Ordonez actually earned his first all-star appearance last season, but was he actually worse last year than in year’s prior?
Looking at his ZR, his 4.6 is the lowest it’s been since his rookie season, where it was 3.0. ZR is a counting stat though, so the fact he played in 131 games rather than the 155 or so he was playing in before is something to take note of. His Eff of 1.031 still ranked third in his 5 seasons in the BBA.
At the plate, the eye test checks out on most items including his OPS+ as mentioned, which was the second highest of his career, despite his lowest number of walks since his rookie season with a walk rate of just 3.7%. On the flip side, his strikeout % was the lowest it’s ever been at 20.3% of his at bats. His ISO was also much closer to his sophomore season than other season at .278. His WRC+ of 117 also screams that he was a very good center fielder last season and is nearly the exact same as that sophomore season.
So why question this?
Well, those WRC+ and OPS+ stats both compare Ordonez to the rest of the league, they don’t compare him to himself from season to season. Sure, we know how well he was each year compared to the rest of the league, but what about runs created for just Ordonez each season?
His runs created are shown in the table below, and show that he actually has regressed each season in runs created, to a new low of 85.7 RC over the course of the season, or 5.7 RC/27.
| Year | Age | RC | wRC+ | OPS+ | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2039 | 19 | 63.6 | 74 | 76 | 0.3 |
| 2040 | 20 | 102.6 | 117 | 116 | 5.1 |
| 2041 | 21 | 93.8 | 90 | 93 | 1.7 |
| 2042 | 22 | 87.5 | 88 | 93 | 2.2 |
| 2043 | 23 | 85.7 | 117 | 114 | 4.0 |
Why is this important?
I don’t know, maybe it isn’t. Maybe I should just be happy he was an above average player last year? But I’m not. I’m not happy because at age 24, past all the mirrors and sleight of hand tricks, Ordonez was a worse player as far as offensive production than he has ever been in his career, dismissing his rookie season.
Should that concern me? I don’t know…but it does.
Ordonez is entering his 5th year of BBA service time, meaning he is eligible to be signed long term. My grand plan was to pay Ordonez a nice front loaded contract as I can afford about $20 million ($25 if I decided to move Lima) in 2045, and have it come back down for when I need the money in a few years. I question now whether or not I want to even go down that path, but with no other CF on the roster worth hanging onto, not counting Ly who is a right fielder, I almost feel I have to make the move now or realize he will be leaving in 2 seasons.
