Tuesday, April 22, 2003

 

Why doesn't Rickey Henderson have a job?

Yeah, yeah, he's 44. Yeah, yeah, he has no power anymore. Yeah, yeah, he's just "hanging on."

But check this out. Here's Rickey's 2002 on-base and slugging percentages, compared to five other major league outfielders who still have jobs in 2003:

                     OBP   SLG

Rickey Henderson    .369  .352

Roger Cedeno, NYM   .318  .346

Doug Glanville, TEX .292  .344

Juan Pierre, FLA    .332  .343

Armando Rios, CWS   .319  .332

Ruben Rivera, SFG   .302  .310

All these guys had around 200 plate appearances last year. Do you think the Mets would rather have Rickey than Cedeno? I wish the Giants had Rickey instead of Ruben Rivera, that's for sure. Sure, an outfielder with a .352 slugging percentage isn't all that great. But Rickey was 43rd among all major league outfielders in on-base percentage. That's ALL major league outfielders, including the scrubbinis. A guy who can get on base is valuable, no matter what his age.

Yeah, I hear you--"but all those other guys suck!" Yeah, they do. Point is, he's better than them. Better enough that some team needing a lift should give him a call.

What teams, you ask? Well, I don't claim to have the skill set of a major league general manager, but I can look up stats with the best of them...

                     OBP   SLG

Rickey Henderson    .369  .352

2003 Detroit Tigers .247  .245

2003 NY Mets        .303  .356

So...why doesn't Rickey Henderson have a job again?

Jefferson 2:07 PM

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