In terms of OBP*, they are at 424, 410, and 386. In terms of SLG*, they are at 565, 598, and 576. *stats through 2006 I would say that Thomas and Manny are pretty even, and ARod seems just a shade worse as a hitter because of his lower OBP. But what complicates the discussion is their ages: 39, 35, 31. Even though ARod is by far the youngest, he plays the most and has as many plate appearances as does Manny (7841) and is only 2 seasons behind Thomas (9221). He is going to end up with counting stats far and above either Thomas or Manny. Anyway, makes for a great debate. Are any of them as good as Wagner, FRobinson, or Greenberg were? Since this article came out, just about everybody has been referring to Manny as the best right-handed hitter of the past 20 years, clearly removing from the discussion any comparison to Bonds (and perhaps Griffey or.

But putting aside the Red Sox-Yankees context (and yes, I live in NYC and root for the Yankees, but above all I am a baseball fan), is Ramirez really a better hitter than Rodriguez. Of all the other great right-handed hitters of the past 20 years, Vlad, Bagwell, Piazza, Sheffield, Schmidt, McGwire, the 3 that rise to the top in terms of being the best are Thomas, Manny and ARod.

In terms of OBP*, they are at 424, 410, and 386.
In terms of SLG*, they are at 565, 598, and 576.
*stats through 2006

I would say that Thomas and Manny are pretty even, and ARod seems just a shade worse as a hitter because of his lower OBP.

But what complicates the discussion is their ages: 39, 35, 31. Even though ARod is by far the youngest, he plays the most and has as many plate appearances as does Manny (7841) and is only 2 seasons behind Thomas (9221). He is going to end up with counting stats far and above either Thomas or Manny.

Anyway, makes for a great debate. Are any of them as good as Wagner, FRobinson, or Greenberg were?

]]> By: kinshane http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33538 kinshane Tue, 17 Apr 2007 20:43:48 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33538 No matter how silly Manny gets, I love the man. I think it is the fact that I got to see a future first-round Hall of Famer play every time I went to Fenway these past five years. I saw Clemens pitch once and Pedro pitch once. I saw Jim Rice play a bunch of times, but who knows if they'll ever let him in? He can get stupid and Be Manny all he wants. No matter how silly Manny gets, I love the man. I think it is the fact that I got to see a future first-round Hall of Famer play every time I went to Fenway these past five years. I saw Clemens pitch once and Pedro pitch once. I saw Jim Rice play a bunch of times, but who knows if they’ll ever let him in? He can get stupid and Be Manny all he wants.

]]> By: concord2123 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33304 concord2123 Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:55:40 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33304 Does the article mention how pixellated Manny has become? Does the article mention how pixellated Manny has become?

]]> By: HFXBOB http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33170 HFXBOB Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:43:14 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33170 Good article. Next thing I'm waiting to see about Manny is some analysis of why he has been getting off to such slow starts the last couple of years. Is it a combination of age and weather? Well, when he does heat up, I'm sure that as Big Papi says (I think), somebody got to pay. Good article. Next thing I’m waiting to see about Manny is some analysis of why he has been getting off to such slow starts the last couple of years. Is it a combination of age and weather? Well, when he does heat up, I’m sure that as Big Papi says (I think), somebody got to pay.

]]> By: britsoxfan http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33098 britsoxfan Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:38:11 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33098 You are teetering on Tom Cruise-style lifts in that photo, Seth. You are teetering on Tom Cruise-style lifts in that photo, Seth.

]]> By: tinisoli http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33030 tinisoli Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:49:50 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33030 I'm not too worried about the WEEI crowd trotting out the "Prohibit City" malapropism as a proof of Manny's idiocy; those philistines are themselves too dumb to know what he was referring to. And in the post-Imus age, nobody's going to be testing the waters. It would actually be a real sign of progress if every year we didn't need to have Tim McCarver tell us during a game, or Bob Ryan or Shaughnessy in their columns, that Manny is not actually retarded. It's a little like the politicians who praise Barack Obama for being "clean" or "articulate." I’m not too worried about the WEEI crowd trotting out the “Prohibit City” malapropism as a proof of Manny’s idiocy; those philistines are themselves too dumb to know what he was referring to. And in the post-Imus age, nobody’s going to be testing the waters. It would actually be a real sign of progress if every year we didn’t need to have Tim McCarver tell us during a game, or Bob Ryan or Shaughnessy in their columns, that Manny is not actually retarded. It’s a little like the politicians who praise Barack Obama for being “clean” or “articulate.”

]]> By: nolofinwe http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33011 nolofinwe Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:21:10 +0000 http://www.sethmnookin.com/blog/2007/04/15/manny-speaks/#comment-33011 Oh, when you said "comes out tomorrow," you meant not today. Oops. Here is the article about James - interesting read: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/07/14/030714fa_fact1?currentPage=1" rel="nofollow">The Professor of Baseball</a>. Oh, when you said “comes out tomorrow,” you meant not today. Oops. Here is the article about James - interesting read: The Professor of Baseball.

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