BigEd76 wrote:

mstairs12
Sammy Sosa sure looks different from when we were teammates with the cubs in 2001 http://pic.twitter.com/WYZhTrzp83

oh noez...vampires

Hmmm

Wertz has a legit shot at the batting title. Hope he gets it, particularly since that would mean dirty Brave won't get it

Brown hasn't homered in almost a month and is still 4th in the league in HR. Current leader, Alvarez, only has 32. Could end up with the lowest HR leader since Crime Dog back in 1992 who only had 35. I would think he's got to have one of the lowest OBP for a HR leader in a while as well: .294 right now
Kingman had a .285 in 1982. That's gotta be one of the worst ever

You know who isn't really all that good? Michael Bourn.

.260/.312/.344.

22 steals and 10 CS.

Great defense still I'm sure but he's not hitting good.

smitty wrote:You know who isn't really all that good? Michael Bourn.

.260/.312/.344.

22 steals and 10 CS.

Great defense still I'm sure but he's not hitting good.

I just noticed the odd structuring of his contract. His salary will nearly double next season.

4 years/$48M (2013-16), plus 2017 option
signed by Cleveland as a free agent 2/11/13
13:$7M, 14:$13.5M, 15:$13.5M, 16:$14M, 17:$12M vesting option
2017 option guaranteed at $12M with 550 plate appearances in 2016

Wladimir Balentien broke the Japan single season HR record w/ 56 HR. Ruben should sign this guy.

Vlad Guerrero, Todd Helton and Mark Kotsay are all retiring

the former and the latter are surprises

Pirates' renaissance fueled by defensive shifts and two-seam fastballs

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/4689 ... z2f4BnFVMH

Grotewold wrote:Pirates' renaissance fueled by defensive shifts and two-seam fastballs

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/4689 ... z2f4BnFVMH

great article. has some shades of Cy Young winner Dr. Mike Marshall in it.

what make Utley incredibly valuable defensively is how he positions himself. he is always in the correct position to make the easy play. he's clearly not as athletically gifted as a lot of second basemen.

jamiethekiller wrote:

Grotewold wrote:Pirates' renaissance fueled by defensive shifts and two-seam fastballs

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/4689 ... z2f4BnFVMH

great article. has some shades of Cy Young winner Dr. Mike Marshall in it.

what make Utley incredibly valuable defensively is how he positions himself. he is always in the correct position to make the easy play. he's clearly not as athletically gifted as a lot of second basemen.

It's pitch awareness. Being aware of the hitter, and type and location of the next pitch being thrown, is a great advantage. Ever see a ball get by (e.g.) Utley's right when he's moving left with the pitch? It's usually because the pitcher missed his spot by a lot. Jimmy does it, too.

Cabrera now trails Josh Donaldson in third basemen fWAR

I DO BELIEVE THAT SOME PEOPLE HAV ENOTHING

Grotewold wrote:Cabrera now trails Josh Donaldson in third basemen fWAR

entirely because of Cabrera's -16 fielding WAR and -3.4 base running WAR. Cabrera beats him in wOBA by 0.80+ points and in wRC+ by about 50 points. In summary, fWAR blows.

Soren wrote:

Thanks Amaro

Soren wrote:

Grotewold wrote:Cabrera now trails Josh Donaldson in third basemen fWAR

entirely because of Cabrera's -16 fielding WAR and -3.4 base running WAR. Cabrera beats him in wOBA by 0.80+ points and in wRC+ by about 50 points. In summary, fWAR blows.

This doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

Jeez, I didn't realize Villar was out on that play.

Plenty of good baseball action yesterday, including this one with a supporting role by fan favoriteDan Uggla:

phatj wrote:

Soren wrote:

Grotewold wrote:Cabrera now trails Josh Donaldson in third basemen fWAR

entirely because of Cabrera's -16 fielding WAR and -3.4 base running WAR. Cabrera beats him in wOBA by 0.80+ points and in wRC+ by about 50 points. In summary, fWAR blows.

This doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

yeah, this doesn't seem that insane to me

I'm not going to argue that Cabrera is a gold glover but he's on a historically awesome stretch hitting wise and we're taking a huge chunk of his value out because of a loosely defined and unreliable fielding statistic.

Soren wrote:I'm not going to argue that Cabrera is a gold glover but he's on a historically awesome stretch hitting wise and we're taking a huge chunk of his value out because of a loosely defined and unreliable fielding statistic.

so cabrera passes the eye test?

if a 3b misses a ball down the line its a double, instant runner in scoring position. so if a good 3B can stop that then i'd wager that 3B fielding is pretty damn imporant. cabrera was pushed off of 3B for a reasno..