mojician's articles
Shoutbox
phxterry: Wow - Angels got 5 XBH's in the 4th inning, including 2 triples. That'll improve their batting statistics.46 min 56 sec ago
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Gordon Gross: We REALLY need our stud young pitching to get healthy and productive. These BOR retreads are killing us.1 hour 5 sec ago
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SABR Matt: Yes Doc...that was what I was saying...we have data on this...actually, the F/X data will (I'm confident) show that the Mariners have been #30 in baseball in the size of the 50% calls bubble since the F/X data became reliable...I haven't looked, but we've been watching the game together for many years.5 hours 6 min ago
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Gordon Gross: Article on Jack and urgency vs. underperforming players coming when I get home. Let me rephrase: RAMBLE concerning said urgency as well as the plusses and minuses of roster creation coming in a couple of hours.5 hours 32 min ago
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SABR Matt: I suppose, howeve,r that there is a difference when mistakes are constantly being made that bias against you and you can prove it numerically.6 hours 59 min ago
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malcontent: The referenced articles: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/05/pitchfx_detecti.php http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=201208 hours 2 min ago
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malcontent: Also, I remember two articles, one about Milton Bradley and one about Jose Bautista, regarding their famous conflicts with umpires, and both those articles coming to the conclusion that neither player was being better or worse treated than the average batter, and that both players had complained on occasions when their was no mistake made.8 hours 7 min ago
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SABR Matt: They can't afford to be "urgent" about their roster moves yet other than the obvious issue with not calling up Franklin to replace the rotting corpse that is Robert Andino. Most of the other moves we'd like to see them make from a purely emotional perspective there are reasons why it may not be prudent to actually make in the real world. I think Z's roster building in the offseason was a textbook example of being TOO urgent, rather than not urgent enough.8 hours 8 min ago
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malcontent: And we have very little about manager relations with umpires. Has there ever been a study to see if more managers get better calls after being tossed from a game? I imagine some of the umpires might actually be vindictive and call worse zones for the complaining manager more likely than umpires being embarrassed into calling a fairer game.8 hours 10 min ago
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phxterry: Matt - Doing nothing may well cost GMZ his job, if 81 wins is required for his survival and the M's end up with, say 74-76. But he doesn't show any urgency to fix any of the other problems that are more clearly fixable, so why would he do anything about this one? IMO, at a minimum, Wedgie should be in ump's faces regulaly, say once every 2 weeks with different crews, and get tossed to show his players that he is standing up for them & to let the umps know that someone at least saw their bad calls. The called third strike on Morse to end the game in NY last week was a perfect opportunity. Go blast the umps when the game just ended - free shot at one of them after a horrible call. But again, I see no evidence of urgency in anything this organization does, with the exception of getting Harang to replace Beavan.8 hours 36 min ago
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SABR Matt: I don't know that there's much the Mariners can do about the umpires and get away with it politically. You can't go to the league and gripe about it because you need the league to be in your camp on other disputes and there's no clear and overwhelming evidence that the umpires are knowingly biasing the zone against Seattle. The data says we're jobbed more than any team in the big leagues, but the league and the umpire union could argue that that is a result of bad catching or bad luck. You can't really file a lawsuit because you have to show damages and it's not clear that the losses hurt the Mariners financially in a clear way. You can't take up a grievance against the umpires union directly because the league has rules against one team causing trouble in that manner. And you can't just speak to the press about it because you won't have any friends amongst the other owners if you air your dirty laundry on national TV. So what can you really do?8 hours 49 min ago
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phxterry: Fourth Memo from the Accountability Dept: Jemanji has identified five (5) games that blown ball/strike calls have cost the M's dearly. 5 wins turned into losses are the difference between 20-25 & 25-2. Arguably, umpire bias is the most important cause of the M's losing season. Do we have any evidence that the M's Brain Trust is doing anything about this? We know Wedgie is not - he's been tossed from only 1 game. He NEVER leaves the comfort of the dugout during games. To my knowledge, he never brings umpire bias up in post-game interviews. Has GMZ ever mentioned it? Honest question: Is anybody aware that the M's are doing anything, literally anything, on any level, to counter-act this bias that has wrecked their season? I am not. And we can can be darn sure that this bias is not going away by itself. Imagine if Mark Cuban were owner of this team, watching game after game flushed by biased umpires. Would he sit still and just take it?9 hours 4 min ago
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phxterry: Third Memo from the Accountability Dept: A third asset - Jesus Montero - for whom the M's gave a top-flight young starting pitcher (who is now throwing 95 mph and ready for re-hab), had (at least) 3 known problems that needed attention in the off-season: 1) his running/agility 2) catching defense 3) hitting. In 2013: 1) his running/agility have not improved, to my eye, 2) hids catching defense has gotten worse, to my eye, and 3) his hitting has definitely gotten worse. It's passing the buck for the M's management to say Montero is out-of-shape, that his work ethic is poor, yadda yadda. If the M's Brain Trust (loosely used term) was aware of all these weaknesses in ST, then why did they structure their entire approach to 2013 relying on an un-reliable, lazy kid? Why didn't they send Montero down to AAA to straighten himself out and get 2 Kelly Shoppach's? And if they couldn't tell in ST that he hadn't improved, are they qualified to hold the positions they hold?9 hours 31 min ago
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SABR Matt: On those two larger points, I definitely agree, Terry...there's something not right about how the4 players are pursuing their professional development in Seattle. The number of players who are doing things independently in this org. seems unusually high...Franklin's eating binge, Saunders' pool floaters and rubber bands, Seager's Florida training workshops, Ackley's swing (mis)coaching...I would argue that players in Seattle are not happy with their player development team if they are this frequently acting without support from the club.9 hours 34 min ago
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phxterry: Second Memo from the Accountability Dept: Another asset - Nick Franklin - also potentially worth $75-100M, embarks on an eating program in the off-season without any apparent knowledge or concurrence of the M's Brain(less?) Trust, and is immediately castigated for said eating program when ST starts. For all we know, the failure to bring up Franklin right now may be the Organization's way of punishing him for his dietary sins & making sure he knows his proper place. I have worked in lots of organizations -- failures on the magnitude of these 2 would have had heads rolling in all the well-run organizations for which I have worked. Only the screwed up ones would have not enforced accountability for such large mistakes.9 hours 47 min ago
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phxterry: Memo from the Accountability Dept: The M's have an asset in the form of Ackley that is potentially worth, say, at least $75-100M, if he succeeds to his potential as the #2 pick in a rich draft. Right now he is failing miserably and on track to be worth, literally, pennies on the dollar. Yet Ackley was sent away last off-season to work out his swing problems on his own, and he showed up at spring training with his stance and swing so screwed up that the changes just initiated had to be scrapped 41 days into the season. Now he is trying to change his swing mid-season - good luck with that unless he is sent down. Who ultimately is held accountable for this egregious failure in the management of an asset worth millions? Nobody ...... because that's how failing organizations are run.9 hours 49 min ago
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