SB Nation User Blog: niallmack

Fallen Angels

niallmack — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:04:39 -0000

I just looked at the score of the Angels game on yahoo! and it says that Howie Kendrick left the game due to a jammed finger and Francisco Rodriguez left the game due to an ankle injury. It seems to me that the Angels may have gotten the injury hex that the A's had the last few years. Lackey, Escobar, Shields, and now these two! Next thing you know Vlad's car is going to get broken into and his passport, IPod and hand moisturizer will get stolen leaving him useless for two months. The division seems as wide open as it's been in years and I believe it's time for the Gonzalezeses to play and win!

I'll bet the guys are scared of opening day vs this butter ball.

niallmack — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:17:07 -0000

I'll bet the guys are scared of opening day vs this butter ball.

Trade for Tejada?

niallmack — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:09:01 -0000

What a good PR move that would be. There have been rumors around for a while now that Tejada is available. He has 2 years left on his contract for 13 million a year.

The real questions are how much would it take to get him and how good will he defense be over the rest of his contract?

How much will it take to get him?

There have been reports that the Orioles are

MacPhail said the Orioles want to rebuild their talent base in all areas, suggesting they would want multiple players in any deal. They need pitching and have an obvious hole in center field, where Melky Cabrera would fit.

The Orioles also need a closer because of injuries to Chris Ray and Danys Báez and are interested in Kyle Farnsworth, who was developed by the Chicago Cubs when MacPhail and Manager Dave Trembley worked there.

I think Tejada might be available for Huston Street, somebody similar to Jason Windsor, and an infielder (Crosby, Scutaro or Petit).

Will he play good enough defense?

First off he is a good hitter for a SS so even if he is a little below average defensively it will be good fit (especially with above average at 3B assuming Chavez is there and 2B).

I don't really trust defensive stats but the consensus seems to be that he still has a very good arm but is losing range, he always seemed to be good fundamentally. At 31 years old he might be better off at 3B.

This could be the right handed bat the A's need at a realistic price. How good does this lineup look?

LF Buck
1B Barton
SS Tejada
DH Cust
RF Swisher
3B Chavez
2B Ellis
CF Denorfia / Kotsay
C Suzuki

Poll

Who do we trade for Tejada

other (post below)

10 votes

DONT DO IT HE'S TOO OLD AND BAD DEFENSIVELY!

43 votes

Street Scutaro and Windsor.

6 votes

Street Crosby and Widsor.

40 votes

The Orioles will get a better offer than this

49 votes

148 votes | Poll has closed

Geren's first great decision

niallmack — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:14:00 -0000

Ok this probably has as least as much to do with Beane as Geren but he's the one publicly making the decision.

Giving Haren the opening day start is good because he's the resident ace still around based on last year's performance. The decision to give Harden the 3rd spot rather than the second is the part that I like the best. Telling everybody that it's because he'll get the home opener is perfect. This seems fair to everyone involved and makes great baseball sense as well because of the injury risk that Harden presents.

Harden was put in the #3 hole because of the importance of the starters to provide consistency for the bullpen. I think many teams with poor rotations have a sort of domino effect when the starters come out of the game early a few days in a row and the bullpen gets taxed.

In my opinion Haren and then Blanton can be counted on for the most conistent innings on the staff. Loaiza has been an innings eater for a number of years but missed time last year. Before spring training started I wondered how they would line up the pitching staff and hoped they would do it the way they did.

#1 Haren - quality innings and long starts
#2 Loaiza - (hopefully) quality innings and (probably long starts)
#3 Harden - Best rate stats but has missed starts in the past
#4 Blanton - Consistently gets into the 6th and 7th inning but sometimes gets shelled.
#5 a big question mark at this point but can be skipped throughout the year.

I think one of Blanton's strengths would be that Geren can ask him for a long start if he knows the bullpen will need some rest and I think he can deliver. Am I crazy and thinking too far into this?

How do we use our biggest player?

niallmack — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:32:15 -0000

While I was reading http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/pinch-hitting-specialists-a-history/ this interesting history of the use of pinch hitting I got back to my thinking about how we can use Frank Thomas most efficiently. My thinking was that if he's a huge injury risk / good hitter when in, then getting him the most at-bats at crucial points in the game would be a benefit.

But Niall, having him hit behind Chavez will get Chavvy better pitches to hit!

Niall: Oh ya, well having him on the bench will prevent the other team from using left handed relievers in late innings.

But Niall having him in the everyday lineup will get him in the batters box the most while leaving him on the bench is a waste.

Niall: We can make the playoffs without him, so why not try and keep him healthy for the playoffs when we'll need him most!

Poll

How do we use the Big Hurt?

Throw him in at 1B his splits show he hits better when in the field.

1 votes

Fire the hitting coach and implement a player/coach deal so he can decide.

1 votes

Start a few games a week, pinch hit in others.

75 votes

Sit him on the bench Swisher is the man!

2 votes

Always start him and hope for health.

23 votes

FIRE MACHA NOW he'll never figure out what to do!!!!

20 votes

Always pinch hit for him, save him for playoffs.

1 votes

123 votes | Poll has closed

Levi's Landing

niallmack — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:43:07 -0000

from mlb.com

SBC Park's unique right-field configuration -- the long, narrow arcade where fans have craned their necks watching Barry Bonds' historic blasts fly into McCovey Cove -- is about to get a facelift.
The Giants announced an agreement Friday on a five-year partnership with San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. to sponsor the right-field section, which will be renamed Levi's Landing.

The philosophies of the A's and Giants couldn't get any more different even more so now that the Giants are in jean selling business.

Byrnes in CF

niallmack — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 18:41:18 -0000

Did nobody else notice this? I'll be much more inclined to watch Diamonbacks games now. How many balls will be hit directly over him and he'll stand there not knowing whats going on, only to make a diving miss for a triple or inside the park hr? Should be good to watch and I hope he has a great season. [editor's note, by niallmack]He was a perfect 1 for 0 in SB attempts on turf last year.

Pitching staff old vs. new

niallmack — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:49:37 -0000

After a turbulent yet successful first year of starting from Haren and Blanton I wanted to look at their stats vs. Hudson and Mulder's. I'll throw in Zito and Harden's numbers for fun. Here's the minor league totals according to thebaseballcube.com and the ages are their first season with 10+ starts.

Old Aces era h9 hr9 w9 k9 whip ip age

Hudson 3.55 7.17 0.43 4.32 9.00 1.28 271.0 24
Mulder 4.14 10.97 *** 2.30 5.72 1.47 137.0 22
Zito 3.18 7.20 0.37 4.24 9.95 1.27 170.0 22

New Aces era h9 hr9 w9 k9 whip ip age
Harden 2.99 6.46 0.40 4.06 10.89 1.17 337.1 21
Haren 3.15 8.49 0.89 1.63 8.76 1.12 474.2 22
Blanton 3.33 8.60 0.52 1.68 8.33 1.14 365.1 24

Here's their first seasons with 30+ starts.

Old Aces era ip h k bb
Hudson 4.14 202.1 169 169 82
Mulder 3.45 229.1 214 153 51
Zito 3.49 214.1 184 205 80

New Aces era ip h k bb
Harden 3.99 190.2 171 167 81
Haren 3.73 217.0 212 163 53
Blanton 3.53 209.1 178 116 67

Poll

So which one is better?

Gonna have 4 this year giddee up!

11 votes

I can't believe we re-signed Macha, I mean c'mon!

14 votes

Too early to tell

29 votes

New Guys

6 votes

Big Three

6 votes

66 votes | Poll has closed

A's Vs. Angels according to ZIPs (and ME!!)

niallmack — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:07:41 -0000

Now that the A's offseason plans seem to be coming together I wanted to take a look at their chances of beating the team they finished second to in their division the last two years.

According to the Zips projections made available by Dan Szymborski at www.baseballthinkfactory.org we have the advantage at many offensive positions most notably at SS, and 3B. The Angels RF covered for now and haven't made any major offseason moves thus far but here are the projections for these three spots.

Name Avg OBP SLG
Crosby .270 .353 .448
Cabrera .264 .317 .379
AVG AL SS .276 .331 .412

Chavez .278 .361 .493
McPherson .249 .316 .493
AVG AL 3B .266 .329 .428

Bradley .291 .378 .462
Vlad .327 .400 .571
AVG AL RF .270 .332 .451

As it stands right now the Angels will put Mathis or a younger Molina in at catcher who both project to have a disappointing year and by disappointing I mean terrible. They can't get Bengie back and both catchers have a projected OBP of .281 while Kendall's is .364.

The Angels also have Hector Corrasco slated to be their number 5 starter even though he has started 6 games in his career and didn't play in the MLB in 2004...

Looks like they gotta trade some of that "amazing" farm system or wait until after next year to see the playoffs.