Weekly Update May 31

Not much to report - Caleb gave back a bunch of points this week, but still is sitting right behind Taylor.

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Oh Balls!!!	32	6	30	8	0.001	3	2	34	-0.1	0.02	61	-1
2	Smell The Glove	27	10	33	2	0	3	6	28	-0.15	-0.04	52	2.5
3	I Ain't Got My Taco	29	6	30	6	-0.01	2	3	39	0.07	0.03	51.5	-4
4	Soap Box Yakkers	49	10	44	5	0.008	2	3	44	-0.09	0.02	47	1.5
5	Mr Bill's Boppers	46	10	44	7	0.001	3	1	34	0.04	0	46	-1
6	Soo Choo Train	47	9	40	7	0.009	2	0	40	-0.08	-0.02	44.5	3
7	The Chones	23	5	23	4	0.002	3	1	34	-0.12	0	33.5	1
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	22	4	26	5	0.001	1	2	35	0.02	0.02	24.5	-2

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Decisions

Looks like Taylor has taken the title of "Worst Decision of the Year" from Mark, starting Pat Burrell instead of Luke Scott this week. Pat continues to be out with a strained neck and there is still no time table for return. Luke Scott on the otherhand had one of the most impressive weeks of the entire season, going 8/18, with an incredible 6 homeruns, 7 R, and 14 RBI.
This only Taylor 1 point in in HR and 1.5 points in average, and surprisingly did not affect RBI.

Varitek and Ejections

There is no comparison I can think of in all of sports quite like an ejection in a baseball game. Sure, NBA players get the ridiculous "flagrant 2" called every once in a while, but it doesn't share the same drama. In baseball you get face to face arguing, spitting, a crowd cheering with excited anticipation, and then it is all capped off with a dramatic "you're outta here!" arm toss from the umpire. I love it.

In yesterday's Sox-Twins game, both managers and both catchers were ejected in each half of the 7th inning for completely different reasons. In the top half of the 7th, Mike Redmond, the twins catcher and 12 year veteran, was ejected for the first time in his career. Because Mauer was playing DH, the twins had to forfeit their DH spot to put Mauer behind the plate In the bottom half of the 7th, Varitek was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Beckett, pitching a gem, got heated after getting squeezed on what he felt was a third strike. Varitek stood right up and got in the Ump's face, protecting Beckett from getting the heave ho. Say what you want about Varitek, but there are some undeniable intangibles that he brings to the game. He was having a great game (2 home runs) and could have just let the bullpen finish up the inning (Beckett was nearing his pitch count anyways), but Tek is just that type of player and knows that his job is to protect his pitcher. That type of play is going to go a long way in what is sure to be a closely contested pennant race.

Sad

Sad that I'm playing him and sad that Gardenhire's playing him...if you watched any of the twins-sox games he just looked absolutely awful...

LF Delmon Young broke an 0-for-19 slump with two singles. Despite the skid, manager Ron Gardenhire said he never considered benching the outfielder, who left the team earlier this month when his mother died. "We have to get him in there. He has to play (when) he's going through some rough spots," Gardenhire said. "His timing is starting to get there. He's been swinging and missing quite a bit, but he's working on keeping his head in there a little longer."

Kurt Suzuki

With Wieters coming up (and hopefully doing well), Suzuki is expendable.  Let me know if anyone is interested in him.  Luke, I'm looking at you!

Looking to trade an OF

I'm looking to trade an outfielder (most likely Dye or Abreu) and am looking for starting pitching or a closer in return. Let me know if you're interested.

Mr Bill and Brad Penny

Has anyone else noticed the hilarious merry-go-round that Brad Penny is on?  He's jumping off and on the Boppers roster every other week, it seems like, and yet never starting.  Penny has been involved in the following transactions with the Boppers- added May 3rd, dropped May 4th (1 day); added May 7th, dropped May 16th (9 days on team), added May 25th, dropped ???.  He did manage to sneak in one start in the May 7th to May 16th, when he turned in 6.1 IP, with an ERA above 5 and a mediocre WHIP.  So why does Bill keep picking him up?  Should we all chip in and just buy Mr Bill some Ritalin so he won't be quite so hyperactive when it comes to Brad Penny?

Another Bartlett

Based on Caleb's Ibanez comment, I thought I'd take a look at another player who is having a ridiculous year - Jason Bartlett. Barlett is 29, turning 30 in October, and has been a regular since 2006. He's never been a top prospect and at 6'0"/185 isn't someone who was projected to hit for power. Barlett has been a useful player over the last 3 years providing solid defense and about average offensive production at shortstop. He was even voted the Rays MVP for 2008, although that was a pretty terrible decision in my book. Coming into this season Bartlett's OPS the previous three years were .760, .699, and .690.

This year Barlett is hitting.373/.418/.596 for an astonishing OPS of over 1. His batting average and OBP are both 100 points higher than his career averages, while his slugging is over .200 higher than his career average. Barlett has already hit a career high 7 homeruns and has stolen 14 bases, well on his way to breaking his previous high of 23 in 2007. So just how is he doing it?

1. He's hitting more balls in the air.
Barlett has gone from hitting groundballs in 45-50% of his balls in play to just under 35%, which is very low. The decrease in GB % is made up by approximately equal increases in FB % and LD %. The typical hitter will hit 45-50% groundballs, 20% line drives, and the remaining 30% as fly balls.

2. He's hitting a preposterous number of line drives.
Over the past 4 years Barlett has hit line drives in around 20% of his balls in play. This year that number has climbed to 28.2% and his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) has climbed to .405. While both the line drive percentage and the BABIP are unsustainably high and he is likely to regress back to around 20%, given the number of line drives he has hit, his current BABIP is not particularly lucky.

3. Fly balls are going for extra bases
Barlett's isolated power (ISO, slugging-batting average) is currently at .223, which is very high. As of right now, Bartlett's ISO is just below Ryan Howards' and is on par with Dan Uggla's career average ISO. Of the fly balls he's hitting, 13.7% are leaving the park. While the number itself isn't unreasonable, his previous career high was 4.9%. 13.7% is on par with Vernon Wells or Nick Markakis, and is well above career averages for Dustin Pedroia (~6%) or Alex Rios (~8%).

4. He is on base more often, running more when on base, and running more effectively
Barlett currently has 14 steals with only one caught stealing (94%); coming into this year his career average was 80%. He is also running more often when on bases, running approximately 24% of the time he reaches base (this is a back of the envelope calculation - simply (H+BB-HR-3B)/(SB+CS) and doesn't account for multiple SB attempt/time on base), up from 17.5% the previous year with the Rays and 15% in his last year with the Twins. The increased rate of stolen base attempts coupled with a career high OBP means that Barlett is on pace for 51 stolen bases, more than double his previous career high of 23.

Overall it has been an amazing season for Barlett. While I think the power numbers will come back down to earth, I haven't read any articles about a new approach or altered swing mechanics to lead me to believe these changes are real, especially in HR/FB and his LD%, the stolen base production might be maintained. The Rays have shown they will run frequently (77 SB, most in the AL) and efficiently (90% success rate) which leads me to believe that they're very effective at teaching baserunning techniques. Even if Barlett's OBP drops to .370 (his previous career high) for the remainder of the season, if Barlett maintains a 90% success rate while running 24% of the time he will steal another 27 bases. On the other hand, if his HR/FB drops to 7% (a career high, but approximately Dustin Pedroia), he'll hit another 7 homeruns. However, it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't meet that projection. Still, 15 HR and 40 SB isn't bad. Congrats Kate, if Bartlett can keep up the power at all you may have ended up with Brian Roberts for an 11th round pick, but I'm not sure I'd go penciling him in as a keeper just yet.

A. Bartlett Giamatti

I've been reading "The Summer of '49" by David Halberstam (which I highly recommend, by the way), and he uses a quote from former commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, that made me go out and read the whole article. I'm sure some of you have read this already, but even if you have, it's worth a reread. Giamatti clearly had a love and understanding for the game, and it's a shame that he had such a short time as commissioner. He's a far cry from Bud Selig, which is most certainly a good thing.

MI help

The time has come for me to try to fill some holes in my middle infield. My three headed monster of Mike Aviles (7th rounder- w00t!), Yuniesky Betantcourt, and Erik Aybar has certainly been terribly monstrous, but mostly for my counting stats, batting average, and self esteem. So I'm looking to upgrade my MI- I'm open to trading just about anyone on my roster, provided the right player is coming back, so let me know if you have any interest in one of my players- don't worry about an offer, just let me know if you are willing to trade someone better than Aviles. It's hard, I know, but dig deep and you just might have someone on your roster who fits the bill (Not Endy Chavez).

Andrew

PS- I know Endy Chavez has no MI eligibility, but this is my shameless pimping of my new favorite tag.

Weekly update, May 24

To start off, despite a huge power week by me (18 HR!), I still lost 3 points. WHIP is shaping up to be one of the most competitive and volatile categories and was the big reason for my loss of points. Despite the power output (led by 4 HR by Varitek, signs of life by Alexei Ramirez, and steady contributions from Dye and Konerko) I was well behind Kate's offensive juggernaught in runs and RBI. Of course, it doesn't help that I've gone without a save since May 8th. Of course, there is hope. After going without a save from May 4 to May 20, Caleb has racked up 5 in the last 4 days.

Despite a lackluster week by his offense, Caleb continues to move up the standings and is currently the only player in the 50's. After gaining 4 points last week Caleb gained another 4 this week. This, coupled with Taylor losing 5.5 points in the last two weeks and me losing 2 leaves him as the only immediate threat to Andrew. Shaving 0.40 runs off your ERA and 0.05 off your WHIP tends to do wonders for you overall score.

Luke was the big gainer this week (+6.5), swapping places with Spencer at the bottom of the standings. His pitching was even better than Caleb's this week, but he is still 9 points out of 6th place.

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Oh Balls!!!	38	5	34	7	-0.01	4	3	48	-0.08	0.02	62	0
2	I Ain't Got My Taco	25	7	24	1	-0.01	2	5	34	-0.37	-0.04	55.5	4
3	Smell The Glove	24	4	32	1	-0.01	1	2	38	0.16	0.01	49.5	-2.5
4	Mr Bill's Boppers	39	18	44	9	-0.01	4	0	38	0.16	0.03	47	-3
5	Soap Box Yakkers	48	13	34	10	0.002	2	3	39	0.11	0.03	45.5	-2
6	Soo Choo Train	54	10	58	12	0.002	2	1	29	-0.18	0	41.5	0
7	The Chones	29	14	39	8	0.008	3	2	42	-0.4	-0.08	32.5	6.5
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	38	12	28	4	0.002	2	4	19	0.24	0.02	-3	-3

I'm confused.

Is this satire?

And so it begins...

The talent may be migrating out of the AL a bit early this year. Losing Mark DeRosa wouldn't be quite as bad as losing CC Sabathia, Manny Ramirez, and Casey Kotchman, but it would definitely hurt Mark. And I can't wait to 4.5 months of drooling over Jake Peavy on the waiver wire.

Congrats Taylor

Manager Ozzie Guillen said Wednesday that Josh Fields is "next" on the list of players to be benched for their hitting struggles.

I actually love this - Ozzie has a long list of players he needs to bench but he can't logistically bench them all....Josh is first on his priority list.

You have to be kidding me!

"Hamilton, who left Texas' last game with a sore right groin muscle, wasn't in the starting lineup Tuesday for the opener of the Rangers' road series at Detroit. Hamilton, who led the AL in RBIs last season, left Sunday's game after slamming into the wall while making a catch. He and manager Ron Washington said they'll decide Wednesday when he'll return to the lineup."

Sad

to see the Josh & Endy show come to an end. I'll admit the pilot was better than the following 6 episodes but even though we all knew how it would end it was a joy watching it get to that point.

Let's hope the producers buck the mold and look beyond the bottom-line to get us a second season. After all it's not all about numbers - quality programming will always find an audience.

Joe Maddon should die in a fire

The Rays have somehow managed to screw up the simplest of baseball management tasks, filling out a lineup card. By listing both Longoria and Ben Zobrist at 3B, the Rays had to forgo the DH, and have Sonnastine batting 3rd instead of Longoria. To make matters even worse, the Rays are winning, so it looks like that error won't even help the Sox. I suppose I should count my blessings- I could be starting Endy Chavez.

Weekly Update, May 17

Just a monster week for Kate, leading the league in all offensive counting stats, improving her batting average the most, and getting 4 wins. That all adds up to a 6 point bump in the standings, but no change in her overall position. The fact that Caleb, who was 5th, also gained 4 points this week kept Kate at 6th, although now she is in the middle of the pack.

It was a terrible week for both Spencer and Luke's offenses, but Spencer's pitching staff was superb, allowing him to move up to the 7th spot while gaining 2.5 points. Luke, on the other hand, coupled a weak offensive week with a bad pitching week and lost 5 points, dropping to 26 points.

Andrew lost 2 points this week and Taylor lost 3, but they remain comfortably in the top two spots, although Caleb was briefly at number 2 on Saturday.

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Oh Balls!!!	32	4	27	7	-0.003	1	1	34	0.12	0.02	62	-2
2	Smell The Glove	36	7	33	4	0.003	3	5	27	0.14	0.06	52	-3
3	I Ain't Got My Taco	43	12	46	3	0.01	2	0	33	-0.08	-0.01	51.5	4
4	Mr Bill's Boppers	36	12	30	6	-0.005	0	0	22	0.18	0.01	50	-1
5	Soap Box Yakkers	41	10	35	7	-0.002	2	1	30	0.25	0.04	47.5	-1.5
6	Soo Choo Train	54	13	52	10	0.008	4	0	20	-0.11	-0.02	41.5	6
7	A-Roid's RagingRotos	22	5	25	1	-0.005	3	4	42	-0.39	-0.01	29.5	2.5
8	The Chones	26	2	22	6	-0.003	2	1	24	0.25	0.05	26	-5

Schadenfreude (for Spencer) and Congratulations (for Mark)

Sorry Spencer, you know that inside the park homerun that Howie Kendrick hit a few days ago? Now it is a 4 base error after the Royals appealed the scorer's ruling. Congrats to Mark, who just had a couple ER taken off of Gil Meche's stat line.

Why is the Josh & Edny show not updated? I think Hamilton hit another HR..

Schadenfreude (for Kate)

With Magglio Ordonez's slow start and millions of dollars in the balance, there are whispers that Ordonez might be released.

The Tigers would be on the hook for the remainder $18 million salary plus a $3 million buy-out next year, but they would avoid the vesting options of $18 and $15 million, respectively, for the next two years. The Tigers certainly aren't strangers to large contract releases as Damion Easley and Gary Sheffield can attest to, but this would be shocking. It's still rather early and if Ordonez can get hot, he would be one of the team's best hitters. Still, it's a situation to follow.

The last time that...

Mark earned a win was May 5th, although that was the 4th consecutive day he had a win.

Spencer's team stole a base was April 28th. Since I started recording stats Spencer's team has stolen 1 base, although he had 15 in the first 3 weeks of the season. On the other hand, Andrew had a streak of at least 1 steal per day from April 26 (when I started keeping daily statistics) to May 10th. It was broken yesterday, although Andrew didn't have any players in the White Sox - Indians game. Since Spencer's last steal Andrew has doubled his stolen base total, going from 27 to 54.

Kate had a save? I can't tell you exactly when, but it was sometime before April 26th. Caleb hasn't had a save since May 4th.

Taylor was in first place for both ERA and WHIP was May 5th. Despite the ridiculous start by Greinke, Taylor is now in a tie for 2nd with Mark with a WHIP of 1.26, well behind Andrew's 1.17. Everyone should be sure to thank Scott Kazmir and Kevin Slowey.

Luke, Caleb, and Andrew were more than 10 runs apart? Never.

Weekly stats May 10, 2009

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	Net Pts
1	Oh Balls!!!	40	11	46	12	-0.004	3	6	59	-0.56	-0.08	0.5
2	Smell The Glove	44	11	41	2	-0.003	2	3	55	0.11	0.04	-0.5
3	Mr Bill's Boppers	43	10	46	6	-0.001	4	2	35	-0.43	-0.07	0
4	Soap Box Yakkers	33	11	32	6	-0.004	2	3	35	-0.14	-0.05	-2
5	I Ain't Got My Taco	42	10	37	3	0.003	4	1	62	-0.3	-0.01	0.5
6	Soo Choo Train	31	8	34	8	-0.01	3	0	46	0.32	0	-5
7	The Chones	53	8	37	14	-0.002	4	1	47	-0.15	-0.09	3.5
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	40	13	39	0	0.003	5	2	66	0.36	0.08	3

Aubrey Huff

You guys HAVE to watch Aubrey Huff's HR off of Chamberlain today - he does two super exaggerated fist pumps right into Joba's face - absolutely classic.

MLB TV and Fox Saturday games

MLB tv is really, nice and all, but the whole bullshit with the Fox Saturday games really pisses me off. Being on the west coast, I am not getting the Sox-Rays game, but the Dodgers-Giants. Fine. What really kills me, though, is that the game is blacked out on MLB.tv because it is a "national broadcast." What definition of national leaves out large areas of the country?

Eck in the booth

If you haven't watched a Red Sox game recently, it is awfully entertaining to have Eck as the color guy. He isn't the same as Remy (nothing really could be), but he has a lot of insight to offer and is hilarious. Definitely check it out if you haven't watched a NESN feed (or real NESN for you Boston-ites) recently.

Lastings to the All Star Game

I'm starting to think it could happen.

Schadenfreude

Beat you to this one Spencer. Fresh off of giving up two homeruns to lose the game, Mariano is experiencing shoulder discomfort.

"During Thursday's post-game show on the YES Network, Yankees manager Joe Girardi revealed that Mariano Rivera's surgically repaired shoulder has been bothering him."
-Rotoworld

Wow

Manny has tested positive for steroids - 50 game ban.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907

1. Is there any player left that we can believe is clean?
2. That Jason Bay trade just keeps looking better and better. Can you imagine the shit storm if he were still Boston? The Red Sox really have lucked into (or out of) an awful lot of transactions - Jose Contreras, the A-Rod trade, Manny forcing his way out of Boston.

HR with Bases Empty

Well, the data wasn't QUITE as bad as I was hoping (and I'd be interested in what the average/baseline stat would be) but my team has hit 2/3 of it's HRs with the bases empty. As another data point, Andrew's team has hit about 1/2 of its HRs with the bases empty.

Anyway, it's pissing me off and I want more RBI's.

A tale of two prospects

I know this may be beating a dead horse, but I still just don't understand what the Angels are doing. For an organization that has hoarded prospects for so many years and in an era where cost controlled players are supposed to be so valuable, why not actually use them? They're like the kid who saves up all his Halloween candy but never actually eats any of it.

Brandon Wood was called up on April 21. Since then the Angels have played 13 games with Wood starting in 2 and pinch hitting in another. Instead of playing their best offensive prospect they ran out Macier Izturis as a DH in 3 different games and played Gary Matthews Jr's sub-center field quality bat in a corner outfield spot while DHing Juan Rivera in another 4. Wood was unable to get regular playing time despite the fact that Erik Aybar took a throw off the jaw and has missed the last 5 games. Despite the lack of playing time, Wood was all right, going three for nine with a walk and two strikeouts, including 2/3 against CC Sabathia. Considering his spring training stats (.322/.375/644 with 5 HR) and how well he's hit AAA, Wood has to be frustrated right now. Why even bother calling him up if he's going to get 10 at bats in two weeks? To top it all off Wood has been in and out of the majors for the last three years, but has never received regular playing time. This was a golden opportunity to see what he could do with a month's worth of at bats, and it was completely squandered.

On the other hand, the Indians have handled Matt LaPorta much differently. They didn't call him up right when Hafner hit the DL, instead waiting until May 2nd when they had more details about Hafner's injury, ostensibly to make sure LaPorta wouldn't just be shuttled betweek Cleveland and Columbus (which is not good news for you, Spencer). While there were concerns that Delucci would take away playing time, LaPorta has been up for 4 days and has appeared in 3 of the 4 Indians games since then, playing both LF and RF.

Both teams lost a major offensive contributor and called up an offensive prospect to take his roster spot. The Angels let their most polished offensive prospect sit on the bench for two weeks while playing preposterously substandard players at either DH or RF. The Indians actually have decided to see if LaPorta is major league ready. If the Angels miss the playoffs the obvious scape goat would be their pitching injuries, but roster mismanagement could be just as big of a factor.

Guillen.

Is a sick baby. I'm in need of a first baseman. Is anyone looking to trade for one one of my many amazing over performers?

Does anyone know any place where you can look at situational HR's - i.e. how many of Youkilis' HR have been hit with the bases empty vs. with runners on?

I swear 80% of the HR's my team has hit this year has been with no one on. It is getting ridiculous.

Small Victories

haha bill, guess you picked the wrong horse...

Manager Dave Trembley has indicated that he's not currently considering Danys Baez as a candidate for the closer job.
Baez has thrown 8 2/3 scoreless innings in his last five games, but Trembley appears to prefer using the former closer in a middle relief capacity. That leaves George Sherrill, Chris Ray and Jim Johnson vying for saves in the Baltimore bullpen for now.

We Should Be Terrified of Andrew, right?

Despite all the mockery around his draft picks (see Aviles, Michael), Andrew is currently atop the leaderboard by a nice wide margin.

Bill got a lot of the attention for having the best value keepers, but looking at Andrew's team right now, it's pretty darn solid. We've got 2 legit MVP candidates (miggy, longoria), a 80+sb possibility (more than some teams may get), plus good value throughout the rest of the lineup (breakout Adam Lind, Ellsbury, Alex Rios).

Pitching looks to be the weakness right now, but if Verlander's break-out is for real, Andrew could compete there as well.

Plus, Andrew has Wieters waiting in the wings as well.

So is it too early to be declaring Andrew the favorite here?

Sorry Taylor

Life is a bitch. So much for those 3 RBI you thought you had.

"Asdrubal Cabrera lost three RBI on Sunday as a result of a scoring change from Saturday's game.

In the fifth inning Saturday against the Tigers, Cabrera hit a deep fly ball to left with the bases loaded. Ryan Raburn fell down when turning to chase the ball, got up and ran the ball down at the warning track, only to see it bounce off his glove. All three runners scored. With the hit now being ruled an error, the runs were changed from earned to unearned on Zach Miner's record."

Weekly update May 3

The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Basically, Andrew killed all of us this week (but Spencer and Luke in particular). Already near the top of the standings, Andrew added an astonishing 9.5 points, pushing his total to nearly 60. Spencer and Luke now slip to below 30 points.

Good News for Bill's All Triple A Team

Indians recalled OF David Dellucci from Triple-A Columbus.
Dellucci replaces the injured Travis Hafner on the roster.

White Sox activated IF Jayson Nix from the disabled list.
Nix returns as part of a bevy of moves by the White Sox. He hit .400 during a rehab stint in the minors, but slots in behind starting second baseman Chris Getz for now.

Meanwhile, Brandon Wood has 5 ABs all year.