Wednesday Applesauce

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 10:36 AM EDT in Link Dump Comment 34 comments

Arizona Fall League

Mesa Solar Sox 10, Peoria Saguaros 1

Josh Thole went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and made an error on a missed catch.
Eddie Kunz was decent, allowing a hit and two walks while striking out one in two scoreless innings of relief.

Hawaiian Winter Baseball

Waikiki BeachBoys 12, Honolulu Sharks 9

Jordan Abruzzo went 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Josh Stinson retired the only batter he faced.
Roy Merritt got roughed up for three runs on three hits and two walks in 1.2 innings.

Dominican Winter Baseball

Gigantes del Cibao 14, Leones del Escogido 6

Argenis Reyes went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Abraham Nunez went 1-for-4 with two RBI.

At MetsGeek, Chris McCown looks at some of the second base options for next season. A lot of them are named Mark.

Eddie Kunz's editors said his writing was a little ruff, so in steps "Guest Blogger" (their quotes, not mine) Daniel Murphy to fill in. Save a couple of odd grammatical mistakes, Murphy's writing is far superior to Kunz's. Murphy has been out of action since last Friday when he injured his forearm in the Rising Stars game. It doesn't seem serious, and Murphy expects to be back in action by next week. The most interesting tidbit is this one:

But I am looking forward to being back in the lineup and further hone my skills at second base and in the batters box.

This runs counter to what we heard last week, namely that Murphy would go back to left field after the Rising Stars game. Let's hope Murphy is right about this one.

At FanGraphs, Dave Cameron looks at Trade Bargain Endy Chavez:

He is what he is - a slap hitter without much power who doesn’t draw walks.

But he also might just be the best defensive outfielder alive today. He’s certainly in the discussion, at least. John Dewan’s +/- system ranked him as +19 during his time between LF and RF this year - in 600 innings! In what accounts to about a half season of playing time, Dewan’s system judged Chavez to be almost 20 plays better than an average defensive corner outfielder who plays an entire season. That’s just a huge, huge difference.

At Baseball Analysts, Marc Hulet evaluates the big trades that were made last winter, including the one that brought Johan Santana to the Mets. Hint: It was a good trade for the Mets.

Chris McShane has a minor Willets Point update.

At Beyond the Boxscore, Sky Kalkman breaks down the best catchers of 2008. Not sniffing the top ten: Brian Schneider. Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada were each considerably worse, though. For what it's worth, Schneider was approximately as valuable as Jason Varitek and was more valuable than Ramon Hernandez and Victor Martinez.

At Sabernomics, JC Bradbury writes about the surplus of Jake Peavy's below-market deal with the Padres. The value to Peavy in signing that deal was that he wanted to stay in San Diego, so the money he lost on the open market was addressed in the comfort column. If he gets traded elsewhere, he has every intention of making up for that "surplus" of production versus cost, and will probably look for a contract extension.

Replacement Level Yankee Weblog looks at C.C. Sabathia's workload to see if he is a big injury risk.

Does MLB need robots calling balls and strikes? Maybe.

The Phillies may be safe bets to win the World Series, but don't worry: Nobody's been watching.

MTV has made a poopload of videos available online. Some blasts from the past:

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine

I could go on like this.

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Comments

Victor Martinez

What the hell happened to him? Talk about falling off a cliff…

As for Endy, he’s one of those guys who passes both the eyeball test and the statistical analysis. I have no problem carrying him on the roster: his defense and speed and (occasional) offense is perfectly acceptable for a 4th OF, as long as your top 3 guys can all hit and you have someone on the bench who can occasionally send the ball over the wall. (i.e., not Marlon Anderson).

by cjmulrain on Oct 29, 2008 11:05 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

the thing is that he's really a league-average player, when you include his defense

so he deserves to start somewhere, not be a fourth-OF

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 29, 2008 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Endy

I gather he’s a league-average centerfielder, probably below average in the corner because of the relative offensive replacement values at the two positions. Defense is still so undervalued right now, in general, that I think a lot of teams would be scared away from starting him because of his bat.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what do you mean by relative offensive replacement levels?

his relative advantage at either position would come from a whether he adapts to playing defense at either position relatively better than the other

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 29, 2008 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Meaning

His offense is much closer to replacement (or average) in center than in left, so given similar defensive adeptness at both positions he would be more valuable to a team as a centerfielder because his offense wouldn’t be quite as bad relative to his peers at that position.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

but his defensive skills are much better relative to other left fielder than other center fielders

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 29, 2008 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I completely agree

But is that enough to make up for the difference in production between an average/replacement player at the two positions?

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the simple answer is yes

but there are some things to consider. one, using offensive production to determine positional replacement-level has problems, even though that’s how BPro does it. the better way is based on the difference in defensive talent between the two positions, which is just about ten runs between CF and LF/RF (“typical” players rate as ten runs better for fielding in corner outfield spots than center field over a full season). i’m guessing BPro’s offensive difference is also about ten runs, give or take.

so the question then becomes leveraging a specific player’s skillset between the two positions. some are just better at one than the other, even though they take similar skills. and the further away from average that a player is, the more of a difference there will be, because CFs get more opportunities to show how good (or bad) they are.

looking at Sean Smith’s defensive projections, Endy’s +20 in a corner spot and +17 in CF, which is about the best there is. someone like Pat Burrell is -14 in a corner spot and -24 in CF.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 29, 2008 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, then I suppose the Mets are fortunate to have him as a fourth OF

and if some other team wants an all-field-no-hit CF (hey, it’s working for the Phillies, Torino’s hot hitting in the playoffs notwithstanding) and is willing to offer us a league-average 2B for him, the Mets would certainly have to at least consider the possibility.

by JoshNY on Oct 29, 2008 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Shane Victorino has a career 94 OPS+ and it was 106 in 2008

hardly a “no-hit” player

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Oct 29, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

that doesn't mean I don't hate him and want to break his stupid face

though I suppose that’s a discussion for another topic

by JoshNY on Oct 29, 2008 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

IF

If murphy pans out at 2nd and they sign a bopper to play right, then could you carry endy in the line-up (or rather endy AND schneider 7/8?)

In reference to robot umpires, just find one who isn’t blind and he could have seen kazmir struck out pat burrel looking… twice

by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Oct 29, 2008 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i have to say

all of the many grunge/alternative rock CD’s a bought throughout middle school, Candlebox was probably the biggest disappointment. theyre basically a poor man’s Collective Soul.

solid pull on Hum tho.

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hmm

I dunno, I thought Candlebox was a little… hmm… grittier than Collective Soul? (to use a word that’s often applied to baseball as well as music.) Candlebox was almost a proto-nu-metal band; some of Collective Soul’s stuff sort of straddles the gap between grunge and more melodic bands like Coldplay.

by JoshNY on Oct 29, 2008 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, maybe not the best musical comparison

but i dont consider them worthy of even been a poor man’s Alice in Chains or Stone Temple Pilots. Maybe a poor man’s Corrosion of Conformity? or Soul Asylum perhaps?

also that hum song made me think of this sweet classic 90’s rock hit.

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Candlebox

Better than Soul Asylum, probably on par with CoC, considerably worse than STP and not even sniffing Alice in Chains.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no love for soul asylum?

i can understand hating runaway train. what a depressing video. but in my book, somebody to shove > far behind and you, which are as far as i can tell, the only two candlebox songs worth listening to. hence my disappointment in their cd.

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No

I likes me some Soul Asylum. Okay, maybe they’re on par with Candlebox. Misery, Black Gold and STS are solid tracks.

They both lag behind Gin Blossoms in terms of hit-making, for whatever it’s worth.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

oooh, gin blossoms

i bet we could keep doing this for a while.

also forgot to mention my respect for your CoC recognition. pepper keenen never got his due.

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

also why isnt this totally dope video available

kick ass.

also why is youtube all in korean now? or is it just me?

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You

Judging by the URL in your comment, you’re visiting kr.youtube.com, presumably the Korean version of the site.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

my firefox must have some weird preference on

it only opens youtube with the kr prefix. i just opened it up in IE and its normal. im sure everyone totally cares about all this too.

by kendynamo on Oct 29, 2008 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tupac ftw

The Humpty Dance came on the radio not long ago and I started rapping along. To my wife’s unending amusement it turned out I still remembered the words from top to bottom. Have I mentioned the productive use of my time in the early 90s on this site before?

by Simons on Oct 29, 2008 5:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

We were at a bar in Manhattan last weekend and the same exact thing happened. Woe is us.

by Eric Simon on Oct 29, 2008 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Someone posted this over at DRays Bay

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=pollindex&pollId=62573

I’m not even gonna comment on the voting, obviously recent results have distorted it (ok, I can’t refrain, Hamels over Lincecum? By 31 points? Seriously?)….but how in the name of all that is holy is Santana left off this poll? I know he’ll be 30 by opening day, but so will Webb (or, at least he will be within a few days of it). Absolutely ridiculous.

by cjmulrain on Oct 29, 2008 11:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Eh.

It’s an ESPN fan poll. Hard to give it any more credence than anything else on that website.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Oct 29, 2008 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True

but to leave him off completely is just ridiculous. I mean, the people voting are morons, but the people who make the poll are supposed to know better.

By the way, while looking around there, I came across another poll that was a fan ranker of the top WS Champs since 1980. I’ll just post up until where the ’86 Mets come in:

1) ‘04 Red Sox
2) ‘98 Yankees
3) ‘99 Yankees
4) ‘07 Red Sox
5) ‘00 Yankees
6) ‘08 Phillies
7) ‘96 Yankees
8) ‘89 A’s
9) ‘01 D-Backs
10) ‘95 Braves
11) ‘80 Phillies
12) ‘93 Blue Jays
13) ‘86 Mets

The only team that should be above the ’86 Mets are the ’98 Yanks. None of the other teams even won 100 games. People really are dumb…

by cjmulrain on Oct 30, 2008 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure what it all means

But that’s really stupid. I don’t know how the dominance of the ’86 team gets lost in history sometimes.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Oct 30, 2008 12:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think

because of the World Series going 7 and the Mets having been 1 strike away from losing it all. Plus, they didn’t exactly dominate the NLCS either. Of course, we all know how crazy a short series can be, plus they went up against an absolutely dominant Mike Scott and a reasonably dominant Roger Clemens (his regular season was very dominant, anyway). It’s just a shame that they sorta get lost in the fray, considering they’re tied with the ‘75 Reds for the best season by an NL team (I don’t count the 1906 116 win Cubs, since they lost the series, in the same way as I don’t count the ’01 Mariners).

It’s funny, what made the ’86 Series so memorable and dramatic is also what holds that team back from getting their due recognition as a truly great team.

by cjmulrain on Oct 30, 2008 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs