This Week In Baseball

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

ESPN has a full slate of games today, and with it being the holiday, I thought we'd try a thread just for today's games, and start a different thread for the rest of the week. On tap today....

 

Cincinnati @ St. Louis (ESPN, 2:05pm)

Cory Lidle vs. Chris Carpenter

 

Colorado @ San Francisco (ESPN2, 4:05pm)

Aaron Cook vs. Brett Tomko

 

NY Mets @ Philadelphia (ESPN2, 7:05pm)

Tom Glavine vs. Paul Abbott

 

Houston @ San Diego (ESPN2, 10:05pm)

Roger Clemens vs. Brian Lawrence

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Clement comes out on the short end of a true pitching dual in Milwaukee today, as Craig Counsell's second homer of the year in the first inning was the only offense of note in the game. Sheets struck out 11, as Clement struck out 10. The Cubs had a couple of minor chances to tie things up, but couldn't cash either in.

 

With Ramirez already out of the lineup, I don't think you can possibly give Alou a day off, short turnaround or not. His presence was sorely missed today and while it may have not made a difference in the end, he needed to be in there with Sheets on the mound and the Cubs' biggest RBI guy on the bench.

 

I never thought I'd gleefully await the return of Alex Gonzalez, but Rey Ordonez in there is just death.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I never thought I'd gleefully await the return of Alex Gonzalez, but Rey Ordonez in there is just death.

*dangles Nomar infront of you for Clement*

[The Czech Republic 0]

If we lost Clement, we'd need to trade for another pitcher of that caliber. But I might want Nomar. I dunno.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

today in Minneapolis: Gobble v. Radke

 

Will Jose Bautista (6 for 33, 5 walks, 17 strikeouts) bat leadoff tonight?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Rob, out of curiosity, how would your ideal Royals lineup look?

[sfaJack 0]

I never thought I'd gleefully await the return of Alex Gonzalez, but Rey Ordonez in there is just death.

*dangles Nomar infront of you for Clement*

No thanks. The Cubs need Clement in the worst way, especially with the type of year he's having (BTW: Matt only getting 16 runs of support in his last 11 starts is criminal). I think they'd be a weaker team with Nomar and no Clement.

 

Having to rely on either Glendon Rusch and/or Sergio Mitre for the rest of the year just doesn't appeal to me very much. They've been lucky to get what they have out of Rusch thus far; let's not push it.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

For tonight v. Radke

 

1. Graffanino (2B)

2. Dee Brown (LF)

3. Harvey (1B)

4. Stairs (DH)

5. Berroa (SS)

6. Buck ©

7. Bautista (3B)

8. Mateo (CF)

9. Relaford (RF)

 

Although ideally, I'd want to be working with more than 11 healthy players (the other two guys are Castillo and Damian Jackson, fyi). DeJesus will still be out due to a bruised hand. Sweeney experienced another freaking summer Back Injury, so he'll probably either come back this week or go on the DL.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

See, if I saw a middle infielder in right field in any lineup, I'd call for your head.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Considering that there's only three healthy outfielders on the team, it's either Stairs at DH and Relaford in RF

 

or..

 

Stairs in RF and Gobble batting

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

It's in jest. But the point is its difficult to fairly bash Pena when he does not have much to work with.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

You could have said the same thing about Tony Muser.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I never thought I'd gleefully await the return of Alex Gonzalez, but Rey Ordonez in there is just death.

*dangles Nomar infront of you for Clement*

No thanks. The Cubs need Clement in the worst way, especially with the type of year he's having (BTW: Matt only getting 16 runs of support in his last 11 starts is criminal). I think they'd be a weaker team with Nomar and no Clement.

 

Having to rely on either Glendon Rusch and/or Sergio Mitre for the rest of the year just doesn't appeal to me very much. They've been lucky to get what they have out of Rusch thus far; let's not push it.

The Cubs have Ryan Dempster close to returning as well. He could be a suitable #5 starter. You know you want Nomar.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Richard Hidalgo hit his 8th home run in 16 games as a Met.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The Phillies have toasted Tom Glavine for six runs so far in just two innings. A rough calculation indicates his ERA is up to 2.72, dropping him from 1st to sixth on the ERA leaders list.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Oh yeah, the new column is up.

 

http://thesmartmarks.com/artman/publish/article_1508.shtml

[razazteca 0]

Anybody watching the Braves destroy the Expos? It was 8-1 in the 2nd inning the last I checked.

 

Damn you Zach Day!

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

The lineup tonight

 

David DeJesus [Yay!]

Graffanino

Harvey

Stairs (DH)

Berroa

Brown

Mateo (RF)

Relaford

Castillo

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Who's catching?

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Alberto Castillo

 

David DeJesus reached on a "H"BP (It didn't hit him, the Ump says it did)

 

Graffanino with a single that almost hits DeJesus

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

And then the Royals impotent offense hits into a double play and Stairs strikes out

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Jacque Jones with a home run. 2-0 Twins.

 

And knowing the pathetic Royal offense. The game is now over.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Jimmy Gobble continues to show himself as the most inept young starter in baseball as the Twins are now up 4-0. Gobble's K/9 rate is now 2.63

 

And Pena's FINALLY getting some people up in the bullpen. It only took 4 runs, 2 on, and one out, to do so.

 

Correction.. 2.62 (Gobble just got an out)

 

I'd do one of two things with Gobble

 

a) demote him

b) get him out of the rotation

 

Either way, he will never amount to anything. *shrug*

 

Oh yeah, the game is now 6-0

 

And Gobble's K/9 is now 2.61

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Either way, he will never amount to anything. *shrug*

 

Gobble's just 22. It's too early to write him off just yet. Maybe not this year, but somewhere down the line he could be a good starter.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

No Al.

 

He didn't hit the AL average for K/9 in his rookie year.

 

He's striking out 2.6 per 9 this year.

 

Where is a rare exception to the rule.

 

But if you cannot strikeout the league average per 9 in your rookie year, you will not last in the Major Leagues

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

No Al.

 

He didn't hit the AL average for K/9 in his rookie year.

 

He's striking out 2.6 per 9 this year.

 

Where is a rare exception to the rule.

 

But if you cannot strikeout the league average per 9 in your rookie year, you will not last in the Major Leagues

First off, you can not judge a pitcher solely based on about 90 big league innings. Gobble has five years of minor league we can examine. In 2000, as a 19 year old in the South Atlantic League, Gobble struck out 115 batters in 145 innings. In 2001 in the Carolina League, he struck out 154 batters in 162 1/3 innings. In 2002 in the Texas League, he struck out 52 in 69 1/3 innings, before suffering injuries. Again in the Texas League, he struck out 100 batters in 132 2/3 innings.

 

In his minor league career, Gobble struck out 429 batters in 516 innings, while walking just 131. He's a 22 year old prospect who is leap-frogging AAA into the Royals rotation, where along with the low K rate, he's walked just 24 batters in 89 2/3 innings, coming into today.

 

Now, with all that data, what is the problem with Jimmy Gobble?

 

A. He sucks, and will never make it in the big leagues.

 

B. He's overmatched.

 

I tend to believe option B. He's young, and with more experience he'll learn how to beat big league hitting. He has a terrific minor league pedigree behind him.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Can you cite one successful major league pitcher who had massively below average K/9 numbers in his first 140 innings like Jimmy Gobble has?

 

And for your reference in answering this question

 

AL Pitching numbers (1901-2003) - http://www.geocities.com/bigredrbh/alp.txt

 

NL pitching numbers (1876-2003) - http://www.geocities.com/bigredrbh/nlp.txt

 

Gobble didn't strikeout enough people in AA in 2002 or 2003

 

He really has never struck out enough people.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Can you cite one successful major league pitcher who had massively below average K/9 numbers in his first 140 innings like Jimmy Gobble has?

 

Quite frankly, I can't find a pitcher quite like Jimmy Gobble. He's combined his low K rate with an even lower BB rate. I can't find a pitcher with such a low K rate, but I don't have any better research tools than simply combing through lists of pitchers. LaTroy Hawkins K'd 9 batters in 27 innings when he was 22, but I doubt you'll find that convincing.

 

Still, there are several reasons Gobble's K rate is low. He might be overmatched in the majors. He could be nursing an injury. It could be a result of his pitching coach, ballpark, or defense. Almost all of the Royals' pitchers have abnormally low strikeout rates. His HR rate isn't abysmal, and his walk rate is excellent.

 

There's alot to like about Gobble, and the only negative is that K rate in the majors. That's contradicted by his minor league stats, and if the AA numbers were troubling, neither John Sickels or Baseball Prospectus indicated any concerns. With pitchers, I can't say if they will succeed, they are a tricky breed. However, I do think Gobble should become a solid contributor in a year or two.

[Guest Anglesault]

THE STREAK IS DEAD!

 

The Diamondbacks finally end Gagne's run.

 

With the quality of the umps this year and the calls I've seen Gagne get, I'm half shocked that the Umpires didn't rule the streak-breaking hit an out "just because"

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The Orioles swept the Devil Rays and got a really good start out of Dave Borkowski who they called up from AAA just to make the start. They originally planned on sending him right back, but he pitched so well that he's staying. They should put Ponson on the DL or something...

 

Daniel Cabrera also pitched pretty well in the first game.