SB Nation Blog: xbhaskarx

DLD 5/27/08: Never trust anyone over 29

xbhaskarx — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:09:23 -0000

Happy Birthday to Frank Thomas, born May 27, 1968.

There is an interview with Billy Beane on the front page. Read part 1, part 2, and (eventually) part 3.

Some USSM readers see almost every Beane comment as a personal attack on their own front office:

I mean, he didn’t reference the M’s FO by name, but wow, could he at least be a bit more subtle when insulting the M’s.

This was a sad photo.

Your 2008 Oakland Athletics - A Visual History

John Sickels of minorleagueball has a Top 50 Hitters Status Report.

It's still early, but these four teams

Rays 31-20 $44m (29)
Marlins 30-20 $22m (30)
D-backs 30-21 $66m (23)
A's 28-23 $48m (28)

are playing better than these four teams:

Yankees 25-26 $209m (1)
Mets 23-26 $138m (2)
Tigers 21-30 $138m (3)
Mariners 18-34 $118m (9)

Ichiro made a great catch yesterday:

Lookout Landing:

Yeah, that's a called strike three on a pitch well off the plate. Giambi obviously didn't think much of it, but then, this isn't a new phenomenon - umpires just have a crazy different strike zone for left-handed hitters. Check out this article by John Walsh, and, if you want to skip the meat, scroll down to the bottom. Hello, outside strikes. I don't know how or why this is the way it is, but a smart pitcher - that is, someone who's aware of PITCHf/x - that is, Brian Bannister - - should absolutely be using this to his advantage. Unfair or not, that's the reality, and it would be silly not to exploit it.

More Pitch f/x:

Preliminary Aging Curve for Fastball Speed

It appears that until pitchers reach 28 or 29, they increase the speed on their fastball by about 1.5 mph. After 29, there is a rather sharp decline in fastball speed.

During the next five years, pitchers lose just over four mph.

Another article on Pitch f/x:

Baseball's nerd machine

While nobody is sure what this means for baseball, it is generating a great deal of talk. Earlier this month in San Francisco, Sportvision Inc., the sports-entertainment technology company that helped develop the system, hosted a Pitch f/x "summit." By the end, the stats wonks, engineers and nine team representatives in attendance could barely contain themselves. "It's tremendously exciting for people like me," said Mat Olkin, a Kansas City Royals consultant.

Keith Woolner, the manager of research and analysis for the Cleveland Indians, said the ability to capture such detailed measurements is "the next step" in baseball knowledge and strategy.

...

The scene at the Pitch f/x summit was symbolic of baseball's increasing wonkiness. The 52 attendees — some of them college professors — met to discuss how to improve the system and how to interpret its results. Participants swapped theories about determining the coefficient of drag and made jokes about the difficulty analyzing Boston pitcher Tim Wakefield's knuckleball. Nine major-league clubs sent representatives to the summit, including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

5/29/08 DLD

The DLDing of a New Era (02/12/08)

xbhaskarx — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:31:06 -0000

"I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined." -Homer the Great

AN 3.0 is up, and we no longer have numbers. >:-( Damn, we early adopters just got screwed...

Now that Diaries have been replaced by FanPosts, what happens to the Diary Police? And what happened to OaktownTribesman and his A's-related Photoshops?

Lookout Landing users have created the Meme Police. #1 on my list for AN would be the "day to day" jokes.

Will Caroll has started doing the 2008 Team Health Reports. The first team is the Padres so we don't really care, but:

"Projected lineups appear courtesy of SportsBlog Nation"

Also, did AN diaries show up on Google News before AN 3.0?

Edit: How come this one didn't show up? Athletics Nation Oakland A's Oakland Athletics Google News Oakland Fremont buy Viagra Oakland A's porn sex free Britney Spears video.

Grant is jealous of our photos and our auto-refreshing comments.

John Sickels reviews the top 50 prospects from 2000, 2001, and 2002.

Five Questions answered by the SJ Mercury News and SF Chronicle. I prefer the Chronicle version because it restates the five questions at the end.

Monkeys are taking over THT. The first paragraph has links for various projections and since I didn't read the rest of it, I'll just paste that:

"Player projections! It's become a rite of spring on par with pitchers and catchers. Over the last several weeks we've been treated to projections from Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, Bill James and Baseball Info Solutions, Sean Smith's CHONE system, Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA and Dan Szymborski's ZiPS. In a few weeks, The Hardball Times will throw its hat into the ring with The Hardball Times Season Preview 2008."

Finally, some non-baseball (but still relevant) stats here (scroll down) and here for the real nerds.

The "Ghostride the Volvo" video. Yes, we have already seen it.

xbhaskarx — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:18:37 -0000

Barry Bonds: Worth -5 Wins

xbhaskarx — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:01:16 -0000

Susan Slusser reported the A's may still be interested in Barry Bonds:

According to industry sources, before Bonds was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice this month, talks between the A's and Bonds were further along than anyone has let on.
Even with the indictment, no one with the team has flat-out rejected the notion of signing him.

But should the A's sign Bonds? Sure his 1.045 OPS was the highest in the NL last year, but the Giants offense only scored 683 runs with Barry clogging up the bases. And they only won 71 games, whereas they had won 72 games without him.

2006 Playoff Predictions

xbhaskarx — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 05:25:59 -0000

Only 12 hours until Game 1.

The experts and the computers have all made their predictions.
If anyone else wants to make predictions, they can do so in this diary.

DLD 10/02/06: Minnesoter

xbhaskarx — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:02:52 -0000

This is the Daily Link Dump.
Your 2006 AL West Champion Oakland A's are going to Minnesota to play Johan Santana and the Twins. Be afraid, be very afraid.

There are no links yet, maybe people will post some below. Or maybe they'll just make inside jokes and post slightly amusing photoshopped images.

Beane Busy Entertaining Tony Blair as Trade Deadline Approaches?

xbhaskarx — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 16:29:02 -0000

I really like our GM, I like that he's innovative, respected, high profile, and in demand as a speaker for a big event like this.

But with the trading dealine just days away, I really hope this doesn't interfere with his ability to get a deal done. Either we need to be buyers and get a hitter or maybe another starting pitcher, or we need to trade Zito.

Blair to join Galaxy of Stars at Pebble Beach
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/29/MNGD5K7V4U1.DTL

Prime Minister Tony Blair's first visit to California has a bit of everything: serious environmental discussions, business meetings, a foreign affairs speech -- and a star-powered, incredibly eclectic gathering of world thinkers, leaders and luminaries in posh Pebble Beach.

The tony, private event, a five-day management retreat for 250 executives of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., is set to bring together a VIP guest list for the ages to chat about issues like volunteerism, technology and politics. Among them: Blair, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers and even U2 lead singer and international do-gooder Bono.

AN Community Guidelines?

xbhaskarx — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:20:12 -0000

http://www.athleticsnation.com/story/2006/7/3/132032/8850

"batman" writes a diary comparing US troops to Nazis and those who "support the troops" to Nazi sympathizers, and his diary is merely edited to remove any comments that violate the community guidelines?

this doesn't seem to be the same treatment that other people get when they violate AN's community guidelines.
for example, a few days ago, some ANer posted a diary attacking baseballgirl and the diary was deleted, i'm assuming his account was deleted as well. why wasn't the offensive material simply "removed per Community Guidelines" as in this case?

and what does that even mean, "removed per Community Guidelines"? where in the community guidelines does it say that if you write something that violates the guidelines, that is all that will happen to you?

is it because louismg is one of the people who has the power to make these decisions and was defending batman's comments?

what happened here? was batman contacted and asked to remove the offensive material? did louismg unilaterally remove it? will offensive diaries not be completely deleted from now on or is this an exception?

Bonds to be suspended by Selig?

xbhaskarx — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:37:45 -0000

Peter Gammons just said on ESPN that there is a good chance Selig will suspend Bonds. He also points out that Bonds could be disciplined just for associating with known steroids dealers, which he compared to associating with gamblers.
Remember, Victor Conte and Greg Anderson both plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one count of money laundering.

Ex-commissioner Vincent calls for investigation of allegations vs. Bonds.
Former commissioner Fay Vincent and the lawyer who investigated Pete Rose for him called on commissioner Bud Selig to hire an outside investigator to research allegations of steroid use by Barry Bonds.

Bonds could face suspension after prior steroid warning.
Citing unnamed sources within the sport, the Chicago Tribune reported that major league commissioner Bud Selig is considering a suspension for the San Francisco Giants star among a wide range of possible responses.
The report also said a ruling could be made before the Giants' April 3 season opener.

The Tribune also reported that Selig met with Bonds during spring training in 2004 over concerns about claims that Bonds took steroids.
Selig made a vague offer of leniency to Bonds if he had anything to confess, the Tribune reported, but also warned that consequences would be "much worse" if he proclaimed innocence and evidence blater revealed him as a steroid user.

Also, Schmidt stung by steroid speculation.
Last year, "Schmidt began hearing rumblings in the San Francisco clubhouse that there was a different reason for his decline. Word got back to him that a teammate or two had speculated that his stuff was slipping because he had stopped taking steroids."

So Schmidt "changed his routine and spent part of his offseason at the Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz. He played catch in the mornings with Boston's Curt Schilling, took a crash course in nutrition and hit the weights diligently enough to add 20 pounds while simultaneously shedding body fat."

Best quote: "If someone saw me in the shower, they'd never think I was on the juice," Schmidt said. Over at McCovey Chronicles, a reader wonders, "Was Schmidt referring to his physique or the size of his testicles?"

2006 Predictions

xbhaskarx — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 02:42:09 -0000

I was bored today, so I decided to look at the predictions AN made last April:
2005 Prediction Thread
http://www.athleticsnation.com/story/2005/4/4/22150/96023

Almost everyone had the White Sox third or fourth in the AL Central, eck767 was the only one who had them finishing second.
The most popular incorrect playoff picks seem to have been the A's, Twins, Dodgers, Marlins, and Cubs.
I think the most correct playoff teams picked is 6 of 8 by MJB.
I'm pretty disappointed because I only got 3 of the 8 playoff teams, and they were the obvious ones (yanks, red sox, cards).

Some notable predictions:
K56: "AL MVP: Eric Byrnes (dark horse)"
Colorado Fan: Barry Bonds "will be back very soon"
iceplant: "The tigers will win the AL central on the back of Cy Young winner Jeremy Bonderman."
SurfingOC: "Zito over Hudson in Game 6" of the WS [I like how specific this one is. What will their pitch counts be?]
ohad: "Mariners (much better than last year. MUCH MUCH better)"
Steve in Napa: lots of bizarre predictions, including "Nevin top 5 in MVP voting"

I'm sure Blez will create a front page thread for predictions in late March or so, but if anyone else wants to make predictions now, go for it.
Mine are below.