Since the premature demise of the "Look Again Player of the Year" award in 2006, we at NTSHCO have assumed the difficult task of acknowledging the grittiest of the gritty. To facilitate this, we created the GRITTIES. GRITTIES are awarded to the player at each position with the highest GRIT3 score for a given year. To qualify, a player must have played at least 50 games at the position during the season.
As the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the official GRITTY trophy is a brick paver that's etched with a "grittitaph." This grittitaph acknowledges each recipient's unique qualification for said trophy.
To the results!
1B. RYAN GARKO, CLE (2008 GRIT3: 13.46)
Congratulations, Ryan.
You just posted the second highest DIRT3 score in 2008.
You probably owe this in no small part to the 12 pounds you lost over the summer by skipping winter ball. You also lost a lot of the power that made you so valuable during 2007. You hoped "to create more mobility at first base and on the bases." What you really should have been doing was practicing your power stroke in winter ball.
But, who can blame you? The Indians wanted cat-like reflexes from their first baseman. Saddled with the false dichotomy of becoming a crappier baseball player in the Majors or potentially spending another summer toiling in the Indians' farm system, you did what anyone in their right mind would do: You avoided Buffalo at all costs.
For that, you've truly earned this.
2B. MARCO SCUTARO, TOR (2008 GRIT3: 12.54)
Congratulations, Marco.
You were born with the last name of "Scutaro." I'm going to venture that while you were growing up in Venezuela, you never thought that some day you would move to America, earn a seven figure baseball salary, and thousands of Torontoans would call you "Scooter."
But you did, you are, and they do. We are here today because you put up a really gritty 2008. You're more of a utility man than a second baseman, but let's not worry about that distinction right now. Your 8.0 at bats per strikeout suggest a pesky little batter who made a lot of contact. Yet that .356 slugging percentage reveals that you made much of said contact with a wet noodle. ProTip: You should've used a bat. With that out of the way, I'm going to use the rest of this space to talk about something which needs to be said.
J.P. Ricciardi likes you. He likes you a lot. He likes you so much, he was willing to send Veronica Mars to Oakland.
Not satisfied with you, Aaron Hill, and John McDonald, Ricciardi also brought in Davey Eckstein. This gave him an enviable stable of uber-gritty middle infielders with whom he could have slumber parties and trade friendship bracelets.
When things got complicated, it was Davey--not you--who J.P. sent to Arizona.
And toward the end of the season, J.P. even said that you were the Blue Jays' most valuable player.
This was after he dismissed Adam Dunn's value as "a lifetime .230, .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs."
J.P. didn't like that Adam Dunn wasn't a big fan of playing baseball--even if he was pretty good at it. But you, Marco Scutaro. He likes you! You have a passion for baseball. You really enjoy playing baseball, even if you're not very good at it. For that, you've earned yourself a GRITTY.
3B. CHONE FIGGINS, LAA (2008 GRIT3: 8.23)
Congratulations, Chone.
You're toolsy! You play every position on the field save for pitcher and catcher.
You're fast! Your shoes leave streaks of fire on the basepaths. You steal a lot of bases. You also get caught pretty frequently. But, at least you tried!
You can't hit for power! Among all American Leaguers with at least 350 plate appearances, the following is a list of players who outslugged you by no fewer than 14 points: all of them. Your ISO was .042--lowest in the Majors.
How did you score such a respectable GRIT3?
It definitely wasn't your pedestrian DIRT3 of -62.2. Daryl Ward got dirtier than you. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez got dirtier than you. Elijah Dukes got dirtier than you, and I'm pretty sure he spent 90 days in jail. 760 other baseball players got dirtier than you, Chone (and yes, I'm only counting Daryl Ward as one of them).
It was, in part, your abysmal TLNT3 score of -28.6. That TLNT3 score makes you the envy of many a woman as it finds you snuggly sandwiched between Angel Pagan (-28.64) and Matt Diaz (-28.58).
It was also your respectable DTRM3 score of 856. Only 116 players exhibited more determination than you did, Chone. Sweet, sweet self-destructive determination, given that awful TLNT3 score of yours.
You had 2008's blank canvas in front of you, and no paint with which to make your mark. Instead of taking up a different hobby, you made the best of an unfortunate situation. You grabbed yourself a big handful of the only medium known to you. The result was an impressionistic 2008 campaign that befits this GRITTY which we hereby bestow upon you.
SS. RYAN THERIOT, CHN (2008 GRIT3: 19.32)
Congratulations, Ryan.
You just posted the grittiest NL season since 2006 and the grittiest season-stint for a Cub since GRIT legend Don Kessinger in 1968.
Your rate of 10 at bats per strikeout was good enough for seventh in the league.
You were like a mythical dragonslayer at the plate, standing down the dragon's fiery breath and looking totally sweet in your chain mail get-up.
What's more, that .387 OBP no doubt helped propel the Cubs to the NL Central title. However, that's not why you're getting this GRITTY. No, you're getting the GRITTY due to your .359 SLG. Do the math and you'll discover a very gritty OMS of .028, big man--a not insignificant amount. So, what's it all mean?
It means of the 254 times you reached base safely, you only had the talent to make it past first base on 24 (or about 10%) of them. While your Punch and Judy act may have confined you to first base initially, you made quite an effort to pick up those extra bases with your legs. With 35 attempts, you certainly had ample chances to prove that your base stealing is a formidable offensive threat. Cubs fans discovered that it was quite an offensive threat indeed as you failed about 37% of the time.
LF. GREGOR BLANCO, ATL (2008 GRIT3: 13.29)
Congratulations, Gregor.
You just put up some extremely grittastic numbers. What are you going to do now? Yes, going to Disney World is one possibility, but I was thinking more along the lines of "examining alternative career options."
You slugged .309. That's not a typo. Your OMS was .057, tops in the Majors for 2008. Actually, it was the highest OMS in twelve years and the tenth highest since we started tracking OMS in 1954. Your name will forever be linked with the game's slap-hitting paragons: Hunt, Weiss, and Blanco.
I get it, Gregor. You're not Ryan Howard and you never will be. That said, you're pretty close to becoming Gary Pettis--without the gold glove.
Some random guy on the internet gave a good recap of your first season in the big leagues:
He thinks your presence is "funny." I'd probably use a different adjective: unfortunate.
For instance: Unfortunately, you're on the Braves. Fortunately, they needed an outfielder and the only options were you and Josh Anderson. Unfortunately, this other random guy on the internet ranks him 95th on a list of the top 100 outfielders. Fortunately, that's not saying a whole lot, since there are 30 teams, each of which needs 3 outfielders. Unfortunately, you didn't even make the list. Fortunately, Josh Anderson wasn't quite ready, so you got to play. Unfortunately, everyone in Atlanta probably wants you run out of town for slugging 309 in 519 plate appearances. Fortunately, running is the one thing you're really good at.
CF. LASTINGS MILLEDGE, WAS (2008 GRIT3: 11.14)
Congratulations, Lastings.
You don't like to make anything easy do you? You were the toast of the New York Mets and one of the most highly-touted prospects in all of baseball. The youngest player in baseball. Favorable comparisons to Darryl Strawberry.
Then, you slapped some skin at Shea Stadium and Billy Wagner hated you. You didn't leg out a fly ball (not gritty, dude!) and Willie Randolph hated you. You dropped a verse on your buddy's rap song and the rest of New York hated you. Omar Minaya hated you so much, he shipped your ass to Washington D.C.
But in Washington, you've flourished. You actually posted a respectable TLNT3 score of 597.89 (120th in the Majors). It's difficult to produce a high GRIT3 with that much talent holding you back, but you made up for it with heaps of dirt and determination.
Your DTRM3 was 1028.57. That's 99th in all of baseball.
Your DIRT3 was 682.90. You earned it with 14 HBP and 9 CS.
Who got dirtier than you in 2008? Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Garko, Reed Johnson, Jamey Carroll, and Jason Kendall. That's who.
Guess what, Lastings? Those five guys are really fucking gritty. You, my man, are really fucking gritty.
RF. JEFF FRANCOUER, ATL (2008 GRIT3: 9.88)
Congratulations, Jeff.
Remember when you were the talk of baseball? You were on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the caption "The Natural."
Well, you went au naturale this year as your skillset was laid bare for all to see. Let's face it; it wasn't pretty.
You posted an RC27 of 3.36 this year. If two guys named Michael Bourn and Bobby Crosby didn't exist, you would've been last in the Majors.
Let's examine your career arc. You were a power hitting corner outfield prospect in 2005 when you slugged .549 in limited action. Since then, your SLG has dropped in every season, .449, .444, and finally .359 in 2008 with an ISO of .120.
You sacrificed your body by stepping in to 10 pitches. That was probably the least you could do, since you were hitting .240. Needless to say, you made a lot of outs this year.
You posted DIRT3 and DTRM3 scores that were, respectively, 38th and 42nd highest in the Majors during 2008. Pretty impressive. What else is there to say? We all know the major reason why you put up such a high GRIT3 score.
C. JASON KENDALL, MIL (2008 GRIT3: 18.55)
Congratulations, Jason.
This is your 9th consecutive GRITTY and your 11th overall.
Remember that first week and a half of 2008 when you got hotter than shit and looked as if you might actually not put up some atrocious numbers? Man, you really had us going.
Like the first ballot HOG'er that you assuredly are, you made sure to turn it around. And not a moment too soon since Kurt Suzuki was nipping at your heels the entire way.
You did it the old fashioned way, too. You jumped in the way of inside fastballs and traded your cold blood for a free base. Actually, your 8th place finish in the NL's HBP category is the lowest of your career. But 13 plunkings deserves some form of accolade, so you've earned yourself this GRITTY.
But you didn't just get pelted with pitches. You also fended them off like all gritty players do. You finished third in the NL in at bats per strikeout.
To top it off, you made sure that when you absolutely had to put the ball in play, that it would be damn near impossible for you to reach base. You made sure to hit lots of balls skyward as evidenced by your .84 G/F ratio. With little power left in your broken down carcass (ISO of .078 and an OMS of .003 in 2008), you thought putting the ball on the ground and legging it out would be a cheap way to get on base. For that, we salute you with this GRITTY.
As the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the official GRITTY trophy is a brick paver that's etched with a "grittitaph." This grittitaph acknowledges each recipient's unique qualification for said trophy.
To the results!
1B. RYAN GARKO, CLE (2008 GRIT3: 13.46)
Congratulations, Ryan.
You just posted the second highest DIRT3 score in 2008.
You probably owe this in no small part to the 12 pounds you lost over the summer by skipping winter ball. You also lost a lot of the power that made you so valuable during 2007. You hoped "to create more mobility at first base and on the bases." What you really should have been doing was practicing your power stroke in winter ball.
But, who can blame you? The Indians wanted cat-like reflexes from their first baseman. Saddled with the false dichotomy of becoming a crappier baseball player in the Majors or potentially spending another summer toiling in the Indians' farm system, you did what anyone in their right mind would do: You avoided Buffalo at all costs.
For that, you've truly earned this.
Ryan Garko: He couldn't go back to Buffalo.
Honorable Mention: Conor Jackson (5.99)
Honorable Mention: Conor Jackson (5.99)
2B. MARCO SCUTARO, TOR (2008 GRIT3: 12.54)
Congratulations, Marco.
You were born with the last name of "Scutaro." I'm going to venture that while you were growing up in Venezuela, you never thought that some day you would move to America, earn a seven figure baseball salary, and thousands of Torontoans would call you "Scooter."
But you did, you are, and they do. We are here today because you put up a really gritty 2008. You're more of a utility man than a second baseman, but let's not worry about that distinction right now. Your 8.0 at bats per strikeout suggest a pesky little batter who made a lot of contact. Yet that .356 slugging percentage reveals that you made much of said contact with a wet noodle. ProTip: You should've used a bat. With that out of the way, I'm going to use the rest of this space to talk about something which needs to be said.
J.P. Ricciardi likes you. He likes you a lot. He likes you so much, he was willing to send Veronica Mars to Oakland.
Not satisfied with you, Aaron Hill, and John McDonald, Ricciardi also brought in Davey Eckstein. This gave him an enviable stable of uber-gritty middle infielders with whom he could have slumber parties and trade friendship bracelets.
When things got complicated, it was Davey--not you--who J.P. sent to Arizona.
And toward the end of the season, J.P. even said that you were the Blue Jays' most valuable player.
This was after he dismissed Adam Dunn's value as "a lifetime .230, .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs."
J.P. didn't like that Adam Dunn wasn't a big fan of playing baseball--even if he was pretty good at it. But you, Marco Scutaro. He likes you! You have a passion for baseball. You really enjoy playing baseball, even if you're not very good at it. For that, you've earned yourself a GRITTY.
Marco Scutaro: He didn't not like playing baseball.
Honorable Mention: Akinori Iwamura (12.54), Rickie Weeks (11.75)
Honorable Mention: Akinori Iwamura (12.54), Rickie Weeks (11.75)
3B. CHONE FIGGINS, LAA (2008 GRIT3: 8.23)
Congratulations, Chone.
You're toolsy! You play every position on the field save for pitcher and catcher.
You're fast! Your shoes leave streaks of fire on the basepaths. You steal a lot of bases. You also get caught pretty frequently. But, at least you tried!
You can't hit for power! Among all American Leaguers with at least 350 plate appearances, the following is a list of players who outslugged you by no fewer than 14 points: all of them. Your ISO was .042--lowest in the Majors.
How did you score such a respectable GRIT3?
It definitely wasn't your pedestrian DIRT3 of -62.2. Daryl Ward got dirtier than you. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez got dirtier than you. Elijah Dukes got dirtier than you, and I'm pretty sure he spent 90 days in jail. 760 other baseball players got dirtier than you, Chone (and yes, I'm only counting Daryl Ward as one of them).
It was, in part, your abysmal TLNT3 score of -28.6. That TLNT3 score makes you the envy of many a woman as it finds you snuggly sandwiched between Angel Pagan (-28.64) and Matt Diaz (-28.58).
It was also your respectable DTRM3 score of 856. Only 116 players exhibited more determination than you did, Chone. Sweet, sweet self-destructive determination, given that awful TLNT3 score of yours.
You had 2008's blank canvas in front of you, and no paint with which to make your mark. Instead of taking up a different hobby, you made the best of an unfortunate situation. You grabbed yourself a big handful of the only medium known to you. The result was an impressionistic 2008 campaign that befits this GRITTY which we hereby bestow upon you.
Chone Figgins: He had no paint but his own excrement.
Honorable Mention: Scott Rolen (4.83), Kevin Kouzmanoff (4.62)
Honorable Mention: Scott Rolen (4.83), Kevin Kouzmanoff (4.62)
SS. RYAN THERIOT, CHN (2008 GRIT3: 19.32)
Congratulations, Ryan.
You just posted the grittiest NL season since 2006 and the grittiest season-stint for a Cub since GRIT legend Don Kessinger in 1968.
Your rate of 10 at bats per strikeout was good enough for seventh in the league.
You were like a mythical dragonslayer at the plate, standing down the dragon's fiery breath and looking totally sweet in your chain mail get-up.
What's more, that .387 OBP no doubt helped propel the Cubs to the NL Central title. However, that's not why you're getting this GRITTY. No, you're getting the GRITTY due to your .359 SLG. Do the math and you'll discover a very gritty OMS of .028, big man--a not insignificant amount. So, what's it all mean?
It means of the 254 times you reached base safely, you only had the talent to make it past first base on 24 (or about 10%) of them. While your Punch and Judy act may have confined you to first base initially, you made quite an effort to pick up those extra bases with your legs. With 35 attempts, you certainly had ample chances to prove that your base stealing is a formidable offensive threat. Cubs fans discovered that it was quite an offensive threat indeed as you failed about 37% of the time.
Ryan Theriot: He didn't know when to stop.
Honorable Mention: Derek Jeter (13.97)
Honorable Mention: Derek Jeter (13.97)
LF. GREGOR BLANCO, ATL (2008 GRIT3: 13.29)
Congratulations, Gregor.
You just put up some extremely grittastic numbers. What are you going to do now? Yes, going to Disney World is one possibility, but I was thinking more along the lines of "examining alternative career options."
You slugged .309. That's not a typo. Your OMS was .057, tops in the Majors for 2008. Actually, it was the highest OMS in twelve years and the tenth highest since we started tracking OMS in 1954. Your name will forever be linked with the game's slap-hitting paragons: Hunt, Weiss, and Blanco.
I get it, Gregor. You're not Ryan Howard and you never will be. That said, you're pretty close to becoming Gary Pettis--without the gold glove.
Some random guy on the internet gave a good recap of your first season in the big leagues:
The more I look at it the funnier it looks. He has great defense on the corner, but doesn't hit like one yet he hits like a center fielder and isn't all that great defensively. Blanco's best upside is a defensive replacement/pinch runner with occasional give your starter a rest kind of guy.
He thinks your presence is "funny." I'd probably use a different adjective: unfortunate.
For instance: Unfortunately, you're on the Braves. Fortunately, they needed an outfielder and the only options were you and Josh Anderson. Unfortunately, this other random guy on the internet ranks him 95th on a list of the top 100 outfielders. Fortunately, that's not saying a whole lot, since there are 30 teams, each of which needs 3 outfielders. Unfortunately, you didn't even make the list. Fortunately, Josh Anderson wasn't quite ready, so you got to play. Unfortunately, everyone in Atlanta probably wants you run out of town for slugging 309 in 519 plate appearances. Fortunately, running is the one thing you're really good at.
Gregor Blanco: He was the only option.
Honorable Mention: Josh Willingham (5.51), David Delucci (4.92)
Honorable Mention: Josh Willingham (5.51), David Delucci (4.92)
CF. LASTINGS MILLEDGE, WAS (2008 GRIT3: 11.14)
Congratulations, Lastings.
You don't like to make anything easy do you? You were the toast of the New York Mets and one of the most highly-touted prospects in all of baseball. The youngest player in baseball. Favorable comparisons to Darryl Strawberry.
Then, you slapped some skin at Shea Stadium and Billy Wagner hated you. You didn't leg out a fly ball (not gritty, dude!) and Willie Randolph hated you. You dropped a verse on your buddy's rap song and the rest of New York hated you. Omar Minaya hated you so much, he shipped your ass to Washington D.C.
But in Washington, you've flourished. You actually posted a respectable TLNT3 score of 597.89 (120th in the Majors). It's difficult to produce a high GRIT3 with that much talent holding you back, but you made up for it with heaps of dirt and determination.
Your DTRM3 was 1028.57. That's 99th in all of baseball.
Your DIRT3 was 682.90. You earned it with 14 HBP and 9 CS.
Who got dirtier than you in 2008? Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Garko, Reed Johnson, Jamey Carroll, and Jason Kendall. That's who.
Guess what, Lastings? Those five guys are really fucking gritty. You, my man, are really fucking gritty.
Lastings Milledge: Who would've known?
Honorable Mention: Reed Johnson (8.85)
Honorable Mention: Reed Johnson (8.85)
RF. JEFF FRANCOUER, ATL (2008 GRIT3: 9.88)
Congratulations, Jeff.
Remember when you were the talk of baseball? You were on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the caption "The Natural."
Well, you went au naturale this year as your skillset was laid bare for all to see. Let's face it; it wasn't pretty.
You posted an RC27 of 3.36 this year. If two guys named Michael Bourn and Bobby Crosby didn't exist, you would've been last in the Majors.
Let's examine your career arc. You were a power hitting corner outfield prospect in 2005 when you slugged .549 in limited action. Since then, your SLG has dropped in every season, .449, .444, and finally .359 in 2008 with an ISO of .120.
You sacrificed your body by stepping in to 10 pitches. That was probably the least you could do, since you were hitting .240. Needless to say, you made a lot of outs this year.
You posted DIRT3 and DTRM3 scores that were, respectively, 38th and 42nd highest in the Majors during 2008. Pretty impressive. What else is there to say? We all know the major reason why you put up such a high GRIT3 score.
Jeff Francouer: He played for Atlanta.
Honorable Mention: Austin Kearns (7.65)
Honorable Mention: Austin Kearns (7.65)
C. JASON KENDALL, MIL (2008 GRIT3: 18.55)
Congratulations, Jason.
This is your 9th consecutive GRITTY and your 11th overall.
Remember that first week and a half of 2008 when you got hotter than shit and looked as if you might actually not put up some atrocious numbers? Man, you really had us going.
Like the first ballot HOG'er that you assuredly are, you made sure to turn it around. And not a moment too soon since Kurt Suzuki was nipping at your heels the entire way.
You did it the old fashioned way, too. You jumped in the way of inside fastballs and traded your cold blood for a free base. Actually, your 8th place finish in the NL's HBP category is the lowest of your career. But 13 plunkings deserves some form of accolade, so you've earned yourself this GRITTY.
But you didn't just get pelted with pitches. You also fended them off like all gritty players do. You finished third in the NL in at bats per strikeout.
To top it off, you made sure that when you absolutely had to put the ball in play, that it would be damn near impossible for you to reach base. You made sure to hit lots of balls skyward as evidenced by your .84 G/F ratio. With little power left in your broken down carcass (ISO of .078 and an OMS of .003 in 2008), you thought putting the ball on the ground and legging it out would be a cheap way to get on base. For that, we salute you with this GRITTY.
Jason Kendall: He just really enjoyed "building character."
Honorable Mention: Kurt Suzuki (17.10)
Honorable Mention: Kurt Suzuki (17.10)
5 comments:
Sweet Jesus, get some titling figures. This is a typographic monstrosity.
You could try putting on your glasses, too.
> Sweet Jesus, get some titling figures.
Like Yoda, you ask for the impossible.
Remember that time we wrote stuff together a while back and I didn't really understand where you were coming from? You're STILL DOIN' IT, boy! I like Georgia and trees are always fun, but sometimes you make all the words run together like that dude Anonymous said. You ever wonder why people don't read what I write no more? It's cuz I don't WRITE IT, son! You ain't gotta be a college boy to figure that one out. Now quit emailin' my momma, FOOL!
Reed was robbed.
Great stuff. Can't wait for the GRITTIES '09!
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