Somehow I completely missed this Infield Predator blogging that happened in the Ryan Theriot world. My apologies...I have not been sharp in the off season. Everyone else seems to have better comments than me so I need to digest them and come up with something original. I can leave you with the fact that I do not believe Theriot to be a lead off man. Probably not even a #2 guy. But he fits great in the 7th or 8th spot of this lineup to get the meat of our order advancing bases or scoring from position.
Let's not forget that our major reason for loving The Riot are his intangibles. You can't measure how many times his hustle beat out a throw. Its hard to measure the amount of great defensive plays. You don't score how many times his great attitude rubs off on the superstars. Quiet leaders by example are not recognized.
This may sound absolutely insane. But had the Cubs done something in the playoffs or even won the World Series, I do not believe it would have been a stretch for Cubs Nation to be describing Theriot's intangibles in similar fashion to how Yankees Nation touts Jeter's intangibles. Granted, the stats are not even remotely close to Jeter's, but every day I see Theriot making plays in the field and on the base paths in similar fashion to Mr. Jeter. If Theriot can raise that BA to the .290-.300 level, Cubs fans will adore this kid for years to come. Everything else is there in his game except his BA and OBP. Let's give him another full year.
So I continue to salute The Riot. He's still our guy. More than anything I want him to break out this year, but I do admit that another .260-ish season and the predator may attack....But it won't be Ronny "Ron" Cedeno. What a joke.
Some fun links regarding this space:
The Other Fifteen
Ted Lilly Fan Club
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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5 comments:
You...Do understand that he's not particularly good at playing baseball - right?
Please give me production and keep your intangibles. Ryan Theriot is not very good at baseball.
Oh yeah, we'll you're not very good at being anonymous... Isn't that true... Mr. Cedeno?
Theriot is the spark plug for the Cubs. I'm glad Lou had the sense to start him at short and trade away Izturis.
It's fine. If you understand the facts and stats of baseball, You don't like Theriot because it is obvious he is a MAJOR negative offensively and defensively.
If you don't like facts or stats, and live in the world of fairy dust and unicorns, you just LOVE Theriot.
I would be embarrassed to be compared to him, because it means you are almost 30, have no upside, have ABSOLUTELY no baseball skills, but you try OH SO HARD!
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