Archive for Marlon Byrd

Over the last few days, you’ve no doubt heard a lot of grumbling about the fact that players with PED histories are getting paid. You heard it a little when Marlon Byrd (career earnings: approximately $22 million) signed for a guaranteed $16 million with the Phillies, and a little more when Carlos Ruiz (career earnings: approximately $15 million) accepted $26 million to stay in Philadelphia.

But of course, that was just a prelude to the howling that came when Jhonny Peralta, with around $30 million in career earnings to his name, picked up a $53 million contract from the Cardinals — and it’s only going to get worse if Nelson Cruz, who has earned approximately $20 million in his career, actually gets the 4/$75m contract he’s reportedly asking for. Read the rest of this entry »

No team has been on a faster pace early in free agency so far than the Phillies, who have added Marlon Byrd to their outfield and agreed to retain catcher Carlos Ruiz. As you certainly know, both moves have been met with derision in certain corners of the baseball world, partially because both Byrd & Ruiz are older players with recent PED suspensions and at least one lousy year in the last two, and partially because Ruben Amaro’s reputation is such these days that he could find a way to trade John Mayberry for Mike Trout and people would still laugh at him about it.

Amaro’s earned a lot of that scorn, obviously, thanks to the atrocious Ryan Howard extension, his bets on Michael Young & Delmon Young last winter, and his insistence on retaining an aging core as the team has fallen from 102 wins to 81 to 73 in the last three years. But while these new moves aren’t exactly slam dunks, you can defend each of them on their own. Byrd’s contract is exactly in line with what basically everyone on the internet — FanGraphs readers included — expected he would get, and while guaranteeing Ruiz three years at his age is a lot harder to stomach, Dave Cameron did lay out a convincing case for why it can be considered a reasonable move. Read the rest of this entry »

Nine months ago, Marlon Byrd could not secure a major league deal from any team leading him to sign a minor league deal with an invite to camp with the New York Mets. Two days ago, he parlayed a 136 wRC+ into a guaranteed two-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. As Dave Cameron pointed out, Byrd reinvented himself in 2013 at age-35 by swapping contact for power. The result of of this change was a .220 ISO, which was both a career-high and the first time he eclipsed the .200 plateau for his isolated power. After seasons of a relatively firm baseline for Contact% and Z-Contact%, Byrd changed his ways and made himself more attractive on the free agent market. 30 clubs were not willing to guarantee him money as a high contact batter with a good batting average, but one was quick to give him a guaranteed contract after one season of a grip it and rip it approach.

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Little has gone right for the Chicago Cubs this season. The club’s starting pitchers boast the second-best xFIP in the National League and the defense isn’t too shabby, either (fifth in UZR). Unfortunately, those strong performances have gone to waste due to mediocre relief pitching (11th in the NL in xFIP) and offense (12th in wOBA). Even after last night’s 1-0 victory over the White Sox, the Cubs have a 28-35 record. At 7.5 games back of the division-leading Cardinals and eight games behind the Dodgers in the Wild Card chase, the Cubs have less than a seven percent shot of making the playoffs, according to CoolStandings.com. Yes, Lloyd, I’m telling you there’s a chance. It’s not looking good, though.

While there are many reasons as to why 2010 is shaping up to be yet another aggravating season in Wrigleyville, Marlon Byrd surely isn’t among them. The 32-year-old center fielder, inked to a three-year, $15 million deal over the off-season, is enjoying a career year.

Byrd’s batting .333/.375/.543, with a .400 wOBA that ranks in the top 20 among qualified big league hitters. He’s not walking (3.6 BB%) or whiffing (13.7 K%) much — he’s just racking up extra-base hits and getting some fortunate bounces on balls put in play. Byrd’s ISO is a career-high .209, while his .354 BABIP is 31 points higher than his expected BABIP and 29 points above his career BABIP in the majors. Defensively, Byrd has rated as average to slightly below average in center during his career. But he owns a +17.3 UZR/150 and +10 DRS in 2010. With three Wins Above Replacement, Byrd places seventh among all MLB position players. Not bad for a guy whose career has been on life support a couple of times over the years.

A Georgia prep star in baseball and football, Byrd attended Georgia Tech but suffered a devastating right leg injury — three procedures were performed on the leg, and at one point doctors considered amputation. He transferred to Georgia Perimeter Junior College, where his health and stock improved enough for the Phillies to pluck him in the 10th round of the 1999 draft.

Byrd emerged as a top prospect, cracking Baseball America’s top 100 list prior to the 2002 and 2003 seasons. He amassed 3.5 WAR rookie season in ’03, proving himself an asset at the plate (116 wRC+) and in the field (+5.1 UZR/150 in CF). At 25, Byrd looked poised to be a quality contributor for the Phightins for years to come.

But then he imploded. Byrd plummeted to -1.6 WAR in 2004, and followed that up with 0.9 WAR in part-time play during a 2005 season in which he was traded to the nascent Nationals. He split 2006 flailing in Washington (.294 wOBA, 0.4 WAR). But he hit fairly well in Triple-A (.369 wOBA). Byrd latched on with the Rangers prior to 2007, signing a minor league pact. After raking with the RedHawks to begin the year (.424 wOBA), Byrd was called up to the big leagues and proceeded to revive his career in Arlington.

From ’07 to 2009, Byrd was Mr. Average — he had 2.3 WAR per season, with a park-and-league-adjusted wOBA 14 percent above the norm (114 wRC+) but a glove that was a couple runs below average per 150 defensive games. CHONE had Byrd pegged for 2.6 WAR in 2010, a mark that he has already exceeded. Barring injury, he’ll easily surpass his rookie WAR total, too.

Odds are Byrd won’t remain one of the absolute best players in the majors. But ZiPS projects a .367 wOBA for the rest of the season. That, coupled with average D, would continue to make him a valuable starter. Byrd has taken a circuitous route to big league success, but he’s looking like a free agent coup for the Cubs.

The Texas Rangers are known this year for a very, very potent offense. With Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, and Ian Kinsler all producing top-of-the-league numbers it becomes very easy to overlook other contributing players on the team. Granted, none of these players are in the pitching department, but Marlon Byrd is having a very solid season and, over the last two weeks has arguably been the best player in baseball.

Byrd has had an interesting and underachieving career. He was once considered a super-prospect in the Phillies farm system but never met expectations in red pinstripes and soon found himself sent packing to the Nationals in exchange for Endy Chavez… yes, the Mets legend once played for the Phillies! He then signed with the Rangers as a free agent prior to the 2007 season and remains there today, roaming all three positions in the outfield.

In 82 games this season, Byrd has produced a .298/.381/.477 slash line, good for an OPS+ of 128. He also has an RZR (fielding metric developed at The Hardball Times) of .957. Though he doesn’t technically qualify for inclusion on their leaderboard, the current leader in the outfield is Adam Jones of the Orioles, whose RZR is .948. Take from that what you will.

Though Byrd’s seasonal line is pretty impressive, he has been extremely hot lately. Since July 8, he has hit .383/.463/.636, for a 1.099 OPS, drawing 14 free passes and fanning just seven times in these 29 games. Since the start of August, however, Byrd has been even better. Using the ‘Last 14 Days’ filter here at Fangraphs, Byrd is hitting .480/.559/.740, a 1.299 OPS. His WPA/LI is 0.84 in this span, which ranks atop the American League. Additionally, his BRAA (12.65) and REW (1.22) rank above all other AL players.

Now, The Book showed us that hot streaks, even the most flammable of the bunch, have next to no predictive value with regards to what will happen from that point on. So, it isn’t to say that because Byrd has produced these numbers over the last two weeks that he will continue to stay hot, or has any type of advantage over someone not as hot lately. Still, he has had a good season thus far and I think it’s safe to say very few people have noticed.

Is he living up to the potential that made its way into his corner as a minor leaguer? No, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a quality major league player