November 22, 2009
Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. Most Recent Comments
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Friday, August 21, 2009Should Giants extend Bengie Molina?Bengie Molina today said that he is hoping for a two-year extension from the San Francisco Giants. Of course, the problem is that the Giants have top catching prospect Buster Posey waiting for his shot in the minor leagues. Click for more... How Darren O’Day got awayI know it's easy to pick on the Mets right now, but I wanted to point out a small transaction the Mets made earlier in the year that has come back to bite them. In this year's Rule V draft, the Mets made a steal of a pick by nabbing 26 year-old submarine righty reliever Darren O'Day. Here were O'Days numbers for the Angels last season: 4.04 xFIP, 3.64 FIP, 4.57 ERA, .335 BABIP, 54.9 GB%, 127 tRA+ In terms of the Rule V draft, this was an absolute steal. The Angels thought that their bullpen had enough arms in it for 2009 (they were wrong) and decided not to protect O'Day in the draft. To be fair, O'Day tore the labrum in his shoulder in September of last year, but the team doctor said surgery wasn't necessary. Give credit to Omar Minaya, who wisely snagged O'Day and placed him on the 25-man roster to start the season after a solid spring training. O'Day had mixed results in his first three innings as a Met, giving up five hits and two unearned runs, walking a batter, striking out two, hitting another, and surrendering a walk-off hit. However, let's be blunt: it was three innings of work. That tells you pretty much nothing about a pitcher, but apparently the Mets had seen enough. Nelson Figueroa needed to make a spot start, so the Mets designated O'Day for assignment, and the Rangers claimed him. How has O'Day done so far in Texas? Unsurprisingly, very well. Here are his 2009 numbers to date: 4.15 xFIP, 3.35 FIP, 1.98 ERA, .233 BABIP, 40.3 GB%, 132 tRA+ Ouch, babe. Those numbers have added to .9 WAR on the year for O'Day. .9 WAR for a reliever is pretty darn high. The Mets $39 million dollar closer, K-Rod, currently has a worse FIP, tRA, and ERA than O'Day, amounting to just .2(!) WAR. I know it seems outlandish, but imagine the money the Mets could've saved by just going to a closer-by-committee (or picking O'Day) and not signing Rodriguez. Again, it seems silly, but there's little question that it would've been the right choice looking back. The other amazing part of this story is that the Mets decided to get rid of O'Day just to make room for a spot starter in Figueroa (whom would ironically eventually be designated for assignment himself). Just for fun, here are guys who have taken up one of those coveted 25-man roster spots for the Amazins this season: Robinson Cancel Casey Fossum Jon Switzer Andy Green Elmer Dessens Emil Brown Ramon Martinez Angel Berroa How about that? Also, all the pitchers mentioned saw more time as a Met than O'Day, but apparently three innings was all the Mets needed. Granted, not all those guys were on the roster when the Mets made their decision, but the Mets could've sent down one of their guys who had options, cut Mr. -.6 WAR Jeremy Reed, or placed Mike Pelfrey, whom Figueroa was making a spot start for, on the DL (apparently the Mets valued one start of Pelfrey over keeping Darren O'Day in the organization, which is absurd). Anyway you cut it, it was a bad choice, and the Mets are certainly paying for it now. Measuring catcher defenseHere is a thoughtful read by Brian Joseph of Baseball Digest Daily. Brian's top 5 among full-timers: Yadier Molina, Ryan Hanigan, Gerald Laird, Omir Santos, and Ramon Hernandez. His bottom 5: Jason Varitek, Josh Bard, Nick Hundley, Jorge Posada, and (last) Mike Napoli. Longest franchise droughts without a 200-hit performanceA couple minutes ago I just posted a THT Live blog thingee on the last player on each team to get 200 hits in a season. Last place was - by far - the Cincinnati Reds. They've completed 31 straight seasons without such a deed. No other teams has gone longer than 17 such seasons. That brings up the question (related to another THT Live blog post tonight: longest franchise droughts without a 20-win season - I've been busy tonight): what is the longest stretch any team has gone without a 200-hit performance? Was it the 1978-2008 Reds? Well, no. Here are the actual "top" ten stretches, since 1887. (I start in 1887 because that was the first year anyone tallied 200 hits in a campaign): 64 years: 1938-2001 A's 43 years: 1955-1997 White Sox 36 years: 1962-1997 Astros 34 years: 1962-1995 Mets 32 years: 1954-1985 Indians 31 years: 1978-2008 Reds 31 years: 1949-1979 Browns/Orioles 30 years: 1971-2000 Giants 29 years: 1971-1999 Angels 29 years: 1948-1976 Red Sox Well .. . looks like the A's win it easily! Talk about your unbreakable records! In 1937, Wally Moses bopped 208 hits. In 2002, Miguel Tejada achieved the franchise's only 200-hit performance in the 70+ years since, with 204 in Oakland. Not only has the franchise lacked any other such performances in that time, but they didn't even come close otherwise. Their closest call in the 64-year drought was 64 by Jerry Lumpe in 1962. Vic Power hit 190 in 1955. That's it. Since Tejeda's big season, the closest anyone's come was Mark Kotsay's 190. To be clear, from 1938-2001, MLB witnessed 205 separate 200-hit performances and 318 occassions when someone got at least 194. You'd think the A's would manage at least one of them. I should note if it wasn't for Albert Belle, the White Sox would at least be threatening to threaten the A's record. His 1998 offensive barrage on Chicago's South Side is that franchise's sole 200-hit performacne in the last 54 years. He got exactly 200 hits that year, and it was his only 200-hit season. Last 200-hit performance for all franchisesThis is similar to what I did for 20-win pitchers yesterday: a list of the last time a player on any team collected 200 hits in a season. First, some fun questions: before checking the list can you guess: - The only team who has never had a 200-hit performance by anyone on its roster? - Aside from the one never-done team, all other clubs have had at least one 200-hit season since 1990. The other hasn't had one since the 1970s. Who is that? - Three players can claim to be the last 200-hitter for two different franchises. Who are they? Results below, broken up into fives for convenience sake. As is usual in these lists, the more interesting parts are the ones further down: 2008 SEA Ichiro! Suzuki 2008 NYM Jose Reyes 2008 BOX Dustin Pedroia 2007 COL Matt Holliday 2007 NYY Derek Jeter 2007 DET Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco 2007 FLO Hanley Ramirez 2007 PHI Jimmy Rollins 2007 TEX Michael Young 2006 CHC Juan Pierre 2006 PIT Freddy Sanchez 2006 ANA Vladimir Guerrero 2006 BAL Miguel Tejada 2004 SDP Matt Loretta 2004 LAD Adrian Beltre 2003 STL Albert Pujols 2003 TOR Vernon Wells 2002 MON Vladimir Guerrero 2002 OAK Miguel Tejada 2001 SFG Rich Aurilla 2000 KCR Johnny Damon 1999 ARZ Luis Gonzalez 1998 CWS Albert Belle 1998 HOU Craig Biggio 1996 ATL Marquis Grissom 1996 CLE Kenny Lofton 1996 MIN Paul Molitor 1991 MIL Paul Molitor 1977 CIN Pete Rose NEVER: TBR The three who appear twice are Vladimir Guerrero, Miguel Tejada, and Paul Molitor. The last one is the best one because both appearances on the list predate dang near all other squads. Wanna win a bar bet somewhere: Ask who was the last White Sox to get 200 hits in a seasons. I doubt many will think Albert Belle. Craig Biggio's 1998 season is the only time any Astro has ever collected that many hits in a season. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||