SB Nation Blog: Zubin

Whitey narrowly misses Hall of Fame

Zubin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:40:38 -0000

I have been out for a couple of days, so I appologize if this is old news, but Whitey Herzog just missed being elected to the Hall of Fame via committee. On a brighter note, Billy Southworth made it. Here is the link to the press release. Complete results are as follows:

Managers/Umpires:
*Billy Southworth (81.3%)
*Dick Williams (81.3%)
Doug Harvey (68.8%)
Whitey Herzog (68.8%)
Danny Murtaugh (37.5%)
Hank O'Day (25%)
Davey Johnson, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch and Cy Rigler (<3 votes)

Executives/Pioneers:
*Barney Dreyfuss (83%)
*Bowie Kuhn (83%)
*Walter O'Malley (75%)
Ewing Kauffman (41.7%)
John Fetzer (33.3%)
Bob Howsam (25%)
Marvin Miller (25%)
Buzzie Bavasi, John McHale and Gabe Paul (<3 votes)

Just curious what everybody thinks of the White Rat. Will he be elected? Should he?

Ways to Make the Rest of the Season Interesting.

Zubin — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:05:04 -0000

I was just thinking of ways the Cardinals could make the last few games fun. I thought that it might be cool for Aaron Miles to become the first Cardinal since Jose Oquendo to play every position. Since he has already pitched this year, he'd need to play center, right, first and catch. That arm would be painful to watch in the outfield or at catcher and he'd make a pretty small target at first, but at least we'd be saved from watching him throw a ball to first.

Then I got to thinking about who else might be able to match Oquendo's feat, when it occurred to me that a Cardinal could "break Oquendo's record" by playing 10 positions. Scott Spezio this year has played: P, 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF and DH. If Tony would let him play short, catcher and center for an inning, he'll play "all 10" positions this year.

Some other ideas:
Use Reyes as a closer, just to "teach him situational pitching."
Let Kip Wells (.327BA) play a game in left or right field.

Anyone have any thoughts or any more ideas on how the Cardinals could spice things up for a few games in Pitsburgh?

Best Year Ever by a Cardinal

Zubin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:37:31 -0000

LB's all-time Cardinal tourney got me thinking about the best season any player has had in Cardinals history. The organization has its share of great seasons, but which season was the best in the Teams history? Anyway, I thought it would be fun to discuss which the best is. I compiled a list of some of the best seasons I knew of using the following criteria:

I searched through all seasons franchise history, including those posted in the American Association (1883-1891). I even found one other St Louis seasons worth mention.
No more than one season is listed for any one player. This isn't a problem on most any player except Hornsby. Any of three seasons could be considered his best and it didn't make sense to take so many voting slots with one player.
I paid attention to players that are remembered primarily for their years in a St. Louis uniform and had their best years in St. Louis. Again this is a matter of practicality to narrow the field.
I thought of MVPs and Cy Young as automatic nominees, but there are simply too many to properly list. Besides, is it even debatable whether any of Frank Frisch`s season are comparable to any of Rogers Hornsby three best years?

HoF Veteran's Commitee Ballot- Jim Kaat

Zubin — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:52:07 -0000

This is the first in a series of diaries about Hall of Fame Veteran's Committee Candidates. In this diary I'd like to get everyone's opinion on art four in a hall of fame diary series that examines the hall-worthiness of some of the candidates for 2007. You can follow these links to get to the other diaries:
Bert Blyleven

Jack Morris

Andre Dawson, Dave Parker and Jim Rice.

For reference, entire ballot can be seen here. Results of the ballot will be announced February 27th. If there is time and interest, I'd like to post diaries on the nominees that have a St Louis connection: Ken Boyer, August Busch Jr, Curt Flood, Whitey Herzog, Jim Kaat, Marty Marion, and Joe Torre.

Comentary on Walt Jocketty at Yahoo

Zubin — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:07:26 -0000

Jeff Passan ay Yahoo has an interesting commentary on Walt Jocketty:

"The candidates for the final four spots of the reigning world champion's pitching rotation include a 32-year-old who hasn't started a game since he pitched in Class A 10 years ago, a free-agent acquisition who once tested positive for steroids, a prospect who spent all of last season in the bullpen, a long reliever with a face suited for Gerber jars, a fashion plate for those who prefer their hats flat-billed and a guy named Kip...

...Such confidence is borne of more than 20 years spent consulting one another. La Russa, Duncan and Jocketty built a championship team with the Oakland Athletics in 1989. And after 100-plus-victory seasons in 2004 and '05, now they have one in St. Louis, too. Following that with another World Series will depend on Looper, Franklin, Wainwright, Thompson, Reyes or Wells. Gosh? Maybe somewhere else. This is St. Louis. They're used to making their own luck."

Is he sacrastic about how "lucky" the Walt and the Birds have been, or is he saying that the Cardinals '06 sucess wasn't the residue of design?

Hall of Fame Discussion (Part 4), Goose Gossage and Lee Smith

Zubin — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:25:08 -0000

This is part four in a hall of fame diary series that examines the hall-worthiness of some of the candidates for 2007. You can follow these links to get to the other diaries:
Bert Blyleven
Jack Morris
Andre Dawson, Dave Parker and Jim Rice.

For reference, entire ballot can be seen here. Voting for the regular ballot will be announced on Tuesday, January 9th. The Veteran's Committee ballot will be announced February 27th. Over the next month I'll post diaries on the nominees that have a St Louis connection: Ken Boyer, August Busch Jr, Curt Flood, Whitey Herzog, Jim Kaat, Marty Marion, and Joe Torre.

Today I'd like to open up discussion on the two relievers on this year's ballot likely to get any kind of support for the hall of fame: Rich "Goose" Gossage and Lee Smith. But before we get to them, I thought we could start things off with Quiz. Below is a chart showing the stats of two relievers from the same era (their careers overlap by ten seasons); one of them is in the hall of fame, the other received almost no support and was off the ballot after his first year of eligibility. Before scrolling down, try to figure out who they are.

I imagine most will know who the guy on the right is, but here is a hint about the guy on the left... The capital Q in "Quiz" is not a typo.

The answers are Dan Quisenberry (left) and Bruce Sutter (right). The similarities of these two aren't entirely superficial. Both were relatively marginal prospects until they learned a new pitching technique: with Sutter, of course, it was the split fingered fastball and with Quisenberry it was the submarine delivery and a sinking fastball. And both subsequently went on to short, but dominating careers as closers.

There are of course some big differences between the two. Sutter had a good nine years as an effective closer while Quisenberry only had about seven years. But during those seven years, Quisenberry was routinely logging about 130 innings as a reliever, compared to Sutter's 80 to 100 innings. For reference on how many innings 130 is for a pitcher, Pedro Martinez and A.J. Burnett had about that many in 23 and 21 starts, respectively, last year. Pouring over these stats gave me new respect for Quiz! However, the difference most relevant to today's discussion is, despite similar careers Quisenberry and Sutter received vastly different support for the HoF. Quisenberry got only 4% in his only year on the ballot. Sutter got 24% in his first year and went up somewhat steadily from there to his induction last year.

Of course neither is on the ballot next year, but the point of this that I don't think it is a valid argument to say that if Sutter is in the hall, Goose Gossage and Lee Smith should be there too. Let's face it, a big part of why Bruce Sutter was elected is because he is to the splitter what Candy Cummings is to the curve.

Hall of Fame Class of 2007 Discussion (Part 3)

Zubin — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:42:07 -0000

This is part three in my hall of fame diary series. I have already posted some diaries on:
Bert Blyleven
And Jack Morris

I still like to have some discussion, or at least opinions, on who might join Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn in the class of 2007. The top vote getters from last year were:

Jim Rice,
Rich "Goose" Gossage,
Andre Dawson,
Lee Smith,
Jack Morris
Tommy John

And in case you'd like the reference, the rest of the ballot is here: Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Dante Bichette, Bobby Bonilla, Scott Brosius, Jay Buhner, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco., Dave Concepcion, Eric Davis, Tony Fernandez, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Wally Joyner, Don Mattingly, Mark McGwire, Dale Murphy, Paul O'Neill, Dave Parker, Bret Saberhagen, Alan Trammell, Devon White and Bobby Witt.

After the January 9th, I'd like to discuss some of the Veteran's Committee nominees that have a St Louis connection: Ken Boyer, August Busch Jr, Curt Flood, Whitey Herzog, Jim Kaat, Marty Marion, and Joe Torre. Voting results will be announced February 27th.

Today I thought it would be interesting to do something a bit different... Below is a table that compares two potential HoFers. They played similar positions over about the same years. Three questions...

1)Based on these stats go you believe one is significantly more hall-worthy than the other?
2)If you'd need more information, what information would decide it for you?
3)Do you know who they are?
Scroll down to find out who they and to read more.

By the way, the image of Quetzalcoatl is supposed to be a bit of a hint.

Hall of Fame Discussion- Jack Morris

Zubin — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 07:16:39 -0000

I wrote a few days ago I thought it would be fun to open a discussion on the Hall of fame candidates. Originally I anticipated discussing around 12 of them. I doubt there will be the time or interest now, so I'll stick to the guys most likely to get in- other than Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, since both are sure bets. Like I said before, Mark McGwire has been discussed and Jose Canseco seems destined to be blackballed for steroids, so that leaves the top vote getters last year:

Jim Rice
Rich "Goose" Gossage,
Andre Dawson,
Bert Blyleven ... who is discussed here
Lee Smith,
Jack Morris
and Tommy John.

And in case you'd like the reference, the rest of the ballot is here: Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Dante Bichette, Bobby Bonilla, Scott Brosius, Jay Buhner, Dave Concepcion, Eric Davis, Tony Fernandez, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Wally Joyner, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Paul O'Neill, Dave Parker, Bret Saberhagen, Alan Trammell, Devon White and Bobby Witt.

I know some of you mentioned Albert Belle as a worthy candidate, but given his low vote totals from last year, I think that discussion deserves to be tabled behind at least Rice, Dawson and Goosage.

After January 9th, I'd like to shift focus to some of the Veteran's Committee nominees that have a St Louis connection: Ken Boyer, August Busch Jr, Curt Flood, Whitey Herzog, Jim Kaat, Marty Marion, and Joe Torre. Voting results will be announced February 27th.

Jeff Weaver's Post Season Sucess and L/R splits

Zubin — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:27:13 -0000

Ever since comparing Marquis and Weaver in azruavatar's Jason Marquis Diary I have been thinking about Jeff's L/R splits (posted above). What strikes me about his splits isn't just how much worse he is against lefties, but also the number of left-handed plate appearances that were recorded over the past year or three years. If You will notice, lefties have logged more plate appearances than righties against Weaver.

Now, even considering 100 point (or 10%) OBP gap, I don't THINK the number of plate appearances jive with the number of lefties and righties in a typical line-up. I don't know for sure, but I imagine the difference is due to opposing managers giving righties a rest against Jeff and playing a lefty back-up.

Anyway, it strikes me that in the post-season, at least in the WS, that Jeff may not have faced his typical mix of lefty and righties. If so, could this be a large part of his sucess? Does anyone know where I might find left/right postseason splits for Weaver?

Fungoes: Need for Left Feilder...

Zubin — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 01:43:41 -0000

There is a great analysis over at Fungoes I think everone here should read.

Pip breaks down win shares above bench by position as shown below. The two tables below show win shares by position (left) and win shares above bench (right) by position. His analysis is enlightened. I quote him below.