SB Nation User Blog: rotorueter

Joel Guzman Released

rotorueter — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:12:13 -0000

The Tampa Bay Rays have DFA'd former top prospect 3B Joel Guzman.

Guzman appeared destined for stardom just two years ago, even putting up a .297/.353/.461 line in AAA Las Vegas as a 21 year old.

In 2006, the Dodgers traded him to Tampa Bay for Julio Lugo, and he hasn't been any good since.

Seems like the perfect person for us to target if we get the chance, as he is only 23. Could be one of those "change of scenery" guys.

Extra Ticket: Tuesday Night

rotorueter — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:46:07 -0000

Friends,

The BaronVonCurrentEvents, her brother, and I are headed to the yard on Tuesday night (Sept 9th) to go see Barry Zito help us realize Operation Strasburg.

I have one extra ticket, and the first to reply may have the honor of joining our charming selves. As in previous posts like this, I'd prefer to take a regular contributor on the site rather than a Johnny-Come-Lately.

You don't need to pay me for the ticket, but I certainly wouldn't refuse a churro if it were offered.

At long last, the Krukow guitar

rotorueter — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:49:42 -0000

So I was headed back to the Bay area today after spending the week in Denver at the Crunchy Hippie/Al Qaeda festival. On the plane, as many of us do, I cracked open the silly Skymall catalog to pass the time. In the catalog, I found this:

SkyMall Travel Guitar

This seems to answer the question posed here:

Why does Krukow's guitar lack a neck?

I hope this makes all of you sleep better at night---I know it will for me.

BirdZerk

rotorueter — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:54:04 -0000

BirdZerk

What with the recent sudden interest in the Zooperstars, I wanted to share with you all a similar act that I discovered as a multimedia intern with the Columbus Clippers.

While BirdZerk lacks the comical names of the Zooperstars, their performances are similarly bizarre AND they have an actual jingle that you can download on the site.

Enjoy!

Baseball Prospectus Free Week

rotorueter — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:03:16 -0000

Great News! It appears that Baseball Prospectus is allowing all of their content to be accessed for free all week, including all of their PECOTA data.

www.baseballprospectus.com

For those of you too cheap or otherwise unable or unwilling to subscribe to BP, I encourage you to check it out. Very informative and well laid-out. Their articles are an integral part of my daily routine, as my yearly subscription is my dad's perpetual Christmas gift to me.

Kuroda-7 Perfect Innings

rotorueter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:50:03 -0000

Hiroki Kuroda is 2 innings from pitching a PERFECT GAME. Yeah, that's right, a PERFECT GAME. Those are so rare, and it definitely looks like we are going to see another one tonight. Definitely. I mean, it is essentially a foregone conclusion that Kuroda is going to pitch a PERFECT GAME or at least a NO HITTER

PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME NO HITTER PERFECT GAME NO HITTER

PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME NO HITTER PERFECT GAME NO HITTERPERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME PERFECT GAME NO HITTER PERFECT GAME NO HITTER

Edit: Nevermind. Jinx thread is victorious.

20 Loss-Cy Young

rotorueter — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:40:36 -0000

After witnessing firsthand Zito's 7th loss on this young season in Pittsburgh, I had a thought: "How many pitchers in baseball history have had both a Cy Young season AND a 20 loss season in their careers?"

I did a little research and came up with three:

Denny McClain http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mclaide01.shtml

Steve Carlton http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/carltst01.shtml

Randy Jones http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jonesra01.shtml

What's fascinating about this list is that all of these pitchers played in the 1970's

In other words, if Zito loses 20 games this year, he will have been the first pitcher to have both a Cy Young award and a 20- loss season since 1976.

Aybar to the Rays

rotorueter — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:14:57 -0000

http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/2008/01/rays-trade-for.html

Rays acquire Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine for Jeff Ridgeway.

I mean, it's not like we could have traded a crappy 27-year-old left handed reliever for a 23 year-old major-league ready third-baseman and a shortstop prospect.

Urge to kill rising...

ChiSox Re-sign Uribe

rotorueter — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:28:17 -0000

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7418304

Sources are claiming that the deal was for one year-$4.5 million.

In what universe is Juan Uribe worth less than Omar Vizquel? Uribe is no all-star, but he's 27 years old, plays quality defense from most accounts, and has never hit as poorly as Omar did last year.

PECOTA has him in the 760-790 OPS range for the next couple of years. And we get Omar.

Idea: Olsen & Messenger Reunited

rotorueter — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:25:27 -0000

From Rotoworld.com:

"Marlins suspended LHP Scott Olsen for two games because of insubordination.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Olsen's penalty stemmed from an incident Sunday after left-hander was relieved, but would not elaborate. Olsen, who is still scheduled to make his start Friday, has gained a reputation for attitude problems, and there was some concern that trading his best friend on the team, Randy Messenger, in the Armando Benitez deal could lead to more difficulties. It'd be no surprise if the Marlins parted with Olson in a trade, though it's more likely to happen in the offseason than before the July 31 deadline."

I know we aren't in the market for another pitcher, and that it's not exactly like we have an abundance of young, cheap players that the Marlins could use, but it would be really great if we could find a way to get this guy. He projects well under the PECOTA system, and racks up the K's.