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The Polaroid Random Thoughts Baseball Thread

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betplom
It just occurred to me that I have been with hundreds of women who's name I never knew.

At the time it isn't that weird but after a couple of decades realizing you've fukked hundreds of people you were never introduced feels a little strange.

Oh, I'm still gonna continue doing it - maybe it will fell weird again sometime when I stop to think about it.
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Wrong bus-stop.
 
FairWarning
I'm guessing the Reds may be desperate if they are starting Dontrell Willis this weekend.
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His figures weren't all that bad in AAA this season but having said that, he is 29 years old and if you can't master AAA by the age of 29 then you've got problems. It's definitely a good call up, he can't be much worse than Edinson Volquez this season.
 
Polaroid
His figures weren't all that bad in AAA this season but having said that, he is 29 years old and if you can't master AAA by the age of 29 then you've got problems. It's definitely a good call up, he can't be much worse than Edinson Volquez this season.
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I'll have to look into the numbers of pitchers 2-3 years into the Dusty Baker Experience. It isn't good. He has burned out some careers. Volquez has been brutal.
 
FairWarning
I'll have to look into the numbers of pitchers 2-3 years into the Dusty Baker Experience. It isn't good. He has burned out some careers. Volquez has been brutal.
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There is something not right about him (well, duh). His only decent season (and it wasn't an elite season, not even in the top 25 of starters) was in 2008 - recovery from Tommy John surgery is never clear cut but his figures this year are very odd. This season, his fastball is as consistent as it ever has been, he's getting more swinging strikes than his career numbers, K/9 are a career high (BB/9 are also a career high but not by much and he has never had the best control) but 20%+ of his flyballs are leaving the park. That's either a sample size that will right over time or there is something wrong with his mechanics. Or maybe it's Dusty Baker Experience.
 
Polaroid
There is something not right about him (well, duh). His only decent season (and it wasn't an elite season, not even in the top 25 of starters) was in 2008 - recovery from Tommy John surgery is never clear cut but his figures this year are very odd. This season, his fastball is as consistent as it ever has been, he's getting more swinging strikes than his career numbers, K/9 are a career high (BB/9 are also a career high but not by much and he has never had the best control) but 20%+ of his flyballs are leaving the park. That's either a sample size that will right over time or there is something wrong with his mechanics. Or maybe it's Dusty Baker Experience.
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Look at the magic he did with K Wood and Prior in Chicago. Leake, T Wood and others don't look right at all. Volquez has allowed 3 HR's in the 1st inning twice this year. Yes, the fastball has no movement at all.
 
Polaroid
19 year old Mike Trout, arguably the best prospect in MLB, has been called up to the Angels - he has been smashing the ball in the minors but hasn't played above AA ball yet.
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Nationals fans and likely Bryce Harper would disagree.

I've heard the name, and thought I heard he was the #2 pick behind Strasburg in that draft but know nothing else about him. How in the eff did the Angels ever get a #2 overall pick, they make the playoffs pretty much every year, or are at least well above .500?

What's the protocol for NL SS replacements? Reyes and Tulowitzki are hurt I heard, does this mean Starlin Castro will start or is there a possibility Rollins is named to the team and is the starter? I heard that possibly the next highest vote getter on the player ballot might start?

The All-Star game has become a joke I guess, Jeter and A-rod, along with Rivera declined to participate. Rivera claims some arm injury, Jeter just came off the DL I guess and I'm glad he isn't going because he doesn't deserve to be there, and not sure why A-rod declined. All of that, along with all of the other random injuries and Sunday starters being replaced means an all-star team now consists of about 50 guys. No longer means all that much to be an all-star, and I think they recently expanded the rosters also after the tie game fiasco.

In the past few weeks I've read Moneyball (excellent, A+, must read), The Extra 2% (not as great, boring at times, C+), and Fantasyland. Fantasyland is a book about one of the top Fantasy Leagues called Tout Wars, and some newbie who spends so much money going around to spring training with a press-pass from his WSJ gig and talking to players, etc. They also use advanced sabermetrics to draft their team in the auction draft, it's kind of like sabermetrics meets fantasy sports. I don't play fantasy sports (although I did when I was a teen) and found it to be a great read (A-)

Next up is The Book by Tom Tango and Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong by Baseball Prospectus.

I love this sabermetric shit.

LOL at Drew McCutchen with one of the highest WAR's, and like 2nd highest UZR either overall or in the outfield, I don't recall which, snubbed from the AS team. The whole process is just a joke, although I guess he'll find a way in if he hasn't already been named to the team.
 
Trout is awesome professional scouts and many a service agree

Bryce has alot to prove in AA

he is only there because the field at High A got flooded alot

many a prospect looks great in low A or even AA or even AAA

but you get many a Brandon Wood or Chad Hermansen among them
 
Interesting in The Extra 2% however is how the Rays found that defense was undervalued in the current market similar to the A's and OBP in years past. Ben Zobrist is basically like the best player ever for the value in sabermetric terms. Also, they raped Longoria on that contract although in TB's defense, he got all of that guaranteed money after 6 games as a pro.

Reading about sabermetrics makes it that much easier to root for the small market Rays against the Yanks and Red Sox.
 
Herman
Nationals fans and likely Bryce Harper would disagree.
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I did say arguably. It's a coin toss between Trout and Harper.

Herman
I've heard the name, and thought I heard he was the #2 pick behind Strasburg in that draft but know nothing else about him. How in the eff did the Angels ever get a #2 overall pick, they make the playoffs pretty much every year, or are at least well above .500?
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He was the #25 pick (and was a compensation pick from the Yankees for losing Mark Texiera). Dustin Ackley of the Mariners (who was called up last month and is doing very well indeed) went #2.
 
Polaroid
He was the #25 pick (and was a compensation pick from the Yankees for losing Mark Texiera). Dustin Ackley of the Mariners (who was called up last month and is doing very well indeed) went #2.
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Ah, yeah it was Ackley who was the #2 pick in that draft, he's also a pretty good player.

Says a lot about scouting I guess that the #2 prospect in baseball fell all the way to the 25th pick. Tough job, might as well go the moneyball route in scouting.
 
Herman
Interesting in The Extra 2% however is how the Rays found that defense was undervalued in the current market similar to the A's and OBP in years past. Ben Zobrist is basically like the best player ever for the value in sabermetric terms. Also, they raped Longoria on that contract although in TB's defense, he got all of that guaranteed money after 6 games as a pro.

Reading about sabermetrics makes it that much easier to root for the small market Rays against the Yanks and Red Sox.
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we thought the defense shit was the way to go and the untapped inefficient market to exploit

that didn't work out so well for the rays last year though...

Frank. Gut. is great and all, but baseball has ALOT of moving parts
 
Archie
we thought the defense shit was the way to go and the untapped inefficient market to exploit

that didn't work out so well for the rays last year though...

Frank. Gut. is great and all, but baseball has ALOT of moving parts
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Of course it did, they won 96 games with around a $60 million payroll, and won the division.

Certainly you're not judging an entire season on a 5 game playoff series where they faced Cliff Lee twice?

Even the worst team in the MLB could beat the best team in a 5 game series something like 30% of the time.
 
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