Quote:
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho
It takes a special kind of stubborn to claim that a guy who has a averaged 4 wins/season (which is consistent all-star level performance) is not worth a contract.
Especially when he has 14.9 wins in 3 1/3 seasons for his new team, producing 4.5 wins a year even with a big injury absence in one of them (the first time in 5 years he has missed significant time to injury). Even at the conservative valuation of $6M/win, he has performed level with his average yearly salary.
And considering general inflation, that’s probably too low now.
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Did you SEE that ball he put out to LC field to win the pennant?
I watched that swing on a loop 50 times. The things he did there were so damn incredible. I mean there's the basic stuff like keeping his head in on that pitch away at 100 mph. But what amazed the hell out of me is how he still generated power and that it wasn't an accident.
Look at how he keeps his front foot square to prevent from spinning off it. Now for a normal human being, if you keep that front foot square it's going to make you struggle to get your hips turned and convert that lower body energy. You'll waste it because you can't get the hip turn that transfers it into your back.
Harper, in the blink of an eye,
dropped his back knee to allow him to keep his front side sound and still rotate his hips. He was able to see that pitch - again, 100 mph on the black away - recognize it and immediatelly fundamentally alter
his base to ensure that he could still take that ball the opposite way with the authority to drive out out of the park.
A mere mortal can hit that ball and get a double out of it to maybe tie the game (but it's probably an out given the defense shift they had on him). Harper, OTOH, did one of the most amazing things I've seen a hitter do and intentionally murdered that ball oppo.
The first time I saw it I thought he mis-hit it. Then I saw his head and realized 'nah, he was trying to go oppo'. Then I saw his legs and thought "nooooo....I didn't see that..."
After a dozen more viewings I finally accepted what he did there. I'm convinced I've never seen anything like it. The whole AB was pretty impressive but that swing in particular was remarkable.
But yeah - Cardinals have no need for him...