Important Ryan Theriot Analysis

Look at him, he just goes out there and plays baseball. 

A game recap of yesterday’s game probably wouldn’t do anyone any good. I mean, I could try to shove a spicy narrative in your face about how the Giants just don’t have that killer instinct to finish off teams in a sweep. The Giants are good at winning the first couple games, but come playoff  time when they have a chance to eliminate a team, nope, they’re going to choke and somebody like Juan Uribe is going to hit 3 homeruns to propel the Dodgers past the Giants! I’d love to write something like that because I have other fun hobbies to attend to and I could just stop typing now. But alas, I’m a team player, and that narrative is filled with all sorts of bologna. If the Giants split the first two games than won the final one, nobody’s complaining, even though it’s the same result. You’re not going to go 18-0 against the Padres, and you’re not going to best every crappy team you come across. A series win is fine, and now let us never speak of this ever again. Until it happens again.

So I’ve made the executive decision to write about Ryan Theriot, because that’s probably more interesting to everyone than a Wednesday afternoon loss to the Padres. The Padres. The average human hears the word Padre and immediately starts wondering if that’s a new Star Wars rapper, “Pod Dre”. When they hear it’s not, they fall asleep. We’re going to try and avoid that. Instead I’m writing about Ryan Theriot, which is probably only a little less boring, but whatever, you need to learn about Ryan Theriot, and I am providing some Ryan Theriot analysis specifically for you, the reader, so if you leave does this post even exist?

Here is a picture of Ryan Theriot, to stimulate your Ryan Theriot brain neurons:

Ryan Theriot is stoned out of his mind.

Here is something else about Ryan Theriot:

I didn't use photoshop I swear I'm not smart enough. It looks like one of those brain exercises for kids where you're supposed to guess the differences between the pictures, except this is not a cartoon in a work book. This is real life kids.

 We learn three things from these pictures:

1) Ryan Theriot's favorite shape is the Triangle.

2) Buster Posey hits home runs

3) Ryan Theriot is repetitive

As my sixth grade art teacher taught me, pictures have lots of meaning, past the surface. We see Ryan Theriot is doing the same thing over and over again. The same weird triangle high five thing in both pictures, which is kind of similar to his career. He does what he does and he is what he is. Ryan Theriot is Ryan Theriot, as Giants Nirvana puts it. We came into the season with these stats at our disposal:

Year	Age	Tm	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2007	27	CHC	.266	.326	.346	.672	71
2008	28	CHC	.307	.387	.359	.745	93
2009	29	CHC	.284	.343	.369	.712	83
2010	30	TOT	.270	.321	.312	.633	71
2010	30	CHC	.284	.320	.327	.647	73
2010	30	LAD	.242	.323	.283	.606	69
2011	31	STL	.271	.321	.342	.662	84

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

That's ever since he was an everyday big league starter. His UZR hovers around 0.0 throughout his career. You know what you're going to get with Ryan Theriot. And Ryan Theriot seldom disappoints. He's a below average hitter with an average glove. That's what we were assuming Ryan Theriot was going to be coming into the season and what has he been? Drum roll please...

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2012	32	SFG	NL	.282	.328	.333	.662	91

If you answered a) "Ryan Theriot will continue to be Ryan Theriot", you are correct! You win nothing. If you answered b) "He was bitten by a wild Robinson Cano", sorry, try again next week! In the words of Dennis Green "Ryan Theriot is who we thought he was!" Which is to say, he's been serviceable. He's been Freddy Sanchez with a little less pop. His skill set is more valuable in a bench/utility role. He's been one of the worst starting second baseman in the National League. Unfortunately, the Giants other options are a replacement level player and Emmanuel Burris. Ryan Theriot is not the worse thing in the world to happen to the Giants, but to say second base is not a position of need is being too respectful to Ryan Theriot's talent.

Theriot has a reputation for being this scrappy, hard nosed, plays the game the right way type of guy. Which is true. As far as I can tell he's scrappy, and he plays hard. I have not felt his nose. But from what I can tell, so does Emmanuel Burris. I've never not seen Emmanuel Burris hustle, and you can bet he's trying to hit the outside pitch the other way because what else can he do? Emmanuel Burris is pretty much the same fielder as Theriot, with probably a little more range. But nobody's ever uttered the words "Emmanuel Burris has been good this year." Why? Because Emmanuel Burris is a terrible hitter. People are boldly stutting around talking up Theriot's game and how valuable he's been to the Giants. If you're looking at him in comparison to the in-house replacement, yes, he's been valuable. That's the same as saying he's been better than Emmanuel Burris. He hasn't been good, or average for that matter. Ryan Theriot is a below average hitter, a very rich man's Emmanuel Burris.

Ryan Theriot is a contact, singles hitter that doesn't walk much. He is pretty replacement level at this point in his career. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as Eugenio Velez is still around and doing Eugenio things. There are worse 2nd base options, but there are a lot more that have been better. The position is not as secure as a lot of Giants brass and analyst make it out to be. If Brandon Belt's spot is up for grabs, there is no way Ryan Theriot's job is not. It's worth repeating: he's been one of the least valuable second baseman in baseball, third worst in the NL. There aren't a lot of trade options out there at 2nd but to say it hasn't been a position the Giants need to improve on is absolutely bogus.

I like Ryan Theriot as a person though! I don't know him personally, but he does funny things. Here's a gif of Ryan Theriot being weird.