A.L. West Roundtable
Dave · March 4, 2008 at 8:48 am · Filed Under Mariners
I participated in a roundtable about the A.L. West in 2008 with Patrick Sullivan, Rich Lederer, and Sean Smith. It has been posted over at The Baseball Analysts website. Much to my chagrin, people quote ERA a bunch when talking about pitcher abilities, but beyond that, there’s some interesting stuff in there, even if I don’t agree with all of it.
Yea right, I wish. It’s like the M’s bid against themselves on eBay and then paid through the roof on shipping and insurance.
The offense is actually fairly cost effective. Johjima is pretty significantly underpaid, and obviously Betancourt and Lopez are working for peanuts. Beltre and Ichiro are getting fair market contracts, and if the team put Ibanez at DH, he’d be fairly compensated for his production as well. Wilkerson’s just a role player being paid like one. The only two guys whose price doesn’t match their performance on the position player side of the ledger are Sexson and Vidro, who are a total waste of $20 million.
But the pitching is really where this team is throwing money away.
True, but I’d still give Seattle negative feedback.
[snort]
Yeah, I’m disagreeing with the Angel-love.
You made me want to see Texas win the division, just to show how wrong those guys were to be so sure of themselves.
Yeah, I’m disagreeing with the Angel-love.
But Torii Hunter is going to win MVP! Brandon Wood is going to win Rookie of the Year! Jared Weaver has almost the same career ERA+ as Johan Santana!
I guess it’s easier when there’s only 4 teams, but I find it interesting you’re predicting just a 9-win gap from the division winner to the cellar-dweller.
Good stuff, Dave. Just curious…what’s the format for these? E-mail? Phone?
I’d love to know how you got the “slider in the left handed batters box strikes out Johjima” conclusion when he only struck out 41 times in 2007. I think it’s fair to assume that you saw this happen twice in one game, and made it a habit of his.
I live in Bakersfield, CA, and although the population is mainly Dogders fans, the ones that are Angels fans are ridiculously over-confident…they think the Angels will winn 100 games, Hunter is their “savior,” VLAD is GOD, etc., etc.
It’s terrible…
It would be nice it they were more realistic about their team like Dave was in his analysis of the Ms and of the Ms’ front office in the interview.
I’m not sure they’re wrong on Vlad….(though I do wonder who they consider the Holy Ghost….)
Vlad’s back.
Vlad isn’t GOD…. but he is A god.
But is he A rod?
Every time I’ve seen Vlad come to the plate against Mariner pitching in the last couple of years the phrase ‘Prince of Darkness’ is what comes to me.
I know you’ve covered this ad nauseam, but huh?
Even if you assume (which I don’t) that Washburn + Batista + Silva are as worthless as Sexson and Vidro, that’s still just a “total waste” of about $30 million. When you factor in the fact that the Bullpen mostly costs peanuts, Bedard is a big value, and Felix is a huge value, then I don’t see how the pitching side is that much more wasteful than the hitting side.
Or were you talking more about 2-3 years from now?
He didn’t say “strikes out” — he said gets themselves out. Betancourt doesn’t K a lot either.
Dave’s comment was in the similarity of approaches between those four, that they’re all guys who put the ball in play and aren’t particularly selective about what they go after.
Given that that’s not what Dave wrote, and it’s certainly not what he meant, I don’t think that’s fair at all.
It’d certainly be fair to assume that you didn’t read the article very closely before deciding to hash on him for your misreading.
17- Giving Silva 44 million, when Baek, or our abundance of AAAA arms will give similar results for practically nothing, is like throwing money away…
But is he A rod?
Is A rod A tool?
Excellent shot, YES!!
Even with their defense, the A’s posted a 98 OPS+ and their pitching has since thinned. Anyone know what kind of defense Buck delivers? BTW, when are Dave’s KJR gigs again?
OK, who sent them?
From Baker’s blog:
“OK, that was super strange. Ibanez and Balentien were lying on the grass in the outfield and it delayed the start of the inning. I guess there were bees out there. They were down for a minute or so and then got up, and play resumed. I’ll have to check that one out.”
23- That’s rad…too bad they didn’t go after Vidro and Cairo…
Uh oh. Bees. We are all suspects.
My prediction is more pessimistic than most:
Angels 88-74
A’s 83-79
Rangers 83-79
Seattle 78-84
Due to the extremely dense concentration of horribleness in the past offseason, I’m not entirely sure I’m rooting for them to win. I know I’m rooting for Adam Jones to hit 120 HR….
Baker’s on vacation and I don’t know if the guy subbing reads USSM. He may not have known the hilarity of it.
I’d delete that for being OT except it’s freaking hilarious.
Wow Dave, I can’t believe you’re willing to debate with someone who believes in results based analysis.
25, I assume you are counting on Bedard and/or Felix going down for a length of time and the A’s and Rangers playing way above their heads?
#19 — I don’t think that Baek and other assorted arms could reproduce something similar to Silva’s results, but, yes, he is overpaid, along with Wash.
I’m waiting for the day the pony gallops across the outfield.
I don’t think that Baek and other assorted arms could reproduce something similar to Silva’s results, but, yes, he is overpaid, along with Wash.
Actually, I’ll maintain that Baek last year was, for as long as he was healthy, better than Washburn and Batista (in other words, our second best starter). Silva is better than Baek (I’ll venture he’s maybe +0.75 wins better), but Baek is as good as, or better, than Washburn and Batista (a half win better than Washburn, and a, pardon the expression, wash with Batista – though Baek hasn’t demonstrated the durability of either, which is worth something).
live in Bakersfield, CA, and although the population is mainly Dogders fans, the ones that are Angels fans are ridiculously over-confident…they think the Angels will winn 100 games, Hunter is their “savior,â€
Yeah, what was the “Hunter could be the MVP” foofaroo all about? I mean, he could be, but if someone asked me for the short list of likely MVP candidates, his name would not spring to mind. Of course, if he hits 30 points higher than his lifetime average, hits 20% more HRs than his career average (and more than he has hit in any season except 1), continues to play exceptional defense on the wrong side of 30, and is lucky enough to have lots of those Ribeye steaks…
Seems like Rich Lederer was projecting Hunter’s MVP chances about the same way the M’s front office evaluates free agents. Well, optimism can be charming.
Just not in Angels fans.
Oops. Delete that last post. I meant:
Perhaps the Mariners management will give some ponies million dollar contracts and have them play left field!
Nice work, Dave. Was it a little frustrating?