MLB - 2008 Season

[rah]

One must respect the ivy.
I didn't see the play you mentioned since I WAS WATCHING DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE *wussy whipped*

[snoopy369]

I was watching the Penguins-Wings game, myself... a much more manly excuse

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by snoopy369
At least he *tries*, though.

Being good and not trying very hard is better than being bad and trying.

[snoopy369]

Absolutely not. Being good and not trying hard is much worse than being not very good and trying hard. The latter is more predictable. The good player who takes plays off, you cannot guess when they will do so; so they may take a play off in a key moment when you were relying on them to play well. The player who is not as good but tries hard consistently can be relied on to be consistent, so you know whether you can rely on him or not.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'll still take good fielder and doesn't try hard to mediocre/bad fielder but tries hard.

Now, of course you'd like both.


Though, to be honest, Swisher isn't that bad of a CF. He's somewhat average in fielding there.

[snoopy369]

Swisher is average only due to trying He is not a CF mentally, in that he very frequently makes poor judgements when the ball is hit initially and has to compensate. Nearly every game I see him at least once run the wrong direction initially from a ball, and although he always will dive for it in these cases (presumably he feels bad?) he has let quite a few hits fall as a result. Watching Brian Anderson in CF, I've never seen him badly misjudge a ball like that.

I guess I would say that given two player who have similar statistics (less than 10% difference to norm from one to the other, say), I would rather the consistent player who tries hard but has less skill to the inconsistent player who has more skill but does not try hard. Consistency is a valuable asset.

[snoopy369]

Statistically:

Swisher: RF 2.65 (leauge avg 2.67) in center field; .974 fpct (l.a. .989). So he gets to slightly fewer balls than the average CF, and makes over twice as many errors...

Anderson in his last full season had a RF of 2.87 (this is 2006), in nearly 1,000 innings, and a FPCT of .994 (half as many errors). This season he's actually quite low in RF, but that is in quite few innings so it is unreliable.

[EPW]

I prefer bad players who don't try

[-Jrabbit]

Wow, I turned of the Cubs in the 6th, down 9-1.
They got 3 in the 6th and 6 in the 7th, with most of the starters on the bench, and beat Colorado 10-9.

The Kool-Aid is flowing in Chicago.

[Theben]

Reminds me of a game I saw a long time ago, Cubs down 9-1 against the Phillies I believe, in the 6th. Figured I didn't need to watch this one and turned it off, turns out they racked 'em up in the 6th, 7th, and 8th, and then Dave Kingman hits a grand slam for a 12-9 win.

[Imran Siddiqui]

This sounds incredibly strange to say, especially in June, but the biggest series of the season begins tonight... Boston vs. Tampa Bay.

[-Jrabbit]

I'd love to see the Rays keep it going. Where did they find all this pitching?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, first the Mets were idiots (God, I want to strangle McIllvaine) and gave up Kazmir for nothing. They drafted Shields (who had a good year last season). They got Jackson when they dealt Baez to the Dodgers. They got Garza in the deal where they sent Delmon Young to Minny.

And they went out and got Troy Percival. Dealt Ty Wigginton for Dan Wheeler, shoring up the bullpen.

Basically they've been smart with drafting and trades. They could deal Wigginton because they had Longoria in the minors. They knew Baez wasn't that great, and got rid of him at his highest value. Delmon Young was a trouble maker, and with Crawford, Upton (who could move to CF, because they got SS Bartlett also in the Young deal), and Floyd (who has been great this year), they could afford to deal him.

And they draft very well, Longoria, Upton, Shields, Crawford, Baldelli (sad story there though), Young, etc.

[snoopy369]

Add that other trouble maker who's headed to WAS to that list... I think they've done a great job of both clubhouse management and smart trades, not dissimilar to the Marlins of a few years ago. They also got lucky of course; Kazmir is pitching better than he should (though he's very good, he's pitching more than very good) and Shields is peaking at the right time also.

[Fistandantilus]

Ortiz