Crosby's shoulder sore; Big Hurt still hurting.

[Zito75]

I was reading this story this morning- Are any of you concerned? It seems Crosby has a tough time staying injury free. Scutaro better be ready to go... Any kind of production from Thomas should be considered a bonus for the team, considering the $500K price tag.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2340338

[iPod]

Is Crosby much of a guess hitter? I've looked at his splits a couple of times just because they're pretty dramatic in a lot of ways. From his splits by count, he looks pretty much helpless with 2 strikes on him.

Crosby, career:
0-2 count, .212/.209/.329 (85 AB)
1-2 count, .170/.169/.252 (135 AB)
2-2 count, .168/.173/.265 (155 AB)
3-2 count, .211/.417/.374 (123 AB)

But, when he's ahead in the count, he's Albert Pujols.
3-1 count, .514/.750/1.216 (37 AB)
2-0 count, .381/.364/.857 (21 AB)

Also, he gets a lot better the more he sees the pitcher, his BA rising from .211 to .272 to .329 and finally to .625 each time facing the same pitcher.

He can't hit groundball pitchers at all (.226/.289/.321) but he torches flyball pitchers (.291/.364/.514). Which I find sort of strange, since I tend to associate "power" pitchers more in the flyball sphere, with "finesse" pitchers on the groundball end of pitching. Yet, Crosby does much better against "finesse" pitchers (.278/.347/.546) than "power" pitchers (.245/.307/.403).

I don't know if it's common for young hitters to have odd splits like this, but I've noticed them in his case.

[Zito75]

Thanks for digging up that info, iPod. I've never really thought that much in depth about Crosby... But I know one thing for sure- He's probably the last A's player I want up with RISP, especially with 1 or 2 outs. (he hit well in the minors, however) But in his defense, I think he was rushed to fill Tejada's void. Crosby K's WAY too much, but look at the pressure the kid was under in '04. Those are some huge shoes to fill.

[Street20]

I think that Crosby will come in huge this season or end up being like Walt Weiss.

[DoubleX]

Gotta wonder if the Big Hurt will ever not be hurting. At 500K he's certainly worth the gamble, but I wouldn't be surprised if his health keeps him out of the lineup for most of the season.