Is Eric Hinske the Least Valuable Player on the Pirates?I originally was a big fan of the Pirates signing of Hinske. I figured he would be a nice power threat off the bench and someone who could occasionally spell Brandon Moss and Adam LaRoche when they needed it. Last season, he hit 20 homers and 21 doubles in just 381 AB. He slugged .465 and looked like he would be primed for another big season.
But this season, Hinske has totally lost all of his power. With the short porch in right field at PNC, you would imagine Hinske would thrive, however he has hit just 1 HR in 105 AB and is slugging just .371.
Overall, Hinske's numbers don't seem terrible. They are not where you would expect to be at, but he is still batting .257, which is right about at his career average, and is sporting a .376 OBP.
Hinske made the last out in today's loss to Kansas City. At the beginning of the game I moaned a bit about how Moss should have been starting over Hinske because I am a huge advocate of Moss getting as much playing time as possible and Hinske getting the bulk of his time as a pinch hitter. However, after Hinske made the last out, I looked up, just out of curiosity, what the Pirates' record was when Hinske started. I found out that the Bucs' record with Hinske in the lineup is probably a big reason why I don't like him in there. I was even surprised a little bit by how bad it was.
The Bucs are 7-16 when Hinske is in the lineup. That means they are 28-24 without him in it. That translates to a .304 win percentage when he starts and a .538 percentage when he doesn't. Just throwing this out there...but a .538 win percentage would put the Pirates in 1st place in the NL Central.
It's a small sample size, so I don't know how much weight you can put into that. In fact, as far as sabermetrics go, Hinske's WPA is -0.3 (it went down .16 today). That by no means is good, but it's not the worst on the team. In fact, it's about the same as Nyjer Morgan's and better than Moss'.
Hinske's massive underachieving this season is definitely dissapointing. The win-loss record is there. Like I said, I don't know how much you can put into that or not. But it seems like every time Hinske starts, he plays a large role in not helping the team win.
Other news and notes:
- The Bucs dropped one to Kansas City on Sunday 3-2 against arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Zack Greinke. Charlie Morton gave up 3 ER in 5 innings for his first loss. A big bright spot for the Bucs were the Brothers LaRoche. They combined to go 5 for 7 with a triple, an RBI, and 2 runs scored.
- Ian Snell struck out 17 batters today in his first start for AAA-Indianapolis.
- Pedro Alvarez was pulled in the 4th inning after he tweaked his right knee pursuing a foul popup. He is experiencing slight knee pain and is listed as day-to-day. He'll be re-evaluated today. [via Cory Giger's Twitter]
- The Pirates signed Tawainese HS outfielder Chi Ping-hong to a minor league deal. He received a signing bonus of $50,000.
[photo: AP]
