Who is this Trot Nixon Guy?

[pilumpyphi]

I've been dying to know other people's opinion on this subject. To immediately bias this thread I'm going to say that aside from his "breakout" year last season I've seen NOTHING from this guy. He's a nice, solid Red Sox team member in that he hates the Yankees and brings something special when we play them, but beyond that..nada.

 

A little history about Mr. Nixon: He's 30. He was drafted back in 1993. Named Sox top prospect of 1994. Never played a full MLB season (>100 games) until 1999.

 

Finally can you guess who's stats are who's? One line is Nixon's, the other is another Red Sox player who started playing consistently around the same time as Trot but who's been treated very differently. The stats are averages per 400 ABs. All stats are from 1999 through 2003 (five seasons worth, source: ESPN.com).

 

H 2B HR RBI BB SO OPS

111.1 24.1 18.1 65.2 56.3 82.4 .862

104.0 26.7 18.4 64.8 49.1 107.9 .822

 

Does it surprise you that someone else on the Red Sox has quietly been putting up similar numbers? Does it surprise you that the other guy is Brian Daubach? Virtually identical hits, doubles, bombs, RBI and OPS. How about this stat: $4,000,000 (or 8 fold) difference in salary.

 

My vote is for OVER RATED

[yeszir]

I say overrated for essentially the same reason you say. Mediocre stats. People tend to view his whole "dirt dog" attitude as his saving grace, and the fact that he occasionally gets his uniform dirty as a sign that he is amazing.

 

I've really said this all along, and people tend to yell at me whenever I say it. But oh well, at least someone out there agrees with me.

 

And as for the whole posting of stat thing, I'm trying to figure out a way to have it so the formatting doesnt get all messed up when posting statistics.

[YanksHater213]

i said accurate. many people view him as underrated and they say look at his stats, i dont see anything sparkling. i see good allaround stats for a right fielder. the fact is that he cannot hit a lefty for crap. aside from that trot is a very good player. he is solid fielding in the unpredictable fenway right field, and he can absolutely kill righty pitchers

[Tek04]

I say he is underrated...

[yawkeyway]

Overrated by Red Sox fans, accurate by all other fans. RSN treats him as this savior. One who, along with nomar, will save this team from its impending doom by hitting .800 with 50 homeruns in 4 weeks. It's not gonna happen.

[YanksHater213]

Originally posted by yawkeyway@May 18 2004, 05:34 PM

One who, along with nomar, will save this team from its impending doom by hitting .800 with 50 homeruns in 4 weeks. It's not gonna happen.

no, that wont happen, but trot is a very good player. i think if he plays a full year, at best he will be .290 30hrs 100rbis

[Zenny]

I've never heard of a player who was top 10 in the league in OPS in a season and the fans of his own team call him overrated. Shameful.

[yagmaster]

The reason for this is that OPS is an overrated stat.

[JMDurron]

I think he is regarded accurately. As far as RFs go, he's not the greatest by any measure, and he is regarded as such by the national media. However, when you say that RSN overrates him so badly, take a look at who has been in RF for the Sox over the past decade. Trot Nixon is NOT overrated when you say that he is great relative to what we've been forced to watch in that position in recent memory. Even this year, he's great if you compare him to the production you get from Kapler/Crespo/Millar playing that same position. You can't say that there isn't any potential for him to have a great impact on the team when you kick Kapler's bat out of the lineup and Millar's defense back to the IF. So yes, he's not great, but he's great relative to the alternatives we have available.

[Zenny]

Originally posted by yagmaster@May 18 2004, 09:37 PM

The reason for this is that OPS is an overrated stat.

Could you explain your stance on that?