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Around SBN: Miikka Kiprusoff Wins 300th Game, Buffalo Crushes Boston

Monday Applesauce

In the Dominican Republic:

  • Argenis Reyes went 0-for-4 with a walk.
  • Fernando Martinez went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
  • Fernando Tatis went 2-for-7 with an RBI.

In Puerto Rico:

  • After picking up his first two hits of the fall on Saturday, Nick Evans went 0-for-2 with a walk on Sunday.
  • Brahiam Maldonado went 1-for-2.

At MetsGeek, Chris McCown lays out his offseason manifesto.

In Newsday, Ken Davidoff talks about how the Mets are concerned with Francisco Rodriguez's drop in velocity, but maybe aren't so concerned about Bobby Jenks's precipitous drop in strikeouts. I'd be concerned about both, frankly, and if the White Sox are really looking for a "high-level prospect" for Jenks (say, Fernando Martinez), the Mets had better be doing their shopping elsewhere.

The Yankees have sold the rights to Darrell Rasner to a team in Japan, which perhaps gives Rasner a chance to make a better living for himself than he would have as a farmhand with the Yanks. Tyler Kepner has more.

Speaking of the Yankees, are they overbidding for C.C. Sabathia? Possibly. Some Red Sox fans are hoping the Yankees do sign him (scroll down to reason #947, via Ken Davidoff's baseball insider).

The Hardball Times Annual sounds awesome. Go pre-order it from ACTA Sports.

Seven of ESPN's "experts" picked Ryan Howard for NL MVP. One of them picked Manny Ramirez, and another picked C.C. Sabathia. Rob Neyer picked Lance Berkman which, while hardly a bad pick, is just Neyer trying to be different, I think. Bob Klapisch was one of the seven to pick Howard, so he is officially dead to me.

Rich Lederer has the first part of his twelve-part review of the Bill James Handbook. I should have part one of my one-part review up sometime this week.

The Pirates' Nate McLouth won a Gold Glove, but John Dewan's +/- system rated him at -40, the worst of any centerfielder in baseball. How do we reconcile the two? John Dewan himself takes a crack at it (via WHYGAVS?).

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"If we limit the winner to guys from playoff teams, Carlos Beltran is your man."

Wow…I’m pissed I didn’t watch the first round of the playoffs now, b/c apparently the Mets were in it. Damn…

by cjmulrain on Nov 17, 2008 2:45 PM EST up reply actions  

Berkman

is a better choice than anybody except Pujols, if you ask me. (Of if you ask BtB, I guess.)

Really, it’s a bit misleading to say that seven of ESPN’s “experts” picked Howard without noting that those seven were by far the minority, with seventeen picking Pujols. I mean, sure, Kruk picked Howard, but he’s a bonehead. Even Steve Phillips was smart enough to pick Pujols.

by JoshNY on Nov 17, 2008 12:54 PM EST reply actions  

Agreed

On first glance of this page it appears that no one voted for Pooholes, which I suppose is possible with ESPN but still would have shocked the almighty crap out of me.

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

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 17, 2008 12:56 PM EST up reply actions  

Still

That even seven would pick Howard is astonishing. He wasn’t even close to being the best player on his team, let alone in his division, let alone in the whole league.

Agreed on Berkman. Maybe Neyer did read BtB before making his pick.

by Eric Simon on Nov 17, 2008 1:20 PM EST up reply actions  

Howard's End (groan)

Of course, September is triple points month for many MVP voters. Hitting .352 with 11 homers in September is like hitting 1.056 with 33 homers in any other month.

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

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 17, 2008 1:38 PM EST up reply actions  

someone on the Phillies blog made a great point

Howard already won the award he deserves: September Player of the Month

by cjmulrain on Nov 17, 2008 2:46 PM EST up reply actions  

An interesting MVP "what-if"

If Howard had won, which would have been a less deserving MVP: him this year or Rollins last year?

by cjmulrain on Nov 17, 2008 2:49 PM EST reply actions  

Howard for sure

This year Howard had an OPS+ of 124 as a slow, poor-fielding 1B. Last year, Rollins had an OPS+ of 118 as a 2B who stole 41 bases and… hmm. I’m not exactly sure how Rollins’ fielding is; he won the Gold Glove, for what that’s worth (very little), and my impression is that he’s somewhat better than average at SS (which PMR agrees with). Do 41 SBs and the difference in defensive value between a bad 1B and a good SS make up for 6 points of OPS+? I’d say they do.

by JoshNY on Nov 17, 2008 5:00 PM EST up reply actions  

Correction

Rollins is a SS, not a 2B. Just an oversight, I’m sure.

by Eric Simon on Nov 17, 2008 7:00 PM EST up reply actions  

True

But a less egregious mistake than saying the Mets made the playoffs this season.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Nov 17, 2008 7:06 PM EST up reply actions  

oops

I actually caught that typo during the course of the post (which is why it says SS the last two times) but didn’t go back and fix all of them apparently

by JoshNY on Nov 18, 2008 10:33 AM EST up reply actions  

krod fastball

via Neyer, lookout landing has a look at krod’s fastball decline:

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/11/16/663001/agents-are-honest

by whynot on Nov 17, 2008 3:18 PM EST reply actions  

Gah

That’s a concern, and perhaps one more reason to favor Fuentes, whose average fastball speed increased from 90.4 MPH to 91.6 MPH. Meanwhile, his strikeout rate went up and his walk rate went down.

by Eric Simon on Nov 17, 2008 4:15 PM EST up reply actions  

Fuentes

I am in the Fuentes camp, and the more I read about KRod, the more I like BF. FWIW, Fuentes has actually pitched fewer ML innings than KRod. Not to mention, BF will probably be much better against Howard/Utley as a lefty.

by whynot on Nov 17, 2008 7:12 PM EST reply actions  

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