Parting words

The Seattle Times has a few stories on ex-Appleton players leaving the Mariners for other teams. First up is ex-Appleton Fox Raul Ibanez:

Fresh from signing a three-year, $31.5 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies this week, the outfielder talked Thursday about his parting words for younger teammates as last season wound down. Ibanez recalled speaking on different occasions with Felix Hernandez, Jose Lopez and Yuniesky Betancourt, reminding them that he was a pending free agent and that third baseman Adrian Beltre will be, as well, next year.

"I told them, 'Listen, some of us veteran guys might not be here in a year or two. There's no reason you can't pull someone aside now and speak to them if you see they aren't doing things the right way.'

"I mean, I told them, 'You're still young, but you're not that young. You're not still a bunch of kids wearing the uniform for the first time. You've all been in the big leagues for a while and you have to be conscious that people are watching you. And if you start acting a certain way, they're going to start acting another way, too.' "

Ibanez believes Hernandez "works hard and is naturally competitive" and would make a natural clubhouse leader in a few years. Same with catcher Jeff Clement, who he thinks can be looked up to by other players once he starts producing.

Hernandez ('03) and Clement ('05) are both ex-Rattlers.

Then there is this part. The guys at Lookout Landing may disagree (slightly) with the following statements.

On a personal note, Ibanez has read criticisms that he's a defensive liability and that the Phillies overpaid to get him. He believes some of the modern defensive metrics cited by his critics are unreliable and don't take into account player positioning in the field, ballpark factors or the force and angle at which balls are coming off bats.

"Those are things that I'm going to have to continue to battle throughout my career," he said of the perception he can't play defense. "But if you go around the game, and you ask the players, you ask quality major-league scouts, you ask managers, they'll tell you I'm the type of player they want on their team."

I was right.

Here's the thing, though - so what? We know that the stats are flawed. We've always known that. That's why, for example, we don't say that a guy is a +5 defender - we say that he's a 0..<..x..<..+10 defender. Because there's error in the result. But that doesn't invalidate the whole system. The same stuff goes for every player in baseball, and unless Raul thinks that the defensive metrics are rather uniquely conspiring against him in an effort to make him look worse than he really is, pointing out their sundry shortcomings doesn't make for much of a defense. Over a sample size of two or three years, things tend to even out. And over a sample size of the last two or three years, Raul Ibanez has been a statistically lousy defender.

Back to the other story at the Seattle Times website. It's an AP story and -- this may come as a shock -- but a player in a press conference actually said that he was happy to be in his new city.

J.J. Putz was honest: He would like to be closing games next season rather than setting up someone else's saves.

Still, the former Mariners reliever insisted he's enthusiastic about his eighth-inning job with the New York Mets, who landed record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez last week just before acquiring Putz.

"It wasn't the ideal situation. I really loved closing. But I'm just going to take it an inning earlier, so it's not going to be that big of an adjustment," Putz said Thursday. "I'm fine with the role. Like I said, bottom line, I just want to win. I hadn't had a chance to really do that in Seattle. To come to a team that's built to win right now, I'll pitch in the sixth, seventh — whatever it takes to get us a championship."

And he'll be fine, too.

Of course, it's Putz's last name that could provide easy fodder for headline writers at the New York tabloids if he struggles. But he's not worried.

"I've been dealing with this for years," he said. "I can handle it."

Probably took some heat in high school, though?

"Dude, I was bigger than everybody in high school," Putz said.

Dude.