Quote:
Originally Posted by Sure-Oz
I'm all about Ibanez. Hope they go that route. Do we know if Ned's coming back?
|
Me, too. I've been a big fan of his ever since we acquired him as a 28 year-old from the M's, with his manager there, Lou Piniella, saying he would be good for us as long as he got at bats and some baseball-analytics types condemning him even before he got his chance with us. He went from an OPS of .630 in 156 plate appearances with the M's in 2000 to an OPS of .847 in twice the number of plate appearances with the Royals in 2001 and followed that up with OPS's of .873 and .799 with the Royals in 2002 and 2003, respectively. When he came back to the Royals in 2014, he gave an amazing speech to the players convincing them that they were on the cusp of greatness.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ouse/15314435/