Monday, June 13, 2011

SweetSpot Roundup 6/13

Baseballin’ on a Budget (Athletics): What’s Bob Melvin’s wOBA?
If I were to write a piece on the firing of Bob Geren, mine would look a lot like this one. Also, bonus points to the person who can find the sentence in this post that perfectly describes why I hate Fredi Gonzalez.

Ghostrunner on First (Blue Jays): John Farrell’s New High-Leverage Toy
I almost forgot Casey Janssen existed, but I’m glad to see a guy who was demoted earlier in the season doing well.

Capitol Avenue Club (Braves): Jonny Freakin’ Venters
I have nothing else to add.

Disciples of Uecker (Brewers): Carlos Gomez’s Fantastic Defense
Carlos Gomez has never really hit, but it’s plays like this that show why he needs to be on a major-league roster in some capacity.

Snakes on Jefferson (D-Backs): MLB Draft Results and Grade
Coming into the season, I thought the one thing the Diamondbacks really needed was pitching, and the Diamondbacks did an awesome job of getting some in the 2011 Draft.

“How does this happen?” If someone could answer that question, they would make a lot of money.


I agree--Bill Hall isn’t really a solution.

It’s Pronounced “Lajaway” (Indians): What It Feels to Be Young Again …
“Were the first two months simply a mirage and are the Indians returning to the reality many experts predicted for them this season?” On a storybook note, I hope it wasn’t a mirage. On an analytical note, it probably was.

Putting Thoreau and baseball in the same post is a great way to get me to read it. On a post-related note, I don’t like the Super Two thing either, but there are going to service time shenanigans as long as service time still exists. It’s just the name that will be different.

I don’t think we will ever know what “all of the facts” are, which is one of the most frustrating parts of being a fan.

Nationals Baseball: Ian Desmond Is Frozen in Place
I love a lot of things the Nationals are doing, which is distressing as a Braves fan, but I have no idea why Ian Desmond is still their shortstop. This makes as much sense as any.

Camden Depot (Orioles): The Science of Baseball
Weights on bats don’t help, sprinters don’t like baseball turns, and prospects don’t really help attendance unless they’re a very top prospect. None of that is probably news, but it helps to see it backed up by evidence.

Ducksnorts (Padres): Blog Turns Ten
Geoff Young has been doing this for ten years, and that deserves a hearty congratulations. And he’s absolutely right--readers are why we do this, so thank you.

Crashburn Alley (Phillies): Phillies Just Aren’t Clutch!
Bill, because he’s amazing, is just being facetious here, but I would never have guessed the Phillies were so bad late in the game.

Baseball Time in Arlington (Rangers): Cy Ogando
“How amazing would it be to see Tommy Hunter's groin muscle lead to the emergence of a legitimate Cy Young candidate and one of the single greatest seasons by a Rangers starting pitcher ever?” I love baseball.

The Ray Area: Villains = Gimmicks
I agree--just let Bryce Harper play. Let’s not make this stuff into more than it is.

In the midst of a nice article on Kyle Weiland, my favorite quote--“’First, to go to Notre Dame, you have to be an intelligent person,’ said Sauveur. ‘And not all baseball people are intelligent, obviously.’” Sauveur has obviously met Fredi Gonzalez.

Why yes, the .342/.402/.739 line for May belongs to Jay Bruce.

Blake Street Bulletin (Rockies): Getting Rid of the Humidor Is an Absurd Notion
Why yes, yes it is.

Royals Authority: Moustakas Time
Why yes, I am also excited by the young man’s promotion and slightly worried about some of the externalities.

Daily Fungo (Tigers): Glenn Wilson
I like learning about new players and baseball history.

It Is About the Money, Stupid (Yankees): Hitting Aces
Larry does a little digging into how the Yankees have done against aces, and not surprisingly, the aces hurt the Yankees’ offense a little while the Yankees hurt the aces’ ERAs a little. Again, this isn’t news, but it’s good to see it backed up by evidence.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll go with "Inconsistent playing time and inconsistent lineups frustrated the hitters" or "He may have passively been costing this team wins, but I’d rather have a passive dumb manager than an active dumb manager" regarding Fredi Gonzalez.

Mark Smith said...

It was the latter. Well done.