Hee Seop Choi picked up by Sox off of waivers

[Fishercat]

Couldn't get on base? He's had a better OBP than league average in every year of his major league career with over 100 PAs, same with his slugging. Awful? He's been better than the Dodgers current 1B (Garciaparra) over the past couple years while not getting consistant playing time.

[Saber]

This from a fan of a team that had Jason Phillips at first base last season.

[Bear]

Does anyone think Hee Seop Choi can have a major impact on any Major League Team? I do not. Boston is going to be very happy with JT Snow. The Giants made a big mistake letting him go, and because of this, it will help Boston a great deal!

[realmofotalk]

a team that had Jason Phillips at first base last season.

Exactly. Choi hit so well that the team turned to a weak hitting catcher to play 1st base.

[realmofotalk]

Couldn't get on base? He's had a better OBP than league average in every year of his major league career with over 100 PAs, same with his slugging. Awful? He's been better than the Dodgers current 1B (Garciaparra) over the past couple years while not getting consistant playing time.

Choi's statline with the Dodgers in 2004:
.161 .289 .242 .531

Choi in 2005:
.253 .336 .453 .789

Olmedo Saenz in 2005:
.263 .325 .480 .804

[Fishercat]

He has 62 at-bats in 2004 with the Dodgers. That statline means nothing.

He had a better on base better than Saenz, so if Choi "couldn't get on base", then Saenz cannot either. And his slugging is 27 points better. That's about three total bases for every 100 at bats. Likewise, Choi's OBP wasn't much better, as he gets on base about one time more for every PA. But you disproved nothing in my post, and the Dodgers kept the guy who hit marginally better who is eight years older.

Not to mention, they do different things. Choi is noticeably better v. RHP, Saenz is noticeably better v. LHP. I don't see how that comparison you made added anything to your point.

[Kingdom]

Amazing how much debate a marginal pro has drawn. Reds fans are in a chaotic state.

Wait until Millar gets waived for laughing at his teammates, the city of Cincinnati will hold America hostage until he's picked up by the reds.

[realmofotalk]

He has 62 at-bats in 2004 with the Dodgers. That statline means nothing.

Small sample size, blah blah blah. If only he put up the same numbers as did for the Marlins, he would've gotten more at-bats as a starter. DePodesta didn't acquire him with the intention of having ultra optimist Tracy bench him right away.

He had a better on base better than Saenz, so if Choi "couldn't get on base", then Saenz cannot either. And his slugging is 27 points better. That's about three total bases for every 100 at bats. Likewise, Choi's OBP wasn't much better, as he gets on base about one time more for every PA. But you disproved nothing in my post, and the Dodgers kept the guy who hit marginally better who is eight years older.

Not to mention, they do different things. Choi is noticeably better v. RHP, Saenz is noticeably better v. LHP. I don't see how that comparison you made added anything to your point.

So basically, Choi is a marginal platoon player who can't hit lefties.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah Choi is nothing special what so ever and will never be a starter. He won't play over Snow and Youk or at least he shouldn't. He has one good streak a year and that's it. If the Dodgers won't even play him, then there is something wrong.

[Fishercat]

62 at-bats! 62! That's 13 full games, that's nothing. It was 31 for Choi because he wasn't given a real shot to play. For instance, through 54 at-bats at the beginning of 2005, Alex Rodriguez had a .241-.268-.389 line. One great game, and the OPS jumped 200+ points.

The facts are, Choi went from an almost full-time player in Florida to a bit player in LA and young players typically need full time whereever to play well, whether in the minors or majors. And if your manager is stupid enough to bench a guy who was a full-time player because of a few bad games (and relative to a baseball season, it has to be a few bad games), he deserved to be fired.

Choi was never able to hit lefites well and typically isn't given the shot to do so. Doesn't mean a team can't, just means if they have a better option like Saenz was against lefites, they should play him. Marginal platoon player my ass. He's an effective platoon player, and anyone who plays Jason Phillips over him (Phillips slugging last year was lower than Choi's OBP which was lower than he usually is) deserves his firing.

[love_that_reefer]

The fact is there is a reason Choi didn't get to play in LA and its because coaches saw that he wasn't that good. He wasn't that good in Chicago or Florida either. 2004 Choi had a good April and that was it!!! That took up most of his offensive stats like homers and RBI. I don't know where you get this 62 ABs shit because he had 320 last year. Fact is teams aren't playing him and if a team like the Dodgers who are always scratching for offense isn't playing this guy, then they know something you and I don't. Well at least you.

[Fishercat]

He had 62 ABs in 2004 with the Dodgers. He said Choi would play more if he put up similar numbers to what he did with the Marlins, when he played consistantly.

In 2004, Choi had an MVP caliber April, but he was above average for every month before arriving to the Dodgers. When he got to the Dodgers, his ABs were cut in half in August and non-existant the other two months. He had a bad streak and he was benched.

When push comes to shove, the Dodgers released a guy who has had three straight above average hitting years who was costing them a whopping 750,000 dollars. He'll start the year in AAA, and when Snow or Lowell falter, he'll get called up. I expect a .750-.800 OPS out of him if he plays consistantly. And considering how much 750k gets a team these days, it's a bargain.

It made sense for the Dodgers to release him. They paid Nomar serious money to be at 1B for them and Saenz has a good platoon type of role with the team. They want Loney at AAA. So if they wanted to play Choi, he'd have to go to AA to play full-time or be a third 1st baseman on the MLB club. It makes sense, they save 500-750k. However, it also makes sense for the Sox to pick him up because he is an above average offensive player. For instance, if you take his season last year and double the stats (meaning 640 ABs, about a full year), he would have had 30 homeruns and had starting-caliber 1B stats for the AL.

[love_that_reefer]

Three straight above average hitting years? Where the hell are you seeing this? The man has never hit over .271 and hasn't had more than 350 ABs in a season. And that 2004 he was not better than average in every month after. Yes he got on base but what good is it since he has no speed and with no one hitting behind him. His power numbers were shit and have always been plus the strikeouts with men on base. They released him because they felt he wasn't even worth the small salary he got and they had much better options. When push comes to shove Choi simply does not produce.

[Fishercat]

League Average OBP and SLG for 2003-2005
(.339, .429) (.334, .427) (.332, .418)

Choi's OBP and SLG for 2003-2005
(.350, .421) (.370, .449) (.336, .453)

Therefore, above average. I am counting years, not months. And it's clearly his fault that Tracy was unwilling to give him full time at bats. And getting on-base gives people a chance to drive him in. He could be Ernie Lombardi and getting on base is better than not getting on base.

[love_that_reefer]

His production numbers were/are awful and can't hit with men in scoring position and cannot hit for any kind of average what so ever. Snow hits for better average, plays better defense, gets on base more often and can drive in as many runs as Choi. So his OBP is above average and that's it! I can hardly count that as three straight better than average years, maybe in one dept.