Seemingly unsatisfied with statues of mediocre Wisconsinfolk like Robin Yount and Henry Aaron, the Brewers will soon erect a seven-foot-tall statue of Herr Selig in Miller Park Plaza to honor the used car dealer who helped bring baseball back to Milwaukee. Also, they want something that will frighten children besides the tens of thousands of binge-drinkers in the parking lot.
Naturally, they will choose to memorialize Bud with his most famous pose of all time.
This offseason has certainly been an interesting one if you look at it from the financial perspective. As one would expect, the amount of dollars spent on free agents this offseason is down significantly from just a year ago. Oddly enough, while most teams have been tightening their belts and refraining from signing egotistical players (hi, Johnny Damon!) that have priced themselves out of the market, a few teams have opened the checkbook in a big way to secure their young talent.
Since I'm a huge baseball nerd, I was born with the inherent belief that the "Player A / Player B" device is interesting and worthwhile. I apologize in advance for doing this. All numbers are for careers.
Player A: 3.78 FIP, 0.75 HR/9, 72.3 LOB%, 7.99 K/9, 116 ERA+
Player B: 3.54 FIP, 0.57 HR/9, 74.4 LOB%, 8.06 K/9, 125 ERA+
Player C: 3.78 FIP, 0.82 HR/9, 76.5 LOB%, 7.85 K/9, 128 ERA+
Player A? That's the recently extended Justin Verlander for the tidy sum of $80 million over five years. Player B is none other than the pictured Felix Hernandez, also extended in the new year for five years and $78 million. The final hurler? Oh, that's just Kris' horse in the (in)famous Bon Jovi Golden Pipes Wager, Jon Lester. Let me bring up his contact information here... What's this? 5 years and $30 million?
HOLY SHIT!
Bear in mind that Lester's deal was signed last offseason under different market conditions, but what does this all mean? On the one hand it's strange that the Tigers, who play in the recession-rocked city of Detroit, and who also already traded an affordable, cost-effective player for the purpose of "shedding salary" were apparently able to conjure cash out of the ether to extend Verlander. For two, the deals for King Felix and Verlander likely bode well for Tim Lincecum and his flowing mane of awesomeness. And lastly, why is Theo Epstein so good at his job and even more so in hindsight? Lester is arguably the best of the three, especially when you consider he's getting pennies compared to the other two. At this point, my obvious respect for Theo Epstein is rivaled only by Rob's closeted adoration of HIMYM.
Image of Felix le roi courtesy of flickr user carmenicole
Welcome to the second edition of "This Tweet in Baseball", where I scan the baseballtweetosphere for the silly and inane thoughts of people far more talented than I and then make fun of them because I am jealous of their wild success. Won't you join me in the gutter?
Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan, who has chats with God while lolling around in the outfield, likes to proselytize with his Tweets. What else would you expect from a dude whose handle is "cogz4Christ"? (the username "cogz4Donuts" was already taken). Chris and his buddy Jesus were up early this week to fight the good fight against the Dark Lord:
Aussie pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith has an extreme distaste for reality shows that objectify women and make them grovel for rich dudes and their money. The enlightened Ryan prefers more progressive and intellectually stimulating reality programming like "America's Next Top Feminist" and "Who Wants To Be a Suffragist?":
Juicehead gorilla Jose Canseco is getting back in the MMA business, people, but this time he'll be prepared. Dummy thinks he can beat recent MMA champion Herschel Walker, despite the fact that he got walloped by a seven-foot Chinese dude in his first fight, and then he got demolished by former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema in a boxing match. But hey, this time Jose steps into the Octagon, he'll at least be prepared to fold like a cheap suit:
John Baker recently flew back from a trip to Iraq, and boy, are his arms tired. Wait, John, that's not face wash either!!!!
Nats pitcher Mike Bacsik is recovering from the recent controversy over whether or not he grooved a pitch to Barry Bonds that resulted in a historic tater tot. No matter, Mike's just gonna sit down with his daughter, watch some Nickelodeon, and not give a hoot what you think about him enjoying tween programming:
My second favorite Pirate named McCutchen is a new player in the real estate game and doesn't realize that it's usually smart to keep your cards close to your chest. Dan, some advice for you: find this lady. Don't worry that she's Canadian. Use her, she's a vicious pit bull when it comes to real estate. You're welcome.
Either Jason Grilli hates the CBS sitcom "Big Bang Theory" as much as I do or he is besmirching centuries of scientific fact in favor of the fictional idea of creationism. I hope it's the former, Jason:
Some dame named Kate was watching Nick Swisher guest star on "How I Met Your Mother" in the same room as Nick Swisher. You're through the looking-glass, Kate! Anyway, she captured this grainy photo of the dopey Swisher reacting to seeing himself on the TV box. Thanks for the historical record of that moment:
And what would This Tweet in Baseball be without an appearance from everyone's favorite large, loquacious Lasorda, once again congratulating himself for being famous:
Yes, Tommy, it's always all about you.
Members of the Yankees have been quite busy since winning the World Series last (sigh) November. But while Nick Swisher got to be on How I Met Your Mother, A.J. Burnett only got to meet the Harlem Globetrotters (above).
As you can see, the members of the Globetrotters are all shrugging their shoulders as if to say, "What? We're on a ten-thousand game winning streak here and the best we could get was A.J. Burnett? He had a postseason ERA of 5.27!" Or something like that.
Photo courtesy of the Harlem Globetrotters
Either Chicago White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia showed up to SoxFest 2010 with a little flask full of social lubricant or he just does a spot-on impersonation of a typical Cubs fan when he's busy bashing 'em. See, because they like to drink. A lot. Heck, I haven't seen a baseball player this tipsy since the time Miguel Cabrera dove headfirst into a barrel full of Cachaça at MarlinsFest 2006.
(we owe a barrel full of Coke Zero and a pallet of double cheeseburgers to 'Duk)
Like we weren't gonna pick the game that has both fireworks and GEORGE FRIGGIN THOROGOOD??? Yes kids, I can hardly believe it myself but for the second straight year we're gonna take over an entire section during a Pirates game. We're all gonna drink a bunch of Iron City and watch the Bucs take on the Rockies. Then postgame, George and the Destroyers (nee Delaware Destroyers) are gonna melt our faces off. To a fireworks display. For one epic night, you'll all be Clooney. Not just me.
And what's more, as part of the Walkoff Walk Summer Stimulus Plan tickets to this year's Heist are a mere $20. That's $10 less than last year. If you want IN email Rob (iracane@gmail.com) and tell him how many tickets you want. Everything went as smooth as Billy Dee Williams last year, and he'll make sure it does again this time around.
I mean, seriously. This has the potential to be more than a blog party. This could be a CROSSOVER CULTURAL MOMENT. You must be there.
(Rob here: the Pirates tell me that this is the second most demanded game of the year after Opening Day; let us know by this Friday if you are in so we can finalize the numbers. Thanks!)
New York Yankees outfielder and brotard extraordinaire Nick Swisher made his sitcom debut last night playing...New York Yankees outfielder and brotard extraordinaire Nick Swisher. He made a cameo on the "hit" "comedy" "How I Met Your Mother" in which he gets in the way of Neil Patrick Harris' character's mission to bed seven broads in a week. Hm, I think they ripped off that plot from the Gil McDougald episode of "Make Room for Daddy".
Below, we present a highlight reel of Nick Swisher's fauxhawk and faux personality. But hey, if you want to watch something funny, though, I recommend hitting up MLB.com's video page and searching for the terms "Nick Swisher" and "baserunning oopsie" or "complete and total inability to catch a simple line drive".
Courtesy of Meech:
Oh, how drôle!
Hold on to something solid, I'm going to blow your mind: Ryan Howard isn't good against left-handed pitching. His numbers are bad against the southpaws; it affects the way teams pitch the slugger and all Phillies around him. In our current Golden Age of life-enriching stats, this is a bad thing. The bounty of metrics can meter out exactly how much this lessens his value to the team, but what is lost in all this how great Ryan Howard still is.
This isn't unique to Howard. It seems to me the newfound appreciation of well-rounded players has an ugly side. Namely: players deficient in one particular area are overly denigrated and diminished by hypercritical fans.
Look, we all wish for a local nine staffed exclusively by five tool Chutelys and Beltrans, with Ryan Zimmerman and Evan Longoria duking it out for ABs at the hot corner, but that simply isn't reality. There just aren't that many studs to go around. If anything, the tragic flaw of your garden-variety neighbourhood superstar makes for a more interesting experience. Take Howard, for instance. His line versus left-handed pitching is awful, as stated above. But consider two things:
A guy like Howard hits right handed pitching so hard and so well, when he steps in against a poor, unfortunate righty, Phillies fans can't help but assume something good will come of it. Bad at bats versus LOOGYs come and go, but The Fear lives forever. Just ask Jim Rice!
Don't think I've eschewed the statty way or was the recent victim of violent head trauma; evaluative stats are still key to my appreciation of the game, especially when taking a long look at a player's body of work come Hall of Fame time. Nor am I suggesting absolution for extremely limited players like Bengie Molina. I mere suggest (hope for) a separation of church and state. Evaluate players for their contributions without becoming dogmatic and unfeeling.
So let your Pandas swing freely and your Dunns take their ironclad gloves to the field. Jay Bruce forgot how to hit? You'll always have him unleashing frozen ropes from the right field corner. Concerned B.J. Upton fell asleep on second base? He's probably tracking fly balls that haven't yet been hit. The cold, deadness of winter may lend itself to analysis and big picture thinking, but the thoughts of slick double plays, opposite field home runs and headfirst slides into green-grassed outfields keep my heart warm as Spring Training approaches.
The PECOTA projections for the 2010 season arrived this week, as the god of the nerds, Nate Silver, new guys in charge of PECOTA unleashed a mighty flow of predictions upon its cult followers. I think PECOTA does a fine job of predicting individual players, but, if you think about it, the team records are based on the performance of these same projected players, which would be nice if the PECOOTERS functioned in a vacuum. Nevertheless, wacky managerial decisions (as just one example) have an undoubted effect on the actual outcomes of a game, meaning that the real baseball world is not a vacuum at all. As such, these projections can readily be thrown off by cold, hard reality. Therefore, I don't really give much weight to these things; however, I do think they can be fun to look at in and of themselves. This year especially is proof positive of the sheer insanity that can happen when folks start poking around with numbers, and it begs the question of whether or not PECOTA is just messing with diehard baseball stats guys now.
You can view the complete projected records at Baseball Prospectus, where they are presented by division. Let's just take a gander at a few of the things that make this year's dose of fortune telling more ridiculous than Robert Downey Jr.'s career arc:
What grabs your attention, though? Leave 'em in the comments! And yes, I promise I will write a post soon that doesn't involve bullet points. If you're also interested, another projection system, CAIRO, released its expectations for the 2010 season and they're a bit more...reasonable.
Updates! Yes, I am an idiot. Yes, Nate Silver isn't in charge of PECOTA anymore. Edits have been appropriately made. Shame on me for assuming that Silver was still at the helm. Nothing said above was intended to be insulting towards him in the least, but rather an attempt at imaginative grandiosity for the sake of lame humor. Because, hey, I'm a nerd who enjoys PECOTA and advanced metrics. Thanks to the many, many people who pointed out my error.
