logan82

He doesn't have much trade value unless packaged with somebody else. We would have to do something like Hart and McGehee for a pitcher. I have never suggested trading McGehee unless it was with somebody else because of his low value. It only takes one bad GM to get a good player though.

No I don't understand sarcasm at all. Like I need to read more sarcastic writing about the Brewers. I get enough of that on message boards.

It makes more sense to me to use a WAR based on what a pitcher actually did. I really don't know how to properly articulate it but I don't like FIP based because two pitchers could have an equal FIP with drastically different results and, to me at least, WAR should be a result type stat. It seems to be for hitters. It isn't neutralized for for an average BABIP or defense. I know pitchers are very reliant on their defense for their results but I think FIP strips to much away.

I don't want to go into everything on pitchers sac bunting but read The Book. They have several pages just on pitchers sac bunting. I most cases pitchers shouldn't be bunting except for the very worst hitting pitchers. Whether the defense is playing for the bunt is very important. The base out states are also very important when deciding. With a runner on first and no outs for example, only below average pitchers should bunt most of the time, average hitting pitchers should bunt about half the time and good hitting pitcher should almost never bunt. The biggest reason is that if the defense is playing for a sac bunt that leaves them out of position and gives the hitter a better chance to get a hit. If there is one out all but the very worst hitting pitchers should rarely bunt no matter the base out state.

You forget they re playing in St. Louis. Nothing is an error unless a guy throws the ball into the third deck.

Garcia was safe at 2nd, of course it looked like he missed 1B.

Escobar dang near threw that one away. That was way more adventurous than need be. He had time to set and throw even. I hope he gains some consistency by the end of the year.

Looks like Central Waters has a new double IPA out. Not my taste but I thought the IPA guys might be interested. Doesn't look sessionable. I ran accross this article today on light beer. During our beer tour at New Glarus our tour guide said that light beer was just good beer with water added to it. He wasn't completely wrong but he wasn't right either. Light beer appears to be low gravity wort that would only end up around 2% ABV but has enzymes added to convert complex sugars, that yeast wouldn't be able to convert into alcohol, into simple sugars that yeast can convert into alcohol. So basically instead of a high calorie/low ABV beer you get a normal ABV beer with a normal alcohol level.

You do realize that Inglett got those before he hurt his ankle, right? He got his 3rd just last week. So yes you are right, he got 2 before hurting his ankle and one after. I don't think it's any coincidence that in 3100 plate appearances Fielder has 8 career triples (and he's more athletic than people give him credit for) and in 2400 plate appearances Weeks has 22, in 1300 PA's Gomez has 14, in 4000 PAs Zaun has 9, and in 750 PAs McGehee has one. There's a direct correlation there. There is some correlation, really slow guys rarely get them, but in most cases when there is a triple, an outfielder played the ball wrong off the wall. 14 triples isn't exactly very many either. I am not really opposed to Katin on the MLB roster I just see no reason for him to be there while we have Gerut and Edmonds and nobody has presented any compelling reasons he even deserves a spot.

Wow, just a huge turnaround from where Salome was just a year ago. Top prospect expected to contribute at the MLB level with a couple years tops to pretty much just another MiLB corner outfielder.

You don't want those things dead anywhere near your property.

If that is the case then there are a whole lot of stupid managers out there. Pretty much all of them in fact. If he's stupid then pretty much every manager is. Never said they were stupid. I said they would be better off letting their pitchers hit. Just because every manager does something absolutely does not mean it is the best way to do things. Bottom line is that you only get 27 outs and giving one up to move a runner over doesn't gain you much even in hte best case scenario. I do not think he uses it as the sole rationale unless there is nothing else to go on. In those rare instances I don't see how using limited information to base a move on is worse than using no information at all. The first problem is that the stats can be misleading if they are a limited sample size. The second and more common problem is the use of a small sample(hitter vs pitcher) instead of a much larger and more reliable sample(hitter stats for the past 2-3 previous years). If a pitcher has a bad arm slot or his pitches something looks off, fine that is what managers and coaches are there to notice. Leave the 1 for 10 comments out of it.

It also makes me wonder yet again why Melvin traded for Carlos Gomez. We needed a guy for this year but I would have preferred Gerut. Melvin's track record in free agency is a disaster. Except for that Cameron guy. He was kind of ok.

Awesome, thank you. I got the go ahead from the boss my wife and found a good place to ferment. Now comes the arduous task of coming up with about 54 empty bottles. It's gonna be tough.

You DO realize we're talking about exchanging Katin for Gerut, right? So questioning how MUCH he would contribute when Gerut has contributed nothing at all doesn't really strengthen the case for Gerut right now. Of course Gerut hasn't contributed much. He is on the DL and the manager doesn't seem to like Gerut much. Assuming both were healthy, Gerut is a better fit with the MLB club. As for Triples having more to do with bad plays by OF'ers, that's such a wildly unsubstantiated claim, I'm at a bit of a loss how to respond to it. It's certainly not like the leader board every year for triples is completely different. Curtis Granderson, Jose Reyes, Carlos Gomez, these aren't players who jsut happen to hit the ball at poor defenders. Of course you need a little speed to get a triple but more often than not it also requires a ball to bounce off the wall funny to get a triple. Carlos Gomez, arguably the fastest guy on our team, has 4 this year. Inglett a backup player with a gimpy ankle for much of the last month+ has 3. Triples are a fluky counting stat. I assume since he has only 20 SB in his MiLB career his triples are more a function of hitting the ball hard into corners and misplays by outfielders(since almost nothing is an error for an outfielder) than him being an athletic guy. In a similar number of games Gamel has almost double that. Nevermind, I looked it up and Katin has only 14 triples over his MiLB career. Not an impressive number. Not sure how you can claim he would rack up the triples.

True it is small sample(almost everything is for Jeffress because he hasn't played much) but it isn't like he wasn't walking guys at every stop as a starter. 4.6BB/9 in 2007 A ball is the lowest. 5.7BB/9 over his entire MiLB career mostly as a starter. The only time he has seen a significant drop in his BB rate is this year as a reliever. Hopefully that points to more control and he can bring that back to starting but I will have my doubts until he does. This year(yes still small sample) his K rate went up and his BB rate went down pretty significantly compared to his career so I don't think it is crazy to speculate he should stick with 2 pitches.(I am of course making the assumption that is what he is doing) Maybe he was asked to work on a third pitch and use it extensively and that contributed to his high walk totals.

If he actually used it as predictive I would agree it was stupid. I suspect Macha would agree as well. Seems to me he used it as explaining something that happened not something that is going to happen. I don't think he would. He has used pitcher vs hitter matchups in making decisions in the past. The way Macha actually used those samples was to figure out why he didn't have success that day. He was saying - I've seen him handle those guys in the past and the difference is... Just because he handled a guy in the past and he didn't this time means nothing. His pitches looking flat was much more important. Using the information at hand to explain and correct what happened is a completely normal and valuable analysis. Especially when the alternative is to wait until he has a large enough sample size against those guys before he works with Coffey on making some changes. That would be absolutely insane for any manager to do. Like I said earlier in this thread, you can't wait till hitter vs pitcher matchups have a large enough sample size to be relevant. They never will because by the time they are large enough, both the hitter and pitcher may have changed talent level several times. Hitter vs pitcher matchups are bits of trivia and bragging rights and should be otherwise ignored. If Macha didn't try to improve on that because his pitchers are good hitting pitchers I'd have a problem. As it is I think he's being proactive in trying to maximize his pitcher's contributions to the offense. Which is exactly what he's supposed to be doing. If he wanted to be proactive he would be much better off by never having his pitcher sac bunt. The only time pitchers should sac bunt is if they are brought in as a pinch hitter late in a close game. He would be better served by just letting them hit.

That is because baseball writers as a whole are idiots. RBI is a stat of chance not talent. I am 100% sure you will continue to stick to your BA/RBI/strikeout approach to evaluating players and many of us will continue to disregard your opinion when you use those stats. Not so sure people would be excited about a .800 OPS out of Gamel. Nobody was excited about his .760 OPS and only a few were really excited about his .860 OPS as a starter. What would be exciting about Gamel is his potential to hit much better. You don't have that with a 27 year old AAA career .745 OPS hitter like McGehee.

There was an article in a recent Beer Advocate about session beer. You are seeing more and more about session beers. My 2 favorites are not necessarily session beers but the alcohol isn't so strong to be overpowering that I couldn't drink a lot.(Oberon 5.8% and D-Man 7.2%) If you tasted D-Man you would be shocked to know the ABV is 7.2%. You don't taste the alcohol at all. I think in Moon Man they either left out or cut way down on the first addition of hops.

Per Beer Advocate Belgian IPA Description: Inspired by the American India Pale Ale (IPA) and Double IPA, more and more Belgian brewers are brewing hoppy pale colored ales for the US market (like Chouffe & Urthel), and there's been an increase of Belgian IPAs being brewed by American brewers. Generally, Belgian IPAs are considered too hoppy by Belgian beer drinkers. Various malts are used, but the beers of the style are finished with Belgian yeast strains (bottle-conditioned) and the hops employed tend to be American. You'll generally find a cleaner bitterness vs. American styles, and a pronounced dry edge (very Belgian), often akin to an IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel. Alcohol by volume is on the high side. Many examples are quite cloudy, and feature tight lacing, excellent retention, and fantastic billowy heads that mesmerize (thanks, in part, to the hops). Belgian IPA is still very much a style in development.

Hopefully he can go up to AA and not walk people like the last few times there. Until he does that, he isn't really much of a consideration as either a starter or reliever. 9.4BB/9 career in AA. Maybe he needs to just stick with 2 pitches and be a reliever. It sucks but it isn't like he was having a lot of success as a starter. I would prefer they try him as a starter with 2 pitches and see if he can be successful though.

Hart's defense would be a nightmare to watch in Petco. Not for us it wouldn't.

It evaporates after a set amount of time.

No, I wouldn't be thrilled with Gamel if he hit like McGehee is this year. 100 RBI is not a big deal. Even Gomez could drive in close to 100 hitting in the 5 hole. Hart drove in 91 in 2008 with a rather crappy bating line. RBI is a terrible stat.

McGehee--due to lack of service time--would probably sign for roughly 6 years at $40 million with incentives. McGehee will turn 32 in his first year of free agency and there is nothing about McGehee that is special enough that he can't be replaced. There is no reason to buy out a decline year of a player.