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What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
http://www.philliesphans.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41641		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  olgrandad [ 5/31/09, 9:41 pm ]
Post subject:  What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
Did anyone see this piece at mlbtraderumors.com? A Seattle writer has some nice things to say about Raooooool and tries to explain his performance in Philly (vs. Seattle). I thought it was interesting.
Author:  phillychuck [ 5/31/09, 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
Link?
Author:  The Savior [ 5/31/09, 9:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
What's Going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?

Quote:
I suspect the ballpark has plenty to do with what's happened for Ibáñez at the plate and in the field. Citizens Bank Park is much more of a hitter's park than Safeco Field. One could argue that Ibáñez has gotten a bit lucky with a .331 batting average on balls put in play (MLB average is usually about .290). His line drive rate of 14 percent is lower than it usually is, which tells you he's not scorching the ball all the time. But his career average on balls put into play has been about .316, so I'm not sure he's that lucky on balls falling in for hits
Author:  tom81 [ 5/31/09, 11:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
I was surprised the writer didn't mentioned the effect of hitting in a great lineup. :wink:
Author:  phillychuck [ 5/31/09, 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
I was surprised when the writer, who seemed Sabr-savvy, didn't mention that a good hitter could be a great hitter for two months just because of the small sample size. He did it for 3 months in June/July/Aug 2002 (and again in June 2006). And the park DOES help him a bit with his numbers, too, in comparison with Seattle, so it even looks better than it is.

I don't think he'll hit 17 HR in a two month period for the rest of his career, honestly, but thank goodness he did it now for us.
Author:  allentown [ 6/1/09, 6:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
phillychuck wrote:
I was surprised when the writer, who seemed Sabr-savvy, didn't mention that a good hitter could be a great hitter for two months just because of the small sample size. He did it for 3 months in June/July/Aug 2002 (and again in June 2006). And the park DOES help him a bit with his numbers, too, in comparison with Seattle, so it even looks better than it is.

I don't think he'll hit 17 HR in a two month period for the rest of his career, honestly, but thank goodness he did it now for us.

Road OPS this season is 1.05 and with almost identical AB, he has one more HR on the road than at home. So the success does not seem to be due to CBP.

In prior years he had somewhat better OPS on the road than at Safeco, and the difference was large in 2007. However, last year he hit better in Safeco than on the road, by about 25 OPS points and had 5 more HR at home in fewer AB than he had on the road.

His performance for the first two months of this season is very strange. How many guys have career years at his age? I don't think the AL pitching is that much better. It's possible that Manuel has refined his hitting a tad, but the change seems big for that.

Yes, two months is not a big sample size, but it isn't super small either.
Author:  bkeich [ 6/1/09, 11:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
allentown wrote:
...
His performance for the first two months of this season is very strange. How many guys have career years at his age? I don't think the AL pitching is that much better. It's possible that Manuel has refined his hitting a tad, but the change seems big for that.


I actually think it is simpler than that. Yes, it is odd that his best period is at age 37, but other than those 2 months his best period was at age 34-36. Something either changed or clicked 3 years ago with this guy, and while I dont expect him to continue at his OPS+ of 173, I think something around 130 is credible. He was in the mid 120s for the last 3 seasons and now he has a much better lineup around him.

I have never bought into the concerns of this guys age, he has gotten better in his mid 30s and I think part of that is his reputation as a "workout junkie".

Even his defense has been OK, not the unmitigated disaster it was rumored to be.
Author:  mobcommish [ 6/3/09, 11:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
same sort of question was brought up another site. The blogger is making a statement about the effect of steroids on the culture of baseball and makes his point by saying, how can we not look at what the 37-year-old Raul Ibáñez is doing and speculate about steroids? I blogged a little about it on my site too and the truth is, sadly, we must speculate about Raul because it's gotten to the point that we just can't know anymore.

here's the link to the blog that posted the Raul question:

http://itsaboutthemoney.blogspot.com/20 ... can-i.html
Author:  tom81 [ 6/4/09, 1:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
Loved this quote:
Quote:
Maybe it's due to having Howard, Utley, Victorino, et al surrounding him instead of Yunieski Betancourt, Adrian Beltre and Russell Branyan.
Author:  Sixerboy3 [ 6/4/09, 2:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
tom81 wrote:
Loved this quote:
Quote:
Maybe it's due to having Howard, Utley, Victorino, et al surrounding him instead of Yunieski Betancourt, Adrian Beltre and Russell Branyan.


I think that has a huge part to do with his success. It is very similar to Aaron Rowand a couple of seasons ago. He was an all-star as a "complementary" piece of this lineup and now is relied upon to be the #3 hitter for the Giants. Ibáñez was expected to be THE guy for the Mariners and he now thrives in a role where the opposition has to worry about other guys in our lineup.
Author:  joboggi [ 6/4/09, 2:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
I found it. When Raul hits with runners on, he hits at this level consistently over the last three years. Last year, there were only 671 runs scored by Seattle. There were not nearly the number of base runners. Add to that the improved lineup and you should not be talking about much of an improvement in Raul.

See for yourself.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/s ... e=batting3
Author:  phillychuck [ 6/4/09, 6:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
joboggi wrote:
I found it. When Raul hits with runners on, he hits at this level consistently over the last three years. Last year, there were only 671 runs scored by Seattle. There were not nearly the number of base runners. Add to that the improved lineup and you should not be talking about much of an improvement in Raul.

See for yourself.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/s ... e=batting3


I'd tend to believe this is a big part of the explanation, along with small sample size fluctuation. Although, his OPS with bases empty right now is 1.144. That might be due to sample size, and his runners on OPS (1.074) might continue...
Author:  donaldorc [ 6/4/09, 8:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
tom81 wrote:
Loved this quote:
Quote:
Maybe it's due to having Howard, Utley, Victorino, et al surrounding him instead of Yunieski Betancourt, Adrian Beltre and Russell Branyan.


I thought Sabr-savvy people claim that protection in a line-up is overrated.
Author:  BT76 [ 6/4/09, 12:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
At least we got him and not the Mets.

Big turn around from all the belly aching over his contract and PtB.
Author:  EastFallowfield [ 6/4/09, 12:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What is going on with Raul Ibáñez in Philadelphia?
He likes to hit with men on base. Getting a lot more situations like that than in Seattle.
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