Posted by New Law Era
You don’t need advanced metrics to see that Pedro Feliz has been awful in 2010. In 304 plate appearances this season, the 35 year old third baseman is sporting a stat line of .221/.243/.311. Yes, you have read that correctly – a .243 on-base percentage and a .311 slugging percentage. The skinny nerdy kid that picks his nose and doesn’t shower probably has a higher on-base percentage than Feliz. The skinny nerdy kid probably hits for more power as well.
Feliz has been one of the least valuable players in all of baseball this season.
Crude, non-family friendly jokes aside, the point is that Feliz has been bad. According to the stat Wins Above Replacement, Feliz is a -1.5 WAR player. In layman’s terms, Feliz is costing his team wins.
The St. Louis Cardinals front office, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to acquire Feliz from the Astros for minor league pitcher David Carpenter. Due to regular third baseman David Freese being out for the season with injury and current third baseman Felipe Lopez having issues both offensively and defensively, the Cardinals seem to believe that Feliz is the solution to this problem.
With the way Feliz’ season has been going so far, I believe the Cardinals have made a bad move. Feliz is both an offensive and defensive downgrade from Lopez.
His batting line is more than enough evidence of that he has been worse than Lopez this season. (Lopez has a slash line of .246/.322/.360). If you want further proof, take a look at Feliz “stellar” weighted on-base average of .241 (Lopez, meanwhile sports a wOBA of .308). Now, I’m not saying that Lopez has been good offensively, but he is most certainly a better offensive option.
Well what about defense? Feliz fails there as well. While Feliz has been a great defensive third baseman throughout his career (UZR/150 of 15.6), he has been really bad this year (-7.9). Since we are only concerned about this year and not his career, this move makes no sense from the defensive side either. Regardless of why we are seeing a drastic regression at 3B defensively this season, the fact of the matter is that his defense will cost the Cardinals runs. Felipe Lopez once again has Feliz beat on defense as Lopez sports a UZR/150 of -0.7. Obviously Lopez is bad on defense as well, but he isn’t as bad as Feliz. I should, however, mention that Lopez’ hasn’t played as many innings of third base as Feliz has and that his sample size is rather small. Regardless, the move doesn’t seem to make sense.
Of course, there is that crazy chance that Feliz defies everything I have just described and Feliz could end up being the spark the Cardinals need to turn their recent slump around. I would be quite happy if Feliz proves me wrong. However, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Therefore, I believe the move to acquire Pedro Feliz made no sense at all.
Pine Tar and Pocket Protectors 
yeah i agree that he wasn’t the right move. however, the defense is still just as good. the high(or shall i say low) UZR has a lot to do with an increase in errors which are a pretty subjective way to measure defense. he hasn’t lost any range and still has a strong arm. anyone with eyes can see he is better than lopez.
Errors are counted in the error runs component of UZR. However, if the ball was out of his range, he’s not going to get penalized for it. Feliz probably isn’t as bad as his UZR indicates, but he hasn’t been very good this year.
I would probably say age or injury are the two biggest reasons why Feliz has regressed so much this season. The latter is probably the better explanation. His regression has been pretty damn drastic.
Well, what the Cardinals really need right now is a new hitting coach instead of one manager owing a favor to a former player. It is usually not just the players’ fault but management.
Feliz is projected to have a .279 wOBA the rest of the way. Bad, but not as bad as it was before.
I wonder if St. Louis is just hoping/counting on him returning to his defensive norms, since he’s been decent with the glove in the past. But yea, this move surprised me as well.
AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! First this waste of space mCgWHYre who just has to go away and stop ruining 1 of the top two lineups in the NL…then Ludwick for Westbrook??????? Dodgers got Lilly AND TheRIOT… how nice would the Riot have been at short, Lilly, #4…we all know what hes doing out in LA…that piece of crap Bendin’ Ryan can sit, Miles EVERYDAY at 2nd,Shoeshiner can sit, and whoever the h**l the batting coach is other than “Missin’ the mARK”, Im sure wouldve had Lopez hitting by now and he’d be fine at 3rd for now.Now this crap…Wheres Walt Jocketty, when WE need him…oh, I forgot. [: O *
I agree that Ludwick should have never been traded for Westbrook but a inside source told me that he couldn’t get along with Larussa because of playing time and then he was traded. The same goes for many other former players such as Rolen, Edmonds, and Rasmus. One improvement the Cardinals should make is not renewing the contract of Tony Larussa and company because of humiliating the club. I already miss Walt Jocketty and wish he was still the GM instead of dimwit Mozeliak.
I agree completely that this was not the answer for the cards. There were much better options out there than Feliz. Edwin Encarnarcion cleared wavers and could have been traded to the Cardinals. My 1st choice of course would have been Brandon Inge. But with out knowing if Inge cleared waivers or not the best action would have been Edwin Encarnarcion. Much better lines defensively and Offensively.
The Cardinals will have alot of work to do in the offseason.
Now I really am in favor with the Westbrook trade. He has proven that he can pitch and can keep the team in the game.
it gets even worse when you look at baseball reference. according to them, feliz has a -2.1 WAR
[…] Pine Tar and Pocket Protectors says that Pedro Feliz is not the answer for the Cardinals. […]
The other side of this: could this be the best trade Ed Wade has ever made?
I would’ve taken Inge, Wigginton, or Encarnacion any day over this slug…Can anyone say Encarnacion wouldn’t have been drooling at the chance to show up the Reds in a division race.Thats why Walt completed the brain trust,guys a genius right along side Billy Beane… hes beating the Cards…with the Cards!!!! Ed=WIN, Win with Brandon, Winning-ton,and we’re stuck with feliz-puh-leeze…great.
Never underestimate the power of a change of scenery from a really bad team to a contender when the player has a good track record, plus his BABIP is at a career low, indicating a lot of bad luck in his offense this year. Besides, Encarnacion’s defense has always been really bad, and none of the other options (outside Inge, who was very unlikely, if he hadn’t already been claimed, to reach us in waivers) were really any better, either.
By the way, he went 2 for 4 tonight and made a very good defensive play that I’m pretty sure Lopez would not have made.
It just doesn’t seem to make sense, defensive adjustments to accomodate a groundball-contact pitcher (Westbrook), when the problem hasn’t been the D, it is the offense… how many times is Ryan gonna come up with the bases loaded or a guy on third and either ground into a dp or strike out??? He got lucky on an error yesterday and a run scored. Everyone knows Double D can turn almost any pitcher into a quality- start- a -night -guy, and Westbrook didnt look all that sharp @ his new home. The offense isn’t exactly the Phils or Reds or even the Braves now w/ Lee that he was throwing against. The Giants are a pitching team, and we got out pitched by Bum-Garden, not Lincecum or Cain but BUM-Garden…wow. Feliz,Miles,Jay,Pujols,Holliday,Rasmus,Molina,P,Ryan.Winn,Shoemaker,and Craig off the bench,Stavinoah if needed. If this lineup,this particular batting order, with the rotation including a healthy and effective Supps, who is usually reliable in the autumn and if we’re lucky enough Penny will be active in some capacity. Honestly, I think Salas should get the call up to the bullpen, that kids got closer’s stuff… get him in there and lets see what he can do in the 8th with Motte out. 4 words-Torre,Brenly,Valentine,Manuel- and howza ’bout Milt Thompson as a Batting Coach??? LaRussa and McGuire REALLY need to step it up, and fast. ‘Nuff said from me.
NOT enough said BABY, Good job guys!!!Randy WINN and Pedro “Foot in Monty’s Mouth” Feliz, tearing up their old team…AWESOME!!!!!! And against Lincecum too, extending his funk and breaking our own forty something inning funk playing from behind. Oh thats such good stuff. The 1 run we gave up is irrelevant for anyone wanting the 0, it was a complete game in which the entire TEAM came together and was exceptional, Players and Coaches alike. Bravo, gentlemen…this passionate out-of-town fan appreciates TRUE QUALITY BASEBALL, and last night was exactly that.Double J making a really strong case for ROY, Jaime too!!!!!!!!