Seattle Sports Insider

Korner: Big Kids

At BJOL there was an answer recently that got me to thinking, and to smiling:

Realizing that a definitive answer is likely impossible, any guess why there were so many all-time great pitchers active in the 1970s, and so few in the 1980s, beyond "just something that happened"? I dimly recall you writing something about not many kids being born in America in 1944, so the ones that were - like Tom Seaver - grew up feeling dominant.

Asked by: Jeff (not me - Dr. D)

Answered: 2/27/2019

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M's Low Minors Pitchers

At Bill James Online he had some ideas about low-minors pitching that I'm sure had eluded ALL of us:

When looking at a pitching prospects, which is more important. Strikeouts, or Strikeout to walk ratio?

Asked by: shthar

Answered: 3/1/2019

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Echo Box - Nucleus

Moe Dawg gives us a beefy post on the idea of a nucleus for the 2019-2021 Mariners:

An interesting read, Dipoto's comments on Vogelbach. There is more than a bit of a mea culpa, "I blew it!" tinge from the GM. - Moe

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What Is the M's Nucleus?

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CYW YNP WTP: Brandon Brennan

Rick sez,

Should Brennan be our closer? His bendy stuff is unhittable, but hard to control and thus catch. Reminds me of Rodney. Thank goodness Narvaez was able to stop that one that keep Grossman on 3rd last night.

Heya Rick! :- ) Good call directing our attention to Brennan.

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Worse than 2005 Yankees?

PRO

It has been called to the CEO's attention that the Mariner defense may be THE most ruinous ever to disgrace a baseball field. I guess the previous titleholders were the 2005 Yankees, with the prosecution's exhibit A being the players' UZR's. In terms of player runs below and above average the M's are at a pace to break records held by the entire population of 1900-2019 ballclubs.

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Fresh Adulation for the BB

In a February Hey Bill, he argued that although our sabe formulas love BB's, they don't love them enough. In real life a team that is taking its free passes is getting lots of traffic, and as it adds more such players, the effect compounds:

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M's Sweep Orcs

GAMEFLOW 1

Cindy and I went to the game Monday. But supposing you told us at 6 pm that the A's would hit five (5) homers and their starter would Feir a lockdown game?

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M's 6-5? How to watch an M's game, after 7-21

By watching players instead of the team.

After a ballclub has cashed in its season, which Dipoto did in February, all you can do is watch them as if they were the Rainiers. And I enjoy Rainiers games, if they have legit prospects who could be playing WELL in the majors shortly. Well, which is better, to watch J.P. Crawford in Tacoma hitting .350, or watching Domingo Santana going against Gerrit Cole and leading the AL in RBI?

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CYW YNP WTP: Domingo Santana

Sorry kiddies. The last month or so, a bum right arm has kept me off the keyboard. Better now :- ) and if you get a chance to say "hi" in the comments, I'd be glad to know that you're still around!

Q. What is Santana's level of performance, exactly?

A. His slash, exactly, is .281/.351/.497. For a 133 OPS+ in a pitcher's park, which makes him the 23rd-best hitter in the American League, 5 slots below J.D. Martinez and 5 slots ahead of Nelson Cruz.

Fangraphs sees him as a -5 to -10 runs defensive left fielder, which sounds right to you and me. In 2016 that pulled him down to +3.3 WAR from the +4.4 he'd have had as an average LF.

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