.

Here's a Greg Johns article on the 'value' of having Top Fuel Dragsters in the 1-2 slots of the Mariner lineup.

Sabermetrics can get us wrapped around the axle, get us so engrossed in the new question of "What is Seth Smith's WAR really?" that we almost lose sight of our old question, "Is Seth Smith one of my favorite players?"  When that happens (for me, most of the time) we've gotten the cart before the horse.  True, it's part of baseball's charm that it is so easy to analyze, lends itself to math so well.  But our love for applied math is still secondary to good ol' baseball.

...

STATS AOL veteran Justynius once pointed out that "the wave" in baseball stadiums is inverted.  The only time you can really BUILD a cheer is towards a pitcher strikeout.  In the NBA, of course, your team gets on a roll of turnovers and fast breaks and most of the cheering BUILDS around, and releases after, a score.  In baseball you might build your cheer for two minutes towards an Edwin Diaz strikeout.  Strike one!  Yeah! ... and off we go ... however, a Nelson Cruz home run happens suddenly, with only a moment's warning.  So we cheer it for a minute after the fact.

James once talked about how he hated the offenses of the 1950's, the "ticking time bomb" offenses ... nothing happened all day, until some guy drew a walk, and the guy after him hit a homer.  About eight seconds of joy; what's that as a percentage of time spent?

Baseball offense makes it difficult to coil the spring.  EXCEPTION:  Jarrod Dyson on first base, taking a big lead.  It's an important exception.  A speed-burner offense can offer extra fun time.

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Here is a Jarrod Dyson video:

(homer)

(standup triple)

Triple into RF corner, great shot of Dyson's speed coming around 2B, feet barely touching the ground

(standup triple.  The theme song on this YouTube is a little wacked)

Dyson catching a fly ball 600 feet into the gap

(again superb play selection by the YT author)  But the stylin' is good considering it's 'during the inning'

Dyson arm in CF

Better Dyson arm in CF

Screaming line drive splits LF and CF ... whoops

Dyson scores from 2B on a wild pitch.  Catcher was hustling from the start

Top-notch CF play coming in to rob a single from a deep position

Eyeblink steal of 3B despite great defense

Several more ridiculous SB's

(homer)

Somebody said "we're not talking Rickey Henderson here" but Dyson's stolen bases come out to 70 per 600 at bats.  The commentator was no doubt thinking of Rickey's 130 season, but Rickey averaged 70-80 per year.  What they do have in common is about 12-15 caught stealings per 70 SBs.  Twelve for Jarrod, fifteen for Rickey, that is.

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And here's a 15-minute Segura tape.  Reminder, Segura was at the tippy-top of off field base hits in the NL last year (the one at 1:25 should be illegal).  But more to the point here, you get a few speed items (more defense than offense) at 1:05, 1:45, 2:30, 3:15, 3:50, 4:55!, 5:05, 5:50 good shot of his 40 time, 7:40, (big power at 7:55, 9:40, 13:15 and 15:15), 8:40, 9:20, 9:50, finally an SB at 10:50 and 11:20, (nice handwork at 12:20), 13:40, 13:50, 14:10, and .  This is the kind of highlight reel that makes you wonder about that "Five Tool Player" hunt.

Cheers,

Dr D