November 2014
Whence cometh true confidence, Grasshopper?
Posted by jemanji on 11/30/14
Posted to blog
6 Comments
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Psychologically, you should be confident in yourself. And this confidence should be based in FACT. - Bobby Fischer
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title - Yeah, I think this is it. The dirty dirty seahawks have basically destroyed this era a 9er football. It's over. For nothing.
text - For the glory of the filthiest football team that’s ever walked. Makes no sense. - Fred.P.Soft, ninersnation.com poster
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Q. No Mariners post on Monday morning? Unforgivable.
A. This is a Mariners post. Hear me out, babe.
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Q. Kaepernick threw two 70 MPH bullets that could have broken Richard Sherman's face mask. Wouldn't... Read More
Tar & feathers, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/30/14
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14 Comments
Originally posted Sept. 17th. Kicked back to the front because of Mojician's prophecy below, in the comment titled "Rice Arbitration." Tomorrow's News Today, indeed.
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Here there be sports-political commentary.
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At Bill James Online -- still a measly $3 per month -- there are scintillating discussions on several societal issues.
He led off the Ray Rice discussion with vintage logic and satire:
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Is it OK if the NFL suspends players who have been ACCUSED of domestic violnce? Most of the time there's no video.
Asked by: Steve9753
Answered: 9/15/2014
There are a tangle of issues... Read More
Where's Waldo? Count the ironies in this one, babe
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/14
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3 Comments
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Thanks for the comments in the Thanksgiving thread!
The #1 line in Gordon's paragraph #6, we all liked hearin' that.
DaddyO, thanks for saying. Times three, amigo.
That's not to single anybody out of that thread ...
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It was a difference-maker to me, that responsible adults such as yourselves acknowledged this e-community as important in your lives. On a superficial level, it seems like surfing the internet is the opposite of important, and I don't really want to do anything with my time that isn't important. In some way or other.
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But on a less-superficial level, I'm... Read More
C'mon get HAPP-EEEEE… you got a great sports coat
Posted by jemanji on 11/28/14
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33 Comments
Reprinted from Sept. 5th at Rick's suggestion. All comments past #16 are comments that follow the 49er detonation. - Jeff
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Dr. D was taken aback, on that read-option play which resulted in a bizarrely-open Ricardo Lockette. As Lockette raced down the sideline for paydirt, Wilson during live action ! turned back toward the bench and gleefully shouted out the coach who set up the play.
Imagine how the coach felt. ... Pete Carroll was asked about Wilson's cheesy rah-rah antics, and Carroll shot back "We all know it's from the heart."
And: when Wilson does it during live action, there... Read More
Herrrrrrre's the 2.909 SLG, Sonny
Posted by jemanji on 11/27/14
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3 Comments
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Q. Just how many legit breakout candidates do the Mariners have?
A. In the batter's box, or on the whole roster?
In the batter's box, they've got four (4) currently-struggling candidates for 2015 Club Controlled Player Who Is Better Than Justin Upton. Granted, one of them is going to traded far, far away, to a place where he'll never get a sniff of Canada again. He'll be the "sweetener" to a one-year rental, and go on to become the first 50/50 man since Joey Belle.
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Q. Is there a Method to anybody's Madness here?
A. When it comes to panning for breakout gold ... Ron Shandler: HE'LL... Read More
"The Boston Americans" are feasting on life again
Posted by jemanji on 11/26/14
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11 Comments
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Our sense of gratitude strongly drives our well-being.
This, according (even) to Wikipedia, which (in the equivalent of 260 feet of shelf space) philosophically shares only this one point with Dr. D. There y'go amig-O. If Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh ever do agree on anything, but do then agree on that one thing with gusto and party hats, I think I'll tune in to what that one thing turns out to be. :- )
According to Wiki, a person with higher levels of gratitude / thankfulness / gratefulness is simply happier. She is less stressed and less depressed than a "complainer." Grateful... Read More
The '03 club used only 5 SP's, but ...
Posted by jemanji on 11/26/14
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6 Comments
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That 2003 rotation was, in order of importance,
Jamie Moyer
Ryan Franklin
Joel Pineiro
an aging Freddy Garcia
Gil Meche
Shiggy had his epic year (zero-plus ERA way into the summer) and the M's went 93-69. But generally speaking, the presence of Roenis Elias does not obviate the question of Wilhelmsen As Starting Pitcher. And the fact that the Mariners once owned Omar Vizquel does not eliminate infield defense from 2015 discussion.
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Hit & Run sez,
Remember how exciting it was to contemplate the prospect of the big four all in the same rotation with Felix? Walker, Paxton, Hultzen AND... Read More
SSI, the comfort food of sports blogging
Posted by jemanji on 11/25/14
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18 Comments
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This sparkling gem, predictably from The Counselor's table, got buried in the comments:
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Are we about to hit a pitching dry spell?
Good pitching has sprouted up like mushrooms from the ground for Seattle for some time now, but that may be over. It seems like every good starting pitcher or reliever in the Mariner's system is already in the majors, except Erasmo Ramirez and Danny Hultzen.
I think that the top three other starting pitchers in the high minors are Tyler Olson, Jordan Pries and James Gilheeny, and they all have mountains to overcome. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it... Read More
Dr. D can't lose even when he tries
Posted by jemanji on 11/25/14
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2 Comments
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Dr. D gently, politely, and demurely suggested that we might be forced into considering, in some variations, the possibility in some universes, whether it may or may not be open to deliberation that we trade Dr. D's favorite player.
Whereupon Taro and Mojician harshly, rudely, and aggressively each filled a sock with quarters and beat him about the head and shoulders. Sometimes I can't believe this barrio.
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Taro, for those who joined recently, is an uber-analyst from Japan. He shout-boxes,
mojician: Preach it Taro. That's some good stuff. Kuma is washed up in the same way that... Read More
Either we get our MOTO or somebody gets hurt
Posted by jemanji on 11/25/14
Posted to blog
9 Comments
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The Ugly
wil*ly nil*ly adv or adj: 1. In a careless and unplanned way. 2. In a haphazard or spontaneous manner. First known use A.D. 1608, will I nil I, or will ye nil ye, or will he nil he
We were all taken aback to find that the 2013 Mariners passed on Nelson Cruz for 1 year, $8M. By "we" I mean "you," of course. I had grokked the truth from the start. I mean it in the humblest possible way.
We knew all the way along that [MONTHS OF MAN-HOURS PILING SPREADSHEETS TO THE SKY] can still equal [WILLY NILLY]. Why in the world do you negotiate with a player, reach an agreement, and... Read More
No holding back at set point, kitties
Posted by jemanji on 11/25/14
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1 Comments
You ever watch four college-age tennis players practicing their volleys at the net? Can't be tentative there. Even watching it you better breathe.
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Moe shoutz,
If Panda signs with Boston I'm going hard for Victorino and Craig. Victorino still creams LHP and can still patrol CF if called upon. He's a one year rental, however. Victorino is actually some kind of a hitter vL. .303-.372-.503 over his career.
We've been talking about two-'fer deals with Atlanta and LA: Those deals may be too rich (Atl. demanding Walker) or unlikely (LA keeping Kemp).
Ethier and Van Slyke is doable, too, as... Read More
Strangers in a Strange Ballpark, dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/24/14
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12 Comments
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What's a readable, as opposed to a linkage? Your readables are USDA-SSI certified fresh. If you're stalling before work, these will work.
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Jeff Sullivan's "Kyle Seager: Core Mariner" has the usual wit and wisdom, except since it's not at Fangraphs, you don't get the thread comments blasting him for deploying wit and wisdom. He points out:
Money does de-motivate some people...
... Seager being the least likely of these
Annual salary inflation is 5.4% the last decade; at that rate his later salaries will be $14-15M
Annual salary inflation will be more than 5.4% next decade,... Read More
Baseball been Berry, Berry Good to Kyle Seager
Posted by jemanji on 11/24/14
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3 Comments
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Here's the sound bite from the 1970's :- )
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The SSI Diamond Club had this figured out in its head, before the rays of light from inside their eyes had even reached out and grabbed the headlines, to reel them back in. (If you think it's easy to prove the current theory of vision, you think wrong). But those of us in the bleachers need to see it laid out on a napkin:
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Season
HARDBALL GRRRR
Warm, fuzzy hometown deal
Value/Remark
2015 Arb 1
$5m
$5m
Seager '14 = $30.4m
Arb 2
$9m
$9m
Arb 3
$14m
$14m
2018 FA1
$25m
$18m
FA2
$30m
$18m
FA3
$35m
$18m
FA4
$40m
$18m
FA5
$50m
$20m
FA6... Read More
Get us a double with two men on base, we'll work out the details from there
Posted by jemanji on 11/23/14
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2 Comments
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Bleats MLBTR, sending the flock stampeding over hill and dale and off to the horizon:
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Hanley Ramirez will go to Boston on Monday to finalize a deal with the Red Sox in the five-year, $90MM range, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). ...
As Rosenthal wrote earlier today, the Red Sox‘ endgame with Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval is unclear. It’s possible they want Ramirez to play shortstop, but they already have Xander Bogaerts, who has upside and is a far superior defender. If they want Ramirez to play third, it’s unclear what will come of their outstanding offer to Sandoval (... Read More
… and you can't argue with the baseball faces on this one
Posted by jemanji on 11/22/14
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1 Comments
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The Mariners have been granted an extra option on Danny Hultzen. Slap me silly, this was the first we'd even heard of The Department Of Granting Extra Options.
From a "template" point of view, SSI had always considered Hultzen a considerably better dice roll than either James Paxton or Taijuan Walker. The template here can be considered that of a "Z AXIS LEFTY," the Cole Hamels, Johann Santana, Ricky Romero type of rhythm starter with both the weapons and the moxie to stretch the strike zone back to front. Erik Bedard and Barry Zito did it with change-curves. "Rhythm" is an elusive part... Read More
No doubt headed down I-5 with his stepfather
Posted by jemanji on 11/21/14
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6 Comments
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Link to BJOL subscription area. The below is publicly free for the weekend.
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Hi. You fielded a question one or two days ago, about Allen Craig. I don't really have the chops to formally determine whether or not one player's career statistically nearly mirrors that of another, but I hope this comparison is at least nearly apropos. I recall when I was a kid, Red Sox first baseman George Scott had about the worst seasonal numbers one year that anybody could imagine a player having. He'd had some success before that date. He later experienced further success.
Since your questioner... Read More
Can't hit, and can't be hit Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/21/14
Posted to blog
8 Comments
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The Shout Box analysis has taken things to another level. There are advantages and disadvantages to (1) making the attempt to exceed such a level, while (2) being blitzed out of your mind by (entirely legal) prescription medication. The main advantage: you don't feel the blows when they land back on you.
So, do your worst. Rules limit the foreign objects to 1/2 inch pipe and down. For the very simple reason that we can't detect blows landed with such light artillery.
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Q. What in the name of all that is Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer and Willie Bloomquist are the Mariners doing bidding 5/$... Read More
Briefly down from the 35,000-foot view as we work on our new toolbox
Posted by Spectator on 11/21/14
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2 Comments
The radical re-boot of MarinerBrainstorm.com wasn't supposed to go on for months, but once I was up at the 35,000-foot level, I just decided to stay there until I had something that I thought was:
right (that would help, wouldn't it?);
accessible (knowing that many cut and run at the word "coefficient," for example); and
useful for the [relatively intense] fan.
And I ended up deciding to build Phase II before publishing Phase I, upon which it is based. And do it for pitchers as well.
And that's what took so long.
Anyway, I have developed what I hope is a useful and fun way to get a... Read More
It ain't 10 in the morning any more for this tomodachi
Posted by jemanji on 11/16/14
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32 Comments
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Q. Trade Iwakuma?
A. As hard as it is to choke the words out ... time to SELL HIGH. :: jim carrey phantom nausea effort ::
Dr. D had penciled Iwakuma in for about a 2-, maybe 3-year shelf life when he came over here. This was oh, about 2-3 years ago. There was a lot of DiceK in his career arc, seemed to us. Question Dr. D's wisdom at your PERIL, babe.
Also, here's a guy where the tiniest fade = giant, blossomy mushroom cloud that busts windows out at seven miles. Iwakuma's fastball has zero length to spare, his location has zero inches to spare, his shoulder is scotch-taped with four... Read More
Certainly no deader than Wesley was....and he still got the girl
Posted by moethedog on 11/16/14
9 Comments
Get out the bellows and pump air into his lungs, I'm not ready to proclaim Stefen Romero as completely dead.
These MLB RH OF prospects had their first go around in '14. The numbers with each are how they faired vs. RH chuckers:
Randal Grichuk .250-.308-.354 w/4BB-15K in 52 PA
Steven Souza .000-.105-.000 w/2BB -6K in 19 PA
George Springer .242-.317-.493 w/21BB-88K in 249 PA
Michael Choice .171-.223-.282 w/9BB-49K in 188 PA
Brandon Guyer .243-.311-.345 w/10BB-29K in 167 PA
Stefen Romero .164-.227-.311 w/2BB-17K in 68 PA
Hey, those other guys are pretty highly regarded. In... Read More
Calling him $10-20M is a major compliment
Posted by jemanji on 11/15/14
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15 Comments
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Chris Taylor is more like $10-20M in NET value than $50M GROSS value on paper
A commenter within a thread, at a great blog, argued that you could reasonably trade Chris Taylor for Matt Kemp, with the Dodgers paying all or nearly all of his salary. If the M's could do that, or anything like that, it would be in the past tense now.
Take the idea that Chris Taylor $50M of pre-FA value. On paper that's true. On Fangraphs it shows up that way. But!, Only if you compare Taylor --- > rightward to FA's instead of comparing him
You would value Chris Taylor at $50M iff ---- > he were the... Read More
If James Woods took Bane juice...
Posted by jemanji on 11/14/14
Posted to blog
10 Comments
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Q. Is that guy holding the bat by the wrong end?
A. You should see their gloves. They used them at home for taking muffins out of the oven.
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Q. Why are you shuffling baseball cards around the table top as if the M's owned Hanley Ramirez? Obviously the chances of a Seattle press conference are well below 50%.
A. We're noodling around, wondering why the M's stampeded like 18th-century buffalo after Hanley Ramirez. So sue us. You could spend your time doing actual work, if that were more fun. :: shrug ::
SSI axed. When was the last time? a ballclub had:
Their consistent, stable 3-4... Read More
Putting the Dredd back in the Orcs, where it belongs
Posted by jemanji on 11/13/14
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22 Comments
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How many of you amigos do check out BJOL? How many pay the $3 per month? Got no idea. And why in the world does the guy not charge $4 per month. 33% more revenue and WHO would swing their decision based on that?
An interesting business question. Would really like to hear somebody's answer to that. :- ) ... maybe it's about swelling your audience in Phase One. Bill's like me, though. He ain't in his twenties any more.
Anyway, this is (momentarily) in front of the paywall, as is always the case with the last few day's worth of "Hey Bill's" ...
White space, numbers, and emphasis are... Read More
Part 1 - cuz I write too much
Posted by Gordon Gross on 11/12/14
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7 Comments
Haven't had a lot of time this offseason, but figured since we were talking about trade options, I might as well lay out my feelings (again, probably) on the top players that still count as "Down on the Farm," - a top 15-20 exploration.
First up: hitters. Numbering is for ease of reference, and I'm not including 2014 draft picks or international free agents since they can't really be traded til a year after they signed. The offseason is a little soon for an 8 month PTBNL delay. For the record, I like Alex Jackson to acquit himself well and see all sorts of former high-dollar... Read More
TL:DR - DJ's going somewhere if we want a superstar
Posted by Gordon Gross on 11/12/14
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3 Comments
The previous 4 names were players with lots of talent, and perhaps a bit of recognition, but who might lack superstar qualities or excess helium. These next 4 have more of both (although I'm a serious doubter on #4, so his position here is based on scouting love and bonafides rather than what I see as his upside).
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4) Ketel Marte - 21 yo RH SS / 2B
Upside: Jose Vizcaino / Yuniesky Betancourt / Joey Cora
Downside: AAAA tweener
Heat-meter: 8 (hit .300+ in AA as the youngest player in the Southern League, made All-Star team)
Trade value: good 2nd piece in a trade, not... Read More
The U.S. Health Care System
Posted by jemanji on 11/12/14
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32 Comments
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Political commentary follows. This thread is about the health care system and there is no baseball in it. A little basketball and football, maybe.
Top Ten Reasons that we pin this comment/essay to the front page:
1. "Grumpy" and I are e-friends offline. Because of that, we realize (1) that he has the only screen name on here more ludicrous and misleading than "Dr. Detecto," and (2) that he would set aside time to write us on the health care system, is no small thing.
1a. Whatever you would guess his medical judgment was, the real estimation would be higher. And we can imply, if not... Read More
Kluber walks away with Felix' hardware
Posted by jemanji on 11/12/14
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5 Comments
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I wasn't going to write anything baseball, not when Gordon went upper-tank twice in the same morning. But the news is too current not to have a thread.
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1. I don't care who wins a Cy Young. Or Gold Glove. Or whether Felix Hernandez gets a shade the better, or a shade the worse, of the winter's applause.
2. If you were mad about Felix losing out on the Cy Young? You'll definitely want to avoid this piece, where Tony Blengino demonstrates to everybody's satisfaction that Felix outpitched Kluber.
3. I thought that ties go to the champ? When Babe Ruth is a little better than... Read More
Of Capt. Jacks and White Rats
Posted by jemanji on 11/10/14
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5 Comments
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Find the aim and achieve it. To sail to and fro, this will expose you to a strategic disgrace. - GM Aron Nimzovich
Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The only thing more important than knowing the rules, is knowing their exceptions. - jemanji
To get squares, you gotta give squares. - Bobby Fischer
Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend. - Bruce Lee
".268/.330/.464 in Safeco, second half" - Brad Miller's bat
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Jack Zduriencik reminds me of Whitey Herzog, give or take the belly laugh and the rings. (Whitey Herzog minus those two things is... Read More
"Wherever there's need," Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/10/14
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11 Comments
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"Free agency is a right we earn with hard work" - Hanley Ramirez, via Twitter
"Don't be having your binders fall apart during your presentation. We don't wanna have to laugh at you behind our sleeves and then "out" you posers like ARod and Boras did." - Detect-O-Vision translation
We know how to serve champagne black tie. - "Jay-Z" Zduriencik.
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Q. What is the "state of the art" as to SSI think tankage here?
A. Thusly:
Can't play SS much longer, and is too slow to OF - SABRMatt
I hope it's a cover - Bat571
If it's so the M's can flip Seager for Kemp, I'm gonna be really mad - Bat again... Read More
Send Felix to the Rock-Paper-Scissors tourney
Posted by jemanji on 11/09/14
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3 Comments
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One cubicle left, SABRMatt has a thread going. In it, he perceives (and argues) a thing that is a "meta" aspect of the game. Neo would never have been able to grok Agent Smith, if Smith hadn't volunteered to tip his hand. Chaos theory, baby.
Matty writes, concerning Arneson's Theorem 1,
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1) Sabermetrics uses a coding language that structurally misses the most important part of the game - pitch sequencing
OK - this is a major...MAJOR rebel yell for me. I worked in the game for a year doing nothing but getting data out of a relational database and putting it into R to look for patterns.... Read More
Don't get distracted by the budget teams that jell briefly
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/14
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1 Comments
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Every year, there are articles like this one, that say "Hey! Some low-budget teams did good this year! Payroll doesn't matter as much as we thought it did." For some reason, Fangraphs has always seemed (to my cursory eye) eager to argue that payroll doesn't matter much. Can't for the life of me imagine why, but there y'go.
And every once in a while, there are articles like this one, that say "Hey! Figure it over any decent length of time, and you'll see that payroll explains 50-75% of winning, all by itself." Tango figured wins against payroll index for the period 1998-2009 -- the... Read More
New readers arise to baffle the Mainframe
Posted by jemanji on 11/08/14
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11 Comments
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Some neat comments were buried in the pool filter. Gotta sign in, guys, if you want to sidestep the weeding process :- )
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J.B. Kawika sez,
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I worry that the M's just irreparably broke him. When they called him up so soon. it seemed irresponsible then and even more so now, I think it speaks pretty badly of front office that they let it happen.
However, I do buy that in addition to not being ready Zunino was catching too many games last year too. The M's really need to break camp this year with somebody who they'll feel comfortable starting waaaay more than Buck ever did in addition to... Read More
Eyes slideways in 2015
Posted by jemanji on 11/06/14
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7 Comments
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The Think Tank is allllll O!-ver Mike Zunino's lunge-fest at those diabolical low and away sliders. What say you, Dr. D?
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Mojo sez,
Career minors & majors whuff rates, all pitches
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Career minors & majors whuff rates, OFFSPEED
An open-and-shut case, as they say. On TV, at least.
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Dr's Diagnosis
This is Pitch Sequencing 101: get an aggressive kid to 2 strikes, and then feed him a fastball away ... whoooooopsie! Broke off the plate.
Or throw him a BP fastball, center-cut .... whooooopsie! Spiked down into the dirt, overhand yakker. The 2-strike nerves make the... Read More
Get up off me, Orcs. Gimme some ROOM
Posted by jemanji on 11/04/14
Posted to blog
21 Comments
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I/O: Fangraphs computer projects the M's as the #1 team in AL for 2015.
CRUNCH: And how could they not. Even the NBA sighed in relief when the Mariners' fingertips just missed the ledge of the 2014 postseason. Just consider yourselves lucky, SF and KC fans. (Oh, sorry. That was kinda trite. Mojo is the creative thinker out of the both of us.)
Granted, it's a first-among-peers kinda prediction. The MLB average "Wins Above Replacement" (WAR) have the average team at +33 WAR and the Mariners at +39 WAR.
Their computer algorithms, reasonably but not by logical constraint, smooths out... Read More
You cannot be serious, Dept.
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
10 Comments
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Q. What are those 3 a.m. commenters on ESPN saying, if they think a poker player is "representing" a hand?
A. You're playing Hold 'Em, and the first three cards on the "flop" have two diamonds... a guy pushes into the pot. He's "representing" an Ace of Diamonds, or two diamonds, in the hole ... here comes the fourth up card, it's a diamond. The guy pushes in a big stack! He's "representing" the flush whether he has it or not.
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Q. You think that a big fat hairy 40-man slot, given to a guy who is the definition of No Prospect represents ... what? To the other 29 teams?
A. Well, the M... Read More
Which of these things is not like the others
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
6 Comments
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The Times has a crisp little article, post-Qualifying Offer. Well, Tuesday Nov. 3 is the final day for QO's. A minute after midnight, the M's are free to announce their blockbuster signings of Martinez and Scherzer.
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The Times sez:
Lloyd McClendon won't say it on the record, but as far as he is concerned it is VICTOR MARTINEZ OR BUST. Okay by Dr. D. He'd rather spend $2 for something he wants, than $1 for something he doesn't want.
"Value" is your best deal on something you want. The free agent options, anyway, seem to be polarizing for us.
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On Michael Cuddyer, Divish points out... Read More
Pull the Cespedes, count up the 2-1 losses
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
9 Comments
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The Counselor sez,
Gappiness studies and gap indexes? This is some epic new baseball shtick.
Here's a question: What are the Gap splits on the Orcs during 2014? Did losing His Blingness increase gappiness to an unsustainable level, or did it cause an equally devastating collapse of spirit?
- See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/comment/154940#comment-154940
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That's the way to unner'stan something. Not by (1) running numbers alone, but by also (2) keeping the hypothesis (Hard RBI up and down the lineup, elite pitching SP's 1-3 and RP 1-3) in mind, and (3) applying it to... Read More
Draw the 1st triangle so that it catches .500 SLGrs within it
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
2 Comments
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Dave Fleming had suggested that teams with gaps --- > have a very hard time winning the World Series. This made a fair bit of sense to me. SABRMatt followed up by getting us some data on it:
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Do gappy clubs that make the post-season do worse than clubs that are not gappy? For each playoff team, I did the following:
I took the position splits for each position on the diamond including DH and PH but excluding P on offense and, for every position that was below average in OPS+ compared to the league split for that position, I gave points based on the formula (PA / 600) * delOPS+ (... Read More
'ave at thee
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
1 Comments
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If you don't like politics, don't read. :- ) There will be a fresh baseball thread, a cubicle or two to the left.
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At most sports blogs, there is a strict rule against religion and politics, ostensibly because the community isn't capable of discussing such without breaking down into chaos. That isn't true; at Bill James Online he cheerfully mixes politics, religion, and baseball. Because he is firm and fair, no trouble arises.
We say "ostensibly" because the possible chaos isn't the real reason for the ban. Field Gulls, the strictest of anti-political sports blogs, will be glad... Read More
My name is ...
Posted by jemanji on 11/03/14
Posted to blog
44 Comments
Here there be political commentary. Skip on by, if that ain't cher thang :- )
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Dr. Grumpy, who runs a medical center, sez,
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People ask me all the time why EU countries appear to do better on some particular measure of medical performance. Or why they can afford to insure more of their population etc. I point out that the EU style medical systems simply could not exist in their current forms without the US. EU governments are able to spend so much on social programs because:
1. As Matt point out, the US taxpayer heavily subsidizes the security of the EU, something I think the EU... Read More
Stars & Scrubs up the middle
Posted by jemanji on 11/01/14
Posted to blog
2 Comments
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In his 2012 "Dynasties" article, James had written,
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1947-1964
68 points. The Greatest Dynasty of All Time.
Key Figures: Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris
In terms of personnel, the 1947-1964 Yankees are no match for the Ruth and Gehrig Yankees. The Ruth/Gehrig Yankees have a Hall of Fame catcher (Dickey), one of the greatest first basemen ever (Gehrig), two Hall of Fame second basemen (Lazzeri and Gordon), a Hall of Fame shortstop (Rizzuto), at least three Hall of Fame outfielders (Ruth, DiMaggio, and Earle Combs), and at least four Hall... Read More
… which may be getting filled in the local nine
Posted by jemanji on 11/01/14
Posted to blog
8 Comments
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Dave Fleming, filling in for James, sez in Hey Bill:
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Hello, my greets from the Dominican Republic. The Giants NEVER won a World Series with Marichal, Mays and McCovey, three HOF, while they were together. They only won a single Pennant. With Bonds and Kent, to me HOF caliber, they only won a single Pennant, even with them winning five MVPs in a row. They have won three World Series in the last five seasons... to me, Posey and Bumgarner could be HOF some day, but too early to say. So it's just luck? Bruce Bochy magic? Remarkable contrasts, right? More to the point, it's more difficult... Read More