What happened to Yuniesky Betancourt?

[rluzinski]

I wish we could get back on track. Is there evidence of Yuni changing his approach and what is it? This seems to show that he's been hitting way more grounders lately:

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=8585&position=SS&page=9&type=full

(scroll to the bottom)

[COBrewerfan]

Yuni is seriously hated on this board. He started poorly and some very smart stats oriented people jumped all over it and acted like he was never going to improve. The latest hot streak really isn't that surprising if you believe in mean reversion for him. Counsell who started awful, but is a favorite had many of the same Yuni haters, had people defending him and acting like he would automatically improve despite his age.

I was absolutely one of the guys that said Counsell should have gotten more playing time, when he was at least getting on base at a .315 clip. Of course as time has progressed, Counsell has been a hack at the plate, and has done nothing to deserve playing time.

 

Every player is going to have defenders and detractors, I don't know why this is surprising to people. The problem with Yuni is not only did he start poor, many people looked at the stats AND the scouting reports AND the fan banter and came to the conclusion that Yuni would be among the worst starting SS's this year. Even WITH his current hot streak, he's one of the worst starting SS's. his offense has, at BEST, minimized the impact of his terrible, statue-esque defense.

 

Poeple say he has 'steady hands on balls he gets to', and that's great. Too many people still use errors as the top judgement tool though. I'd far rather have a shortstop that gets to 90 balls out of 100, and boots 10 of them, than a SS that gets to 60 balls out of 100, and boots 5 of them. The 'error prone' guy is still making 15 more outs. Yes, that's an extreme example, but the people that are saying Yuni's defense 'isn't that bad' are really undervaluing how important the shortstop's defense is to a team.

I would much rather have Greinke and Yuni's middle of the road NL SS stats. Many fail to take thisinto consideration when "trying to improve the team" and coming up with the many scenarios of changes. Maybe when Prince leaves we will use that money to improve SS but while Prince is still here we are stretched out with the payroll and a significant upgrade is not happening. I will take the pitching everytime.

 

[mkm13]

It is amazing the amount of negativity that surrounds him. Yes, he is a bad player and one of the worst starting SS in baseball. I won't argue that. Every team has below average players. Even the packers super bowl team last year had a few very below average players getting playing time. The brewers have 2 players who are starting that are very below average this year. It is not as easy to simply replace them as some people make it out to be. The person Yuni replaced was equally as bad last year. yes, escobar's defense is better..but even he struggled more defensively last year than people were expecting. Ideally, we wouldn't have Yuni..but I will take Grienke+Yuni over the other options. The truth is there are not many good SS or 3rd baseman available. This is not a video game.

Yuni's biggest weakness by many here is his defense...based on the defensive metrics available he is terrible. While I agree his defense is bad for a SS...I am willing to put some trust in the brewers scouts that he might not be quite as bad as it shows and the brewers are using other defensive metrics that are better than a 0.5 correlation factor from year to year (about half that of OPS). On top of the rather poor correlation from year to year, it just seems like they could be skewed slighlty by perception as well.

Not everyone on the team is meant to be above average..everyone has different roles..even on the packers team..I could argue they had a couple very bad players getting significant PT. It would be nice if people focused on the positives more than the negatives. We have a very good team overall..you would hardly no it based on the negativity of a couple of the worst players on the team.

[TooLiveBrew]

It is amazing the amount of negativity that surrounds him. Yes, he is a bad player and one of the worst starting SS in baseball. I won't argue that. Every team has below average players.

 

Below average /= one of the worst at his position in MLB

[gregmag]

Only on the planet that the sabermetric zealots live is Betancourt "about replacement level".

 

I defy any of you zealots to find a replacement SS capable of an 80 AB stretch of .388/.405/.575.

Very interesting choice of invective. In my understanding, these are some qualities of zealots:

 

-- They form conclusions and then stick unwaveringly to those conclusions whether or not circumstances change.

-- They deploy evidence selectively to support their preformed conclusions and never consider evidence that points in the other direction.

-- They only make declarations and never express doubts or ask questions to test their own views.

-- They lump everyone who disagrees with them together into a mass of opponents, rather than considering or responding to gradations in different individuals' contrary views.

-- They call their opponents names and question their opponents' motives or character.

-- If any source of information or insight casts doubt on their views, they dismiss or attack that source wholesale.

 

Looking back at the various discussions of Betancourt, IMHO, I can't see where Betancourt's critics have done those things much, if at all. So I have to take respectful issue with your characterization.

[PKBadger]

It is amazing the amount of negativity that surrounds him. Yes, he is a bad player and one of the worst starting SS in baseball. I won't argue that. Every team has below average players.

 

Below average /= one of the worst at his position in MLB

 

Well, when there's only 30 teams, somebody has to be #30.

Thankfully, we have top-5 players at LF, 1B and 2B to balance it out.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I would much rather have Greinke and Yuni's middle of the road NL SS stats. Many fail to take thisinto consideration when "trying to improve the team" and coming up with the many scenarios of changes. Maybe when Prince leaves we will use that money to improve SS but while Prince is still here we are stretched out with the payroll and a significant upgrade is not happening. I will take the pitching everytime.

I'm not arguing that point. In fact, I'd bet you'd be really hard pressed to hear anyone say they'd rather have Dave Bush and Alcedis Escobar on the roster than Zack Greinke and ANY other ss. What I'm arguing is the statement that this hot streak means anything at all, or that Yuni's defense hasn't been 'all that bad'.

 

His hot streak has still brought his OBP only up to .282, which means he's negative value offensively, and his defense has been brutal.

 

 

(edit: cleaned up code --1992)

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I wish we could get back on track. Is there evidence of Yuni changing his approach and what is it? This seems to show that he's been hitting way more grounders lately:

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=8585&position=SS&page=9&type=full

(scroll to the bottom)

 

One thing mentioned during the games was Sveum getting him to swing at more pitches up in the zone. Without looking at any graphs, he seems to be more selective in looking for the right pitch. With his uppercut swing, the low pitches were just inducing weak fly balls. He doesn't have enough power for that type of swing, so getting him to swing at higher pitches can flatten out his swing a little and get more line drives.

 

As far as the longer term debate: Yes, I am a Yuni detractor. He's not a good fielder...that hasn't changed. His offense was atrocious during the first half which lowered his value even more. I'm glad this hot streak has gotten his hitting back to around were he was expected to be for the year. It couldn't have come at a better time with losing a bat like Rickie's in the lineup. I'm pulling for him to prove me wrong. Just not stinking in the field so much and hitting to his projections with a low OBP and a little higher SLG would be a big improvement from the first half. With no other realistic viable options currently out there, our bed is made.

[topper09er]

It is very difficult as a fan to truely take into account an entire season when evaluating a player, especailly in the context of WAR. Yuni has hit very well for a month, and horribly for 3 months. However, it is difficult to assign blame to him for losses because in the fans mind the hitter is always expected to get out and pitcher is always expected to get the out, the league OBP is around .320 so it heavily favors the pitcher. Because of this Yuni can string together many 0-4 and 1-4 games and in your mind you never think, Yuni cost us that game, whereas when Kam Loe gives up the lead in the 8th in your mind you assign 100% of the blame for the loss to Loe because you expect him to get the outs.

 

Yuni can slide under the radar for 3 months without people having vivd memories of games where they assign 100% of the blame for a loss to him, but in reality his continual terrible OBP costs the teams games compared to a player who would have gotten on more often, just like people tend to forget Loe appeared in 42 games where he allowed no runs which adds up to some wins for us.

 

It is easy to look at the past few weeks and say there is no way Yuni can be at replacement because you give 100% of the win credit because he knocked in a few go ahead runs, yet you arent penalizing him for the games when he went 0-4 and the guy after him hit 2 doubles etc. If you are comparing him against some replacement level player, they are not going to hit .000, so if Yuni had 10 clutch hits you can assume the replacement guy would have hit at least 2-3 of them, and if he got on base at a .200 clip for an entire month you can assume the replacement guy would have reached base more often and scored more runs. From April 30-June 1 the Brewers lost 5 1 run games, where Yuni went a combined 2-17 with 1 RBI, yet in the average fans head he gets 0% of the blame for those losses, but according to WAR those build up enough to counteract his recent hot streak.

 

And now none of this factors in his horrible defense.

 

Plus at the end of the day, how to you think he is going to fare against Roy Halladay or Tim Lincecum in the playoffs? They will make sure to pitch him outside and he will ground into tons of 6-3s.

[Thurston Fluff]

Plus at the end of the day, how to you think he is going to fare against Roy Halladay or Tim Lincecum in the playoffs? They will make sure to pitch him outside and he will ground into tons of 6-3s.

 

As well as I expect any of our players to hit them. Not very well at all. That is why we traded for pitchers who will give their batters the same problem. What we need out of Yuni is to hit the guys he should hit well against. Maybe then he can hit Philly or SF relievers and help us out.

[topper09er]

The point is do you expect Yuni to hit .380/.390/.500 against the Phillies? If the answer is no, then we would be better off starting Counsell at SS every game because his defense upgrade over Yuni is more important than his hitting downgrade from the average Yuni.

 

People are acting like this week Yuni is finally silencing all his critics and now he is justified to continue starting at SS for the remainder of the season, when actually if you expect him to come back down to earth by the playoffs he should not be playing.

 

What we really need out of Yuni is above average defense to counteract his sub .290 OBP, but we are not getting it and he should not play

[geddymd73]

Concerning the losses one run losses in March, April and May.

Cincy (7-6 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4.. This was Axford's loss.

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4

Washington (4-3 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4... error on throw

Philly (5-4 loss), Yuni was 1 for 4

Houston (3-2 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4

May

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4.

SF (5-4 loss ) Yuni was 0 for 4.

San Diego (1-0 loss) Yuni was 0 for 1 pinch hitting.

 

I really don't see how you can blame Yuni for most of these losses offensively or defensively. I really can't. The Washington game for the error ended up being decisive though. Obviously there are other games to consider, but a lot of the other losses were relative blowouts.

[reillymcshane]

Betencourt has been great for the past month. Awesome. He's been critical to our recent success. But he was also a critically awful for 1st half of the season. And I'm not talking about an error in some specific game or a double play in the 9th inning or whatever. I'm talking 300+ plate appearances of .260 OBP. And top it with terrible defense (which, in my opinion, shows pretty much no matter how you look at him - UZR or just watching him on TV or at the game - he's bad - again, my opinion).

 

So now he's hitting pretty much what was expected of him for the 2011. It's what I expected of him. He was bad in 2008. Bad in 2009. Bad in 2010. He is a terrible fielder and an average hitter (for SS). He is exactly what we are getting in 2011 - a bad player. I hope and pray that he keeps it up and soars beyond my expectations. It would be a huge boost to the Crew.

 

Why is he better? Perhaps it just took him time to get settled in the NL. Others have pointed out he tends to hit better in the 2nd half. Maybe he's motivated to improve his numbers since he'll likely be a free agent. It's probably a combination of all of the above and several other things. No matter what, it seems he's our guy for 2011. I hope he rakes and ends up with a career year.

[mkm13]

Some people are just so sure he shouldn't be playing..but nobody can give a better solution of someone that is definitely better that should be playing instead. Again, yes he is bad..but it is not like solid or even slightly below average SS's are readily available.

This team is 65-50 and has the 5th best record in baseball. It has a couple negatives...all teams do. Be thankful for what we have and enjoy it. McGehee and Yuni will get significant PT the rest of the year..it is what it is..nobody is saying they are good..they are not...but people act like it is easy to find a replacement who will perform better.

[Thurston Fluff]

The point is do you expect Yuni to hit .380/.390/.500 against the Phillies? If the answer is no, then we would be better off starting Counsell at SS every game because his defense upgrade over Yuni is more important than his hitting downgrade from the average Yuni.

 

I don't expect any of our batters to hit that against Philly. Why not go all in and remove everybody we shouldn't expect to hit well against them in favor of defense? GoGo in center Plush in right and maybe Harriston JR at third. Pity Carrol is gone his cannon for an arm would have allowed him to play right and we could replace Braun with Plush. Kotsay might be better at first and Prince will struggle against Lee so remove him as well. Yuni isn't a very good overall player. He does have the ability to hit some and he is our best option there this season. He will give us the best chance to beat any team not just the bad ones.

[TooLiveBrew]

It has a couple negatives...all teams do.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=25508

 

Most contending teams don't have nearly as much negative value as the Brewers do this season. I enjoy this team, but if they want to make a serious run at the WS, the major weaknesses should've already been addressed.

[topper09er]

Cincy (7-6 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4.. This was Axford's loss. YUNI WPA = -.04

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4 (.041)

Washington (4-3 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4... error on throw (-.173 + -.15 for the error, at least)

Philly (5-4 loss), Yuni was 1 for 4 (.004)

Houston (3-2 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4 (-.171)

May

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4. (-.082, Yuni was 0-4 this game, not 2-4)

SF (5-4 loss ) Yuni was 0 for 4. (-.149)

San Diego (1-0 loss) Yuni was 0 for 1 pinch hitting. (-.097)

I really don't see how you can blame Yuni for most of these losses offensively or defensively. I really can't. The Washington game for the error ended up being decisive though. Obviously there are other games to consider, but a lot of the other losses were relative blowouts.

The point is that you cant assign blame for a loss to any 1 player ever, this is why the average fan will look at these games and say Yuni should get 0 blame for the losses but when he is hot he should somehow get 100% credit for the wins. Even on opening day McGehee thought to long about where to throw the ball in the 9th and ended up getting 0 outs on a ball hit directly at him.

 

In these games Yuni went 3 for 29, how can you not give him some blame for some of those losses. His aggregate WPA in these games was -.817, almost an entire loss attributed to his lack of getting on base, not counting all the easy grounders he let by that any other SS in the league gets to.

 

In fact, in his last magical 80 ABs covering 22 games where he is hitting .388/.405/.575, his WPA is only .703. So this super hot month has not even counteracted all the negative value he added to our 8 1 run losses in the first half of the season. Again this is not counting his negative defense.

[mkm13]

It has a couple negatives...all teams do.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=25508

 

Most contending teams don't have nearly as much negative value as the Brewers do this season. I enjoy this team, but if they want to make a serious run at the WS, the major weaknesses should've already been addressed.

Well they have the 5th best record in baseball, so maybe they have more very good pieces than other teams too. Every team is made up a little differently. In general, the elite players are given too much credit and the bad players are given too much blame. I still stand by what I said in that there was not really anything available that would bave been a clear and significant upgrade at either 3rd or SS.

 

 

[jjfanec]

It has a couple negatives...all teams do.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=25508

 

Most contending teams don't have nearly as much negative value as the Brewers do this season. I enjoy this team, but if they want to make a serious run at the WS, the major weaknesses should've already been addressed.

The Brewers have the 5th best record in baseball with Hart, Weeks and Braun all missing time and Greinke having a poor first half stat-wise. This team is set up to make a serious run at the World Series as their roster stands right now. Yuni and Casey do hurt them that is for sure, but they have the enough bats and enough pitching to make a serious run. If the Phillies werent a once in a decade type team the Brewers would probably be the favorite in the NL as of this moment.

[rluzinski]

"Some people are just so sure he shouldn't be playing..but nobody can give a better solution of someone that is definitely better that should be playing instead. "

No one can be certain about anything like this but I think Hairston is a clear upgrade over Betancourt.

OFFENSE:

ZiPS ROS Projections:

Betancourt: .272/.295/.399

Hairston: .260/.321/.390

DEFENSE:

Career UZR/150 as SS:

Betancourt: -9.4

Hairston: 2.3

2010 Fan's Scouting Report*:

Betancourt: 34

Hairston: 53

*Scale of 0 - 100; 50 is average; one standard deviation is 20

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

While Gomez is hurt, let Betancourt bat against lefties when Hairston is in CF.

[homer]

I still stand by what I said in that there was not really anything available that would bave been a clear and significant upgrade at either 3rd or SS.

 

There were pieces available. Melvin just didn't have enough of his own pieces (or was unwilling to part with them) to get those players.

[Ayt]

Yuni's biggest weakness by many here is his defense...based on the defensive metrics available he is terrible. While I agree his defense is bad for a SS...I am willing to put some trust in the brewers scouts that he might not be quite as bad as it shows and the brewers are using other defensive metrics that are better than a 0.5 correlation factor from year to year (about half that of OPS). On top of the rather poor correlation from year to year, it just seems like they could be skewed slighlty by perception as well.

 

You don't need any statistics to realize he is an exceptionally terrible defensive shortstop. It should be obvious if you have watched the amount of games I'm assuming most people have watched.

[homer]

Concerning the losses one run losses in March, April and May.

Cincy (7-6 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4.. This was Axford's loss.

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4

Washington (4-3 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4... error on throw

Philly (5-4 loss), Yuni was 1 for 4

Houston (3-2 loss), Yuni was 0 for 4

May

Atlanta (2-1 loss), Yuni was 2 for 4.

SF (5-4 loss ) Yuni was 0 for 4.

San Diego (1-0 loss) Yuni was 0 for 1 pinch hitting.

 

I really don't see how you can blame Yuni for most of these losses offensively or defensively. I really can't. The Washington game for the error ended up being decisive though. Obviously there are other games to consider, but a lot of the other losses were relative blowouts.

But you can't measure lack of range (well you can using UZR) in a win or loss. It's hard to go game by game and say "Well if there had been an average SS playing, the opponent would not have had those two singles which led to two more runs."

[topper09er]

Why not go all in and remove everybody we shouldn't expect to hit well against them in favor of defense?

That would be very smart

 

GoGo in center Plush in right

 

So you need to debate what is the bigger gap, CarGo in CF over Plush in CF and Plush in RF over Hart in RF, OR Hart offense over Gomez offense. It is pretty close and I think worth talking about, I would lean to leaving Hart in however, which also allows for Gomez to be used as a pinch runner to get a possibly crucial SB.

 

and maybe Harriston JR at third.

 

Obviously this would be a smart move, not that it will happen.

 

Pity Carrol is gone his cannon for an arm would have allowed him to play right and we could replace Braun with Plush.

I know this is a joke, but obvioulsy not worth the trade.

 

Kotsay might be better at first and Prince will struggle against Lee so remove him as well.

 

I dont see any reason to think Kotsay would be more than a marginal 1B replacement over Prince, and Prince doesnt struggle against anyone. Against LHP this season: .298/.376/.452

 

Yuni isn't a very good overall player. He does have the ability to hit some

No, he doesnt, he is a horrible hitter, currently he has an 80 wRC+, which is WORST in all MLB for qualifying SS

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2011&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0

 

he is our best option there this season. He will give us the best chance to beat any team not just the bad ones.

Again, no he isnt. Right now Hairston is a better option, he can get on base more often AND play better defense.

[MJLiverock]

"He started poorly and some very smart stats oriented people jumped all over it and acted like he was never going to improve."

 

Who was were they, exactly? If these people didn't think Yuni would improve, they obviously weren't very stat-oriented to begin with. can you site a specific individual, a specific example? The thread is still there.

 

People jumped on Yuni before he ever played an inning for the Brewers. He projected to be a very bad SS, due in large part to his bad defense. While his poor offensive start increased the number of fans who wanted to see him replaced, that came largely from the fans that judge players more on in-season performance than anything else.

 

Betancourt's great July/August has allowed his offensive numbers to rise to close to his preseason expectations:

 

Current: .268/.286/.391

ZiPS projection: .272/.299/.409

 

Sorry if that doesn't excite me.

 

"The level of certainty put of defensive stats and WAR to decimal places leads some down that path of declaring there is a noticable difference between a bunch of bad players. I have no problem saying Yuni is below average defensively, now whether or not he is -11.5 or -7.0 or -2.0, I question how accurate defensive metrics are when combined with very accurate stats like the hitting ones. When a defensive stat like UZR 150 comes up with Craig Counsell is the best fielding SS in baseball this year, over 2x better than Tulo, I tend to question how anyone can use it to the decimal place level for accuracy, or that defensive ability jumps all over the place for a player in his prime."

 

Another straw man argument. No one is using only a small sample of UZR to suggest that Betancourt is a bad defender. No one even needs to rely on only advanced defensive metrics. It doesn't seem like you are arguing in good faith, as all the evidence that suggests Betancourt is a very bad defender has been presented MANY times on this board.

 

I don't "hate" Betancourt; I simply don't like that he projects to be a bad player and he starts for the team I root for.

Without too much searching

color:black">June 10^th

[/b]

 

"I think

Yuni, [based] on what he did last year, deserves his chance to try to see if he

can get back that offense"

reply

Hopefully he was just sticking up for one of his

players.

I don't mind seeing Counsell getting the better

end of a platoon. He still seems to be in pretty good shape and plays

well in the field, so I imagine he can handle it physically. Again,

Counsell won't be a world beater, but he will almost certainly play above replacement

level, while Yuni most likely will not.

 

color:black">June 11

[/b]

 

Really

shortstop should be a Counsell/Wilson platoon at this point. Betancourt should

be sent down to AAA if he has any options left, or just DFAed. He doesn't show

any signs of being competent at the plate while at least Counsell and Wilson

seem to be having quality ABs.

 

color:black">June 13

[/b]

 

mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:black">Betancourt has been about as bad as

the worst expectations. I don't think anyone can honestly say, at this point,

that the concern over him prior to the season was just sensationalism.

color:black">

I'm a pretty patient guy. It takes months to show

real capabilities in baseball not weeks. Even I think he has had enough time to

show he is capable. I thought he should be given a shot since I believe he was

forced on us but that time has come and gone.

 

color:black">June 14

[/b]

 

Betancourt

wasn't this bad last year; he had a very respectable OPS for a SS and had a

lifetime OPS approaching .700. I don't think anyone was anticipating YUni to

fall off the cliff like the has. He is having his worst season as a pro.

color:black">

That being said; just dump the guy and get it over

with; I am ready to move on.

 

color:black">June 21

[/b]

 

I get what

you're saying. At some point though, some players are just so bad they deserve

to not start anymore. I would say Betancourt is definitely at that point.

Roenicke should be benching him as an example of what happens to players who

don't improve, and go with a Counsell/Wilson platoon until Melvin gives him a

real shortstop.

 

color:black">June 2

[/b]

color:black">1

 

What power

does Yuni offer? 2010's power was a fluke, his ISO is going to be about what it

is right now, .110 (it was .113 in 2008 and .106 in 2009). Wilson will give you

an ISO of about .100 with actual play that isn't embarrassing at short stop.

Neither are good players but the sooner the Brewers cut ties with Betancourt

the sooner things are better.

 

color:black">June 30

[/b]

 

It's almost

like he should have been expected to continue to be terrible...

 

mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:black">Don't judge [betancourt] entirely

on what you've seen so far.

color:blue">Yeah, that stance coming in from the offseason really proved

accurate. He's totally going to turn into a competent hitter &

fielder, we just have to wait for it.

 

 

 

color:blue">July 16

[/b]

 

I think its more like that I'll

marry Mila Kunis than Betancourt ever having an OBP above .300 again

 

color:black">July 22

[/b]

 

Even if Betancourt plays well

over the rest of this season there is no way he makes up for the pile of suck

he has been so far.

 

color:black">July 23

[/b]

 

Since the break, Yuni's posted

a 1.175 OPS, raising his season mark by 45 points. He's a strong contender for

NL player of the week, yet the bashing in relentless.

Objectivity is thrown out the window when it comes to this guy.

 

Reply

 

I can't

tell, should this be in blue?

The guy has been objectively awful the last

several years, and he's been terrible this year save for a few games.

 

color:black">2^nd reply

 

In the

last 28 days (22 games) Betancourt is batting .315 with a .777 OPS

...unfortunately he is still terrible at taking walks, as his OBP is only 10

points higher than his BA

Do I think he's "turned the

corner"? No . Do I think he should still be replaced?

Yes, please.

____________________

The implication has pretty much been that YB would not be better than the .220 hitter he was early in the year. JohnBriggs was pretty much spot on when he started touting him getting back to career norms but was met with derision.

As far as the rest of your post, show me where I have ever said YB was a good defender? I've never said he was good, only that he is bad but that measurement of badness is not nearly as accurate as the numbers are used. A player with negative defensive ratings like YB is a bad defender but I am not going to keep hammering away that a guy with a -9.5 rating is significantly different than a guy with a -4.5 rating or even a -2.5 rating because the numbers jump around so much and because of the way they are calculated I fully realize the UZR stats are limited in a partial season but that doesn't stop people from using WAR during partial seasons to justify that player X is such an upgrade over player Y when the main difference is based on one being beyond awful offensively which can be measured very accurately and one being awful defensively vs. an average to below average defender which can't be measured with the precision of the offensive stats.

The only reason Craig Counsell isn't buried on a WAR basis is because of that ridiculous defensive rating, yet looking around on here there are people who think he should have been playing everyday and WAR is used as one justification. Or in the thread before the season began about how a bunch of old washed up players would be an immediate upgrade based on WAR in the past despite the differences being negligible. If the Brewers had signed/traded for any of those guys (Punto, Renteria, Izturis, Jack Wilson) the team would be no better off than they are with YB and maybe worse off.. Filling SS right now is just that hard. I don't want to defend YB, he isn't a good player but most of the alternatives that have been offered all season haven't been any better, just change to make change. If YB puts up those ZIPS projections for the rest of the season I'd be very happy because there aren't many .700-.720 OPS SS around and available.