Comments on: Random Things You May Not Have Known

By: Rick L

Rick L — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:22:45 +0000

43. No, because the pitching makes it hard to hit the ball where you want it. That was my point.

By: naviomelo

naviomelo — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:22:25 +0000

Since when does Ellison earn extra L’s for good play?

By: John D.

John D. — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:00:10 +0000

Did you know that BRETT TOMKO won tonight? (Dave, I believe that you advocated signing him.)
And JASON ELLLISON pinch-hit a homer?

By: joser

joser — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:22:01 +0000

Of course. But this way was far more entertaining.

By: DMZ

DMZ — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:28:53 +0000

Doh. You know what I meant.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:27:36 +0000

If he was in the dugout he has to be in uniform, right? That’s what Francona got crap for earlier this season….

Maybe they could use him like Buhner in the commercials, employing his head like a mirror to blind opposing pitchers.

By: joser

joser — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:19:40 +0000

Bavasi was calling pitches from the dugout? Man, that puts an entirely new spin on this team.

By: Mat

Mat — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:14:36 +0000

Re: RZR and Betancourt

Then number of balls-in-zone for Betancourt is really not all that large in the RZR methodology–just 390. Yuni made plays on 311 of those balls-in-zone, giving him a .797 RZR. Consider that if he had made five more plays, he’d have a .810 RZR (moving up to 3rd on the list), and if he had made five fewer plays, he’d have a .784 RZR (moving down to 3rd-worst on the list.)

It seems like this really isn’t enough data to meaningfully differentiate the SS from one another–you’d definitely need to do something like average over three seasons and probably apply a park factor, too.

Having said that, I don’t think Yuni’s anything special out there. He’s got a cannon arm which can be inaccurate, and his footwork seems a bit ‘meh’ at times where he’ll seemingly make the play harder than it needs to be. Probably above average overall, given his tools, but not by a whole lot in my estimation. (There also seem to be a lot of SS in the AL right now who are out there solely for their glove, which would make Yuni’s impact a little bit smaller when we’re comparing DER amongst AL teams.)

By: DMZ

DMZ — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:07:05 +0000

w/r/t Johjima game calling: I don’t remember anyone ever asserting that all the pitches were called from the dugout, but I certainly have noted that – especially in his first year – he sometimes did look to the dugout, apparently getting pitch signals from Bavasi.

This wasn’t with runners on, either, when you might think it was “pitchout/no pitchout” type signals.

By: msb

msb — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:50:07 +0000

Blowers said that? About himself? He’s gone crackers. Beltre’s ability to consistently throw lasers from his knees or falling backwards is the thing I find the most impressive about his defense.

Blowers wasn’t claiming to do that, just that from 3rd to 1st he’d had a strong throw. His whole point was just how good Beltre was.