November 2012
Public Service Announcement: SSI still very bullish
Posted by jemanji on 11/30/12
6 Comments
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Mo Dawg sez,
The overhaul on Ackley ['s evaluation this year] is more problematic, perhaps. Or many will see it that way. His down side is that he's a glove first 2B, who will get to 100 OPS+ some seasons. That's a heck of a downside. Upside is that he's a glove first 2B with a first rate bat.
For the record, SSI is still bullish on Dustin Ackley. His swing shape became VERY weird in 2012, had an grotesque contradiction it. Part of it was probably due to his legs hurting, and part of it was certainly due to his frustration in not being able to anticipate the pitches.
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=== Swing FLAW... Read More
Furbush vs Scot Shields vs Alexi Ogando
Posted by jemanji on 11/29/12
7 Comments
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Jeffy with an info-taining Eleven Thoughts On Charlie Furbush. How does LL keep coming up with these completely new article templates? I want the yellow sticky note on the side of your monitor there, captain.
He's more flexible, at the moment, than I am when it comes to Furbush's future career path. So if you're saturated with the SSI Kool-Aid on Furbush's role in the 'pen, that will give you a va-cation from carbo-nation.
We'll recap SSI's position briefly. As Dr. D sees it, the "starter's rhythm" is a key factor to consider when choosing roles; you want starting pitchers who can... Read More
And Jay-Z releases some chill tracks
Posted by jemanji on 11/29/12
8 Comments
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Jemanji: Zduriencik looks kind of shrill this winter. And who could blame him. If he has decided it's time to stop playing for two years from now, it's okay by me.
Buster Olney, quoted by Grizzly: Olney says that "industry rivals" view the M's as desperate this winter. That's a little frightening - we saw what happened the last time the M's had a front office in "desperation" mode. Safe to say those "industry rivals" know a lot more about Jack's mindset and how frantic the club is than we netizens do.
Silentpadna: Grizzly, I don't think it's safe to say that at all. Industry rivals... Read More
G-Money rocks the Missile Command house
Posted by jemanji on 11/29/12
4 Comments
Gordon Gross skims over the Paxton series and whacks Dr. D's underhand scoop shot into the cheap seats:
It took Kershaw 4 years in the bigs (granted, 4 young years) to become the Cy Young bundle of C-4 that he's become. His first 3 years?
1: 9 hits, 8.5 K, 4.5 BB per 9
2: 6.5 hits, 9.5 K, 5 BB per 9
3: 7 hits, 9.5 K, 3.5 BB per 9
Years 4 and 5 are where he took off:
4: 6.5 hits, 9.5K, 2 BB per 9
5: 6.5 hits, 9 K, 2.5 BB per 9
Guys with good heat and a good breaker can survive wildness, though - his year 2 and year 3 returns were nothing to sneeze at (ERA+ of 143 and 133 those years... Read More
Hide the women and children, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/12
1 Comments
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The AFL Rising Stars game finally delivered, at long last, our chance to view Nick Franklin and James Paxton from the CF camera. Now we would see. Time, at least for one over-eager pundit, to see for hisself which scouting reports had been in the strike zone.
Paxton took the mound in a jersey one size too big, and a pair of pants that were three sizes too big. The cap was about right and the brim hid his eyes like The Man With No Name in one of Clint's westerns. K-Pax reared back, flung the glove up, drove that hip pocket forward and whipped a strike inside. 0-1. Looks good to me, man... Read More
Hey, if you got 94 lefty, keep it comin' all day long
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/12
4 Comments
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So the pro scouts rave about Paxton as having #1, #2 starter stuff and usually they are not giving much credit for the curve ball. What are they talking about?
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=== Fastball ===
In the AFL Rising Stars game, Paxton was clocking 90-93 ... it was clear that he was taking it easy, not finishing his pitches, not putting his shoulder into it. Maybe he didn't want to get hurt, revving up from a cold start.
Even so, the gun looked kinda slow; the catcher's mitt was yanking as the pitch slammed it and the hitters were behind several times. Mayo, in the booth, gave Paxton credit for an upper 90'... Read More
One thing getting in the way
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/12
4 Comments
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On pitches 1 and 2, James Paxton looked like every Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens he's ever winced over. Play ball, Strike one, Strike two, two different pitches, easy tempo, it's gonna be a looooooooong niiiiiight.
Then on pitch three, uhhhhh ... oh, man. On pitch four, more of the same. In fact, for the rest of the game K-Pax insisted on planting that lead foot short, impaling himself on the front leg, and totally ruining what should have been a very glorious evening.
Dr. D objects to a stiff front knee in principle, as should anybody with a basic knowledge of weight... Read More
Not very babe-a-licious
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/12
8 Comments
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Q. Wow, who's the babe?
A. It's just a composite of a lot of different women. All the features are averaged, and the face is therefore .... very beautiful. Beauty is perceived (largely) as lack of deviation from average. A 1950's catcher with a nose the size of a banana, who's to say that's not handsome? The Law Of Normalcy, that's who.
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Q. B.J. Upton was worth 5 WAR at the ages of 22 and 23 -- with yet four, five years' worth of growth left to him. What's the holdup here? Is he ever going to become a great player?
A. It's important to avoid thinking of the classic missile... Read More
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds - RWE
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/12
4 Comments
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I/O Gordon: I don't mind the idea of a "vet presence for a pitching staff" but wasn't that the point of Olivo? And didn't that fail miserably? And isn't Napoli only nominally a catcher, like Montero or Jaso?
CRUNCH: :: He stops short :: If Mike Napoli, C is an acceptable version of the 2013 Mariners, what are you doing offering Russell Martin, C a bunch of money on the basis that he will jell your pitching staff? Martin can't hit. The concept there is that it is urgent to get a D specialist.
Or if Napoli, C is fine and dandy with you ... at the end of the day, why aren't Jaso and... Read More
The Dan Wilson concept
Posted by jemanji on 11/27/12
13 Comments
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Q. Who is Russell Martin?
A. He is Mike Zunino's 50th-percentile** manifestation at age 29. Or he is Dan Wilson, if Wilson had a bit more pop and a bit less HIT skill. If Wilson had worn a size 48R blazer, had swung like Sammy Sosa and had played in New York, he'd have been Russell Martin.
In this quick series, SSI is going to get to the white meat without running through and provide evidence for each assertion. Time's a precious commodity for Dr D this week and most Gentle Readers have a feel by this time as to how many numbers or video reels there are, or aren't, behind his... Read More
M's trickle-up talent plan --- > turned upside down
Posted by jemanji on 11/27/12
7 Comments
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Q. Supposing that Russell Martin IS what you expect Mike Zunino WILL BE. Why then spend so much for Martin?
A. It's worth re-running a BJOL answer here. Take this one as coming from a Red Sox VP:
Hey Bill, are you surprised that a lot of sports teams keep using the load-up-on-aging-free-agents strategy, even though it seems to fail miserably and expensively most of the time? I mean, adding some veteran pieces around a young or prime-age core is one thing, but counting on oldsters to carry the bulk of the load just seems to be an idea with failure built right into it. When you add in... Read More
... though he's holding on tight to the C position
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/12
5 Comments
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Q. Does most of Napoli's value lie at catcher?
A. Napoli is a whale of a DH. Let's get that straight.
Napoli's career slash line is better than Jay Bruce's, and Napoli does it in the AL. Mark Teixeira has a career OBP of .370 and SLG of .525 -- Napoli's is .355 and .510.
Paul Konerko, who carries the White Sox, has a career OBP of .360 and SLG of .500. With Napoli, you're talking about a Konerko who can't stay on the field.
Justin Upton has a career OBP of .355 and SLG of .475, in the NL, compared to Napoli's .355 and .510 in the AL.
Nick Swisher: .360 OBP, .470 SLG. Nick Swisher... Read More
Aiki indicator UP
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/12
Posted to blog
Q. How does Napoli look from an aikido perspective?
A. Dr. D LOVES LOVES LOVES the way that Napoli sinks his weight to the pitch. This is one of O'Sensei's four golden laws, "Keep Weight Underside."
Digest that for a second, the fact that "Keeping Weight Underside" was one of Ueshiba's four basic insights. It's like Ted Williams studying hitting his whole life, and saying "Get Your Pitch" is one of four things every hitter needs to do. It's not an opinion. It's an observation of natural law.
In Japan this is as common an idea as, say, "put your hip into it" is in America. The... Read More
Boom Shaka Laka, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/12
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Dr. D's sister-in-law is blonde, 6-foot-3 and 150 lbs.with ripped triceps, a triathlete, if that gives you the picture. If you think you've never played basketball with a female who throws elbows with teeth gritted like a guy does, let me introduce the two of yer.
One time she and Dr. D were boxing, she with closed fists and Dr. D using two fingers to tap her cheekbones. He tapped her a bit crisply and she went into pandemonium mode. He backed up, laughing, hey, watch the control here, and called it off. After he thought it was over, she came down the centerline with a bony set of... Read More
Your mileage may vary
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/12
16 Comments
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Q. What are the chances that Napoli will be good at age 35?
A. When PECOTA draws comps, it includes "phenotypic" categories - in other words, the programmer likes the idea of matching players by height and weight.
SSI goes beyond that: it wants players who pitch similarly ... groundballers, or curveballers, or what have you. For hitters .... Darryl Strawberry had a different swing than Kyle Seager.
We're all guessing, of course. But is it better to say "we have no idea who Ichiro's comps are" or is it better to say, "Kenny Lofton was kinda like Ichiro, at least more like him than Bob... Read More
Comp him to Smoak and Olivo, not to Mr. 2.0 WAR
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/12
7 Comments
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Q. What are the Mariners expecting to receive from Mike Napoli?
A. Napoli slugged .630 two years ago. He slugged .470 last year, that being .450 in Arlington and .490 on the road. His lifetime SLG is .507. He walks 70 times per full season and the BB total is going up, not down.
So rotisserie analysts are going to split the difference, splitting it well towards the DWN side, and project him to a 2013 slash line of .250/.350/.500. -ish. With nothing on the line, without being too close to the situation, without emotions involved, a roto champ in St. Louis, MO is going to assume .250/.... Read More
Look for his .382 OBP somewhere in the AL Central
Posted by jemanji on 11/20/12
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In Fortune 500, there are times when senior managers (those in control of other managers, and who have budget responsibility) and directors (those in control of senior managers, and who have fangs down to their chins) meet in a large room to arrive at consensus decisions.
They do this because some decisions have cross-organizational impact. If a change of timeline, from Jan. 1, 2013 to Dec. 15, 2012, has the potential to embarrass the Applications Integration senior manager when he fails to hit that deadline, then that AI senior manager has the right to sign off on it. If a particular... Read More
The Jay-Z take on Willie Bloomquist
Posted by jemanji on 11/20/12
1 Comments
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The most [optimistic, while realistic] way to view Robert Andino would be as a Jack Zduriencik take on the concept of Willie Bloomquist.
70-80 OPS+: Willie would hit a scrappy .250-.280 with kinda okay walks and below-average power ... but could steal a base for you. Andino may be more like .240-.250 with kinda okay walks and below-average power, or he could hit a little better than that. His swings outside the zone have been REALLY good for a noob, and he's kinda fast, so his BABIP going forward could increase.
... Andino stole 13/16 bases in 2011, so he could serve as a bit of a... Read More
Posted by jemanji on 11/20/12
2 Comments
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Sez DaddyO, in the Mighty Klat shout box,
DaddyO: Well, it now appears that the trade of Erik Bedard and Josh Field at the deadline of 2011 netted us a largely failed prospect (Chiang from Boston) and a journeyman utility infielder (Andino, after we just flipped Trayvon Robinson to Baltimore for him).
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If all of the GM's were free agents, then Jack Zduriencik would probably be among my top 5 targets. Just his skills with the bottom of the talent pyramid alone, that would be enough, but I also like his self-confidence with a trade, his Stars & Scrubs orientation, his tough-but-... Read More
Even the giveaway doll has bags under its eyes.
Posted by jemanji on 11/19/12
4 Comments
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Jon Paul Morosi - he of "Ichiro Interview on Page A-1 of the P-I" fame - reports that five teams have talked to Kevin Youkilis. Among them, the Mariners.
You know what the conditions were regarding SSI's interest in Nick Swisher, right? That he get exactly 50% of the 7 years bandied about, and that he be the secondary player of the offseason, second to Gordon or Butler or Stanton or whoever.
Well, applying that logic, where would Youkilis fit into the picture? As the tertiary, quarternary or dingleberry? Anyway, the discussion revolves around him in a bridge season, if Smoak's gone... Read More
Predicting the future, vs. appreciating the past
Posted by jemanji on 11/19/12
4 Comments
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Let me ask you a question. You'll enjoy it more if you take 10 seconds, come up with a tentative answer, and then proceed before reading my own answer to it.
You know "The Double" by Edgar Martinez in 1995. The one off Jack McDowell that drove in Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. to put the Mariners in the ALCS. The one that is memorialized in stainless steel at Safeco. That double?
Does that double add any real value to Edgar's career, any inherent value to his contribution to the 1995 season, beyond his double on April 30th that came in a 10-1 loss to the White Sox?
In that situation... Read More
Sportswriters jump at chance to show disdain of HR, RBI
Posted by jemanji on 11/15/12
5 Comments
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In the AL MVP race, you had two sluggers bashing lots of home runs, and one of those sluggers was the game's biggest name. You had a rookie center fielder going against them, and he had many fewer HR's, but he did have a ton of doubles, a high slugging percentage, and an impact glove in the middle of the diamond. It was "Triple Crown Stats" against "underappreciated all-around game," and it was a rookie with the underappreciated doubles and homers.
We're talking about the 1974 MVP vote, the first one that Dr. D really remembers well. Fred Lynn hit .331/.401/.566 in Fenway, but remember,... Read More
The Cabrera Argument
Posted by jemanji on 11/15/12
3 Comments
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The Baseball Writers' Association of America smilingly refuses to define Most Valuable Player, enjoying the fact that it leaves the interpretation to its voters. Dr. D has no doubt whatsoever that this is done in part to shield the BBWAA against slam-dunk falsifications of its votes, like an ump refusing to explain why a tag call was made.
But when the award was originally established by the AL, in 1922, the league stated that the award was to honor "the baseball player who is of the greatest all-around service to HIS club."
If this be the interpretation, Counselor, that is a different... Read More
About two games later than Pete Carroll did, it would seem.
Posted by jemanji on 11/13/12
29 Comments
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Original article from August 25th.
At the bye, the Fran Tarkenton comp gains traction: Fran was amazingly self-possessed and calm during a scramble or rollout, able to see multiple receivers while evading tacklers. He was primarily a precision guy, preferring sure gains, but also very comfortable going down the field when the play was "brainy."
After 10 games, it is clear that Wilson's over-the-top release, and natural ability to move into passing lanes, trump any questions about his height.
Wilson's poise is off-the-charts, the game "slows down" for him, he's improving on a game-by-game... Read More
You Underestimate Me (making me hit like I did in high school)
Posted by jemanji on 11/13/12
6 Comments
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From BJOL:
Is there any way to determine whether switch-hitting is actually an advantage? Of the top 25 or so hitters in the history of baseball, only Mantle was a switch-hitter. That suggests that either switch-hitting is not a great advantage, or that a lot of great hitters passed up the opportunity to be even greater. If the latter, then Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, and Rickey Henderson would seem to have been prime candidates to switch hit, since they were already batting opposite the way they threw. What was up with Henderson batting righty anyway?
Asked by: Hank Gillette
Answered: 11/11/... Read More
Olney on the M's next FA
Posted by jemanji on 11/13/12
17 Comments
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From MLBtraderumors.com:
The Mariners are ready to pursue a big name free agent, but the stakes are high after the Chone Figgins fiasco. "They know they can't be wrong on the next one," said a source to Olney.
Dr. D is more-or-less as much a fan of Bruce Lee as the next amigo is. So he was stunned to see a Chuck Norris interview in which Chuck discussed his relationship with Lee.
Point A: Norris is, by all accounts, as "nice" a person as it's possible to be nice. He's soft-spoken, gets along with everybody up to and including Sylvester Stallone, and seems to have devoted his life to... Read More
Want to know what your WAR leader might look like next year?
Posted by jemanji on 11/12/12
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Mucho info-tainment at Prospect Insider this month. He's playing Home Run Derby with the fun names out there on the baseball landscape, and it's a target-rich environment. He's got Stanton in there, Hamilton, lately Anibal Sanchez, Asdrubal Cabrera (HEH!) and now here comes Jay Bruce.
I know jack squat about the National League and in fact am not sure I've ever seen Jay Bruce play. As you know, Dr. D doesn't let a little thing like complete ignorance hold him back. Give 'im 5 years' worth of results to look at, and a game's worth of aiki mechanics analysis, and he'll be only too glad to... Read More
Ahhhhh, just go get 4 or 5 of these guys. An NBA team would
Posted by jemanji on 11/12/12
11 Comments
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Talking points meaning, SSI doesn't claim to have this guy surrounded. We saw chatter and so we chittered.
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(1) Some people see major upside here. Here's a fangraphs article comparing Bruce and ... Giancarlo Stanton. In Bruce's comps list, at b-ref.com, are Darryl Strawberry, Reggie Jackson, and Jack Clark. You're talking about a 25-year-old who was a good ML player at age 21.
..............
(2) Bruce's PX (power index) is 150-160, legit 40-homer territory. He's a real big lefty, generates obvious torque, mostly with the upper body, and hit HR's in the majors at a young age. Though... Read More
Dr. D can think of one team with flippers
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/12
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In the Zunino thread, G-Money was quick onto the implications of the Zunino situation. If Zunino is a top prospect, that is one thing. If Zunino is about to take over the ballclub, that is a different thing.
Flipping Montero would be weird, and without a lot of precedent. But Mike Zunino is an emerging circumstance, one that emerged after the M's pulled the trigger on Montero.
If Jesus Montero is going to DH/1B -- and with a potential Gary Carter parachuting in, that is going to be the case, well, Jesus Montero has been majorly discounted in value -- from the Mariners' perspective only... Read More
(we suspect) ... the good news: rivals not in New York
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/12
11 Comments
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If Dr. D reads 20 USSM articles, 19 of them remind him of the Jim Bowden - Gary Huckabay interview on Baseball Prospectus a few years back. Saber consultants, Bowden sez, are useless because "there isn't a dime's worth of difference between you guys. You like pitchers who strike out a lot of guys, who walk few, and who keep the ball on the ground. Well, no kidding. Us dumb-nuts scouts woulda never thought of that."
And 19 times in 20, reading Cameron's stuff, I smile at Bowden's self-aggrandizing complaint that sabermigos naturally agree on everything :- )
That's 19 times, though ...... Read More
DO. NOT. TRADE.
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/12
2 Comments
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Bonus three words: "Under any circumstances." Trade Hultzen if you must. Do not trade James Paxton. Much less this "Paxton and two more of your best and brightest for a --- > LF settle." Slap me SILLY and call me shirley. How about Pineda, Seager and Fister for Victorino while you're at the stock exchange.
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Q. Experts say that the market would be Franklin and Hultzen, or Franklin and Paxton and Erasmo, for Alex Gordon.
A. Once people have SEEN James Paxton throw, they won't want to trade him for anybody.
Where's this coming from, you ax? If guys have seen Paxton throw, and are... Read More
AFL Rising Stars Game
Posted by jemanji on 11/07/12
11 Comments
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Don't freak out, LrKrBoi29 my friend. We're not saying that Mike Zunino, or any player in the next (say) thousand years, is going to outplay #5. We are saying that when we got our first look at Zunino, from the CF camera, that Zunino reminded us of Bench, more than he reminded us of any player.
By "remind" I mean that Zunino "caused me to think of someone or somebody else." The somebody else that Zunino caused me to think of was John Bench. (Sparky Anderson called him that.)
Here's why Zunino's defense caused me to think of Johnny Bench ...
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Scouting Report. John Mayo's full scouting... Read More
Now if we can only find Don Gullett. Oh wait: he was at AFL too
Posted by jemanji on 11/07/12
2 Comments
Agility. Inside Pitch used to talk constantly about a catcher's feet. It's what got ex-hockey-goalie Dan Wilson his job in the big leagues.
First of all, Johnny Bench (the young Bench; later he sat up more) would take that casual, comfortable, super-low crouch with loose shoulders and then when he stood up out of it, it was as if he weighed only 160 lbs. Zunino's like that: he weighs 220, but he rises up out of his crouch much more easily than John Jaso does.
A lefty pitcher threw a slider to a LH batter in, what, the 8th inning of the AFL Rising Stars game, and the pitcher yanked it... Read More
Playing for a job in March?
Posted by jemanji on 11/07/12
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Field Generalship. Some things in sports can't be conveyed with words (though Dr. D is willing to take a thousand of them trying). Go ahead: describe, in a word picture, Randy Johnson's menace factor. Use words to describe the color, shape, and texture of Ichiro's focus.
Neither can words capture Johnny Bench's casual physical dominance of a baseball game. Whoever else was on a baseball field, it was Bench's world and the other players just lived in it. He had a quarterback-style body language, like Tom Brady I'd say .... head contemptuously on a swivel, surveying the diamond in... Read More
Dr. D predicts.... the end of federalism ;- )
Posted by jemanji on 11/06/12
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Cyber-foodfight on the election? Here y'go amigo. Or amiga.
Cheers,
Jeff
Sooooo many WAR, sooo little time
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/12
23 Comments
Mo' Dawg sez ...
Gordon's nice, he ain't special. ... Gimme Butler and we will talk. But I'm not 2 fer 1'ing for Gordon.
To which 13 confidently replies, "Huh?" ...
Gordon hits almost as well as Butler while playing great defense at a much more valuable position. I'm not sure where the idea that Gordon isn't a uber-talent is coming from, because I've seen it a couple of times here... the last two years, Gordon's been the third best LF in baseball. Only Trout and Braun seem like good bets to be consistently better. To put things in perspective... last year, by fWAR, Gordon was worth... Read More
Why don't you just spit in his coffee while you're at it
Posted by jemanji on 11/05/12
12 Comments
Lonnie, the big cheese at Mariner Central, harrumphs ...
Could you please stop using the expression "lowball"? To me, it means that nothing else matters other than trying to mess a player over, and I really don't think that Zduriencik would have done that.
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=== Webster, Dept. ===
If you don't care for the term "lowball" then out of consideration for our friendship I'll stop using it, sure. :- ) You might have to remind me once or twice ... >:- ]
Certainly there are words that have different connotations to different people. When I first started in public speaking, there was a... Read More
Maybe Hisashi Iwakuma can get the Mr. Arsenal title
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
2 Comments
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1. How badly did the Mariners lowball the dude? Well, in their defense, Iwakuma is fragile. And they had many other (attractive!) options for the period 2013-15. Had Iwakuma chosen to move on, the Mariners would legitimately have shrugged and given the job to somebody else.
It's tough to ask for a raise if the fact is that other people can do it better and cheaper. Rich Dad said, the days of claiming we "deserve" a raise are over. That's going a bit far, but one day, eBay (the paradigm not the company) will rule the planet -- if you need a carburetor, you'll be able to ask 8 billion... Read More
And Doug Fister fades back into Dr. D's emotional rear view mirror
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
2 Comments
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1. Iwakuma is now IN THE ROTATION for the next 60-90 starts. They're not paying him $6M to relieve. Yeah baby!
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2. I think we all agree that Erasmo has shown enough.
I dunno, did SSI's forty articles on Hisashi Iwakuma have any influence over his being here? Iwakuma's fine pitching had the real influence. But did our campaign headquarters affect the conversation?
If so, same deal on Erasmo. He is this close ::thumb and finger an inch apart:: from being an SSI Best Bet. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Erasmo had four starts in June and five in September; despite that, the... Read More
Cooking the books, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
15 Comments
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=== Contingency Fund ===
Uncle Al sez,
Geoff Baker ... says the M's spent $85M in 2012 is correct but he takes this dollar figure and uses it to base his 2013 payroll on. He doesn't tell you that the $85M amount consisted of a Budget for 2012 that was $80M in payroll for the 25 man roster and another $5M for the Contingency Fund which eventually gets turned into additional salaries during the year. He then says we basically stand at $62M as of now but we are closer to $68M by throwing in the Contingency Fund. You have to add in the Contingency Fund when you talk about the Budget and that is... Read More
M's Grab Iwakuma!
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
6 Comments
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Mr WBC-san a Mariner! YYEEAAAHHHHH!
The Mariners announced that they have agreed to a new deal with right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma that will extend him through 2014 with an option for 2015. Terms of the deal are not yet known.
Seattle had exclusive negoatiating rights with the pitcher through tomorrow night. If General Manager Jack Zduriencik did not reach agreement with Iwakuma by the deadline then the hurler would not have been able to pitch until May 15th.
The M's inked Iwakuma to a one-year, $1.5MM deal last year and did well in his debut MLB season. The 31-year-old 3.16 ERA with 7.3... Read More
What's a championship worth, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
3 Comments
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When Whitey Herzog took over the Cardinals around 1980, he decided he had to get Ted Simmons, Pete Vuckovich and Rollie Fingers out of his locker room. (For you kiddies out there, this would be loosely comparable to Davey Johnson taking over the 2013 Angels and deciding he wanted Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols off his team.) Herzog called Harry Dalton in Milwaukee and asked him, How would you like to win the pennant next year? Dalton's reply was classic. He deadpanned, "I'd like that fine."
Supposing that the Seattle Mariners won the World Series next year in a 4-game sweep... Read More
Sisyphus, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/02/12
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G-Money sez,
It's a really big year for this team. I would not be surprised to see an extension for Felix, but if I were him I'd want to see what kind of team we deliver to him for the '13 season before he inks his name to that line. I want Felix's Mariners to compete for WS titles going forward, not basement standings. We've acquired a LOT of young guys. Time to move some of em for the RIGHT player(s) to enable us to take that next leap.
He's been sitting there in the middle of 93-loss seasons, and ESPN asks him on SportsCenter about going somewhere else, and he practically bursts into... Read More
Dr. D missed the memo
Posted by jemanji on 11/01/12
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This week, the Angels have been shopping Dan Haren and Ervin Santana. They have (had) one-year club options on both, and didn't want to use either one this year at that money. So they grabbed a megaphone and said "HEY EVERYBODY! WHO WANTS TO GIVE US SOMETHING FOR ONE YEAR OF DAN HAREN OR ERVIN SANTANA? ANY REASONABLE OFFER ACCEPTED!"
The Royals finally held up a hand, about halfway into the air, and gave Brandon Sisk. He's a career minor league lefty with a mediocre fastball, 88-92 MPH, that he says is his key pitch ... yet he fans 9 men per game in AAA. You could (very) loosely... Read More