SB Nation User Blog: 80badger

Is Leo Mazzone joining the Crew?

80badger — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:34:30 -0000

Mazzone is a regular on the local sports talk station The FAN here in Atlanta. As his co-hosts said this morning several times: "Leo is conspicuously absent this morning and the Brewers are looking for a pitching coach, you put it together". Not sure it really means anything but Leo has been adamant for a long time that he wants to get back into baseball. I for one would love to see him in Milwaukee.

Stars sending eight to All-Star Game

80badger — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:06:42 -0000

Stars sending eight to All-Star Game

WooHoo! Huntsville is brewing-up some awesome looking young stars for the Suds City boys!!

Committment & Passion

80badger — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:58:32 -0000

Committment & Passion

Absolutely Inspiring!

Time to move Weeks down in the order

80badger — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:54:48 -0000

After watching Rickie struggle to light the fire for the Crew this season in the lead-off slot I started to jump on the "send him down" bandwagon. Luckily I caught myself and decided to actually go look at his stats and see how he ranked against the other lead-off guys in the NL.

Now I will be the first to admit that I am no stat wizard, never played one on TV and I did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night ;-). Having said that, I think what I pulled makes sense but I have little doubt that Jeff, or KL or The Jay or someone more versed in black magic will let me know where I may have gone astray, and probably rightfully so.

So if nothing else than to foster some discussion on the subject and get my first hack at blogging stats under my belt here is what I pulled.

Below are the BA and OBP's for all the NL leadoff guys as of last night. I have sorted the players by BA in the first block and OBP in the second block. These are 2008 season to date numbers. You will see that Rickie is at the bottom in BA and below current avg on OBP. Because I am an unapologetic Corey Hart fan I included his numbers for grins, he might not be a bad alternative!!!!

After looking at this I am not ready to clang the bell that Rickie needs a visit to Nashville but some movement down several slots in the order I think are prudent, not only for Rickie’s benefit but for that of the team. Thoughts?

Team	Player	BA	OBP
Rockies	Spillborghs	0.323	0.392
Braves	Escobar	0.311	0.388
Brewers	Hart	0.304	0.363
Dodgers	Pierre	0.297	0.364
Phillies	Rollins	0.294	0.308
Giants	Lewis	0.287	0.358
Nats	Lopez	0.273	0.350
Cards	Barton	0.267	0.371
Average		0.259	0.327
Mets	Reyes	0.258	0.329
Cubs	Soriano	0.257	0.293
Pirates	Sanchez	0.253	0.282
Dbacks	Young	0.250	0.341
Reds	Patterson	0.235	0.282
Padres	Hairston	0.228	0.273
Marlins	Ross	0.191	0.260
Brewers	Weeks	0.187	0.311
Astros	Bourin	0.187	0.298


Team	Player	BA	OBP
Rockies	Spillborghs	0.323	0.392
Braves	Escobar	0.311	0.388
Cards	Barton	0.267	0.371
Dodgers	Pierre	0.297	0.364
Brewers	Hart	0.304	0.363
Giants	Lewis	0.287	0.358
Nats	Lopez	0.273	0.350
Dbacks	Young	0.250	0.341
Mets	Reyes	0.258	0.329
Average		0.259	0.327
Brewers	Weeks	0.187	0.311
Phillies	Rollins	0.294	0.308
Astros	Bourin	0.187	0.298
Cubs	Soriano	0.257	0.293
Pirates	Sanchez	0.253	0.282
Reds	Patterson	0.235	0.282
Padres	Hairston	0.228	0.273
Marlins	Ross	0.191	0.260

Final thought: if we are looking for other answers for the lead off slot and were to actually send Rickie down and want to pull up someone from the minors here are the 2 most likely prospects and their numbers.

Nashville Nunez .210 .306

Huntsville Escobar .269 .299

You got to be kidding!

80badger — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:04:08 -0000

CNN/SI, never one known for overly intelligent reporting has this article listing the Top 50 toughest "old school" guys.

What is wrong, is that there isn't a baseball player in the Top 25. You can't tell me there are some old school ballplayer tough guys in the Top 25. If nothing else think of the cacthers who sit back there all season blocking balls in the dirt and then getting run over like Soto did early last week (man that was sweet).

As futher evidence of the idiocy of their rankings, note that Bill Jean King (I thought it was tough GUYS, well maybe...) is ranked ahead of Lawrence Taylor!

The local authorities here in Atlanta may want to check the hand rolled "cigarettes" the guys at CNN are smoking.

Baseball Players ranked:

26 Pete Rose

27 Billy Martin

28 Nolan Ryan

30 Cal Ripken

34 Ty Cobb

37 Bob Gibson

So will it be a warm welcome?

80badger — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:08:22 -0000

So a day of rest and then the Reds come to town bringing with them Francisco Cordero. It will be interesting to see if the Brew Crew fans receive him with some class. Obviously the best scenario would be three straight trips to the wood shed for the Reds and never give Cordero a reason to even get up in the Bullpen. If he does take the mound it would be poetic to see Prince wake from his slumber with a long bomb off Cordero to win a game. It appears he has had one SVO and converted it with 2 SO's. I would be just fine with him leaving with the exact same stats!!!!

An enjoyable read

80badger — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:42:55 -0000

Regardless of your politics, George Will is a gem of a writer particualrily when it comes to his favorite pastime baseball. Most of you stat heads will also appreciate that he is a Sabemetrics guy. Take a moment to read this article which will be found on a website possbily frequented by our own Hebrew Hammer, I beleive you will find it entertaining, educational and possibly challenging. A warning to you Sabr guys and gals here in the BCB, don't peek at the bottom of the aritcle as the answers are posted.

Enjoy!

Donovan picks the Cubs

80badger — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:51:40 -0000

John Donovan on CNNSI thinks the Cubs have the NL Central locked up. Here is the link.

He tries to soften his proclamation a couple of times,albeit poorly, leaving himself an out when he is wrong but it is clear he thinks the Cubs are the NL champs and the rest of the Central is weak and not getting better with their offseason moves. It is difficult to see why he thinks the simple acquisition of Fukudome makes the Cubs so much better despite the big questions they have on their pitching staff.

At the end of the article he makes it clear he thinks The Stache was crazy to sign Gagne: "As good as the Rowand signing may have been -- for Rowand, anyway -- how bad was the Brewers' decision to give Eric Gagne $10 million for one season of closing? He had a 6.57 ERA in 26 appearances in the second half of '07. Relief pitchers are hard to find on the free-agent market, sure. But that's ridiculous...." Should be fun to email him this article next October after the Brew Crew wins the Central and Gagne plays an integral role in the teams'success.

Brewers in talks for Gagne?

80badger — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:56:46 -0000

This in from Jon Heyman on CNNSI.com at short while ago, sure hope it turns out to only be a rumor. Too many opportunities for Gagne to explode at the wrong time.

"The Brewers and Astros are among teams bidding for Eric Gagne, who has to be a closer wherever he goes (he was almost perfect as a closer in Texas last year, then perfectly awful as a setup man in Boston). Perhaps he could return to Texas, too, where he thrived."