by Outta Leftfield » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:51 pm
I've had solid-- if not lights out seasons--from him twice. The first was off his worst card (.823 OPS). He gave me .772 OPS. The second was off his best card (.908 OPS). He gave me .852 OPS.
Both performances are roughly 50 points below the card, but that's not unusual vs. the good pitching in the 80's game. My teams were in Yankee. If Durham generally slightly underperforms (and I haven't seen enough seasons to know if he does), it might be because he ran up his numbers in Wrigley. In most other parks his stats might tend to deflate somewhat.
My guess is that, in the leagues you've seen him in, he's sometimes dumped after short trials. If he gets 550 AB, he should perform. I think he represents solid value, even if Wrigley somewhat inflates his stats.