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qudjy1
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 Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:40 am Post subject: Tracy |
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Just venting some thoughts here..
Im not ready to give up on the guy yet... i still think he can be a real solid player at 3B...
1. Hitting - as talked about many times here, the real key to his season this year has been his diminished control of the strike zone. Not sure if anyone has noticed this or if this isnt right, but it seems other teams have all been doing the same thing to him - fastballs up and away, and then offspeed in, and in the dirt - which he seems to chase alot. i know this isnt easy to fix in season, but this is the kind of thing can be fixed with some work and coaching, right?
2. Fielding - Again, as discussed before, almost all of his errors are on throws up the line. (He actually did it again last night late in the game, but was not wild enough to be an error). Charlie (i think) was the one who pointed out some mechanical flaws with his wrist early this year. Again, isnt this correctable stuff with work? Early this year, he had only 1 error, through about a month and a half of play...
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060519&content_id=1461523&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari
There is a qualified 3b who has a worse fielding % this year... take a guess... |
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TAP
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:47 am Post subject: Re: Tracy |
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| qudjy1 wrote: |
| There is a qualified 3b who has a worse fielding % this year... take a guess... |
You're probably referring to Alex Rodriguez, who has been all but tarred and feathered by the lunatic fans in NY. Chad's off-year has been far better tolerated here than he would have seen in NY or Philly.
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:55 am Post subject: |
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| Nope... its not arod... |
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:56 am Post subject: |
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| Also... in fairness to NY fans... AROD is making 20 something mill this year - that has something to do with it... |
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TAP
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:04 am Post subject: Re: Tracy |
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| qudjy1 wrote: |
| Hitting - as talked about many times here, the real key to his season this year has been his diminished control of the strike zone. Not sure if anyone has noticed this or if this isnt right, but it seems other teams have all been doing the same thing to him - fastballs up and away, and then offspeed in, and in the dirt - which he seems to chase alot. i know this isnt easy to fix in season, but this is the kind of thing can be fixed with some work and coaching, right? |
| Joseph A. Reaves / The Arizona Republic this morning wrote: |
Tracy, who had a combined .297 average his first two years in the majors, has tapered off to a .277 pace this season.
His home runs are down sharply, from 27 last year to 16 in just nine fewer games this season.
On the plus side, Tracy has more walks (46) and doubles (35) than a year ago.
And his RBIs are almost identical, 72 in 145 games last year; 69 in 136 games this season.
The one seriously worrisome about Tracy's 2006 season, and he admits it, is his strikeouts. He has struck out 123 times this year, just 15 fewer than his first two seasons combined.
"Maybe it's a junior (year) jinx," Tracy said before Thursday game. "I don't know. I was a little more consistent last year. I don't know how to put a finger on it."
Could it be the opposition is pitching him differently?
"I'm definitely getting pitched differently," he said, nodding his head. "Hitter's counts I'm not seeing as many fastballs as I used to. But I think I'm just putting a little pressure on myself."
Manager Bob Melvin agrees that's a big part of the problem.
"The strikeouts are a concern," Melvin admitted. "I mean, you don't want to strike out as much as he has. " . . . It snowballs a little bit. It gets in your head a little bit. Now you try too hard not to strike out and it ends up working against you."
In his first two big league seasons, Tracy struck out once every 7.1 at-bats.
This season, Tracy is striking out once every 4.4 at-bats.
With three weeks left in the season, is there much Tracy can do to return to form?
"Not really," he said. "You play the three weeks. You can't really start working on something right now. I'll wait till the off-season and go back to the drawing board."
But Melvin doesn't figure Tracy needs to do a lot of erasing and redrawing. 
"He is going to be and he is a nice player," Melvin said. "It's just a few things happened this year to him that kind of snowballed on him and I think it's affecting the overall numbers. But we still think he is going to be a heck of a player and he is a heck of a player.
"Offensively, you look at his numbers - not as good as last year. The RBIs are going to be pretty similar and more strikeouts, but it's not a horrible year by any stretch. And if that's a bad year for him, we'll move on and expect better things every other year." |
Hopefully Melvin was taken out of context. If not, he believes that Tracy doesn't need to make any real changes and will just hope for and "expect better things" next year from Tracy.
BTW, this pic was included with the article and it just reminded me of a lost little boy who's been made to sit in the corner for a time-out. Somebody in the organization needs to step up and earn their coaching salary.
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dirtygary
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Seriously. The guy is in his 3rd year and teams figured out he's dangerous. Why the silent treatment?
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dirtygary
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Are the dugouts going to be red next year due to the team color changes?
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moviegeekjn
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| dirtygary wrote: |
| Are the dugouts going to be red next year due to the team color changes? |
They will be changed to red to make Chad feel more comfortable and less lonely.
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:30 am Post subject: |
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| Think nl east |
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shoewizard
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:21 am Post subject: |
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As of May 16th Tracy had one error, I believe....now he has 23.
ugh |
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:24 am Post subject: |
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Which is better
Player one, who is consistantly below average for all 6 months of the season, or player two, who was great for almost 2 months, and then was absolutey horrible, for the next 4....
At least player 2 shows he has the potential to be a good fielder...
but its pick your poison i guess... |
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shoewizard
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:28 am Post subject: |
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David Wright>Chad Tracy
How much younger is Wright than Tracy? Also, don't forget to ballpark adjust those numbers.  |
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:36 am Post subject: |
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3B Fielding Stats
Chipper Jones has a worse FP than tracy... that shocked the hell outta me... |
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McCray
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:59 am Post subject: |
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i still don't think the team should trade tracy -- and not just because i won't get laid if that happens. trading him now is trading him at his absolute lowest value. wait and he see if rebounds. there's a chance it happens, and he goes back to being an above average fielder/hitter. then you've got a real trade chit, or you keep him and he's cheap and controlled.
give him time.
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dirtygary
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, the trade Tracy talk is BS. We're talking about 12-15 more hits over the course of the year and his avg is fine. The errors are an issue, but I always saw Tracy as the guy we were going to put in LF after Gonzo.
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tmar
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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McCray has a point <about Tracy being at his lowest trade value>. If we are truly not going to be a strong team in 07, which all indications are we won't, then we have nothing to lose by trying him out for another year.
Also, if McCray never gets laid again, we are all in trouble. |
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McCray
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Also, if McCray never gets laid again, we are all in trouble. |
damn straight you guys are! you guys are already in trouble for all the tracy smack talk on this board!
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tmar
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I was refering to your unfilled needs causing some safety concerns on our part. |
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EvilJuan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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| dirtygary wrote: |
| Yeah, the trade Tracy talk is BS. We're talking about 12-15 more hits over the course of the year and his avg is fine. The errors are an issue, but I always saw Tracy as the guy we were going to put in LF after Gonzo. |
This also corresponds to what I recall, before the 3B/1B/3B era began for Chad.
| tmar wrote: |
| McCray has a point <about Tracy being at his lowest trade value>. If we are truly not going to be a strong team in 07, which all indications are we won't, then we have nothing to lose by trying him out for another year. |
Add my voice in agreement -- giving Tracy another year is a practical move to make for the Dbacks.
| tmar wrote: |
| Also, if McCray never gets laid again, we are all in trouble. |
Hope McCray's gf is more understanding than that!
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EvilJuan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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| tmar wrote: |
| I was refering to your unfilled needs causing some safety concerns on our part. |
Something going "KABOOM!" again -- only this time, it's organic?
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Counsell
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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I think Chad is better than he has played this year, but I don't think he's a superstar, either.
His fielding will be fine. It's a little up and down, but as already pointed out, the fact that he has gone through long periods of time without many errors is a good indication of what he WILL be at some point in the future.
As for his hitting, he tried to become a power hitter this year after all those HR's toward the end of last year. He bulked up more and was obviously going long and trying to pull a lot more. He had some more success early this year, but the pitchers obviously adjusted - which is very easy for pitchers to do, once they discover a guy is homer happy.
What he obviously needs to do is stop trying to pull everything and go back to being a gap hitter with occasional HR power. He should be able to hit in the .290-.310 range with lots of doubles and close to 20 homers. And fewer than 100 K's per year.
Nothing wrong with that. |
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Oden
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| If Gonzo is not re-signed, Tracy should probably be the #3 hitter here next year. Drew, Jackson, Tracy, Quentin isn't a bad way to start your baseball day. |
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qudjy1
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I really like young in lead off... speed, takes pitches.. |
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Oden
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not opposed to any number of possible lineups next year. Young leading off, 5th or 6th... cool. Drew could hit a lot of places. Jackson could hit 2nd or 3rd.
I'd like to keep Tracy out of the cleanup spot, though. Contact and power numbers down this year means he should go back to what worked for him in '05 - make contact. |
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matt
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Assuming the lineup includes: Jacskson, Hudson, Drew, Tracy, Snyder/Montero, Q, Young, and Byrnes/DaVannon, then pretty much anyone can be put anywhere. All the youngsters have similar plate discipline and power. There are differences, of course, but there are not likely to be any 30+ HR guys and aside from Young and (to a lesser extent) Byrens and Drew none of them are any threat at all to steal a base. Melvin's head will explode with the possibilities of where to put everyone (except the catchers, they will all bat 8th no matter what). |
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