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All apologies for selecting a "Letter On Donald Trump" from a Denizen whose worldview is similar to my own. I did feel though that Rick had a measured and nutrient-dense mini-essay, one which raises concrete points that can easily be commented by either side.
I'll be talking about my new book Saturday at Elliott Bay at 3 p.m. and Sunday at the RBI Club at Safeco at noon and at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park at 5:30.
Here's a bit about the book:
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No, there weren't any SportSpyder links that seemed likely to pique the interest of the erudite Denizen. Yes, the Mariners are sucking wind in their attempt to even draft the leaders, considering they are out their top four starting pitchers and their "minor deity" rookie. No, there was not enough to pick through in Tuesday's loss, to justify a postgame. Yes, there was one baseball item of interest (to Dr. D), that being on 538.com:
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Not that any Denizens had bailed, that we'd noticed. :- ) But here's an Attaboy for 'im even during his little HR drought.
We knew he wouldn't slug .600 for the next five years. And the enemy pitchers did figure out they better not stick their fingers in the doggie's mouth, namely challenging him in any way during a hitter's count. So Motter has to adjust back, take a few balls the other way. (Don't assume that nobody will ever make another mistake to Motter. He'll get runners on 1B and 2B, the pitchers will fall behind trying to get him to chase, and they'll lay some in there for him.)
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Like we sez, a balanced diet in your political oatmeal is -- if nothing else -- less MONOTONOUS. Y'feel me?
It's about time to take a look at the farm, strange a place as it is right now. I had some time, so here's the Mariners top-10 from MLB.com and how they've done over the first 5 weeks of the season:
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1 = Mariners' winning streak
10 = Mariners wins, out of 13 games played with Griffey statue nearby
24.1% = Portion of 2017 schedule played
-3.0 = Games out of playoffs
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2 = Number of times Jean Segura reached base Monday
2 = Number of times Jean Segura scored runs Monday
24 = Runs, Segura, 2017
27 = Games played, Segura, 2017
44 = Base hits, Segura, 2017
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Haniger is #15 in the league in WAR, despite playing 21 games to most others' 35-38 games. Ben Gamel is #33 in the league, despite only 18 games' activity. If you check Fangraphs there's a trick to finding them on the WAR leaderboards: you have to drop the filter that says "Qualified" by amount of time played.
:- )
Ran across this Hey Bill from late in 2011:
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IN THIS CORNER, WEARING THE BLUE TRUNKS, Dept.
Josh Donaldson is a committed launch-angle evangelist. "I've done a lot of research," he says. "... I believe in it [high launch angles]. And as 80%, 90% of you are aware, Mitch Haniger is a Josh Donaldson disciple. You're talking about a guy who was nowhere* for 25 years, tried it Donaldson's way, and is now an 8-WAR player. ... :- )
We've got the prospect of Ben Gamel doing something similar. Do we? I can tell you this much, kids, if Haniger is a 5-6 WAR rookie and Gamel is a 4-WAR rookie, this team is going to be GOOooooood. For a long time. We remember the 1970's Red Sox winning their share of baseball games.
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It is true FOR SURE that if we STIPULATE a hard-hit ball, especially one that is pulled, that we would much rather have it be in the air. But what if we're talking about a distribution of soft-hit balls, medium-hit, hard-hit, and infield pops? Then it gets more complex.
Again, a "Back Leg Special" is uncontroversial. Pull it in the air hard? That's the holy grail. That's why Boomstick makes the big bucks.
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1) Excellent article by USSM on Ben Gamel's launch angle. They give his 2016 launch angle as 4 degrees, and this year's as 12 degrees.
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2) This meets the eye test. The Mainframe signs off on the wonderful 2017 launch angles. Well, those are a matter of record. What we mean is, we sign off on the fact that Gamel's batted balls have been dangerous for enemy pitchers' BABIP's.
It's true that his batting line is based on a .450 BABIP, but it's also true that if he keeps hitting this good, 8+ of his next 20 batted balls are going to land him on base somewhere. (Check out his soft hit rate, LrKrBoi29. Don't be standing on anything unstable when you click the link.)
Also, G-Money signs off on the veracity of the previously lousy launch angles, which is good enough for us.
The first week, Dr. D fretted that the line drives were in the air mainly because --- > Gamel had gotten half-a-dozen Back Leg Specials down into the RF corner. (When you have lots of time to do what you want to do, you pull the ball hard in the air.) But! We've all seen Gamel rip 15-degree fly balls to RIGHT center and to Center, including a screaming meemie Sunday with Kevin Pillar, of all people, couldn't get back to straight over his head.
