Archive for the ‘Link Dump’ Category

There is a somewhat recent school of baseball nerd thought which suggests that relievers are all, basically, the same. Replacing relievers is easy and the life of a relief pitcher is volatile, so why bother paying top dollar? The Rays are a team which (ordinarily) employ this method of bullpen construction to great effect – they often turn over their ‘pen greatly from season to season without missing a beat.

As with most good ideas, the belief that “replacing relievers is easy” gave rise to a perversion of the original vision: the flippant attitude that relievers are essentially worthless gained traction among “analysts” and the like. Any old chump off the scrap heap can fill-in, heaven forbid a team sign a reliever in free agency!

That relievers are abundant and can all provide reasonable approximations of each other is obviously not true. Building a good bullpen isn’t easy as it often requires a crystal ball as much as scouting acumen. The one thing there can be replacement for in the bullpen is depth. Be it injury or ineffectiveness, having plenty of good pitchers ready to step in and accept an increased role is crucial over the 162 game season.

The Boston Red Sox are putting this idea to the test and it is only May, as members of their vaunted bullpen are suddenly dropping like flies.

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HE’S DESTROYING EVIDENCE! CALL THE CRIME LAB, CALL BATMAN!

The Toronto Blue Jays season thus far has been, to put it mildly, crushingly disappointing. Everything that could go wrong for the title-aspirant Jays absolutely has, from ineffectiveness to injury.

As the wheels come off the 2013 season, the Jays refuse to go quietly. Not on the field, mind you, as the Blue Jays lay down for the Red Sox en route to a three game sweep losing two of three at the hands of their divisional rivals. Some media members around the Blue Jays are bound and determined to raise a big stink off the field – accusing Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz and Junichi Tazawa of doctoring baseballs.

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There are few problems in baseball as enviable as “what will we do with all our shortstops?” Depth at the shortstop position is enviable, as is a player of significant quality. The defensive rigors of the role are demanding enough to winnow down prospective candidates to only the finest defenders and also Derek Jeter.

The average shortstop in the big leagues owns a .251/.306/.374 line so far in 2013. That is pretty bad, far below a league-average offensive player. Manny Machado currently sports a slash line far better than the league-average shortstop, which makes sense since Manny Machado is neither average nor a shortstop. Not yet, at least.

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Much was made last week of Bryce Harper‘s first full year in the Major Leagues. Harper made his big league debut on April 28th, 2012 at the tender age of 19. In his first calender year in the big leagues, Harpers owns a .281/.354/.513 slash line. He’s in the top 10 for fWAR among all Major League players in that time. He cannot yet legally order a drink in most ballparks in the league.

Last night, Bryce Harper had a quiet night at the plate, walking once in four trips. He did, however, add to the Bryce Harper highlight roll. Unlike most of his extraordinary feats, this moment in time serves to humanize Bryce Harper rather than elevate him.

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Confession time: I don’t watch all the baseball games. I watch many, many baseball games in a given day or week, but I am somehow not capable of watching them all. This isn’t a bad thing, I assure you.

When I awoke, with an assist to my infant daughter, very early this morning, it was much to my surprise when I saw a baseball game had ended mere moments before. The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim decided to play NINETEEN innings on a Monday night in April, a game which featured 156 plate appearances, 597 pitches and 18 runs. A game the A’s won 10-8 on a walkoff home run by Brandon Moss.

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There is a difference between panic and concern. When a baseball team, expected to contend, loses more games than it wins in April – concern is warranted. There can be reason for concern though it is too early to for a baseball team to panic. Panic is almost never worth the effort, as it too often results in throwing good money after bad and making changes simply for the sake of change.

The Washington Nationals aren’t quite panicking over their slowish start to the season. They are tinkering with their lineup here and there and fans and columnists (in D.C., they’re the same thing) fret about the pitching staff and slow starts and so on and so forth. The Nats must know their success in 2012 was built on both talent and luck. Riding several career years while their pitching staff was essentially free of injuries is not a repeatable phenomenon.

The 2013 Nationals are learning this very early. A few injuries and returns to Earth from players who posted career numbers in 2012 and the team sits at .500. They are still the most talented team in baseball but it won’t always be as easy as it was in 2012.

In 2012, the Los Angeles Angels seemed to prove the old adage about losing a title in April correct. In 2013, they are replicating last year’s early season futility with laser-like precision. Through 21 game this season, the Angels are 8-13. Through 21 games last year, the Angels were…7-14. Progress!

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Making assumptions about home plate umpire Paul Emmel’s intentions is a foolish endeavor. As much fun as it is to make jokes about the “ump show” and certain umpires habit of inserting themselves squarely in the middle of a game, we can’t assume Paul Emmel wanted to make himself the center of attention when he made the above call.

He was just a regular umpire, apparently blowing a call as umpires (rarely) do. If you listen to the commentary in the video clip, you’d think of this as a blown call is not judgement but an improper application of the rules. Which is ugly, and sure to leave an extra bitter taste in the mouths of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Watching a nine-game win streak end as the final out of a one-run game is decided by an umpire’s judgment on a ball hit three feet? No thanks. A bad call at that? Double ugh. Fire up the appeal machine! Get Selig on the line! If ever a man was going to fight for the rights of the Milwaukee Brewers, it’s Bud!

Except…they have no case.

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