Seattle Sports Insider

Tale of the Tape - Mike Carp vs Mike Saunders

One of our best buds, and one of the best analysts 'round here, would like to offer the opinion that Carp's performance has been better than I think it has been.

As you know, we don't split out this comparison in order to emphasize the "tale of the tape" between analysts. We split it out because we have a boss these days who counts articles :- ) and because this particular article is ... well, as legit as any others we tackle. For what that's worth. LOL.

Anyway, Let's! go To! the VID! e-o TAPE! How would you compare these two bushers?

POTD Mike Carp - the Bad and the Ugly

Q. What's the local consensus?

A. That Carp isn't a blue-chipper, but that he does become the best 1B prospect in the system. Also that he moves the ship into the direction of LH power and higher eye ratio.

Q. Does he have upside?

A. The idea has been floated that his ceiling is to be a Lyle Overbay-type hitter.

That's an interesting stylistic template -- .290/.370/.460, let's say -- good gap power, some walks, no speed. If Carp panned out, you could see the template there.

POTD Mike Carp - the Good

Q. Is there any good news?

A. That Zduriencik likes him.

I hate to be the wallflower here, but let's hope that Zoidberg likes Carp specifically, and not because Carp is left-handed. We're all interested in giving Mr. Z credit for targeting individuals, rather than vague ideas -- let's hope that Carp isn't an "idea" -- generic corner LH'er with power and some walks. Because if that's what he is, it isn't a decision that's any better than one Bavasi would make.

POTD The Blogosophere

Q. What is the attitude of the reincarnated jemanji towards the rest of the Mariners' blog-o-sphere?

A. Jeff Sullivan -- about whom we've always been politely appreciative -- cowboy'ed up for this tremendous article. In it, he encourages all of us to Rodney King it and Just All Get Along.

Could the end of the string of Seattle sports catastrophes finally be upon us?

Article by Jerod Allen

As the 2008 calendar year draws to a close, fans of Seattle sports breathe a collective sigh of relief. For those who root for Emerald City teams, this year can't end quickly enough.

To review the last three major professional team seasons in Seattle:

Mariners: 61-101, .377

Jose Lopez at 1B?

Speaking of defense, D-Wak says he loves it so much he might move Lopez to 1B for good. I was intrigued by that notion when we had slick-fielding and interesting lefty bat Luis Valbuena, and didn’t have Branyan-Shelton on the roster.

Hopefully he's trying to bluff his bosses into buying him a stick? :- )

Here's a good article from John Hickey on D-Wak's "bluff."

D-Wak is supposed to be pretty smart. He's got to see the problemos with putting Jose's bat at first.

Branyan, Dunn, and TTO Hitters

Q. What is the effect on a ballgame or a season …. if a player (or a lineup!) has a lot of K, BB, and HR?

A. He can't be defensed. And he can't be slowed down by a pitcher's park (relative to everybody else on the field).

Had you ever noticed that your Gold Gloves don't do you any good against Jim Thome?

TTO players don't get lucky*, don't need luck*, don't depend on BABIP, are not affected* by the fact that they're in Safeco Field or Dodget Stadium. It's them and the pitcher and everybody else can sit down. :- )

Batspeed - and Jeff Clement

Watching Clement a few times from the Cheney stands, we were perplexed at the 'net reports that Jeff Clement had woeful batspeed. We hadn't noticed, sez we, but hey, we'll check it. Never did get to Cheney after that.

Having seen Trey, the #3 draft pick in all the land, from the CF camera, here's the Tao of Bat Spee Do :- )

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

As Bruce Lee pointed out a decade or four ago, handspeed has three components. The laws of physics, acceleration, and neurology do not warp inside 90-foot squares.

How much of the game is defense?

Huge snowball fight over the question of whether defense is 15% of a baseball game, or 20% of it ...

Notice first of all that if it's 20%, then a player's offensive value is 2.5 times more important than his defensive value. That's before factoring in the questions of how much one defensive player varies from another, or how confident we are about our defensive measurements.

If defense is 15% of the game, then a player's bat is 3.3 times more important than his glove. 2.5 or 3.3? Taro, Sandy, and Matt are willing to pig-pile Dr. D on this one... :- )

Rumor Mill, Thursday

COEFFICIENT OF CONFIDENCE = 0.85: as many are aware, Mark Teixeira reportedly wants to get a deal done very quickly. He wants the Orioles, but they don't want him. They have lowballed him -- yep, that's the word -- at 7 x $21M (!) and stated that they're only players if they get a hometown discount.

With perhaps only 1 week to go before Teixeira decides, speculation has settled in at 8 x $24M. At least two teams, one of the Boston, have made firm offers to Tex that seriously outweigh Balmer's 7/$145. The Angels have also offered at least 8/$160M.

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