February 2009

  • PTI on Wlad's Career Arc

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/28/09 7:28pm

    Uber-analyst San-Man sez:

    I don’t think a choice to bypass Wlad is a definitive statement of anything.

    The problem with evaluating ANY prospect is that it is a balance between paying attention to production and paying attention to what the coaches and scouts are seeing.

    Right as rain ... and IMHO, there are only two orgs in baseball who set this balance where I would.  As Bill James acidly put it,

    "Major league organizations pay entirely too much attention to what their scouts tell them, and entirely too little attention to how their players HAVE PERFORMED."

    Science tells us bumblebees can't fly, and doesn't apologize when it gets something like that wrong.  As visual scouts, tools scouts, whatever, we ROUTINELY tell people that Mark Teixeira has too many holes in his swing, that Jose Lopez is too far in front of the ball, whatever.  And our confidence is absolute, however many we get wrong :- )

    So -- would agree 110% with San-Man's framing of the problemo.  But 99 times out of 100, you're going to see Dr. Read more

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  • Our New Yoda ?

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/28/09 6:36am

    Geoffy continues to goggle-eye over Mike Carp:

    Mike Carp (shaking Wakamatsu's hand in the photo atop the blog post) went deep for a three-run homer in the eighth, putting Seattle ahead 18-0. That Carp kid looks good. He had a homer, a double and five RBI with a run scored and is now hitting .500 for the spring ... I would not be surprised to see Carp up at some point this summer. The guy can flat-out hit. Read more

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  • Junior's Charisma

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/28/09 6:02am

    Again some sweet stuff from the Bakery,

    [Griffey] On teammates getting along: "They're going to have to,'' he said. "We're here for one reason and that's to win ballgames. You're going to have your feuding in there. But that is not going to carry over to the field. That's just the way it is. I mean, you're just not going to like somebody and he's not going to like you. But you're going to go out there and play. And you're going to give the other seven or eight guys on that field a chance to win. Read more

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  • Junior and Chuck Armstrong

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/28/09 5:39am

    Geoff Baker's report on Junior's press conference, as usual, just rippled the mesh from three.  The dude has a sweet stroke from the corner of the word processor elbow.  Light me up, babe.

    .............

    Junior gave Chuck Armstrong a day in the sun, slapping fives with him in Junior-trash style. Leave it to make His Lawyerliness look like some kind of front-office cool breeze.  :- )  But that's Griffey, and that's the point.  Every once a decade, you get a man who owns any room he walks into...

    "I plan on having him take me to dinner at least four or five times a week,'' Griffey said. "Being that I haven't been in the American League, I figure that there are some new restaurants he can take me to. As long as he does not dress the way he has. He may have to change his wardrobe. He can't wear skinny ties. Those went out with Duran Duran.

    "But no, I'm looking forward to this,'' he added. Read more

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  • Adrian Beltre's WBC Bid - Kangaroo Court In Session

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/28/09 3:03am

    As you know, Dr. D spends more time on morality, ethics, and philosophy than the average bear.  Where does he come down on The Great Beltre WBC kerfuffle?

    .....................

    On the one hand, Americans have a tough time relating to how nationalistic Latin countries are, especially about sports.  It is berrrrrry, berry important to the fans, that their MLB heroes show them loyalty.  You'll see even established ML stars go home and play winter ball, and it's because of a "paises unidos" mentality that sees failure to do so as almost traitorous.

    What could we compare it to in America? ....hmmm... I don't know; it would be kind of like Ken Griffey Jr. absorbing all the adulation Seattle had to offer, for 10 or 12 years, and then leaving for the Angels, and then when asked about it, saying, "Seattle?  Who gives a rip about Seattle?  Hey, we had some laughs, let's leave it at that." 

    Or Edgar taking a job with the A's and saying weird stuff about us.... Read more

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  • What's a #20 overall worth? Not much

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/14/09 5:56am

    Ah!  Now I get it.  Josh Fields was a dumb signing because we didn't WANT him signed.  My bad.  Usually I'm not quite THAT slow on the uptake ;- ) but I whiffed on that one like ARod on an October slider.

    The reasons for this displeasure, as far as I can tell, are two:

    1.  The punk doesn't deserve anything but to be doused with lighter fluid and handed a couple of sparklers.

    2.  Now we're going to miss out on a #22 overall which could have been used to select Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Vlad Guerrero or somebody like that.

    ..................

    I'm not going to be able to help you with #1, but I can help you with #2 just by listing a few recent first rounds. 

    The top 10 are clipped to help y'all see straight.  You good buddies think of a #22 as being a probable #3 hitter.  I think of it as being a probable never-makes-the-majors.  Which is why I'm glad to get, instead, a guy who WILL make the majors.

      Read more

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  • The last thirty #20-22 picks

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/14/09 5:15am

    In 2008, the players drafted in the #20-22 slots overall, were:

    [Josh Fields]

    Ryan Perry

    Reese Havens

    ..................

    In 2007, those three players were:

    Chris Withrow

    J.P. Arencibia

    Tim Alderson

    .................

    In 2006, you had:

    Chris Parmalee

    Ian Kennedy

    Colton Willems

    .....................

    In 2005, it was:

    Mark Pawelek

    Cliff Pennington

    Aaron Thompson

    Certainly, Dr. D knows that the book isn't closed on these players.  But did YOU know that, if you drafted players like this with the 2009 #22 pick, that four years later you'd still be cooling your heels, waiting for them?  Pennington was a college SS. 

    If your idea is to grab several first-rounders and get help for 2010, 2011, think again ... Read more

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  • PSA on the Spamfilter

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/14/09 4:48am

    As most of youse know, I write on this site, and don't run it.  Please hold your applause until the speaker's finished.

    Every time I check in, there are 100, 200, whatever, posts caught in the spamfilter -- pretty impressive for a site that was just launched.  :- )  The spambots these days conjure images of the Matrix's nanobots drilling through the earth's crust to get at New Jerusalem, or whatever that city was called...

    On the first page of 25 posts, all 25 are (almost) always all spam.  But I know that somewhere in the next 200 posts are a few posts from amigos who wrote something great.  What a shame that I have no way to clear the time to fish for them.  And the spamfilter settings / widgets aren't within my province.

    As you know, Dr. Read more

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  • Griffey, GA, Abreu

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/10/09 7:28pm

    Jeff at Lookout Landing with a witty call for all of us to hyper down a bit. 

    He apparently shares an office with the kind of amigo who will assume the fetal position when you twang a rubber band at him :- ) ... not a bad metaphor for the Mariner blog-o-sphere (including me) when it hears a rumor of a move it doesn't care for.

    LOL.

    Will cheerfully admit there are times when Dr. Read more

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  • Clement's Batspeed

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    Submitted by jemanji on 2/10/09 7:08pm

    Good patter around the 'net about Clement's batspeed, and about his getting jobbed a few times in Cheney last year.  Which is true.  Clement's eye ratio would have been 1.5, not 1.2, with major league umping.

    PCL umps really can be weird, amigos.  You remember Eric Gregg in the Braves-Yankees World Series?  Overhead camera showing the ball 18-24 inches outside, in the LH batter's box, and Gregg enthusiastically ringing guys out of there on strike three?   You'll see about one call like that per half inning, if you go to Cheney.  Sometimes two or three Greggs in a half inning.  Sometimes none.

    The funny thing is, Clement did slug .680 last year.  :- )  How badly could he have been hurt by the umps?  Well, granted, with good umping he'd probably have had 50 walks and 35 K's, rather than 45/39 (IIRC).

    ..................

    On the batspeed:  trust me on this one, kiddies.  Don't trust me on all of them.  Don't trust me on most of them.  Don't even trust me on the average call.  But do trust me on this one.

    1) Assuming that the criticism is about his launch-quickness, not his throughspeed (which leaves the ball 400 feet away and is above question) ...

    2) Any of you 'net ra Read more

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