From the Baseball Prospectus newsletter:
Bottom 5 2008 NL Offenses, by VORP
Team, EqA, VORP
Washington Nationals, .238, 21.3
San Diego Padres, .253, 49.7
Colorado Rockies, .250, 54.0
Los Angeles Dodgers, .250, 55.4
San Francisco Giants, .255, 66.1
JBox's comment in the Open Thread last night was based on a conversation we were having while he was typing it up. I go from team to team and, while I totally understand focusing on different qualities to build a team, wouldn't it be nice if even a third of our lineup was truly competitive against another lineup?
The frustrating thing about our division being represented the way it is among the bottom five offenses, is the fact that if we had even one more guy that was truly an offensive threat (Bradley, Fukudome, Headley just to beat the dead horse), we would apparently be outperforming 3 out of 4 in our division offensively while putting out a more interesting product.
That's right. I'm done drinking the Pitching Performance Kool-Aid. I want offense and I want it consistently. I want performance enhancers. I don't want to win games 2-1 anymore. I want to win them 9-1. Don't tell me a win is a win, because I enjoy blowouts more than nailbiters. In fact, I enjoy blowouts about 27% more than a nailbiter, which means that I'm 27% more likely to spend money to attend a game that I figure has a better than 50% chance of being a blowout than if it doesn't.
Next year, my mind will change. When we start losing games 11-8, I'll yearn for pitching. For now, I want me some offense.