The Outfield Defense: Tick…Tick…
by Nico on Apr 29, 2008 7:00 AM PDT
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PrintBe careful what you wish for…When the A’s were struggling to score last year, I could certainly relate to baseballgirl’s plea for some 9-7 games, even though Texas has been lining the cellar with those games for years. But once we all conceded that we couldn’t really get by without pitching, many of us thought that what we needed to give up was defense – go ahead and put Cust in the OF and we’ll deal with it, we decided, if that’s what it takes to get some bats in the lineup. Pick your poison, though, because the reality is that hitting without pitching, and hitting without defense: these are just different recipes for disaster. Suddenly, we’re just desperate for the team to make all the plays in the field, and we feel it with the same urgency that we were ready to give up pitching or defense just to score a darn run once in a while.
For the most part, so far the A’s have gotten away with a poor defensive outfield, with only Ryan Sweeney’s failure to catch Jason Kubel’s flare showing up directly as a costly outcome in the final result. Yet if the A’s keep trotting Cust out there to clank fly balls, Sweeney to get poor jumps in CF, and Emil Brown to mistake that guy in row 5 for the cutoff man, the A’s are going to pay a steep price – as they very nearly did again on Sunday, when Cust’s and Sweeney’s misadventure gave Felix Hernandez a 1-0 lead that was insurmountable for much of the afternoon. If the A’s want to be proactive, i.e., smart, they need to make some lineup adjustments now before their deficiencies are exposed in a big way. My thoughts on the various outfielders and what their roles need to be going forward:
Axiom #1: Every day, either Chris Denorfia or Rajai Davis needs to start in CF. The corner OF defense just isn’t strong enough to carry a CFer who isn’t a true CFer. Unfortunately, Denorfia and Davis are not a platoon combination, which means probably the “most days” job should go to Denorfia, whose on-base skills appear stronger. I’m puzzled as to why Denorfia hasn’t been playing more regularly, but now – especially with the addition of Frank Thomas – the A’s can better afford to carry a low slugging, plus-defender in CF. And they can’t afford not to.
Axiom #2: Jack Cust, Emil Brown, and Rajai Davis need to combine to be one super-platoon player. Cust and Brown are too weak defensively, and neither exceptional enough against “same handed” pitching, to be out there together. They should platoon, and when Cust starts he should always be removed after his first three ABs in favor of Davis’ defense for the final 1/3 of the game. Now you’re looking at an offensive player that is 75% Cust and 25% Brown, each with platoon advantage, and a defensive player that is only 6 innings of Cust when he starts. That’s ultimately going to be just the right amount of playing time for Brown, who is this year’s John Mabry: A guy who can help the team win for a short time, but will help the team lose if he plays every day for very long. (Note: For as long as Brown is on an RBI tear and Cust struggles, it’s fine for Emil to get a few extra starts against RHP, but only at Cust’s expense so that at least we are actually improving our OF defense by choosing to play Brown.)
Axiom #3: Ryan Sweeney needs to be “odd man out”. Not because he’s “so awful” (although this is a problem), but because there are three things he does not do well enough to play any of the OF positions. He does not hit for enough power (he has 3 XBHs all season) or OBP (he has drawn 3 BBs all season) to be a corner OFer, and he does not play strong enough defense in CF. Since he has options left, it would make perfect sense to send Sweeney to AAA until he makes strides in least one of those three areas: Learn more patience at the plate, develop more XBH power, or develop into a plus-CFer. Until then, it makes no sense to take ABs, and CF fly balls, away from Denorfia and Davis – who can at least solidify the defense at the OF’s most important defensive position.
Now when Buck returns your OF, against LHP, looks like Buck, Denorfia (or Davis), and Brown, with Cust on the bench as a pinch-hitting weapon and Davis (or Denorfia) on the bench as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. Against RHP, your OF looks like Buck, Denorfia, Cust-Davis, with Brown on the bench as a pinch-hitting weapon against Mr. LOOGY. That alignment can work, but the current one is poised to backfire over time – and much sooner rather than later.
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Generally agree but three points:
1) A’s are 17-10. Why change what’s working until it stops working? Brown is 2nd in AL in RBI. How can he be benched now?
2) Beane seems to really like Ryan Sweeney. I’d play him every day in RF (with your platoon in LF and Denorfia/Davis in CF) until Buck comes back.
3) Denorfia is coming back from a serious injury. I can see easing him back into the lineup as he gets strength back. He seems to have no power now.
because the a's have been very very lucky
RISP BA + defense only costing 1ish games + everybody pitching out of their mind = something gonna give soon and we best be prepared for it. The “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” axiom doesn’t apply when there are peripheral indications that somethings might be broken, they just haven’t caused a violent collision yet.
Anyhow, and I haven’t willed myself to read the Carlos Gonzalez injury news yet, Sweeney should be replaced by Gonzalez is he is to be replaced by anybody. An OF of Gonzalez + some combo of Brown/Cust/Denorfia with Davis being the designated fielder seems proper to me at this point. But until you are ready to bring Gonzalez up, I say let Sweeney keep playing.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
he rolled his ankle
and it is being evaluated today
Me thinks you are overreacting
Bottom line is: a) they have allowed fewest runs in the league; b) they are well in the upper half of overall team defensive efficiency.
Is it a great or even good OF defense? No.
But Cust will play if he hits—except against certain lefties. and yes—as we saw last night—he will be removed late with a narrow lead.
Brown is supplying too much offense at the right time to be taken out just yet—when Buck comes back Geren gets more flexibility—assuming Buck hits, of course.’
as for CF, I’m agnostic. I’d rather see both guys get time until one of them proves he should play more often—and if it’s neither or if CarGon (hope the injury’s minor) makes it clear he should be playing there, we have other options.
The good news is that we now have 6 guys (and even Murphy) who can play OF in some fashion and contribute. I take it more as a strenght than a weakness. No one’s talking about the fact that 90% of the RFers in the game would have caught that Thomas “triple” last night—we were lucky to be playing against a guy who’s pretty abysmal out there, no matter what Joe Morgan says.
To be fair,
the DefEff thing is not primarily related to the outfield. Even by their usual high standards, Crosby and Ellis have had an exceptional defensive month. The rest of the team’s defense is fairly average, but it helps a lot when the two guys who field the most batted balls are playing sensational defense.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
FWIW, THT has the A's defense as being a small factor in their success.
Someone please correct me if I’ve misinterpreted (as though you wouldn’t).
Pitching 6 runs above AL average
Fielding 3 runs
Total run prevention 9 runs above AL average
Both the infield (.867 RZR vs .827 for league) and outfield (.916 vs ,893) are above average in getting to balls within the fielders’ zone and average at out of zone plays.
The real success is the pitching, especially in the clutch—3.5 WPA. The bullpen 2.41 WPA is by far the best in the league.
I’m not sure whether this means that OF defense is basically unimportant or that the A’s OF is good enough as it stands, but it seems to mean that so far it’s been pretty effective, and it doesn’t seem to have been all that important.
by WaddellCanseco on Apr 29, 2008 9:14 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Overall,
the IF defense will make up for the OF defense overall. I would have to think the OF numbers will decline somewhat, but a lot of teams have terrible corner OFers. It also doesn’t take into account Brown’s poor decisions. It’s still not going to be all that bad though. Brown is basically fine out there, and the CFers are not big liabilities.
The A's colors are green and gold.
I'd rather think in terms of getting the best possible combo
of offense and defense out there as opposed to thinking that the middle infield defense will “make up” for the corner outfield. But agreed the Brown and Sweeney are basically fine out there. Cust is NOT fine out there, and he’ll surely cost games over the course of the season.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
Yeah, I just meant in terms of what that plus minus number is going to say
Didn’t mean it at all in terms of a roster strategy.
The A's colors are green and gold.
According to THT's "Outfield Arms" metric
(which one presumes would cover things like not hitting the cutoff man, as that allows extra bases to be taken) Brown is about average over the last 4 years as an arm.
He’s not “state of the art,” but he won’t burn you defensively either.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I agree, the shortcomings of the defense
are only a small picture in the story.
“Make the routine plays” has always been Wash’s mantra in teaching players to play better defense. Sure the A’s would have benefited from an exceptionally speedy CF in a couple of games, making exceptional plays. But to build a case that the A’s have been “hurt” would have to include some examples like last year’s Cust drop of a flyball to the first batter in the game: a no-doubt about it catch…”routine”. These “long drives” that could have been caught against the wall…they’re just going to happen with the guys we have.
There are many proponents of a “set lineup” and what that does for players’ performance. These proponents object to “tinkering” and flexible batting orders, etc. If there is any inherent”correctness” to this thinking, it means the amount of additional fidgiting with the defense will produce tiny gains (the A’s have the best record in the AL, how much can it improve??)
As for the idea “We cannot go on like this…it will get us!!” I recall Mark Twain’s quote
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
"I never predict anything, and I never will." Paul Gascoigne, English footballer
by One won lost won on Apr 29, 2008 11:30 AM PDT up reply actions
"(the A’s have the best record in the AL, how much can it improve??)"
The goal isn’t to improve, it’s to maintain the status quo or not see it regress too much.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
"I am an old man ..."
That means (a) he had a large sample size, and (b) was consciously making fun of selection bias.
Your citation of the quote means the exact opposite of your intention.
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
Twain's quote means people worry about stuff
yet it is worry about speculated woes. Twain “knew” a great many troubles. In his mind. He made them up. He imagined woeful experiences to be, created them. Similar to the worry here about (“tick tick tick”) the future “woeful” defense that will supposedly hurt the future W-L record of the team.
Your (a) and (b) are unnecessarily cryptic with vague references: “That” “sample” “consciously” “selection bias”
"I never predict anything, and I never will." Paul Gascoigne, English footballer
by One won lost won on Apr 29, 2008 12:45 PM PDT up reply actions
Cust's bat this season has not yet justified
putting his glove out in the field on a regular basis.
Brown’s bat has justified it (and his glove is better than Cust’s).
Buck hasn’t played enough to know whether he is adjusting to opposing pitchers’ adjustments. He might also be a candidate to spend some time in AAA.
This is it right here
Cust’s bat this season has not yet justified
putting his glove out in the field on a regular basis.
Brown’s bat has justified it (and his glove is better than Cust’s).
When are you people going to wake up to the fact Cust does not need to be on the field on even a semi-regular basis? Talking about Cust taking any PT away from Brown is just crazy talk.
Yes, it's crazy to prefer the guy who's here for 4 years
to the guy who’s here for 1.
It’s crazy to prefer the guy with a great power track record over the guy with the mediocre one.
It’s crazy to prefer the guy with the .360 OBP over the guy with the .300 OBP.
Positively certifiable. We should be locked up as lunatics.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I'm not a stat geek, but even i know
that if Cust goes 0-2 with 2 walks, he’s had a pretty good game.
The only issue I have with him being in there is that he should bat in the lower half of the lineup until he hits another hot streak.
"You have to have a catcher or you'll have all passed balls."- Casey Stengel
by Gaijin_Suketto on Apr 29, 2008 10:42 AM PDT up reply actions
that an ops of .250
and even if you weight OBP for it’s value, its under 500.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
though one thing thats never discussed that this just reminded me of
Generally, you read about good OBPs and bad OBPs, good OBPs being hit-heavy, and bad OBP’s being walk heavy. The problem is walking a lot penalizes your OPS unduly because if a single is worth like 1 TB, a walk has to be worth like 50% to 80% (i have no clue) really of a TB, right? Yet you get no boost to your slugging…
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
can't use ops for something like that
It would be a .360 wOBA, which is a comprehensive performance measure, with .340 being average. So if someone did that every game, it would be well above average offense.
The A's colors are green and gold.
but also by extension
i suppose the whole walking being undervalued by slugging pct is a root cause of why OBP >>> SLG in OPS, not just the whole “not making outs” thing.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
yeah
the problem with OPS is it’s completely arbitrary, but it’s still basically a perfectly good measure for most players. If it counted walks in slg. % it would still be wrong, but in a different direction.
Run values (with an out being 0):
BB: .72
HBP: .75
1B: .9
Reach on error: .92
2B: 1.24
3B: 1.56
HR: 1.95
wOBA is based on those divided by PA.
The A's colors are green and gold.
reach on error > 1B?
So reach on an error is worth more than a 1B. Kind of funny. Guess you have to include them, because it is sort of a skill. Hitting ground balls at bad fielding teams “knowing” they cost more runs because bad defensive teams will make more errors leading to more runs than your average single?
or does it just psych out the pitcher?
Or I guess some errors are just two-base errors. That’s the ticket, I’ll go with the last one.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
Yeah it's the last one
It’s only slightly a skill, but those run values are just historically-based, not trying to measure skill per se.
The A's colors are green and gold.
well whether its a skill or not
It will either even out in the long term and affect everybody the same, or it will be a skill and show up consistently, so it makes perfect sense to throw it in there.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
HBPs are more randomly distributed
while BBs tend to come disproportionately in situations where they don’t advance any runners.
The A's colors are green and gold.
Yeah,
these are not player skills so much as an account of how much those events are worth to the team regardless of to what extent they are earned.
HBPs are earned to some extent: ask Kendall or JD Pruitt…
The A's colors are green and gold.
HBP is absolutely a skill
Generally speaking, the same players are at the top of the HBP list each year. Whether they’re the ones who don’t mind getting hit, who dive over the plate and get it, or are just too slow to move there is a certain repeatable aspect of it.
Also, both walks and HBP require the pitcher to do something wrong.
http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/
by thejd44 on Apr 29, 2008 3:21 PM PDT up reply actions
That's an OPS of .500
.000 Slg + .500 OBP = .500 OPS
Which is not to discount what everyone else said …
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
I STRIVE TO BE A BLOGGING PROFESSIONAL AS GOOD AS THE COHN'S
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
Arranging the lineup/roster based on what guys have done in the past three weeks
as opposed to their entire careers is a horrible idea.
The A's colors are green and gold.
Cust's MLB career is very short
sorry, I don’t think his minor league heroics should count equally.
If he can adjust and prove to be more than a AAA player, great.
But I don’t think an ability to draw walks combined with lots of Ks and hardly any hits justifies putting a below average glove out in the field.
as for Brown—put him in there until he stops producing.
Using only his major league stats,
Cust’s “true talent” (including this latest slump) is something like .250/.380/.440, which is a damn sight better than what Emil Brown brings to the table. Cust has more than proved his ability to hit in the majors with something like an 800+ OPS.
Credit to Emil for his production so far, I welcome it. But Cust’s slump is by no means terrifying enough to justify a benching in favor of Emil Brown.
In fact:
July 4, 2007 – Aug 3, 2007: .197/.337/.318, 35% K% in 83 PA
Mar 25, 2008 – Apr 27, 2007: .161/.373/.242, 31 % K% in 83 PA
So why didn’t we bench him last August? Because our management understand small sample sizes, and Cust proceeded to hit .255/.440/.473 from Aug 4 onward.
stat-addled alien overlord
brown used to walk a lot more, and you MUST include defense in this analysis
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
From what I've seen
Emil Brown is a below average fielder with a plus arm. Of course, defense is subject to a small sample size, too, because Brown has historically been solid at the corner OF spots.
Cust, on the other hand, should be in the NL Central’s left field collection of crap. Look at the regular LFs in that division. Not one of them should be out there: Soriano, Duncan, Braun, Dunn, Bay, Lee. And you can’t tell me that Cust is any worse than Braun.
http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/
by thejd44 on Apr 29, 2008 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Nothing wrong with improving your team in April
But I understand your point. I agree with this post though, I’ve never really liked Ryan Sweeney. He has average minor league numbers, which tells me he’ll be a below average major leaguer. I would much rather have somebody like Denorfia playing over him, because Denorfia has a lot of promise. The guy had two years in the minors with close to a .900 OPS. Sweeney barely sniffs .800 in a good year in the minors. I don’t know why Denorfia is not out there more.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
Ryan Sweeney
I’m starting to agree. Sweeney needs to mature as a player… In AAA. He isn’t taking charge in CF (another bad play last night, not calling off Emil Brown). He has zero power. Hopefully, Geren is taking notes, and this is just a trial period for Sweeney. He really needs to work on things in AAA.
by Colorado Fan on Apr 29, 2008 9:13 AM PDT up reply actions
OK
Why?
Why are you posting Taj’s minor league review and then immediately burying it under another frontpage piece? I mean, it’s no wonder those typically get very few comments. No one is even seeing them on the front page!
With this “new setup,” there are quite often days where nothing is added to the frontpage other than game threads/recaps. I can’t fathom what the putative advantage is supposed to be of cramming two “issue pieces” into so short a period of time that 95% of your readership won’t see the first one until the second is already posted.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
When I scheduled this for posting, Taj hadn't posted or scheduled his
So he must either have posted knowing it would be “buried” at 7:00am PDT, or not checked to see if something was scheduled to run Tuesday morning. But what readers may not realize is that front-page posts are sometimes pre-scheduled (all moderators/writers can see the schedule) – so I posted this Monday morning, scheduling it to run Tuesday morning, and it then appeared automatically without my clicking a button (I was actually asleep when it posted). That make sense?
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Yes and the more the merrier!
It’s not as if the frontpage traffic around here is so great that we’re in any danger of getting overwhelmed. I liked both Taj’s and Nico’s posts, for whatever it’s worth.
Obviously if people simply ignore Taj’s post because it’s no longer on top, that’s not good. But I hope that people get in the habit of looking beyond whatever happens to be at the very top of the frontpage.
I tend to access the site through the RSS feed, which let’s me see a list of several days worth of frontpage posts.
Putting the "N" in "NRAF" from Leipzig, Germany!
by GreenNGoldSooner on Apr 29, 2008 8:38 AM PDT up reply actions
I've been meaning to lodge a similar complaint/plea relating to the Staturday posts.
I don’t have a problem with front page abundance – the more interesting pieces the better, and if you and Taj have something to post on the same day, great. However: These non-game thread contributions need to be made prominent somewhere else. Expand the recommended fanpost section, or tack another (similar looking) section atop it, complete with the total/new comment statistics.
Too often, some of the most thoughtful posts on this site are almost immediately buried by an avalanche of game threads. Absent a conspicuous place on the sidebar, too few people remember to read them. This must suck for the contributors, as it’s clear a lot of work goes into these. It definitely sucks for the readership, as the ensuing discussion/argument is stifled before it can get off the ground. In the past, it often took 2-3 days for conversations such as these to percolate, as wider ranges of contributors weighed in, and varying points of view began to collide.
But not everyone is reading AN at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, you know? And by the afternoon, the piece is six posts down on the main page, and gone from our consciousness.
I understand that game threads drive traffic, but I think the site ought to make an effort to maximize the exposure of the best contributions, and facilitate discussion therein. Perhaps moving devo, grover, et al to the front page was designed to do just that, but I’m not sure the desired effect has been achieved.
Agreed
Non-game thread front page posts get less traffic than recommended posts. By a rather significant factor. This is in no small part because they don’t have “65 comments, 25 new” or whatever next to them on the sidebar so that people actually know when something is going on in the thread.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I'd really like to see game threads either
a. someplace else …
or
b. disappear half an hour after game time …
They take up a crap ton of space (As there are often 2+ of them) and are just clutter 21 hours out of the day …
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
by devo on Apr 29, 2008 12:00 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
b makes the most sense
when a game is in progress, it’s the top news item. when the game is over, it should be archived.c
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
I like suggestion (b) a lot
... though I’d bump it to more like a 2-hour window.
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
The thing is, it was predictable
I noticed it last week and decided I would raise the point if it happened again this week (which it did).
I would strongly encourage y’all to converse and find a way to spread your posts out, because right now you’re consistently Friday-Night-Lights-ing him.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
+1, sorry kids...
"You have to have a catcher or you'll have all passed balls."- Casey Stengel
by Gaijin_Suketto on Apr 29, 2008 10:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Empirically? Yes.
We’ve already had one person say they didn’t notice the prior post.
Based on the comments that threads that get buried receive (viz., “virtually none”), it seems that this is not at all unusual.
You can be as snarky as you want—the fact of the matter is that most people do not apparently live up to your notions of what an ideal poster ought to do.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Yes ...
web site research has consistently shown that people do not scroll …
If an item is not on the initial page-load screen, it is not there.
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
Also...people don't read blocks of text...
...unless they really want to. This is why I think these stories should just have an introductory sentence or two on the front page. If we want to read the rest, we’ll click on the “more” link. That way a few stories could be posted in one day and everyone can see them.
"[Moneyball] is huge [in Japan], I guess, so I'm like a David Hasselhoff type or something..." -- Billy Beane
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Apr 29, 2008 5:20 PM PDT up reply actions
so, you saw a problem, held your tongue, and then blew up when your lack of feedback had no effect?
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
I wanted to make sure it was actually a pattern
and that the comment wouldn’t get lost in the “did they see this or not?” shuffle.
And I didn’t “blow up.” My post was essentially bafflement—the situation didn’t make sense to me. Imagine it being spoken by a person who has just had the concept of Antiguan goat subsidies explained to them for the first time.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
you seem to be under the impression that we're a professional publication
1. Everyone here except Blez does this for the sheer misery of it
2. It’s a blog, not the Chron; Blez doesn’t tell us what or when to write
3. We’re all still figuring out the bugs/capabilities of AN 3.0/SBN 2.0
4. As Nico said, he exercised due diligence in clearing space for himself
5. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes communications that the front-pagers do
6. We’ve added a ton of new front-pagers in the last couple months, and the logistics of that are all sorting themselves out
7. You are presuming to lecture folks on how to make the most favorable and audience-friendly impression?
All that said, I don’t disagree with your point in principle.
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
I'm not trying to lecture folks on favorable impressions
I’m trying to maximize the number of interesting discussions that occur on the site. (See? Self-interest.) The current arrangement of Nico and Taj’s pieces, which has now been going on for 3 weeks, does not do so. It’s not in anyone’s best interests to have major content peaks and valleys. Not Blez, not the authors, not the readers.
I’m just raising the issue. It’s there, you now know it’s bugging some people, etc. You can act truculent and aggrieved, or you can move to address it. Offering constructive criticism (and here’s some more: a good time to slot in editorial pieces is a few hours after a weekday day game. Those usually tend to produce postgame “dead zones.”) does not make me an ingrate.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
truculent and aggrieved is how I would characterize your first post
And given the number of posts/views on any given Staturday post or minor-league wrapup (or, for that matter, Poetic Interlude), I’d say most folks disagree with your specific interests.
What you seem to be doing, rather than offering constructive criticism, is asking for the stuff that matters to you, as a member of a distinct minority at AN (one to which I also belong), to receive more prominent and lengthy positioning on the site.
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
Nah -- I've tried displaying my ass threads, but nobody's interested in 'em.
And they were clean.
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
by The Dogfather on Apr 29, 2008 5:22 PM PDT up reply actions
My opinion as to the wisdom of putting two front-page posts 6 hours apart
would not change no matter what the content of them was. Because no matter what it is, it frigging kills the discussion on the first thread to have it immediately buried under another thread.
Do you actually believe that bunching up frontpage threads at some times and having nothing at other times is a good idea? Because if not, I don’t understand why you’re going after me here.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
We have decided (as a group) that bunching threads
at some times and having nothing at other times, but allowing people to write when they have something to say (not just “because it’s their day/time to write) is a better idea than writing in assigned intervals – which is how we did it on AN 2.0.
What’s counterintuitive here (and what I was trying to address above) is that I actually posted my thread (“scheduled” it to run) before Taj posted his – even though his appeared 6 hours before mine. In this case – and I’m just offering explanation because no one could know this otherwise – only Taj had control of this decision.
Finally, my guess is that the notion that you are “making a bad impression” comes mostly from the fact that you offer criticism and complaint without any trace of appreciation for the fact that a whole slew of people volunteer their time and energy to write for AN. Too many people are working hard to create and publish interesting content for you, and they’re not timing it well? Oh no!
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
well, if you'd read what I wrote ...
... you’d have seen that I clearly stated that I agree with you in principle. Yes, absolutely, ideally AN would be churning out content as regularly as Emil Brown drives in runs Jack Cust walks. On the other hand, when there’s a front-page item that, by dint of its newsworthiness, novelty, or particular attraction to the proprietor and/or front-page denizens deserves to remain up, it would get pushed down pretty darn quick by the onrushing torrent. (Hence, Blez’ self-ghettoization onto the sidebar today.)
However, it’s also pretty clear that the stats-oriented posts and the minors-oriented posts attract pretty much the same (smallish, mostly overlapping) group of readers/commenters. Taj and the statboys do great work, but we could push their posts out to the entire membership on RSS feeds and spam emails and nail them permanently to the top of the front page, and … they’d still attract the same (smallish, mostly overlapping) group of readers/commenters. And that same (smallish, mostly overlapping) group of readers/commenters knows precisely where the stories are, have the capability to bookmark them (it’d be nice if we had the old AN 2.0/SBN 1.0 feature where one could return to their own posts to see who’s replied), and can return to the posts ad infinitum.
My main problem was with the sniveling, condescending tone in your initial post. By couching your criticism in such ways as you do, it doesn’t come off as terribly “constructive,” and it invites responses in kind.
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
Perhaps if y'all actually just read what I've
written without trying to infer some kind of tone into it, I think this would go better. There is no such thing as tone on the internet.
Seriously. I encourage you (and Nico; this is really a reply to both of you). Go back and read everything I’ve posted on this subthread, except imagine it being read in a standard conversational monotone. Not whatever whiny, petulant shrilling you seem to be mentally conjuring up as my standard tone of voice. Then reread your own responses and I think you’ll get a better picture of where I’m coming from at this point, which is that I feel like I’ve been jumped on and sniped at for making a good faith effort to improve the site experience—and that both of you have continued to go after me aggressively in spite of what I felt was an attempt to mollify things in my second post.
I’m sorry if my initial post didn’t hit the minimum quota of acceptable accolades, compliments, apologies for even bringing this up, etc. required for a critique to be taken seriously instead of dismissed out of hand. [Tonal note: that sentence was sarcasm.] I should think it was pretty damned obvious that I enjoy the work that’s done here, seeing as how I’m reading and commenting on it all the time. Believe me, if I thought you guys sucked, I’d not be wasting my time on it.
[There is a certain “poem,” written by a friend of my father’s, which would be highly appropriate here. Unfortunately quoting/paraphrasing it would essentially spam the thread… I could email it, I suppose.]
I have to question, given MBs last post, what the actual perceived advantage of having a post on the frontpage thread is. Apart from the AN stamp of approval, I don’t really see much that’s gained from it and I do see something that’s lost—namely easy access after it rolls off the very top of the page. In particular if it’s a slow-simmering thread like the minor league/stats threads tend to be, why put it in a place which is best suited to the needs of fast-moving, quickly-mooted threads like the game threads?
Whatever. I’ve spoken my mind on the issue. You can take my advice or ignore it. If you ignore it because of who I am or because you didn’t like the exact way I chose to phrase it in my initial post, that’s my worse luck, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I guess that's true
Though I’m still not sure what the harm would be in allowing the posts to exist in the sidebar as well. Part of the problem (aside from the creeping message board aesthetic) is the sheer pace of the site. Lots of fanposts, lots of game threads … things move pretty fast, and unless a topic hooks into an audience quickly, it’s gone in a blink, especially on the front page. I’d just love to see some of the really good work linger long enough for the occasional invigorating argument to develop.
I read a ton of blogs, as I’m sure you do as well, and there is always a balance to be struck between quality and traffic. It’s a hard thing, I understand that. But it is a choice. And you know, most of the time that choice tends to lean in the direction of ad clicks. That’s not intended as a condemnation of Blez or anyone else (far from it), but implicit in your comment is the notion that “our hands are tied, nothing we can do, everyone likes the ’!! :)’ threads”, and that’s just sort of silly.
I admit I like the blog a bit less than I did before, mainly because of all the new noise. Most of the former content goodness has been preserved, but it’s a little more fleeting and a little more encroached upon by … well, stuff I wouldn’t describe as “goodness”. I still visit every day, and enjoy the community immensely, but I do worry that in the long run, as traffic ratchets ever-upward, it will become correspondingly difficult for the goodness to carve out elbow room.
Ah, well. Whatever. I’m a curmudgeon, and the game thread monster is about to swallow this post up anyway (a bit like how the asteroid monster swallowed the Millenium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back ... I think that makes me Hans Solo, but I wouldn’t presume to claim that level of awesomeness, so on second thought scratch the analogy).
what's more ...
8. You can always fill out the paperwork to request a refund of your subscription fee
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
I like the idea of Denorfia and Davis in CF
Not just for their defense though. Both of them have some decent on base skills and can hit for average. They are good hitters as well, just with little pop. I wouldn’t say Sweeney gives us much pop either though.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
Lack of pop
Davis’s is legit, I’m sure, but Denorfia’s seems to be partly a result of the approach that he’s taking this year. He has an astounding 4.2 GB per FB and, in point of fact, has only hit five fly balls all season. He had some pretty decent power years in the minors (17 HR in 2004, 21 HR in 2005), so the pop is there—it’s just awfully hard to hit a ground ball home run.
He’s a smart guy, so if the A’s tell him “get on base,” he’s going to do what it takes to get on base—and in his case grounders are better than flies for getting on base. I do wonder if he might up his production somewhat by taking (and being encouraged to take) a more balanced approach. The most attractive aspect of his game in the minors was that he really had no weaknesses—his only elite skill was hitting for average, but he showed all five tools to some degree.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Totally agree with your assessment here
Denorfia does have more pop than what he’s shown us so far. He is a poor man’s five-tool player, does everything well but not exceptionally so.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
... and he's THE RALLY PIMPERNEL!!!
And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@
what about Carols Gonzalez?
With that any word on him after being carted off the field??
rolled ankle
just read on the river cats site that he rolled his ankle.
re
One misplayed ball doesn’t mean a season. I agree that Cust has no business out there in left unless he’s hitting as well as last year (or very damn close), but Sweeney has been perfectly fine (needs some adjustment time, but he’s not hurting the A’s a bit), and Emil Brown is one of the best left fielders in baseball.
Sweeney seems to be better going out than coming in.
This is just by qualitative observation, but I think he has made good catches and tries around the wall, but seems quite late and slow coming in for bloops. Denorfia may/may not be a lot faster (I suspect he is), but he sure inspires more confidence in YT when he’s patrolling the central garden.
I don’t know where the Brown claim comes from, but I’d be pretty surprised if it’s “defensible.”
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
by The Dogfather on Apr 29, 2008 11:34 AM PDT up reply actions
agreed with the Brown skepticism
but was too lazy to look it up.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
I looked it up
He’s an above-average corner OF, but not particularly close to “one of the best in baseball.”
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
are peripherals really out of line with the team's performance thus far?
Above, the question is brought up that so far, the team’s performance has outdone its’ peripherals – i.e. the team is getting lucky so far. Below are a few peripherals that paint a picture:
Offense
Total runs scored – 3rd
Overall OPS – 19th
RISP OPS – 3rd
RISP 2/outs OPS – 17th
Defense
Total runs allowed – 1st
Overall OPS against- 2nd
RISP OPS against- 9th
RISP 2/outs OPS against- 12th
Unearned Runs allowed – 13th (aside: Milwaukee has only given up 2 all season!)
Errors – 26th
So far, it looks that luck has, in fact, been favoring our A’s, especially in scoring runs. I fully expect weeks like the week before Big Frank gave this team a jolt. However, this team just seems to have a knack for getting runners across the plate. It wouldn’t surprise me if this team ends up right in the middle of the pack in runs scored. Which will be okay, because…
In pitching, the A’s seem to be about where the numbers say they should be. Given they give back so many outs, it would seem they should be allowing more unearned runs. However, their situational OPS allowed is worse than the overall OPS allowed, meaning they have been a bit unlucky. Do I expect them to stay on top of runs allowed? No. But it is not unreasonable to think, based on the #’s, that they’ve earned that spot so far. I’m sure the league will catch up to some of our pitching, but the depth will keep us in the top third the rest of the season.
"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other." - Jack Handey
As long as the wins keep coming
and the Athletics stay competitive through nine innings of 85% of their games, and the run differential remain in the vicinity of its current status (pct wise, not absolute terms) I think the A’s should stick with everything the way it is going so far. If Harden returns, if Duke comes back to starting regularly, the wins and run differentials are going to improve regardless of carrying Cust, or more or less Denorfia etc.
If the A’s suffer a five-game losing streak (like Boston, with Manny, Pedroia, Ortiz, DiceK) then maybe the pieces need re-arranging. Otherwise, there is plenty of momentum built into the status quo.
"I never predict anything, and I never will." Paul Gascoigne, English footballer
by One won lost won on Apr 29, 2008 11:38 AM PDT up reply actions
The Players
play will dictate the managers current line-up card. It will all work itself out and Geren will play his best producing hand that gives the A’s the best chance to continue this unexpected dominance.
Sweeney may only be sent down because we are playing so well right now. It things go south, I expect himand CarGon up playing everyday regardless if EMEAL is sitting on the pine.
Cust’s timing even on fastballs really looks off. I would like to see him(Cust) in BP to see if even there is he striking out!?
Memo to Beane: Bring back Canseco!!!!!
On Cust, read the remarks by Geren on BP
before Cust faced King Felix in Seattle. Apparently, Cust hit about 7-8 balls in a row out to the seats in BP. What impressed Geren was, he wasn’t even swinging hard. Smooth. Cust said, “I’ve found it.”
Too bad , Cust said, he couldn’t make contact with Felix pitching.
I believe he is close. But, I am a Cust proponent, so I’m biased. But not unrealistic.
"I never predict anything, and I never will." Paul Gascoigne, English footballer
by One won lost won on Apr 29, 2008 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Yesterday
Cust hit a line drive right at Quinlan (going w/ the pitch). Couple other balls hit decently in the past 5 games. I think Cust is on the verge of a semi-breakout.
by Colorado Fan on Apr 29, 2008 1:15 PM PDT up reply actions
no need for change
there is no need change anything with the players we have now, when buck gets back we will just be adding more pieces to this puzzle. we dont rely on homeruns, and there is no need to. we get guys on, move them over and bring them in. simple as that we keep scoring runs and keep pitching like the way we are now we will be going to the playoffs. As for the defense, it is still early in the season. We have got a great group in the outfield. brown denorfia, davis right handed bats and sweeney and buck left handed bats we have a stacked line up and we go out there to play. talk about a bench, there is speed, defense, and some pop. this team is working better then anyother A’s team we had in the last couple years
I would like to see Gonzalez switch places with Sweeney
when he’s back healthy. I’m not sure Sweeney is as bad as you say in CF (I don’t think Denorfia is much better at all), so for the time being I don’t mind him out there against RHPs just to get some ABs. I wouldn’t mind Davis in that role either… Probably not a very big difference. Sweeney is not a major league player at this point, though.
The A's colors are green and gold.
yeah exactly
Sweeney was a top prospect a couple years ago in the Sox organization, he just doesn’t appear to be “major league ready” yet. He has shown nice flashes of being a nice hitter and he’s only 23. I feel like the Sox gave up on him pretty quickly, and wouldn’t wanna make the same mistake. Let him play another full season in Triple A and give him another shot next year. If the A’s weren’t winning, and didn’t have another young OFer to callup and give those at-bats to, I might be more inclined to just let him suck in the majors, but there isn’t a whole lot left to look at right now.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
See above comment on Denorfia
Unlike Sweeney, his offensive distribution (mostly singles and walks) seems to be the result of a deliberate decision by either him or the coaching staff to focus on ground balls.
I think there’s more potential there than people are giving him credit for, particularly power-wise.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
more potential for denorfia, you mean, right?
I’ve always liked Denorfia too, I don’t mind demoting Sweeney to give Denorfia a shot…
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
Yes
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Okay, totally off-topic,
but finally read the game thread, and cracked up as every single person who joined late caught sight of the box score and said something to the effect of “Frank Thomas had a triple? WTF?!!”
Awesome…
So, bring on Bonds! Or, not... then, bring back Langerhans!! -One won lost one
The real question should be
Are Denorfia, Davis so much better defensively than Brown/Cust/Sweeney are offensively that what you suggest should happen? I don’t think they are and I’d rather take my chances on the four or five balls hit to Cust in a game AND giving him four to five ABs then watching Denorifia bat four to five times a game. I’m for giving the D boys late inning playing time and platooning with R Sweeney, but to start them over Cust I think would be foolish and over Brown, down right criminal considering he’s the best hitter on the time, hand down, right now.
I think offense first to give you the lead and defense late to help you keep it.
"Baseball is like a church. Many attend, but few understand." - Wes Westrum
The thing is, it's not just defense
I think Denorfia especially offers a significant upgrade on offense over the long haul. Look at the minor league numbers of Denorfia and compare them to Sweeney’s and there’s no contest on who should be playing and who should be getting more seasoning. Not to mention I feel Denorfia is the better CF anyway.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
ok but also
As much as i was on Brown earlier in the season, I was more on Brown proponents for falling in love with his RISP BA and RBI totals. But his other numbers are starting to fill in, and he’s looking more and more like the .290/.350/.460 he was a couple years ago. If he continues to punish balls in the zone, the patience will come back as people pitch him more carefully again. I’m starting to lean towards Cust/Cargon/Brown with Cust being relegated to platoon with Denorfia if the pop doesn’t return soon.
Jeremy was safe. He jumped over the tag.
To be fair to Sweeney
his numbers were posted at far younger ages than Denorfia’s were. CD really didn’t even become a prospect until 2004 at the age of 23, then exploded at 24-25. Sweeney is still only 23 y/o.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I haven't seen every A's inning or anything
But I haven’t noticed Sweeney being terribly deficient out there at all. I certainly haven’t seen anything from Denorfia that suggests he’s significantly better. Of course, that’s a debate over a 4th and 5th outfielder. Ideally, neither one of them is a starter.
That said, I’m in favor of the best defensive player (Davis, I guess) playing center any time Cust is out in left field.
http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/
by thejd44 on Apr 29, 2008 11:24 AM PDT reply actions
Sweeney is really, really, really not good out there.
I have noticed at least once a game his terrible jumps. Balls will drop in shallow CF all the time, something you can’t tell from a box score. It’s like he does not see the ball off the bat. Davis is a HUGE defensive upgrade, and has speed. So far, I like when he’s in.
So, bring on Bonds! Or, not... then, bring back Langerhans!! -One won lost one
by baseballgirl on Apr 29, 2008 12:04 PM PDT up reply actions
You can't obsess over one particular deal
It makes much more sense to view the Haren and Swisher trades in conjunction. The team gave up 1 excellent player and 1 very good player. Can the team get that much in return out of the 9 guys? The initial returns look very promising.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
It's not even that. Sweeney was essentially a throw in.
If he makes it then we’re laughing. If not then it was to be expected. We’re doing the right thing by giving him every chance to succeed in a year where we don’t have playoff aspirations (or we didn’t before the start of the season).
I know, I was just being irrational because I liked Swisher a whole lot.
I don’t have a problem with the trades at all, other than not being able to BS with Swisher from the bleachers any more
Denorfia has substantially better range than Sweeney
from what I can tell.
However, as BBG points out, that doesn’t show up in the boxscore.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
To my eyes, Denorfia is a far better CFer -
part of Sweeney’s apparent “decency” stems from the fact that he plays too deep, thus looks good on balls hit deep, but lets a lot of catchable balls fall in front of him (that don’t look catchable because he was playing so deep).
Since Sweeney neither walks nor gets XBHs, you wonder why not just put the superior defender out there? Throw in a poor corner OFer (Cust) who needs all the help he can get, and you really wonder why Sweeney is in the lineup 75% of the time instead of improving his various skills in AAA.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
The team is committed to giving Sweeney an extended look
and I support that decision.
With that said, if the current situation has not changed in a month or so (i.e. no progress), Sweeney should be sent down.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
My eyes told me
That Denorfia has flubbed his share of bloopers, too. Twice in 1 game even, if memory serves (I think against the Twins). Both he and Sweeney are singles-hitting groundballers, and neither seems stellar on defense. Geren is giving them both a solid amount of PT, which I think is probably the best way to go about it. Maybe one catches fire, maybe one falls off a cliff. Rajai Davis is a pinch-runner, which is a nice luxury to have on an Oakland squad. He needs to be well-acquainted with the bench.
It’s nice to see that we are all conditioned as A’s fans to fret whether the team is ripping or stalling. I thought I was the only one.
-JC
President and CEO of the Ryan Sweeney Apologists Consortium
Agreed
I don’t think Sweeney is a true CFer. Honestly he looks as though he’d be more comfortable at one of the corner OF positions, but he doesn’t hit well enough to start. He will end up being a decent and flexible 4th or 5th outfielder career ceiling wise.
Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?
Ceiling?
He’s a decent 4th or 5th OF now. He’s only 23. His “ceiling” is still as a productive RF, which would put Buck and his less impressive arm in LF. And that’s fine by me. A Buck-Gonzalez-Sweeney OF would be stellar if Buck can regain his doubles-machine form and if Sweeney learns how to hit for extra bases during a game. Given their youth, neither of these propositions are out of the question.
-JC
President and CEO of the Ryan Sweeney Apologists Consortium
I'm not seeing Sweeney as being that good now -
A corner OFer whose OBP is .284 and whose slugging percentage is .317? That, well…sucks.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Right-- this is what I'm saying
You can’t equate his “ceiling” with his numbers 20-some-odd games into his year 23 season. He won’t hit his prime for 5 more years. 5 years is a long time. That’s a lot of AB’s. That’s time when a lot of young hitters are learning to improve their power production (i.e., turning on inside fastballs in hitters’ counts) and learning to better control the strike zone. And get better jumps on balls hit to the OF. No CF is head and shoulders better than him on the club right now, so why not let him get comfortable and do all this improvement stuff against big-league pitching?
I’m not saying he’s a lock to be the player he was touted to be. I just think it’s absolutely ludicrous to say that Sweeney’s ceiling is at all reflected by how he’s playing right now.
-JC
President and CEO of the Ryan Sweeney Apologists Consortium
So Ryan Sweeney is copying Torii Hunter
Who has made a career out of playing on the effing warning track so he can rob home runs. Gotcha.
No, I’m not saying Hunter and Sweeney are equals defensively. Clearly, Hunter is better. But what Nico has pointed out is exactly what I’ve been saying about Hunter for the past 4 years. I’ll pay more attention to Sweeney’s positioning and jumps tonight if he’s in the starting lineup.
http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/
by thejd44 on Apr 29, 2008 3:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Eh?
Why would an infielder drive an outfielder out of the lineup? It’s not like the team views Jack Hannahan as the everyday left fielder…
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I realize questioning Brown's long-term productivity
won’t resonate with some because he just hit a HR, drove in 3 more runs, and is 2nd in the league in RBI. But that’s why I made the Mabry comparison – a guy can give you a huge and very real lift and be unlikely to sustain it over time. What makes Beane smart is that he doesn’t wait for failure if he can avoid it in the first place. Brown has done a tremendous job. And he is unlikely to be the best long-term solution (even for 2008) as an every day player.
I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal
Not as many fly balls against tha A's
Two areas in our pitching helps minimize the impact of lower fielding quality in the OF’s: GB’s and K’s.
I don’t have the GB/FB ratio, but we give up the 2nd fewest extra base hits (TempaBay), 2nd fewest HR (ChiSox), 2nd lowest % of hits being extra base kind (Yankees). Based on the extra base hits numbers, I would guess that our pitching gives up 20% fewer fly balls than average AL teams.
A’s pitching have 179 Ks so far, about 22 more than the AL average, this is about 0.8 out per game less when opponent puts the ball in play.
As far as I can tell,
the A’s pitchers give up a normal percentage of ground balls. 3 of the 5 starters have GB/FB ratios of 1.0 or lower.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
you're right
A’s actually have the highest number of OF put-outs in AL. They also have a higher than average (40.8% vs 38.3%) of put-outs make by CF, maybe suggesting the slight disparity between of their CF and corner OF’s. Just some more meaningless stats
Seattle and Boston have the highest CF put out%, at 48% (Ichiro vs Ibanez/Wilkerson) and 44% (Crisp/Ellsbury vs Manny/Drew).
I’m surprised to see KC only makes 31.5% of fly outs in center, given they have Gathright there. Looks like Teahan is fielding a lot more balls than Gathright.
by asfansince1989 on Apr 29, 2008 3:07 PM PDT up reply actions
Outfield only had 2 errors so far
Both from Brown.
While BoCro had 5, Hannahan had 5, and Barton had 4, and Gaudin had 3. It’s seems to me it’s the guys who are a) recently came up to the majors, b) recently back from injury, are the ones who are a little shaky. Cust and Brown are known commodity, they know what they can and can not do, I’d live with that. Just make the plays that they can and we’ll be fine.
You hypothesized that the A's allow fewer fly balls...
...I don’t have the numbers either, but wouldn’t that mean the infielders have more chances to make errors than the outfielders?
And I think, because of things like positioning and breaking for the ball , which had been stated before do not really show up in the box score, errors don’t have the same meaning for outfielders as they do for the infield—if one even considers errors a viable stat for measuring defense.
"[Moneyball] is huge [in Japan], I guess, so I'm like a David Hasselhoff type or something..." -- Billy Beane
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Apr 29, 2008 5:32 PM PDT up reply actions
My apologies...
...there are some numbers just above us. Still, I can’t find much stock in outfield error totals.
"[Moneyball] is huge [in Japan], I guess, so I'm like a David Hasselhoff type or something..." -- Billy Beane
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Apr 29, 2008 5:34 PM PDT up reply actions
Other stats
I agree that number of errors is too small of number to be of any statistical difference, the most any team in AL has made is 5, so A’s 2 errors does not say much about how good bad they are.
However I find it interesting that Brown, perceived to be a sub-par defender, actually has better range factor and zone rating than Buck, who we think should be our starting corner fielder once his bat wakes up. The difference looks pretty significant to me.
Buck as right fielder, 28 outs, RF 1.92, ZR 8.79
Brown as right fielder, 27 outs, RF 2.55, ZR 9.31
Brown as left fielder. 28 outs, RF 2.51, ZR 9.03
last year, Buck’s range factor also wasn’t good
as left fielder, 26 outs, RF 1.90, ZR 9.26
as right fielder, 110 outs, RF 1.98, ZR 9.12
I thought with Buck’s speed he would have better range. I would keep Brown in there as long as he’s hitting better than Buck, and doesn’t start making too many errors.
by asfansince1989 on Apr 29, 2008 6:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Street can play OF
Susan mentioned this:
“Geren mentioned recently that he knows that closer Huston Street can play the outfield if needed because he’s watched Street shag flyballs during batting practice, and he’s terrific.”
Sorry didn't quote the whole thing
The next part is even more interesting:
“Earlier this month, Atlanta manager Bobby Cox had reliever Chris Resop face three batters, go to left field for a batter while a lefty specialist was in, then return to the mound, the first pitcher to face a hitter, play another position, and face another hitter since 1993.”
by asfansince1989 on Apr 29, 2008 2:01 PM PDT up reply actions
That is awesome
I never even thought of that being possible.
That would an interesting idea to explore further. I’m certain it has some significant drawbacks…but any time a manager employs a strategy that hasn’t been used in 18 years, I think that’s pretty exciting. Makes you think.
Here’s a link to the game in question, I’d recommend taking a gander and throwing up your own personal thoughts on the strategy if you get a sec.
Chris Resop pitches, then goes to left field, then pitches again in the same inning.
by notsellingjeans on Apr 29, 2008 3:28 PM PDT up reply actions
If only Cunningham didnt get hurt..
we coulda had Cunningham/Gonzalez/Buck by August.
When will then be now? Soon.
That's an optimistic timetable...
the guy’s 21 and has like 30 games above A-ball.
Besides, it’s not like he’s out for the season. He should be back within a couple of weeks.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Well he was due to start
in AAA if he had not gotten hurt. So if he had a good 3-4 months in Sacramento he coulda been up.
When will then be now? Soon.
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