SB Nation User Blog: Fett42

Yanks acquire Vazquez

Fett42 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:14:36 -0000

Yanks acquire Vazquez

So they added Granderson, Johnson, and Vazquez (>5 WAR average the last 3 years) this offseason...holy fuck.

Image FanShot

Fett42 — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:57:03 -0000

WAR gains major exposure

Fett42 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:38:56 -0000

So I was handed a copy of the New York Times today (yes I hate trees), and flipping to the sports section the top article on its front page was entitled "A New Generation of Statistics Redefines Baseball". It's basically all about WAR and how its gaining an increasingly large following in both the media and fanbase. It's also got a Dave Cameron quote and basically is one of the better or at least most heartening articles you'll read in a (very) mainstream newspaper al year. I found the article under a different name online and I suggest you take a look. Some notable awesomeness:

A WAR of 10 does not have resonance as a hallowed number in a sport with so many others. But it will be a goal for Greinke next season, whether or not the Royals contend.

“I think, whether the traditional baseball community wants to acknowledge it or not, the fan base and the media have finally embraced and immersed themselves in advanced statistics,” Bannister said. “I think you’re going to see more and more people brought up with that influence. I really just think that the future of the game is in the numbers.”

Just how awesome has Felix been?

Fett42 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:07:02 -0000

Remember when Felix kicked ass in 2005 and we were all disappointed that he failed to win the Cy Young award the next year and seemed to be only above average following that? I think a lot of time people lose track of the fact that Felix is at about the age where a lot of solid pitching prospects have just entered the majors and how kickass he's really been over his entire career, not just this year. Even the elite prospects and young pitchers like Liriano, Price, Hamels, Lincecum, you name it, aren't really even close to how much Felix has done at such a young age. Here's a list of historical WAR totals through age 23. I had to use the totals at Baseball Projection for those players who played before 2002, and though I'm not sure how the calculation differs methodologically from Fangraphs, Tango uses the historical list too and I think its accurate enough for the point to get across.

This list isn't all-encompassing, but what you'll see is players' career WAR through age 23 with their career rank and total for WAR in parentheses:

Kid Nichols: 39.2 (102.3 - 6th)

Bob Feller: 35.6 (66.0 - 31st)

Bert Blyleven: 29.3 (90.1 - 13th)

Dwight Gooden: 28.6 (47.6 - 80th)

Walter Johnson: 25.1 (127.7 - 3rd)

Felix Hernandez: 21.0

Fernando Valenzuela: 18.2 (38.2 - 144th)

Tom Seaver: 13.9 (105.3 - 4th)

Roger Clemens: 11.9 (128.4 - 2nd)

Pedro Martinez: 10.2 (75.1 - 23rd)

Greg Maddux: 9.8 (96.8 - 8th)

Tim Lincecum: 3.2

Bob Gibson: 1.8 (85.6 - 15th)

Cy Young: 1.7 (146.0 - 1st)

Randy Johnson: 0 (91.8 - 12th)

Pete Alexander: 0 (104.9 - 5th)

Lefty Grove: 0 (98.3 - 7th)

Phil Niekro: 0 (96.8 - 9th)

Curt Schilling: -0.1 (69.7 - 28th)

Gaylord Perry: -0.7 (96.3 - 10th)

Warren Spahn: -0.9 (93.4 - 11th)

Christy Matthewson: -0.9 (87.7 - 14th)

* * *

Now its pretty clear from this list that a hot start by age 23 doesn't necessarily correlate much with one's career total. However the bottom line, Felix is pacing some damn impressive company so far and there's a relatively significant non-zero chance that 50 years from now he'll be remembered as one of the best to throw the ball. I don't think anyone thinks he's near to his peak yet either. Cherish it.

Side note: I had no idea Blyleven was so awesome so young. He's also the only HoF-eligible pitcher in the top 29 all-time for WAR that's not in. Sigh.

Angel Villalona's value might drop somewhat

Fett42 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:49:56 -0000

If he's convicted of the murder he's been charged with.

Angel Villalona, who received a club-record $2.1 million bonus when he was signed by the Giants in 2006, wore a bulletproof vest Monday to his hearing at a court in the city of La Romana. He pleaded innocent to the murder charge.

The 19-year-old Villalona could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty in the Saturday night shooting death of Mario Felix de Jesus Velete. Dominican Republic's baseb…
AP - Sep 21, 9:49 pm EDT

Judge Aranibal Manzano Zapata ordered Villalona jailed for two months while authorities prepare their case in the Dominican Republic. Villalona turned himself in 12 hours after the shooting at a La Romana bar.
“This is a serious case of voluntary homicide,” public prosecutor Jose Polanco said.

Police haven’t said what the motive for the shooting was.

Victor Martinez: decent

Fett42 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:20:51 -0000

Victor Martinez: decent

"Here's David Aardsma's view of the play:

"You know, he's a decent hitter, and right off the bat it was out, but you never know with Ichiro back there. Obvioulsy he can cover a lot of ground and (Martinez) just didn't get enough of it, and Ichiro made a great play on it. He made an awesome play."

Aardsma's use of the word "decent" is interesting, and probably not accidental. In today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, Martinez had this quote on getting shut down by Felix Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn.

"Hernandez and Washburn are two different ptichers. Hernandez is a decent, right-handed pitcher, and Washburn is a decent, left-handed pitcher. You can't compare them, but you have to give them credit.''

Sure sounds like Aardsma was sending a message back to Martinez with his quote, but I could be wrong.

- E. Aybar reached on bunt single to pitcher, E. Aybar to second on pitcher D. Davis' throwing...

Fett42 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:48:15 -0000

- E. Aybar reached on bunt single to pitcher, E. Aybar to second on pitcher D. Davis' throwing error, E. Aybar scored on right fielder J. Upton's throwing error

The greatest battery of all-time?

Fett42 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:46:27 -0000

So it looks like Stephen Strasburg will have a fairly talented catcher to work with. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Bryce Harper, the baseball phenom from Las Vegas High School, has no future in high school. An extraordinary player is ready to make an unusual move.

Harper, a 16-year-old who just completed his sophomore year, has registered at the College of Southern Nevada, where he plans to attend classes in August and play for the Coyotes next season.

...

With his combination of power and speed, Harper is projected to be the top pick in the major league draft when he's eligible. That should be next June.

Ron Harper said his son, who turns 17 on Oct. 16, will be draft eligible "in 2010 or 2011. ... There are a lot of rules that people don't know about."

Bryce Harper and his mother, Sheri, recently went to CSN and signed enrollment forms and his letter of intent to play baseball. Harper is aiming to earn his GED test credentials in the fall.

"He was thinking about it. He initiated it," Ron Harper said. "He said, 'Dad, why can't I take my GED and do this?' "

The minimum age for major league draft eligibility is 16, upon completion of high school.

This is just unbelievable that the Nationals will likely get both of these talents.

Yankee Stadium home opener

Fett42 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:52:36 -0000

So today I went to Yankee Stadium to help unroll their giant 50-yard long flag for the home opener ceremony.

Practice and prep:

Notes from the game:

-Carl Pavano, who I had forgotten is with the Indians, received perhaps the loudest and longest round of boos I have ever heard when his name was announced, and I've been to a Sox-Yankee game in Boston and various games as Bonds pursued 755.

-After Marte came in this happened to make me incredibly happy:

- S. Choo hit by pitch

- B. Francisco reached on fielder's choice, J. Peralta to third, S. Choo to second

- K. Shoppach singled to right center, J. Peralta scored, S. Choo to third, B. Francisco to second

- T. Graffanino popped out to first

- T. Crowe walked, S. Choo scored, B. Francisco to third, K. Shoppach to second

- G. Sizemore homered to deep right, K. Shoppach, B. Francisco and T. Crowe scored

- M. DeRosa grounded out to third

- V. Martinez homered to deep left

At this point the entire stadium was chanting "Put in Swisher!"

But perhaps the coolest thing is as follows: we were sitting in the cheap seats--outfield bleachers, obstructed view, and around the second inning none other than David Wells shows up with a hot dog, a beer, casual clothes, and a three man crew of his buddies and sat down in the midst of everyone to watch the game. Needless to say as word of this got around a tide of people began flowing to get stuff signed by him, and though stadium security moved to stop people from swamping him, an impromptu line along the aisle formed and people were let in in between innings. Wells signed everything presented to him, and as luck would have it after about half an inning I was slowly able to move about 10 seats over and eventually sit right next to him.

My camera died right as I got to him ("What the fuck is wrong with your fucking camera?") so the last two are via cell phone before I sat down to watch the game.

As expected, Wells was hilarious and spoke with an admirable lack of political incorrectness worthy of a LL game thread while downing large amounts beers. He returned fire to hecklers, led chants, accomodated pretty much everyone requests for pictures, signatures, and poses, and made numerous awesome off-the-cuff remarks. He left around the 6th inning.

This is begging for a photoshop and/or caption contest.

Fett42 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:26:28 -0000

This is begging for a photoshop and/or caption contest.