Two Monday Links

Jeff · July 3, 2006 at 9:21 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Friend of USSM Jonah Keri has a story on Page 2 today about the No-Stars Team — ignoble counterpart to the All-Stars. A couple of Mariners make the cut. See if you can guess which two.

Also, in case you missed it, check out Kevin Goldstein’s “Future Shock” piece on Adam Jones from Prospectus on June 30.

Comments

15 Responses to “Two Monday Links”

  1. Jay R. on July 3rd, 2006 9:39 am

    I am shocked that Eddie didn’t make he No Stars team. He has been brutal all year long.

  2. JMB on July 3rd, 2006 9:54 am

    Yeah, when Jeff said “guess which two,” I was thinking Sexson and Eddie.

  3. David* on July 3rd, 2006 10:05 am

    I was thinking Jurassic and Eddie.

  4. Rusty on July 3rd, 2006 10:56 am

    Thanks for the article on Adam Jones. I really didn’t know much about him. Mark McLemore seems like a natural as a mentor for him. I guy who could move seemlessly from the infield to the outfield.

  5. Matthew Carruth on July 3rd, 2006 11:11 am

    Wait, Carl Everett is bad yes, but come on, how do you leave Rondell White off that team?

    Everett: 0.3 WARP
    White: -2.0 WARP

    and 2B? What about Scutaro and Neifi?

  6. Jonah Keri on July 3rd, 2006 11:21 am

    As noted at the top of the article, circumstances count for a lot. Rondell stinks, but a competent DH still has the Twins nowhere near contention. Meanwhile a decent hitter would have the M’s in first place, and they’d still have Asdrubal Cabrera.

    Same thing at second…Neifi and Scutaro have worse stats, but this isn’t the worst WARP leaderboard. Kennedy’s been lousy, yet the Angels continue to play him over Kendrick.

    That is good feedback, though…some of the emails I got about say, Ausmus?! Whoo-ee!

  7. Matthew Carruth on July 3rd, 2006 11:29 am

    True. I understood about 2B re: Kendrick, but man, there just needs to be some mention of how bad Rondell White was/is.

    A competent DH is worth about what, 2 WARP at this point? That would be a 4 game swing putting them within striking distance. But, same being said, we would be in first place.

    Oh, and what about the manager? Can’t have an all/no-star team without a manager. Too many candidates?

  8. msb on July 3rd, 2006 11:30 am

    Ausmus has been beloved wherever he has gone, and been talked up by the broadcasters & writers wherever he has gone, so no wonder you might have had some less-than-enthusiastic emails 🙂

  9. Jonah Keri on July 3rd, 2006 1:12 pm

    Ron Gardenhire’s decision-making is pretty awful. Grover, of course. Sam Perlozzo confuses me on a daily basis.

    Ausmus is so overrated it’s tragic.

  10. Spencer B on July 3rd, 2006 1:36 pm

    Dear Jonah. Eddie Guardado is really bad. The average batter he’s faced this year has an OPS 25 points higher than Alex Rodriguez’s lifetime line. The average RH hitter (OK, limited AB’s, but he’s not really been used as a situational lefty most of the year) has an OPS that is a dead ringer for Ted fricken Williams. Any pitcher that turns the majority of the other team’s hitters into Ted Williams for $6 mil + should be not just a no-star, but in the no-star HOF.
    That said, I loved your article.

  11. Jeff Nye on July 3rd, 2006 1:42 pm

    Anyone else unable to get that link to Jonah’s article to work?

  12. eponymous coward on July 3rd, 2006 1:47 pm

    I have Everett on my HACKING MASS team. Good times. Oh, wait…

  13. Joe on July 3rd, 2006 2:12 pm

    Yeah, I don’t think any other player has single-handedly lost as many games for the M’s as Eddie. I mean, Sexson doesn’t hit, Everett doesn’t hit… sure, it adds up, but there are seven or so other guys to pick up the slack (of course they weren’t for all of April and most of May, but that’s another story). Back when Eddie was the closer…wait, according to Hargove he’s still the closer (because Putz “hasn’t established himself”), he’s just the only closer in baseball who never pitches in Save situations. He’s the “sixth inning if we can afford to give up a couple of home runs” closer. Anyway, back when they thought they could use him in the 9th he out-and-out lost a couple of games. There’s been times when Sexson or Everett could have hit a game-winning dinger, but AFAIK they’ve never done anything to lose a game outright. But the M’s would be in sole possession of 1st place in the AL West if not for Eddie. Of course, you could say the same thing about Hargrove.

  14. Jonah Keri on July 3rd, 2006 3:44 pm

    Eddie blows, for sure. He was definitely in contention–Jones just had the better backstory with the whole high-leverage relievers thing on Zumaya et al, and Valverde has been historically bad. Other notable omissions (snubs?): Rondell White, Adam Everett (great glove, at least), Neifi…

  15. flippy on July 3rd, 2006 5:22 pm

    I just love the fact that there are snubs for the “no-star” team

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