Those wacky A’s
Here’s what our division rivals are up to:
RHP Chad Bradford to the Red Sox for OF Jay Payton.
OF Eric Byrnes and something (SS Quintanilla) to the Rockies for LHP Joe Kennedy and RHP Jay Witasik.
It’s a weird set of trades, and I don’t think they’re done yet. Jay Payton wasn’t happy sitting on the bench (though he still got into 55 games this season) in Boston, but Oakland is still stacked in the OF even after trading Byrnes.
Kennedy’s another weird Oakland gamble. Maybe they see something they think is fixable, and he is only 26.
I can’t quite see how this helps them yet unless there’s one or two more deals to come.
Fun Friday Feature … on Thursday
From his new digs in San Francisco, former Mariner Omar Vizquel relaxes by painting. But he won’t do landscapes or baseball pictures, since those would block his path to inner peace. Or something.
Which is too bad: maybe he could airbrush the wrinkles off of Moises Alou and paint the Giants into the wild card race. So what, pray tell, does he paint?
[T]he walls and floors are covered with his works in progress: a tribute to the pope, a Christlike figure and a reclining nude.
No word on whether the reclining nude is one of the “Older Women For Omar.”
Mind Game, woot
Mind Game, the Baseball Prospectus book on the Red Sox is available for ordering (yes, I know, how timely). I’ve got a couple chapters in there (though credited as “Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts” and, annoyingly, not listed at all in the “About the Author” text even though I wrote the bulk of the chapters mentioned in the description… sigh) that I thought turned out well.
Steve Goldman (author of the fine (though Yankee-oriented) Pinstriped Bible and Pinstriped Blog as well as Forging Genius, the fine book on Casey Stengel) helmed the project, and I think it’s good stuff. Check it out. It’s also likely the last BP-related book you’ll see my writing in, so… I don’t know what that means. It’s not like that’ll make it a collector’s item or anything. Moving on!
I got a flat rate for the chapters, so it’s not like I make anything if it sells really well. I just think it’s good, I liked the roster of authors who were enlisted, and I trust Steve put together a good book. So I recommend checking it out if you’re interested at all. No pressure. Now when my book comes out… well, you’ll know book pimping when you see it.
Could it be?
I’ll have a longer post this afternoon that’s actually Mariner-related. For now, you may want to check out what Josh Towers is up to against the Devil Rays.
No, I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be right. But it might be worth watching.
The Attrition War, Mets
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period.
Do the Mariners, in comparison to other teams, suffer a higher rate of injury to their pitching prospects than other teams? Here, I look at the Mets.
All-Stars: National League
“Democracy is on trial, on a more colossal scale than ever before.â€Â
–Charles Fletcher Dole, The Spirit of Democracy 1845 (?)
I was at the Reds and Cardinals game last night. Watching such fascinating things you never imagine can happen like Jason Marquis giving up two home runs in 2+ innings. Or So Taguchi collect three consecutive singles, all to right field (one bounced off Brandon Claussen, but still wound up in right field). And Albert Pujols leg out a double, steal third and score on a popfly that can’t have traveled anymore than 200 feet.
And pondering such questions of the universe as: Why does Tony LaRussa bat Jason Marquis ninth in the lineup, when his .978 OPS is second on the team? Or why is Einar Diaz (Einar Diaz!!) hitting for Brad Thompson with two on and two out with the Cardinals down 6 runs in the sixth?
No matter. And there were no ushers busily distributing All-Star ballots. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times at Great American Ballpark.
Ah yes, the National League All-Stars. Again, here are each of the top-five ballot placers at each position (so many too close to call!), with their Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP1 as provided by Baseball Prospectus) in 2005, 2004 and 2003. We here at USS Mariner laboratories encourage you, the fan, to watch as many games as you can, talk to as many educated fans as you can, and come to your own conclusions about who you, the fan, believe are the true All-Stars. And remember: It’s only an exhibition game, and on July 12 there will be 80-90 All-Stars in attendance. (Sorry, that cynicism slipped through.)
All-Stars: American League
“Democracy is on trial, on a more colossal scale than ever before.”
–Charles Fletcher Dole, The Spirit of Democracy 1845 (?)
I used to get really worked up about filling out my All-Star ballot. I just can’t bring myself to do it anymore. It’s just not a big deal to me. It’s an exhibition game. Maybe that’s a sad thing. Maybe not.
My inner-12-year-old chockful of wonder and idealism would love to see the very greatest baseball players on one field playing against each other. My inner-world-weary-cynic says its a heinous MLB publicity stunt that nobody takes seriously. So why should I?
And thus the dilemma as I sit in the stands, All-Star ballot in hand.
Everybody’s got a system. And I’m starting to believe that All-Star voting systems are like fingerprints and snowflakes. No two people share the same All-Star voting system. The home team. Favorite players. Highest batting average as of May 1. Win Shares over the last three years divided by pi cubed. Best looking. RBI. Whatever. The five contributors to this website can’t seem to agree on who we think are the All-Stars. Except Ichiro!. That we can all agree on.
I swore I wasn’t going to bother. I voted from my gut. Stars are stars, stats be damned, right? Some friends and colleagues didn’t agree with me, so my curiosity is piqued now.
Most every discussion you’ll hear this time of the year focuses almost exclusively on offensive stats. But you and I both know offense only tells half the story. Defense matters, too. Unless you’re David Ortiz.
So I’ve compiled the Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP, courtesy of Baseball Prospectus) for each player in the top five balloting thus far. I’m not trumpeting WARP as the end all savior of the universe statistic. It’s one of many tools to evaluate and compare players. So for your reading pleasure, and for some educated ammo for your next ballpark/barstool discussion of the All-Stars, here are the top five vote getters at each position (as of today), followed by their WARP score in 2005 (current through last night’s game), 2004 and 2003. Any interesting players to me not in the top five, I included separated from their colleagues by an ellipsis. Here’s hoping you have many fruitful All-Star discussions this All-Star season.
But in the words that LeVar Burton taught me, don’t take my word for it…
Japan and/or Ichiro to skip World Cup?
Japan’s participation in next year’s first-of-its-kind World Baseball Classic is up in the air. Negotiations are ongoing, with an important deadline at the end of the month. The Japanese players’ union is the holdup, citing scheduling issues.
If an accord can’t be reached, it would be a big disappointment. Japan’s tentatively slated to be one of the first-round host sites. A baseball-crazy fan base would be disappointed, and the tournament would end up being less interesting.
Perhaps due to this uncertainty about Japan’s participation, both Ichiro and Hideki Matsui appear pretty lukewarm about whether they would want to play.
Personally, I think they’re just taking a wait-and-see approach. The tone of the comments seems to be “we’ll see if this tournament works out, and then we’ll decide.”
This World Cup-style tournament could be great for baseball if the kinks get worked out. May negotiations be smooth from here on in.
The Attrition War, Marlins
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period.
Do the Mariners, in comparison to other teams, suffer a higher rate of injury to their pitching prospects than other teams? Here, I look at the Marlins.
The Attrition War, Indians
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period.
Do the Mariners, in comparison to other teams, suffer a higher rate of injury to their pitching prospects than other teams? Here, I look at the Indians.