SB Nation User Blog: silverstadium

Putting the Death Sentence to Death

silverstadium — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:24:44 -0000

Putting the Death Sentence to Death

There's been much talk on here about how we should just write off our pitchers with a torn labrum because it's virtually impossible to recover from. Just saw this and thought I should pass it along. Maybe there's still hope...

Syracuse Chiefs 8, Norfolk Tides 3

silverstadium — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:43:38 -0000

So the Tides came to town this weekend and I managed to see the 4th game of the series on Monday. It was a perfect night for baseball, my first night at the park this season, and my first time watching a game at Alliance Bank Stadium with natural grass. Yep, someone finally woke up and removed the ancient astro turf from the field after years of player and fan complaints.

I love minor league baseball and can't wait for my children to be old enough to enjoy it. These days I'm lucky to get to the park a couple times a year. It'll be nice to be the baseball Dad and take them to a game once a week or so throughout the summer.

On to the game itself! Jon Leicester vs. Kane Davis. Needless to say, it was a good night for the home team.

We know that Leicester is not cut out for pitching in the majors. It is becoming more and more likely that he is not cut out for AAA either. Jon took the loss, giving up 10 hits and 4 ER in 6 innings and is now 2-7 with a 7.03 ERA on the season.

Even worse last night was Esteban Yan. The Tides were in the game when he entered to start the 8th. Only down by 2, they had a legit shot at it. Here's how my scorecard reflects the inning. E-1. BB. E-1. FO-7. E-7. K. FO-7. In his one inning he only gave up 1 hit and all three runs were unearned. But since he walked a guy and two of the errors were his own, I don't feel much sympathy.

That E-7 was Terrero's 2nd of the game as he misplayed a carom off the wall. Earlier in the game he just plain dropped a ball, leading to a run. Luis did redeem himself a bit by throwing out a runner at the plate with a perfect strike. Now, the runner was tagging on a shallow fly ball and never should have been sent. Nevertheless, you couldn't ask for a better throw.

Scott Moore had a decent game, going 2 for 4 with a run scored and Brandon Fahey went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI (all while looking like he's going to fall over each time he swings the bat).

All in all, though, this team is truly a disappointment. I don't mean to begrudge them for giving me a fun evening of minor league baseball, but there isn't a single guy on this team right now (especially now that Liz has been called up) that I'm excited about watching. The Tides are now 21-37 and in last place, 10 games behind first place Durham in the IL Central.

At least the Chiefs are contending for the first time in decades!

Final note: Guess who has this line for the Chiefs this season?

7-0 in 11 games (8 GS); 3.18 ERA; 64 K in 56.2 IP.

STAT OF THE DAY Top 5 2008 Designated Hitters, by VORP Player, Team, EqA, VORP Milton Bradley,...

silverstadium — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:12:08 -0000

STAT OF THE DAY

Top 5 2008 Designated Hitters, by VORP

Player, Team, EqA, VORP

Milton Bradley, TEX, .342, 22.9
Hideki Matsui, NYA, .313, 17.4
David Ortiz, BOS, .285, 13.3
Frank Thomas, OAK, .331, 11.4
Aubrey Huff, BAL, .262, 7.2

Baseball Prospectus Basic Newsletter 5/29

O's likely to take a college pitcher - Baseball Prospectus draft preview

silverstadium — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:29:30 -0000

O's likely to take a college pitcher - Baseball Prospectus draft preview

4. Baltimore Orioles. The universal feeling here is that the Orioles have put all of their energy picking between the top two college arms, and that’s been reflected in their frequent attendance in the two’s recent appearances. So the decision will come down to taking the pitcher with the deeper arsenal and better command (Matusz), or the one with more pure power stuff (Crow). There is little belief they’ll go in any other direction, but Alvarez somehow getting here would certainly prompt some heated internal discussions.

STAT OF THE DAY Top 5 AL Team Defenses, by Defensive Efficiency Team, DEF_EFF Baltimore Orioles,...

silverstadium — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:41:47 -0000

STAT OF THE DAY

Top 5 AL Team Defenses, by Defensive Efficiency

Team, DEF_EFF

Baltimore Orioles, .728
Tampa Bay Rays, .723
Toronto Blue Jays, .720
Cleveland Indians, .716
Oakland Athletics, .712

5/19/08 Baseball Prospectus Basic E-mail Newsletter

Let's second guess Diamond Dave some more!

silverstadium — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:17:49 -0000

We've taken plenty of time to beat DD's poor bullpen management to death, but I don't think we should let his decisions slide just because we managed to eke out the win last night.

First (maybe) bad decision: Leaving Guts in to start the 7th with 107 pitches under his belt. (Wasn't our last argument also about leaving him in too long?) He proceeds to give up two hits before being pulled. Here's a FanShot I posted the other day with a handy chart detailing how a pitcher gets worse and worse the more pitches he throws. One argument why this is the case is because not only is he tiring, but he's going through the order a second, third, and fourth time and the batters are catching onto him. Note that Guts came back in the 7th to face the top of the order for the 4th time.

This one is a tough call. Guthrie has pitched well against the Sox in the past and he was having a tremendous game. Last time we were arguing he had another 10 or so pitches under his belt and he was just having a decent game. This time he had a 7:1 K:BB ratio in 6 IP. I think this was truly a toss-up decision, even though the chart indicates that the average pitcher has a significantly higher BA, OBP, and SLG against.

Second (clearly) bad decision: Bringing in Walker to face Ortiz. Duh. Ortiz now has a career line of .438/.471/1.000 in 16 ABs vs. Walker. JW has been terrible lately. Why oh why oh why?

All I have to say is thank God for Jim Johnson. I can't say that his strand rate and K:BB ratio give me much comfort, but man did he come up big last night!

Chris Tillman Baseball Prospectus Interview

silverstadium — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:21:10 -0000

Chris Tillman Baseball Prospectus Interview

A few posts before this on their blog (open to nonsubscribers) is a brief interview with Bowie manager Brad Komminsk on Tillman and Reimold.

Should the starter be pulled?

silverstadium — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:33:15 -0000

Should the starter be pulled?

Here's a handy chart for Diamond Dave to refer to next time he has a tough decision to make.

Team Salary versus Performance

silverstadium — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:23:31 -0000

Team Salary versus Performance

According to this pretty cool chart, the O's are actually doing pretty well for their money. It's an interesting graphical representation. Check it out.

For youngsters, long-term deals have risks, rewards

silverstadium — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:45:03 -0000

For youngsters, long-term deals have risks, rewards

This is a good article from USA Today on the trend of signing young players to long-term deals. It's certainly something MacPhail ought to be thinking about.