In Defense of Rickie Weeks

Anyone who regularly visits the Brewers Blog provided by the Milwauke Journal Sentinel knows that the blog is characterized by two traits:

1. The insane, impractical, and inexplicable tendency for everyone who reads the blog to try to be the first person to comment on any given blog. Rather than aspiring to be the first person to say something reasonable or insightful, they all prefer to write nothing more than "FIRST!".

AND

2. Any and every discussion about anything, even ticket prices at Miller Park, will somehow devolve into a completely absurd damnation of Rickie Weeks. Tom Haudricourt, the regular blogger, and the readers, who I can't believe are literate, look for any and every opportunity to take a shot at Weeks.  

You can imagine my delight when I saw a post today, written by Anthony Witrado, that actually portrayed Rickie Weeks in a positive light. I looked back into the annals of the Brewers Blog and discovered that nothing good has been said about Rickie Weeks since 2003 (okay, so maybe I didn't do any research and just made something up). Also, though the alternative message written was awful, I was not subjected to a "first!". Needless to say, this was one of the greatest moments of my life. 

Now I know you're sitting there asking yourself "But KP, you're being so complimentary. Where is your usual bitterness and vulgarity? I hope you haven't matured since your reconciliation with Michael Hunt.".  Fear not, there has been no posititive progress with my maturity, and you can be assured that I will resume my bitter ways in the near future. 

Well, it's the near future and here I am, ready to get excessively acerbic. Despite the fact that the statistics provided clearly indicate that Rickie Weeks is at least an adeqaute option at second base and maybe people should lay off of him, many readers of the Brewer Blog decided that they will still continue to irrationally hate Rickie Weeks. What follows below are some of the most noteworthy comments:

oh baseball. you can make any numbers say what you want them to say.

Are you fucking serious right now? You cannot make the numbers say anything at all, dickhead, that's the beauty of the numbers. They say EXACTLY what occurred and provide a great way to compare players. Statistics are not puppets, they are very straightforward. 

wheres avg... ha. plus the K's are crazy. but actually surprised to see the numbers. but you also have to remember the offense that is behind weeks. If you put roberts or hudson batting first in our lineup, they would be at about 350 runs.

If I had to guess, I would say that batting average is probably vacationing in Irrelevantville, along with RBI's, Ruben Studdard, Gallagher, Rafael Araujo, and Lew Ford. Seriously, what kind of person actually still looks at batting average? My theory is that the direct descendants of Henry Chadwick have formed a coalition in order to keep batting average relevant in daily baseball discussion despite it's obvious shortcomings. Even the Illuminati pale in comparison to the power, political clout, and prominence of the Chadwick Commonwealth. 

Can he even bunt?

Do I even care? I can't believe someone with such an antiquated notion of baseball even knows how to use a computer. This guy probably goes on NASCAR message boards writing things like "But can Jeff Gordon drive a horsedrawn carriage?"(Please note: I despise NASCAR and regret terribly having to reference it). 

I don't think you can really make an arguement without posting the defensive stats.

Just when I was losing complete faith in the ability of Brewers fans to be logical, coherent, and reasonable, this person comes along and actually makes a good point. Thank you, dear stranger, for restoring my faith in Brewmanity. Anyways, let's look at some defensive stats. I decided to only look at 2008 rather than his career totals as I feel they are the best indication of his abilities right now.  

Fielding Percentage: .975

League Fielding Percentage: .982

Range Factor: 4.91

League Range Factor: 4.04

Range Factor/9: 5.02

League Range Factor/9: 4.83

As you may be able to tell, Rickie Weeks is actually not that bad at defense. Yes he does make errors. His fielding percentage is below the league average. These are irrefutable points. But please, for once, be reasonable. His range is exceptional and he puts himself in position to make plays on a more consistent basis than almost any other second basemen.  Would you rather have someone at second base who can get to 9 out of 10 balls hit in his direction and throw one away or have someone who can only get to 7 out of 10 and throw none away? 

It's time for everyone to realize that, at worst, Rickie Weeks is a league average second basemen. And it's time for me to realize that the Chadwick Commonwealth is probably going to murder me in my sleep tonight. Thanks for the memories, guys. It's been great.