batmagadanleadoff

Unless you kill the head, every other firing will eventually regenerate into the same old shit.

Harrelson Torborg Green Valentine Howe Randolph Manuel That run of managerial picks is too fugly to instill any confidence in the prospective manager that will replace Jerry. Bobby V. is such an outlier that the Mets probably blundered into hiring him. What's more telling, to me anyway, is the intolerable atmosphere of treachery and distrust that Valentine had to manage within, and that he was fired practically seconds after Wilpon acquired full ownership of the team. I suspect that the Wilpons are awful intermeddlers who are discrete enough to keep their bullshit out of the press. I know that there have been reports in the press about very successful GM's, albeit anonymously and through unnamed sources, who wouldn't consider working for the Mets under this ownership, and wonder if the same applies to managers.

I predict that Carter singles after Frenchy singles.

I predict that Frenchy gets a hit. He is due.

Angel Pagan must be playing centerfield like Willie Mays and Curt Flood combined because he's leading the NL in WAR (non-pitchers):

"I predict that in the future, Frenchy will get another at bat".

Nice at bat, Frenchy.

And Francoeur leads off the inning by swinging at three pitches outside of the strike zone before finally fouling out. I like this plan to include Frenchy in the starting lineup when it seems that the Mets' backs are against the wall. It's the ....

This is all good. Because another inning like this one and it'll be Ollie time. And then the Wilpons can justify why they're carrying the useless pitcher.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: The stat I'd really like to see ... the stat I've been yearning for for years ... is the stat that measures, for each batter, the average speed of his batted balls, and how much time it takes the batted ball to arrive at its destination. I think that this is the most important stat in determining a batter's efficacy. If I could only have one stat by which to gauge a batter's worth, this is the one I'd want. I'd prefer this stat over OBP, HR's ... anything. Because the faster it gets there, the less time a fielder has to field it. Obviously. You'd need to measure time, as well as speed. A ball that travels 350 feet should be an easy out if it takes 5 or 6 seconds to get there (a lot of arc on that one), while a 350 foot batted ball that gets to where it's going in 1.5 seconds is a line drive with little arc, and likelier to fall in for a hit. Of course, at some point, a ball is hit far enough that it doesn't matter how much arc it has. No fielder is going to catch a 450 foot blast no matter how long it takes the ball to travel the 450 feet. (Although issues of arc and loft might matter depending on the height of the outfield fence) So that's the stat I want. OE -- Time, Speed, Distance of Batted Balls. One other point to make about this stat: I'd guess that there is a powerfully strong positive correlation between a batter's success and the time/speed/distance of his batted balls. But a batter would be able to compensate for lower time/speed/distance measures by exerting more control over the batted balls.... in other words, by aiming or placing his hits. I've always suspected that very few batters can exert the kind of control over their batted balls that would be needed to compensate for the fact that they ain't hitting it as hard as they should be hitting it in order to be an effective hitter.

The stat I'd really like to see ... the stat I've been yearning for for years ... is the stat that measures, for each batter, the average speed of his batted balls, and how much time it takes the batted ball to arrive at its destination. I think that this is the most important stat in determining a batter's efficacy. If I could only have one stat by which to gauge a batter's worth, this is the one I'd want. I'd prefer this stat over OBP, HR's ... anything. Because the faster it gets there, the less time a fielder has to field it. Obviously. You'd need to measure time, as well as speed. A ball that travels 350 feet should be an easy out if it takes 5 or 6 seconds to get there (a lot of arc on that one), while a 350 foot batted ball that gets to where it's going in 1.5 seconds is a line drive with little arc, and likelier to fall in for a hit. Of course, at some point, a ball is hit far enough that it doesn't matter how much arc it has. No fielder is going to catch a 450 foot blast no matter how long it takes the ball to travel the 450 feet. (Although issues of arc and loft might matter depending on the height of the outfield fence) So that's the stat I want. OE -- Time, Speed, Distance of Batted Balls.

I'd like to abolish some stats. Wins and saves, for example.

My guess is that if Manuel�s fired at the end of this season, Valentine won�t replace him, even if Bobby�s available. He�s too dynamic for the Wilpons. Too opinionated. Too strong. The Wilpons�ll hire some bland manager who�ll be happy just to have the job and won�t say squat even if management sticks him with 4 Frenchy�s and 2 Ollie Perez�s.

Edgy DC wrote: Not to disagree, but a lot of value scoring systems convert runs (created of saved) into wins, which is grossly unfair to top relief pitchers, because the runs they save tend to be difference-makers. You can disagree. Disagreeing is more fun than agreeing. So was it fair to Matlack when he gave up one earned run in a 10 inning complete game outing on closing day and took the loss? http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197410020.shtml Or when he limited the division winning Pirates to two runs in eight innings in his previous start, but took the loss because the Mets scored just one? http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197409270.shtml Or a 7 inn/1 run no decision on 4/14/74? Or 8 inn/2 runs against the World Champ Dodgers featuring MVP Steve Garvey, the 25th best player in the league on 6/14/74?

That would render Garvey no better than the third best 1974 Dodger. Did we miss any other '74 Dodgers better than Garvey? (covering a copy of SI in 1974 not required) Apropos to last Fall's discussion of the wretched 1974 MVP ballot won by Steve Garvey, here are the Baseball Reference WAR ratings for the top 10 ranking 1974 Dodgers. According to the BR notes for its WAR formula, a score of 8 or higher is indicative of an MVP caliber season; a score of 5 or more is all-star quality. 1. Jimmy Wynn -------8.6 2. Andy Messersmith--6.6 3. Ron Cey ------------5.2 4. Steve Garvey-------5.1------NL MVP 5. Willie Crawford ----4.1 6. Davey Lopes ------4.0 7. Joe Ferguson -----3.9 8. Bill Buckner--------3.7 9. Bill Russell ---------3.2 10. Mike Marshall-----3.1 -----NL CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER I was reminded of this old thread while reviewing Jon Matlack�s 1974 season. Matlack�s '74 W-L record was a disappointing 13-15 mark that did not reflect his pitching excellence that season. It would be expecting too much from a mid-�70�s voting pool to look beyond Matlack�s subpar won-loss record in order to account for the awful run support that plagued Matlack all season long .... especially a voting pool with the collective mindset to award the 20th or so best player in the league with the MVP. Not surprisingly, Matlack didn�t receive a single vote in that season�s Cy Young Award balloting. He should have. Matlack might�ve been the NL�s best pitcher that season. He wasn�t any worse than third or fourth, and unquestionably superior to CY winner Mike Marshall. Here are some selected 1974 stats for Matlack: WAR---------------8.6(MVP RANGE)-----------------1st among NL pitchers ERA----------------2.41------------------------------------3RD ADJ ERA----------149-------------------------------------3RD K�s------------------195--------------------------------------4TH (TIE) SHUTOUTS------7------------------------------------------1st WHIP---------------1.12--------------------------------------3rd (The top 3 pitchers were separated by 2/100 of a point) ADJ PITCHING WINS ------3.9---------------------------2nd

I'm not upset that the Mets kept their young 'uns. I'm annoyed that the team is essentially competing one man short, so long as Ollie Perez is on the 25 man roster. And I'm pissed that Jeff Francoeur got about 300 plate appearances by the all-star break. Because full-time-Frenchy should not be part of the plan from a mega metropolis market team that charges its fans about $200 for a good seat to one of its games. Francoeur equals bullshit. What the fuck were they thinking? That Francoeur was gonna have a Hank Aaron season because the team put him on a poster in a pre-season ad campaign?

Jerry Manuel ties the game with a 2 run single!! Hooray for Jerry!! He also scored the tying run. Jerry rakes!!!!!

Dickey at 0-3. Wow. Dickey's probably one of the NL's ten best pitchers this season. Because there are 16 teams in the NL, I suppose one could refer to Dickey as an ace pitcher: At least six NL teams don't have a starting pitcher pitching as good as Dickey is. IP/WAR measures the number of innings a pitcher pitches to generate one win above replacement for his team. Here are the top dozen 2010 NL starters in IP/WAR: 1. Johnson/FLA ------------- 26.9 2. Halladay/PHI---------------33.8 3. Gallardo/MILW------------38.0 4. Jimenez/COL--------------38.38 5. Lincecum/SF---------------38.43 6. Wainwright/STL-----------39.0 (Stats don't include tonight's loss against NYM) 7. Gorzellany/CHI------------40.2 8. Wells/CHI-------------------41.1 9. Francis/COL----------------41.7 10. Kershaw/LA---------------42.2 11. Dickey/NYM---------------44.6 12. Paulino/HOU--------------45.26 . . . 18. Santana/NYM--------------50.7 Updated: 1. Johnson/FLA ----------------------27.18 2. Halladay/PHIL---------------------32.88 3. Gallardo/MILW---------------------37.60 4. Jimenez/COL-----------------------38.20 5. Francis/COL------------------------38.57 6. Lincecum/SF-----------------------40.37 7. Wainwright/StLOU-----------------40.88 8. Kershaw/LA------------------------42.15 9. Hammel/COL-----------------------42.31 10. Hanson/ATL------------------------42.74 11. Gorzellany/CHI--------------------42.33 12. Dickey/NYM -----------------------44.29 13. Wells/CHI--------------------------44.64 14. Paulino/HOU-----------------------45.26 15. Sanchez/FLA-----------------------46.05 . . . 23. Santana---------------------------52.74

There's a picture of (I think it's) Mandt in his office in an old Mets scorecard. Behind Mandt, on a shelf, are a lot of collectible Mets bobbleheads from the '60's.

seawolf17 wrote: I know in my head that this team isn't going anywhere, and making a trade just to make a trade is idiotic with this roster .... Agreed. But maybe they'd be going somewhere if the plan wasn't to stick with Jeff Fucking Francoeur for 300 plate appearances at what should be one of the most potent positions for generating offense. I guess that when the Wilpons and Minaya penciled Jason Bay in for 18 HR's by the all-star break, they decided that it would be okay to squander their right field production. Why go all out and try and field an all-solid outfield. And just in case anybody questioned the idea of playing Francoeur regularly, they'd plaster Frenchy's mug all over 3' x 6' subway posters during the pre-season. Because it's cheaper to market their right fielder as a terrific player than it is to actually go out and get a terrific right-fielder. Of course, in Frenchy's case, replacing him with an average right fielder would be like getting Ted Williams. The games in September count just as much as the ones in April do. And if you don't win in April, the games in September will be irrelevant.

Edgy DC wrote: I don't know what's the hurry to eat anything. Castillo's still their best option at second. That's the point. Sadly.