In honor of his first game in the bigs (for those wondering about that 0 for 4, he wanted to show compassion to as a single hit from his bat would have caused the city of Detroit to disappear from the map), I give you this: The Official Matt Wieters Facts Site
Also, our earlier homage to Mr. Wieters: The Word
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Objectivity?
I would like to announce that I am officially jumping on the "Zack Greinke Bandwagon." Sure, it's still extremely early, but here's to him attempting to have one of the best seasons by a pitcher. Ever.
Join me?
Join me?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Screw Being PC!
Interim GM of the Nationals, Mike Rizzo, on Daniel Cabrera being designated for assignment (from MLB Trade Rumors):
According to Chico Harlan of the Washington Post, the Nationals designated pitcher Daniel Cabrera for assignment tonight. Acting GM Mike Rizzo was frank: "I was tired of watching him." We all were, Mike. Cabrera told Harlan he would not accept a minor league assignment.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Meaningless Miscellaneous
The following is a compilation of the best active players to have never been selected as an All-Star for their respective leagues. In the interest of full disclosure I should clarify that I think it's foolish to put any stock into All-Star selections when evaluating a player, this is just more of an interest piece than anything else. To qualify a player must have played in at least five seasons in the Major Leagues (prior to the 2009 season), currently be a member of a MLB team, and--most importantly--never been an All-Star. Relievers were required to have played in four seasons prior to 2009.
Listed under each player is what I deemed to be their most "All-Star caliber" season. Unfortunately, Fangraphs' WAR figures only go back to 2002, so I was forced to use Chone's Baseball Projection system instead. It's still very good, the downside is that the WAR values on pitchers appear to not include FIP, which is why I made sure to list that as well. The same goes for position players and WOBA. Here's the results:
-Starting Lineup-
C- Bengie Molina
2005: 2.5 WAR, .335 WOBA, 108 OPS+
1B- Carlos Pena
2007: 5.4 WAR, .430 WOBA, 172 OPS+
2B- Chone Figgins
2005: 4.5 WAR, .339 WOBA, 101 OPS+
3B- Adrian Beltre
2004: 10.1 WAR, .424 WOBA, 163 OPS+
SS- Orlando Cabrera
2003: 3.4 WAR, .354 WOBA, 105 OPS+
OF- Matt Stairs
1998: 4.1 WAR, .380 WOBA, 132 OPS+
OF- Pat Burrell
2002: 4.3 WAR, .390 WOBA, 146 OPS+
OF- Raul Ibanez
2006: 2.9 WAR, .359 WOBA, 125 OPS+
DH- Travis Hafner
2006: 6.2 WAR, .449 WOBA, 179 OPS+
Honorable Mention: Juan Pierre, Jose Guillen, Aubrey Huff, Chris Gomez, Julio Lugo, Kevin Millar, Doug Mientkiewicz, Adam Kennedy, Fernando Tatis, Mark DeRosa, Craig Counsell, David Dellucci
-Starting Rotation-
SP- Tim Wakefield
2002: 3.7 WAR, 3.62 FIP, 162 ERA+
SP- Kelvim Escobar
2007: 5.1 WAR, 3.39 FIP, 134 ERA+
SP- Aaron Harang
2007: 5.7 WAR, 3.71 FIP, 125 ERA+
SP- A.J. Burnett
2002: 3.8 WAR, 3.19 FIP, 122 ERA+
SP- Jarrod Washburn
2002: 4.3 WAR, 3.71 FIP, 141 ERA+
Honorable Mention: Jeff Suppan, Rich Harden, Ryan Franklin, Jeff Weaver, Brett Myers, Brett Tomko
-Bullpen-
RP- Scot Shields
2006: 2.8 WAR, 3.27 FIP, 159 ERA+
RP- Rafael Betancourt
2007: 4.3 WAR, 2.22 FIP, 312 ERA+
RP- Huston Street
2005: 3.2 WAR, 2.75 FIP, 253 ERA+
RP- Octavio Dotel
2002: 3.8 WAR, 2.43 FIP, 234 ERA+
RP- Latroy Hawkins
2003: 3.2 WAR, 2.38 FIP, 243 ERA+
Honorable Mention: Dave Weathers, Bobby Howry, Jorge Julio, Alan Embree, Matt Herges, Julian Tavarez, Jonathan Broxton, Kyle Farnsworth
More Meaninglessness...
-Adrian Beltre currently has 1,613 hits and is 30 years old (I know, he seems older, but I'm pretty sure the Dodgers signed him when he was like eleven, so he's been around for a while. Anyway...). If he were to play ten more seasons in the Major Leagues (including this one) while averaging a mere 142 hits a year, he would finish with 3,000 for his career. Bill James' Career Assessments Tool has him at a 23.3% chance of reaching that exclusive club.
-Edgar Renteria, 33 years old, could reach 3,000 hits by averaging 133 over the next seven seasons (including this one). Bill James has him at a 34.4% chance. Derek Jeter currently has a 97% chance of reaching 3,000 hits. Ichiro is at 27.6% and A-Rod has a 90.2% chance.
-Zack Greinke's 2009 statline thus far:
1.61 FIP, 0.833 WHIP, 766 ERA+, 9.75 K/9, 6.50 K/BB
-Juan Pierre has been more valuable through 31 games than he was in 119 games last season. He has a 0.7 WAR so far this season compared to a 0.1 WAR last year. Current season totals: .419/.476/.554--.452 WOBA
-The Pittsburgh Pirates' pythagorean W/L record actually puts them above .500. So far this season, the unluckiest teams have been the Pirates, Indians, Rockies, and Nationals, all of whom have underperformed their pythagorean records by at least three games.
-There is a very simple formula for defeating the Oakland Athletics: throw a left-handed pitcher. Oakland has the worst record in baseball at 3-11 against lefties, compared to a 10-10 record against righties. Statline against LHP: .201/.284/.285.
-Victor Martinez has the best VORP in baseball, followed by Longoria, Beltran, and Bartlett (who continues to play out of his mind).
-Christian Guzman has walked once in in 124 plate appearances. Lucky for him he has a very good batting average (.385) so his OBP isn't struggling... yet. Others have not been so fortunate. Bengie Molina has walked twice in 141 plate appearances for an OBP of .312. Dioner Navarro has two walks through 122 plate appearances with a .205 OBP. Jeff Francoeur, who is usually such a big condoner of walking, has a whopping five walks through 154 plate appearances, which is good for a .266 OBP.
-Franklin Gutierrez is insanely good at defense. He is far and away the best outfielder in the AL and through 307 innings has a 1.000 Revised Zone Rating (RZR). He also has the fourth most Out Of Zone plays(OOZ) of any player at any position.
That's all I've got for now. I'll be sure to get back to more sarcastic satirical banter as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Listed under each player is what I deemed to be their most "All-Star caliber" season. Unfortunately, Fangraphs' WAR figures only go back to 2002, so I was forced to use Chone's Baseball Projection system instead. It's still very good, the downside is that the WAR values on pitchers appear to not include FIP, which is why I made sure to list that as well. The same goes for position players and WOBA. Here's the results:
-Starting Lineup-
C- Bengie Molina
2005: 2.5 WAR, .335 WOBA, 108 OPS+
1B- Carlos Pena
2007: 5.4 WAR, .430 WOBA, 172 OPS+
2B- Chone Figgins
2005: 4.5 WAR, .339 WOBA, 101 OPS+
3B- Adrian Beltre
2004: 10.1 WAR, .424 WOBA, 163 OPS+
SS- Orlando Cabrera
2003: 3.4 WAR, .354 WOBA, 105 OPS+
OF- Matt Stairs
1998: 4.1 WAR, .380 WOBA, 132 OPS+
OF- Pat Burrell
2002: 4.3 WAR, .390 WOBA, 146 OPS+
OF- Raul Ibanez
2006: 2.9 WAR, .359 WOBA, 125 OPS+
DH- Travis Hafner
2006: 6.2 WAR, .449 WOBA, 179 OPS+
Honorable Mention: Juan Pierre, Jose Guillen, Aubrey Huff, Chris Gomez, Julio Lugo, Kevin Millar, Doug Mientkiewicz, Adam Kennedy, Fernando Tatis, Mark DeRosa, Craig Counsell, David Dellucci
-Starting Rotation-
SP- Tim Wakefield
2002: 3.7 WAR, 3.62 FIP, 162 ERA+
SP- Kelvim Escobar
2007: 5.1 WAR, 3.39 FIP, 134 ERA+
SP- Aaron Harang
2007: 5.7 WAR, 3.71 FIP, 125 ERA+
SP- A.J. Burnett
2002: 3.8 WAR, 3.19 FIP, 122 ERA+
SP- Jarrod Washburn
2002: 4.3 WAR, 3.71 FIP, 141 ERA+
Honorable Mention: Jeff Suppan, Rich Harden, Ryan Franklin, Jeff Weaver, Brett Myers, Brett Tomko
-Bullpen-
RP- Scot Shields
2006: 2.8 WAR, 3.27 FIP, 159 ERA+
RP- Rafael Betancourt
2007: 4.3 WAR, 2.22 FIP, 312 ERA+
RP- Huston Street
2005: 3.2 WAR, 2.75 FIP, 253 ERA+
RP- Octavio Dotel
2002: 3.8 WAR, 2.43 FIP, 234 ERA+
RP- Latroy Hawkins
2003: 3.2 WAR, 2.38 FIP, 243 ERA+
Honorable Mention: Dave Weathers, Bobby Howry, Jorge Julio, Alan Embree, Matt Herges, Julian Tavarez, Jonathan Broxton, Kyle Farnsworth
More Meaninglessness...
-Adrian Beltre currently has 1,613 hits and is 30 years old (I know, he seems older, but I'm pretty sure the Dodgers signed him when he was like eleven, so he's been around for a while. Anyway...). If he were to play ten more seasons in the Major Leagues (including this one) while averaging a mere 142 hits a year, he would finish with 3,000 for his career. Bill James' Career Assessments Tool has him at a 23.3% chance of reaching that exclusive club.
-Edgar Renteria, 33 years old, could reach 3,000 hits by averaging 133 over the next seven seasons (including this one). Bill James has him at a 34.4% chance. Derek Jeter currently has a 97% chance of reaching 3,000 hits. Ichiro is at 27.6% and A-Rod has a 90.2% chance.
-Zack Greinke's 2009 statline thus far:
1.61 FIP, 0.833 WHIP, 766 ERA+, 9.75 K/9, 6.50 K/BB
-Juan Pierre has been more valuable through 31 games than he was in 119 games last season. He has a 0.7 WAR so far this season compared to a 0.1 WAR last year. Current season totals: .419/.476/.554--.452 WOBA
-The Pittsburgh Pirates' pythagorean W/L record actually puts them above .500. So far this season, the unluckiest teams have been the Pirates, Indians, Rockies, and Nationals, all of whom have underperformed their pythagorean records by at least three games.
-There is a very simple formula for defeating the Oakland Athletics: throw a left-handed pitcher. Oakland has the worst record in baseball at 3-11 against lefties, compared to a 10-10 record against righties. Statline against LHP: .201/.284/.285.
-Victor Martinez has the best VORP in baseball, followed by Longoria, Beltran, and Bartlett (who continues to play out of his mind).
-Christian Guzman has walked once in in 124 plate appearances. Lucky for him he has a very good batting average (.385) so his OBP isn't struggling... yet. Others have not been so fortunate. Bengie Molina has walked twice in 141 plate appearances for an OBP of .312. Dioner Navarro has two walks through 122 plate appearances with a .205 OBP. Jeff Francoeur, who is usually such a big condoner of walking, has a whopping five walks through 154 plate appearances, which is good for a .266 OBP.
-Franklin Gutierrez is insanely good at defense. He is far and away the best outfielder in the AL and through 307 innings has a 1.000 Revised Zone Rating (RZR). He also has the fourth most Out Of Zone plays(OOZ) of any player at any position.
That's all I've got for now. I'll be sure to get back to more sarcastic satirical banter as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Great Moments in Crow Eating
In the 11th inning of today's Twins-Yankees game, play-by-play man for YES Michael Kay suggested that the Yankees should have one Alex Rodriguez bunt over Mark Teixeira over to 2nd. To be fair, A-Rod was in a funk similar to his '05 ALDS where he didn't hit but walked plenty. Having said that, it's still ALEX FREAKING RODRIGUEZ!
Might be time to re-check Baseball-Reference.com, Mikey.
Might be time to re-check Baseball-Reference.com, Mikey.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Hard Hitting Analysis of Baseball Tonight
Eduardo Perez delivered a segment discussing the woes of the Seattle Mariners where he mostly just talked about nothing. And he punctuated it with this brilliant insight:
This is the kind of great stuff you can only get from the World Wide Leader in Sports.
And one thing I can tell you: baserunning, hitting, pitching -- and especially the bullpen -- is not only important in the National and the American League, but all around baseball.
This is the kind of great stuff you can only get from the World Wide Leader in Sports.
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