March 2009

  • POTD Chris Jakubauskas, Theory and Practice

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    === Strike One, Strike Two, Strike Three Dept. ===

    If Jaka had a sloppy BB rate -- let's say he walked 3.5 or 4.0 men a game to go with the rest of his profile -- I wouldn't give him another thought.

    Similarly, if Jaka were an 89 mph pitch-mixer who wasn't a battler, if he nibbled in Gene Nelson style, I wouldn't give him another thought.

    Tangentially, if Jaka's K rate were soft -- let's say he were fanning 5+ men a game or fewer, like Roy Corcoran -- I'd fire off a "fuhgeddaboudit" POTD faster than Erik Bedard scurrying away from a microphone.

    But Jaka IS showing good precision, and very good toughness, and his K rates are nice and solid.  I haven't wandered off yet. There are any number of ways that Jaka could offend me.  I haven't seen any of them.  Roy Corcoran?  Ask me some other time.  But Jakabouskas is showing real major league potential.

    You could as easily project a Chris Bosio career for him as you could project anything else.

    .

    === Change Speed Dept. Read more

  • Dr. D re-thinks Russ Branyan

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    Two homers today.  Off a lefty.  Who's in the Indians' rotation.  One of them came down with frost on it, according to Neihaus.

    .314 / .360 / .714.

    Paying closer attention to Branyan on TV this March, I was struck by how non-TTO his swing is.  He's balanced, controlled, gets homers more by nice torque than by a Dunn-, Deer-type lumberjack swing.

    More to the point, Branyan doesn't seem to merely "stalk" tater pitches the way that Adam Dunn will do.  A guy like Dunn walks so much, more because he's simply WAITING.  For the pitch he can drive.  Branyan, by contrast, is working the strike zone like a contact hitter, and then has the ability to drive the ball from different locations and speeds.

    Jack Cust is similar to this:  Cust's swing is relatively controlled, and he's relatively less of a guess hitter than other TTO guys.

    Along with this, have been impressed by Branyan's ability to get on top of the ball and line it hard.  He does pull the ball extremely, which Read more

  • POTD - Gary Sheffield

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    Interesting player:  he was essentially 20 unbroken years' worth of Edgar Martinez.  With a glove.

    Yet he's strangely underrated and ignored, for a player of his magnitude.  His (legitimate) comps include Junior, Reggie, and Mickey Mantle, but who thinks of him like they do of those men?

    As usual, we've got our three cents on why that is.  :- )

    POTD Sheffield at NY Sports Insider

  • PTI on Russell Branyan

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    The muscled young toughs of the barrio protest that Russell Branyan maybe CAN hit lefties.  Good stuff, amigos.  :- )  Even while spray-painting my warnings about bringing RB into the LHP house, we were laughing wondering whether half the local monstas would argue that maybe he can hit lefties.

    Maybe he can.  Wouldn't that be cool, to pull a .380 OBP, 35-homer, 110-RBI star off the shelf at Branyan's salary... If Oakland can do it with Jack Cust, why not us with Russell Branyan?

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

    1.  If a thoughtful analyst, let's say Don Wakamatsu or one of you amigos, believes that Branyan could do fine vs LHP given a fair chance... Read more

  • Bill James on Brandon Morrow

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    Morrow took the mound in Tuesday night's TV game.  Dr. D had no objection to this.

    Casey Blake, impressively, hit an HR to center field on a 96-mph aspirin tablet.  That's major leaguers for you, especially when they're nothing but dead red .... Read more

  • State of the Lefty Socks

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    === Ken Griffey Jr, Sizzlin' Lefty Sock ===

    TV game tonight showed highlights of Junior, quicker to the ball than the other night, smoking two rockets to center field.  One of them hit 20 feet up a wall that was 410 feet away, meaning that Griffey hit the ball 425 feet to center.  If you're just joining us, the bathead is moving faster as it has traveled farther through its swing arc, which is why long home runs are hit to the pull field.  Griffey once tried to teach Darren Bragg how to hit.  He said, "Get the bathead out here," holding it out in front of home plate, "not back here," he said, holding it parallel to the plate as if hitting a ball to CF.  "Back here (to LF, CF) there's no money, no production."

    I'm not sure any current Mariners are CAPABLE of hitting a ball 425 feet to center field, ever, unless you count Jeff Clement as a current Mariner.  Maybe Russell Branyan.  In any given year there are only a handful of pitched balls hit over 435 feet in game conditions -- to any field.

    In other words, Griffey's swing looked better; on the highlight reels it also looked quicker and shorter to the ball.

    ................. Read more

  • PTI on Johjima and MLB Dogma

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    Spec

    Doc, FYI, from Shannon Drayer, what do you make of “he calls pitches right”?:

    [begin quote] [Felix] enjoyed throwing to Ramon Hernandez.

    “He is unbelievable. He calls pitches right. He told me you have to get ahead, and if you throw the fastball for strikes the breaking ball will be better.”

    He spoke about the importance of his fastball, both the 4 seamer and 2 seamer but when I asked which of his pitches he would least like to see if he was a hitter he said his curve or slider. No doubt after a well established fastball. Read more

  • Pardon the Interruption

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    Mister MC sez:

    Did you happen to notice what type of pitch Wilson hammered that homerun on? Curveball, the great nemesis of Balentien. I am predicting a breakout year for Wilson right here and now.

    It is highly doubtful that Wilson makes the travelling 25, so what that does is make for a very, VERY powerful team down in Tacoma.

    Watching Mike Wilson play the man-among-boys role ... well, it kinda reminded me of some of those WBC games, like the Korea-Venezuela game.   Some big 1B from some league you've never heard of just steps up, grins, and pulverizes all that weak slop the major leaguers throw up there.... Read more

  • Called Third Strikes

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    Matty with a very intriguing opinion on J.J. Putz:

    Doc…I’ve been saying that about Gutierrez since we traded for him…that he has Cameron’s Disease…a deadly condition which prevents a hitter from swinging at close pitches with 2-strikes. That’s why his K rate is very high despite obviously having a patient approach.

    Hmmmmmmmmm....

    That is a VERY interesting suggestion.   :: taps chin ::  It would explain a lot...

    If true, personally I would think of this as "Olerud's Disease." :- )   I actually admired this about John, that in his humility he wasn't embarrassed by a called third strike.  And of course, Olerud drew close to 100 walks a year.

    So, what if you've got a 3-2 count and take a close pitch every time, vs. Read more

  • PTI on the Pads

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    <!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> A little ping-pong with our D-O-V partner in crime:

    Jeff Clement is starting to worry me. I was very high on him breaking out this year before last night…but watching him take ABs was PAINFUL. Read more