SB Nation User Blog: Thommy

Weglarz - 18 BB, .265 SLG

Thommy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:47:58 -0000

Franklin's Fielding

Thommy — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:59:42 -0000

Franklin's Fielding

The fielding bible has the 2007 +/- leaders on a site I just found. The only notable Indian, either good or bad, is Franklin Gutierrez, who leads RF at +22. Stellar.

The site is worth trolling around as well - http://www.fieldingbible.com/

Rah-Rah

Thommy — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:06:01 -0000

As odd as it may be, JD Martin's invite to spring training got me thinking. For whatever reason, I've been rooting for him since his 2005 breakout season (56IP, 63K, 8BB). Maybe I want to salvage something from that 2001 draft, maybe I have an affinity for short RHPs, maybe I sympathize with a guy who has talent but who has been on the injury fringe for the past few years. Regardless, it made me realize that there are a handful of guys in our minor league system that I adopt as "my guys", and pay attention to more than others.

A few others also on my current list are:

Nick Weglarz - He's a popular pick now, but I think it was the small sample size of his high school experience - in Canada, no less - and the whiskey tango foxtrot of a very young third round pick in 2005 that put him on the list.

Scott Lewis - It was the courage of the pick in 2004 that did it for me. More than the courage, perhaps, was what I thought was the intelligence of the pick - take a guy who struck out 36 guys in consecutive games and trust your medical staff to bring him back into the fold and give you first round-pick value.

I've got more favorites, but that's not the point of this diary. The point is this: who are some of the guys you root for, and why? Make me a fan of somebody I don't currently follow. Go.

ABJ/CPD Articles

Thommy — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:57:36 -0000

Just a head's up here to catch a few articles.

S.O. @ The ABJ has a pretty uneventful article up this morning about our interest in Dan Haren. Sounds crazy, I know, but I'm excited to be the one breaking the story here on LGT. Is anybody interested in trade speculation? link

Hoynes wrote a similar, but more interesting article for the PD. News here: interest has also been shown in Blanton (boring) and Erik Bedard (fresh meat! speculation mania!). On the notes side, Inge is mentioned (we passed) as well as news about the proposed Jason Bay package which might shock many here (no Lee or Shoppach). link

On the good news front, Lara is breathing, talking, and potentially on his way back to the states for surgery. I'd say something to the effect that this is fantastic news, but I'm not a good enough writer to make it anything but an understatement.

Hit Tracker

Thommy — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:49:17 -0000

Warning: Don't click here unless you have at least 30 minutes to kill. Hit Tracker is a home run playground. Stolen from their own page:

"Hit Tracker is a spreadsheet tool that takes as inputs atmospheric information and observation data, and gives as an output the true distance that the home run traveled, along with the initial speed of the hit off the bat and the precise angles at which the ball left the bat. It does this by creating as a starting point an initial "best-guess" three dimensional trajectory for the home run, and then modifying that trajectory, a little bit at a time, until the trajectory matches the observed data from the actual home run event."

Is this new? Am I the last to know about it? Anyway, it has links to the videos of the home run, breaks them down into 3 different types (just enough, plenty, and no-doubters), has ballpark specific shots, player specific shots, and keeps track of various HR awards on the main page.

Want to see how far Hafner's HR in Tampa Bay earlier this year went, or watch a video of it? You can also learn who holds the Golden Sledgehammer title, or why Brandon Phillips leads a category. Step right up and buy one today!

Baseball's great, isn't it?

ESPN.com on the CIoM

Thommy — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:47:04 -0000

Howdy -

Wayne Drehs over at ESPN.com wrote a neat piece on the home opener yesterday that is worth a read - Link. You've got to admit it, our early season debacle makes one heck of a story.

Besides tidbits about a subversive sausage and the secret agenda of college students, the financial aspect of the series was elaborated upon:

The Brewers will not make any money on the series. Nor will the Indians and Angels lose money they would have earned on ticket sales or concessions. Major League Baseball told Schlesinger to keep track of his expenses as well as revenue from the series and Major League Baseball would later decide how the teams would be reimbursed.

MLB representatives did not return a phone message Tuesday, but spokesman Rich Levin told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Monday that any shortfall of income for the series will come out of an MLB contingency fund.

"They informed us to do what we needed to do to pull this off," Schlesinger said. "So that's what we worried about."

It is, of course, great that the Indians and Angels won't lose any money on tickets or concessions. But I'm fairly suprised that the Brewers won't make any money on this.

MLBtv on a TV

Thommy — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:48:50 -0000

Howdy -

Like more than a few people here, I'm waiting to see if InDemand can work out a deal with MLB to carry the games this season. If you haven't been paying attention, talks are continuing well past the March 31 deadline. This is good.

I took some time this afternoon to hook up a spare PC to my TV. I have a fast cable internet connection, a 50 inch DLP, and a PC using DVI out to the set. I ordered the monthly premium package, which is rated at 700k. MLB is now offering a 5 day trial of sorts - you can cancel within 5 days of ordering and you won't be charged. FWIW, the pricing scheme seems odd to me, as the yearly price ($120) is simply 6x the monthly price ($20). What, exactly, is my motivation to buy it yearly?

The picture quality is quite good, even when blown up to full screen. There is certainly a difference between the 400 and 700k streams, which you can toggle between. The 400k doesn't look bad, but the resolution is certainly lower, bodies are a bit blockier, etc. Spend the extra $5/month if you are going to do this.

I think the picture quality is about 80-90% of what a standard definition television signal looks like (which, of course, isn't great on a big HD set anyway). In the past hour, there have been 2 times where the picture hesitated for a few seconds, but it recovered pretty quickly. Much to my suprise, I could actually see myself watching games for a season this way, though I don't know that I will.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share my impressions for anybody in a similar situation. I'll take questions and I'd like to hear your experience as well.

Prospectus' Peralta Player Profile

Thommy — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 23:34:58 -0000

Howdy. In case you haven't noticed (and judging by the attendance you haven't), BP's Marc Normandin profiled our young shortstop in a premium article posted Thursday the 11th. If you're not a subscriber, the player profile series that Marc does is an excellent one. In fact, that series coupled with Joe Sheehan's daily thoughts are worth the price of admission alone (no offense to Fox or Goldstein, who are right there in my book..I digress.)

So you're not a subscriber and you want to know the skinny? The verdict is nothing that would shock us, namely that he could go either way offensively, and that his defense is below par. The process is the interesting part of the article, however, so I suggest you give it a read.

The poll question is just a curiosity, stemming from my brief stint in marketing. (BTW, Ryan/Jay, the allow multiple selections checkbox didn't seem to work for me).

Poll

How many premium baseball sites do you subscribe to?

Shaprio's Chat on MLB

Thommy — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:32:31 -0000

Howdy -

Just a head's up that Shaprio had a chat posted on indians.com yesterday, here. It's not a brillant read, as most of it is standard ShapiroSpeak (TM), but the first question in particular should be worth 30-40 posts alone.

Assuming the Dellucci signing happens, Shaprio is thinking that either Choo or Garko will make the team, but apparently not both. In one scenario, I suppose, Garko plays 1B while Blake plays RF, and in the other Blake plays 1B and Choo plays RF.

I suppose this means that one or the other may be traded, though either could be sent back to AAA. I somehow doubt this, though, as we need thier talent level on the ML team - if not directly, then through a trade. Of the two, I think Garko would bring home more, and would likely be the one traded.

As always, I'm open to opinions and interpretations.

Poll

Who would you trade?

Adam Miller on BA

Thommy — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:27:11 -0000

Howdy, All.

Baseball America posted a Q&A with Adam Miller today. Among other things, he credits pitching coach Scott Radinsky with helping him with the development of a 2 seam fastball. I'm going out on a limb here, but I think that contribution may someday eclipse the value of that wonderful year Scott pitched in relief for the tribe (2001: 2 IP, 27.00 ERA).

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/news/262450.html