My favorite player, probably the Braves’ best player unless Chipper’s power rebounds in a big way. Made the All-Star team in 2003, was on the verge of getting voted in last year when he collided with Andruw and hurt his shoulder. Unlike the 2003 injury, which just cost him a couple of weeks, the 2004 injury kept him out for more than a month, and when he came back he wasn’t the same player, but contrary to belief (including mine before I looked it up) the loss was mostly in batting average, not power.
Before the break, he was hitting .339/.381/.475; afterwards he hit .299/.377/.429. He wasn’t walking much before the injury, but started more of that when he came back, and his isolated power only dropped by six points. When you break it down by months, though, you’ll see that he came back pretty strong in July, went into a deep Andruwesque slump in August, and was terrific the rest of the way. I think he was pretty much through the injury within six weeks, but August dragged his numbers down. He did only hit eight homers, but the doubles were still there. If he can stay out of everyone’s way we could be in for a treat.
Has come a long, long way defensively from the player the Braves thought they’d have to move to left field. His range factors are very good, and the more advanced stats also have him a plus defender. Stole 17 bases in 21 attempts. Adds OBP with HBP, doesn’t ground into many double plays (of course, Furcal is often running in front of him), just generally a terrific all-around player.
Who’s the best second baseman in Atlanta history? Felix Millan, I guess, him or Glenn Hubbard. Marcus only has a couple years as a regular, but he’s a superior player to either of those worthies; if he plays three more years in Atlanta I’d rank him first. The best second baseman in Braves history is probably Bobby Lowe, more than a century ago. (Well, they had Hornsby for a year, Schoendienst for two, but the best to be mostly a Brave.) Marcus should pass him too. The best year any second baseman has had for Bobby Cox was Marcus, 2003; the second-best was probably Marcus, 2004.
It was only one year, and it wasn’t for Bobby, but what about Davey Johnson’s 1973?
.270/.370/.546 43 homers and 99 RBI?
Probably the best year of any Atlanta 2B, in context, though Marcus’ .316/.390/.526 is pretty equivalent in raw numbers. (Adjusted, they’re still pretty close — a 143 OPS+ for Davey, 140 for Marcus.) The best of any Braves 2B except Hornsby, who of course was on another level. (.387/.498/.632. Just another year for him. Walk rate was a career high, but a lot of those must have been intentional, because there was no reason at all to pitch to him because the rest of the team was terrible.)
I can’t blame Billy Beane for wanting Marcus in a trade. I was one of those that was against sending the person you correctly call our best player to the A’s for one year of Hudson (as of now). We’ve seen what he can do over most of a year. The guys gonna be a gazillionaire if he keeps this up. I don’t want him to stop hustling but I sure would like him to play the odds a little better and stay off the DL this year. I have to say that Chipper is my favorite Brave but Marcus is 1a.
Secondbasemen as a class are more injury prone than any position other than catcher. 2Bs tend to have less offensive development than do players of similar skills who come up at other positions. Giles is a personal favorite of mine — I love his style of play and the results as well — but I fear that his position and prior injury history foretells a disappointing career.
But Giles’ injuries aren’t in the normal course of play, or wear-and-tear injuries. The 2003 injury was a total fluke caused by an inexperienced ass of a baserunner — a collision that very rarely happens. The 2004 injury was a little more normal, but still not an everyday occurrence. If he was getting hurt around the bag, I’d be more concerned. Or if he was having leg or back injuries, or the same part kept getting hurt.
Giles’ had fluke injuries, so they don’t fortell anything of his career. I agree with Mac, Giles is my favorite player on the team for many reasons. His defensive improvements really sealed the deal in that regard, I hope we keep him around for a long time.
Its not like Giles has been like Drew or Ken Griffey. He was injured during the course of play. I would agree with you if he was missing a 100 games a year with wrist pops, hamstring injuries, patella problems and other maladies but his injuries are the result of plain dumb luck and if you will ‘over hustling’.
I LOVE the play of Marcus Giles, but I don’t think you can call his injuries a fluke. Marcus is a hard-worker, a little motor if you will. This little energetic guy is the type who never gives up on a defensive play and also enjoys the challenge of a tough play. His injury in Chicago was Prior’s fault, but Giles didn’t think about his vulnerability when fielding in Prior’s base path. He should of given up on the play in which he collided with Andruw. I absolutely love the play of Marcus Giles and I love players who give their all without expectations of reward. I just wish, that in key situations, Giles would give up a hit for his own personal health. I know that’s not that the type of player he is and coaching him to do that compromises his ability. You just have to accept the fact that he’s energetic, relentless, and a little reckless. Hopefully Giles will have better luck and stay with Atlanta for a long time.
“Marcus Giles
My favorite player, probably the Braves’ best player unless Chipper’s power rebounds in a big way. Made the All-Star team in 2003, was on the verge of getting voted in last year when he collided with Andruw and hurt his shoulder.”
I thought he collided with Mark Prior.
52 million reasons wrong
Oh and I haven’t seen it mentioned yet — the Marlins got Delgado for 4 years 52 million. Way too much if you ask me (you didn’t) but, then again I’m not an owner so maybe they know something I don’t (they don’t)
He collided with Pryor in 2003. (See my comment above about the “inexperienced ass of a baserunner”.)
As for Delgado, he’ll help for now but will hurt them when it comes time to start re-signing players.
Mac, I think you have politics on the brain. He collided with [Mark] Prior, not [Bill] Pryor. 😉
For what its worth, I think Delgado’s numbers will look rather pedestrian in that ballpark. That will mask real value, but have the boobirds (or is it snowbirds?) out in force.
They were flukes. Lots of people play hard without having the kind of accidents that happened to Giles. One cause a dumb base runner and another because of failed communication. Neither were hamstrings or shoulders or any other recurring injury that one gets from daily wear and tear.
I don’t buy it Grst, the guy is very aggressive, always flying around on double plays and line-drives. He’s great and he’s exciting to watch field and bat, but he’s going to have a few injuries throughout his career. I’m not saying he has naggging shoulder or hamstring issues at all, just that his play is conducive to some level of injury. That could be said of many players, but Giles feeds off challenging plays.
I like how ESPN said that just because the Marlins got Delgado they are now the team to beat in the NL East. Rather impulsive to me.
We had a big argument about this on a.s.a.b. and I feel morally obligated to say that the collision with Andrew Jones was 100% Andruw’s fault. On that play the 2B is supposed to go hard after the ball until he is called off by the CF. In that case either Andruw called him off too late or not loud enough. Andruw is in contol out there because he can see everything. He knows where the ball is and where all of the fielders are. Marcus is at the mercy of Andruw to make wise decisions. Andruw failed and frankly my opinion of him dropped substantially. I was/am upset that he has never apologized. Someone told the story of running into Marcus at a baseball camp and Marcus was saying some things about Andruw being a jerk. I believe it. All I’m saying is that this injury was a fluke and caused by Andruw’s failures not Marcus’
It sounds like your opinion comes from info straight from the horse’s mouth. However, when I saw it I just thought Marcus was trying to be a hero. I was taught that a second baseman should defer to the outfielder if the 2B has to run very far into the outfield for a flyball. I played both 2B and CF in high school and my thought was that Giles had no business being that deep in the outfield. He is an infielder and Andrum is a gold glove CF.
He had every business being out there until he gets called off. Yes he defers to the outfield, but he should be running hard to make every play he can make until called off. That’s how it works. It’s Andruws job to be loud and call the ball when he wants to make the play.
Giles’ field awareness should have told him he was very far into the outfield and he was becoming very close to the center fielder. However, Andruw should have called for that ball WAY sooner, and Giles would have had more than enough time to get out of the way. I don’t see how a Gold Glove CF doesn’t call his 2B off though. Maybe he did, and Giles didn’t hear him. Then whose fault is it?
As I recall from watching the collision in agonizing slow motion fro about 100 times over the next week on various sports shows you could clearly read Andruw’s lips saying “I got it. I got it” as soon as he enters the frame. I don’t know how loud he was saying it but it sure looked to me on the replay like he called for with time to spare.
“I don’t see how a Gold Glove CF doesn’t call his 2B off though. Maybe he did, and Giles didn’t hear him. Then whose fault is it?”
Sometimes it happens that because of circumstances (wind, crowd..etc) it is just hard to ear. Assuming Andruw was loud enough and still Giles didn’t hear then it isn’t anyones fault per se, just one of those things that happens.