URL Weaver: A New Frontier

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Link Dump, Podcast on May 17, 2013

It was bound to happen eventually. Even with the Nationals’ natitudinal meddling, Stephen Strasburg is simply too talented to go his entire career without pitching eight complete innings. He’s a power pitcher and a strikeout guy who racks up big pitch counts, which simply doesn’t gel with the Nationals persistent fear that one day he might just fall apart before their eyes.

After 53 starts, over which he amassed more than 360 strikeouts, Stephen Strasburg finally did the impossible: he went eight strong innings in a Nats win. Rejoice!

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Fogging the Measure: Stephen Drew Becomes a True Red Sock

Posted by Matt Klaassen under Boston Red Sox, Fogging The Measure on May 16, 2013

Minnesota Twins v Boston Red Sox

Way back in 2002, when Jason Giambi was in his first season with the Yankees after signing (for the time) a huge free agent contract, people doubted him. Filling the Super-Big Shoes of Tino Martinez is a bid deal; a core Yankee and close personal friend of Derek Jeter, after all.

Giambi got off to a slow start in New York in that first season. Well, “slow” being a relative term. Giambi was hitting “only” .282/.378/.456 (126 wRC+) at the end of April, which spelled disaster for many scribes following the Yankees. Of course, Giambi ended the season with at .314/.435/.598 (175 wRC+)… but midway through May (and he killed it in May, anyway, with a 206 wRC+) people were grumbling.

Then came the May 17 game against the Twins in New York. In bottom of the 14th inning, late at night with the rain coming down and very few people left in the stands, the Yankees were down 12-9. The bases were loaded as Giambi (already 3-7 on the night) came to the plate. Giambi drilled the first pitch from Mike Trombley over the wall for an extra-innings, come-from-behind, walkoff grand slam. The “Giambi has finally earned his pinstripes” stuff started right away, naturally. I am not sure it took, given that Giambi would be the subject of grumbling over the next few years with injuries, PED stuff, and, of course, the Yankees failure to win a World Series with him on the team. Never mind that he hit .260/.404/.521 with 209 homers with the Yankees (Don Mattingly himself only hit 222 in his own Yankees career, and in about twice as many plate appearances). Whether or not it finally took, at the time of the grand slam, at least, it was hyped as Giambi’s Big True Yankee Moment, one which still has resonance.

Although it was not nearly as dramatic in just about any dimension: expectations, contracts, or game situation, but last night, shortstop Stephen Drew may have become a True Red Sock in somewhat similar fashion with a grand slam. Sure, it happened in the top of the third with the Sox already up 4-0, but it still generated a reaction.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

Big Papi Calls On the World to Donate Some F*%king Money

Posted by Drew Fairservice under David Ortiz, HardBall Talkin' on May 16, 2013


Well, those weren’t his exact words but that is the sentiment, an awesome one indeed. David Ortiz is kind of a little bit the best and he is running a promotion on his website bigpapi.com benefiting victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

A $500 donation to The One Fund earns you an autographed custom red, white, and blue Marucci bat bearing one of Papi’s now famous slogans.

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

My Approach: Tim Lincecum

Posted by Drew Fairservice under My Approach, San Francisco Giants, Tim Lincecum on May 16, 2013

Philadelphia Phillies v San Francisco Giants

It is tough to establish new ground when discussing Tim Lincecum. The two-time Cy Young award winner has been analyzed, dissected, and scrutinized to within an inch of his life over the past three years. What is wrong with Tim Lincecum? What will become of Tim Lincecum?

While he isn’t the pitcher he was in years past, he is still a very good and very exciting starter. Only four other qualified starters manage his strikeout, ground ball, and swinging strike rates this season. Each pitcher on that list can play for me any time.

Despite his unorthodox mechanics, Tim Lincecum was a very conventional pitcher when it came to his plan of attack. He blew hitters away with his mid-90s fastball and sat them down with his swing-and-miss changeup (which looks an awful lot like a splitter but ISN’T). As he ages, Lincecum keeps learning what it takes to make it work and how to adopt to his changing body and arsenal of pitches.

It’s a slightly different edition of My Approach with San Francisco Giants starter Tim Lincecum.

Read the rest of this entry »

19 Comments

Roto-Relevant Research: Expected Walk Rate

Posted by Eno Sarris under Kris Medlen, Madison Bumgarner, Roto Relevant Research on May 16, 2013

New York Mets v Atlanta Braves

Sometimes, finding nothing is interesting. It’s obviously not exciting as finding *something*, but it’s not a waste of time.

For example, Blake Murphy went looking for an expected walk rate for pitchers given different plate discipline peripherals. You’d think, if given a pitcher’s percentage of pitches in the zone, and batters’ propensity to reach (and miss) for pitches outside the zone, you might be able to get a sense of their future walk rate. After all, not walking a guy is as simple as throwing the ball in the zone, and getting batters to turn a couple walks into strikes for you, right?

Guess not.

Murphy couldn’t predict walk rate any better than previous walk rates. This, after finding some success predicting strikeout rates using velocity and swinging strike rates (FanGraphs’ Michael Barr had similar findings). That might be because there are confounding factors that aren’t easy to quantify — repeatability of mechanics, consistency of release points, and the severity of movement on the pitches — or it might be because we need to weight each of the variables differently to get there. Control (and command) is a difficult thing to suss. Even guys with similar walk rates have different levels of control and command.

But this wouldn’t be a good column if I just shrugged and said — eh, we can’t know! (Who knows if it’s a good column anyway, but there’s no need to give the opposition more evidence.)

Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

Live From The Mexican League All Star Game

Posted by Craig Robinson under Getting Blanked Special on May 16, 2013

Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos

At the weekend, the Mexican League had its Juego de Estrellas–its All-Star Game–in Oaxaca de Juárez, the capital of the state of Oaxaca. It’s around 290 miles southeast of Mexico City where I live; six hours or so on a bus. I’ve never been to a Major League All-Star Game before, I’ve barely watched one all the way through, frankly; but I have a friend in Oaxaca, so it seemed like a good chance to see how Mexico does these things.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment

Vernon Wells, Super Utility Guy

Posted by Drew Fairservice under HardBall Talkin', New York Yankees, Vernon Wells on May 16, 2013

First, he came for our third baseman. Then, Vernon Wells came for our souls. The former dead money contract is now one of the best offensive contributors in baseball as we near the first quarter pole. Vernon Wells, inexplicably, owns a .387 wOBA and 10 home runs, hitting another in last night’s 12-2 loss to the Mariners.

He also owns a new notch in his infielder’s belt, as recovering five tool stud Vernon Wells played the infield for the second time this season, serving 1/3 of an inning at second base last night – while shortstop Albert Gonzalez pitched! Gonzalez coaxed a shallow fly ball from Robert Andino, showcasing low 80s cheese in his first professional pitching foray.

Never a dull moment with the Yankees, who also allowed reliever Brett Marshall to throw 108 pitches over 5.2 innings. The bullpen (and infielders) were pressed into duty after Phil Hughes recorded exactly one more out than the man who started the game at shortstop.

10 Comments
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »