Dan Uggla

What could I possibly have to say about Dan Uggla? Nothing bad actually. I think he is an awesome second baseman. I would like to talk about an experience I had the other night though. So, I was at Primanti Brothers in Crafton and the bartender, who was very good looking, overheard me talking about baseball. This is a paraphrased conversation that happened between us.

Her: Oh, you like baseball?
Me: Yes.
Her: Same here, my boyfriend plays baseball. I am from Florida, he plays for the Marlins.
Me: Um, do you mind me asking which player? (at this point I expect her to say some middle reliever or something that I am not familiar with).
Her: Dan Uggla, he plays second base.
Me: Yeah, I know who Uggla is, he’s pretty awesome.
Her: He is really upset because they gave Ramirez (Hanley) that huge contract and not him. He hates his manager and wants a trade.

At this point I did not want to argue with her that Hanley is much more deserving of that contract. Here are a few reasons why just based on 2007 stats:
Uggla: 155 H, 31 HR, .245 BA, .326 OBP, 108 OPS+
Ramirez: 212 H, 29 HR, .332 BA, .386 OBP, 145 OPS+

Now, the only thing that Uggla does better than Ramirez is hit homeruns and not by much. I wanted to call her out, but decided against it. I honestly wondered whether Uggla really believes he is better than Ramirez, who plays shortstop, a much harder position than Uggla, granted H-Ram is one of the worst fielding shortstops, but whatever.

Then I look up a little bit about Dan Uggla and this is what I found:

Daniel Cooley Uggla (UGH-gla)…graduated from Columbia Central High School (TN) in 1998…attended the University of Memphis…named to 2001 All-American squads by Baseball America, Baseball Weekly and Collegiate Baseball…he and his wife, Tara, have a son, Jackson Daniel Charles(3/30/06).

Oh, so he is married and has a son, and I know the bartender told us her name, and it was definitely not Tara…so she was just a crazy person.