Frayed Knot

Kind of weird, they leave their LHP in to face d'Arnaud w/1 out, but then go to the RHP to get Tejada

Ashie62 wrote: I am still promoting a larger role for Abreu... He can flat out get on base... He always has, just shy of 40% of the time during a very lengthy career. And now he adds an SB to the equation.

As mentioned in the other thread, it's not Jeter, it's the Jeterites.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Bases-empty pinch-hitting is, like, the fifth- or sixth-best way to use a den Dekker as a substitute, behind defensive sub, pinch-running, home-run-or-bust pinch-hitting, hair model, and Dutch proxy groom. Not sure I want to know what a 'Dutch Proxy Groom' does. But in the meantime, we're now on our 4th pitcher with at least 8 more (now seven) outs still to get and have used both OF subs.

Not sure I liked MdD PH-ing there. Already gone through two pitchers in just five innings and it's not like we're behind nor is it all that late in the game. I would have had DiceK swing there and hope for something good.

Ah yes, the always popular [u:10zsl70h]Isolated Sucking Average[/u:10zsl70h] Lineup Time Juan Lagares, cf Daniel Murphy, 2b David Wright, 3b Curtis Granderson, rf Bobby Abreu, lf Lucas Duda, 1b Travis d'Arnaud, c Ruben Tejada, ss Rafael Montero, rhp Looks like Abreu & Cy Oung is the platoon de la week Ben Revere, cf Jimmy Rollins, ss Chase Utley, 2b Ryan Howard, 1b Marlon Byrd, rf Carlos Ruiz, c Domonic Brown, lf Reid Brignac, 3b A.J. Burnett, rhp

Last night's win put a game between us and the Phils Tonight is about increasing that gap plus leapfrogging the Nats who sit 1/2 game ahead at the moment and are hosting the Rangers (the baseball team not Lundquist and those guys) this weekend.

"Jeter IS the best, just check out his stats!!!!" Centerfield wrote: Reilly is right about one thing. He really was a magician. He has convinced fans and media that he was arguably one of the game's best players despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. (Since Jeter entered the league, Bonds was the WAR leader 5 times, ARod 4 times, Pujols has done it 3 times. Jeter has led the league in WAR once. As has Jon Valentin. Bonds, Pujols and ARod have littered the top ten on a yearly basis. Other than Jeter's league leading 1999, he's only cracked the top 10 one other time. The two appearances are fewer than Chuck Knoblauch). So yes, if Jeter was really the best player in baseball for 10 years, he managed to do this while fooling every statistic in baseball. "Jeter's greatness isn't about stats!!"

Please draft a college bat... I agree ... unless they see something else they like better then draft that guy instead. On the other hand, BA thinks you might get your wish as their current 'Mock' sez: 10. METS: The Mets have been tight-lipped, but the teams around them believe they remain oriented on a bat, with [NC State SS Trea] Turner a top target. That�s even though New York has drafted a hitter in the first round five times in six selections since 2008. Pacific Northwest scout Jim Reeves signed one of them already [Nimmo], and he could get another this year. Oregon State outfielder Michael Conforto was our Mets pick in the first two mock drafts, and we�re going back to him here. Projected Pick: OF Michael Conforto

I rarely get bent out of shape over how low raid-trips are or aren't, it still all evens out in the end. As far as this particular stretch goes, there's no telling how far they can take it once this five-game sweep is in the bag.

btw, how would one [u:3s2ljkwy]alphabetize[/u:3s2ljkwy] these guys? Is d'Arnaud treated strictly as starting with DAR which would put him before deGrom at DEG who slots in prior to den Dekker at DEN, or do the various apostrophes, spaces, and non spaces used here somehow throw an editorial wrench into the works.

Wheeler - 4.0 Rice - 0.2 Black - 0.8 Mejia - 0.6 CYoung - 2.4 Lagares - 1.0 Duda - 1.0

Matsuzaka - 3.5 Torres - 0.4 Mejia - 0.6 Murphy - 1.5 Recker - 2.0 Abreu - 1.0 Tejada - 1.0

Montero - 3.5 Familia - 0.5 Wright - 1.5 Murphy - 1.0 Centeno - 1.0 Tejada - 0.5 Lagares - 0.5

Wheeler - 2.0 Torres - 0.8 Edgin - 0.2 Valverde - 0.1 Wright - 2.3 Granderson - 1.4 Murphy - 0.5

Bit of an odd game so far. We've left a bunch of runs out on the bases, but looked at another way we've been handed several of the runs we do have.

Philly reliever Justin De Fratus doesn't use the lower-case 'd' to spell his name so he can't play for our team.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Really solid track record of late with that 10th... a reflection of better scouting, safer strategy, or just random noise? I asked the staff of BA during an on-line Q&A about a year ago whether MLB teams were getting better at drafting due to better info, better scouting, or just plain experience through trial and error. Their answer was that they tended to believe things had gotten at least marginally better but at the same time admitted that it was a tough thing to prove. In this case, with such a small sample and a random limit of just #10 overall picks, any trend is probably just noise.

10th Overall picks through the years 1994 - Jaret Wright (Indians) 1995 - Chad Hermansen (Pirates) 1996 - Eric Chavez (Oakland) 1997 - Jon Garland (Cubs) 1998 - Carlos Pena (Rangers) 1999 - Ben Sheets (Brewers) 2000 - Joe Torres (Angels) 2001 - Chris Burke (Astros) 2002 - Drew Meyer (Rangers) 2003 - Ian Stewart (Rockies) 2004 - Thomas Diamond (Rangers) 2005 - Cameron Maybin (Tigers) 2006 - Tim Lincecum (Giants) 2007 - Madison Bumgarner 2008 - Jason Castro (Astros) 2009 - Drew Storen (Nationals) 2010 - Michael Choice (A's) Some pretty good players here along with some more marginal ones and others still a work in progress. Eric Chavez is the career WAR leader (37.4) followed by Lincecum, Pena, Sheets & Garland. Two nice back-to-backs by the Giants there with two CYs out of Lincecum and now Bumgarner taking over as Timmy stumbles Only Joe Torres (LHP) never reached the majors although was still plugging away in Independent Leagues as of last year at age 30 Going back even further we find: Carl Everett - Yanx, 1990 Charles Johnson - Expos, 1989 Robin Ventura - White Sox, 1988 Mark McGwire - A;s, 1984 Tim Wallach - Expos, 1979 Ted Simmons - Cardinals, 1967

Didn't a batter stepping out after every pitch to re-adjust the strap on the batting gloves start with the MFYs. (Mattingly?) I don't recall seeing any other players doing it before that. Mike Hargrove--Cleveland, Texas--got tagged with the handle 'Human Rain Delay' for all of his between-pitch tics and routines. I'm sure there were others who did so previously. The problem is that this has become similar to what 300 pounders are to the NFL: what was once a one-per-team novelty has turned so commonplace that you only notice the ones who aren't doing it. I can accept that a player wants to have his little settling in routine as he steps up to the plate. But if he's doing that dance between pitches as well, then too bad for him. He should have to learn a shorter routine. Maybe after the pitch, touch the bat to the ground, take a deep breath, and then resume the stance. Yeah, it's starts as a routine for many players but winds up being a crutch. Danny Espinosa, the Nats infielder cited in the Verducci piece as being one of the worst offenders and of defending his antics as necessary to his preparation, might need someone to point out to him that this stuff might not be as indispensable as he thinks judging by his .183/.213/.325 track record over the 2013-14 span.

The most common names I've seen connected to the Mets to date have been the OF Conforto or LHP Newcomb (especially Newcombe) -- although a lot of this type of speculation turns on stuff like; 'well the Mets have taken three straight HS position players so I think they'll go college pitcher this time'

12 of the 15 games from Wednesday were over 3 hours with 7 of those 12 clocking in at 3:20 or greater (all games regulation except for one which went 10 innings) despite only one of the 30 teams reaching double-digits in runs. Disgrace GotD: Texas 1 - Minnesota 0 3 hours, 12 Minutes for a total of 1 Run, 14 Hits, 4 BBs, 15 Ks Honorable Mentions: Toronto 3 - Tampa 2 (a walk-off win so only 51 outs were recorded) -- 3:23 Cincy 3 - Dodgers 2 (3:08) 13 hits, 3 walks total

Colon - 4.6 Familia - 1.0 Wright - 2.2 Duda - 2.2

Ashie62 wrote: How about letting the players coaches and managers select the all star team? - they already have a partial say, at least as far as AS reserves goes - managers have near total control over the pitcher selections and every year there's at least as much complaining about those choices as there is about the starting eight elected by the fans - the Gold Gloves are the one post-season awards selected, not by the writers, but by the managers & coaches and those are almost without exception, the worst choices

A Baseball Prospectus article (pre-dating the Verducci one) tackles the problems in trying to enforce the existing rules about slow play from both batters & pitchers. The Verducci article seems to be getting some traction at least. It could just be temporary, but now that the topic is out hopefully enough others will feel comfortable bringing it up so this doesn't just kept swept under the rug with vague promises of 'we're working on it'.