How will Winn perform?

[Edgartohof]

I liked Winn ever since the Mariner's picked him up from Tampa Bay in 2003, and wasn't real happy when the Mariner's traded him towards the end of last season to the Giants. But I still like Winn, and will continue to follow him as much as possible.

What I am wondering is how he will do there in '06. He has never been an amazing numbers guy, but has been pretty steady. He could be a good #1 or #2 guy, but in the last 2 months of the season last year, after he got traded, the guy just went on a tear - he posted a .359/.391/.680 line during that time!

Did he just click with the team? The ballpark? Was he doing it to rub it in the Mariner's face? Because this came out of nowhere. He suddenly could hit everything, and picked up a bit of power. In those 2 months, he hit 22 doubles, 5 triples, and 14 HR's - extrapolated out, that's nearly 60 doubles, and around 12 triples and 37 HR's. All from a guy who's never had 40 doubles, or 15 HR's before in his career.

I say a lot was the energy, and wanting to show that he could still play, and he just got hot - red hot. But who knows how much of that if any will carry over to this season. I could see him hitting .300+ (no where near .350 though), and we should see an increase in power, just maybe not 30 HR's a year - maybe 20-25). Or he could go back to his .290 BA, with 15 HR's.

So what do you think?

[iPod]

I'm thinking more like .290... maybe a .365/.370 OBP, with 15 or so HR. In other words, a good player, top of the order type, but nothing like his performance last fall.

[johnny]

a fellow M's fan

I also enjoyed his strong glove work in Left (we all recall what happened when they tried to put him in center ) and damn wasn't that a great outfield of Winn, Cameron, and Ichiro. The place where flyballs went to die!!!
Anyway, Winn is solid player and I hated to see him go. Especially since his bat was getting better.

[Edgartohof]

wasn't that a great outfield of Winn, Cameron, and Ichiro. The place where flyballs went to die!!!

That was great to watch.

[west coast orange and black]

winn caught fire and it was fun to watch. it was an absolute treat to see him tear it up day after day -- both at the plate and on the field. he ran down quite a few would-be triples alley triples. at times he seemed to be on a determined mission. he played intense ball. but through it all he also seemed very relaxed.
sometimes players try too hard while at the plate. sometimes they make sawdust up there instead of just relaxing and relying on their skills.
winn simply "saw it and hit it".

what do we think, you asked? heck, edgar, i wish that i knew exactly what happened to winn during those months with the giants. in any event i hope that the mojo returns.

put me down for .315 batting, .380 obp and 28 taters.

ouch, ipod. .290 batting with 15 big flies? that's a huge drop-off. i hope that you are wrong.

[Edgartohof]

ouch, ipod. .290 batting with 15 big flies? that's a huge drop-off. i hope that you are wrong.

Well, if he did that, that would just be reverting to his previous self, with no improvement at all.


I think that he will do around .300+ (.310?), with up to 25 HR's. As far as the OBP goes, even with an increased BA, I don't know if his OBP will quite go up that far. He never has had 60 walks in his career, and in his 2 month streak there, while his bat was hot, he only had 11 walks (equivalent to 30 in 162 games). So I would go with a .365, maybe .375 OBP.

[Edgartohof]

Carlos Guillen did the same thing in '04, except Guillen did it the whole season - Winn only had 2 months to put up those numbers. But Injuries aside, Guillen was able to keep up those numbers. He batted a great .320 last year, but he lost most of the power that he picked up in his '04 explosion.

[west coast orange and black]

shoot, edgar, when a player gets as hot as winn did those last months he would get fined by the manager for taking a bases on balls.

[moebarguy]

He's always been a good second half guy...