SB Nation - Michael Bourn

Wednesday Afternoon Astros Hot Stove Links

davoag — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:34:06 -0000

More photos » by George Nikitin - AP

The rumor mill just keeps on churnin'...

What's weird about the past couple of days is there have been a TON of baseball-related stories, but not a whole lot going on. Sure, Kelly Shoppach gets traded for a PTBNL and Billy Wagner signs a one-year deal with the Braves. Other than that? Just a bunch of clubs offering arbitration. Does that mean we won't bring you all these links, though? Not in the least.

Rumors swirled this afternoon that the Astros were in on Brett Myers and J.J. Putz. Brian McTaggart talked with Ed Wade and finds out...nothing? Is there any GM that plays the offseason closer to the vest than Wade? In case you missed it, Wade will be on Astroline tonight at 6 p.m. Send your questions to Alyson Footer on twitter and she'll ask Wade about them tonight.

Richard Justice says the Astros will be just fine with not re-signing any of their free agents. I have nothing of value to say about this other than to check back tomorrow; his opinion will have changed again.

Here is Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors take on the Astros arbitration choices. Very similar to most of the analysis on here, though it could just be that we're all grasping at straws to understand what this front office does.

Here's an interesting article about Michael Bourn. Sure, it's about fantasy baseball but hey, any national pub for the Astros is a good thing, right? I didn't draft Bourn for my team this season, but I did pick him up in April. I don't expect him to be available in April next season.

Craig Calcaterra's take on the news that Dennis Gilbert may be the new owner of the Texas Rangers. Sounds like Gilbert should be an easy choice by the rest of MLB, but the real benefit for the Astros is that Nolan Ryan won't be part of the new ownership group. That means it's unlikely Round Rock becomes a Rangers affiliate after their deal with the Astros expires after 2010.

This is a story about the Yankees managerial hiring process in 2008. Really interesting part about what Cashman asked the managers to do re: the lineups. I wonder if Wade and Tal Smith did something similar...

So, let me get this straight...the Twins, a small market team if there every was one, offered Carl Pavano arbitration even though he had a 5.00 ERA last season? But the Astros couldn't afford to offer Hawkins or Tejada?

Is this the natural progression after amphetamines were banned? Because I'm sure none of those players share their medication with the other guys in the locker room...I know college kids will buy stuff like Adderol to study for exams, so we're sure the MLB players are following the straight and true path with this? I'm just sayin'...

Finally, Project Prospect's Top 15 Catchers...nice to see Castro so highly placed and it's interesting that he's the top rated catcher who's also solid defensively. I can live with line drive power if he hits for average and is great behind the plate.

Astros (Sometimes Tangentially)-Related Link Fest

davoag — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:59:08 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

This is exactly what the Astros need in 2010...a brawler!

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Lots and lots of links over the weekend. Maybe it's because Thanksgiving marks the unofficial beginning of the baseball offseason. Maybe it's because writers finally decompressed from the World Series ending. Whatever the reason, here's a jumbo-sized post full of link-y goodness:

Here's an interesting article about the impact long-term contracts to early-year players has on the free agent pool. The Astros haven't done this in a while, but if Jason Castro develops in his first two seasons, it'll be interesting to see if they sign him to a four- or five-year deal.
The first and second in a series on non-tender candidates. We've discussed Garrett Atkins a little bit on here but Kelly Shoppach hasn't gotten much publicity. Given his line over the past three seasons and the fact that he's moving to the National League, Shoppach could have some value for a team like the Astros. At the very least, he could replace a guy like Quintero, who's never hit nearly as well. Thoughts?
Richard Justice steals one of our ideas, asking for input on what to do with the Astros budget. Later, Brian McTaggart does the same exact thing here. Is this a sign of lazy writing, a slow winter or stealing the great ideas of the gifted writers here at TCB. I'll let you decide...
McTaggart also trotted out a mailbag for astros.com, answering reader questions about the state of the team. Unfortunately, there wasn't any new information to be gleaned. Yes, the Astros are on a budget. No, they are not going after big-name pitchers. Yes, they will explore the trade market, but no, they probably won't get any deals done. Most vexing is McTaggart saying that the Astros are content with Geoff Blum manning third in a platoon. Mind you, this platoon will also mean Blum gets the majority of the plate appearances, since there are more right-handed pitchers than leftys. Ed Wade is okay with this?
McTaggart is good at his job, but it also goes to show you what an advantage media types at known media outlets have, in that he can talk to Wade pretty much every day. I talk to him too, but he may or may not be a fictional version of himself in those conversations.
Joe Posnanski takes on the same question I hinted at the other day: Is Albert Pujols a Hall of Famer already? How many other current players 29 or under are also HOF-bound? Any Astros potentially on that list?
For those of you (i.e. me) who suggested the Astros look at Derek Lowe, here's a cautionary article about his underlying stats. Now, I'd argue that pitching in MMP would give Lowe the added benefit of giving up towering shots to center field that are swallowed up by Michael Bourn, but I don't feel nearly as good as I did before I read that.
Maybe the Astros will have some money to spend in 2011. Maybe that's why Drayton is saving up this winter. (Slightly disturbing to see Berkman's name here right after that candid interview he did recently...I don't know what I'd do without Puma on the team.)
Don't believe everything you read during the Hot Stove Months. The only difference between bloggers and mainstream journalists is that the mainstreamers don't just make up stuff, right? Is that how we got reports about the Rangers shopping for a third baseman? Oh, right, it's because no one tries to check facts any more, preferring to break news instead. Glad we cleared that up.
There are a LOT of Dogers headed for big arbitration raises soon. If Berkman does decide to leave in 2011, could the Astros make a play for hometown guy James Loney? Does that make sense? Would it be cheaper in the long-run?
Finally, a little snippet from John Sickels on former Houston high schooler Randall Grichuk (down at the bottom). He was rumored to be headed to the Astros before the draft, but was nabbed by the Angels instead. Always nice to see local kids making their way to the majors.

Is Spring Training Enough?

davoag — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:00:25 -0000

Richard Justice recently opined on his blog that the Houston Astros are going to take a 'wait-and-see' approach to top prospects Jason Castro and Chris Johnson. Neither will have a job locked up going into spring training and will need solid performances there in order to make the Opening Day rosters.

I like Castro quite a bit and there's been talk around here about whether the Astros should save some money and go with a youth movement in 2010. Castro, Johnson, Tommy Manzella and company would probably struggle at first, but if they're big league material, they will find their way eventually. That's not the point of Justice's blog post, though. The Astros are apparently basing that decision on spring training performance.

My question is this: why do teams base such crucial decision on such a small sample size? Do you really get a good enough look at a player in spring training to determine whether they'd make such an important decision with a player? I'm not talking about just prospects here, but with non-roster invitees and other players. How do you evaluate a player on such a small subset of play?

In the 2009 Grapefruit League, Michael Bourn led the Astros with 103 plate appearances. The rest of the regulars had around 60-70 plate appearances each, including guys like Jason Smith and Chris Johnson. Obviously, Bourn was the Astros' most improved player in the regular season, but had a .685 OPS in Spring Training. Smith had an .885 OPS in 65 plate appearances, which basically locked up a position for him on the opening day roster. Smith, of course, got no hits in 25 at-bats in the majors before being designated to Round Rock.

Of the regulars in the Houston lineup last season, only two had higher OPS numbers in Kissimmee than during the regular season (Lance Berkman and Miguel Tejada). The rest performed much better once the games started counting for something. The question then becomes, why do we use such a small sample size to determine if a player will break camp with the big league team?

I realize the team probably evaluates other things, like preparation, handling of the pitching staff, defense, and lots more off-the-field stuff that can't be quantified. Still, time and time again we see a guy have a huge spring numbers-wise and it changes how the club looks at him. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy. If the organization likes a player, they'll use his numbers as a justification for breaking camp with him. If they don't, the numbers are a way to make the cut, even though they don't tell us anything useful.

Houston hasn't always been run this way. Under Gerry Hunsicker, the team cut ties with Shane Reynolds, even though he was healthy enough to pitch 167 innings for Atlanta that season. Reynolds had won 103 games as an Astro and been the Opening Day starter. Yet, the team still made an objective evaluation of his talent level at the time and made the cut during spring training. I'm not convinced that this front office can do that yet, since I don't think they have the decision-making autonomy from owner Drayton McLane that Hunsicker did, but they could surprise me.

Emilio Bonifacio: The Audacity of Hope

GameFish — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:02:08 -0000

This might seem like a far-fetched idea, but I'm sure there were at least a few people who were disappointed when The Bonifacio Experiment™ finally ended last season. You know, like... maybe some of the members of Emilio's immediate family.

If you were one of those three people, our friend JCR at the Sun Sentinel has dug deep into the Bill James Handbook to find a reason for you to be filled with hope.

The manufactured runs section of the Bill James Handbook offers a pretty good indication of why the Marlins stuck with Bonifacio, and why come spring training they'll give him every opportunity to play himself into the starting lineup again.

Among National League players, only Michael Bourn (47) had a higher manufactured runs contribution than Bonifacio (32), who ranked ahead of David Wright (31), Dexter Fowler (29), Troy Tulowitzki (27), Matt Kemp (27) and Hanley Ramirez (27).

...

Thanks mostly to Bonifacio, Ramirez, and Chris Coghlan, who was third on the team with 21 manufactured runs, the Marlins ranked fifth in the NL with 169 manufactured runs. Ahead of them: the Mets (181), Reds (173), Dodgers ( 172) and Rockies (172). For the Marlins, that's a huge improvement over 2008, when they finished second-to-last in the majors with 125 manufactured runs, ahead of only the Padres (104). The Marlins in 2009 were considerably less dependent on home runs and extra-base hits.

So I guess if there's a positive side to being an out machine, it's being a productive-out machine. And if manufactured runs contribution can make up for his OBP and, well, everything else, the Marlins may have reason to continue The Bonifacio Experiment™ next season.

Or at the very least, we have one less reason to complain about it.

Tuesday Astros Links N' More

davoag — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:00:14 -0000

by David Zalubowski - AP

That's no whiffle bat Bourn is swinging...

View full size photo »

Let's open with a rather long note from Buster Olney's column on Michael Bourn. Since it's protected by the ESPN Insider firewall and I don't know how many of you subscribe, I'll reprint the high points:

Before joining Aguilas in winter ball, in the Dominican Republic, he started to unravel the puzzle of his swing. Besides pulling ground balls to the right side of the infield, Bourn also was hitting the ball off the end of his bat a lot -- clues, he felt, that told him his swing was too quick, and that his bat wasn't in the hitting zone long enough. He liked to watch Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee take batting practice, and he admired how their level swings seem to be pulled through the plate for so long, giving them a greater chance for better contact. Bourn's swing, on the other hand, was just too quick, which is why he kept hitting harmless grounders to second base.

Late in the 2008 season, Astros coach Dave Clark gave Bourn a suggestion -- Bourn should try hitting with his weight shifted forward at the outset of his swing, rather than with his weight back, on his left hip. Ultimately, Clark said, Bourn would need to get back to hitting with his weight back -- but this change would allow Bourn to focus on how he used his hands in his swing path.

Imagine swinging a Wiffle ball bat with your hands only, and without shifting your weight from your back hip to your front hip; this is what Clark did in September of 2008. And he could feel, in his swing, a solution evolving. He began to hit the ball to the left side of the infield, or through the middle. The progress continued in winter ball, and in spring training, Berkman suggested to him that he should work off a tee daily, develop a routine in which he practiced his level swing path, using his hands and the shift of his weight in concert.

And in spring training, Bourn noticed the foul balls he was hitting were going into the stands along the third-base line. A good thing, he felt.

"What this told me was that I was doing better at letting the ball get deeper in the strike zone," Bourn said. "I was a little behind the ball, and all I needed to do was to be a little quicker."

No wonder Dave Clark was such a popular figure with the player...

Since the Astros' top prospect Jason Castro was sent home from the Arizona Fall League because of fatigue, this interview with Giants catcher Buster Posey is relevant, though not especially enlightening. Posey doesn't really say anything we couldn't have surmised ourselves but it is worth looking at Houston's future catcher to see how many innings he's racking up on those knees.

The following are rough estimates on the number of innings played for Castro in the past five seasons. You can see the huge spike in the season he got drafted. It's also worth noting that for the first few years there, those innings were spread out through the entire year, as Castro played in the Alaska Baseball League, the Area Code Games, the Cape Cod League and other events throughout his career that made playing baseball year-round a possibility.

2005 - ~500 (mostly infield)

2006 - 673 (mostly first base)

2007 - 536 (mostly first base)

2008 - 900 (first season full-time at catcher)

2009 - 1,100 (including spring training, minors, World Cup and AFL)

Castro is used to playing year-round, but tired out right around the time he hit the 1,000 inning mark. The Astros top two catchers last season combined to catch 1,175 innings. Maybe Castro just needs to get his legs underneath him. He's only caught for two seasons now, much like Posey and should be fresher than someone who caught all through high school and college. Still, if we're thinking of using Castro at some point next season, it's worth asking if he'll have anything in the tank when he is called up.

Farmstros is already on top of this one, but Zach Levine posted all the minor league coaching move s that trickled down from a new big league skipper being named. The only real eyebrow-raiser for me was Mark Bailey being named hitting coach after spending all those years in Houston as bullpen coach. He used to be a catcher, but isn't that a bit weird?
Fangraphs updates us on how awesome Michael Bourn was on the basepaths last season. Though the best baserunner in the league was only worth eight runs last season, it shows how versatile Bourn was and how his value really transcends his pedestrian OPS.
Here are a couple of posts from Chris Jaffe's new book on managers. Since we discussed the relative merits of different managers quite extensively leading up to Brad Mills' hiring, it's interesting to look at the factors that distinguish a good manager from a bad one. If I have some time this winter, I'm definitely reading up on this book to see how we can start better evaluating the skipper. It's also interesting to think about the 'hometown hero' concept in relation to Houston's managers. Of course, the only real example was Dierker, but with all the talk about Bagwell and/or Biggio being candiates for the job, looking at how other guys fared is pretty neat.
Here's a twitpic from Alyson Footer of Bud Norris. Footer has been on a tweeting rampage with her camera, taking some candid shots of Berkman and Hunter Pence at a MMP event for 20 homeless families transitioning to non-homelessness. A very good cause and a very neat anecdote that Footer shares on her blog about how Missus Puma wanted her kids involved with this.
Don't know what to get that baseball fan you know for Christmas? How about a super-cool DVD pack full of World Series games?
Good news for the baseball bloggers of the world...Yahoo has the highest number of media credentials at the Winter Olympics so far. It makes sense, no? Just because newspapers die out doesn't mean people will stop wanting news. They just have to figure out how to log onto the InterWeb now...
Finally, a little piece of non-baseball goodness...if anyone here hasn't watched The Wire yet, I highly recommend it.

Saturday Morning Astros, etc. Round Up

DyingQuail — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:32:29 -0000

More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

Since it's pseudo-kind-of Christmas season, I just think of things like: Grinch and Scrooge.

Browse more photos »

It's Saturday, things have yet to really take off with the hot stove, and we've already burned our way through half the BWAA's award season. Yet, we still have things to link to and talk about (to say I'm delighted with the baseball blogging gods is an understatement).

In the last month or two, Richard Justice has been writing things that make me think, "Yes, I agree," and, "Good point." As confusing as these sentiments have been for me, Justice hits the nail on the head with his latest blog post:

Drayton McLane needs to know that you still care, and the only way he's really going to know is if you put your money where your blog posts are. Buy early. Buy often. If you buy enough, Drayton might be prompted to go get some pitching and some home runs. Go ahead and roll your eyes. I believe in hope and change, but it starts with you.

It's too true, and too sad. Does no one in the Astros front office, marketing, business, public relations, common sense departments not see it this way at all? Drayton is pretty much agreeing to lock himself into a viscous cycle where he blames poor revenue (read: fan attendance) and then cuts costs. Thereby making the team worse—ostensibly, for now—and further driving down fan attendance. Who wins in this scenario?

Will this stop endless prattle about champion-ism? No. Is this going to give me an ulcer by 2011? Yes.

Jerome Solomon took a look at Michael Bourn from the hometown angle. Yes, this one has been done before, but Solomon, as usual, delivers a solid article. My favorite tidbit is confirmation of exactly what the Astros told Bourn to work on last winter in the DWL (at least I've never read it in black and white like this) when his approach at the plate change radically, and for the better:

Bourn worked hard last offseason to improve at the plate, and he said realizing the fruits of that labor won’t keep him from working just as hard this offseason. The Astros told Bourn what to work on in winter ball last year — staying on top of the ball, hitting the other way, being more selective — and he looked like a different hitter this season.

Alyson Footer takes a pause from the discussion of pitching to ask the question: where will all the runs go? Her solution, of course, is to shore up pitching and defense. Not that it's a bad one, but it seems like there's just no way around us accepting anemic offense, which is scary considering I thought if our offense got more anemic, it'd be on life support....I guess it may well be.

For those multi-sport fans in the bunch, a primer, of sorts, on the sabermetric measures of basketball.

Two important things: First, a wOBA to WAR conversion tool from BtB. Second, a ridiculously in depth and complex article on developing a better formula for conversions from OBP/SLG to wOBA from 3-D baseball.

Just when you thought it was safe to feel good about Michael Bourn's Gold Glove

HighLeveragePerformer — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:27 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Some people can't leave well enough alone, Michael.

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Astros fans probably aren't going to have all that much to cheer about in the coming seasons. We've come to accept that. Accept the losing, accept the fact that Drayton McLane, Jr. is still pulling the strings. It comes with the territory.

This week's announcement that our own Michael Bourn has won a Gold Glove sort of gave us a jolt of life. It was good news after a season of poor play and a botched hiring process for a manager. A week's vacation of sorts.

Damn it all, I was feeling good. I knew Bourn had a nice season, but this gave him and the team some positive national recognition. There were a ton of sketchy choices for the award (as there always is) but Bourn seemed like a legitimate choice.

Not so fast. Good 'ol Joe Sheehan weighed in on the situation, and per usual didn't mince words when talking about an Astro:

The NL awards were marked by a lot of turnover, unusual for an award of this nature. The turnover was unnecessary. Michael Bourn wasn't a better defender than Mike Cameron was, and Matt Kemp and Shane Victorino certainly weren't.

That may be true. Cameron was statistically the best centerfielder in the NL in 2009, at least going by one measure. Advanced defensive metrics are still in their relative infancy, and nobody can seem to decide on which one is the best at ascertaining true defensive ability and skill. Yes, by both measures linked by me Cameron was better than Bourn...barely. Better by such an small amount that you could hardly criticize Bourn's selection over Cameron.

If this isn't the ultimate picking of nits and splitting of hairs, I don't know what is. I understand that the apparent theme of his article "I know more about baseball than most everyone on earth, especially the simpletons who dole out the Gold Glove Award" mandated that he denigrate most every selection, but come on. This act of telling people how smart you are and how much information you have to bestow on us is getting old.

Maybe I'm the one splitting hairs and am being overly sensitive. Yes, Sheehan does say you can make a case for Bourn winning (thanks for throwing us a bone, Joe). From the general tenor of his articles, to his nearly constant implicit reminders that: 1) we're not as smart as he is, and 2) we need to be taught on a near daily basis that we aren't, I am beginning to grow weary of that website. Yea, yea, yea: I know a lot of people love BPro, and they don't need Evan Hochschild's readership to get by. I understand. The simple fact that the great majority of Sheehan's articles are negative and quasi condescending frustrates/angers/befuddles me. Sorry for the rant, but I just had to get this off my chest.

(Yes, I saw he said something positive about Jason Castro...within a thinly veiled pot shot at the Astros' having selected him over Justin Smoak.)

SBN Awards: NL MVP (hint, it starts with a P)

DyingQuail — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:00:47 -0000

by Matt Rourke - AP

Is this Pujols? No. Is it an incredible dick-ish picture of Jayson Werth that I've been waiting ages to have a legitimate use for? Yes.

View full size photo »

Unanimity for presidents has been reserved solely for Washington. For Albert Pujols in 2009, all the denizens of SBN nation who cast a ballot lauded him with the honor being the unanimous NL MVP. Can anyone even make an argument against this?

For myself, I literally just voted by WAR, but I did slip Michael Bourn in at 8th because, I could and I thought he deserved it. I obviously wasn't the only one pulling some homerism, so I'm not too concerned.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

My question is: Juan Pierre, really?

Prince Fielder finishes fourth in SBN NL MVP Voting

KLSnow — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:38 -0000

The SB Nation Most Valuable Player voting was unveiled today. Here are the NL results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Here was my ballot:
1. Albert Pujols
2. Prince Fielder
3. Tim Lincecum
4. Chase Utley
5. Hanley Ramirez
6. Ryan Zimmerman
7. Troy Tulowitzki
8. Matt Kemp
9. Javier Vazquez
10. Adrian Gonzalez

Follow the jump for the AL results.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Thursday Morning Astros, etc. Round Up: Michael Bourn's big day

DyingQuail — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:12:33 -0000

That's right ladies and gents, an Astros player took him some awards season hardware. I have to admit, I was a little suprised when my phone lit up with a text from HLP informing me that Michael Bourn had won himself a gold glove. Why? I don't know. It makes sense, but I guess I'm just used to Astros players not mattering in these sorts of things because they play for...well...the Astros.

Today is pretty much all about the big day that Bourn had, so let's break it down:

Excitingly enough, Richard Justice offers us this open invitation in his reaction to Bourn's Gold Glove:

The next time I judge a trade too soon, I want someone to stuff a large sock with Twinkies and smack me in my pretty face.

Ed Wade, as a favor to all of us, please make a trade this offseason. Please, please, please, please, please. Other than this tempting invitation that I will hold in my heart, Justice doesn't offer much of anything new.

Beyond the Box Score takes a look at who won the NL Gold Gloves and who should have based on bUZR plus FanScouting reports. Thankfully, they don't take issue with Bourn's Gold Glove, which would have rankled me. I think there were at least ten different occasions this season where we discussed how off Bourn's UZR seemed in comparison to what we were seeing. As clack noted yesterday, Bourn was among the best in RZR, and had an astounding 113 out of zone outs. It's that final number that I think demonstrates how great defensively Bourn is. It can't be easy playing CF in a park like MMP and covering for one of the worst LFers in MLB. Remarkably, Bourn does it, and does it well.

The Unofficial Scorer weighs in on a few subjects (even giving FarmStros some love), but I think he sums Bourn's Gold Glove the best of anything I've read on it yet (no offense, HLP):

Normally, I'm pretty statistically-minded, but I've come to trust [UZR] less and less, for measurements over any unit of time below careers. Bourn was right around zero for much of the season, and I really don't think my eyes were deceiving me on his true worth in the outfield.

Rounding out Michael Bourn's ego inflating day (seriously, what a day) was the announcement that he was voted as the team's MVP by the BWAA. Sure, I argued for Wandy Rodriguez, but I won't find any fault with this vote. HLP, I guess you were right.

What's particularly awesome about the awards (Wandy was pitcher of the year, Jeff Fulchino ROY—very deserving), was this:

Veteran right-hander Brian Moehler won the Darryl Kile Good Guy Award, which is given to a player who exhibits good character.

File that under random career accomplishments, but congrats nonetheless to Mr. Moehler.