David Eckstein is (Still) Exceedingly Mediocre

Prior to the season, I was quite vocal about my lack of faith in David Eckstein, writing: “My lack of confidence in Eckstein is well documented.  His bat is terrible, and his fielding is, at best, average.  I have a hunch the San Diego Padres may end up releasing him mid-season.  Eckstein is that bad.” My pre-season projection for Eckstein mirrored my written summary: PA HR AVG OBP SLG wOBA UZR WAR 475 3 0.265 0.329 0.341 0.300 -2.5 0.5 We are now in July, and despite the perception that Eckstein has had a good season, my view has not changed.  These are Eckstein’s stats so far in 2010: PA HR AVG OBP SLG wOBA UZR WAR 324 1 0.280 0.329 0.355 0.311 4.1 1.6 My prediction on OBP is dead-on.  The SLG and wOBA are pretty close as well.  The reason that Eckstein’s WAR is so much higher than predicted is his pretty decent UZR. The problem is, Eckstein’s UZR of 4.1 (8.8/150) is not a...