SB Nation User Blog: PhillyBruin

Jason Donald and Andy Tracy in the bigs

PhillyBruin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:00:02 -0000

I have been wondering several things. First, why not bring Donald up eventually and play him at 3rd? We rave about Feliz's glove but if you put a good SS at 3rd he will be pretty good as well. He can hit and he can play defense.

Secondly, completely unrelated to Jason Donald, but why not entertain the idea of bringing up Andy Tracy to start at 1B when a lfty starts. Ryan Howard sucks against them and Tracy is hitting .295/.374/.547 agains them with an OPS of .921. Once a righty comes in from the pen, put Howard back in the game. Seems like a logical idea. Maybe I am missing something?

Steve Susdorf

PhillyBruin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:10:20 -0000

I always knew this kid was a baller and i think he was a great pickup for the phils. I know i was just ragging on the phillies draft but i was talking about how they should take proven college talent instead of HS kids.

Anways, i went to HS with susdorf and knew he could rake. I have been watching him play the past 3 years in college and now watching him in the supers. I am pretty excited to get this kid signed and get him going. He is having a crazy super regional against ASU and just hit a huge bomb that inspired this post. just thought i would share my excitement. im pretty sure you all will enjoy him someday soon also.

Sick and tired...

PhillyBruin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:06:35 -0000

I am so tired of the Phillies drafting unproven high school talent. Hewwitt is a waste of a pick. I am pretty sure we could have gotten him in the 2nd or 3rd round. maybe not 3rd but we can get him later. Also players we passed on that i know are better than our first 2 picks, are Tim Murphy from UCLA and Tanner Scheppers from Fresno. They also passed on Gerrit Cole, and I know he is a HS guy but he also throws 97. I understand staying away from Cole. He is a Boris guy and looking for top 5 money and has no problem going to college. I was sitting with him at the Fullerton regional last weekend and he seems like he is ready for school, and enrolled in orientation. However, for Murphy and Scheppers, i dont get it. There are others like Tyson Ross from Cal and i am tired of the Phillies drafting philosophy. It does not work and out farm system is garbage right now because of it. They need to change their philosophy. Thoughts?

Just saw some future first rounders play...

PhillyBruin — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:36:31 -0000

I am a UCLA student and just went to the UCLA ASU game. great game for the first 8 innings. Tim Murphy shoved and stuck out 10 in 8 innings Struck out 14 in last outing against ASU). and although he gave up 4 runs they came off 3 home runs. Brett Wallace, as much as i hate him, can hit. he hit a 400 foot line drive over dead center. the ball never got higher than probably 20 feet. Petey Paramore hit one the next batter. Brandon Crawford continued his slump and played horribly. Jermaine Curtis made a crazy error that nearly cost UCLA the game (they lost anyway due to 8 runs in the final 2 innings off the suspect moves from Savage) by shorthopping an easy double play ball. both of these teams have crazy talent, just ASU is actually showing it. I have been to nearly every UCLA game the past 3 years and I, as well as you all should, look forward to seeing some of these players in a few years. Crawford is crazy athletic and has unbelievable range and a terrific arm, throws 92 off the mound last week against UNLV i believe, Wallace will crush the ball, and the same for Paramore. the PAC 10 has a lot of crazy underrated talent. Its been fun watching all of these players play. You'll enjoy it soon too.

Extend Burrell

PhillyBruin — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 06:02:30 -0000

I know it was just last year when i was booing every at bat of burrell but this year is nuts! hes leading the league in RBI and hitting over .300. I hope its not just another contract year breakout but i think we need to resign him asap. he has said many times he loves philly and would never waive his no trade clause no matter who we tried to trade him too. seems like he loves it here and if we try to sign him now to another long term deal we might ge thim cheaper than if we need to fight for him as a free agent. and honestly, we need him. we have no solid left fielders in the system and especially no one that can replace 100 RBI per year. thoughts?

Why no Coste?

PhillyBruin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:30:38 -0000

Why does ruiz play so much more than coste? i dont know if its just me but i feel that coste is a better hitter and at least a wash defensively if not better than ruiz. tonight against johan we start ruiz and he is just looking lost. i dont get it. coste is hitting .400 to ruiz's .186. no brainer to me. i just feel that ruiz is garbage and coste is much better.
oh, and reyes was out at second...

Great sites for anything you need with baseball

PhillyBruin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:29:17 -0000

Stole this from the Mariner's blog but thought it could be useful for all so here it is...

Baseball-Reference: I probably visit this place more than every other website combined. If you need some numbers and don't know where to find them, start here. It doesn't have many of the complicated new-age statistics (OPS+ is about as nerdy as it gets), but it's got tons of splits for players, teams, and leagues, along with pitch data summaries (swinging strike % and all that good stuff), historical information, game logs, transaction summaries, and terrific loading times. Go here. Look around. Get familiar. You'll be glad you did, because what I've told you so far doesn't even scratch the surface of what this place offers. Sean Forman is a hero. http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Minors.Baseball-Reference: just what it sounds like - a place to find minor league numbers. Not nearly as detailed as the big league site, but that's hardly a fair comparison. Usually the first place I go when I need information of its kind. http://minors.baseball-reference.com/

Hardball Times: this post is strictly about statistics, but you should go here for the main page articles, too. Anyway, THT's statistical database is almost overwhelming. It's got offensive, defensive, and pitching stats for both players and teams, along with a handy sortable feature. Runs the gamut from batting average and hits to xFIP and LOB% to RZR and OOZ. Second-most frequently visited baseball resource. (Note that HR/FB is park-adjusted.) http://www.hardballtimes.com/main

Fangraphs: some overlap with THT, some unique. It's got basic stats, complicated stats, batted ball data, game logs, WPA stuff, pitch frequencies, and convenient leaderboards that seem to get better every week. David Appelman is also a hero. (Note that HR/FB is not park-adjusted.) http://www.fangraphs.com/

Baseball Cube: a lot of what they do is done better somewhere else, but this is still where I go when I'm curious about how a player did in college. Also offers minor league stats. http://thebaseballcube.com/

Josh Kalk's pitcher cards, batter cards, and PITCHf/x tool: the only places to get data of its kind. Tons of stuff using the PITCHf/x information (pitch type, velocity, movement, etc) gleaned from MLB Gameday. Please welcome the new age of statistical analysis. http://baseball.bornbybits.com/plots/players.html
http://baseball.bornbybits.com/plots/bat/batter.html
http://baseball.bornbybits.com/php/combined_tool.php

Hit Tracker Online: velocity and distance information for home runs, updated daily. http://hittrackeronline.com/

Baseball Prospectus: the place to go for all those stats that Bill Plaschke doesn't understand. EqA, VORP, RARP - it's all here. http://baseballprospectus.com/

Day by Day Database: David Pinto's tool allows you to find out how a player performed between two given dates. Can be broken down further by a few splits. http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/ChoosePlayer.py

Probabilistic Model of Range: more of David Pinto's work. This is where you go for PMR's interpretation of player/team defense. http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/cat_probabilistic_model_of_range.php

Tangotiger.net/mgl: this is where you go for UZR's interpretation of player defense. If you can't find what you're looking for there, try searching the comments of the Inside The Book blog, run by Tango and Michael Lichtman. http://tangotiger.net/mgl/

tRA: Graham's awesome homemade pitching metric. Graham rocks. (Also, further explanation.) http://lookoutlanding.com/story/2007/12/21/125546/80

First Inning: offers some minor league splits, batted ball stats, and spray charts. Also has much of the same information for Major Leaguers, although that's not why I use it. I like the spray charts better than MLB.com's. http://firstinning.com/prospects/nym/

Minor League Splits: has minor league splits. http://minorleaguesplits.com/

Cot's Baseball Contracts: contract information website that couldn't be better if it tried. Absolutely perfect at what it does. http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/

ESPN: I haven't visited this website in at least a few months. You shouldn't either.

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I think that about covers it. I could be forgetting a site or two, in which case I'll add it to the list as soon as I remember. If you have any questions about where to find certain kinds of information, feel free to ask in the comments.

offense

PhillyBruin — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:20:40 -0000

i know its only spring training but is anyone else worried? we look horrible in every game! we have gotten killed by a lot of teams. our offense cant hit and our pitchers cant pitch. yes i know its still early but it is still pretty scary. our 5th pitcher is garbage J Roll is hitting worse than the UCLA baseball team right now. I dont know the exact numbers off the top of my head but its bad. i know i am just venting right now but we will not "win 100 games" playing like this. im going to be in florida soon and i hope to catch a few games and hopefully well be playing much better by then. thoughts???

Down on the Farm

PhillyBruin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:02:43 -0000

If in fact our staff endures a few injuries, which seems likely, we do have a few options down on the farm. With Hamels,Myers, and Moyer having a major potential to be out for time this year and Kendrick possibly going into a sophomore slump we do have some options.

According to Baseball America Josh Outman figures to make his big league debut by September this year. He is a lefty with a plus fastball at 90-94 mph. He also has a late-biting slider and a solid change up. However, when he falls behind hitters he tends to overthrow a bit. With some practice he seems like he will be fine. He went 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA in Reading. He seems most likely to make it to the bigs first and projects as a #3 starter.

Next in line seems to be Drew Carpenter. A second round pick out of The Beach and performed pretty well in Clearwater last year posting a 3.2 ERA while going 17-6. He throws 89-92 and can hit any quadrant in the strike zone. He has a plus slider and an average curveball. Since going pro he has added a splitter and a change up. His splitter has quickly become his outpitch. He still has some mechanic issues and if his change up does not improve, they will have to take it away from him. They feel that if the need arises for a pitcher he could make it to the bigs this year.

After that we are pretty much out of options. We can either pick someone up or bring up someone along the lines of Matthew Maloney. Or to really push the deal we can bring up 18 year old Carlos Carrasco. He is projected as a #2 starter in 2009. He has been rushed up before but has responded well. My guess is that he will not come up this year but maybe if he shoves in Reading and it is totally necessary he might see a start or two, but I wouldn't bet on it.