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SYMMETRY, Dept.
There is a nice symmetry between these numbers: 26 and 13. Why do they matter? Well, they matter here because 26 represents the bases gained by Dee Gordon last year, in millions of dollars, and 13 represents what the team has to actually pay him for those bases.
So, yeah, that's one good way for JeDi to spend his free agent money, by coughing up a few prospects and then using a FA buck to buy a fiver. (Gordon was out in part of 2017, but in his full seasons of 2016 and 2015 were $25M and $39M, respectively. I believe he led the NL in steals, all three seasons 18-16-15.)
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ANTICIPATORY JUBILIATION, Dept.
There are very few things in baseball that a crowd can "wind itself up for" over a period of more than one or two seconds. ... strike three, sometimes a triple, well you got me sometimes we get to antipate the landings of Mike Zunino's homers for a minute or two. But that's still not much.
A stolen base is fun to anticipate, and Gordon gets 60 of them per year, like clockwork. Hey, who knows? Maybe the very first play on Opening Day will be a one-hop shot through the infield on Corey Kluber and then we get to spend, oh, 2-6 minutes raining jubilation on Kluber.
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A CHART OF SERENDIPITY, Dept.
The more amusing since the STATS AOL gang once spent a year using "serendipity" as its tagline. But it's fun in this TNT piece too:
But also in the batting order. They expect Gordon to provide a jolt of energy to the top of the lineup, after he hit .308 with a league-leading 60 stolen bases with the Marlins last year. He’s been a career .293 hitter in his seven seasons between the Dodgers and Marlins with 278 stolen bases. He has the second-most stolen bases of anyone in baseball since 2014.
And Gordon said he spent three consecutive hours one day recently texting with Edgar Martinez about hitting.
“And I’m like, ‘Oh, snap – I’m going to be so good!” Gordon said with a smile and his eyes wide.
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HEH
In Scott Adams' world, viewed through the Persuasion Filter, this is known as a "killshot" - the movie playing on a reel in front of your eyes with simple components and a simple, powerful outcome. Yep. 3 hours' texting with Edgar and we got this thing.
Serendipity, baby, the .333 version of Gordon rather than the .268 version and that's before we even get off social media.
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UND TAKE ZIS MIT YOU, DEPT.
Dee Gordon is a man "happy to be on the other side of the country."
It's a funny thing; we were auditing a suicide hotline and some amigo said that there were criminals hunting him. Stop whining, said the counselor (yes he did) and move to the other side of the country.
So, as DaddyO can tell us, there can be at least three (3) reasons for moving several thousand miles. Escaping a hostile (110-L) work environment, escaping felons, and escaping a two-decade-long playoff drought.
Hopefully Dee will be able to parlay his new lease of life, love and playoff contention, plus a few new Twitter friends, into an UP season for us.
BABVA,
Dr D
I think the Gordon trade was a bit of brilliance for Dipoto. Credit where it is due.
Even if he somehow fails in CF, worst case is we have a better hitting Vince Coleman in LF, with a few fewer stolen bases. And that isn't bad.
This lineup is going to screw up some ERAs this year. In ways putting Gordon atop this lineup is like finally putting a full lineup behind Ichiro. I am excited to see him playing CF but even more so on the bases. Elite stealing is my favorite baseball skill even if he's not quite at the Brock/Henderson level he'll be the best that we've ever had in their prime*.
Henderson did actually play here, although I've read multiple things proclaiming Dee the best basestealer ever to play for Seattle without a word of disclaimer or context. Rickey is the best basestealer to ever play here. .
...with titles that include words like hoping and believe...
Enough said.
And, as Dipoto famously putting it, that's more teams going for the #1 draft pick than going for the WS parade... count yer blessings, as they say ... :- )
That they're all written by 1 person who isn't affiliated with the team. Most news articles (is MLB.com different?) titles aren't chosen by the author so the choice of verbiage doesn't even necessarily reflect the authors view. Even so, belief and hope is what all baseball fans have right now. That and impatience.
I think the hand they've got deserves putting that bit more into the pot as well. I do believe in Healy and hope that the 3 young outfielders (faith is actually the word I'd use for Maniger) will continue to improve. The thing that's sticking in my mind is that looking at Healy vs. Ford in minor league stats and especially splits (where Vog also has a big split) it is Ford that looks more like an every day 1b. I've read Yankee fan speculation that they'd just have to offer the Yankees anything to be able to send him down.
Nice line Matt!
Actually the only one that is really a "huge" hope is getting Felix back to himself. That's sort of delusional. Felix as 180 innings of a good #3 would be highly hopeful; counting on anything more than that is a bit daffy.
But hoping that Healy can hold down 1B is counting on him to do exactly what he's done before. And the OF will generally be fine. Those are fair bets.
When did we get Nieuwenhuis? I missed that. He's terrible vs. LHP but is sort of useful vs. RHP and he has decent glove.
OF-wise, I am most worried about Heredia as our 4th. It looks etched in stone, I suppose.....but I wouldn't mind an upgrade to some RH pop here.
Its nice to see the Mariners get a star at a fire sale. The Mariners outfield should be as good as it ever was in recent memory except the Ichiro-Winn-Ibanez group. I think that Gamel and Haniger will deliver on the promise of a long line of disappointing outfielders.
Works on reading pitchers and gets to a point where he's stealing somewhere near what his speed suggests he should be able to. Until then he's disappointing me by not even trying to maximise his potential. Dee's talked to Griffey. Get Heredia on the phone with Rickey. Or at least Dee. I guess that's a matter of the player choosing to make the call and seek the advice though. Hence my disappointment. Also my jubilation for Dee.
Potential to compete with completeness of Raul/Randy/Ichiro outfield defense is already here. The offense seems possible as well, at least in '19.
SABR Matt, I enjoyed your comment a few weeks ago that you liked the idea of the mAriners landing Cobb and Lynn. My (old) mind, of course, imagined the likes of Ty and Fred patrolling the outfield grass at Safeco. Different generations, of course... but, that certainly would resolve any questions about speed and pop at the top of the order!
Often our dreams are better than reality...