SB Nation - Sean Casey

Heroes of the Zeros: First Base

Slyde — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:29:39 -0000

The debate on who is the All Decade 1B for the aught Reds is an interesting one. First base was a fairly stable position for the Reds during the 2000s, with 3 players accounting for 75% of the starts at the position during the decade. The six players listed below are the players on the Reds during the aughts who played more than 30 games and played 1B more than any other position while with the Reds. The ballot is available after the jump and you are only voting for the starting player.

Other ballots: Starting Rotation | Bullpen | Catcher

Click header to sort table by column
	Years	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	wOBA	WAR
Sean Casey	2000-2005	828	3458	3111	441	944	193	7	86	453	283	332	.303	.366	.453	.819	111	.353	10.8
Jeff Conine	2007	80	242	215	23	57	11	1	6	32	20	28	.265	.320	.409	.729	84	.316	0.0
D.T. Cromer	2000-2001	85	114	104	14	32	7	0	7	20	4	33	.308	.327	.577	.904	122	.354	0.4
Scott Hatteberg	2006-2008	291	1017	869	115	253	58	1	23	105	130	83	.291	.384	.440	.823	109	.358	2.3
Hal Morris	2000	59	78	63	9	14	2	1	2	6	12	10	.222	.351	.381	.732	84	.298	0.3
Joey Votto	2007-2009	306	1222	1079	162	334	77	4	53	185	134	223	.310	.388	.536	.924	139	.386	7.2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/15/2009.

The Greatest Reds: #6

riverfront76 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:00:20 -0000

6. Tony Perez

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1964-76, 1984-86	1B, 3B	6	8	6
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1970	Never
86%	14%	0%	1970	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Inducted to Hall of Fame – 2000 All Star MVP – 1967 All Star – 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976	N/A		-2nd in career RBI -3rd in career home runs -6th in career doubles -6th in career hits -8th in career runs scored

via images.art.com

If you’ve had any kind of indoctrination in Reds history, you are well aware of Tony Perez and his proclivity for clutch hitting. If you’ve had any kind of indoctrination in sabermetrics, you are already thinking up ways to discredit that last sentence. So then, how to consider Tony Perez? His career spanned 23 seasons (16 with the Reds), and his lifetime career OPS was 804. Looking at his career splits yields some interesting results, as compared to the 804 benchmark: An OPS of 833 with runners in scoring position (while only 764 with nobody on); when the game was in the 7th inning or later, and the score was close, Perez hit for an 859 mark; in "high leverage" situations (as defined by Tom Tango), the OPS was 859—in low leverage game states it was just 776; and in extra innings, Perez was off the charts with a career 984 OPS. Case closed, right? Digging deeper, if we look at Perez’s best season of 1970, in which he had a 990 OPS, we see almost no difference in his stats if the bases were empty or if there were runners in scoring position…and his high leverage numbers were worse (939 OPS) than his overall totals. In his next best season (1973), Perez actually hit the best in "medium leverage" situations. In 1975, while finishing 3rd in the NL in RBI, Perez’s overall OPS was 34 points higher than when filtering out all but his high leverage at-bats.

Is the clutch status a myth? Not necessarily, but I think there were probably three other issues contributing to this storyline: 1) Perez hit 4th or 5th for some really good offensive teams who put a premium on getting on base. Perez finished in the NL top 10 in RBI ten straight times (1967-76) without putting up consistently gaudy numbers, although he certainly had his moments, so presumably the perception was that there was some intangible skill beyond sheer volume of run-driving opportunity. 2) As documented in Joe Posnanski’s book on the ’75 team, Perez wasn’t very adept at producing quotable copy for the beat writers, so the clutch meme was probably an easy story to create. 3) In Perez’s first three full-time seasons (1967-69), the numbers were so overwhelmingly skewed towards the high leverage performances that it would have been nearly impossible to miss (3-year composite OPS: 823, "late and close" OPS over that period: 1027).

Depending on your point of view, this may constitute evidence for Perez’s clutchness, but it almost certainly set the tone for the rest of his career. As for that career, Perez played in over 1900 games for the Reds and hit well (127 OPS+). His peak came while hitting near a 160 OPS+; potentially MVP-worthy were it not for a certain catcher teammate. Perez was famously traded after the 1976 season to make room for Danny Driessen. Conceptually, the move made sense: Perez was 34 years old, he had clearly settled into a plateau a few degrees removed from his peak, and the Reds were dealing from a place of surplus. In reality, the move didn’t work. Although Driessen was an adequate replacement, the offensive depth was reduced to nothing, and more importantly—the players received from Montreal in return for Perez (Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray) pitched horribly for the Reds. Or maybe there was some clutch element missing…

The Top 15 First Basemen in Reds history

1          Tony Perez
2          Ted Kluszewski
3          Frank McCormick
4          Dan Driessen
5          Jake Beckley
6          Sean Casey
7          Lee May
8          Jake Daubert
9          Dick Hoblitzel
10        Hal Morris
11        Rube Bressler
12        Gordy Coleman
13        Deron Johnson
14        Hal Chase
15        Joey Votto*

*active

The Greatest Reds: #20 - #19

riverfront76 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:00:12 -0000

20. Frank McCormick

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1934, 1937-45	1B	19	21	23
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1944	1945
86%	14%	0%	1944	1945
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Most Valuable Player – 1940 All Star – 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945	Hits – 1938, 1939, 1940 Singles – 1938 At Bats – 1938, 1940 Runs Batted In – 1939 Doubles – 1940 At Bat / Strikeout Ratio – 1941		-4th in career AB/K ratio -9th in career doubles -11th in career RBI -11th in career hits -20th in career home runs

via www.affordablehomegoods.com

In the "file under strange statistical minutia" category, McCormick happens to be one of just three players to ever lead the National League in hits in three consecutive seasons (along with Ginger Beaumont and Rogers Hornsby). As for capturing who McCormick was as a player, think a more consistent version of Sean Casey with a better glove. In fact, the career totals for the two players is fairly similar: 299/348/434 over 6200 plate appearances for McCormick, 302/367/447 across 5600 plate appearances for The Mayor. Even the counting stats were relatively close: 722 runs scored, 334 doubles, and 128 homers for McCormick compared to 690, 322, and 130 for Mr. Casey. McCormick played in a lower run environment (118 OPS+ compared to Casey’s 109), but he also played throughout the duration of World War 2, while the level of competition was way down. But as mentioned, McCormick had a very good glove, setting an MLB first basemen record during 1945-46 with 131 straight games without an error. As noted in the table above, McCormick won an MVP award in 1940, concurrent with the pennant-winning season. It is apparent that the team success carried a LOT of weight with the voters of the time: in that 1940 MVP vote, 3 of the top 4 and 5 of the top 10 vote recepients were Reds, and McCormick beat out Johnny Mize, despite being almost 200 points of OPS behind the St. Louis first baseman. In that season’s World Series, the Reds won in spite of McCormick, who only hit .214, and did not drive in a single run.

19. Bid McPhee

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1890-1899	2B	15	30	21
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1892	1892
68%	32%	0%	1892	1892
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Inducted to Hall of Fame – 2000	N/A		-1st in career triples -1st in career stolen bases -2nd in career runs scored -3rd in career RBI -4th in career hits

via reds.enquirer.com

McPhee played his entire 18 year career in Cincinnati, although for the purposes of this ranking, only the final ten years—all played after McPhee turned 30—were counted. If his entire American Association career were included, McPhee would almost certainly be in the top 10. Note that his "Reds Leaderboard" rankings above do include the AA stats, such as the 95 bases he stole in 1887. Nevertheless, the 2nd half of McPhee’s career is still top-20 worthy, and the status is based on three primary strengths: 1) he excelled at taking a walk, finishing in the NL top-10 every year from 1890-1895. In fact, during the NL years, his on-base percentage was a full 100 points higher than his batting average (.378 vs. .278); 2) even in his 30’s, he was a speedster, stealing 316 bases in the 10 NL seasons; and 3) his defensive quality at second base was obvious. These were the days of no gloves, or primitive ones at best, and even with a routine season witnessing 40-50 errors from McPhee, he was still one of the best. Consider the 1892 season, in which McPhee made 51 errors en route to a fielding percentage of .948. The league average at 2nd base that year was just .928, and the average fielder made almost a full play less per game than McPhee. He wasn’t an offensive superstar—in his best season of 1892, he rode 84 walks to an OPS+ of 126 despite just having 35 extra base hits in 573 at-bats, but his consistency (his worst offensive season, nearing the end of his career, was an OPS+ of 91) and his defensive supremacy (which did continue all the way through the end of his career) makes McPhee a legitimate Cincy legend.

The Greatest Reds: #38 - #35

riverfront76 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:00:13 -0000

38. Miller Huggins

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1904-1909	2B	50	34	26
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1905	Never
75%	25%	0%	1905	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Inducted to Hall of Fame – 1964	Walks – 1905, 1907 Singles – 1906		-11th in career sacrifice hits -20th in career walks -25th in career stolen bases -26th in career on-base percentage -44th in career runs scored

Bill James once fashioned a way of calculating a player’s most similar players, statistically, and he posited that if a player’s most similar player had a relatively low similarity score, it was evidence of that player’s excellence. In Miller Huggins’s case, he shared a rather low score with his most similar player (Don Blasingame), but in his case, it was due to the unique nature of the 5’6" player’s game. Consider: over Huggins’s 13-year career, his on-base percentage was 68 points higher than his slugging percentage. He routinely topped 600 plate appearances in a season, but never even reached 20 doubles in any one year, despite his good speed (324 career steals). He scored nearly three times as many runs as he drove in. Roughly half of his playing career was with the Reds, accumulating a batting line of 260/362/310 (104 OPS+), before being traded to the Cardinals for a pair of players who never did much to help the good guys.

37. Sean Casey

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1998-2005	1B	33	34	49
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	2004	2001
91%	9%	0%	2004	2001
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Hutch Award – 1999 All Star – 1999, 2001, 2004	N/A		-11th in career doubles -12th in career batting average -13th in career OPS -19th in career home runs -22nd in career RBI

Acquired in a strange deal where the Reds gave up the presumed Opening Day starter (Dave Burba) during the final week of Spring Training, Casey went on to become both a fan favorite and a source of fan disappointment. At his best, Casey was a sweet-swinging hitter, capable of .300+ batting averages, 40+ doubles, and 20+ homers. In his worst moments, his flaws became more evident: a poor fielder, a remarkably slow runner, and a swing that—when off—seemed auto-tuned to hit ground balls to the 2nd baseman. The statistical record is equally polar: Casey had three seasons where he had a batting average over .300, and a slugging percentage over .500. He also had three seasons where the average fell below the .300 mark and his slugging percentage was below .420. Overall, this accounted to a rather middling stat line with the Reds for a modern day first baseman (305/371/463; 114 OPS+), and his peaks, while strong (three times over a 900 OPS), weren’t good enough to carry a team. Casey was the best Red one time: in 2001, he finished first on a dismal offense in RBI (89) and runs (69).

36. Jake Beckley

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1897-1903	1B	37	50	32
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1900	Never
88%	12%	0%	1900	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Inducted to Hall of Fame – 1971	N/A		-3rd in career batting average -10th in career triples -12th in career OPS+ -24th in career runs scored -24th in career RBI

When Beckley retired in 1907, he held records for most games played at first base, as well as most putouts recorded at first. The games played record has since been eclipsed by Eddie Murray, but the putouts mark remains. 7 of Beckley’s 20 seasons were spent in Cincinnati, where he signed partway through the 1897 season as a free agent after the Giants released him, thinking his skills had fully receded. Instead, he got even better (his OPS+ with the Reds was 128 as compared to his career mark of 125), routinely hitting over .300 and finishing in the NL top 10 in RBI, doubles, and triples. Over the course of Beckley’s career, several idiosyncrasies appeared: he was known to flip his bat around and bunt with the handle; he once hit three home runs in a game—in a season where he had a total of eight; he was known for pulling the hidden ball trick; he was occasionally witnessed cutting across the diamond to score from 2nd base; and he once—early in his career while still with the Pittsburgh National League team—jumped to the upstart Players League in a bid to make more money. His quality hitting skill remained even and constant throughout his career, however: the Reds sold Beckley to the Cardinals after the 1903 season because manager Joe Kelley wanted to play first base instead. Beckley responded with a 144 OPS+ in 1904.

35. Bug Holliday

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1890-1898	CF, LF	41	40	26
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1892	Never
81%	19%	0%	1892	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
N/A	Home Runs – 1892 At Bat / Home Run Ratio – 1892		-8th in career batting average -9th in career stolen bases -13th in career runs scored -14th in career triples -18th in career RBI

Holliday made his career debut, at age 18, for the Chicago White Stockings in that era’s version of the World Series. They needed a fill-in outfielder one day, and he got the call. Four years later (1889), he re-debuted as a member of the Red Stockings in their final year in the American Association. As a 22 year old, he led the league in home runs. Upon the team’s switch to the National League, he hit a home run on Opening Day, and was over the next five seasons one of the league’s pre-eminent power hitters, despite the dead ball of the times. In fact, through age 27, Holliday had a career NL OPS+ of 127, and in his best two seasons had OPS+ marks above 140. In 1892, Holliday had top-ten finishes in hits, runs, triples, and RBI, in addition to his league-leading home run total of 13. Two years later, in a higher offensive environment, Holliday hit .372, knocked in 119 runs, and topped a 940 OPS (123 OPS+). So what kept him from being one of the true deadball-era greats? An appendectomy in 1895 apparently removed the greater part of his talent as well. From 1895 through the end of Holliday’s career in 1898, he was a part-time player, only appearing in 152 games, with just 2 home runs and a sub-par (for him) OPS+ level of 96.

The Greatest Reds: #75 - #71

riverfront76 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:29 -0000

75. Johnny Edwards

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1961-1967	C	85	72	66
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1963	Never
49%	51%	0%	1963	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Gold Glove – 1963, 1964 All Star – 1963, 1964, 1965	N/A		-15th in career intentional walks -29th in career sacrifice flies -44th in career AB/HR ratio -49th in career HR

There are three things that come to mind in seeking to praise Johnny Edwards: 1) he’s one of the top 5 major league ballplayers to come out of The Ohio State University; 2) at his peak, Edwards combined decent durability, gold glove defense behind the plate, and a bat that ranked roughly around league average; and 3) he had the incredibly good sense to have back-to-back poor seasons as Johnny Bench was breaking through to the big leagues. Upon the 2nd poor season in 1967, Edwards was traded to the Cardinals in exchange for two guys who would become big-league managers (Pat Corrales and Jimy Williams).

74. Dave Parker

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1984-1987	RF	93	42	66
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1985	1985
83%	17%	0%	1985	1985
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Silver Slugger – 1985, 1986 All Star – 1985, 1986	RBI – 1985 Total Bases – 1985, 1986 Extra Base Hits – 1985 Doubles – 1985 Intentional Walks - 1985		-6th in single season total bases (1985) -17th in career slugging percentage -21st in career home runs -32nd in career OPS -33rd in career RBI

The Cobra. In 1985, the Reds employed a man who was, more or less, the baddest man on the planet. Doc Gooden was perhaps more intimidating, Don Mattingly was perhaps a better hitter, Rickey Henderson a better player, but Parker had the Thing and the respect that went with it. Parker finished the 1985 season with a .312 batting average (5th in NL), 42 doubles (1st), 34 home runs (2nd), 125 RBI (1st), 22 intentional walks (1st) and an OPS+ of 149 (5th)…all to go with one of the most powerful arms in the game. After the 1987 season, Parker was traded to the A’s for Jose Rijo. Parker is the highest ranking Red acquired via free agency.

73. Paul O'Neill

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1985-1992	RF, LF	80	79	61
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1991	Never
82%	18%	0%	1991	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
All Star – 1991	N/A		-25th in career HR -37th in career walks -40th in career RBI -41st in career doubles -47th in career slugging percentage

O’Neill had an unusual career, in that his five best seasons—as measured by OPS+--all happened after he turned 30…which meant they all happened as a member of the Yankees. O’Neill was an adequate right-fielder, with his best season (with Cincy) in 1991 showing stats of 256/346/481, including a career high in home runs (28), and 64 extra-base hits, which was good for 5th in the NL. One mediocre year later, he was sent to New York to become a perpetual .300 hitter, 100-RBI threat, marginal MVP candidate, and huge fan favorite. His transaction chain is pretty interesting: O’Neill was traded for Roberto Kelly, who was eventually traded for Deion Sanders, who was eventually part of a package traded for a group which included Dave Burba, who was eventually traded for Sean Casey.

72. Harry Steinfeldt

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1898-1905	3B, 2B	56	95	78
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1903	Never
65%	35%	0%	1903	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
N/A	Doubles – 1903		-19th in career triples -33rd in career doubles -36th in career RBI -42nd in career hits -43rd in career stolen bases

Bill James tells us that in the old days, third basemen were further to the more difficult end of the defensive spectrum, perhaps akin to where the 2nd base position is today. Given that, with Steinfeldt’s above-average glove and roughly average bat, the resulting ranking of his 7-year career as the primary Reds third baseman around the turn of the 20th century makes some sense. In his best year with the Reds, Steinfeldt hit 312/386/481, good for a 136 OPS+…8th best in the NL that year. Steinfeldt was traded to the Cubs prior to the 1906 season, where he promptly turned in a season in which he led the NL in hits and RBI. Also, while not a key component, Steinfeldt was the starting 3rd baseman on the last Cubs team ever to win a World Series, over 100 years ago.

71. Cesar Geronimo

Played as Red	Primary Position	Career Rank	Peak Rank	Prime Rank
1972-1980	CF, RF	65	85	73
Percent Breakdown of Value			Best Season	Best player on Reds
Hit	Field	Pitch	1976	Never
71%	29%	0%	1976	Never
Awards/Honors as a Red	Leading the League		On the Reds Leaderboard
Gold Glove – 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977	N/A		-8th in career intentional walks -35th in career walks -36th in career triples -40th in career doubles -41st in career hits

The most unrecognized member of the Big Red Machine starting eight still put together a 15-year career. Part of the key trade that also brought Joe Morgan to Cincinnati from Houston, Geronimo went almost overnight from being a little-used backup outfielder to the starting centerfielder for the best team in the league. One gets the sense that the Reds’ management understood what Geronimo was and what he wasn’t…and decided that what he was fit perfectly into the overall structure of the team. And after giving him regular playing time, Geronimo made two key improvements to his offensive game: he learned how to take more walks (even after accounting for the high number of intentional walks he garnered as the #8 hitter), and he stole more bases. In fact, in 1976—en route to a 3rd consecutive Gold Glove award—Geronimo had a truly career year: a .307 batting average, 56 walks, 24 doubles, 11 triples, 22 steals (while being caught only 5 times), and an OPS+ of 125. Geronimo was one of the surprise stars of the 1975 series, hitting .280 with two home runs.

Friday AFL Update; Tim Lincecum is your best friend; Giveaways at MMP Oprah-style

HighLeveragePerformer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:53:22 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Don't be frustrated, Hunter...it takes time to learn how to fold towels the "right" way. Long ways once, then fold the right side over towards the middle, and the left side over the right side.

Browse more photos »

The Arizona Fall League hasn't exactly treated our farm hands all that well, but yesterday was a rare all around success for our boys, despite coming out on the losing end of things.

Jon Gaston, who is becoming the minor league Jack Cust, hit his second longball of the fall season and upped his SLG to a tidy .568. Speaking of Cust, if Gaston became like the A's DH: a low BA/high SLG/high K guy, I would probably be ok with that. Especially considering that Gaston appears willing and able to both play defense and steal the occasional base.

Jose Vallejo collected four hits in five ABs....I won't mention that he has only nine hits total in 39 ABs. Wait. What's that? I just mentioned it? Shit. But hey- what did Pudge Rodriguez do on Thursday? Count his millions? Play with his kids? Shine his Gold Glove Plaques? Maybe. Go 4/5 in a Fall League game? Nope. Advantage: Astros.

For what it's worth Dan Meszaros pitched well in an inning of work. Rejoice, for a run was not allowed.

Chalk this up in the..."now that I think about it, this makes complete sense" column: Tim Lincecum was pulled over on October 30th in his home state of Washington for speeding. Young guy, fast car, happens all the time. There's more: Tiny Timmy had 3.3 grams of marijuana in the center console of his Mercedes. I mean, can you blame him? Dude looks like your best buddy from high school. Difference being that he makes grown men look foolish every fifth day for the SF Giants. On second thought, maybe the Washington State Trooper pulled over this guy instead:

The question isn't what we're going to do, the question is, what aren't we going to do?

Folks, sit down in your chairs for this one. Of all the disheartening news we've posted on here, this may top the list: Oprah is taking her talk show from regular TV to her cable network in 2011. I know there are some of y'all who watch the show, so don't get all huffy because I posted this. It's a sad day when millions of people a day won't be able to comment on the best in girl-power literature, or Oprah's latest falling off the diet-wagon.

Brainstorm: what is Oprah most famous for? No, not The Color Purple. Not her friendship with Gail. Her giving away of free stuff! Cars, money, food, books, orphaned Asian children..scratch that last one. But she has proven ready and willing to give things away indiscriminately. It works for her. Hey- her shows are free to attend and she still gives things away.

Drayton McLane, I hope you're paying attention. Why don't the Astros take a page form the O-Dog's playbook and offer giveaways not just every once in a while, but every single home game. Make it creative:

-Take an Astro home and have him help with household chores. Every month, 25 lucky fans get to take home one of their favorite big leaguers to sweep the walk, scrub toilets and rake leaves. Can't you see Hunter Pence and Mike Bourn becoming even more of the fan's favorites based on their youthful exuberance with the mop or broom? If Lance and Roy were getting tired of playing baseball, imagine how upset they'd be having to fill Grandma's bath with epsom salts. Guarantee it: Roy would be like Sean Casey on the field, smiling and yucking it up with everyone, happy to be done with his indentured servitude.

-For the first 500 fans 25 and under: play for an Astros' minor league affiliate. The first 500 relatively young people will get a chance to play professional baseball for one of the Astros' farm teams. It's perfect, there's no pressure since we haven't fielded a winning minor league club since 2007, and what better way to clue the casual fan into just how poorly the lower realms of this franchise are run. On second thought: push the age limit up to 28. 30 if you're a lefty who's "slow developing, with good, raw stuff". Another can't miss.

What other give aways should Drayton put on the schedule? There are 81 home games. I suggested two. Let's see how many creative ideas we can get.

Fantasy Chat Stew 06/27/2009

faketeams — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:00:20 -0000

For Father's Day last weekend, I picked-up a few more heavy metal classics and wanted to share the video, but Iron Maiden has apparently blocked YouTube from providing embedding code. Instead, here is Johnny Cash and his classic "Ring of Fire" - a great song worthy of any late night drinking event!

Bring on the mortgage-backed security of fantasy baseball chats!

Findlay, OH: I've fallen way behind in Wins due to some bad luck (Cliff Lee, Haren, E. Jackson) but am doing great in ERA and WHIP. I'm thinking I need some cheap wins from middle relievers, any thoughts on this strategy and who to target? Hold is not a category in this league, so pretty much all middle relievers are available.

Ron Shandler: Bad strategy. DON'T CHASE WINS. You never succeed. Just make sure you have high-skilled pitchers and hope the wins follow. That is the best, and ONLY thing you can control. Failing that, find some place else to make up ground.

Thomas (NYC): Does Matt Lindstrom ever regain the closers role or is Nunez the man now?

Joe Sheehan: Leo Nunez has been effective, and has good short-reliever stuff. He's not a budding star, and I suspect the two will switch roles in a manner most disturbing to fantasy owners for some time.

Here's an idea: if NFL coaches can adapt to a tandem RB setup, where no one guy is the man, why can't MLB managers do that with short relievers?

dianagramr (NYC): Speaking of RUSH, you DO know Geddy is a HUGE baseball fan, and can be found at many games while on tour. Oh, and I think the Giants will certainly be relevant by 2112. :-)

Steven Goldman: I do. I know he's a big fantasy guy with multiple teams. I've often wondered if he reads us. If he does, he hasn't made it known to me, anyway. I will now spin "Closer to the Heart" in his honor. "And the men who pitch six innings/must be the ones who start..."

Greg (KC)
Rob, do you think the Royals should look to trade Gil Meche or Joakim Soria? What kind of return would each bring?

Rob Neyer
They should trade everyone except Zach Greinke, but the point is moot because the Royals don't trade veterans for prospects, because they are perpetually unwilling to admit that they're not about to win 85 games.

Frank (College World Series, Go Tigers!)
Brendan, what is Pujols' trade value? (Not specific players, but some general formula you'd use for how many players of what tier(s) would be needed to equal his value) I want to make a decent offer and get the other owner's attention, not be dismissed as just another lowball offer.

Brendan Roberts
My experience when it deals with trading for someone of Pujols' ilk is that they're completely untradeable in about 85 percent of cases. The best way to approach this is by asking him what it'd take. My guess is either he says "No way I'd trade him," or "It would take him and him and him." And then you take it from there. But guys like him are traded in so few cases that really you have to go to the owner first before you even offer. He'll choke on his soup when he reads it otherwise. I'd bet it'd take two elite/upper-tier players to get him, and probably more.

staleberg (nj)
Hey TCWhich relievers do you think will be traded?

Tristan H. Cockcroft
First two guys who come to mind are Chad Qualls and Jose Valverde, who were once traded for one another. In terms of significant fantasy impact those are two closers I'd be a little worried about being dealt into setup roles.

Mild Gypsy Woman (Sands of Time)
Jesus Montero seems to be handling AA well. Why does everyone believe he can not stay at catcher. Even if its 3 games a week, then DH the others. I know hes a big boy, but so is Joey Mauer.

Ben Badler
They're the same height, but Mauer's arm strength, arm accuracy, receiving skills, athleticism and agility are all light years ahead of Montero, who is only going to get bigger and heavier with age.

Bob (Chino Hills, CA)
Jason, thank for taking the time to chat with us. Do you think Rafael Furcal's back is the issue with no power or steals yet?

Jason Grey
I certainly do. Back issues are notoriously tricky. Even if a player is healthy enough to play, has it affected his swing, his pop, or ability to be willing to dive into a base? He's also had a strained buttocks muscle recently which may or may not be related. I suspect his back issues do have something to do with the lack of output in those categories.

Matt (Alexandria, VA)
What are your thoughts on the Phillies prospect Michael Taylor? Seems to be an above average RH OF bat - something the phils will need to break up their lefties. Is he a better prospect than John Mayberry? Thanks

Keith Law
Impact potential, could be a middle of the order guy. Way better than Mayberry.

John Lackey (Los Angeles)
I've looked better in interleague play, but how will I fare when I'm facing AL teams again?

Jason Grey
The K:BB ratio and the groundballs are right where they should be, and his velocity is right there as well. He's a good buy low candidate for me because the rest of the numbers will be headed in the right direction soon enough.

Matt (Chicago, IL)
Stephania - thanks for the great chat! A sprained toe doesn't *sound* like much, but will it keep Scott Downs out much longer than his 15-day DL stint? I mean, he does have 9 other toes...

Stephania Bell
Matt: Yes - there are a few others. But the big toe on the push leg ends up taking a lot of strain (range of motion and force) when a pitcher delivers the ball. Any pain or loss of mobility could effectively change his mechanics all the way up the chain - and then you risk the big one -arm injury. So better to wait until the toe is 100% and not cause other problems. He may go a bit past the 15 days but is not expected to be out excessively long.

Cosmo (New York)
Jerry, who is the most accessable player you have dealt with? Who is the least?

Jerry Crasnick
Cosmo, Sean Casey and Torii Hunter are about as good as you get. Guys like Kevin Brown and Jeff Kent could be rough, but when you got past the initial snarl, they could actually be quite insightful.

Happy Who's Your Daddy Day! Maury Povich says, "Chicago White Sox, you ARE their daddy!" Reds lose, 4-1

Brendanukkah — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:42:35 -0000

More photos » by David Kohl - AP

The numeric values of the Hebrew letters for "lack of run support" add up to 39. (AP Photo/David Kohl)

Browse more photos »

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Scott Podsednik. Podsednik capped off a big series against the Reds with a 2-5 performance and two runs scored.

Key Plays

Aaron Harang got off to a rough start, giving up singles to the hard to spell Podsednik, Ramirez, and Pierzynski. Podsednik scored, and then Alexei Ramirez scored when Paul Konerko grounded into a double play.
In the fifth inning, Podsednik led off with a single again. He moved to second on an A.J. Pierzynski ground out, then scored on a Konerko single. 3-0 Pale Hose. What a terrible nickname though.
In the eighth inning, the Chris Dickerson replaced Willy Taveras, and immediately things got better for the Reds. Dickerson singled, stole a base, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Brandon Phillips sac fly. Linebrink was looking vulnerable, with Gomes and Jerry Hairston on base, but first half "MVP" Ramon Hernandez lined into an inning ending double play.
The White Sox pooh-poohed the Reds run, when Gordon Beckham walked in the ninth and scored when DeWayne Wise - yes, that DeWayne Wise - hit a double.

Looks kind of like an elevation map of Maryland.

Other Notes

The Reds are perfectly .500. 34-34 overall record, 17-17 at home, 17-17 on the road.
Paul Konerko's RBI single was the 1,000th of his career. Sean Casey had 735 RBI in his career.
Aaron Harang has not won since May 25, but this was Mark Buehrle's first win since May 19.
Adam Rosales is taking a commanding lead in "McBain: Race for Mendoza." The standings are as follows: Rosales (0-3) - .202, Alex Gonzalez (DNP) - .214, Bruce (1-3, BB) - .216, Taveras (0-3, 2K) - .224.

Final - 6.21.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago White Sox	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	9	0
Cincinnati Reds	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	0
WP: Mark Buehrle (7 - 2) SV: Bobby Jenks (17) LP: Aaron Harang (5 - 7)

Complete Coverage >

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:17:22 -0000

So there's a real possibility that Trevor Hoffman eats worms (h/t Rattler Radio). That's something to ponder for those of you who got your picture taken with him over the weekend.

I didn't get to see it, but it sounds like there was a good crowd out for this weekend's Winter Warm-Up Festivities. Back here at home, we had less fun discussing recent reports involving Alcides Escobar. Al took Bleacher Report (and me, I guess) to task for publishing the report, calling it "one-sided." I agree that the report was one-sided, but I'm hoping that, by mentioning it, the story can get out to a wide enough audience that it will have to be addressed and we can hear from all sides. I'm hoping this will be the last conversation we have about it until more facts are known.

Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart would like to settle on contracts without going to arbitration. The team reportedly has not reached out to them with offers at this point, but Mark Attanasio said the team is "open to multi-year proposals from Jeff Berry and Lon Babby, the agents for Hart and Weeks, respectively."

There's Ben Sheets news all over the place today:

The Rangers are still concerned about the elbow injury that ended Sheets' 08 season.
The Yankees reportedly might give up on Andy Pettitte and shift their attention to Sheets.
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated says Sheets has new medical reports that may calm the concerns over his health.

I've also got a couple of notes on Brewer bullpen arms:

USA Today (via DRaysBay) reports that the Brewers are hoping Eduardo Morlan can fit into the middle of their bullpen.
R.J. Swindle has decided not to pitch for Canada in the WBC.

With the Hoffman signing, the addition of Jorge Julio, the returns of David Riske, Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva, there could be a lot of pitchers in Brewer camp (Morlan, Dillard, DeFelice, Stetter, Swindle and Bateman, most notably) fighting for the last two or three spots in the bullpen.

Two minor league notes today: FakeTeams noted Alcides Escobar's appearance on a top 10 list of NL prospects. Keith Law listed Caleb Gindl and Lorenzo Cain as two Brewers who could be on next year's top prospect lists.

This is relatively old news, but Craig Counsell will be back as a Brewer in 2009 after signing a one-year deal. Before he signed, Beyond the Box Score profiled him as an undervalued free agent.

There's a possibility that five Brewers could hit 30 HR in 2009. Craig Counsell will not be one of them. Ryan Braun likely will: Be sure to stop by the BCB Community Projections for left field and offer your opinion on his 2009 performance.

If you want to compare Jeff Suppan to Braden Looper, here's a little more ammunition: Both rank in the bottom thirty in strikeouts per 100 pitches. (h/t Baseball Musings) Peter Gammons (via MLB Trade Rumors) reports that Looper, Jon Garland and Randy Wolf are all receiving similar offers of about $5 million per season.

On the hot stove:

A's: There's reason to believe the team may be interested in free agent Garret Anderson, who is spending the offseason working out with new A Matt Holliday. They may also be close to signing Russ Springer.
Blue Jays: Fired assistant GM Bart Given over the weekend. The team is filling his responsibilities from within.
Mets: Signed Rob Mackowiak to a minor league deal.
Orioles: Have reportedly offered a three-year deal worth $30 million to Brian Roberts, who is due to become a free agent after the season, but he wants a fourth year.
Phillies: Are reportedly interested in signing Ty Wigginton to serve as a backup at second and third base.
Red Sox: Have reportedly made a formal offer to Jason Varitek.
Tigers: Agreed to a one-year deal with Brandon Lyon.

Also, Sean Casey has decided to retire and take a job with the MLB Network. It's starting to sound like a fair number of free agents would make more money working in TV than playing baseball.

In Friday's Mug, I mentioned that Elijah Dukes was due to be arrested if he didn't pay over $40,000 in owed child support that day. Dukes paid up and avoided jail.

That's all for today. Drink up.

2009 First Base: It's fan-tastic!

SC — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:56:44 -0000

Sun via Yahoo:

Pitching and catching remain the biggest needs for the Baltimore Orioles, but there are some questions to be answered at first base as well according to the Baltimore Sun.
The club could install Aubrey Huff, who started 23 games at first last year, as the team's everyday first baseman. They also have had trade discussions to fill the vacancy, with the Texas Rangers' Hank Blalock among their targets. Kevin Millar, their everyday first baseman last season, Eric Hinske, Doug Mientkiewicz and Sean Casey are among the free-agent options. Slugger Adam Dunn, who has hit 40 or more home runs for five straight seasons, is also a free-agent option, though his price would probably have to come down significantly for the Orioles to get involved in the bidding.

"We did not allow this to sidetrack our other endeavors," MacPhail said. "We're focusing on our pitching and catching primarily at this point."

Pitching = Mark Hendrickson

Catching = totally unimportant, find someone that can handle the position defensively and hopefully hit his weight until you bring Wieters up

It disgusts me that we're talking about Kevin Millar (.234/.323/.394), Hank Blalock (.287/.338/.508 in 65 games), Eric Hinske (.247/.333/.465), Doug f***ing Mientkiewicz (.277/.374/.379 in 225 AB) and Sean motherf***ing Casey (.322/.381/.392 in 199 AB) as everyday first base options for 2009, while we say that Adam Dunn (.236/.386/.513, and healthy as a horse every single year) is "too expensive" in a butt ugly free agent market where he's really not that pricey at all.

It's astounding the lack of progress we're making on the free agent front. The eggs are almost entirely in the farm system basket -- we're counting on ALL of these guys to pan out, basically, if this is the sort of free agent player the O's are going to be under MacPhail. The offer to Teixeira was a joke -- let's call a spade a spade there. They put in an offer and never budged on it for the sake of a public that was in love with the idea of Maryland-born Mark Teixeira coming to crack the code and save us. We were never in the running. The Royals could've made the same offer if they'd felt like it.

I know you have to patch holes, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't have a firm belief in ANY front office at the Warehouse. I'm trusting Andy MacPhail, but it's a cautious trust. The problem I'm seeing is this division is not going to get worse any time soon. The Yankees are going to make a load of money every year and spend it on the team. The Red Sox develop and spend at the same time, and do both quite effectively. The Rays have a lot of years left on that team, probably, and a front four of Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, James Shields and David Price could be terrifying for many, many seasons.

2009 is another fifth place finish. We all know that. And I've said before that saying rebuilding is OK is one thing -- watching rebuilding happen, the struggle of it all and the seemingly futile daily grind, is another thing entirely. It wasn't pretty to watch after a while last year. It won't be pretty this year, either.

What past that? These young players (Jones, Wieters, Tillman, Matusz, Arrieta especially) have to work out. If they don't, then a whole lot of other guys who are worse bets at becoming impact players have to work out. That's hard, man. And if the team doesn't win or doesn't expand its budget, free agents still aren't going to come here.

I've had this feeling burrowing in my gut for this entire offseason. I don't really like the direction we're headed, and it's not even so much the direction or MacPhail's vision. Developing young talent is not THE ONLY THING that has to drastically change under Dandy Andy's watch. The buck doesn't stop there. If the franchise thinks it does, another decade of this mess is on the horizon.

Yeah, I know.