TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Thursday, August 07, 2003

A totally unexpected trade from the Yanks last night: I was shocked that the Seattle Mariners would send away one of the most consistant middle relievers in the game (Jeff Nelson) for a shaky ex-closer. Yes, I know Armando Benitez has actually pitched very well in the past three years, but his confidence isn't what it used to be.

I tried to figure out the reason behind the trade, and ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported that the Mariners were looking for someone to shut down lefties, who were batting .190 against Benitez this year. Well, apparently that stat is actually .234 for the entire year (I think .190 is the average lefties had with the Yanks), which is better than left-handed hitters against Nelson (a robust .284), but I've always noticed something very strange about Benitez's delivery to lefties: he doesn't want to throw his fastball down the middle, so it comes all the way outside and high. And that only happens against lefties. To put all that together, I wondered why lefties weren't batting higher against him. It turns out he's walked 21 lefties as opposed to 9 BB to righties. So that might account for why the Mariners think he's better against lefties (since the average doesn't account for BB). Now, I'm very far from being a major league scout, so correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a scout see the difference in how Benitez handles lefties, both in watching him pitch and looking at his stats? Whatever happens in Seattle, one fact is definitely certain: the Yanks stole this one right under Pat Gillick's nose.

posted by Charles Curtis 1:32 PM

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

More wackiness from the Twins: Baltimore's up with one out in the bottom of the 8th, runners on the corners. Deep fly to center, but the runner on 3rd streaks for home and crosses the plate. After the catch, the runner realizes his mistake and heads back to 3rd, missing home on the way back. The relay beats the runner but short-hops Koskie at third, Koskie can't pick the hop and the ball is out of his control just long enough for the runner to slide in head first. The Twins still have the appeal, but LaTroy Hawkins doesn't realize he needs to break contact with the rubber to make the appeal throw, so he lobs up Ball 1 when he thinks he is appealing the play at home. The Twins are actually lucky Hawkins doesn't lob one through the strike zone, as it could have turned a 5-3 Twins lead into a 6-5 deficit in a heartbeat. For that matter, I wonder if Hawkins actually balked in the process, I didn't take close enough note of Hawkins's motion on the mound to determine if there was a missed call in there.

On the plus side for the Twinkies, Torii Hunter goes 2-4, with his two hits a 3-run homer to right and a laser beam up the middle. Hunter has been hitting in a bit tough luck, a lot of at 'em balls seemingly in the past month. Seeing Hunter hit the ball hard the opposite way and through the box has to be a good sign, though.

Finally, I listened to Harold Reynolds's speech about the 2-hole and how it's the best place in the lineup to hit or break out of a funk. There's some merit to that, and certainly the way that Carlos Lee has been hitting since he's been moved up to #2 in front of The Big Hurt and Magglio supports the notion. But I couldn't help thinking to myself, "so, what's Cristian Guzman's excuse?" I guess the 9-hole is where slumping #2 hitters go to get back on track, at least in the AL.

posted by Tom Renbarger 8:29 PM

Records
My wife is a swim coach, so every once in a while there will be a swimming magazine in the house. I was browsing one when I came across the following passage:

"In that [2002] race, Kitajima shattered the oldest record in men's swimming, winning the 200 meter breaststroke in 2:09.97. That bettered the mark (2:10.16) set by American Mike Barrowman in 1992 at the Barcelona Games."

Leaving aside 0.19 seconds as a shattering (the best time has since declined by 0.45 seconds in the year since), the oldest time record in men's swimming was only ten years old? Granted that Barry seems to be breaking a record everytime we look up, but from a baseball perspective a ten-year-old record is brand new. Of course, in competition against a clock you get a good view of improvement in training and technique over time. In competition between hitters and pitchers, you simply see how The Powers That Be have decided to balance offense and defense to properly market to the fans.

How we can draw curves through data points showing the improvement in track and swimming times over the years. An Olympic men's time from 100 years ago gets beaten routinely in girl's high school swim meets. But in baseball the greats of yesteryear are assumed to be on par with the athletes of today. Some will claim that improvement is large when the sport is in flux, but when the game has reached full development the improvement hits a plateau. And some will claim that baseball has been in full development since the end of the Deadball Era.

On the other hand, integration, the Latin and Asian influxes, the slider, night baseball, westward expansion, the closer, drive-through knee surgery and a host of other changes would argue against that. The game that Barry plays is not the same as the game that the Babe played.

posted by David 8:39 AM

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

I was just watching Baseball Tonight and saw highlights of the A's win behind another strong outing from Rich Harden (of course it was against the Tigers, so naturally they're flashing statistics about Detroit matching the '62 Mets for 120 losses in the season). This is the team to watch in the last months of the season: they're in the Wild Card and AL West hunt...and Miguel Tejada is just starting to come alive. They've just acquired an outfielder who's on fire this season (Jose Guillen), and of course, they have one of the best staffs in baseball. Sure, Barry Zito needs to pick up from where he left off last year, but if I was a team in a playoff series having to face Tim Hudson, Zito, Mark Mulder and Harden (if he keeps it up), I'd be very afraid. Remember that they were one win away from the ALCS two years ago until Derek Jeter somehow appeared at the first base line to throw out Jeremy Giambi.

The Oakland lineup may not be producing runs as much as they should, since I'm waiting for Erubiel Durazo to become the superstar he was destined to be, but they're young, fast, and exciting (the two they took from the Yanks was great baseball), so how can you not root for them?

I'll also be checking in from time to time, and probably won't talk much about my poor Mets. Wait 'til next year, Amazins.

posted by Charles Curtis 7:26 PM

Monday, August 04, 2003

It took 17 years, but the Dodgers finally got back at Jack Clark. Clark was relieved from his duties as hitting coach of the Dodgers Sunday night. Jack's had a tough year, stemming from his motorcycle accident before the season opener, to which he fully hasn't recovered, to the public statements he made about the teams woeful hitting and personnel problems. True be told, Jack didn't have much to work with here. The projected 1, 4 and 5 hitters, Roberts, Jordan and McGriff have been absent most of the season due to injury, and the Dodger depleted farm system has little to offer as replacements, which forced GM Dan Evans use cork stoppers to try to prevent a dam break, by acquiring Ricky Henderson, Jeremy Burnitz and Robin Ventura. Add that to the zero production in the 6, 7, and 8 spots (Beltre, Cora and Izturis) and you have a team that's happy the Detroit Tigers exist.

posted by Robert 1:07 PM