Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Aaron Gleeman has a interesting post comparing Eckersley and Smoltz in regards to Smoltz's possible place in the Hall of Fame ... all in all a good post, although I take issue with a few of his comparison techniques, but let's leave that for another time
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Okay, so the Braves have lost some big names to free agency this offseason, which does not bode well. Most believe that this will be the Phillies year (assuming they don't all have career-worst years again). But all is not lost for the Braves ... they did pick up J.D. Drew ...
(cough)
anyway, here's a look at some AAA numbers from last year for a couple of the up-and-coming Braves destined to get some significant playing time this season:
Johnny Estrada (C) - .328 / .393 / .494
Adam LaRoche (1B) - .295 / .360 / .466
both of them hit in the range of 1 home run every 33 to 35 at-bats.
hmmm, not bad. both hit for good average w/ decent on-base percentage and slugging; they both seem pretty balanced. Defensively? dunno - will check the stats later.
looks like we've got a couple of solid producers here. Hopefully they will both be able to keep it up next year.
not that we're expecting them to replace the production of Javy and Sheffield, but hopefully these guys will be able to make positive contributions to the team throughout the season ...
(cough)
anyway, here's a look at some AAA numbers from last year for a couple of the up-and-coming Braves destined to get some significant playing time this season:
Johnny Estrada (C) - .328 / .393 / .494
Adam LaRoche (1B) - .295 / .360 / .466
both of them hit in the range of 1 home run every 33 to 35 at-bats.
hmmm, not bad. both hit for good average w/ decent on-base percentage and slugging; they both seem pretty balanced. Defensively? dunno - will check the stats later.
looks like we've got a couple of solid producers here. Hopefully they will both be able to keep it up next year.
not that we're expecting them to replace the production of Javy and Sheffield, but hopefully these guys will be able to make positive contributions to the team throughout the season ...
So Aaron Boone goes down, big deal ... the Yankees will just go out and trade for an all-star 3rd baseman ... (grrrrrr)
and lo and behold, here's the article describing their options ...
and lo and behold, here's the article describing their options ...
Friday, January 23, 2004
This is a cool site that lets you see the BB Hall of Fame voting for each year, and even track the number of votes per player per year ... National Baseball Hall of Fame - History of BBWAA Voting
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Baseball Musings and ESPN report on interesting developments in the world of Baseball contracts (involving the insidious insurance industry) ... read about it here
Monday, January 19, 2004
In case you've missed this excellent site, check out Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History ...
I especially enjoy seeing player similarity lists ... for example Troy Glaus is rated as being most similar to Reggie Jackson at the same age ... my reaction: HUH?!? but then I looked it up ... it's true, they're quite similar through age 26 (Troy Glaus is only 26?); the interesting thing is that looking at the stats Reggie's production really started picking up at age 27 ... another baffling thing about Reggie Jackson's stats is that his career BA is only .262, and he was still voted in as an All-star at age 37 when his end-of-season BA was .194 w/ an OPS of .640 ... wow ... overrated? thriving on past glory? stranger things have been known to happen, but none immediately spring to mind ...
I especially enjoy seeing player similarity lists ... for example Troy Glaus is rated as being most similar to Reggie Jackson at the same age ... my reaction: HUH?!? but then I looked it up ... it's true, they're quite similar through age 26 (Troy Glaus is only 26?); the interesting thing is that looking at the stats Reggie's production really started picking up at age 27 ... another baffling thing about Reggie Jackson's stats is that his career BA is only .262, and he was still voted in as an All-star at age 37 when his end-of-season BA was .194 w/ an OPS of .640 ... wow ... overrated? thriving on past glory? stranger things have been known to happen, but none immediately spring to mind ...
an interesting article attempting to shine a bit of light on a very shadowy organization (no web site? no permanent headquarters?), entitled Hall of Fame Keeps Baseball Writers on Top ... it would be nice to know how these BBwriters view the whole Pete Rose situation ...
so apparently the head of the writers association actually calls up the new Hall inductees to inform them of their induction, leading to my favorite quote from the article: "When Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies received the call in 1995, according to O'Connell, he wanted to know the identities of the 16 people out of 460 who did not vote for him."
nice.
so apparently the head of the writers association actually calls up the new Hall inductees to inform them of their induction, leading to my favorite quote from the article: "When Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies received the call in 1995, according to O'Connell, he wanted to know the identities of the 16 people out of 460 who did not vote for him."
nice.
