Cliff Pennington – Oakland A’s Shortstop

Judging from reactions even after a productive stint with the big club, you’d think Pennington will still be fighting for a spot next year, and that some even want Orlando Cabrera back.

This from a supposedly objective, intelligent group of fans.

Switch hitter
Patient/good eye
Doesn’t strike out much, so his outs are more likely to be productive outs without him trying to sacrifice himself.
Quick enough to swipe a bag or two
Should be improving still

The “vs” argument boils down to a lack of power, it seems.

He’s got nearly an 800 ops going into the final stretch of the season.
But what if the power he’s shown is a fluke?
That wouldn’t be a surprise.

What if he peaks at 280/370/420 over a full year?
I think he can do better than that, but I’ll be a pessimist here.

What if he falls back to 250/350/380?

OCab hit 281/334/371 for us, less production all around – just a prettier batting average.
And that is exactly what we should have expected from him.

And Pennington is almost certainly a better fielder – or will be.

I don’t think we need to cover Bobby Crosby, who was less productive at the plate than either of his successors.

I expect that Pennington will be and maybe already is the A’s best shortstop since Tejada.

On a forum I frequent, some A’s fans were loving the idea of having jacoby ellsbury play center.
I argued in favor of Pennington (who the A’s drafted just before ellsburg was selected by boston).

Ellsbury has cut down his strikeouts, to his credit.
And his .349 OBP is higher than I expected.
And the guy is fast, with 60 steals and 9 caught stealing.

His rate states of 299/349/410 are less productive than Pennington’s (779 ops to this point) in the majors.
That is a 760 ops this year.
To go with a 730 ops last year.

Scott Podsednik had an 822 ops when he was 27.

Isn’t Ellsbury just Podsednik with a slightly prettier batting average?
Speed has its uses of course – speed doesn’t slump, I’ve heard people say.
But how many speed guys outside of rickey henderson aren’t hit by tons of injuries?
Ichiro, but he’s not normal.
Carl Crawford maybe.

I’ll take the switch-hitting shortstop with the batting eye.

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