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September 22, 2011

Offenses dramatically impacting NL Wild Card race

On Sept. 1, the Braves led the Cardinals by eight and a half games (nine in the loss column) and the Giants by nine and a half (10 in the loss column). Exactly three weeks later, that lead has decreased to one and a half games over St. Louis (one in the loss column) and three and a half over San Francisco (three in the loss column).

Pitching is obviously a large factor: The Giants' 2.69 team ERA (first in the NL) and the Cardinals' 3.18 ERA (sixth in the NL) are much better than the Braves' 4.16 team ERA (12th in the league). But the stark differences in recent offensive performance have made this race far too close for Atlanta's comfort.

 September
(NL rank)	                 Slash Line	          R	    HR	        XBH	   
St. Louis Cardinals	.292 (1)/.346 (2)/.442 (2)	85 (2)	  17 (T-9)	55 (T-3)	   
San Francisco Giants	.255 (4)/.319 (8)/.452 (1)	82 (T-3)  24 (3)	52 (T-7)	   
Atlanta Braves	        .251 (6)/.320 (7)/.383 (11)	73 (12)	  18 (T-6)	49 (11)	 

Posted by: Shlomo Sprung

September 14, 2011

Tigers hitting also contributing to second half surge

If you've been paying attention to baseball over the last month, you know the Detroit Tigers are currently on an 11-game winning streak and have gradually emerged as the American League's most dangerous team going into the postseason.

A lot of that has to do with the improvement of its pitching staff. Its 4.27 ERA before the All-Star break was ranked 25th in the major leagues. Since the Midsummer Classic, the team ERA has improved to 3.73, good for eighth best in baseball. The acquisition of Doug Fister certainly has a lot to do with that.

However, the improvement of the team's offense in several statistical categories has made that half-run-per-game progression look even more dangerous and imposing.

Detroit Tigers (MLB Rank)
	                Record	Slash Line	                Runs	Strikeouts	   
Before All-Star Break	49-43	.264 (5)/.332 (5)/.415 (8)	413 (8)	667 (21)	   
Since All-Star Break	37-19	.294 (1)/.349 (3)/.450 (4)	298 (4)	370 (8)

The better slash line is obviously important for the Tigers, but the team's dramatic decrease in strikeouts has been a huge factor for the offense. If Detroit can continue to cut down on the whiffs in the playoffs against opposing staffs, Jim Leyland's club has a realistic chance to represent the Junior Circuit in the World Series.
Posted by: Shlomo Sprung

September 14, 2010

Bullpen Chart (now on the THT Reports page)

As announced earlier by Dave Studenmund, the daily Bullpen Charts have a new home.
Go find the new one (and the old ones too) on the new THT Reports page.
Posted by: Max Marchi

January 03, 2010

Projecting Felipe Lopez

Free agent second baseman Felipe Lopez is fresh off a season in which he compiled 4.6 Wins Above Replacement. The switch-hitter only qualified as a type B free agent, meaning he won't cost potential employers a draft pick (the Brewers didn't offer him arbitration anyway). Lopez will not turn 30 until May, making him a relative youngster as far as free agents are concerned.

Despite all of those factors, the market for Lopez's services has been hushed. Strange, right? Lopez's WAR total tied him with Ian Kinsler for fourth-best among second baseman. Why aren't teams with a hole at the keystone position lining up to sign this guy?

It appears that GMs are wisely betting that Lopez will experience a good deal of regression in 2010.
Click for more...

Posted by: David Golebiewski

December 01, 2008

Fixing RSS

Our RSS feeds have been challenged by the number of blogs we're now running (curse you, Calcaterra!). I think I've fixed them so that all the links and feeds work properly, but please let me know if you find a problem with any of our RSS feeds. We've now got over twelve of them -- the best feeds can be found in the bottom of the righthand column on our home page.
Posted by: Dave Studeman


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