=== Ichiro ===
Is 1,999 for 5,995 and must go 1-for-5 on Sunday to hit what has to be one of baseball's most perfect milestones.
Puh-leeeze! :- ) Then I can download a screenshot of his player card that night and completely retire from chasing statistics.
In Strat-O terms, roll his player card and a perfect 1-2 on a six-sider is a hit, no computers necessary. (OK, actually a 1-3 on the white die and a 2-5 or 11 on the two red die.)
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=== Bill Hall ===
Has been drawing RAVES from the mainframe for his swing. Unloaded on a FB inside third, Thursday, and pelted it ... um ... 448 feet to left field.
The visual evaluation of his swing, x-ref'ed against his 448-footer, confirms that this amigo retains 30-homer power. The question is how we get the barrel of the bat to the ball.
I think there's something wrong with the visual adjustment on my set, because it shows him 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts on Saturday... the last one simply on 91 fastballs thigh-high. (That's what they do to non-baseball dudes who want to join in the sandlot game. About the third pitch, somebody yells, "hey! just throw it right down the middle.")
Bill needs a few days off.
..............
Major project for the M's coaches, and an EXCITING! project for them. These kinds of players do sometimes (20%?) find it again. Then what?
Even if he doesn't, that's a pretty fun UTIL player to have around.
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=== Adrian Beltre ===
Is going to finish the year with a roughly 75 OPS+. Still, at this moment, with almost 400 PA's, has an even one dozen walks. And five homers.
HBT's "cheap homers" metric pegged Adrian for a fall from 25 homers (in each of the 2006, 07, and 08 seasons) to 8 homers this year. Think we'll pay attention to that metric this offseason...
Of course, it'll peg Jose Lopez for a dropoff too, but he'll be the asterisk.
..............
Pegged as a Sizzler because about to change ballparks. I'll bet you that several GM's offer him context-projected numbers from here out.
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=== Ryan Rowland-Smith ===
Is gaining steam as he charges around the corner into the straightaway:
27/12 control in the last 28 days (41 ip)
12/2 control in the last 14 days (22 ip)
11/2 control in the last 7 days (16 ip)
The pitch values on his arsenal, as a template, are simply gorgeous:
CURVE: +2.9 runs per 100 pitches
CHANGE: +1.3 runs per 100 pitches
SLIDER: +0.6 runs per 100 pitches
FASTBALL: +0.0 runs per 100 pitches
Which just underlines what we've seen: he has got a devastating curve, a genuinely plus changeup, and the fastball is perfectly legit - take that with you, mate. Gotta looooooove that template: a shellshocking lefty hook backed by not one but two ML pitches.
...............
One thing that's a bit weird: it's not clear to me exactly why he's getting "only" 6 strikeouts per nine innings (and 2+ walks). Probably he's getting a little too much of the plate.
With Felix, Bedard*, RRS, Morrow, and Fister, I'd go to war. Provided I had a 3 and 4 hitter, of course. :- )
Be Afraid,
Dr D