TWiB 8/21 - 8/27

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Al: Is Ronny Cedeno the worst positional player in the majors?

He's close, but I gotta throw my vote to Brad Ausmus. Honorable mention to Bobby Crosby, who parlayed two MVP predictions into an OPS that ranks 165th out of 170 among MLB qualifiers.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

And here I thought Buck Coats was black.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Brad Ausmus has LEADERSHIP~ qualities, though.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Indians have pulled to within one.

[vivalaultra 0]

...Brad Ausmus based on this year? Gimmie stats, man. He can't throw out a runner to save his life, but he can still block balls. I always thought he was one of the better defensive catchers in the league.

 

And I knew Viz would homer in his first game as a Cardinal. Oh well, I always liked Viz.

 

So, I hear the Phils/Cubs game has been pretty good, but I spent the evening watching one of the best games I've seen this season...Oregon/Illinois Little League game. Oregon no-hit Illinois, despite giving up three runs. It was really a good game...for Little League.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

...Brad Ausmus based on this year? Gimmie stats, man. He can't throw out a runner to save his life, but he can still block balls. I always thought he was one of the better defensive catchers in the league.

 

Stats? He's hitting .222/.295/.282 this season. His arm is shit like you said. The team is below .500 so how much credit can you give him for his leadership? He's ok defensively, but I can find you 20 guys in the minors who can catch and are not defensive liabilities.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Geoff Geary coming in, officially making this a bullpen by committee.

[vivalaultra 0]

Ah...I thought you were talking only about how well he fielded his position. Yeah, I agree if you bring in his batting average and such, he's not cuttin' it, but the pitchers like working with him, and he's got a nice ass...or so I hear from various female Astros' fans.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Cubs would've been trying to close it out in the ninth had Fast Freddie Bynum, in all his infinite speedy wisdom, hadn't been picked off from first. Jacque Jones doubled immediately after, but since no one was on base, the Cubs didn't score. They got a Murton homer in the 8th, but the Phillies scored in the ninth and it looks like the Cubs are about to drop another.

 

Now, Ryan Theriot is riding pine tonight because he foolishly tried to steal third last night and was thrown out by plenty. You would imagine this means Freddie Bynum does likewise tomorrow.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

22 of the Howard's 44 Home Runs have led to tie-game situations or go aheads for the Phillies, don't forget that.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

22 of the Howard's 44 Home Runs have led to tie-game situations or go aheads for the Phillies, don't forget that.

Someone really needs to study that and find a baseline. Last year it was said that Ortiz had 20 of those HRs, and then I looked myself and counted 19 for A-Rod. Were they all unusual cases, or are half of ALL home runs game tying or go-ahead shots?

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Al, bro, 1 back in the loss column! More great September baseball again.

 

Also, I like how dropping 2 of the 3 to the Wildcard leader makes the Astros "on the hunt" or whatever in the Wildcard. RIP Houston.

[vivalaultra 0]

I wouldn't say "RIP Houston" just yet. There's still 6 games between the 'Stros and the Phils, and I'm sure I don't need to remind you how the last...12 or so of those games have turned out.

[mike546 0]

With the way things have gone in the NL this year, I think theres a slim to none chance the Astros win more than three. or four of those games.

[vivalaultra 0]

Yeah...The NL blows this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see the WC winning team being either .500 or less than 3 games over .500.

[strummer 0]

I'm just wondering how the idiot writers are going to pick an NL Cy Young this year. I can just imagine them thinking "It's almost September and the highest win total is 13!!, I mean the pitching must suck right? Wins are the most important stat!!" It's laughable that Steve Trachsel is tied for most wins in the NL. Proves how useless the stat really is.

[vivalaultra 0]

Wow. The win total in the NL is really 13? And Steve Trachsel has a share of the win lead? That's just...terrible. I guess the writers will have to pay attention to ERA and WHIP and K/BB rate and Innings pitched this year. Or they'll just give it to Chris Carpenter...just cuz.

[strummer 0]

Enjoy that 1 game winning streak M's!!!

[Hawk 34 0]

Wow. The win total in the NL is really 13? And Steve Trachsel has a share of the win lead? That's just...terrible. I guess the writers will have to pay attention to ERA and WHIP and K/BB rate and Innings pitched this year. Or they'll just give it to Chris Carpenter...just cuz.

 

Roger Clemens, actually.

[naiwf 0]

Ryan Howard's getting the NL MVP if the Phils make it to the playoffs.

 

Speaking of which, just got home from work to see the Reds FINALLY lose. Woohoo! Go Brett Myers, give those Cubbies a beating.

 

There's no way he beats Beltran or Pujols just because the Phils make the WC. Finishing 10-18 games behind the Mets will only make it easier for Beltran to finish 1st/2nd with Howard looking like he's no better than # 3 right now.

 

 

Mike Schmidt won the MVP award in 1986 when the Phillies finished about 20 games behind the Mets. Ripken won it in 1991, Dawson in 1987, Arod in 2003.

 

So 4 guys out of 40 since 1986 won MVP's on shitty teams. What an awesome way to prove that Howard's gonna get it this year.

[Hawk 34 0]

Ryan Howard's getting the NL MVP if the Phils make it to the playoffs.

 

Speaking of which, just got home from work to see the Reds FINALLY lose. Woohoo! Go Brett Myers, give those Cubbies a beating.

 

There's no way he beats Beltran or Pujols just because the Phils make the WC. Finishing 10-18 games behind the Mets will only make it easier for Beltran to finish 1st/2nd with Howard looking like he's no better than # 3 right now.

 

 

Mike Schmidt won the MVP award in 1986 when the Phillies finished about 20 games behind the Mets. Ripken won it in 1991, Dawson in 1987, Arod in 2003.

 

So 4 guys out of 40 since 1986 won MVP's on shitty teams. What an awesome way to prove that Howard's gonna get it this year.

 

It’s called precedent. While it isn’t common, it’s not impossible. Does that Howard will win? Not unless Pujols and Beltran tank the final 6 weeks of the season.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Indians now up 15-13 in the 10th. They got within one, but gave up three in the bottom of that inning. They scored four in the ninth and two in the 10th.

[vivalaultra 0]

Wow. The win total in the NL is really 13? And Steve Trachsel has a share of the win lead? That's just...terrible. I guess the writers will have to pay attention to ERA and WHIP and K/BB rate and Innings pitched this year. Or they'll just give it to Chris Carpenter...just cuz.

 

Roger Clemens, actually.

 

I have no idea what you're referring to, unless you're referring to 2004, and, yeah, that pissed alot of people off...but not people in Houston. I thought he deserved...either him or Randy Johnson..or maybe Jake Peavy...possibly Roy Oswalt, but yeah...mostly Clemens. But, then again, I thought last year Andy Pettitte shoulda gotten it.

[naiwf 0]

It’s called precedent. While it isn’t common, it’s not impossible. Does that Howard will win? Not unless Pujols and Beltran tank the final 6 weeks of the season.

 

The difference is . . .

 

when Schmidt won in '86, he led the league in Slugging, OPS, HR & RBI as well as XBH. Glenn Davis, Gary Carter & Keith Hernandez didn't really match those stats. Plus he's Mike Schmidt.

 

when Dawson won his in '87 he had 49 HR & 137 RBI. He beat out Ozzie Smith who had no power numbers to speak of. Game, set, match to the guy with the gaudy stats.

 

when Ripken won in '91 he beat out Cecil Fielder who didn't put up that much more in the HR/RBI dept. and ended up only hitting .261. Cal actually outslugged Fielder, and also had 210 hits, 99 runs and a .323 BA. If anything Howard is having a similar year to Frank Thomas who finished 3rd in his 2nd year, and first full one in the bigs.

 

A-Rod '03 didn't deserve his, but that seems to be a running thing with Alexander. Delgado and/or Posada should have finished ahead of him that year.

 

The point is that Howard's numbers don't dwarf Beltran's or Pujols', and his team is going to finish waaaaaaaaaaay back in the division. I don't think there's any precedent for him specifically to win, especially when Ortiz didn't get it last year with a better case.

[KingPK 0]

Speaking of the Indians, if they were anywhere near in a race, I'd have to seriously look at one of their players for MVP.

 

No, not Travis Hafner.

 

I'm talking about Grady Sizemore. Just look at these stats compared to a guy that's similar in style (a run producer instead of a power guy) and one of the MVP front runners, Derek Jeter (Sizemore's number/Jeter's number):

 

Hits: 148/161

Runs: 99/87 (A bit surprising given the Yankee offense)

Doubles: 41/28

Triples: 9/3

Walks: 59/57

HR: 18/10

RBI: 56/76

SB: 18/26

OBP: .377/.413

SLG: .519/.470

OPS: .896/.883

 

Why am I bringing this up? Well.....I took him with my second pick in my fantasy draft (I also have Jeter. I'm looking pretty good right now), but moreso that I was surprised at how similar the numbers are and how much team success figures into who gets the most MVP hype.

 

EDIT: Added a couple more stats. I *heart* MLB.com's compare feature. If I had a ballot and all things were equal, he'd get my vote over Jeter right now.

[Bored 0]

Jeter's huge edge in OBP really tips the scales for him more than the counting stats. And when you bring in those EVIL~ sabermetric stats that are ruining baseball or something Jeter beats Sizemore out in EQA, VORP, and Win Shares.

[KingPK 0]

Jeter's huge edge in OBP really tips the scales for him more than the counting stats. And when you bring in those EVIL~ sabermetric stats that are ruining baseball or something Jeter beats Sizemore out in EQA, VORP, and Win Shares.

 

Maybe, but my arguement is that Sizemore may not get on base as often....but he goes farther when he does (the higher SLG and OPS numbers). The walks are about the same, but Grady has about DOUBLE the extra base hits that Jeter does. That's gotta count for something. I don't really buy into the whole Win Shares thing; I'm pretty much looking at it in a basis of pure stats.

 

EDIT (Now I'm REALLY gonna piss the Yankee fans off here): If you want to talk about replacement players (I'm not well versed in this stuff), compare him with Johnny Damon. He's been just as good if not BETTER than Damon in the leadoff spot this year. Granted, he's played seven more games, but still, the numbers are very similar.

 

EDIT 2: THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER~!~!~!~!~! YEAH, WHOO, YAHOOO *Fart noises*!!

[Bored 0]

Jeter's huge edge in OBP really tips the scales for him more than the counting stats. And when you bring in those EVIL~ sabermetric stats that are ruining baseball or something Jeter beats Sizemore out in EQA, VORP, and Win Shares.

 

Maybe, but my arguement is that Sizemore may not get on base as often....but he goes farther when he does (the higher SLG and OPS numbers). The walks are about the same, but Grady has about DOUBLE the extra base hits that Jeter does. That's gotta count for something. I don't really buy into the whole Win Shares thing; I'm pretty much looking at it in a basis of pure stats.

But if you're only going to rely on basic stats one has to point out Jeter's huge edge in RBI as well despite have so fewer number of extra base hits. Sizemore has a .315/.397/.596 line with the bases empty but then only a .269/.368/.394 line with RISP. Jeter on the other hand is hitting .385/.490/.538 with RISP.*

 

* - Poster does not endorse this line of argument and also points out that Jeter hits better with the bases empty than with RISP during his career but does think Jeter is having a better year than Sizemore.

[naiwf 0]

This Dodgers/Padres highlight on SC is a comedy of errors. MLB umps are collectively the drizzling shits.

[Cuban Linx 0]

I really need to stop getting my hopes up regarding anything the Rangers do. Whenever i think the offence is getting hot it goes cold, whenever i think their pitching is looking decent their performance falls right off a cliff. With a favorable schedule i think they have a chance to close the gap to Oakland right down, so naturally they back up winning three straight in Detroit by losing three straight in Tampa. The A's winning 16 of 20 this month hardly helps matters either.