Will the Real Josh Beckett Please Stand Up?
Every Owner Has His Josh BeckettSeattle- When the 2006 Molson Baseball League Draft concluded, Seattle Mariners manager Carlton Fisk reviewed his depth chart entering the season and figured the trio of Roger Clemens, Josh Beckett, and Jason Marquis would perform well enough to give the Mariners a chance to win in 90 of their games, even with the anticipated health issues facing Ben Sheets and Rich Harden. Roger Clemens, of course, has been a steady performer for years and is a sure first-ballot hall of fame player. Marquis was a workhorse, but one whose groundball tendencies seemed to favor Safeco Field. Beckett--the lone holdover of the three from last season's World Series team--seemed the safest bet, especially with memories of his Game Two one-hitter against the Giants last year.
First impressions are often wrong. Badly wrong.
On a team that currently sits first in the Capitol Division at 85-53, Josh Beckett is 6-11 with a 5.57 ERA with two starts remaining. Righties are blasting him to the tune of a .336 average with a .554 slugging percentage, well above the real-life .252/.389 figures. Park differences? Safeco Field is tougher on lefty power than Dolphins Stadium, although the two parks overall similarly affect big flies. Beckett has given up 50% more homeruns than he did in MLB last year.
Hell, unlike most MBL hurlers, he is even underperforming at the plate. He has been absolutely horrid. Consistently. The top line shows his real-life performance, the bottom his status in the Molson League.
Since Beckett is getting rocked in Boston this season, I suspect next year he will contend for the Cy Young in the Molson League, but it may not be in the Pacific Northwest.
So, if he sucks, what about the other Mariners?
Beckett seems to be my outlier player this season, although others seems to be performing well off their standard.
The Pros:
Jeremy Reed, offensively doing much better than in real life.
Jason Marquis? Yes, he's 18-7, but his statistics are otherwise in-line with real life.
The Cons:
Joe Mauer, BA-OBP-SLG all -.050 despite being platooned in the MBL.
Joey Gathright, light years behind his reverse-platoon.
So, who are your favorites on your squad?
posted by Shotgun Sam @ 9:40 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Most of the Marlins are performing more or less the way they're supposed to, with a few exceptions:
Pros:
Curtis Granderson, in part-time play, is the only guy seriously outperforming expectations, though I think a lot of it is platoon usage differences.
Cons:
I think Ray Durham has underperformed by 15-25% pretty much every year I've had him, and this year isn't an exception. Kotsay had an off year in real life, and an off-er one in the MBL. Brian Giles has underperformed too, but the real goat has been Craig Wilson, who hit .264/.387/.421 in real life, but likely won't conquer the Mendoza line in the MBL, hitting .184/.315/.305, and that with more favorable platoon usage than in real life.
Boston has no complaints: AROD has had a power surge, but Gomes has hit like any recent Giant draft choice.
The bullpen has the usual assotment of surprise bombadiers,but that's short sample size more than anything, except for Rudy Seanez who I have in several leagues and nearly doubled his ERA in each
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