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My Favorite Non-Yankees

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 3:00 pm 9 Responses »
Jun 252010

A few days ago, I asked the question as to what team you’d root for if not for the Yankees. My memory of this was jogged last night when “Captain Jack” made this comment in RAB’s Open Thread. If you don’t feel like clicking through, Jack listed his most-hated team and his favorite-non-Yankee team. I figured I’d do the same and take it a bit farther and make a lineup out of it. Anyway, let’s name the players first.

C–Joe Mauer…This one’s obvious. He’s awesome at baseball and I truly enjoy rooting for him. Plus, some people say we kind of look a like.

1B–Joey Votto…Another one I enjoy rooting for, Votto is massively underrated and is really mashing this season. He’s currently got a .415 wOBA and is second in NL 1B WAR (3.0) to San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez (3.5).

2B–Chase Utley…Yeah, he looks greasy and I don’t really care for the Phillies much, but Utley’s the best second baseman in the game (Cano’s gaining on him) and I’ve always liked him.

3B–Evan Longoria…It’s hard to think of anything this guy does poorly on the field. Like the others, he’s just fun to watch.

SS–Hanley Ramirez…He’s Hanley. What more is there to say? Troy Tulowitzki was a close second.

LF–Carl Crawford…Watching him get to every damn ball out in left is enthralling.

CF–Austin Jackson…He was the first prospect I really followed through the minors and though he’s been scuffling of late, I’m rooting for him.

RF–Shin Soo Choo…I think he’s the most underrated player in baseball.

DH–Adam Dunn…Lot’s of homers? Check. Lot’s of walks? Check. Lot’s of love from Matt? Check…just don’t let him put on a glove.

SP–Tim Lincecum…We have the same birthday. Score.
SP–Cole Hamels…Man crush since ’06
SP–Dan Haren…Super underrated because of Brandon Webb
SP–Josh Johnson…He may not be forty, but he’s a man out there.
SP–Ian Kennedy…Another “homer” pick, I always check up on how he’s doing.

I’ll be lazy and still Captain Jack’s list of relievers (Jonathan Broxton, Carlos Marmol, Manny Corpas, and Chad Qualls) because, honestly, I see no relievers but Mariano. Onto the lineup…

1. Choo
2. Crawford
3. Mauer
4. Longoria
5. Utley
6. Ramirez
7. Dunn
8. Votto
9. Jackson

This lineup would straight up maul right handed pitching. So, who would you guys put in your favorite non-Yankee lineup?

The Key For Phil Hughes

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 1:00 pm 1 Response »
Jun 252010

The evolution of Phil Hughes as a pitcher has taken a major step forward thus far in 2010, as he has quickly established himself as a legitimate top of the rotation starter. One of the changes evident in his approach relative to his previous forays in the rotation is his willingness to attack hitters. Phil is not nibbling very much, and consistently challenges hitters. A study done by The Hardball Times confirms this observation:

There are twelve possible ball and strike counts. Out of those twelve there is one that seems to neutral, the first pitch, with five in favor of the pitcher and six in favor of the hitter. I based that on the wOBA and run expectancy of 12 the counts. The favorable five counts for the pitcher are: 0-2, 1-2, 0-1, 2-2, and 1-1. The six counts favorable to the hitter are: 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 2-0, 3-1, and 3-2. So using the pitch by pitch data from MLBAM’s Gameday, I can find the pitchers who have the highest and lowest percent of his pitches in a favorable count. The numbers are for this season with pitchers with at least 500 pitches.

Top Five Percent
Cliff Lee 55.1%
Phil Hughes 53.9%
Matt Capps 53.2%
Roy Oswalt 53.0%
Justin Verlander 52.4%

The only pitcher in baseball pitching from favorable counts more often than Phil is Cliff Lee. In the past, Phil would nibble at the outer edges of the plate, and put himself into counts where he would either walk the batter or serve up something that was easy to hit. In 2010, he is throwing plenty of strikes without being too hittable, and is thereby putting himself in counts where the hitter cannot sit on a certain pitch or a particular location. Phil always had the stuff to go after hitters with, and now he has the confidence to do so. If he continues to attack hitters, heshould be able to sustain his current performance.

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What's So Bad About Home Runs?

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 10 Responses »
Jun 252010

Alex Rodriguez said something odd the other day (shocking, I know). He said that he’s not a home run hitter:

“I’ve hit a lot of home runs,” Rodriguez said. “The one thing I do worry about is if you’re not making solid contact and if you’re not driving runners in. The columns I worry about are RBI and wins. I’ve never considered myself a home run hitter.”

Yo, Alex: you’re a home run hitter. In fact, you’re a pretty prolific home run hitter. You’ve lead the league in home runs five times. You’re the number one active home run hitter. You’re number seven on the all time list. You’re fifth on the active AB/HR list and tenth all time on that same list. You are a home run hitter. Embrace that.

Seriously, what’s the problem with saying “Yup, I’m a home run hitter.” At any time in the game, a home run is the single best outcome for a batter and the worst outcome for the pitcher. Obviously, at least one and as many as four runs score on a single swing. Hitting homers is a good thing.

Analysts talk about teams “relying” on the home run and how it’s a bad thing. Sure, I’ll agree to an extent: if you can’t muster any non-HR power and can’t get a base hit every now and then, you’re probably going to struggle.

Then there are the people who say home runs kill rallies. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Observe:

Jeff Francoeur: “That was a lot of fun,” Jeff Francoeur said. “You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don’t want to do is hit a home run. That’s a rally-killer.”

No, Jeff. Home runs start and continue rallies. How does a run scoring play kill a rally?

Orel Hershieser, too.

This entry sums up my thoughts nicely. Charlie Steiner’s remark against the “home run as rally killer” argument is great, too:

“That’s like me presenting you with a million dollars in brand new bills, and you’re complaining that the serial numbers are out of sequence.”

Though I’ve got to say, my favorite non-HR-as-valuable argument is Ichiro Suzuki. How many times have we heard that Ichiro could hit 30 home runs if he wanted to but he doesn’t because he knows getting more singles is better? Well, that’s just stupid. If Ichiro has the ability to launch 30 homers a game, he should. If I’m the Mariners, I’ll take the trade off. They need power in the worst way. Ichiro seems like a pretty smart player; he should know that homers > singles. So either someone’s lying about his ability, or I’m giving Mr. Suzuki too much credit.

Even our own second baseman, Robinson Cano, has said that he doesn’t aim for hitting 30 home runs. I can’t recall who, but one analyst last year brought up the idea to Cano that he could hit 30 homers and Robbie sounded like he didn’t want to because it might bring his average down. Like the Ichrio situation, Robbie, trust me, if you want to jack 30 homers, I’ll take the drop of a few points in average. Hell, the way you’re hitting this year, you’d still hit for a high average.

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