TheCrew07

I was checking in on Arnett's start for Helena tonight, had to rewind the DVR. Worst. Call. Ever. Sveum's blast which got him ejected was pretty classic though if you read his lips, not forum friendly, but good stuff.

We get to see former super prospect Hellickson tomorrow against Greinke which on paper should favor the Crew, and then David Price on Wednesday... yuck. Need this one tonight.

We played Texas at home last year? edit. Yep in mid june, I must have been link reporting then, I don't remember watching a TX game.

I was thinking Texas was one, I don't recall playing Texas?

He's been slumping for a while, his last 10 games is pretty horrific. http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=518960

ha nice hustle Jeff, thanks for the gift out.

Narvy looked really sharp in the 2nd.

Geez Niemann's velocity is really down since his college days, he used to be a mid 90s guy.

Bad hop Bill? What? He threw the ball so poorly to Weeks that it nearly pulled him off the bag... Bad hop? Garbage.

No that just means that one of them will be in CF... they've proven they don't need experienced CFs in Helena!

He's not exactly what one would call a slick fielder. Yeah, I don't figure he is. Relative to our other options, is he a good enough fielder to fill out the SS spot until we can find someone else? Simply put... no.

I get that people think Esky swings a newspaper... but what happens if he actually hits for around a .700 OPS through his peak and continues his stellar defensive play? How can we write off a player with 1 full year of MLB experience, albeit poor, who's now only 24 years old, as a bad player? Why doesn't his ascending MiLB record and a very solid debut in 2009 count for anything? Escobar's current WAR is 1.1, Hardy's is 1.5, Betancourt's is a paltry -.6. For reference Hardy's 2nd season WAR at age 24 was *drum roll* .7 because he only played in 35 games due to that horrible ankle injury which directly led to Hall's miserable contract based on his break out season. Hardy is on pace to be a 3 WAR player again for the first time since 2008 and Escobar has outside chance of reaching 2.5. Of course Escobar has to continue hitting and if he hit's around .270 for the season while picking up the XBHs a tad he'll end up right around where I always believed he would settle in. He's not going to stay as hot as he's been... but he wasn't a .220 hitter either. However, if Escobar ends up only a 2 WAR player for the season I don't see where that qualifies his as a "bad player", that's actually pretty decent. Casey McGehee was a 2 WAR player for the Brewers in 2009 and people were happy to hand him the 3B job.

I'm actually nervous for Arnett's start, I must be getting soft as a I get older.

This should be an interesting series, my 2 favorite franchises and a player in Niemann that I beat the drum to acquire in 2008.

In what way? I could see that a left handed 2nd baseman would have an easier time throwing to second base (at the cost of making it more difficult to throw to first), I don't see how left-handedness would be helpful for a SS on a DP. There is a reason why no infielders (other than 1b) are left handed. Not one inning in 14 years, according to Baldkin. The reason no IF are LH is that most of the plays in the hole (up the middle as a 2B and between 3rd and SS as a SS) require much different footwork and body position to get a throw off. The same goes for 3B, instead of just digging your right foot into the ground and getting a throw off a lefty would have to reverse pivot his feet around quickly to get the throw off. No matter how you do it, the extra footwork is slower and thus it's harder to get a runner busting down the line. The reason it's easier for a LH SS to make the turn at 2B is that he doesn't have to change his body position to make a throw as he goes across across the bag. He can basically just run through bag towards the right field corner clearing the runner and getting an easy natural throw off to first base (think a right handed QB rolling out of the pocket to his right which is natural vs rolling left). A LH SS also has an advantage making plays in the hole around 2B for the same reason, it's very easy to pick and throw on the run moving in that direction. I'd always go to out to SS during our intersquad scrimmages because we were OF heavy and didn't have enough IFs the way the teams were broken up, for some reason it drove our head coach nuts, even though he picked the teams and let us manage the games ourselves... just like switch hitting drove him nuts for some reason. I normally played LF, CF, or 1B (if our regular 1B was pitching) so I already knew all of the IF plays and rotations from my time at 1B. I played SS through little league as well when I forgot my stuff at home and had to borrow the glove of whomever was hitting so I had a passing familiarity with the position. (that's a long story about how my dad taught me to play baseball, I actually learned to field without a glove throwing the ball with whichever hand was easiest for the direction I was moving). Definitely the hardest part of playing SS as a lefty was any play where I had to charge to the ball or go to my right. Charging the ball required an extreme hip swivel to get the ball off and the plays in the hole towards 3B required a reverse pivot, where I basically had to turn my back to the runner to get the ball off as quicly as possible. I didn't position myself any differently than our regular SS because I was a lefty, if that were the case a RH SS should hug 2B as much as possible... I never got to do it in a real game once I got to Babe Ruth and higher because lefties don't play anywhere on the IF except 1B, just like was pointed out earlier. I had the same coach from age 13 all the way through graduation.

I didn't realize that surgery Wooten's 2nd TJ... hopefully he makes it up before his arm gives out.

Baseball wise I obviously throw LH based on my comments, but I batted RH. I'm ambidextrous though so I could never speak from experience. While I throw LH, I shoot a basketball RH, I write with my right hand, but eat with left, and so on... I think it just depends on which hand I chose to focus a particular skill. Overall I do more things RH than LH, but my dad insists that's because my mother forced us to pick a hand, and she was right handed and home more since he was coaching 3 sports and we didn't always get to go practice with him, so we mimicked what we saw her do. It's interesting to think that most righties would benefit from batting lefty and vice versa.

My Dish Network has been done for 20 minutes as this storm rolls through, I'm unable to decide if it's a actually a blessing in disguise or not.

The theory about RH throwers being successful LH batters is possibly because the dominant and likely strongest arm is in control of the bat being the bottom hand on the bat. In theory it leads to better bat control... As far as I know it's never been proven scientifically, but I still hear it quite frequently, and it is plausible. Also, a LH SS has a huge advantage turning the double play at 2B, so it's not like there are no benefits to being LH on the infield. The plays in the hole between SS and 3B required much different footwork than people are used to seeing, but it can be done. Lefties of the world unite against righty conspiracy against us!

As far as giving up on a starter... It's been posted hundreds of times on this site but I'll say it again. Every pitch past the point of fatigue increases the injury risk exponentially (a steep curve) and there are 3 levels of fatigue to be concerned about... pitches per inning, pitches per game, and pitches per season. Our minor league pitchers don't go past 30-35 pitches in an inning, EVER. If we're unwilling to accept that going over 40 pitches in an inning is a bad idea because of fatigue, then I'm not sure what else to say.

Tony Plush is best Melvin's trade ever... All the MLB value for a prospect I complained about from the time he was drafted, hated the Dykstra pick.

So want the starter pulled in one inning or less in two out of three games? What's funny is that Yo didn't pitch nearly as badly as the score would indicate. He wasn't good, but several good pitches were hit. This was especially the case with the batters leading up to the homer. I don't agree, the only good pitch that was a hit was Pedrorias's little flare to Right Center... everything else was thigh high (or higher) and nearly right down the middle of the plate. His FB velocity is good, but beyond that he's been pretty terrible.

Yo hasn't hit the glove but a couple of times all inning... every pitch is high, wide, or right down the middle.

Geez. Nothing much else to say when you are down 4-0 without an out being recorded.

Nope... it could be worse, the bases could be loaded. edit. Ohh. My. God. Dangit Yo.