SB Nation User Blog: cornball

My All-NL Team

cornball — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:22:56 -0000

I was just sitting on my couch watching Game 5 tonight. When Chase Utley came to bat in the first inning, I thought, hmm, why don't you hit a homer, Chase? And he did. Crushed. He is easily the most valuable hitter on the Phillies and one of the top three hitters in the NL (it's him with Pujols and Ramirez). Thinking about this got me wondering: if I could construct a 25-man roster made up only of guys who finished the season in the NL, who would I chose. This would be a traditional roster, not an All-Star team, so normal roster rules apply. 25 guys: 12 pitchers, 13 hitters. This team would play from this day forward, so potential matters, as do bench roles. I obviously weighed this past season's performances most heavily. My team, with 2009 WAR, would be:

C: 	Brain McCann, 4.4

1B: 	Albert Pujols, 8.4

2B: 	Chase Utley, 7.7

SS: 	Hanley Ramirez, 7.3

3B: 	Ryan Zimmerman, 7.1

RF: 	Justin Upton, 4.4

CF: 	Matt Kemp, 5.1

LF: 	Matt Holliday, 5.6

BN:	Yadier Molina, 3.4

BN:	Pablo Sandoval, 5.1

BN:	Troy Tulowitzki, 5.5

BN:	Nyjer Morgan, 4.8

BN:	Ryan Braun, 4.7

SP: 	Tim Lincecum, 8.2

SP:	Chris Carpenter, 5.6

SP:	Ubaldo Jiminez, 5.7

SP:	Cliff Lee, 6.6

SP:	Dan Haren, 6.1

RP:	Ryan Madson, 1.9

RP:	Brian Wilson, 2.4

RP:	Jon Broxton, 2.9

RP:	Huston Street, 1.5

RP:	Rafael Soriano, 2.0

RP:	Mike Gonzalez (L), 0.9

RP:	Jeremy Affeldt (L), 0.8

Relief pitchers have a certain element of inherent fungibility, so I went with guys that are good, young, and don't pitch in Petco. Gonzalez and Affeldt had the highest WAR among left-handed relievers in the NL.

Hardest calls:

-Not picking Johann Santana. Obviously, the man is very good, but his WAR the past three years has been under 5, after being 7+ the three years before that in Minnesota. I left Wainwright off because I have no idea what his true talent level is (WAR the last three years: 5.7, 2.2, 3.5). Cain has been pretty stable around 4 WAR, so he's not quite one of the elite elite pitchers in the league. Other candidates as SP: Vazquez, Hamels, J Johnson, Kershaw.

-Leaving off Adrian Gonzalez and David Wright. Both of these guys were robbed by the combination of positional strength and lack of roster spots. I was surprised to see how dominant Zimmerman was this year and Pablo's versatility (and superior 2009 stats) allows me to carry two bench OF. Fielder was also a very close call, but I would have picked Gonzalez due to Petco's disastrous effects on left-handed hitters. Tulowitzki had easily the third-best WAR of middle infielders and could probably play 2B or 3B in a pinch. Other candidates as IF: no one.

-The entire OF was hard to call. There just aren't many dominant outfielders in the NL, especially from the left-side. This was definitely where I had to balance potential against production. I mean, Jayson Werth had a higher WAR (4.8) than Justin Upton. And who would have thought that Morgan would have the highest WAR of all NL-only qualifiers in LF? Other candidates as OF: Ibanez, Cameron, Pence.

Anyway, this was just an exercise as some of these players will change teams and/or leagues in the offseason. I was surprised to end up picking four Giants among the league's top 25. Who would have thought that before the 2009 season started? I mean, Brian Wilson had the second-highest WAR among NL relievers and Pablo had the second-highest among third-basemen. I already mentioned Affeldt. Those three hugely exceeded expectations. Combined with Timmy (ridiculous) and Matty (very, very good) and that is a damn fine nucleus. So, who would be on your team? And, while we're at it, does anyone have an AL team?

LOL Steve Phillips

cornball — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:27:44 -0000

LOL Steve Phillips

So Phillips is gone. Best news of the morning. Now we don't have to listen to that idiot describe how he drove the Mets into the ground any longer, or suffer through his diatribes on leadership and toughness. Good riddance.

OT: Widgets?

cornball — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:38:18 -0000

Due to USMLE Step 1 dominating my forseeable future, I will be spending many days and nights in the library and I've come to realize that Giants' baseball is perhaps not the best for my concentration. I'm sure my question has been covered, but does anyone know of good scoreboard widgets? I'm looking for a desktop widget for a PC that can be modified to only show the Giants' score. A limited schedule would be fine, too. I really don't care about news. And if this has been covered elsewhere on this site, just point me there 'cause I can't find the post. Thanks in advance for the help.

Rick Reilly Re-assigns MVP Awards

cornball — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:24:11 -0000

Rick Reilly Re-assigns MVP Awards

I find this kind of thing really dumb. Reassigning MVP awards because we know of a handful of guys that PED'd and giving them to guys that are "more deserving" in hindsight? Just dumb and actually really naive. He actually says that Barry Bonds robbed Albert Pujols and Luis Gonzalez and that Ken Caminiti robbed Mike Piazza. Where's the proof that guys didn't 'roid? Buster Olney's general opinion is that, in the steroids era, it's safest to assume that everyone juiced. I don't know if that's the best solution, but it certainly is safer than just blindly assuming that guys didn't. I know this topic has been covered ad nauseum on this site, but this article is really just ludicrous.

Dodgers offer Manny 1-year deal

cornball — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:25:15 -0000

Dodgers offer Manny 1-year deal

I am not going to advocate signing Manny Ramirez. I'm kind of neutral on the whole prospect. I do think this move by the Dodgers is brilliant, but then again Dodger brilliance makes me sad. One year? From the team that wants him the most? Scott Boras must be the best agent in all of baseball.

Rule 5 Draft

cornball — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:07:35 -0000

Rule 5 Draft

I couldn't (in my very cursory searching) find a more Giants-specific link on yesterdays Rule 5 Draft. In any case, the Giants picked up the AA pitcher (Luis Perdomo) that the Indians gave up for Anthony Reyes. It's buried towards the bottom of the article. The guy's stats last year look pretty sterling but it's a small sample size (72 IP) which suggests that he's already being used as a reliever.

Gammons Says This is the Worst Series Ever

cornball — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:56:19 -0000

Gammons Says This is the Worst Series Ever

*Need Insider access to view*

Gammons thinks that the rain has made this the worst world series ever. He does bring up the idea of shortening the regular season, but his neutral site world series idea is pretty terrible. Also, it does seem like he's sad that the Red Sox lost.