In recent years I think Miguel Tejada has established himself as one of the premier players in the game as he provides terrific offense from SS. With the types of numbers Tejada puts up yearly, I would have expected his OPS+ to be at least around 130, if not 140. However, his career OPS+ is only 112 and his career high is 133 (last year). In comparison, Jeff Kent's career is 126 and he has 6-times eclipsed 130, with a career high of 165. Heck, Jim Fregosi was a career 113, and I don't think anyone would take Fregosi over Tejada. So is Tejada not as good as his statistics indicate? Is it just smoke and mirrors? Does his low OPS+ bode well for the long-term?
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Miguel Tejada's OPS+?
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Tejada's career OPS+ is heavily weighed down by the early parts of his career during which he was a .250-.260 hitter who didn't walk all that much...but I will say that I don't expect his peak to last all that long...players with similar statistical profiles don't generally have long peak periods. FWIW
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Originally posted by SABR MattTejada's career OPS+ is heavily weighed down by the early parts of his career during which he was a .250-.260 hitter who didn't walk all that much...but I will say that I don't expect his peak to last all that long...players with similar statistical profiles don't generally have long peak periods. FWIW
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Originally posted by SABR MattExcept he's not walking that much, and all of his power is longballs...he's not hitting as many doubles as you'd like from a 30+ HR threat.
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Originally posted by torez77I liken Tejada's numbers to Ernie Banks, except Banks played in a much tougher defensive era.
1955 (24): 144 - .295, 44, 117
1956 (25): 137 - .297, 28, 85
1957 (26): 150 - .285, 43, 102
1958 (27): 156 - .313, 47, 129 (MVP Year)
1959 (28): 155 - .304, 45, 143 (MVP Year)
1960 (29): 145 - .271, 41, 117
1961 (30): 122 - .278, 29, 80
Now compare that to Tejada's last 7 seasons:
1999 (23): 91 - .251, 21, 84
2000 (24): 112 - .275, 30, 115
2001 (25): 112 - .267, 31, 113
2002 (26): 122 - .308, 34, 131 (MVP Year)
2003 (27): 117 - .278, 27, 106
2004 (28): 126 - .311, 34, 150
2005 (29): 133 - .304, 26, 98
In addition to the players being roughly the same ages during these stretches, they each had roughly the same amount of big league experience prior to this time. Both had one-full year at the ML level the previous year and brief exposure to the ML level the year before that (so they were both essentially in their 2nd ML season).
Also, for the most part, Banks OPS+ is about what I'd expect from his numbers, whereas Tejada's is much lower. However, in 1962, Banks hit .267, 37, 104, with an OPS+ down to 110. Couple that with the 122 in 1961, and those years look more like Tejada's.
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Tejada has averaged 31 doubles per season, including his extended cup-of-coffee in 1999. He doesn't walk a lot, once every 14.4 PA's, and that drags his numbers down somewhat. A league average player will get a walk every 11.6 PA's.
And He grounds into a lot of DP's (third most in the majors 2000-2005). That doesn't effect OPS, but it diminishes his value.Buck O'Neil: The Monarch of Baseball
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