cherub_daemon
May 01, 2008 Mar 06, 2012 12 264
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"No Name" Series winners
by cherub_daemon on Nov 7, 2011 1:38 PM EST
on Bless You Boys
In a discussion with my father, I claimed (without proof) that it was very unlikely that a World Series winning team had ever been without a Hall of Famer. This was based on a half-remembered Bill James statistic that Hall of Famers take about 10% of the at-bats in a given year. (The data and discussion can be found in James' Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame.) My thinking was that that means that they should average out to being about one in every batting order. While it is clear that not every team has a future Hall of Famer on it, it seemed unlikely to me that the very best team in baseball would be without one.
My father pointed out that noone on the 1984 Tigers has made it. This is interesting, because it squares with my notion of that team as a very balanced team, with a lot of what have come to be known as Hall of Very Good players. I was curious to see how common this situation actually was in baseball history.
Discussion and data follow.
1 commentJukich to (LG) Twins
Ben Jukich just signed with the LG Twins of the KBO.
Prospect question: Trevor Feeney?
by cherub_daemon on Jul 8, 2010 10:01 AM EDT
on Bless You Boys
So, I was looking at the Whitecaps page on baseball-reference, and I noticed this Trevor Feeney character for the first time. What caught my eye was his crazy 6:1 K-BB ratio, although he doesn't really have the ERA you might expect from that. Some of that (it appears from searching Tokarz' MLM recaps) is that he's had a couple of nightmare starts driving his ERA up. At any rate, here's all I've really got on the guy:
Minor League Meetup?
So, I'm planning on going to the Whitecaps game in Lansing on Tuesday for the 6:05 game. If you're in the area, and think you might want to drop by the game, reply here, and we'll try to figure something out.
Scherzer -- Eye(s) of the Tiger. Happy game threading, y'all.
Dusty's Midnight Runners
by cherub_daemon on Apr 14, 2009 11:36 PM EDT
on Red Reporter
To the tune of...hell, you'll figure it out.
Awesome quote
"It was a gut-wrencher," said Leyland. "It's not good when you light up two Marlboros at the same time at 3 a.m., washing it down with a glass of chocolate milk. You know you have a lot on your mind when you do that."
Epic WBC Post
...on Red Reporter. Written by my gf, andromache, who has shown up here once or twice.
Type A Free Agency: Part II
by cherub_daemon on Jan 21, 2009 12:50 AM EST
on Bless You Boys
Why does Type A free agency exist? Who does it benefit? Who does it hurt? Can it be fixed? Discussions of these questions and how they affect the Quest For Relief below.
Type A Free Agency: Part I
by cherub_daemon on Jan 19, 2009 7:45 PM EST
on Bless You Boys
[Editor's Note: Promoted from the FanPosts, in case anyone missed its insight. Keep the good stuff coming, if you'd like to contribute. I'd love to put more on the front page.]
There has been some talk about the "handcuffs" of Type A/B free agency, so I decided to poke around a bit more. It's part of why we're reluctant to talk to Juan Cruz. It's why Pudge and Jason Varitek may not have jobs next year. Details, thoughts and possible loopholes after the jump.
Really old baseball card.
Only of tangential interest, but...
Possibly the first baseball card ever, of the 1869 Cincinatti Red Stockings. Read the article below, and you'll be 5 minutes closer to P&C reporting.
Not worried yet.
by cherub_daemon on May 19, 2008 1:35 AM EDT
on Bless You Boys
Seems crazy, right?
I was trying to really see what the problem is, so I headed over to Baseball Reference for some objective analysis.
In the AL, we're fourth in runs scored/game, dead-freaking-last in runs allowed. This is strangely comforting, as the pitching looks to be improving. The batting, as frustrating as it is, with runners left on base, is still scoring runs.
Also, looking at individual pitchers, most of them are well off their historic peripherals. Verlander has as many walks as strikeouts right now. That will likely not continue. Same with Bondo. Same with Rogers.
(Verlander also leads the AL in hit batsmen, which is kind of hilarious. That likely will continue...he did it last year, too.)
Also, we appear (based on Range Factors) to be getting above league-average defense at every position except first base. Cabrera, Guillen? A-HEM, fellas.
Speaking of Cabrera, he was actually only (again, based on range factor) slightly worse than Inge, and considerably better than league average at third. But his fielding average was 0.900, courtesy of 5 errors. That's almost certainly fluky--if he was actually that bad of a third baseman, he would not have made it to the majors as a third baseman. I wonder how many of his "troubles at third" were mostly him getting used to the new field? Maybe they cut the grass shorter at Comerica, or the ground is harder.
If I could get Dave D's ear right now, this is what I'd say: don't do anything crazy. They're underperforming, not bad. They're due to go on a tear. For the last two years, they've been amazing out of the box, then settled down. Maybe this is the year there's a middle or late hot streak.
I may eat these words, but I think that things are likely to to improve, and not just in a "how could they get any worse" sense.
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