The All-Grit Team

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 14, 2008 12:20 PM CDT in Statistical Analysis Comment 35 comments

I'm not exactly an authority on grit, but it was about time someone named an All-Grit Team. All-Star Week seemed appropriate.

C Jason Kendall
1B Platoon: Doug Mientkiwicz / Kevin Millar
2B Mark Grudzielanek
3B Ryan Freel
SS David Eckstein
LF Scott Podsednik
CF Aaron Rowand
RF Eric Byrnes

If a DH were needed, the all-grit team would do one of two things:

Bat the pitcher, because truly gritty players are throwbacks to when pitchers could hit for themselves
Go with Willie Bloomquist.

The bench is a little unbalanced--in addition to the eight starters, 1B platoon, and Bloomquist, that leaves four or five spots. Again, these guys are throwbacks, so a 10-man pitching staff would have to do the job. That leaves two roster spots for Craig Counsell (team captain) and Nick Punto and three more for backup catchers. Doesn't really matter which ones, though I think Paul Bako has to be on the team.

It doesn't matter that there aren't any backup outfielders, because any truly gritty player can play anywhere in the diamond. In that sense, there are twelve backup outfielders. Similarly, it doesn't really matter which outfielders are assigned to which position, since any of the three could play center, but they, of course, will play wherever they're needed.

I haven't figured out what to do about the pitching staff, since pitchers aren't generally considered gritty in the same way that position players are. It seems that gritty pitchers are generally guys who have hung on past their prime (like Jamie Moyer) or lefty relievers (like Brian Shouse) or both.

You may note that I didn't include a batting lineup--the list above is just the fielding alignment. That's going to be a serious problem for manager Gabe Kapler--left to their own devices, everyone on this team would bat second.

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Terrible

How is Darin Erstad not on this list? Preening peacocks like Eric Byrnes are too pretty to be gritty.

by Marty McSuperFly on Jul 14, 2008 12:28 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

But Byrnes runs into walls!

Walls, I tell you!

Maybe Erstad can get a roster spot if the all-grit team is willing to go with only three catchers.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 14, 2008 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Theriot, Pedroia, and Youkilis

I think these guys could find there way on that list too, especially Youkilis, that guy’s face just screams Grit.

by brewfan2 on Jul 14, 2008 12:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That's funny

To me, his face screams Tom Hulce as a serial killer>

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 14, 2008 12:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure...

Youk and Pedroia might be too good. It’s tough to be both all-grit and all-star these days.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 14, 2008 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pitcher nominations

I would think a gritty pitcher can hit for power (though that would be a liability for grittiness if they weren’t a pitcher) and pitches despite injury…

Coffee is for closers

by drezdn on Jul 14, 2008 1:01 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

oooh...

I’ve got two pitcher nominations
Jeff Cirillo
Rick Ankiel

Position players who CAN pitch.

by PagsBrewCrew on Jul 14, 2008 3:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Backup backstop

Joe Dillon has to be somewhere on that list of backup catchers. Just because he’s never played the position before doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be a grit-perfect fit.

You couldn’t probably bring him in as an 8th-inning setup guy, too. Frankly, I was stunned Dillon didn’t have a place on the team as I was reading the post. Eric Byrnes? He’s still chasing his dog somewhere out in McCovey Cove.

by Bay View Brewer on Jul 14, 2008 1:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Damn keys

Should have typed “You COULD probably bring him in as an 8th-inning setup guy, too.” Stupid typing machine thingy …

by Bay View Brewer on Jul 14, 2008 1:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i want Jesse Orosco in my All-Grit bullpen.

go get em' seth!

by Jamie in LA on Jul 14, 2008 1:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Not to take this thread a different direction...

...but it is interesting that all of the players on the list are white….no black players, no Hispanics, no Asians…

I certainly don’t think it is an issue with Jeff, but rather how the public/press as a whole perceive players.

by badgermaniac on Jul 14, 2008 2:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The whole point is that Jeff is making an All-Star team of players that are frequently ascribed with gritty/scrappy character by the media. As you mention, it is a reflection of cultural perceptions and differences.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 14, 2008 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

the "other" races

...are too quick to be gritty:P

by PagsBrewCrew on Jul 14, 2008 3:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am sure when the human genome project is completed...

We will find that race and grittiness are related.
It’s like the sickle cell thing.

White people genetically adapted “grit” due to environmental conditions in Europe rewarding grit.

by Braun Holio on Jul 14, 2008 10:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Me too...

But I dominate our “hustling up the line” category.

by Braun Holio on Jul 14, 2008 10:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pedro and Wakefield deserve spots

Anyone willing to brawl with a 194 year old Don Zimmer and threaten to hit other players in the head before/during/after deserves to be on the team. Are you gonna tell him no?

And Wakefield has to be gritty. I swear I have more athletic ability that he does.

by Getting Yosted on Jul 14, 2008 2:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah

before I gave up on including pitchers, Wakefield was on the list. Pretty much any knuckleballer is in the running.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 14, 2008 2:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would include the Turnbow types, too

Throwing as hard as they can with no idea where it’s going. They are basically throwing a knuckball, it just arrives faster.

by Getting Yosted on Jul 14, 2008 2:37 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

Jamie Moyer

Now that’s a gritty pitcher, he needs a spot

by Hyatt on Jul 14, 2008 2:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

In a pinch

Freel and Bloomquist could play the outfield.

The best lineup using 2008 stats, combining Mientkiewicz vs. RHP and Millar vs. LHP into one guy named Millkiewicz and using an average NL pitcher, would be:

Millkiewicz
Rowand
Eckstein
Erstad
Grudzielanek
Podsednik
Freel
Pitcher
Kendall

They would score a gritty 4.213 runs per game, placing them 13th in the current NL ahead of the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and Nationals.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jul 14, 2008 3:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Those Runs

They’d all come on Sac hits, flys, errors or RBI singles.

Coffee is for closers

by drezdn on Jul 14, 2008 3:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't forget bases loaded BB/HBP

by Getting Yosted on Jul 14, 2008 3:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And the acme of grit, the bases-loaded catcher's interference

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 14, 2008 3:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Tomo Ohka theory of hitting

And neck size to baby eating ratio.

by Jordan M on Jul 14, 2008 10:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bases loaded BB/HBP

Something I refer to as an “Overbay RBI”.

C. Magruder scored, R. Weeks to second on balk

by alkaseitzer on Jul 14, 2008 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

so...

who do the all-grit allstars play against?

the all-gimp allstars, including blind, dumb and deaf individuals? or the all-git allstars, featuring the assholes of the world (ala CBS’s “anti-allstar” list)

by PagsBrewCrew on Jul 14, 2008 3:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

They did last year

Satellite picture of last year’s Grit-Stars Game

by Getting Yosted on Jul 14, 2008 4:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They play Barry Bonds, by himself.

A player so ungritty that he sucks the scrappiness out of his opponents hearts like a massive black hole.

"My thing is that you guys eat meat all day and you can't hit a ball. That's my thing." - P. Fielder

by SRB on Jul 14, 2008 4:46 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Grit 3B Hall of Famer: Pig Pen

Coffee is for closers

by drezdn on Jul 14, 2008 4:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Podsednick/Byrnes

I don’t think of them as being gritty, just crappy and kind of fast. Otherwise, that is one gritty all-star team! The team jersey-washers are going to have their hands full after the game.

As for the Grit Hall of Fame, I found this endlessly entertaining link:
Grit Analyzed

"My thing is that you guys eat meat all day and you can't hit a ball. That's my thing." - P. Fielder

by SRB on Jul 14, 2008 4:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I have way too many of these guys on my fantasy team

No wonder I am in last place lol

Its all about the Bullpen this season that is the key.

by WSB Chris on Jul 14, 2008 5:47 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

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