{"id":244970,"date":"2011-09-06T17:06:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-06T17:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vip.local\/2011\/09\/06\/derrek-lee-vs-garrett-jones-vs-everyone-else\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T03:14:44","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T07:14:44","slug":"derrek-lee-vs-garrett-jones-vs-everyone-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/derrek-lee-vs-garrett-jones-vs-everyone-else\/","title":{"rendered":"Derrek Lee vs. Garrett Jones vs. everyone else"},"content":{"rendered":"
Before I even get started with this post, I’m going to say this: The Pirates are probably going to re-sign Derrek Lee this off-season. They have money to burn, the general consensus seems to be that a job exists for him, he needs a job and most other places probably won’t find it for him, signing guys like Derrek Lee looks good for teams like the Pirates, etc. etc. When the Pirates do\u00a0sign Derrek Lee to a one-year deal worth something like $6-8 million, I’ll probably write something like this: <\/em>Well, it’s not a great move but it’s not an awful one. They have money to spend, we know what Garrett Jones is, it looks good for the club, he helps the defense, etc. etc. I’ll be in off-season mode, trying to tell myself that the Pirates are doing things to make themselves better and that 2012 isn’t another lost season. And when I write those things, I want someone to point me back to this post that I’m about to write right here.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n With Derrek Lee back from the disabled list and killing the ball, there’s an awful lot of talk about bringing him back to play first base in 2012. It’s not just idle fan talk, either. Dejan Kovacevic thinks it’s important<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Clint Hurdle wants it<\/a>.\u00a0Charlie tackled this last week<\/a> in countering Clint Hurdle’s mindless pro-veteran babble, but I want to take it a step further.<\/p>\n Honestly, I think Garrett Jones is a better option at first base right now than Lee is. Neal Huntington did a lot of things last winter that haven’t paid off, but he did hit the nail on the head with one idea: Garrett Jones is a platoon player. Last year, Jones played in 158 games and got 654 plate appearances, both of which lead the team. He was not good, hitting .247\/.306\/.414 with an abysmal .220\/.261\/.360 line against lefties. Since about 35% of his plate appareances last year were against lefties, Huntington went out and signed Matt Diaz and probably gave Clint Hurdle strict instructions to not play Jones against lefties. Jones (before Sunday’s game) has had 431 plate appearances this year and just 67 of them (15.5%) have been against lefties. He’s only started seven games with a lefty on the mound. As a result, Jones is hitting .243\/.323\/.442 on the year, with a strong .261\/.348\/.472 line against righties<\/a>. That’s not great. That’s not really even good, but it is pretty acceptable.<\/p>\n Now let’s look at Derrek Lee. He’s hitting .258\/.313\/.442 on the season. That’s almost identical to what Jones is hitting, if not quite as good because of the shade lower OBP. He doesn’t have a huge platoon split<\/a>, with more power against righties but a much better OBP against lefties. He’s been much, much better since the All-Star Break, but he was Lyle Overbay bad before it. This first half\/second half thing is becoming a bit of a trend for Lee. He was awful last year through June<\/a>, before picking things up in July and especially in August and September after being traded to the Braves. Unless he stays scorching hot through September, it seems likely that he won’t bounce back quite as high this year as he did last year, though that’s obviously up in the air.<\/p>\n Lee is 36 today. He’s not particularly durable any more, having played 141 games in 2009, 148 games in 2010, and he’ll probably play somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 games this year. He’s not getting better, he’s starting seasons slowly, and despite what we’ve seen from him this year I think there’s good reason to believe that PNC would suck his power dry next year. This year, his walk rate has plummetted and his strikeout rate is the highest it’s been since 2002 (and this is the second straight year his strikeout rate has risen from his peak levels). The red flags are all there. At his absolute best, Lee would be equal to a Garrett Jones\/righty platoon and the potential for disaster is much <\/em>higher with Lee than it would be with a Jones platoon.<\/p>\n