Big Dogs
At Mariner Central, an entertaining discussion is in flow as to the different paradigms by which we enjoy, and analyze, baseball.
One thing's for sure: we all, especially me, tend to analyze baseball play that we *like* as being the *more efficient* way to play baseball. Ever notice how everybody's favorite rock band is also the greatest rock band? :- ) Same with me, that being Boston...
Kelly triangulates us by pointing out that D-O-V is biased towards "greatness." Spot on, mate.
Pardon us if we try to reduce the triangle further...
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=== Steady Eddies Dept. ===
Many a roto championship has been won by collecting Steady Eddies, including by my BABVA dweebs, so I have have nothing against the bargain Shandler pitcher when he can be obtained at a good value ... the Steady Eddie playbook has been deployed by Jemanji a time or six, and do respect its capabilities...
There's no such thing as a grizzled roto vet who doesn't respect the $12 player purchased for $6. E-V-E-R-Y roto champ in Seattle respects what Jack Wilson would mean to the Mariners if he could be obtained at no talent lost and at the minimum salary. EVERY rotodweeb has a good grasp of the value in scoring a $6 Endy Chavez for $1.
But tell you what: the Stars & Scrubs orientation IMHO happens to be both pleasing to my aesthetic eye :- ) and the more dynamic way to manage a roster as well...
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=== What Are We Here For? Dept. ===
Where does Dr. D see the biggest difference between D-O-V and USSM? I get the impression that "contending" -- winning 89 games and doing it very cleverly -- with a budget surplus in your XMas stocking, that is USSM's (and Armstrong's) ultimate season --
Meaning zero disrespect, we've seen saber-whiz Tango say that he could build a roster of undervalued defense-first players for a reasonable payroll "and contend every year" .... no offense, but setting a goal of trying to be (say) among the 6-to-12-best teams in baseball is nauseating to me. To a lot of other good folks, that's where it's at. Therein lies the big divide.
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To me, there is no point in ANY of it if you are not TRYING to be the VERY BEST team there is ... finishing 6th out of 30 is, to me, the same as finishing last (unless it was the result of a 1995-like heroic effort to finish #1). If finishing with 89 wins is our goal in March, then count me out ... I'll go play Frisbee with the kids and forget baseball ever existed ...
It's a pennant race. It's not a 162-game exhibition season. It is the pennant that is the goal.
116 wins with History's Greatest 25-Man Ballclub were very cool, but I notice that those 2001 Steady Eddies met a very sad demise when they faced HOF pitchers.
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=== PUNCHOUT, Dept. ===
No matter how stylishly the 2001 kids wound up the 3rd- or 4th-best team in baseball, they still got punched out by the biggest kid on the playground.
The 2005 Seahawks didn't walk away from any team on the playground; Steve Hutchinson and Walter Jones and Mike Holmgren's passing offense had 29 other teams afraid to play them. You knew long before the Super Bowl, that you were watching a scary team.
It didn't matter how good you were. It didn't matter if you were the 1972 Dolphins. Playing the 2005 Seahawks wasn't going to be any fun.
We've said many times that if Seattle ever witnesses a true championship-level team, it will know LONG before the title game that its team is title-WORTHY.
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Lou used to say, "you get this pitcher and that bat and now... you've got a team ready to go to war."
Do you get what he meant by that? I mean, really GET it? Lou is talking about sports battles on the highest level -- where you know you're good, and the other guys know they're good, and let's step out into the alley and see what happens.
Steve Hutchinson against Joey Porter, that's going to war. Ichiro against Tim Lincecum tonight, that was going to war. Jason Vargas against Alex Rodriguez and hope you get lucky, that is NOT going to war.
Sometimes it seems that Seattle has almost no concept of what Lou even means, to go to war in the sense that the Yankees and Red Sox go to war. Seattle fans don't even realize that their teams aren't challenging the big dogs.
The LA Angels have been joyfully punching out the Mariners for five years, and every year the 'net rats figure the Angels aren't really that good, and this is the year the Angels stop getting lucky...
You're not seeing it at dugout level. The Mariners haven't been looking the Angels in the eye. And how weird! The Angels just went into the Bronx and got real lucky again. Can't wait for their luck to start running out. (When Scioscia retires.)
Trying to triangulate how Dr. D sees the sports contest? Steve Hutchinson captures it.
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Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard back down from NOBODY in baseball. You know long before the World Series that with Felix and Erikkkk on the mound, that you're watching a team that is title-worthy. A World Series win by those two pitchers would almost be beside the point; they're the bullies already.
It doesn't matter how good you are. It doesn't matter if you're the 1975 Reds. Facing Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard in games 1-2-5-6 is not going to be any fun. Ever "win" a fight and then go to the hospital? You steer clear of fights with THAT guy in the future.
Do you think that the other 23 Mariners realize that? You put Felix and Bedard in games 1-2 against the Angels (or against the Rangers, just now) and just like that, they ain't the Big Dogs and we ain't the Chihuahuas.
The Angels and Rangers get us on their schedule, they check the probables. They see our aces, they dread the series. ... Yeah, let's trade our aces, kids. It's just a matter of personal bias.
Those are the kind of hometown teams I want to watch. Sports are a vicarious war.
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The Mariners just got back from its first Big Dog challenge in 5 years -- the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers. They came out fine, in a first run at it. It proved nothing. It was a good first tentative step.
The M's ran with the Big Dogs the last two weeks. It wasn't because they had Ryan Rowland-Smith taking on the Rangers at a VORP/$ net profit.
Cheers,
Dr D