Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 65 degrees, rain. Jared Mitchell starts at CF, Eduardo Escobar at SS and Johnie Lowe is the starting pitcher for the Saguaros.
UPDATE: Peoria lost 9-2:
October 20, 2010
3 year UZR: Carlos Quentin shouldn’t be playing in the field
Using these thresholds, here are three-year data (to help smooth out small sample fielding volatility) of all fielders who have played a minimum of 1,500 innings at a given position, put to the “should you be a DH” test via their three-year UZR/150 ratings. (Because Fangraphs’ WAR system doesn’t use UZR data to determine the value of catchers, they are omitted here.) The results are presented below. Click to enlarge. You can download my DH data sheet by clicking here. …
Alexei Ramirez is your Sporting News 2010 AL All-Star Team shortstop
Alexei Ramirez named as shortstop of Sporting News 2010 AL All-Star Team, as voted on by the players.
Here’s the press release. The only two other Sox shortstops that won the award are Luke Appling (1936, 1940, 1943) , and Luis Aparicio (1968, 1970). The voters are 326 major-league players, 25 managers and 24 general managers.
Does Kenny Williams has a perpetual contract?
Williams, for his part, has a unique perpetual contract with the club that rolls over every season and pays him a year’s severance if he’s fired.
I knew KW had a roll-over contract for 2005-2009 but did that became perpetual?
October 19, 2010
THE single most important thing to know about baseball
Run Expectancy by the 24 base out states (RE24) is THE single most important thing to know about baseball. This chart should be in your wallet at all times, opposite the pictures of your wife and kids. (Bonus: you can use it to cover up the picture of your mistress.) You should look at it all the time, study it, learn it. In there, you can unlock all the baseball secrets. It’s that important.
Sabremetrics 101: Run Expectancy Matrix, 1999-2002
Actual Runs Scored, following each base/out state to end of inning
By Tangotiger
The following table presents the average number of runs that scored, from that base/out state, to the end of that inning. All data is from 1999-2002.Note: All partial innings are excluded. All home innings in the 9th or later are excluded.(In the next release, I will present the number of times that exactly 0,1,2,3, 4, 5+ runs scored, from each base/out state.)
RE 99-02 0 1 2 Empty 0.555 0.297 0.117 1st 0.953 0.573 0.251 2nd 1.189 0.725 0.344 3rd 1.482 0.983 0.387 1st_2nd 1.573 0.971 0.466 1st_3rd 1.904 1.243 0.538 2nd_3rd 2.052 1.467 0.634 Loaded 2.417 1.65 0.815
As always, a big thank you to Ray Kerby for providing his software to parse through the play-by-play data.
October 18, 2010
JJ reviews Gordon Beckham’s 2010 season
In 2009, Beckham swung at 24.7 percent of pitches out of the strike zone. In 2010, that percentage shot up to 32.1 percent.
… Swinging at pitches out of the strike zone usually leads to three results: weaker contact, more strikeouts, and fewer walks. Not surprisingly, we saw all three of those from Beckham in 2010. …
AFL Update: Josh Phegley in, Jason Bour out
Mark Gonzales reports Josh Phegley will not play in the AFL and will be replaced by Jason Bour. No reason was given for Phegley’s leaving.
Gonzales has a couple of minor-league coach updates too. First, Pete Rose Jr. will coach the Bristol Sox. Second, Ernie Young is leaving his post as the Kannapolis Intimidators’ coach to coach the West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit’s low-A affiliate) and he is expected to be replaced by Tommy Thompson.
UPDATE: CSN’s Kevin Czerwinski has more regarding Josh Phegley. He says “blood tests revealed that his condition had not improved enough for him to continue playing.” Phegley battled ITP syndrome throughout the season.
Best of luck to Josh.
October 17, 2010
New found love for A.J. Pierzynski in baseball circles?
A.J. Pierzynski, C, free agent — There’s a new-found love in the market for Pierzynski, though he will be rated behind Victor Martinez and John Buck among available catchers (Bengie Molina is out there as well). Buck had his best offensive season and is considered a high-character player who could hit for some power. One of the knocks on him is his “long’’ arm action and swing. “You could do worse then either Buck or A.J.,’’ said a veteran National League scout. “With A.J., you know he’s not going to throw people out, but there’s nothing wrong with his receiving and he can still hit. I know the fire he has can rub people the wrong way, but I think that’s great for a team.’’
October 16, 2010
ScoutingTheSally on Tyler Saladino
STS ranks the Top 5 Sally (South Atlantic League) second baseman for 2010:
1. Tyler Saladino, Chicago White Sox
In Saladino, I see a plus defensive second baseman with on base skills, gap power, and the ability to play a little shortstop in a pinch. Of the players on this list, he may not have the highest ceiling, but his floor is the highest by a wide enough margin for him to earn the top spot without giving it a second thought. The only real red flag in his current skill set is his ability to make contact as a 25% strikeout rate simply isn’t going to work at higher levels. With his quiet approach and baseball IQ, I’m confident that will come down as he continues to work on breaking ball recognition.
Saladino @ Kannapolis: 198 PA, 165 AB, .309/.389./442/.831, 22 BB / 44 K, .412 BABIP, .365 wOBA.
AFL Game #5: Peoria Saguaros @ Mesa Solar Sox [UPDATE]
Boxscore. Gameday. Weather: 84 degrees, clear. Jared Mitchell starts at LF and Eduardo Escobar at 2B for the Saguaros.
UPDATE: Saguaros lost 10-1:
| Peoria Saguaros | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
| Mitchell | LF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .267 |
| Escobar | 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .25 |
and
| Peoria Saguaros | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |||
| Leesman | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | |||
| Carter, A | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | |||
Pitches-strikes: Leesman 22-14, Carter, A 19-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Leesman 3-0, Carter, A 0-0.
Batters faced: Leesman 5, Carter, A 3.
Joey Cora to be interviewed for the Toronto managerial job
In all seriousness though, where does the Jays interview process stand, 12 days after manager Cito Gaston boarded a plane and headed to Florida?
… To be interviewed
Joey Cora, 45, bench coach Chicago White Sox.
October 15, 2010
AFL Game #4: Peoria Saguaros @ Peoria Javelinas [UPDATE]
BP’s Ben Lindbergh looks into the time spent on the DL more
… If Schneider has the magic touch, he must be among the most valuable non-players in the game; the head trainer has served the Sox in that capacity since 1979, but since our records go no further than 2002, we can’t check to see whether the long-tenured Schneider’s success predates Cooper’s arrival. For what it’s worth, pitcher DL days and position player DL days were weakly correlated at the team level during the 2002-10 period, with an r of .32, though that could reflect common approaches to injury treatment more so than similar incidences of injury occurrence. …
