Sanchez vs Barmes – Offense vs Defense

The age old question in baseball. Offense or defense? Would you rather have a gold glove on the field or a slugger at the plate?

I think the majority of people would prefer the slugger in just about any situation. If we were talking about a guy who knocked in 100 RBI or scored 100 runs in a given season, I’d say the same thing.

Unfortunately that’s not what we’re talking about when we talk about Angel Sanchez.  Sure, he’s getting his hits and has done an excellent job at the plate for us in the 2 hole so far this season. The problem though is that his defense isn’t cutting it.

That’s to put it mildly. His defense is just plain terrible. Though last night was a great win for the team, it really shouldn’t have gotten to that point in the first place as Sanchez had a 3 run error that put us in the situation we were in. Norris didn’t give up three runs last night, Sanchez did.

That’s not the first time his errors have been costly, and it won’t be the last.

In 23 games so far this year he has already had 6 errors compared to 5 errors in 54 starts last year. But that only tells a very small part of the tale. If you look at his Total Zone Data at some pretty ugly things come out. Compared to all ML shortstops with 100+ innings he’s last in every category.

There is no comparing his defense with Barmes.  Just glancing at the same numbers for Barmes career it’s clear who the better SS is.

So, ok we know Barmes is the better SS, but how about on offense? Well we already know that it’s pretty unlikely he’s going to hit .300 like Angel has so far, and when you compare their career 162 game averages Sanchez wins out. Of course the sample size is dramatically smaller for Angel.

So what wins out, offense or defense? There are numerous ways to look at it statistically. Some views favor Barmes, others favor Sanchez. However, I want to make an argument thats non-statistical: which has more of an impact on the team?

Players are not robots. Every moment in every game has the potential to register on a player’s psyche in a positive or a negative way. Not just their actions, but more importantly, the actions of their teammates.

For example, a pitcher getting a SO in a critical situation is just a SO in the box score, but to the players around him it could be a fist pumping moment that gets the adrenaline going. Same with a spectacular fielding play, or a HR to take the lead in a game, or a clutch hit that extends a rally. Some have more of an impact on others depending on countless factors.

Here’s my point: Sanchez’s positives as a hitter can’t make up for his negatives as a SS. Statistically you might be able to argue otherwise, but as far as the overall impact on the team (especially the pitching staff), I don’t think there is a comparison.

Errors do more than just potentially cost runs.  They prolong innings, increase pitch counts, and wear on the team in general. In other words, they have an impact well beyond just a single stat column. To me, and I think most players would agree, 3 great fielding plays are negated by one bad play that costs 3 runs.

Though it was great to see the team get a win last night, it sure would have been nice to not have to have gone that route. Odds are that Sanchez’s three run error would have generated an L in more cases than not.

If Angel was the type of hitter that could make up for it by hitting a 3 run HR in the bottom of the ninth then I’d cut him more slack. He’s not though. At most he might get a clutch single or double, which he’s done, but that hit is very unlikely to be as positive as the error was negative.

Think about that from the pitcher’s view as well.  The error occurred in the 4th and it wasn’t “corrected” until the end of the game. Sure we won, but Bud didn’t get the W and considering how he pitched, he deserved it. Sure Bud was happy we won, but don’t try to tell me he wouldn’t have been a lot happier if he had gotten the W.

Barmes will be the SS when he’s off the DL. If he struggles really badly at the plate Sanchez might get some more time in, but the pitchers may protest once they get a feel for how much better a SS Barmes is over Sanchez.