2010 MLB Season Discussion

[Cephius]

And Dan Haren gets hurt in his first start with the Angels. Bet the Yankee's are glad they lost out on that. He should make his next start, but Anaheim, it's an omen.

He took a line drive off the wrist, it's not like he blew out his elbow or was hiding an injury. Haren isn't as bad as people make him out to be, I would have done a Joba-for-Haren deal in a New York minute.

[Akiyama]

You'd be insane not to, but his track record show he's a terribad second half pitcher.

[Melena]

I've followed Haren since he was in Oakland. He's always been a bit of a glass canon and starts to tire mid august. As it is, I just wish nothing but the worst for Anaheim after the 02 World Series. I don't know what's taken more years off my life, the Giants losing it with 5 outs to go, or the Sharks Playoff Failures.

[Cephius]

He's definitely been worse in the second half. His OPS against rises over 100 points and he gives up almost a full run more per game. But his strikeout and walk rates stay pretty much the same, and his "worse" 2nd half is better than most pitchers are capable of. So yeah, the argument holds weight, but I wouldn't call it "terribad".

[*Shinzon*]

Haren will probably be successful as long as they continue to score runs for him. Will he be dominant? I don't think so, not in an AL league where the longball is king. I think he's going to struggle especially his first year back, but if he adjusts he'll be very successful. That said he's probably not the kind of pitcher you want in yankee stadium very often, look at AJ burnett. High strikeouts/fly ball pitcher, it just wasn't the best situation for him, and I think the yanks made a good move in backing off from Haren in that sense. The mets on the other hand, might have been well served to explore options in getting Haren, but of course with the Wilpons driving the franchise into the ground, I didn't expect much.

[Saga]

I know this discussion is a couple pages back, but just wanted to put this in here about the Cy Young voting. Amalie Benjamin, a writer for the Boston Globe, does a "mailbag" every so often where she answers questions. Here's an informative one on the Cy Young voting process:

Robert from Chelmsford, Massachusetts asks: With Jon Lester having a Cy Young season, I thought I would ask what your take is on what it takes to win the Cy Young award. Is it 90 percent ERA, which has very little to do with what team you play on, or is it weighted substantially by W-L record, SOs, walks and so on, which are more influenced by your team of origin, if you will.

Answer: This is a particularly interesting question for me, Bob, as I have one of the two Cy Young votes for the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers of America (BBWAA). And I've never voted for the Cy Young (though I've voted for MVP, Manager of the Year, and Rookie of the Year in the last three seasons). To me, win-loss record is one of the least important factors, as we saw last year with Zack Greinke. There are so many things that can impact whether a pitcher gets a win or a loss, many of which have nothing to do with how well he pitches. I'll take things like ERA, strikeout-to-walk ratio, and WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) into account, along with ERA-plus, which adjusts ERA to ballpark and league. For example, at the moment, Cliff Lee leads the American League in ERA-plus with a 162. (Over 100 indicates better than average). Ultimately, I'll look at a lot of factors, as I take my voting responsibilities very seriously.

I know Amalie's voting logic can't speak for the entirety of the BBWAA voters, but be real -- there's not even an element of "omgroyhalladay," or "might as well give it to Lincecum" in her answer. The writers don't vote like that. That's just stupid.

[Headspace]

I'm late, but hey Headspace?

HOW DOES IT FEEEEEEEL?

Feels bad man

[Cephius]

The Nationals wanted Matt Garza for Adam Dunn. loooooooooool

[Akiyama]

Definitely not a good time to go for that one rofl.

[*Shinzon*]

Soooo, after all the talk of wanting to move Francouer before the trade deadline, on the play where Jason Bay slammed into the wall at Dodger Stadium he was diagnosed with what they are calling a mild concussion and he's going to be observed for the next 72 hours but it's likely that he'll be out for a week at least and probably longer. Glad we had that insurance police.

[Cephius]

Soooo, after all the talk of wanting to move Francouer before the trade deadline, on the play where Jason Bay slammed into the wall at Dodger Stadium he was diagnosed with what they are calling a mild concussion and he's going to be observed for the next 72 hours but it's likely that he'll be out for a week at least and probably longer. Glad we had that insurance police.

I'm listening to Joe and Evan and they're saying the same thing. 'Good thing we didn't trade Frenchy!' Uh, what? He's been worth 0.2 WAR for the season. Meaning you could call up your run-of-the-mill AAA outfielder and they'd likely be better than him. I mean really, the guy gets out of bed with an 0-2 count.

[Akiyama]

BUT.. BUT WHO NEEDS OBP. It's not like it's on the scoreboard or anything.

[*Shinzon*]

When you look at Bay and Francouer's numbers on the surface they are the same cept for the OBP. So I can deal with that because at least Francouer provides above average defense which Jesus Feliciano doesn't bring and he would be the guy to get the call. He's a decent contact hitter but he wouldn't be much of an improvement over frenchy. Neither of those guys were going to carry the team anyway, bay or francouer so as long as Pagan is playing I'm happy. Wright Beltran and Pagan need to hit again for the team to win games. Bay is going to have a lost season this year no doubt about. He'll be lucky to hit 15. Cant believe it lol.

[Akiyama]

could've sworn I mentioned Bay was overrated way before the Mets got him and said that he shouldn't have left Fenway. How much did he give up there to take more in New York? I forget.

[*Shinzon*]

The Red Sox didn't want to commit to a multi-year deal with Bay so I don't think there are any real numbers, could venture a guess that it was probably 20m in guaranteed money that the Mets have coming his way I think. The Sox had questions about Bay's shoulder and Knees I believe of all things.

[Akiyama]

Lol. People were also like "He's a good fielder".. come on. How much outfield did he have to cover out there with little foul ground and the huge wall? I thought Bay was an overrated guy, especially in a big spot, and he's just proving it honestly.

[*Shinzon*]

He's been a great fielder this year that hasn't really been an issue since the great wall of flushing, the LF wall, is so high it kind of plays like the monster and he's made some great plays out there. He's never once been a liability. But this is a guy who was supposed to hit 30hrs and protect wright in the lineup and he's just never been that this year.

[Akiyama]

Well I thought he was struggling a bit more in the field. Maybe not. Still, I think too much pressure was put on him.

[Cephius]

I don't really think it's fair to call Bay overrated, it's not like he didn't produce before going to Fenway. His numbers last year lined up pretty well with his career numbers with the Pirates, who play in a larger park relative to Fenway. He also filled in for Manny Ramirez... no small task. It certainly helps to be in a lineup with Pedroia, Youkilis, and Ortiz but it kind of disproves the "can't do it in a big spot" thing. Boston is as big a pressure cooker as anywhere.

One thing I heard from the Mets when they took Bay over Holliday was that they looked at spray charts and thought Bay was more of a pull hitter and Holliday was more of a gap hitter, meaning Bay would hit more homers in Citi Field. They were dead wrong in that regard. Other than that, I think Bay is just having a bad year.

[Alderaan]

Not that i'm complaining or anything obviously, but Strasburg is missing his start tonight against Atl.