The Boston Globe ran a piece this morning entitled "Five Things About Mike Cameron." Here's five more:
1. The Sox will be Cameron's seventh Major League team and 2010 his 16th Major League season. The Sox will be his first American League team since 2003, when he finished a four-year stint with the Seattle Mariners. Aside from Jason Varitek, Cameron is now the Red Sox's oldest player as of today.
2. Cameron is remarkably consistent offensively. His EqA has been between .270 and .293 in each of the past 11 seasons.
3. August has generally been his best month, but September has been his worst. Looking at his OPS by month, we can see that he starts off medium in March/April, with a .771 OPS. From May-July, his OPS is about the same each month - .799 in May, .787 in June and .796 in July. In August however, it shoots up to .840 before shooting down to .724. The September swoon has been a particular issue recently for Cameron. Since Cameron became a regular in '97, he has played in 12 September's, missing only 2005 after his frightful collision with Carlos Beltran. Breaking up those 12 years into six-year blocks, we can see the following negative trend about his September performance:
Years Sept OPS
1997-2002: .815
2003-2009: .657
A .657 OPS is unlikely to cut during the pennant race that the Sox figure to be in next season, but keep in mind Cameron has played 92% of his career in center field and all but 10 of the remaining 149 games in right field. It is unlikely he will be asked to do that for the Sox, and it is also unlikely that he will play every day.
4. The Globe alluded to the fact that Cameron is productive despite not hitting for a high average. One of the reasons he does not hit for a high average is his strikeout totals. Cameron is 11th all-time in strikeouts, and second among active players to Jim Thome, and Thome may retire this offseason. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The next four names behind him on the active player leader board are Ken Griffey, Jr., Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado and Alex Rodriguez. While Cameron doesn't have their offensive pedigree, he is no scrub. He is currently 33rd all-time in home runs, with 265.
5. While their actual dollar values should be taken with a grain of salt, Fan Graphs had Cameron ranked as the 40th most valuable position player in the Majors last year, and 57th overall. On the Red Sox, only Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and J.D. Drew ranked higher.
1. The Sox will be Cameron's seventh Major League team and 2010 his 16th Major League season. The Sox will be his first American League team since 2003, when he finished a four-year stint with the Seattle Mariners. Aside from Jason Varitek, Cameron is now the Red Sox's oldest player as of today.
2. Cameron is remarkably consistent offensively. His EqA has been between .270 and .293 in each of the past 11 seasons.
3. August has generally been his best month, but September has been his worst. Looking at his OPS by month, we can see that he starts off medium in March/April, with a .771 OPS. From May-July, his OPS is about the same each month - .799 in May, .787 in June and .796 in July. In August however, it shoots up to .840 before shooting down to .724. The September swoon has been a particular issue recently for Cameron. Since Cameron became a regular in '97, he has played in 12 September's, missing only 2005 after his frightful collision with Carlos Beltran. Breaking up those 12 years into six-year blocks, we can see the following negative trend about his September performance:
Years Sept OPS
1997-2002: .815
2003-2009: .657
A .657 OPS is unlikely to cut during the pennant race that the Sox figure to be in next season, but keep in mind Cameron has played 92% of his career in center field and all but 10 of the remaining 149 games in right field. It is unlikely he will be asked to do that for the Sox, and it is also unlikely that he will play every day.
4. The Globe alluded to the fact that Cameron is productive despite not hitting for a high average. One of the reasons he does not hit for a high average is his strikeout totals. Cameron is 11th all-time in strikeouts, and second among active players to Jim Thome, and Thome may retire this offseason. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The next four names behind him on the active player leader board are Ken Griffey, Jr., Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado and Alex Rodriguez. While Cameron doesn't have their offensive pedigree, he is no scrub. He is currently 33rd all-time in home runs, with 265.
5. While their actual dollar values should be taken with a grain of salt, Fan Graphs had Cameron ranked as the 40th most valuable position player in the Majors last year, and 57th overall. On the Red Sox, only Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and J.D. Drew ranked higher.
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