![[Powered by Blogger]](http://buttons.blogger.com/bloggerbutton1.gif){kind=small}
Friday, November 15, 2002
Posted
8:59 AM
by Sean
One other thing about the AL MVP race. According to the official results, every one of the 28 voters had Rodriguez on their ballots, and 27 of the 28 put him in the top 4. If the thinking is that he shouldn't win because he played on a team that wasn't in contention, why put him on the ballot at all? Why is it okay for him to be, say, more valuable than Garret Anderson or Alfonso Soriano, both of whom were instrumental in their teams making the playoffs, but not Tejada? If Tejada's numbers looked like Soriano's, would the fact that the Rangers were a last place team cease to matter? The whole thing is so arbitrary. Just give it to the best player and be done with it.
One other thing about the AL MVP race. According to the official results, every one of the 28 voters had Rodriguez on their ballots, and 27 of the 28 put him in the top 4. If the thinking is that he shouldn't win because he played on a team that wasn't in contention, why put him on the ballot at all? Why is it okay for him to be, say, more valuable than Garret Anderson or Alfonso Soriano, both of whom were instrumental in their teams making the playoffs, but not Tejada? If Tejada's numbers looked like Soriano's, would the fact that the Rangers were a last place team cease to matter? The whole thing is so arbitrary. Just give it to the best player and be done with it.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Posted
3:43 PM
by Sean
To finally solve a question that came up a few weeks ago, it looks like Adam Kennedy got his 0.2 innings as a center fielder this year in this game, a 10-inning loss at Minnesota. I remember this one: the Angels blew a five run lead and used pretty much everyone on the bench. When the Twins scored the winning run, the defensive alignment was Pote pitching, Molina (replacing Fabregas) catching, Erstad (replacing Spiezio, who replaced Fullmer) at first, Spiezio (replacing Kennedy) at second, Nieves at short, Glaus at third, Anderson in left, Kennedy (replacing Erstad) in center, and Ramirez (replacing Palmeiro) in right.
To finally solve a question that came up a few weeks ago, it looks like Adam Kennedy got his 0.2 innings as a center fielder this year in this game, a 10-inning loss at Minnesota. I remember this one: the Angels blew a five run lead and used pretty much everyone on the bench. When the Twins scored the winning run, the defensive alignment was Pote pitching, Molina (replacing Fabregas) catching, Erstad (replacing Spiezio, who replaced Fullmer) at first, Spiezio (replacing Kennedy) at second, Nieves at short, Glaus at third, Anderson in left, Kennedy (replacing Erstad) in center, and Ramirez (replacing Palmeiro) in right.
Posted
3:26 PM
by Sean
The ESPN list of top 50 free agents includes nary an Angel. Every one of the everyday guys is coming back. I think the only three free agents are Dennis Cook, who will probably retire, Orlando Palmeiro, and Alex Ochoa. Palmeiro and Ochoa were both valuable off the bench this year, and we'll need them or guys like them, but overall the 2003 lineup will look a lot like 2002. Even the platoons - Kennedy/Gil and Fullmer/Wooten - will remain intact, barring off-season injuries.
On the pitching side, the Angels will almost certainly try to snag some left-handed relief, since Scott Shoeneweis is their only lefty in the bullpen, and he's not happy about relieving in the first place. There are some pretty scary candidates out there (I'm looking at you, Graeme Lloyd), but Mike Stanton, Felix Heredia, and Mike Remlinger are all available. They'll all be multi-million per year guys, though, and I have no idea what management's philosophy on taking on additional payroll will be. Considering that Disney is still trying to sell the team, it's probably unlikely.
The ESPN list of top 50 free agents includes nary an Angel. Every one of the everyday guys is coming back. I think the only three free agents are Dennis Cook, who will probably retire, Orlando Palmeiro, and Alex Ochoa. Palmeiro and Ochoa were both valuable off the bench this year, and we'll need them or guys like them, but overall the 2003 lineup will look a lot like 2002. Even the platoons - Kennedy/Gil and Fullmer/Wooten - will remain intact, barring off-season injuries.
On the pitching side, the Angels will almost certainly try to snag some left-handed relief, since Scott Shoeneweis is their only lefty in the bullpen, and he's not happy about relieving in the first place. There are some pretty scary candidates out there (I'm looking at you, Graeme Lloyd), but Mike Stanton, Felix Heredia, and Mike Remlinger are all available. They'll all be multi-million per year guys, though, and I have no idea what management's philosophy on taking on additional payroll will be. Considering that Disney is still trying to sell the team, it's probably unlikely.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Posted
1:52 PM
by Sean
AL Gold Gloves announced. The Angels had two: Bengie Molina at catcher and Darin Erstad in the outfield. Erstad is a no-brainer, now that he's gotten some media exposure, but I'm surprised that Molina beat out Ivan Rodriguez, simply because Rodriguez is so much better known. Not that Molina doesn't deserve it - he's been far and away the best defensive catcher in the AL this year - but I suspect that the recent media knock on Rodriguez as being past his prime and injury prone had a lot to do with this.
I haven't seen any vote totals, but I'd be interested to see where Spiezio ended up. His defense at first this year saved the Angels pretty often; one of the reasons they were able to get away with having Eckstein's weak arm at short was Spiezio's skill receiving the ball at first. He also made some amazing plays on line drives that would have gotten past a lot of other guys. Looking at the statistics, Spiezio had a better fielding percentage, range factor, and zone rating than did Olerud, but Olerud played more innings. Plus, when was the last time you heard someone talk about range factor or zone rating? Even ESPN has the range factors screwed up - either all the decimals are in the wrong place or the formula is missing a factor.
AL Gold Gloves announced. The Angels had two: Bengie Molina at catcher and Darin Erstad in the outfield. Erstad is a no-brainer, now that he's gotten some media exposure, but I'm surprised that Molina beat out Ivan Rodriguez, simply because Rodriguez is so much better known. Not that Molina doesn't deserve it - he's been far and away the best defensive catcher in the AL this year - but I suspect that the recent media knock on Rodriguez as being past his prime and injury prone had a lot to do with this.
I haven't seen any vote totals, but I'd be interested to see where Spiezio ended up. His defense at first this year saved the Angels pretty often; one of the reasons they were able to get away with having Eckstein's weak arm at short was Spiezio's skill receiving the ball at first. He also made some amazing plays on line drives that would have gotten past a lot of other guys. Looking at the statistics, Spiezio had a better fielding percentage, range factor, and zone rating than did Olerud, but Olerud played more innings. Plus, when was the last time you heard someone talk about range factor or zone rating? Even ESPN has the range factors screwed up - either all the decimals are in the wrong place or the formula is missing a factor.
Posted
1:35 PM
by Sean
Felipe Alou to manage the San Francisco Giants. Kind of a shock - I hadn't heard his name mentioned at all. Then again, I haven't been keeping much of an ear to the ground about this. The total of my thoughts on the Giants' managerial opening has been "Dusty Baker is going to manage the Cubs? To atone for what?"
Felipe Alou to manage the San Francisco Giants. Kind of a shock - I hadn't heard his name mentioned at all. Then again, I haven't been keeping much of an ear to the ground about this. The total of my thoughts on the Giants' managerial opening has been "Dusty Baker is going to manage the Cubs? To atone for what?"
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Posted
2:27 PM
by Sean
Last of the awards: Tejada beats out A-Rod. The Dallas Morning News's Evan Grant voted for Tejada, and explains why. Now, I'm not saying he doesn't have good reasons, but it's a wee bit disingenuous of him to quote the first two sentences of the ballot as evidence of the award's lack of guidelines, but leave out the portion that defines "actual value of a player to his team" as "strength of offense and defense."
I forgot who originally suggested it, but I once read an article arguing in favor of an Academy Awards-style presentation of the BBWAA hardware. As long as you're going to give these awards, you might as well go all the way and actually inject some drama into them. It'd also be a great opportunity to recap the season, honor Hall of Famers who've passed away, and just generally promote the sport. So look for it to happen around the same time Barry Bonds buys ice cream sundaes for everyone in the press corps.
Anyway, today is the first day free agents can negotiate and sign with teams. Jim Thome is expected to go to the Phillies or re-up with the Indians fairly quickly. Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are the other big names out there, but they'll both probably take a while to make up their minds.
Last of the awards: Tejada beats out A-Rod. The Dallas Morning News's Evan Grant voted for Tejada, and explains why. Now, I'm not saying he doesn't have good reasons, but it's a wee bit disingenuous of him to quote the first two sentences of the ballot as evidence of the award's lack of guidelines, but leave out the portion that defines "actual value of a player to his team" as "strength of offense and defense."
I forgot who originally suggested it, but I once read an article arguing in favor of an Academy Awards-style presentation of the BBWAA hardware. As long as you're going to give these awards, you might as well go all the way and actually inject some drama into them. It'd also be a great opportunity to recap the season, honor Hall of Famers who've passed away, and just generally promote the sport. So look for it to happen around the same time Barry Bonds buys ice cream sundaes for everyone in the press corps.
Anyway, today is the first day free agents can negotiate and sign with teams. Jim Thome is expected to go to the Phillies or re-up with the Indians fairly quickly. Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are the other big names out there, but they'll both probably take a while to make up their minds.
Monday, November 11, 2002
Posted
3:01 PM
by Sean
Interesting tidbit from this Jim Caple story at ESPN: if you turned all of Bonds's hits into strikeouts (or any kind of outs for that matter), his on-base percentage would still be higher than Alfonso Soriano's.
Interesting tidbit from this Jim Caple story at ESPN: if you turned all of Bonds's hits into strikeouts (or any kind of outs for that matter), his on-base percentage would still be higher than Alfonso Soriano's.