Loading ...« A Response to Someone Mike Silva Quoted | Main | Regression Candidates »
Friday Links and AFL Report
By Capitol Avenue Club | November 13, 2009
- Starting off with hot stove, you probably already know that the Braves announced Thursday that they’ve signed Tim Hudson to a 3-year extension with a club option for 2013. David O’Brien was the first with the official terms: “Hudson deal is three year, $28 mill – $9 mill each of the next three seasons, with a $9 mill team option and $1 mill buyout”. I like Bowman’s article a lot because he basically says, “Wren could’ve been lazy and let Hudson walk, getting nothing for him, but, instead, he’s going to do his job and tackle the difficult situation making his club better now and in the future in the process”.
- Continuing, David O’Brien has a load of rumors to digest, many of which are analyzed by Matthew Pouliot of NBC Sports, including an interesting one involving acquiring Dan Uggla to play left field. I covered this some in Thursday’s article.
- Pouliot also previews the 1B/DH Free Agent market and you probably won’t like it too much.
- The Braves have hired Dave Wallace and Garey Ingram to fill organizational positions. The former will serve as the new minor-league pitching coordinator. The latter will become the hitting coach for the Class AA Mississippi Braves. In all likelihood, his first project will be getting Cody Johnson to cut down on his strikeouts.
- I almost forgot about this, but McCann won the silver slugger. It’d be a bigger story if he hadn’t won it. If you click on the first video in the story, at one point the Mets announcers say, “The Braves have REALLY hit some BOMBS in this series….and..that was another one”.
- People always bitch up a storm at the gold glove selections. I usually refrain. I don’t care. It’s a gold glove. They’re nothing to me, they’re not an indicator of true talent, and instead of passionately disputing the selections, I prefer to sit back and make a few jokes about how this guy getting a gold glove is probably going to get him an extra $2 million on the next contract he signs with a team run by an incompetent GM. But Tim Marchman puts it in perfect perspective. Reason two I refrain: people like Tim Marchman do it much better than I could.
- By the way, no Atlanta Braves won (or deserved to win) a gold glove. Kotchman probably would’ve deserved one had he stayed in the NL all season, but having a player on your team win a gold glove and $4 will get you some ice cream.
- Joe Veno appears to be blogging again, which is always a plus. Visit Statistician Magician (previously linked and on the right sidebar) for more subtle insights than you’ve ever bargained for.
- Sabermetrics is now in the Dictionary. (H/T Beyond the Box Score)
- Speaking of Beyond the Box Score, a fanpost over there provides a new xBABIP calculator and formula. I’m not sure regression is the best way to calculate xBABIP, though. When we have reliable hitF/X, we’ll be able to determine a formula that gives us an actual answer, not a decent estimate within the confines of a model. Might even tell us we’ve been thinking about this all wrong.
- How many championships has Mariano Rivera been worth? If this is a question that has been plaguing you lately and you beg for a thorough explanation and a complete, correct answer (or, if you just want to read something that will make your head hurt slightly less than most things you’ll read at Crashburn Alley or Amazin’ Avenue) this four-part series (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV) is for you! (H/T: Mike F) By the way, I have only recently discovered Crashburn Alley, and man, I love that site. I’ve always loved Amazin’ Avenue, top notch Mets Blog, extremely humorous. And of course I read Kevin McGuire’s Macho Row and Dave Doyle’s Mets Report (both of whom I’ve collaborated with in the past). I don’t have a Nationals or Marlins blog I read, though, so if anyone knows of a good one, let me know.
- My blogging since the last Links segment:
AFL Report
Not much action since the last AFL post, but some nonetheless. Brandon Hicks and Lee Hyde are the only players to appear in multiple games since the last AFL post. Brandon Hicks has gone 3-11 with a double, a homer (his first of the AFL season), a walk, and a strikeout over three games. The other surviving position player, Freddie Freeman, has played only once and went 0-3 with two strikeouts.
Mike Minor has made only one start, lasting only 2 and 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, a walk, and a wild pitch while recording only 1 strikeout. Lee Hyde had a pretty good week, pitching 2.0 innings in 2 appearances, allowing 1 run on 1 hit (interestingly, it was a double not a homer, errors were probably involved) and recording 2 strikeouts while walking none. Jeff Lyman pitched 1 inning and walked one but gave up nothing else. Craig Kimbrel had one of those outings, where he faced 5 batters, struck out 1 and walked 4. All four of them eventually scored.
Topics: Atlanta Braves | 10 Comments »
November 13th, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Thanks for these posts. I’ve been out of town all week, and now I feel caught up.
The key to the Hudson deal rests on what Wren can get for another SP in trade. It’s a great contract in isolation, but $9M is a lot for a team with a limited budget to spend on a position where it has depth and when it has holes in 2 other positions. That’s money that could be used on a Mike Cameron or Nick Johnson.
My dream would be to flip Lowe for Milton Bradley and sign Beltre (after sitting down and having a heart-to-heart with Chipper and asking him to move to 1B not because he can’t cut it at 3B anymore, but because Beltre is the best bargain for a RH hitter and the optimal lineup would have him at 3B).
I would take Uggla only if he did not cost me much.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:55 PM
What would you think about the Braves signing the desecrated corpse of Jason Giambi to a 1 year deal for 4-800K as a PH and 1B sub?
Also Rany on the Royals came back and wrote about their off-season acquisitions.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:08 PM
I saw the Rany piece. It was good. Though I don’t see how you could possibly believe that the trade will ever turn out unfavorable for the Royals. I also find it odd that Rany would call Joe Sheehan “[...] [one of] the most capable analysts I know”.
I like the Giambi idea. The Braves spent $800,000 on Greg Norton last year. Giambi will almost certainly be more useful than he was. If Bobby insists on having someone with pinch-hitting experience, Giambi’s probably the best you’re going to get.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:46 AM
the question is WILL the Big G bring along his famous golden thong to the clubhouse…
November 14th, 2009 at 3:40 AM
What makes you say Joe Sheehan isn’t a good analyst? I ask because I don’t know a whole lot about him.
And Giambino can bring his thong I guess. Hell we had Jeffy and his turkey underwear last year.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:45 AM
Sheehan constantly makes definitive, declarative statements that are indisputably wrong.
November 14th, 2009 at 3:50 AM
Him and Will Carroll’s hate of stats and Clay Davenport’s refusal to respond to my questions/criticism are the three main reasons I won’t be renewing my BPro subscription. People often mistakenly think that BPro is a legitimate place to get top-quality analysis, which is simply wrong.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:58 AM
I like Sheehan (yes, he’s wrong often, but I think he’s a standup guy and I cut him some slack for his daily columns that aren’t supposed to be research pieces), but KG doesn’t like stats, either. I let my subscription lapse after last season.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:34 PM
KG is probably the one I’ll miss the most. I like his perspective on prospects more than anyone at BA, honestly.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Thanks for the link, Peter. I still don’t know how often I will be posting however…