Random Marinerosity
I’ve been tinkering with Mariner sim seasons in preperation for my traditional giant post on the topic, and some interesting things have emerged.
– If you don’t think Betancourt’s going to play decent defense, Ronny Cedeno doesn’t look so bad. The difference in their offense isn’t projected to be so great that you’d tolerate more than a couple runs drop defensively, and Betancourt’s defense needs to come way, way back for it to be close
– I totally dig the potential Shelton/Branyan platoon. It’s just awesome.
– Griffey essentially resolves the question of whether you want to carry a third catcher (no) but the choice between Burke and Rob Johnson’s interesting.
– Here’s the rotation I’ve been using, in the interests of realism: Felix, Bedard, Morrow, Jarrod, Silva.
– Here’s the rotation I’ve been using when I want to win: Felix, Bedard, Morrow, Jarrod, Rowland-Smith.
– Bullpen’s like picking names out of a hat, really. In real life, it’s awesome that the only Mariner pitchers not to issue a walk are Shawn Kelley and Randy Freaking Messenger. And, I guess, the Newer Slimmer Carlos Silva.
– When I play the season out game-by-game, it’s remarkably more fun than last year’s version
– Especially when Felix, Morrow, or Bedard starts.
So what else is going on?
Johjima got ejected in Japan’s WBC loss to Korea. Ejected! Johjima! And tomorrow we get Japan v Cuba @ 8pm and US vs Venezuela at… four? And if you think you’ve seen incoherent internet commentary, I’d like to point you to the comments sections on those game posts.
WOW! I love this. Red Sox fans and Yankee fans TEAMING UP ON SOME PUERTO RICO FREAKIN Azz!! Think if Yankee fans Merged with Red Sox fans in the same stadium rooting for team USA… They would make the other country cry because we were so loud haha
Or how about
japan got luck in the previous game with Cuba, but this time, they’ll never get a luck again i think. Korea and Cuba will likely in semi. japanese showed a typical loser today. they have no power to recover. btw, who got the biggest luck in the 1st WBC? neddless to say it was japan
Of course it’s all fixed so the US will win (allowing the WBC to survive), but it’s good to see people worked up about baseball.
Spring training game at 6, when the M’s play a split squad game against their road squad from 2007… wait, that’s the Royals!
I’m sick and tired of Dave’s East Coast bias. I’m sure in his continuing Fangraphs series he’ll rate the M’s #16 or something because he hates us so much. Have you noticed that so far only one east coast team (the Nationals) appears in the bottom half? Unless you want to count the Reds or the Marlins, pfffft.
First day without the PI.
Can’t Alex Rodriguez afford handlers who run in arms waving to interrupt, for example, staggeringly embarrassing photo shoots? Or afterwards get the photos back before they’re distributed? I just… wow. What was the photographer saying to get him to do that?
Apologies for being scarce of late, but on the good side, if you’re in Spain or the Netherlands, flights now cost less. I’ve been pretty much working on that and sleeping the last two weeks or so.
This is going to make some portion of you immediately spend $50. After finally breaking down and buying one after years of gadget envy, I found out that Amazon’s got the Leatherman Skeletool CX
Mmm… skeletool.
Are you worried at all about Shelton’s career reverse platoon split? (.838 OPS vs RHP, .735 OPS vs. LHP)?
I can’t speak for DMZ (quite obviously) but Shelton’s career against LHP is a pretty small sample to draw any real conclusions from.
If you look at Shelton’s Minor League splits and the reverse platoon split disappears; .987 OPS against LHP, .846 against RHP.
Also look at the BABIP numbers for his MLB splits; .342 against RHP, .314 against LHP.
Reverse platoon splits are almost always small sample based illusions. Based on Shelton’s overall numbers, he doesn’t seem to be an exception.
Derek,
What sim program are you using? I’d be interested in seeing some of those overall tottals.
Okay, since this is a random post, I figure a slight off-topic is allowed, and [deleted, off-topic]
Wow, I thought I was the only one around here cynical enough to believe things like this. I’m borderline paranoid with the things that I think are rigged. But, I see your point…hmmm.
Well yes, why else would you go to JC Romero in the ninth?
Wait a minute – that amazon link looks suspiciously like it has a partner code in it. USSM now tries to make money slanging products in posts? Bush league.
OMG you’re right. I’ll go take down our “suggested reading” page and all previous affiliate links ever posted here.
by Hunter Wendelstedt, who was getting chirped at by the Cubans earbier in the series
OMG OMG OMG yes. Please. Stop him now.
Speaking of bizarre WBC happenings, you know the game is a little different when Ivan Rodriguez walks three times in one game.
Talk about unprofessional.
+1 on your love of the Branyan/Shelton platoon.
It almost makes me laugh out loud how much better the overall OPS will be for our first base position this year vs. last.
I’m also very curious to read more about the Cedeno v. Yuni numbers… I’m quietly pulling for Ronny to win that job.
ARod has a pathological need for people to like him. It’s what gets teenage girls pregnant, and it’s what gets him to do thing like that when asked.
Because that pitch Wright hit was obviously a gimme. I mean, did you see that thing? That was an Ichiro/Vlad golf-swing-off-the-shoetops. I felt bad for Rios, who had a great game and nothing to show for it, but that was a fantastic finish. Elimination game, bottom of the ninth, down by one or two runs, bases loaded… One of the best in the short history the WBC so far. And even though they lost, I hope the run by the PR team helps out the state of baseball on the island (particularly their on-again-off-again winter league)
So it’s going to be Korea, the US, Japan/Cuba, and
the Mostly MarinersVenezuela. It took too long (these last “seeding” games of each round are tedious) but that’s a pretty good final bracket.I had sweet seats at the game last night and couldn’t believe that when I saw it! The ump called what looked like a pretty questionable strike 3 on Joh, who yelled and just dropped his bat and walked away – then the ump stood there pointing at the bat and screaming at Johjima as he walked back to the dugout, then ejected him after he got there. Craziness.
Yu Darvish had a horrible first inning, but then he settled down and was pretty impressive. his fastball was 94 all night – he had a cutter that was around 89, his slider was anywhere between 78-82, and a good curve that floated in at around 70. Of course those are al park gun readings, but his stuff looked good. It was definitely an interesting experience.
Heaven forbid the the authors of this blog use affiliate links to products/items they find interesting instead of naked links. Because that affects the price you see when you click through (not to mention that you don’t have to click the link in the first place).
Wait, it doesn’t?
Wait, it’s a blog that they give countless hours to that we enjoy reading and discussing? It would be horrible if maybe they recouped a very small fraction of the money they’re paying in server fees, wouldn’t it?
Commercials for 2009 are out.
This is pertinent to my interests, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
All the money from the affiliate links goes to me, anyway.
The ump called what looked like a pretty questionable strike 3 on Joh, who yelled and just dropped his bat and walked away – then the ump stood there pointing at the bat and screaming at Johjima as he walked back to the dugout, then ejected him after he got there.
Dropping your bat and leaving it there is generally considered showing up the umpire and an ejection shouldn’t be too surprising. That being said, Hunter Wendelstedt seems to be heading for Eric Gregg notoriety.
Speaking of those useless “seeding” games, we’re going to have one between the winner of the Japan/Cuba game and Korea (if that’s yet another Japan-Korea game….) starting Thursday at 6 on ESPN. But at exactly the same time, the Sounders FC have their first-ever home opener on ESPN2. And then at 7, the M’s appear in a split squad game against hated, Hated Rivals SD on FSN. Yeesh.
(And if a slinging a few Skeletools means an eventual server upgrade and better responsiveness during crazy gamethreads and OMG trades, how is that a bad thing? Complaining about it, now that’s bush league.)
The Felix and RRS ones are definitely my favorites.
Commercials got their own thread
I wasn’t necessarily surprised that the ump ejected him for it, just that Johjima, of all people, managed to get himself ejected from the WBC…
but shouldn’t the umpire take into account the emotions and the particular circumstances? And it isn’t as though Wendlestedt doesn’t know Joh, who may be thought of as “feisty” in Japan, but has been very polite to the umps here.
I’ll just add that it was also slightly annoying the way Wendlestedt made a show of standing over the bat and pointing at it with both hand while yelling at Joh. But, whatever – I’m definitely biased in favor of the player in that situation.
and on Marinerosity and randomness? the last few days of the Hot Stone League. Larry Stone on the PI, on Rick Helling and some hot links.
it was also slightly annoying the way Wendlestedt made a show of standing over the bat and pointing at it with both hand while yelling at Joh.
I’m actually one of those people who likes it when the umpires make a big show of things. Histrionic umpiring on that level makes for a more interesting viewing experience. It’s like making an emphatic “out” call vs. simply pointing at the bag. If the call is a sound one, play it up!
As for A-Rod, that’s a horrible picture, but I wonder if it may just be a case of a photographer getting lucky in the middle of shooting 200 boring frames of his workout rather than, “hey, go kiss the mirror!”
It isn’t like the ump has to pick the bat up, he can just ignore it as the batboy comes and gets it.
Now if Joh had slammed the bat down and glared at the ump, that might have justified an ejection.
oh, and tomorrow night FSN is broadcasting a bitter battle between the Ms and their Hated Rivals to the South; here’s hoping that Not Hated Rival Doyle gets to play.
FWIW, FSN is advertising that one of their ’10 Best’ shows, this one 10 best ads, will air before the game.
Not only is the professionalism in dispute, this also raises troubling ethical dilemmas…
it does?
UNETHICAL!!!
Um, what? Troubling ethical dilemmas? I’m pretty sure the Leatherman’s got a special hook, pull that sucker right out.
Personally I’m all for the writers mentioning cool gadgets at cheap prices. If I didn’t already have a super-leatherman that was still in good shape despite 10+yrs of use I would buy the one above.
My current favorite “gadget” is the mlb.com app on my iPhone. It’s been very handy keeping up with the WBC games.
The A-rod picture is disturbing. And not in a cool zombie flick or ultra-hip Po-Mo way. Just in a really, really, wtf was he thinking, why can’t I use clorox on my eyes/brain kinda way.
In retrospect this joke was poorly executed and I apologize.
It was a pretty unprofessional joke.
A-Rod’s pic isn’t disturbing at all. He’s taking the piss. A-Rod believes, with some justification, that everybody hates his guts, and he’s making fun of that expectation. “You think I’m stuck up? Stick up THIS”, he’s saying. I think it’s pretty funny myself. But then, I’m still cool with A-Rod. He’s a really good baseball player.
I like him a thousand times more than I like his teammate Derek Jeter.
I first saw the picture at Geoff Baker’s blog and had this visceral first reaction: My god, someone’s hacked into the blog to post gay porn! Seriously.
I had to freakin’ read the line to find out who/what it was. There was something about the pose that made him look different from the back than from the front.
So, so, wrong. I felt embarrassed for A-rod, and I usually chuckle cruelly at his stumbles.
I’d be interested in learning more about how some of the projections are done, and what Derek found in Diamond Mind.
On Felix’s Fangraph’s page, he’s not projected to be a whole lot better, even with an improved outfield defense.
Do those projections not consider the defenders behind him? Is the infield defense so bad, it will negate the outfield improvement?