Game 153, Mariners at Blue Jays
Dave · September 22, 2005 at 3:50 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Joel Pineiro vs Gustavo Chacin.
Chacin is a rookie of the year candidate thanks to a 3.51 ERA, but in a few years, when looking back on the incoming crop of young players, I don’t expect people to be mentioning Chacin in the same sentence with guys like Felix, Huston Street, or Scott Kazmir. His Fielding Independant ERA is 4.32, which isn’t bad, but isn’t spectacular, either. He’s a flyball pitcher who has marginal control and doesn’t miss many bats. Not exactly the skillset of a superstar in the making.
But, hey, he’s having a nice year. Let’s see if it continues tonight.
Comments
175 Responses to “Game 153, Mariners at Blue Jays”
Hargrove’s brilliance with numbers is just so devine that we were fooled by the convential stats. That, or he didn’t get his daily intake of sausage.
Santiago can’t hit, he can get hit, but not hit.
Re: Pineiro… a general rule of thumb worth following is that the starter should only face the lineup 3 times, i.e. 27 batters. By this logic, Joel should have been pulled after 7, which was only one or two over 27.
Ichiro is now 0-10 and not helping himself.
#150: Every hitter in that Toronto lineup is mediocre at best. Hillenbrand is the only guy with an OPS over .800, and that’s only barely over at .808.
151. HAHA… I guess they put mushrooms on his 5th inning pizza instead of sausage.
And here we go again: Hansen the Out Machine for Betancourt, who’s reached base 3 times but apparently is not allowed to bat during a 9th inning rally under any circumstances.
152, it’s only a joke. The pun can’t very well work if someone says He can get hit!
#156: You forget, no doubt, that YB’d have to face a proven close in the 9th.
156, Grover is playing head games: let’s YuBet hit in the Angels game (situation had more pressure) but not this one… the man is a CERTIFIED genius.
I wonder what the record is for fielder’s indifference in a season. Ichiro has two in two games.
Did anyone expect the M’s to take 3 of 4? I’m just happy if they don’t get swept. Good night ya’ll
#156,158: Edit: Of course, “proven close” should read “proven closer.”
158. Got your point, LB. It makes sense, though, at this point in the season, and given how well he’s hit lately, why not give YuBet a chance to see what he can do against a good closer or three? It’s not like Hansen the Pinch Hitting Veteran has done all that much better.
hmm. wierd. M’s have had 7 LOB each game in Toronto.
interesting factoid from Ms Drayer. Pineiro is not flying to Detroit, he is flying back to Seattle as Mrs. P is having her baby tomorrow. He did not use it as an excuse, but Drayer opined he might have been distracted early on.
I think it’s a miracle the M’s did as well as they did tonight. Afterall, the first 4+ innings they had to face Morpheus on the mound. And, we got no Agent Smith in the line-up.
The blog has a “sense of failure”?
The last two years, the team’s record is 129-186. Last year, they were the third worst team in baseball. This year, they are the fifth worst team in baseball.
Have you considered that the blog may just have a sense of realism? The team has been a total failure for the past two years. Perhaps you’d be happier if we just ignored the fact that the team is terrible and discussed only the positives?
Well said Dave. And I for one appreciate the honesty and realism as opposed to being spoonfed plastic “optimism” that has as much chance of actually happening as Jose Canseco does of landing a job as Bret Boone’s agent. Keep giving it to us straight. There are plenty of sugarcoated places to visit if you want to believe Joel is an ace and Bloomquist is the future and Fairly is a decent announcer.
A few weeks ago we were having a thread about young players around the league, and the name Ryan Howard came up. I looked up his stats and offered that he was terrible against lefties.
I now want to revise and extend my remarks and give credit where credit is due.
Last night Mr. Howard hit a grand slam off – you guessed it – a southpaw. His OBP is now .170.
Stay tuned for this year’s Winter GM Meetings where the Phillies will reveal their strategy for next season.
Keep Thome, trade Howard, and try to win it all next year.
Keep Howard, attempt to trade Thome’s bad back and his mammoth salary ($12.5 in 2006, $14 in 2007, $14 in 2008) in exchange for prospects.
I’ll point out that Phillies LHP Cole Hamels is one of the top ranked prospects in the game even though this year has been a waste: started the year with a broken hand from a fight, then had a bad back midway through the year that shut him down for a month. Other than Hamels, the Phillies have nothing else in their farm system for 2006 when their nucleus of Thome/Abreu/Burrell/Utley will continue to be productive.
Baseball Prospectus 2005 says Howard’s comps include Sam Horn, Franklin Stubbs, Carlos Delgado, and Derrek Lee. The key is whether or not Howard can improve his walk rate. Had he played a full season (extrapolated stats from ESPN) this year he would have drawn 50 walks with an OBP of .353 and 35 HR.
Sexson’s line this year: 70 walks, .352 OBP, and 39 HR.
So, if you could get 1B Howard and Hamels for a bonafide major league starting pitcher + a minor league pitcher, AND if you could get a haul of other prospects for Sexson, would you do a deal like that?
Where are we going to find a spare major league starting pitcher? Last time I looked at the M’s rotation, we had only one, and an assembly of scrubs (apologies to Mr Moyer).
#171: It seems to me that it would have to depend on the “haul of other prospects” you’d get back for Sexson. And you’d have to look on it as part of a long-term plan (think Cleveland), meaning you’d ‘fess up to the fans that the 2006 team is likely to be no better than this year’s model.
Does Bill Bavasi have the luxury of that kind of time? Cleveland told their fans after 2001 that they were not going to contend for years, and the fans rewarded them by not buying tickets to games. I doubt Bavasi can keep faith of upper management for three lean years.
It would also have to depend on whether you could convince the Phillies that Joel Piñeiro was a “bonafide major league starting pitcher.” Ooh, boy, would his numbers look ugly in that little league park they play in in Philly.
On Wednesday night, I heard Mike Blowers say-I hope that he wasn’t talking about Felix–“He’s neither a fly-ball pitcher, nor a ground ball-pitcher; I’d say he’s 50/50.”
Isn’t 50/50 (1.0 to 1.0) the accepted defnition of a fly-ball pitcher?
[I’m telling you. The inmates are running the asylum.]
171
Yeh but look at Cleveland now, they are a powerhouse, who not only has a good chance of making the playoffs this year, and possibly winning it all, but stands a hell of a chance of being a powerhouse for the next 5 years.
I’d take 2-3 more years of this if we can produce teams like the Indians have the last 15 years.
Good article. Very interesting and useful. Thanks.
Re: (# 172) GROUNDBALL/FLYBALL PITCHER – There seem to be a couple of Greater-than signs ( > ) missing. (That @#$%^& secretary.)
It should read: FLYBALL PITCHER = FB/GB of > 1.0.
Anyway, I take full responsibility–whatever that means.
And I’m trying to put this behind me–whatever that means.