SB Nation User Blog: bl

Mike Leake

bl — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:01:12 -0000

Let me start by saying I am not a Cincinnati Reds fan nor am I am Texas University or an Arizona State University fan.

About a week and a half ago the Reds took Mike Leake with the 8th overall pick in the MLB rule IV draft. We all know who Leake is and how great of a season he had for ASU. He is probably the main reason why ASU is in Omaha. Which leads to this.......

On Tuesday Mike Leake started against Texas and lasted just 3.1 innings. I cannot find the pitch count, maybe 50 pitches? ASU was able to knock off UNC to get back to the bracket championship. Desparate to keep the season alive, ASU brings Leake back on two days rest to face Texas again. He lasted 6 innings and threw around 90 pitches, pitching a very nice game.

I have two problems with this-

#1 From a coaches point of view. You have to win two games, one without Leake. Why not use Leake on the extra day of rest if you need a win without him? The fact Leake pitched well is irrelevent here, I think a guy on three days rest is better than a guy on two days rest.

#2 This kid has millions of dollars waiting for him. Why risk his health? If something were to happen to him it would be a disaster and the Reds would have every right to be upset.

Maybe I am overreacting, but if my favorite team took Leake (I was really hoping he would fall but I cannot complain about Green) I would be very upset. IMO this is worse than what Texas did to Austin Wood because you know exactly what the kid has at stake with the draft complete.

I was wondering what others thought here.

Interleague Parody

bl — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:21:52 -0000

If I recall there have been multiple discussions on here about the level of play in the NL compared to the AL. Supposedly the NL was catching up and this was the year they were going to be as good as, if not better than, the AL.

Well, we are 184 games into interleague play and the AL is 109-75, a .592 winning percentage. That translates to a 96 win season for a regular team.

I am sure that I have probably jinxed the AL now and should have waited until interleague play is over. But I have always been in the "AL is MUCH better" camp and just had to run my mouth a little early I guess.

Craig Italiano

bl — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:40:48 -0000

Last night former first round pick Craig Italiano was hit in the head by a line drive and had to leave the game for low A Kane County. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution and they found a crack in his skull. Looks like he's out for the season. He missed almost all of last season for labrum surgery and was really struggling this season. He actually was pitching well last night too, 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 K.

Obviously I hope everything turns out ok for him and baseball takes backseat here.

Huge Surprise.

bl — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:06:13 -0000

Rich Harden leaves in the 7th inning, looks like it may be an arm injury, possibly his shoulder. I am beginning to think he will never have a full season without a trip to the DL.

I know most people are not high on Zito, but at least he gave the A's 200+ IP every year. I would much rather have 200 Zito innings than 50 Harden innings and 150 fill in innings from guys who should be in AAA.

Different type of fantasy league question.

bl — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 04:22:25 -0000

Sorry, I know some of you are sick of the fantasy league questions but I have one that is a little different, it has nothing to do with a trade or a player/team.

I have seen in the past people on here mention they use DMB. I am also in a DMB league and would like to get some feedback/comments from other DMB users and how their leagues are run.

Quick overview-the league I am in has 20 teams with 45 man rosters, you keep your guys as long as you would like to and there are no limits as to who is eligible to be drafted. I could draft my mom if I wanted to, but only MLB stats count.

I think DMB is defintely one of the most realistic games and I really appreciate that. However, there are a few quirks in the game and I would like to see how other leagues get around them.

The biggest flaw is the fact that the game comes out after the season (at least the one we use does.) There is not way around this, and the most positive part of this is we have baseball year-round because we run our season during the offseason.

The other major flaw, IMO, are the splits stats and guys with success in limited PA's. Guys like Chris Coste, Chris Duncan and Jeff Cirillo are killing in our league this year. I know they all had good stats last year, but if they were THAT good, they would have played full-time and their numbers would have suffered a little. We currently have a minimum number of PA's for a player to be eligible, but there will always be a guy with one more PA than the minimum with good/great numbers who kills in the league.

DMB has their injury factors, but they are so hit and miss. To me IP is one of the most underrated stats in baseball. In real life who was more valuable last year, Zito or Clemens? Clemens had much better stats, but Zito was a workhorse. I would rather have Zito for 220 IP than Clemens for 120 IP (just my opinion, I understand if someone feels differently.)

Sorry to write such a novel, but any suggestions as to how we can get around these quirks without killing the guy who plays the games with too much work would be very much appreciated.