Hafner Slump in Perspective

by CaptainPenny on Jun 21, 2007 8:39 PM EDT

My first diary post. In thinking about Hafner's slump, I had a dim recollection that VMart went through something similar in 2005. So I checked the data. Here it is [month, average, doubles, HRs):

April .207 4 2
May .213 3 2
June .295 6 5
July .323 6 4
Aug .402 5 5
Sept .352 9 2

So, a 2 month outage from a very good hitter (followed by a strong rebound) is not that unusual.

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Re: Hafner Slump in Perspective

To be fair, Victor's OPS from 2004, before starting off horrible in 05, was .851. Hafner came into this year having put together a 1.098 OPS in 06. While I'm not freaking out as much as some on this site, Hafner's fall has been a bit more meteoric.

by nickjs21 on Jun 21, 2007 9:13 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Hafner Slump in Perspective

I think the fact that he's still being pitched around somewhat is a pretty solid indicator that things will be fine. People who get paid to do this are still afraid of him -- I have the distinct impression that nobody wants to have the pitching staff that woke up the donkey.

by fleerdon on Jun 21, 2007 11:10 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Hafner Slump in Perspective

I think that we have to start entertaining the possibility that Hafner may not rebound this year.

I think that the Tribe can still make the play-offs with Pronk playing for the rest of the season at here's current level. Wedge will hafta make some adjustments - like batting Hafner anywhere from 5th to 8th moving, Victor up to 3rd and putting either Blake (!) or Peralta at cleanup and sit Pronk against the tough left-handers.

The key for the Tribe making the play-offs is pitching. We need the good Westbrook back soon, continued outstanding performances from Betancourt, Lee must continue to trend upward and continuous improvement from our young relievers. That's a lot to ask. But even with Pronk hitting below his established averages, we're still scoring a lot of runs. The reason the Tribe is in contention this year and why they weren't last year is their pitching - not hitting.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jun 23, 2007 9:19 AM EDT reply actions