Some Ben Grieve questions

[RME JICO]

Ever since Ben Grieve popped up on the Sox with a Minor League contract I have been trying to figure out a few things about him. He was a former ROY in 1998, and had several solid seasons in OAK, but then all of a sudden he was involved in a 3 team trade that sent him to TB after the 2000 season. Looking at his numbers it would seem at the time to be a bad trade since his replacement, Damon only hit 9 HR, 49 RBI, .256 AVG, .324 OBP, .363 SLG in 2001, a pretty significant drop off from Grieve's performance of the past few seasons.

 

Grieve in his first 3 full seasons:

 

1998 - 18 HR, 89 RBI, .288 AVG, .386 OBP, .458 SLG

1999 - 28 HR, 86 RBI, .265 AVG, .358 OBP, .481 SLG

2000 - 27 HR, 104 RBI, .279 AVG, .359 OBP, .487 SLG

 

Now even though his AVG and SLG have dropped off since those years, his OBP has stayed fairly consistent:

 

2001 .372 OBP

2002 .353 OBP

2003 .371 OBP

2004 .361 OBP

 

They said injuries played a part in his decline, but he will only be 30 this May so you would think he would still have something left in the tank.

 

Here are my questions:

 

Did Oakland know something that other teams like TB didn't know when they traded him?

 

Was his performance in OAK aided in anyway by performance enhancing drugs? He played with Canseco, Giambi, McGwire, and Tejada.

 

Do you think it is possible for him to return to a 20 HR, 80 RBI, .275 AVG, .350 OBP, .450 SLG type player?

 

Knowing what you know now about each player, would you take Grieve or Borchard as the 4th OFer assuming both are healthy and have comparable Spring Trainings?

 

I know most of these are speculative, but I am just curious to see some of your opinions.

[SSH2005]

I mentioned this in another thread. Grieve has always had a good swing but little bat speed and no defensive abilities. Jose Canseco said in his book that if Grieve had taken steroids he could have developed into a great power hitter. Grieve's loss of bat speed is the reason he won't see those numbers again. His lack of defense will probably be what sends him to Charlotte.

[RME JICO]

I mentioned this in another thread.  Grieve has always had a good swing but little bat speed and no defensive abilities.  Jose Canseco said in his book that if Grieve had taken steroids he could have developed into a great power hitter.  Grieve's loss of bat speed is the reason he won't see those numbers again.  His lack of defense will probably be what sends him to Charlotte.

I have only heard a few things about the bat speed and defensive liability, but I only saw him play in those early Oakland days where he seemed to be a decent OFer and batter.

 

I am just curious to see if the injuries that obviously slowed him down are gone and he can return to his previous form. Otherwise you are right on, he will be on his way to Charlotte.