SB Nation User Blog: DyeLongJustice

A's = Unlucky (Charms)

DyeLongJustice — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:25:57 -0000

A's = Unlucky (Charms)

Well, the A's should have about 5 more wins, according to this. That would put us at 42-44, and leave us still with a decent sized gap to catch the Rangers/Angels. At least it may be a good sign for next year, especially since the Holliday we are losing isn't exactly contributing phenomenal levels of offense right now.

A Preliminary Look At Dana Eveland

DyeLongJustice — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:43:49 -0000

(Ed. Note: Before I get into my topic for this post, I want to lay out a disclaimer. I am just now learning how to manipulate/play with all the pitch f/x data, not to mention I haven't worked with spreadsheets since my junior year in college. Also, I realize that only comparing two Eveland starts is a small sample size, but I didn't know how else to compare early Eveland 2009 to late Eveland 2008 in another way. Anyway, without further ado...)

After viewing the recent post at BeyondTheBoxscore about Pitch f/x data, I wanted to take a look at Dana Eveland's only start this season. Since I'm new to this process, it was easiest for me to compare his 4/8/09 start to his 9/24/08 start. Again, I apologize for any formatting errors etc., but as it's early in the season for not only the A's, but also myself, I hope you'll forgive me.

I first wanted to take a look at Eveland's release point to make sure nothing funky was going on. In graph form

via img5.imageshack.us

Eveland seems pretty consistent here. I didn't see any significant changes from his last start of 2008 to his first in 2009. So without any real commentary, let's move on. Next on the list is Eveland's pitch velocities. The first bar in each couplet of this graph is 2009 and the second is 2008.

via img26.imageshack.us

Unfortunately, something weird was going on with Eveland's fastball classifications from last year, so the only data I had was labeled as "Fastball". Of course, this says nothing about whether they were 4 seam or 2 seam, so I have to aplogize. What's interesting to note is that his changeup, slider, and cutter velocities were all up this year (esp. the changeup, which was about 6 mph faster than last year's start. However, curveball and "fastball" velocities were just about the same. As far as his changeup is concerned, he is probably going to want a greater velocity difference between his fastball and changeup going forward. My last graph is, for lack of a better word, a disaster. I basically took the average movement on each of his pitches and tried to graph them against each other. Sadly, I'm still a noob at this, so it is kinda hard to decipher. Basically, the shapes correspond with the pitch, and the color differentiates the year.

via img5.imageshack.us

The big changes I see here is the cutter (diamond shape) and the curveball (square). The cutter especially has a huge variance in movement. I'm not sure whether this is mlb's fault or whether Eveland really is getting more movement on his cutter this year. Of course, he only threw 8 cutters in his '09 start and 32 in his '08 start, so it could be a sample size issue too. Anyway, I'll leave the exciting analysis for everyone else. Hopefully this post wasn't too terrible, and hopefully as the season goes on, both my graphing skills and the A's thrive.

Q and A's with Corey Wimberly

DyeLongJustice — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:32:02 -0000

Q and A's with Corey Wimberly

Wimberly seems like a cool guy. It's interesting to note he admits to being only 5'6 instead of the media listed 5'8. I wonder where Ellis really stands at.

Oh yea, and the socks still rock.

Fangraphs ranks A's 11th

DyeLongJustice — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:20:23 -0000

Fangraphs ranks A's 11th

Fangraphs ranks the A's 11th among all major league teams, according to ownership, front office, major league talent, minor league talent, and an overall ranking.

DLD 3/7/09

DyeLongJustice — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:45:03 -0000

Yay for some Saturday baseball excitement! The WBC is here, and with that brings Team USA vs. Canada at 11am, Pacific Time.

Also, among the veteran sightings at the WBC is none other than Bernie Williams, who is playing for Puerto Rico. No word as to whether playing guitar helps you stay in shape.

One last WBC tidbit: Ichiro finally got a hit. To all Mariner's fans I want to impress this message; you can breathe now.

In other news, the A's apparently have signed Andrew Sisco. There was a fanpost about this a while back by notsellingjeans, but it looks like a good signing for such a low risk investment.

Another good piece of news for the A's here. Apparently Vlad has instantaneous aging syndrome. Here's hoping it begins to afflict Lackey as well.

In some non-related baseball sports news, Rafael Nadal is at it again. Personally, I'm still waiting for that Pete Sampras comeback.

Tiger sighting next week at WCG-CA Championship. Yay Tigers!

via img.dailymail.co.uk

Beyond The Box Score Analyzes A's Rotation

DyeLongJustice — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:41:48 -0000

Beyond The Box Score Analyzes A's Rotation

DLD 1/14/09

DyeLongJustice — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:37:41 -0000

A few notes around baseball on a slow day today:

The Oakland A's agreed to terms with outfielder/designated hitter Jack Cust on a one-year contract. Personally, I'm glad they did so without a prolonged process. I feel like arbitration is just a battleground where the only possible outcome is player-team relationship damage. Cust was earning 410k, and that figure is surely going to climb a few million. Any thoughts as to what his new salary will be?

(Edit: Cust signed for $2.8 Million. Cust figures to be worth ~ 3 WAR next season. On the market with a rate of $4.4m per win, Cust should cost $13.2m. Cust is still a ridonckulous bargain to the A's. Every day he plays makes Billy Beane look like one smart man).

Bud Selig has given the A's permission to "discuss a ballpark with other communities" if officials in Fremont, Calif., don't quickly approve a proposed new stadium. This gives the A's a possibility of moving to Santa Clara since the territorial rights will now be in the hands of Selig and not the Giants. Hopefully this gets done in a timely manner.

On an non-A's related note, the White Sox have now signed "Big Fat" Bartolo Colon to a one year deal. It would be nice to know the price, but if you assume he came in at a greatly discounted price, I don't see why the A's wouldn't have tried to sign him. He couldn't harm the rotation that much, as I'm sure he'd have a quick hook if he did.

Apparently, the Indians have signed Los Kirk (a.k.a. Kirk Saarloos) to a minor league deal. As an A's fan, I'm going to miss him. Good luck to ye, and I bid thee farewell.

Lastly, the Hardball Times put up an interesting article recently approxmating the value of a first round draft pick. I find this highly interesting as an A's fan since it helps us put a value on how much our protected pick would cost us when signing Orlando Cabrera. I really think that if we could get O Cab on a 2 year deal for 5-7 million per season, it would worth it. Of course, this is just one man's humble opinion, and there has been a lot of heated debate about that lately.

Aaron Cunningham Mechanics and Projections

DyeLongJustice — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:39:38 -0000

In case you guys and gals weren't aware, Aaron Cunningham has been featured in a short post over at Driveline Mechanics. Kyle Boddy's post is simply a primer for a yet-to-come analysis, but I think it's still pertinent to pick apart his swing and analyze his mechanical flaws. Of course, I'm going to let Boddy do all the dirty work, but it did give me the urge to dedicate a fanpost in an Aaron Cunningham's honor, and any ensuing discussion should primarily include what you think of his mechanics, defensive capabilities, and what your projections are for his 2009 stats.

CHONE has Cunningham with a .254 avg, .310 OBP, .400 SLG, 11 HR, and .314 wOBA in 473 ABs. He received a grade B from Sickels and ranked 4th in the AthleticsNation poll/list.

I personally believe that Cunningham is going to have a rough time this year in the majors and probably needs more seasoning in AAA. I don't mean this to be a slight towards Cunningham, but rather a comment on his age and inexperience above AA (small sample size at AAA notwithstanding). I could see him putting up a line of .250/.320/.385 with 7-10 HR's and average defense in 200-300 PAs. While that isn't terrible, it isn't great either.

Lastly, does anyone think it would be a good idea to do a Community Projections series a la Viva El Birdos and other SB Blogs? Anyway, let the discussion begin...

C.C. Signs With The Yankees

DyeLongJustice — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:44:48 -0000

This all according to ESPN

LAS VEGAS -- The New York Yankees were "very close" to a preliminary agreement with CC Sabathia on Wednesday morning, following an in-person meeting between Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Sabathia in California, a baseball source with knowledge of the deal told ESPN.com.

Sabathia

Sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney the deal offered by the Yankees is now worth $160 million over seven years -- the most money ever paid a pitcher in major league history. The team had originally offered six years and $140 million.

Boy, this sure surprises noone. What's interesting is that there are rumors that the Yankees are intending to sign Burnett and Lowe as well. It must be nice to have a ridiculous payroll *sigh*. It's also interesting to note that this deal is 'only' paying C.C. 4.2 million per win. This is significantly under values of levels past. I think FanGraphs has a post about this today, but it's still fun to look at all the FA contracts and compare them to years past.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that with the Yankees' probable primary intentions of signing two more pitchers, it takes them out of any Texeira sweepstakes they may have been in. I'm not sure that Tex is really going to want to sign with the Nats unless he gets blown away, and same goes for the O's. I have a bad feeling that he is going to sign with the Angels, and that sucks. I want the A's to be as close (or of course, better) to the Angels' true talent level as possible, and a Tex signing will make me very sad. Here's hoping we get a certain phalicly named veteran pitcher, an oft discussed shortstop (Furcal or Cabrera for me), and one more hitting upgrade.

In Search Of A Shortstop Prospect

DyeLongJustice — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:53:18 -0000

In light of all the recent Matt Holliday/Furcal posts, I decided it was time to discuss something new. In order to keep my head from popping from all the supernumerary redundancy that results from the never-ending discussions and familiar conclusions in these posts, I figured that the best place to start was to find something that the A's can do this season. As such, I ventured to see what the A's can get cheaply (i.e. without trade or significant money) at positions of need like SS, which lead me to the minor league free agent list. While having a shortstop prospect in our system soon may be a moot point, considering all the Furcal-to-A's rumors, I found this list and perused it for anything of value at the SS position. What I came up with was Doug Bernier and Kevin Howard. Of course, I didn't take into consideration any players that weren't listed at the SS position since I don't follow the minor leagues close enough to know who can play where. As such, if anyone can think of any other players who may be listed at another position, like 2b, but can legitly play SS, then feel free to list them. Anyway, here are everybody's favorite thing: player stats (hat tip and thanks to minor league splits).

Doug Bernier:

AB H 2B 3B HR W IW HP K SH SF GDP AVG OBP SLG OPS BABIP

329 81 9 4 9 64 3 8 78 4 4 10 0.246 0.378 .380 .758 .298

Kevin Howard:

AB H 2B 3B HR W IW HP K SH SF GDP AVG OBP SLG OPS BABIP

262 72 16 0 11 40 1 0 37 4 1 8 0 .275 .370 .462 .832 .285

There is also the possibility (and much more satisfying option, in my opinion) of trading for teams' current SS or their SS prospects. This includes the usual possibilities like Escobar 1 (Yunel), Escobar 2 (Alcides), Reid Brignac, and J.J. Hardy. However, I am creating this fanpost with the intention of getting some new dialogue/discussions going as I personally can only talk about Furcal and Holliday so much. Again, if you think of other interesting possibilities for our (lack of) SS situation, be my guest.