SB Nation User Blog: The MooCow

The Pinata Hits Back! :=8O

The MooCow — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:07:36 -0000

Has anyone noticed that Joel Piniero, formerly "El Pinata", is sporting a nifty FIP of 2.97? Or that his latest WAR is 2.5? This is all courtesy of his Fangraphs page, by the way.

The MooCow may be a Saber-calf, but they seem like good numbers to me. I'd say, with his happy new sinking fastball, and full-feldged adherance to Papa Dunc's Pitch-to-Cowtact philosophy, that Joel Piniero has redefined himself as a starting pitcher. And just in time too.

The Joel Piniero of the past (and we're basically talking his '02 - '06 years when he went 51-54 out of 136 starts for the Mariners) had twice the strike out rate, twice the walk rate, and gave up a lot moore dingers with that low-hanging fruit fastball of his. NOW that fastball has some wicked diving mootion a la Bruce Sutter, and hey presto - up with the ground ball out, down with the Ks, walks, and homers. His GB% is currently 61.3%, when in his career it is normally in the mid to upper 40's.

He still gives up his share of hits, which you will in Pitch-to-Cowtact, but on the udder hoof he has only walked 12 batters in 92.2 inning - that's less than a walk a start. Add in that he is also only allowed 2 dingers over that same stretch of innigs, and yuo can see that Pinata might take a few hits but he is not givin' up the candy.

Ok, so opposing hitters are hitting .271 off him; his BABIP is .300 - Tim Lincecum is currently .338 - and his WHIP is a healthy 1.18.

So, give it up for Jumpin' Joel, a pitcher who had a lot to prove cowming into this season, and who, so far, has succeeded in proving that old dogs can learna few new tricks.

Now, if we can only get him to teach his new sinking fastball to Welly, we'd have something there...

;=8)

Cuban Defectors Include Shortstop...

The MooCow — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:16:05 -0000

baseball america has this story about a couple of 19 year old Cuban defectors, described as "Francisco Liriano" and a "Orlando Cabrera" type talents. The Cards should be jumping one one, if not both of these guys, don;t you think? Jose Inglesias, the shortstop, especially should warrent a good, long look, and maybe a prying open of deWallet (and ignore the dust bunnies which roll out). What do you all say? We need some moore young talent!

:=8)

Peavy Votes to Stay Put - For Now...

The MooCow — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:06:50 -0000

Peavy Votes to Stay Put - For Now...

Jake Peavy has vetoed a trade to the White Sox. He says all the politically-cowrect thigs to say about wanting to stay with his team an dbe in SD, but many insiders think he really wants to stay in the NL (and who cud blame him?).
Anycow, does this mean the Cards still have a chance to get him, and if so what would it cost - and is it worth it?
As the MooCow has always said, whenever you have the chance to get an ace, you really strengthen you rotation - imagine Peavy instead of Welly in the rotation now. We cud dominate the division, maybe the league, and be lights-out in a short series. I say it worth it, short of surrendering Colby or Walrus. I'd trade Welly, Boggs, Anderson, and even D. Jones to get Peavy.
:=8)

Game Score??

The MooCow — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:23:55 -0000

Came across this at Baseball Almanac. Seems a pretty interesting way to evaluate pitchers per game. Then I wondered if this was done per season - its a lot of # crunching, but we are in the era of fancy cowputers in cars, ovens, and probably coffee cups, so I'm sure someone has done it/will happily do it.

If the link doesn't work here is the formula:

Game Score (Bill James)

Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk.

So my question is does anyone else use Game Score, 'cause I've never seen it before? What does everyone else think about it? Does anyone know of a site that has averaged a pitcher's entire season of Game Scores? Just wondering...

:=8)

Hooves of Clay... :=8(

The MooCow — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:58:48 -0000

This cud be a very sad year for Baseball, when so many of our greats, near-greats, and former heroes have shown themselves to have been all too human and all too fallible. The steroids and PED problems are the moost immediate bad news; then comes this shocking, sad, and depressing news about Robby Alomar.

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/02/10/2009-02-10_15m_lawsuit_claims_exmet_roberto_alomar_.html

I did not come to bury Baseball but to praise it. Well, at least to generate some discussion of the modern game, and what has gone wrong with it. Has something gone wrong with the game, and if so what? Is money the root of all evil, or free agency, or an irresponsible, rapacious media, or has just the same social problems (drugs, racism, greed) which have stained the rest of modern American society just come out in spades in Baseball? All of the above?

The MooCow fell in love with the game at a very young age, but I have to say that if I were a young calf now I don't know if I would that I would see the game the same now as then - in fact I know I wouldn't.

Anycow, I just wanted to see what the rest of VEB thought about the state of the game right now. I think MLB will eventually get through it, it always seems to, but how many bullets can it dodge? Just look at how popular horse racing and boxing used to be in the country not too many years ago, and look at them now.

Am I over-dramatizing here? Leave yer cowments...

:=8)

Cowstruct Your Fantasy FA Team! :=8D

The MooCow — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:23:08 -0000

Fantasy FA Team

Based on the above article int he Washington Post, let's pretend that MLB really did call and offer the rights to a brand new expansion team, with the freedom to build your roster from the list of free agents still available.

Pick a city, a team name, and cowstruct your 24 man roster based on the FAs available as of 2/5. Here is the MooCow Team:

The Delaware Holsteins (NL East)

SP: Sheets, Wolf, Looper, Byrd, Glavine

RP: Cordero (CL), J. Cruz, Beimal, Ohman, Gordon, A. Ryes, K. Wells

C: Pudge

1B: Dunn

2B: Hudson

SS: Cabrera

3B: Crede

CF: A. Jones

RF: Abreu

LF: Man Ram

Bench: Fasano (C), Grudzy (MI), Payton (OF), Nomar G. (3b), Millar (1b)

Batting Order: Cabrera, Hudson, Abreu, Man Ram, Dunn, Crede, Pudge, Jones, Pitcher

Anyone else wanna play?

;=8)

Can Previous Year Pitch Counts Help Identify Risky Pitchers?

The MooCow — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:25:11 -0000

risky pitchers at Razzball

Good article at Razzball. I've never drunk the high pitch volume Kool-Aide when it comes to predicting pitching injuries: pitchers routinely went longer and deeper into games for many seasons without sustaining the types of injuries we see today, at least not on this scale. I have always seen it as mechanics and types of pitches thrown, although my evidence for this was purely anecdotal. I won't sum up the article, but advise those interested to check it out. Its the sort of thing that just make me want to do whatever it takes to pull of a Peavy trade, short of trading Rasmus or Wallace. The man is simply not the next Mark Mulder, IMO. Peavy is an under 27% guy for sliders and curves. I dunno, what does everyone else think?

It's Weird...

The MooCow — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:14:22 -0000

....and its absurd, and its patently a stupid idea.

BUT:

What if the Cards traded Ludwick to the Giants for Johnathan Sanchez, and whatever else they cud get (maybe even work AK into the deal), and then signed Adam Dunn to take over in LF, mooving Ankiel to RF and Rasmus to CF? Sign him for, say, 2-3 years @ 15 or 16 mil per year? That gives us a young starter and a few years of a big bat behind Albert, with the moolah coming off the books after 2011. I know, its not likely; I know, Dunn strikes out a ton and is the second coming of Pat Burrell in LF. BUT, you can expect an-udder 40 HR/100 RBI/.900 OPS season from Dunn, and he's young enough to expect that over the course of a short contract. And Sanchez would add a decent young cost-controlled arm to round out the rotation. I know Ludwick is a cost-controlled OF, but by getting Sanchez we'd be swapping a high-cost FA starter for a a high-cost FA outfielder. The terms of the Dunn contract would be critical in this, of course.

I dunno, just trying to think creatively. Feel free to pile on.

:=8)

Yanks Sign An-Udder... :=8(

The MooCow — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:40:47 -0000

Yanks sign Texiera

The rich get richer, and baseball suffers because of it. Anyone else feel sick over this?? Now they have the 4 highest paid free agents in the game, and they may not be done yet - there is a good chance they'll go ahead and sign Derek Lowe or Ben Sheets as well. Perhaps we should just save everyone the bother and just give them the damn trophy, and everybody else can just play for the fun of it. Baseball is in serious trouble to allow this kind of display of unfairness. Its going to turn fans off if you can just buy a championship - I know, they don't automatically get the ring but for all intents and purposes they can just spend whatever they wish at any time to make themselves better and everyone else weaker. Sorry, I just find this very depressing...

:=8/

Pujols Moore than Halfway to 3,000 hits...

The MooCow — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:31:06 -0000

I cudn't help but notice the udder day that El Hombre has 1531 hits in 8 seasons (7 and part of an eighth, really) - he's already moore than halfway to 3,000 hits. I mean I KNEW it before, but it didn't really sink in until today. It is an awesome achievement for someone so young, and for a player with such power. I had to waste some time today cowparing Pujols' first 8 seasons with a few udders. pete Rose, for example, in his 1st 8 seasons on hit way to becoming the hit champion of all time, hit 1532 hits in his 1st 8 seasons, just 1 moore than Pujols and that came in 372 moore at bats!

I was intrigued. So, using the old, boring statistics that no one uses anymoore (someone else can Sabermetric them up for everyone else...), I cowpared Pujols to Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, and Stan the Man, just for cow pies and snortles.

Pujols:

GP/1239 AB/4578 Hits/1531 2B/342 3B/13 HR/319 RBI/977 RS/947 RP/1924 BB/696 K/506 TB/2856 SB/45 BA/.334 OB%/.462 SLG%/.653 OPS/ 1.115

In that span he won ROY, 2 MVPs, 2nd in MVP 3 times

Rose:

GP/1223 AB/49250 Hits/1532 2B/255 3B/61 HR/75 RBI/485 RS/799 RP/1284 BB/470 K/531 TB/1522 SB/62 BA/.309 OB%/.404 SLG%/.429 OPS/ .831

in that span Rose won ROY and came in 2nd for MVP once.

Cobb:

GP/1028 AB/3917 Hits/1433 2B/230 3B/109 HR/43 RBI/684 RS/738 RP/1422 BB/286 K/? TB/1719 SB/398 BA/.366 OB%/.439 SLG%/.512 OPS/.951

in that span Cobb won 1 MVP

Musial

GP/1071 AB/4133 Hits/1432 2B/302 3B/108 HR/146 RBI/706 RS/815 RP/1521 BB/565 K/199 TB/1997 SB/44 BA/.347 OB%/.483 SLG%/.558 OPS/ 1.041

In that span Musial won 3 MVPs and came in 2nd once.

In his 1st 8 seasons with Cobb, Rose, and Musial, Albert Pujols had 1 less hit that leader Cobb, but moore doubles, HRs, runs scored, RBIs, walks, total bases, and had the highest on base, slugging, and OPS out of all of them.

All these guys besides Pujols went on to hit 3,000 hits (and Cooperstown), but no one has quite shown the mix of hitting prowess and power of Pujols (Duh!).

One interesting note: we all know Pujols is hard to strike out, harder than Rose, possibly Cobb (no stats for that), but check out Stan the Man: only 199 Ks in over 4,000 at bats! AND 109 triples! Stan Musial was truely the Man. But we have El Hombre today - enjoy and appreciate him while you can, fellow Cards fans!

:=8D