SB Nation - Yuniesky Betancourt

Who Was Your Least Favorite Royal of 2009?

royalsreview — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:37:10 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

7 months ago: Kansas City Royals right fielder Jose Guillen can't catch the ball as Los Angeles Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick (47) hits an inside-the-park home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, May 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Lori Shepler)

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Despite Zack Greinke's greatness, nobody really liked the 2009 Royals. Dayton made a number of bizarre signings during the off-season, then responded with even stranger ones in-season.

So who was your least favorite Royal of 2009?

The Nominees:

Kyle Farnsworth: A brilliant symbol of both Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman's weaknesses. Signed to a 2 year/$9 million dollar contract in the off-season that everyone hated. Was inexplicably named the setup-man/8th inning guy on Opening Day Eve by Hillman. Everyone thought this was insane. Farnsy gave up game-losing bomb the next day. Hey continued to fail until he was demoted, then he went on a long scoreless innings streak. Farnsworth ended up posting his lowest HR/9 numbers in ages, and still was below average.

Mike Jacobs: Jacobs didn't replicate his career year, another stroke of terrible luck to befall Dayton Moore. Gloriously managed a sub-.300 OBP. Could not handle the easiest position on the field. Frequently swung hard. Chewed gigantic amounts of tobacco while at the plate.

Jose Guillen: Ended the debate about his suckitude by achieving near perfect negative value. Hit .242/.314/.367 with absolutely horrific defense. Showed tremendous ability to turn fly ball outs into home runs for the other team. Has potential to unknowingly play a key role in the next game-fixing scandal. Hated by half the teams in the game. Contract is among worst in professional sports. Bonus status as the captain of Dayton's Awful Ex-Mariners Team.

Josh Anderson: Acquired by Dayton Moore in July for no apparent reason. Anderson had not hit before and he did not hit as a Royal, posting a .237/.268/.288. (Let's be fair, he has the ability to post a .280 OBP in full-time action.) Was a favorite late-game toy of Hillman. Does not appear to have blood.

Yuniesky Betancourt: Mysteriously picked up by Dayton Moore mid-season. Has no apparent strengths as a player. Has bizarre name. Costs much more than the minimum salary. Played key role in letting fans know that team is run by people who are ... ah, what's the point?

Willie Bloomquist: St. Willie turned in the greatest .265/.308/.355 season by a guy without a position in history. This was the Dayton Moore move that "worked" and .308 OBP, in Royalsville, is nothing to sneeze at.

Ryan Freel: Owning a .140/.275/.140 line with the Orioles & Cubs, Freel was acquired by Moore leading up to the trade deadline. Absolutely tore the cover off the ball as a Royal (.244/.306/.289) and told many fantastic stories about how he avoided the Vietnam War.

Jamey Wright: Could not sustain 0.00 ERA through first five minutes as a Royal, in more bad luck. Although quickly earning trusted status in Hillman's bullpen, posted a 4.90 ERA in next 57 games. Appeared in tie games constantly (13). Actually, he just appeared constantly.

Tony Pena Jr: Took epic failure of 2008 to a new level in 2009, posting an incredible .098/.132/.118 line. Played crucial role in delivering the Yuni-Bomb to Kansas City. Amazing shift to a pitching career, a move straight out of a message board if there ever was one, hurts his hate-ability however.

Sidney Ponson: Provided Royals with valuable depth in 2009: you can never have enough bad pitchers. Poison pill contract and fate led to him starting the 2009 Home Opener, the opening of the newly renovated K. Against the Yankees. Surprised fans with better than expected 7.36 ERA.

Horacio Ramirez: Ho-Ram's ex-Brave, ex-Mariner, ex-mildly surprising 2008 move that sorta worked out status, earned him another contract and $1.8 million from Dayton Moore. Sucked from the beginning and was gone by early June. He'll be back.

Free Agent Profile: Miguel Tejada

davoag — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:13 -0000

by Alex Brandon - AP

The market for Tejada will be tough to ascertain.

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Lots to talk about since the last time we looked at the free agency market. In this profile of what kind of deal Miguel Tejada may get, I thought it prudent to look at two important facts. First, how much will the Astros have available to spend?

If, as Wade said, the Astros will reduce payroll in 2010, that means their number will be lower than the 102 million they spent on Opening Day 2009. How much less is up for debate. After arbitration raises to Hunter Pence, Wandy Rodriguez and others, the Astros will have about 80 million committed already in 2010. Assuming the Astros lop 12 million off last year's number, that leaves them with 10 million to spend. Seems about right, doesn't it?

It's still what we've been projecting as their available room since the offseason began, before Wade confirmed it was the case. We'll get to my theory on how much Tejada will cost, but that's not a lot of money to spend to fill a couple of glaring holes.

The second thing to look at is the current market for third baseman. It may not be a foregone conclusion that Tejada will have to switch positions, his bat seems to fit more in line with the corner of the infield market. Of that list, Tejada is probably not going to get the richest deal and possibly not the third-richest deal. I still think he commands a good chunk of change, though. The question is, does it make more sense for the Astros to spend on Tejada or a guy like Pedro Feliz? Just some things to think about when looking at last winter...

The Shortstops

Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers

Contract Details: 3 years, 30 million (09-6.5m, 10-8.5m, 11-12m, 12-12m option)

Notes: Furcal entered last year's market after totaling just 164 plate appearances. Still, the then-31-year old posted a wOBA of .440 and a UZR/150 of -15.2. The Dodgers still rewarded Furcal with the richest contract any shortstop earned last winter. Furcal's defense has been all over the boards the past couple of years, but I think it's safe to say conventional wisdom shows he's was better defensively heading into last offseason than Tejada is now. Consider this contract the upper boundary of what Tejada can expect.

Nick Punto, Minnesota Twins

Contract Details: 2 years, 8.5 million (09-4.25m, 10-4.25m, 11-5m option)

Notes: The 30-year old got this contract coming off a season where he played 99 games. Punto hit pretty decently when he did play, posting a wOBA of .324 and had a UZR/150 of 17.9. Punto is a much better fielder than Tejada, but can't hit nearly as well. He's also younger, but couldn't get more than a two-year deal in last year's market.

Orlando Cabrera, Oakland A's

Contract Details: 1 year, 4 million

Notes: Cabrera couldn't have illustrated the plight of Type A free agents any better. With no team willing to give up draft picks for a 34-year old shortstop coming off a season where he posted a wOBA of .316 with excellent defense (by all accounts). Obviously, Cabrera falls into the same situation as Punto. Both players were good defense, bad bat types, which makes them the exact opposite of Tejada. Still, it may be hard for Tejada to get more than a one-year deal this winter.

Cesar Izturis, Baltimore Orioles

Contract Details: 2 years, 5 million (09-2.4m, 10-2.6m)

Notes: Another good defensive shortstop that posted a sub-par wOBA heading into his free agency period. Izturis got a multi-year deal and performed admirably for Baltimore. His contract is lower than the deals that Punto and Cabrera ended up with, but not for a lack of offense. In fact, the only difference tangibly between these three players is that the other two had a better defensive reputation and Izturis had a down year offensively with the Cardinals in 2008. Of course, I say 'reputation' about defense since there is not much difference in the three's defensive stats.

Edgar Renteria, San Francisco Giants

Contract Details: 2 years, 18.5 million (09-7m, 10-9.5m, 11-10.5m option)

Notes: While Renteria's defense wasn't as bad as Tejada's, at least by UZR, Renteria also didn't post as good a wOBA as Tejada's. It fits that Renteria would be the best shortstop comparable for Tejada, though by all accounts, his defense is good enough to stay at short for a little while longer. This deal, though, feels like something Tejada could end up with this winter.

The Third Basemen

Casey Blake, Los Angeles Dodgers

Contract Details: 3 years, 17.5 million (09-5m, 10-6m, 11-5.25m, 12-6m option)

Notes: Now we move into the third basemen that hit the market last winter. Blake had a great run with the Dodgers after being traded to Los Angeles and was locked up to a reasonable deal. Blake more than outperformed his contract in 2009, but his deal was the richest given to a potential third base free agent last winter. If Tejada moves to the hot corner, look for his deal to be in this range.

Ty Wigginton, Baltimore Orioles

Contract Details: 2 years, 6 million (09-2.5m, 10-3.5m)

Notes: Ahh, the dearly departed Astro, Wigginton signed with Baltimore for two years at a very reasonable 6 million. Wigginton probably was over-extended as a third baseman and only played 39 games there in 2009. Wigginton was close to as valuable offensively as Tejada but wasn't good defensively at third. Tejada's advantage over this deal is that he's moving from a premium defensive position to third, instead of moving off third like Wigginton.

The Utility Players

Ramon Vasquez, Pittsburgh Pirates

Contract Details: 2 years, 4 million (09-1.75m, 10-2m)

Notes: There is a lot of Wigginton here too, as Vasquez wasn't as good offensively as Tejada nor was he as good defensively (comparatively, that is). Still, Vasquez landed a role with the Pirates and a reasonable contract. This reminds me too much of a Geoff Blum signing instead of what Tejada will fetch.

Mark Loretta, Los Angeles Dodgers

Contract Details: 1 year, 1.25 million

Notes: At this point in his career, Loretta was going to be nothing more than a valuable addition off the bench. His contract reflects this and though he could still play third base in a pinch (Loretta played 23 games in 2009), but this is more like the contract Tejada may get in two years.

The Outlier

Willie Bloomquist, Kansas City Royals

Contract Details: 2 years, 3.1 million (09-1.4m, 10-1.7m)

Notes: Remember when we were talking about Jose Valverde? And we saw all the crazy stuff that Dayton Moore has done? Fit the Bloomquist signing into that vein. The utility player with the Mariners was given a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract and played mostly in the outfield for the Royals. This was just a weird signing all around.

Non-Free Agents of Note

Edwin Encarnacion, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays

Contract Details: 2 years, 7.6 million (09-2m, 10-4.7m)

Notes: This starts a couple of third basemen who recently signed contracts, before they get to free agency. With Encarnacion, the Reds were simply buying out a couple of arbitration years, but the numbers fit into the overall picture of what Tejada could command. Interestingly enough, the Reds traded Encarnacion to the Blue Jays mid-season for Scott Rolen.

Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves

Contract Details: 3 years, 42 million (10-13m, 11-13m, 12-13m, 13-7m option)

Notes: Jones is the outlier of all outliers, since he's a franchise icon in Atlanta and could end up in the Hall of Fame some day. The Braves couldn't have let Chipper walk out the door, but after flirting with .400, his leverage was very high to get a huge deal done. Thus, this three-year deal, averaging 13 million per. Was an aging player worth this? I'm not sure, but it's definitely going to be the contract Tejada's agent bases his sales pitches around.

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Washington Nationals

Contract Details: 5 years, 45 million (09-3.325m, 10-6.25m, 11-8.925m, 12-12m, 13-14m)

Notes: Another deal which bought out part of Zimmerman's arbitration years. This also goes for Troy Tulowitski and Ryan Braun's new deals. Zimmerman got a nice bump and quite the salary security for the next five years.

The Breaking News

Jack Wilson, SS, Seattle Mariners

Contract Details: 2 years 10 million (10-5 million, 11-5 million)

Notes: Wilson avoided free agency by agreeing to a deal with the Mariners last Friday. Wilson is nowhere near the hitter Tejada is, posting a wOBA of .286, but is much better with the glove. The Mariners acquired Wilson midway through last season to replace the departed Yuniesky Betancourt. Wilson had an 8.4 million dollar option, which the Mariners didn't have to exercise by coming to terms with him on this deal. If a more one-dimensional player like Wilson can get an average of 5 million per year, it doesn't bode well for Tejada, who may be moved to a less premium defensive position.

Forecast for Tejada

Taking into account Buster Olney's latest comments from above and the market from last season, it's safe to assume Tejada will sign for somewhere around 7 million per year for two years. Some team may be willing to up that number to around 9 or 10 million, but only over one season. I could see the White Sox possibly making a move here, but I don't see Tejada getting more than a two year deal from anyone. Not at his age nor when he'd have to most likely move positions. It's also highly unlikely any team would commit serious money to him as a shortstop, but don't rule out the Royals.

2010 UZR Projections - Updated 11/15/09

Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:46:04 -0000

Note: I posted a spreadsheet on 11/14/09 that was not age adjusted. I would prefer for people to used the new age-adjusted spreadsheet. I posted it at 9:30 MST on 11/15/09, but will be leaving the non-age-adjusted one available. Sorry for this inconvenience. --Jeff

I created UZR projections for the 2010 season and the values are available on Google Documents Spreadsheet (original non age adjusted spreadsheet). I got 4 years worth of UZR numbers from Fangraphs. Then I did a 5-4-3-2 yearly weighting regressed to 125 games with a -0.7UZR aging factor (article where the math is explained).

I selected for the worksheet any players that played in at least 63 games at the position over the last 4 years. Some retired players are included, but I don't want to make any judgment on whether they will come back and play. Also, for players who played in less than 63 games, I added their UZR value if it was greater than 1 or less than -1. Sorry for the lack of team-wide charts, but I might add them near the beginning of the season once rosters are more finalized. Please let me know if you have any questions about the data. Here are a couple charts of the projected leaders and laggards at each position (players that played that position in 2009).

Leaders

Position	Name	Projected UZR
1B	Albert Pujols	5.5
2B	Chase Utley	11.0
3B	Evan Longoria	11.0
SS	Adam Everett	8.6
RF	Austin Kearns	8.3
CF	Franklin Gutierrez	14.8
LF	Carl Crawford	9.8

Laggards (glad my Royals keep trading for such great glove men)

Position	Name	Projected UZR
1B	Mike Jacobs	-5.6
2B	Kelly Johnson	-5.2
3B	Ryan Braun	-12.4
SS	Yuniesky Betancourt	-9.7
RF	Brad Hawpe	-19.3
CF	Jacoby Ellsbury	-9.0
LF	Adam Dunn	-13.4

Help with downloading the file after the Jump

A couple of people have asked, so the spreadsheet can be downloaded by going to "File" -> "Download as" and then selecting desired file type.

2009 AL MVP Showdown: Greinke vs. Mauer vs. Mr. X, or, the Race for Second Place, or, Ken Rosenthal, Avert Your Eyes

devil_fingers — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:31:12 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

"First you say that One Man Five Tools is a better fielder than me, and now this Greinke stuff? What's next? Saying I less valuable than some utility man? Save me, Ken Rosenthal!"

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Much of the debate about the AL MVP this year (well, aside for the silly aspects of it) has focused on position players such as Joe Mauer, Kevin Youkilis, Derek Jeter, and dark horse candidate Yuniesky Betancourt. But along with a few others, I've argued (for a while now) that Zack Greinke probably deserves to win it. In light of my post on catcher defense earlier this week (andin the comments following), some people understandably thought that Joe Mauer's impressive +4.3 showing put him over the top, if he wasn't already.

Well, I hate to go Ken Rosenthal on you, but Mauer isn't the obvious choice. And by that, I mean that (on my WAR calculations) he obviously isn't the right choice for AL MVP. What isn't obvious is whether or not he's even number two...

Not This Again!

Okay, that last sentence was pretty rhetorically charged. The neat thing about Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is that people can do it in different ways -- using different pitching stats, team-adjusted linear weights or not, league adjustments, etc. What I want to do here is simply to "show my work" for the position players to back up my claim that, at least on my numbers (some of which are borrowed from FanGraphs for convenience), Greinke is the clearcut choice, and #2 isn't.

Again, Rally or others may have something different on their calculations, depending on their fielding stats, how Greinke's RA and defense comare, etc. (although my catcher defense results probably aren't that different from what his will be).

I've already shown my work for Greinke in an earlier post and the various posts on pitcher value scattered throughout this site. I want to show that I extend every courtesy to Mauer -- the same adjustments for the AL, the same run-to-win conversion, and including everything.

For Greinke, I concluded that he was worth 9.52 Wins Above Replacement this season. It's important to keep in mind that although he only saved ~85.2 runs above replacement, that pitchers effect their run environment, so they get a customized run-to-win conversion so that they are valued properly.

I'm going to use FanGraphs linear weights and positional adjustments, as I'm fine with those and they are park adjusted. However, I don't think they adjust for AL/NL differences in replacement level yet. I also think they use one run-to-win conversion for all position players. The latter isn't that big of a deal, but since I used the AL run-to-win conversion for Greinke (customized, of course), I should use it for Mauer, too.

Valuing Mauer

Let's take a look at Mauer's Value section at FanGraphs. He was an incredible +56 hitter, and gets a +5.4 positional adjustment for the time he spent at catcher and DH. For playing time ("replacement"), FanGraphs currently does +20 runs per 600 PA (I believe). To get the league adjustment right (as we did with Greinke's win %), we'll change that to +25 runs (should be 2.5 Wins, but runs is actually more generous to Mauer and more straightforward). Mauer has 606 PAs this season, for 21.64 replacement runs (I know two decimal places is silly, but I did it for Greinke...). He also gets +4.3 runs for fielding, as noted yesterday.

But, as I commented in the earlier thread (to some consternation), his baserunning wasn't great this season. People were surprised, but check out Baseball Prospectus's EqBRR for the Twins. We have to take out the stolen base runs since FanGraphs linear weights (aka wOBA) already includes that. So for Mauer, we get -3.7 EqBRR - -0.8 EqSBR = -2.9 BsR.

So, add it all together to get RAR: +56 Hitting + 4.3 Fielding - 2.9 Baserunning +5.4 Position + 21.64 replacement = 84.44 Runs Above Replacement.

That's great, but we need to convert to wins. The formula I use is from Tom Tango: (lgRA*1.5)+3. Yes, there's a PythagenPat version that is more accurate, but this is close enough and is more easy to integrate with the dynamic run-to-win conversion, and FanGraphs uses this, as well. For the AL, the lgRA is 4.75. so the Run-to-Win voncerson is about 10.13.

84.44 divided by 10.13 = 8.34 Wins Above Replacement for Joe Mauer in 2009. That's outstanding. It would be like Albert Pujols 3rd best season (off the top of my head).But it's more than a win below the 9.52 we got for Greinke. Hey, as Buzz Aldrin might say, second comes right next to first...

But wait...

Mr. X

Mr. X. also plays in the American league. Mr. X was 40.2 batting runs above average in 2009. He was a +25.9 fielder. Although he isn't a great basestealer, he was still +0.4 as a baserunner. He played all over the place, and had a -1.1 positional adjustment. He had 599 AL PAs, meaning 21.39 replacement runs.

+40.2 Hitting + 25.9 Fielding +0.4 Baserunning -1.1 Positional +21.39 Replacement = 86.99 Runs Above Replacement, or 8.59 Wins Above Replacement.

So who is this Mr. X? Derek Jeter? Kevin Youklis? Um, no, it's Ben "Zorilla" Zobrist.

Final Thought

I look forward to see what Rally (and hopefully others!) come up with after the season. I'm just giving you my take Sure, here's lots of ambiguity on the fielding stats for these guys, and they're pretty close.

But according to these numbers, the debate about Mauer should be whether or not he or Zobrist should be the runner-up to Greinke.

Of course, in a way, all three players deserve to win the MVP. But in another, more accurate way, Greinke deserves to win it.

Internet Flotsam & Jetsam

davoag — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:21 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

2 months ago: Houston Astros Kazuo Matsui grounds out to New York second baseman Luis Castillo in the sixth inning at Citi Field in New York, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. The Mets won 4-0. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Old post (by now) but Tim Dierkes over at MLBTradeRumors ran down the Astros roster. Obviously, Dierkes goes into more detail as to why he thinks this is, but the gist of his argument is the Astros aren’t spending money, but the roster is pretty good. In a post that will be forthcoming later today, I’ll analyze the 2009 roster a bit, but this is a good start.
The blog on Baseball-Reference is always interesting, but this post caught my eye. Who had the worst OPS in the league last year? Yuniesky Betancourt, who’s horrible-ness has been well-chronicled by bloggers more noteworthy than me. Still, Kaz Matsui at No. 6? And the Astros are on the hook for $5 million to a second baseman who can’t hit out of a wet paper bag? So far, the only noteworthy thing about Kaz’s time with the club is his various, bizarre reasons to go on the disabled list.
Justice weighed in with a tweet here, tongue firmly planted in cheek. Your 2010 starting Astros second baseman everyone! Get excited!
Seth Myers also tweeted about former Astro Loretta’s game-winning hit here. On a completely un-Astros related note, I’ve really been digging all of Myers sports humor on SNL since he took over head writing duties. Who doesn’t like a good A-Rod joke?
Courtesy of the Unofficial Scorer, a quick photo gallery of ex-Astros in the 2009 playoffs. Good thing the Astros kept Hidalgo and let Abreu go back in the 1997 expansion draft, huh?
Finally, a note from the Chronicle on the Astros managerial search here. The list is taking shape. I like the idea of making the process transparent to the media and the public, but I wonder if this may affect how truthful the candidates are with the Astros brass. Can you really tell Drayton that his team has some serious, fatal flaws and turn around for a press conference? Might lead to some awkward moments, no?

The Two Sides of Adam Dunn: Graph of the Day

Walter Fulbright — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:47:58 -0000

’"You're not going to succeed if you don't have the talent," Reds general manager Jim Bowden said. ’"The ones with the makeup and the character are the ones who take it to the next level. I don't think Adam Dunn needs any nurturing. You just let him go."...

... Dunn is not frightened by Griffey's recent experiences in the spotlight. Neither is he the type to change his persona to fit fame. ’"I'm not going to change," he said. ’"I'm a pretty loud guy, a pretty outspoken guy."

Example: "Aaron (Boone) would be a great wife if he were a woman."

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, February 26, 2002

It's weird to remember, but Adam Dunn was once highly prized as a prospect as much for his athleticism as his perhaps patient to a fault batting eye and prodigious power. It's a world away from when the Mariners' insistence of his inclusion in the Ken Griffey Jr. trade almost sunk that deal. But not necessarily in a bad way.

Considering their eventual haul in that trade: Brett Tomko, Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer, maybe Seattle should have stuck to their guns. But the 235 pound University of Texas backup quarterback became perhaps the most polarizing player in baseball ... and by almost nothing of his own doing. No firecrackers or water bottles thrown into the stands, no notable tirades, no frustrating nagging injuries, no media meltdowns.

Just a frustratingly patient (for a certain baseball element) approach that emphasized walks over singles, and downplayed the negative impact of strikeouts, now a common skillset (as is noted by Mark Reynolds and Jack Cust owning the league records for strikeouts in a season. Of course Reynolds broke Ryan Howard's record that had stood for a whopping 2 years, then broke his own record the very next year.)

But 235 pounds (even a trim, streamlined one, as he was) is relatively heavy for a baseball player. Now at over 300 (as constant rumors, as well as basic evalutation by the naked eye have put him), he's still a pretty good athlete - if in the Nationals are planning on fielding a scrimmage football team for the fall. His top speed still grades out at about league average (it was once well above it in his salad days). But that pesky law of inertia is a fickle one, and with that size the acceleration and change of direction is gone, far and away the more important baseball skills. His tracking fly balls down in the outfield is like chasing an automobile with a freight train: raw mph doesn't really describe why it can't work.

The total UZR chart above actually has Adam Dunn split between two positions: generalized OF (mostly RF, some LF) and a not insignicant amount of time at 1B. The thing is, unlike his body type comparables (say, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder), Adam Dunn can't hide his failings at the cold corner. Whatever advantage he has for reaching to balls above his head (a pretty low percentage play anyway) are absolutely obliterated by his inability to scoop balls in the dirt, either from throws or from ground balls. He's so completely top heavy that he has an inherent disadvantage to those born with the virtue of just being closer to the ground. This is a pretty definite trend, he has roughly the same power off the bat as when he was 23, only with 60-70 more pounds packed on, his defense has gone from pretty bad to awful to absolutely unacceptable. But is this his failing? He's still a superstar, just playing out of position because he no longer has one. There is, however, a rule change in the American League from 1973 that I'd like to make J.P. Ricciardi aware of.

It wasn't but two offseasons ago that I thought Dunn would make an excellent replacement for Manny Ramirez in Boston considering the eventual probably decline of David Ortiz and the much friendlier dimensions of LF in Boston (one it seems he might have been able to handle as capably as Jason Bay has, at the same age and a little less price). There will be a VOC graph tomorrow about the Nationals, and since I dedicated about a thousand words to him here, I'm going to make that analysis completely Donkey-free. However, pay attention to where he stands ... and let's start a letter writing campaign to see if we can find the Nationals an American League trading partner. For what the Royals gave up for Yuniesky Betancourt*, could they have landed an Adam Dunn to replace the similarly defensively challenged Mike Jacobs?

*Also wanted to point out in the UZR chart above that of the players listed, only Betancourt was acquired primarily for his defense. I think I can let that fact stand on it's own.

This is an unfortunate turning point for Adam Dunn - neither the traditional nor the statistically-leaned are particularly on his side at this point, and it's possible his future is now railroaded to obscurity. But I'm pretty sure there'll be a special place in statistical history for Adam Dunn ... and his 50% of Mike Schmidt style skill set.

Almost as Good as Seeing Greinke: devil & Mrs. _fingers to Attend Baseball Game

devil_fingers — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:47:13 -0000

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

You better watch your back (at a baseball game) tonight, fat boy.

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It's been a weird week. I didn't blog much. I mean, compared to certain other people who allegedly are "on staff" here (I think "Kyle Boddy" might actually be a bot that signed me up. After I started writing for this blog, I did notice a lot of strange charges on my credit card and a bunch of erectile dysfunction medication, which I totally don't need, started showing up on our dorrstep) I churned out the content, but whatever.

Here's the deal, though. For the first time since the birth of Branyan Langerhans Fingers, the Mrs. and I are going out. It's a big deal. Some may recall that earlier this summer, we had good tickets to see Zack Greinke pitch when the Royals came up to visit the Blue Jays. Well, not only was that Zack's worst start of the season... but I didn't even get to go because I ended up in surgery for appendicitis.

Mrs. Fingers let the Jays know what was up and to see if they could give us "make up" tickets. And guess what? Despite the massive popularity and success of the Jays this season, they had replacement tickets for us! Thanks, Blue Jays. So, while I won't get to see the Royals and Greinke, I will get to see Roy Halladay. He's pretty good, I suppose, for a guy who probably won't even be worth 9 WAR this season. So that should be fun.

Not much else to say. The Royals are driving me nuts, "real life" has gotten busy, and so on. But here's the deal: if anyone is interested, I will be (hopefully) Tweeting LIVE from the game occasionally. Here's my Twitter feed. I'm sure I'll have all sort of brilliant insights. And I'll get to run into my kid's namesakes as well, perhaps, since the Mariners are in town. Or at least punch Jack Z. in the face for 'the incident.' Have a good weekend, everyone.

Current Series

Mariners lead the series 1-0

Thu 09/24	WP: Felix Hernandez (17 - 5) SV: David Aardsma LP: Jesse Carlson (1 - 6)	4 - 5 loss
Seattle Mariners Lookout Landing @ Toronto Blue Jays Bluebird Banter Friday, Sep 25, 2009, 7:07 PM EDT Rogers Centre Doug Fister vs Roy Halladay Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 60. Complete Coverage >
Sat 09/26		10:07 AM PDT
Sun 09/27		10:07 AM PDT

Three Games of Pain: Royals 7, Tigers 4

Ian Casselberry — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:55:29 -0000

by Charlie Riedel - AP

Much like Ryan Raburn here, the Detroit Tigers were a team sliding to nowhere over the past three games in Kansas City.

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Once again, this 2009 Detroit Tigers season has become a roller coaster.

Just as this team starts to look like it's coming together, with all sorts of different ways to beat the opposition, it reminds us that it's far from a perfect team. Just as we start to believe that this team might actually be capable of doing something in the playoffs, beating last year's AL champs with authority, it gets swept by the last place team in its division.

Who are these guys?

Was the three-game sweep last weekend in Tampa - the one with great pitching, timely hitting, and rousing comebacks - a fleeting moment of greatness? Are these 2009 Tigers really just the same team they've been all season? The one that hits into double plays and squanders scoring opportunities? Whose middle relief leaks gasoline all over the pitching mound?

Maybe the Tigers used up all its good road trip juju in Tampa and was due for a correction in Kansas City. And maybe all will seem well again with seven upcoming games at Comerica Park (including a chance to exact some revenge against the Royals next week).

But a series like this - a result like this - shakes the faith. And for many, it wasn't that exactly that deep to begin with.

Whimper:

Zach Miner has kind of been a man without a role all season. Is he better as a starter? A reliever? Is he better in late innings or in middle relief? Maybe we can scratch middle relief from the list. Miner was handed a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning, and pretty much blew it right away.

Alex Gordon hit a leadoff homer, and the next two batters reached base on a walk (How can this team walk Yuniesky Betancourt so often?) and a bunt single. That led to another RBI for Billy Butler, who's rediscovered his inner Tigers Killer after taking a season off.

Purr:

I've been kind of hard on Marcus Thames for his lack of contributions over the past couple of months. But if there's a bright side to this series, maybe it's that Thames found his bat again. Could a 3-for-5 series with two RBIs be a revival?

Comment of the Day:

The Tigers are making me cry...

although, it could just be the allergies

by ahtrap

And just for a laugh (or a wince), check out the recap headline at Royals Review.

In Former Mariner News

Jeff — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:09:02 -0000

Extra rest didn't do Jarrod Washburn any good, as he struggled against the Royals this afternoon and allowed ten baserunners and three runs in five innings. Over seven starts with Detroit, Jarrod's put up a 1.4 K/BB, and his contact rate is pretty much exactly where it was as a Mariner pre-2009. It's been fun to listen to people talk about him over the course of the season. He started out as a guy most people couldn't wait to see leave, then people liked him, then people wanted to re-sign him instead of trade him, then people wanted to re-sign him despite trading him, and now those people aren't talking about him anymore, which I assume means they no longer want him around in 2010. That's a neat and tidy full circle with a couple weeks to spare. I wonder if Jarrod's going to re-re-consider that whole retirement angle once he finds out that Z won't bring him back.

Now to change things up, guess what this table is showing:

O-Swing%	Z-Swing%
33.8%	70.3%
34.6%	66.8%
25.7%	62.5%

That's Yuniesky Betancourt (A) as a Mariner in 2008, (B) as a Mariner in 2009, and (C) as a Royal in 2009. He's drawn 11 walks in 191 plate appearances with Kansas City, and while that isn't any shade of good, it's a great deal better than his ten in 245 with Seattle earlier on. It seems the coaching staff over there may actually be making a bit of a difference. Unfortunately Yuni still can't hit or field, but at least now when he makes outs he looks a little more professional.

Today's Fun Fact

Jeff — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:42:02 -0000

Turns out that regular playing time actually makes Willie worse.