SB Nation - Mike Sweeney

80-76, Quick Game Notes

Jeff — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:57:31 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Teacher: Billy! What happened to you! Ruiz: Yes, Billy, what happened to you? Billy: I FELL

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Not a lot to say, and not a lot of desire to say it on a beautiful afternoon. We lost. Oh no.

Ryan Rowland-Smith is probably mad at himself for letting the win get away from him, but truth be told, I don't know that he should've been out there to start the eighth in the first place. He'd already thrown 104 pitches through seven innings, and though that's fewer than he threw in each of his previous five starts, by the same token, that's an awful lot of labor on a guy who already missed a chunk of time and doesn't exactly have the most durable track record. Plus, there was nothing but righties due up. RRS admitted that he ran out of gas in that final inning, and as far as I know it wasn't until John McDonald doubled that Wak even got someone up in the bullpen. A tough way to spoil an otherwise effective and pretty typical start.

Wak's choice of arms in the bullpen didn't win him any fans, either - Miguel Batista wound up pitching, with Garrett Olson warming up. I doubt he would've done that in an important game, but it's still never pleasant to see. Why Olson didn't come in when Adam Lind pinch-hit is beyond me. I'm a fan of Wakamatsu, but that eighth inning left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'd like to hear his explanation for why he managed it the way he did.

It's really fun to hate Miguel Batista, and I'm right there with you, but you know why he's been able to make so much money? Because sometimes he throws pitches like this.

The first one - the Felix one - you saw a few days ago. The Batista one is from this afternoon, and PITCHfx clocked it at 97mph. Miguel Batista is like old Felix if you take away old Felix's slider, curveball, and change.

The first time we saw a Mariner do that crotch chop thing, we assumed it was vulgar in nature. Recently Geoff Baker's posted a bunch of material trying to trace it back to more wholesome Japanese origin. Today, when Mike Sweeney returned to the dugout after his home run, the gesture was accompanied by a clearly audible "suck my dick". I don't know if today was just a joke after the team caught wind of the discussion or something, but at least one time now it has been unequivocally juvenile.

Kenji Johjima has very quietly raised his batting line to .251/.298/.413, and his nine home runs would put him on a 21-homer pace over 600 PAs. What the team is going to do about him this offseason remains a mystery, but as of this writing he is almost certainly the best catcher in the organization.

WEDNESDAY HALOLINKS: Erick Aybar Delivers

WiHaloFan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:49:30 -0000

by Chris Carlson - AP

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Up next for Angels: Wednesday vs. Seattle -- latimes.com
Ian Snell vs. Jered Weaver

Aybar has clutch hit to save Fuentes - OCRegister.com
Manager Mike Scioscia decided to stick to the bullpen's roles and summoned left-handed closer Brian Fuentes. Mike Sweeney hit a tying home run to center and Scioscia yanked Fuentes in favor of Jason Bulger as boos rained down from a segment of the 37,725 fans. That was a far cry from the way the previous Angels lefty was treated.

Aybar's RBI single leads Angels past Mariners - USATODAY.com
More than 90 feet after the game ended, Erick Aybar was still sprinting around second base with his arms flapping. Running away from some celebrating teammates and toward another pack, he looked like a striker who had just scored a World Cup-winning goal. His Los Angeles Angels have been putting soccer-style numbers on the scoreboard all too often lately, yet they're still finding ways to stay on top of the AL West.

Mariners-Angels Preview - FOX Sports on MSN
The AL West-leading Angels try to improve to 6-0 all-time at home with Weaver on the mound against the Mariners when the division rivals continue a three-game set Wednesday night.

Team Reports - CBSSports.com
Going into Tuesday's game, the Angels led the majors with a .301 batting average with runners in scoring position -- that was a full 16 points higher than anyone else in baseball and 38 points higher than the major league average. But that statistic has been on a steady decline recently with the team struggling in the clutch. The Angels were hitless in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position Tuesday before Erick Aybar's game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning.

Team Reports II - CBSSports.com
RHP Kevin Jepsen might have emerged as the answer to the Angels' setup problems. After a scoreless eighth inning Tuesday, Jepsen had a 1.50 ERA (five earned runs in 30 innings) with 12 holds in 12 chances since July 1.

It's All-Opinions Day - Angels Unplugged - Los Angeles Times
The situation with shaky Brian Fuentes isn't that he has been overworked. It might be that he hasn't had enough work lately . . . Either way, this is definitely now a major problem for Scioscia . . .

Alot of good stuff at angelsbaseball.com today...

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips - 09.08.09: Angels take 10 to fly past the Mariners - angelsbaseball.com
Daily Recap: Mike Sweeney homered to lead-off the ninth to tie the game at 2 before Erick Aybar won it in the tenth for the Angels

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips - SEA@LAA: Halos walk off in the 10th on Aybar's single - angelsbaseball.com
Erick Aybar chops a single up the middle and Bobby Abreu scores to give the Angels the extra-inning walk-off win over the Mariners

The All-Time 9 - angelsbaseball.com: Fan Forum
The All-Time 9 What's your dream lineup of Angels? It's time for you to decide. Vote for the best single-season hitting performances by position in Angels history.

Figgins dressed to the nines - angelsbaseball.com: News
The numbers have aligned themselves nicely for Figgins all season long, giving him his first All-Star Game nod. Free of injuries for the first time since 2006, he has busted out with a career year, improving across the board in almost every category offensively while putting himself in contention for a Rawlings Gold Glove with his spectacular play at third base.

Weaver among Angels' MVPs - angelsbaseball.com: News
The Angels have had more than their share of Most Valuable Player candidates bubble to the surface this season, from Torii Hunter to Chone Figgins to Bobby Abreu to Kendry Morales. Jered Weaver probably won't appear on any official American League MVP ballots, but a case can be made that he's been as valuable as any of his teammates.

It's time to jump on the Rangers' bandwagon - FOX Sports on MSN
If you're a fan of meaningful September baseball, if you're a fan of teams returning to the playoffs after a decade drought, if you're a fan of pretty much anyone other than the Angels and Red Sox, then I predict you will be a fan of the Texas Rangers. For the next few weeks, at least.

Insider Subscribers Postseason Tickets - angelsbaseball.com: Tickets
angelsbaseball.com Insider Subscribers are given priority, subject to availability, to order Postseason tickets, after Season Seat Holders and after Mini-Plan buyers but before the general public, for select 2009 Postseason Angels games played at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

If you're planning on going to any of this season's play-off games, you might want to check that out.

September 9 - BR Bullpen
Events, births and deaths that occurred on September 9.
1965 - The Angels waive Lou Clinton and both the Indians and the Athletics claim him. Since the rule on waivers is that the team lowest in the standings gets first dibs, Clinton joins the Athletics. He arrives in mid-game and appears as a pinch-hitter, striking out, as California beats the A's, 7 - 2. He and the Athletics then learned after the game that Clinton has been awarded to the Indians because the Athletics' claim was filed after the 24-hour claiming period had expired. Charlie Finley knew this before Clinton reported to the Athletics, but manager Haywood Sullivan, fed up with Finley's second-guessing, didn't answer the telephone during the game, and therefore didn't find out.
1970 - California's Alex Johnson becomes the 3rd player in history to put one into the CF bleachers at Comiskey Park when he connects in the 6th against Chicago's Billy Wynne in a 2 - 1 loss in eight innings.
1989 - California's Devon White steals four bases including 2B, 3B, and home in the same inning in the Angels 8 - 5 win over Boston. The Angels score three in the 8th to break a tie.

Poll

Brian Fuentes...

... should not be the closer.

117 votes

...just had a bad day.

178 votes

295 votes | Poll has closed

Erick Aybar Walk Off Single Beats M's in Extras

Rev Halofan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:24:40 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

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Final Score in Anaheim: Los Angeles Angels 3, Seattle Mariners 2

After closer Brian Fuentes choked up a beautiful pitching performance by Scott Kazmir, the Angels bats finally awoke in the bottom of the 10th. Matt Palmer was the pitcher of record and got his 10th win of the season. The Angels were almost 0 for 10 with Runners in scoring position when Erick Aybar singled home Bobby Abreu, who had led off the 10th inning with his 10th extra inning hit in the past 10 somethings. It was Aybar's 52nd RBI of the season, 2 more than Mike Napoli has all year.

Kaz was denied his first Angels victory after pitching brilliantly, allowing only 1 run, a solo homer to the 2nd batter of the game. After 7 innings of 3-hit ball, Kevin Jepsen had a quick 8th inning, but the Fuentesaurus looked absolutely lost, yielding a monster blast to Center Field to Mike Sweeney and then walking two of the next three batters. Scioscia came and got him and Jason Bulger put out the fire, and as sweet as it was for Palmer, Kaz showed off something special to Angels fans.

Bibby Abreu scored the wining run and was at the plate to drive in the other 2, one on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly and the other on an error by Seattle Shortstop Jack Wilson.

But don't get the impression that there was a lot of Wood in this game. It was yet another night of dominated Angels bats, understandable of late with 3 of the past 6 games has been 2 servings of Queen Felix and 1 of Zach Greinke, but at some point, Maicer Izturis and Vlad Guerrero really should take a pitch with men on base. Chone Figgins made a routing error and could really, really use a day off, although he walked twice on a hitless night. The Rangers swept a doubleheader in Cleveland and trail the Angels by 4.5 games.

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Total Users: 113
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Total Threads: 4

Poll

Panther of the Game

Scott Kazmir

268 votes

Bobby Abreu

11 votes

Erick Aybar

89 votes

368 votes | Poll has closed

Meet: Justin Huber

Jesse — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:45:54 -0000

It's always fun watching new guys.

If you check out the page with the Twins' active roster page, you'll find the latest addition: one Justin Huber, infielder, number 19. Welcome back to the bigs, Mr. Huber.

Huber was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Mets back in 2000, as a catcher. He made his professional debut the following summer, playing 47 of his 52 games for Kingsport, New York's rookie league squad. Just 18, he batted an impressive .314/.415/.528 with 17 walks against 42 strikeouts.

The next summer, 2002, the Mets started him in A-ball. He complimented good power for a guy his age (and at his position) with good strike zone judgement and more than a adequate penchant for taking a walk, and he followed up a brilliant rookie year with a .291/.408/.470 campaign. After 95 games there he was promoted to high-A ball, where his numbers weren't as impressive but still showed a lot of promise for a 19-year old kid: .270/.370/.400 in 28 games. The power had disappeared, but it was only an outage, not a cut.

Starting at high-A St. Lucie in '03 he picked up where he left off, and was promoted to double-A halfway through the season after posting an .884 OPS. A good but unimpressive stint there meant he would start a second cosecutive season in St. Lucie in '04, but that lasted all of 13 games. By July of 2004 the 21-year old Huber (22 by the time he got there) was getting his first taste of triple-A. That stint lastest three games, as he was traded to the Royals at the deadline (for Jose Bautista of all people). Unfortunately for Huber (and the Royals), torn cartilage in his knee ended his summer. He went under the knife, and as a result his career as a catcher came to an end.

If there were any adverse effects the following year, Huber didn't show them. Starting in double-A for the Royals, the 22-year old now-first baseman raked. The patience was there, as were his raw hitting skills, but the best news was that he displayed the power that he'd shown throughout his first few years in the minors. It was exactly how you'd want a guy like Huber to perform following a surgery. Over 88 games he belted a .343/.432/.570 line in 335 at-bats, notching 16 homers, 22 doubles and 51 walks. It couldn't get much better than that, and he was promoted to Kansas City's triple-A squad (.274/.374/.531) before getting called up to the majors for the first time.

In his age-22 season, Justin was 23 by the time he saw his first plate appearance for the Royals, but he was exactly on-track for where a hitter of his abilities should have been. Sadly, back in 2005 professional softball player Matt Stairs was getting most of the time at first base for the Royals. Stairs wasn't exactly an offensive threat, but with Mike Sweeney in the midst of his last productive year of his career to date, Stairs actually led the team's qualifying hitters with a .373 OBP. I can understand how the Royals wanted him in the lineup, but he was 37. For whatever reason, Huber was only awarded 85 plate appearances that year, and he struggled.

Over the next two seasons, Huber's OPS at triple-A would be solid (.838 in '06, .853 in '07), but he only saw 21 plate appearances with the Royals in that span. Doug Mientkiewicz and newly-acquired slugging pospect Ryan Shealy saw most of the time at first base in the former, while Shealy and Ross Gload bogarted the time in the latter. So as for the reason why Huber never had a chance, I have no answer.

In March of 2008 the Padres purchased the contract of Huber, where he managed to hit his first major league career home run off of Randy Johnson. He was granted free agency following the season, and joined the Twins.

It's been another typical season for Huber at triple-A, hitting a "pedestrian" .273/.354/.483 with 22 homers, 22 doubles and 49 walks in 439 at-bats. His wOBA? An impressive .361. In his age-26 season, Huber is about to see time with his fourth franchise and should get another opportunity to get his long overdue major league career off the ground.

Since 2006 Huber has been shifted between first base and the outfield defensively, while maintaining very good power numbers. His isolated power has consistently scored out higher than .200 in the minor leagues with few aberrations, including this summer with Rochester (.209).

There's a lot of raw hitting talent about to be sitting on Minnesota's bench tonight, and although he hasn't really shown anything at the major league level so far, he hasn't really been given a decent chance. Huber could be seen as just "another one of those guys", in the mold of a Garrett Jones or Randy Ruiz, and I wouldn't blame you for thinking that. But his potential for plate discipline and ability to consistently adapt to better competition as he came up through the minors gives me hope for something better.

Welcome to the Twins, Mr. Huber.

Kazmir Nuggets

rghan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:47:41 -0000

Some observations from Scott Kazmir's debut:

His heater averaged a kickass 92.5 mph on the night, up from a 90.7 mph on the season with Tampa. That bodes very well for the near-term future.
Did anyone else notice that Kazmir was able to harness a little extra juice to get himself out of the first inning jam? After loading the bases on fastballs averaging 92.2 mph, he threw a sequence of 12 bullets averaging 94.3 mph to fan Mike Sweeney, Adrian Beltre, and Bill Hall.
Kaz' average fastball velocity dipped all the way to 90.3 mph in the sixth, hinting that he was running out of gas. It picked up a tick in the 7th- the pitch that Bill Hall whacked off the wall registered 92.9 on the gun - but did fatigue play a role in pitch location despite the fact that Kaz could still put a little extra on it? Look for any drops in velocity beginning in the fifth inning.
Not one offspeed pitch resulted in a hit. According to fangraphs, Kazmir threw 20% sliders and 11% changeups on the night. According to mlb pitch f/x, the mix was 19%/19% respectively. The confusion, at least as far as sliders/change-ups were concerned, was backed visually: I could not for the life of me distinguish which was which, no matter how many times I watched the same pitch. It could also just be the camera angle, because I've had trouble identifying a lefty's pitch type before on television. Regardless, you can't argue with the results.

72-65, Quick Game Notes

Jeff — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:45:54 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

OH GOD NOT AGAIN

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Maybe if I write really fast people won't notice that this is how I spent my Saturday night.

When I went through the PITCHfx data and saw that Luke French threw 63% strikes, I could hardly believe it, because I could've sworn he threw a lot more balls. Turns out maybe he should've, because the strikes he threw got pounded. Though I thought he was a lot better than his results the last time out, today he was awful - just awful - to the point that even the A's made him pay. Slider? Fine. Fastball? Kept missing. Change? Practically non-existant. How does a guy with French's fastball throw 37 pitches to righties and only five changeups?

A step back for a guy whose spot in next year's rotation is in no way guaranteed. While he's not a bad pitcher, I'd wager he doesn't have anyone's confidence right now, and that confidence won't come until he starts getting better results.

Jason Vargas, meanwhile - welcome back. Vargas was good with Tacoma, came up, had his ups and downs, went back to Tacoma, was good, then came up again. Tonight he worked in relief of French and threw 2.1 perfect innings, flashing more of that changeup I love so much (five thrown, three swinging strikes). I think it's a product of having spent so much of my life surrounded by praise for Jamie Moyer and Trevor Hoffman, but the changeup is my favorite pitch, so I love having a guy like Vargas who can use it whenever he wants to great effect. French may very well wash out. Garrett Olson may never improve. Vargas, though, I think is good enough to pitch in the bigs for a pretty long time, even if he doesn't get any better.

Rank of Michael Wuertz's swinging strike rate among all relievers:

2009: 1st
2008: 22nd
2007: 4th
2006: 1st
2005: 3rd

Seems like the Cubs could've used something like a ZiPS projection before trading him for pocket change. Wuertz has often been accused of falling in love with his slider, but considering his slider is literally the most unhittable slider in baseball, I think he can be forgiven, and if the A's handle this right, they'll be able to use him to trade for a lot more than they originally gave up.

Of the two feel-good stories we've plugged in at DH, I never expected Mike Sweeney to be the one to catch fire down the stretch. His homer today was longer than any Jose Lopez has hit all season.

I can't find an exact count, but on only something like 120 occasions has a player ever struck out five times in a game. BIll Hall just wants to be remembered.

Since he got so close today and I don't think I'm going to be around tomorrow, let's get this out of the way - congratulations, Ichiro, on reaching 2000 career hits. 2000 career Major League hits, anyway. People will always bring up his Japanese stats and some will insist that their exclusion is insulting, but the Japanese (A) don't play in the Major Leagues, and (B) don't play at a Major League level, so for our purposes, those stats are meaningless. What does hit #2000 mean? Nothing, really, at least nothing more than hit #1999 or hit #2001, but America loves a big round number as much as it loves its big round people, and to get there in fewer than nine seasons is one of those things that I don't think we're going to appreciate in full until Ichiro's gone.

We all take Ichiro for granted. Every single one of us. Let his big day be the one day we try - just try - to understand how extraordinary he really is.

Miguel Batista : Mariners :: appendix : humans. He doesn't serve a critical purpose and all he ever does is make you hurt.

Kazmir is Awesome; Angels Still Lose, 3 to 0

rghan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:16:05 -0000

More photos » by John Froschauer - AP

3 months ago: Los Angeles Angels' Scott Kazmir pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Seattle on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. Kazmir was making his debut with the Angels. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

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First things first: the Halos' new acquisition, Scott Kazmir, went six and third strong innings, giving up only one run on three hits and a walk while striking out eight. He threw up nothing but goose eggs until the seventh, when he issued a leadoff walk to Mike Sweeney before grooving a 93 mph fastball two batters later that Bill Hall lined off the leftfield wall. Sweeney came all the way around to score.

Kevin Jepsen relieved Kazmir, only to watch Hall steal third and take home on a throwing error by Napoli and a missed scoop by Figgins. The Halos avoided further damage that inning when Jepsen induced a DP groundball that Izturis initially booted, then recovered to flip to Aybar, who barehanded the catch, hurdled the oncoming baserunner, and made a strong midair throw to complete the 4-6-3 double play.

An inning later, Brian Fuentes walked in a run. He struck out two of the six men he faced, but yielded a tough-luck infield single, a double, and an intentional walk before the self-inflicted humiliation. Scioscia pulled him before he could finish the eighth.

The Halos offense never showed up, managing just four hits and three walks in eight innings against a very tough Felix Hernandez. Their best scoring opportunity came in the third with a single by Mike Napoli and walks from Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu. With two outs, Hernandez threw Torii Hunter four straight fastballs, blowing the last one by him at 93 mph.

With the Texas Rangers victory over the Blue Jays, the Angels' lead in the standings has been cut to a mere 3.5 games. They led the division by 6 at the close of play Monday night. The Halos are now a disconcerting 18 and 23 against AL West opponents.

Poll

Blame of the Game

Torii Hunter - 0 for 4 with 2 K's. Struck out with the bases loaded. Left 5 men on base on the night.

375 votes

Vlad Guerrero - 0 for 3 and left 1 on base.

27 votes

Brian Fuentes - Just because he sucked.

79 votes

Scott Kazmir - For not being absolutely perfect.

47 votes

528 votes | Poll has closed

A Thought

Jeff — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:52:10 -0000

Ken Griffey Jr. has what many consider to be among the finest-looking swings of his generation. It's a swing synonymous with Mariner baseball, a swing smoother than an unfolded emergency survival blanket and a swing after which couples name their children. Through five months of the season, he's hitting .221/.329/.399 with a .322 wOBA.

Mike Sweeney swings like someone just blew an air horn. Through five months of the season, he's hitting .262/.316/.417 with a .315 wOBA.

Having pretty swing mechanics can be useful, but it's separated from actual production by so many levels as to be borderline irrelevant. Provided a guy surpasses a minimum level of acceptability in that regard, it seems to me the only real concern should be the speed with which the bat clears the zone.

Today's Fun Fact

Jeff — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:17:05 -0000

Information on yesterday's six home runs, via HitTracker.com:

		Impact Due To
Player	Distance	Wind	Temperature	Elevation	Standard Distance
Inge	398	8	1	1	388
Raburn	391	4	1	1	385
Branyan	439	-12	2	2	445
Lopez	392	-3	1	0	393
Sweeney	360	0	2	3	356
Johjima	354	-24	2	2	372

The Sweeney distance comes as no surprise - that thing was weak, and he hit it with a broken bat (of course, if the bat were broken prior to the swing, one wonders how far the ball would've gone with a normal bat instead). The Branyan distance isn't surprising, either, because that's just how Russell Branyan hits his home runs. No, the real shocker here is Kenji Johjima. Like many, I thought his home run looked a little suspect...

"Two were wind-blown and would’ve been outs any other day," Washburn said. "Unfortunately, those still count."

...but if these numbers are to be believed, that fly ball was actually pushed back, rather than pushed out, and by a significant margin.

I had no idea. Kenji really does get the last laugh.

An Assortment Of Thoughts

Jeff — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:58:26 -0000

Note: if you missed it, check out Matthew's July pitcher report card below.

When the Ms. is gone, I need things to do, and tonight my thing to do is write.

The Mariners are approaching a dicey situation, where Felix Hernandez only has two remaining years of team control after this one and will be in line for a big pay raise in the winter. It's a situation that could've been avoided had the team earlier signed him to an extension, but as much as Bavasi liked to say "it takes two to tango" (implying that he was open to an extension but Felix was not), the blame for this shouldn't fall on Felix's camp. Felix has always been open to signing an extension with the Mariners. Always. And Bavasi approached him and his agent on a handful of occasions. Bavasi, however, lowballed him with offers to buy out his arbitration years and get options for his first few years of free agency. It would be one thing if Felix turned down reasonable contracts, but Bavasi got frustrated because Felix wouldn't sign for pennies on the dollar. Don't get mad at Felix. Every player deserves the right to a fair contract. It's Bavasi's fault our ace never got one.

Mark Lowe through June 25th: 61% strikes, 8% swinging strikes, 1.7 K/BB
Mark Lowe since June 28th: 63% strikes, 12% swinging strikes, 4.0 K/BB

I've said a lot of negative things about Mark Lowe this year, mostly lamenting the fact that his results weren't matching his excellent stuff, but lately he's picked it up a notch and turned himself into a reliable late-inning arm. While he's not getting hitters to chase a lot of balls, and it's only a sample size of 15.2 innings, this is an encouraging bit of progress.

Jose Lopez is up to a .767 OPS with a .277 BABIP. He hits the worst home runs on the team, but homers are homers, and he's starting to look like a little bit of a power hitter. For as down as some people were on Lopez last winter, now I'm seeing him as a bargain. A bargain who could top out at any moment, but a bargain nonetheless.

A few times I've described Jack Hannahan as a hitter whose overall value is less than the sum of his parts. When you watch him hit, he looks really good, and it's only when you see his numbers that you realize how much of a problem he really is. That said, he's at .264/.344/.415 since coming over from Oakland, and if I didn't know any better I'd almost suggest that he's halfway decent. In a way it's almost too bad that Beltre's going to be back so soon, because I feel like, who knows, maybe when a hitter has the fundamentals down like Hannahan seems to, things can just click overnight.

A little while ago I decided to run through what PITCHf/x information we have on Luke French's five big league starts. Here's what I came up with after a little tinkering:

Pitch %Thrown %Strike %SwS

Fastball 60.6 63.0 3.8

Slider 25.6 74.1 28.6

Change 13.7 50.0 8.3

Now, you should know that the sample size on this stuff is pretty small. Only a total of 437 pitches in there. But what we can tell is that French's big money pitch is his slider, and his fastball is pretty bad. We'll see on the change. I'm not comfortable jumping to conclusions based on an n of 60, and given that French posted a 4.2 K/BB against AAA righties earlier this year, I imagine his change is better than these numbers make it look. But who knows.

It's both interesting and encouraging to see French having such good results on his slider early on, because that's the pitch that's made all the difference between the Luke French of before and the Luke French of 2009. French didn't really throw a slider for a while. He only started throwing it in late 2008, and previously his K/9 in the minors had stabilized around the low- to mid-5's. He was even eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason and didn't get selected. By throwing the slider and becoming comfortable with it, though, French was able to push his K/9 in AAA up to 7.9 before getting promoted. So while his performance this year looks anomalous, there's a reason for it. French picked up a new pitch, and it turned him into a legitimate pitcher.

I'm looking forward to seeing him. My expectations aren't high, and he has a really low ceiling, but I think he can succeed here, and I think he can succeed here for a long time.

I mentioned this in the game thread yesterday, but Jack Wilson has the same problem as me, where the goatee part of his beard is visibly thicker than the rest. It sounds stupid but once you notice it the first time it's all you can see in the mirror. It's annoying. We just want to be even. Now my beard's pretty thick, and I think he's got it a little worse, but it's more than a little disconcerting when you realize that part of your face looks like part of Jack Wilson's.

I'm going to take off my sabermetric hat for a minute and put it down on the desk. Today we saw Chris Shelton get DFA'd to make roster room for Luke French while Mike Sweeney remained on the team. Shelton, of course, is the better hitter of the two. I don't think there's really any question. Sweeney's got a .287 wOBA on the year and he doesn't have much in the way of home run power, while Shelton's come in at .391 in Tacoma with a dozen dingers. When you have a roster spot dedicated to a straight-up right-handed bat, you'd think the right move would be to give that spot to the best option available.

However, as far as this move is concerned, I'm on the team's side, and for three reasons:

(1) In terms of competing for the playoffs, the season is over
(2) Shelton is 29 years old and not a prospect
(3) Sweeney is rather obviously one of, if not the most well-liked player on the team

Because of point #1, it doesn't really matter who's better, because wins now are less important than they would've been two or three months ago. And because of point #2, there's no reason to treat Shelton like some sort of great unknown or valuable youngster with a bright future with the team. He's a known entity and he's not about to get any better.

So we're left with point #3. I know in the past I've come down hard on people who've made a big deal out of clubhouse chemistry, but this is a different and specific situation. Keep Shelton and DFA Sweeney and there's no real benefit. You might score an extra two or three runs over the rest of the year, but that's it, and those runs aren't going to get you much. Maybe a meaningless win. By DFA'ing Sweeney, though, you're left having to explain to the team why you just got rid of everyone's best friend. Sweeney occupies a central role in the Mariner clubhouse. I think that much is pretty clear. And I guarantee you - I guarantee you - that if the team cut Sweeney, the players wouldn't understand. They wouldn't understand, and they'd be upset.

My position on clubhouse chemistry is the same as that of a bunch of other people - given two players, with all other things being equal, you pick the guy who's more likable. Because, while we can't evaluate the effect of chemistry, there's no reason to go against it if you don't have to. Here, there's no reason to go against it. Here, all other things are pretty much equal. Because the tangible production we get out of this particular roster spot no longer means anything. I don't want to see Mike Sweeney in a Mariner uniform in 2010 - and the same goes for Junior - but for these final two months of 2009, I have absolutely no problem with keeping them around. They're going to do more good than harm.

Pitch	%Thrown	%Strike	%SwS
Fastball	60.6	63.0	3.8
Slider	25.6	74.1	28.6
Change	13.7	50.0	8.3