Atlanta Braves : News : Atlanta Braves News
Mostly about the disaster in Houston. Going forward, though:
[Rafael] Furcal and [Kyle] Farnsworth will be free agents, and they played significant roles. We have to examine what can happen with them.
My Translation: Raffy ain’t coming back; we have to decide if we want to pay out bonus money to draft picks before we offer arbitration to Furcal.
[John] Smoltz’s shoulder is sore, but it is not damaged. It’s the wear and tear of a lot of innings. The reality is it took its toll. He has pain and discomfort and trauma, but there is no tear or break or dislocation.
Pretty much what I thought. The question is if they can limit his innings next year so he isn’t hurt down the stretch or in a putative postseason.
Other than that, we don’t have any injuries of consequence that will require surgery. Kelly Johnson and Julio Franco have bone chips in their elbows that will be removed, but nothing major. Eddie Perez possibly will have shoulder surgery. I have not had a chance to talk to Eddie yet about his future.
“So, Eddie, do you want to be a roving instructor, or manage in the low minors, or maybe get a coaching job here?”
Chipper has said he’s willing to discuss [restructuring] his contract, and as I said when he did that this past spring, it’s the sign of a guy who understands and appreciates the challenges of this team and organization and his willingness to be open-minded about whatever he might do beyond hitting game-winning home runs and being an offensive force. It’s the same attitude he showed when he volunteered to leave third base and go to left field so we could get Vinny Castilla. We couldn’t have done that if Chipper wasn’t a willing soldier.
The most significant part even though it’s the last paragraph. Is he insinuating that Chipper might move across the diamond?
In addition, Alex tells me that Leo was just on the Dan Patrick Show. As you’d expect, he was complimentary towards the Braves. (Patrick, meanwhile, tried to get him to say that Clemens, Pettitte, and Oswalt were better than Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. Check back with us in ten years, Danny.) Also, it seems that family concerns were as important as the BFF thing. Leo’s parents live in the area, and so do his kids, and he wanted to be near both groups. He says he was a Yankee fan growing up; I expect that the possibility of working with Larry Bowa turned him off that possibility.
Well Mr. Moises Hernandez is the brother of one Mr. Felix Hernadez the stud pitcher for Seatle. So Moises may have some potential, but he isn’t even the best pitcher in his family.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/236148_felix11.html
Great. We got the new Jesus Martinez. Though if he tries hard, maybe he can be the new Yorkis Perez.
Or Rammon Martinez, Mike Maddux. Maybe he will be the JOe Niekro
Spelling police checking in: It’s “Schuerholz.” 😉 Just because it’s in the post title…
KJ had bone chips? Was that why we didn’t see him at all for the last month or two?
Moises had 56k’s in 53 innings with a 3.08 ERA in seven starts (11 games total) with one complete game. Not too bad if you ask me. Go check him out:
http://ironbirdsbaseball.com/team/statistics/index.php?autoload=teamstats_pitching&page=1&team_id=488&sort=era&sorttype=a
I’m thinking Ravelo Manzanillo. Or, since he’s a Brave, Mickey Mahler…
It seems to me that Leo was going to leave no matter what in mid november when his contract was up. So, you have to applaud the Braves for at least getting something from the O’s. Technically couldn’t the O’s have just waited and signed Leo when his contract was expired? If that is true, then the Braves really didn’t have much leverage and a single A ball player may have been the best they could do.
I waited to comment on the Leo thing until it was officially official. But now that it is, I do have a few things on my mind. First, let me say first and foremost that I have always been (and still will be) a huge fan of Leo Mazzone. I think he is great at what he does, and I have no hard feelings. However, I do have a few thoughts about some of the topics floated around this website.
First, as far as Leo’s decision to make a change, I think there are 2 views. From a personal/family standpoint, he probably made a great decision. He is going to coach with his lifelong best friend, he will be close to his parents and kids, and near his hometown. Pretty much a no-brainer. However, from a professional standpoint, I disagree with this move. I really expected Leo to retire a Brave, but if he DID leave, I didn’t expect it to be a lateral move. True, the money was more, but I would think that most people in that line of work are looking to move up, especially a guy like Leo who has absolutely nothing left to prove as a pitching coach. Also, I am surprised because I think he is going into a losing situation. I will be the first to admit that I don’t keep up with the Orioles that much, but when I think of Orioles, I don’t think of a team that is on the brink of becoming great. Leo can now look forward to working with the likes of Sir Sidney Ponson. On the other hand, he may love the challenge of bolstering his Hall of Fame credentials. If he can work the same magic in Baltimore than he did in Atlanta, I think he will be the first pitching coach in the Hall. If not, then everyone will say that even as a coach, he was just a product of the Braves’ system, and wasn’t all we thought he was cracked up to be. It’s a risky move. In the end, I just don’t think you could ask for a better situation than he had in Atlanta.
Next, I have to admit that I hope he doesn’t do that well in Baltimore. Wait, wait…before anyone thinks I am a bitter Leo-basher, let me explain. I am not going to be mad if he DOES do well, but I really hope that our staff gets back to it’s old form without him, and if he didn’t fare so well in Baltimore, it would prove that our tradition of pitching is more related to the Braves’ system than just one man. That’s all I am saying. As a fan of the Braves organization, I would like to think that the organization itself breeds success, and that we can be successful continuing the same system that Leo used. Which leads me to my next point…
I think we all need to remember something. He’s a pitching coach, people. A pitching coach. A darn good pitching coach, but still just a mere pitching coach. There is a reason he was making only $250,000 (or whatever it was) from the Braves. That’s all they thought he was worth. And last time I checked, in the 14 years of our coveted division title run, 13 of the 14 teams that won the World Series DIDN’T have Leo Mazzone as their pitching coach. So let’s stop the doomsday talk. It’s gonna be ok.
Finally, I am in no position to make predictions on people to fill Leo’s spot, but I feel really confident that our front office has had a successor in mind for a while. They knew he would leave or retire eventually, and I just have a ton of confidence in the Atlanta Braves to continue their success with a smooth transistion. I would be absolutely amazed if the new guy didn’t come from within the organization, but that is just my gut feeling. If we DO go outside to get someone, I really like Mike Maddux in Milwaukee. I have no reason to believe he would/could leave, but I just like his style. As far as fantasy picks go, I think nothing would be cooler than to see John Smoltz as the pitching coach in a few years. Also, Greg Maddux would be pretty cool, too. Like I said, those are kind of far-fetched, plus I see both of those guys pitching a couple more years anyway.
All in all, I think we are going to be just fine. I am much more concered with off-season acquisitions than Leo leaving. I am no baseball expert, but I just think that Leo’s impact on the Braves’ success is vastly overrated. He was an important piece, but not irreplaceable.
They had leverage because they granted permission to talk to Leo. If they had waited the Braves could have claimed tampering, and probably would have won.
I agree with joshg 100%
[Yawn] Wake me when this guy plays a long season. The dude we gave up for Tom Martin was about as impressive as this. He might be good, he might be bad. Who knows? Hopefully, the scouts saw something good.
The Hall of Fame thing… The way I see it, if he’d gone to the Yankees, he was risking something. If he’d fallen on his face there, they’d say that he couldn’t succeed in the spotlight even with the Yankees’ money. If he flops in Baltimore, they’ll say “It’s only Baltimore” and nobody can compete with the Yankees and Red Sox.
So who does everyone have in the Serise? I got Houston in 6
Chipper just seems like a real good team guy. I feel kind of bad for dumping on him when he was butchering left field. His willingness to restructure his contract and move around the diamond to help the team is really above and beyond the call.
I applaud chipper for being willing to make changes in order to win. I only hope that the braves do the right thing and never let him play for another team in his career.
I say CWS in 6. MVP: Contreras.
I’ve been saying White Sox in five, MVP Conteras. I don’t feel that unique anymore.
FYI – From ESPN story:
“The reason I’m coming to Baltimore is because Sam Perlozzo is the manager,” Mazzone said in a conference call Friday.
When I saw this headline, I thought to myself, “Alex!! No!!”
Atlanta man pleads guilty to threatening ESPN announcers
Then I thought, “Heck, could be any of us.”
My MVP is going to be Biggio
Tennessee Brave,
You’re generally right in your assessment of the Orioles unless PGA learns to butt out and they sign some major free agents or make some trades this winter. The outfield is bad, the rotation is worse, the offense is smoke and mirrors, and the clubhouse is entirely dysfunctional. This year’s star, Brian Roberts, may be potentially ruined by that elbow injury and there are no suitable replacements. I’m not sure I would want to coach in this situation, best friend or not, because reports suggest that many of the O’s pitchers are stubborn (Julio, Cabrera) or just rude (Kline, Bedard, etc.). Good luck, Leo.
Note: Sidney Ponson is not on the team anymore. He was released a month ago.
I think we should have a point-counter point segment on here each week with Alex and Stu. What do you guys think about that?
Jenny,
Thanks for pointing out the Sidney Ponson thing, I didn’t make that very clear. I knew he wasn’t an Oriole anymore, but when I said “the likes of Sir Sidney Ponson,” I was making a general reference to the type of pitcher the Orioles are going to throw out there as their Number 1 starter. Should have been more clear on that. Thanks for pointing it out!
Smitty: there are days when I would pay for that comedic entertainment
I’ll go with the Astros in 6…Although in many ways it is still very painful to watch…
UGA fans may see an exBraves prospect on the field this Sat
From FOx:
“And the Arkansas quarterback will be … ? With the season slipping into the abyss, head coach Houston Nutt is juggling the quarterbacks with Robert Johnson coming off another lackluster performance completing 17 of 28 passes for 174 yards and an interception against Auburn. Cole Barthel, Casey Dick, and Alex Mortensen are all being considered, with the most likely scenario a rotation between Mortensen and Johnson. Georgia will have to prepare for both, but that shouldn’t take too long. ”
The Cole Barthel mentioned there was the Braves 2nd rounder in 01 or 02 from an Ala HS. He was a power hitting 3b felled by back problems who has now returned to football, where he was also a big recruit in coming out of HS
Alex Mortensen is Chris Mortensen’s (the ESPN NFL reporter) son…he played at Landmark Christian in Atlanta
It will be interesting to see what Leo can do with Daniel Cabrera. From watching him a couple of times this season, he looks to be so close to breaking out.
Oh, I forgot. Chisox in 7.
I would be all for a weekly point-counterpoint segment. I’m betting Alex WOULD NOT.
Astros in 6, Lidge MVP.
joshg…exactly how much would you pay?
Ok, I just listened to Leo’s conference call on the official website, and while I can’t blame the guy for moving home to coach with his friend, it sounded like professional ambition didn’t play too much into this decision. Basically, the conference call (for those of you who haven’t heard it) was about 15 minutes of Leo saying “the only reason I am here is so I can coach with my BFF Sam Perlozzo.” He didn’t act like he knew one thing about the Orioles pitching staff. This is just my interpretation, but the impression I got was that he wants to go to Baltimore and coach with his man-crush Sam for a couple of years until Sam is fired because the Orioles suck, and then retire.
Stu…after losing the powerball this week it won’t be very much. Sorry, to get your hopes up for a big pay-off.
Hell, if Mazzone only ends up in Baltimore for 2 or 3 years, we should give Dal Canton the job until Perlozzo is fired and then see if Leo wants to come back. 😉
Tennessee Brave
I have to say some things concerning your first post. Leo has stated before that he has never had any intention to be a manager. You talk of him becoming a HOFer in one paragraph, which a non-manager cannot be, and then use a new paragraph to say that he was just a pitching coach and that him being gone shouldn’t hurt the franchise, but isn’t that a little contradictary?
If he was good enough to be a HOFer, then this club will surely miss him.
To Mac and anyone else speculating, I saw nothing in JS’s comments that would insuate that Chipper might be asked to move. I read it as purely about his contractual situation. It look to me like he was saying Chipper has one more year gaurunteed, and two option years, and we have to figure out wether we want to pay him what he wants. They might offer him an extension at a lesser pay to make those option years gauranteed.
There’s no rule saying that a coach can’t be a Hall of Famer. It’s just that none is. When the Hall was opened, most teams only had a couple of coaches, and I don’t believe the roles of pitching or hitting coaches even existed. They probably never even considered the possibility of someone getting in for coaching, since coaches were pretty much either just an ex-player hanging around, a friend of the manager, or someone who would be a manager some day. (Or some combination of the three.) There are a few people in as managers or players who got some extra credit as coaches, a couple who might not be in otherwise.
In a way, it’s similar to relief pitchers. There are only a couple of those in the Hall, and nobody at the time ever thought about putting a career relief pitcher in, but there’s no reason they can’t be, no standards against it.
I would be all for a weekly point-counterpoint segment. I’m betting Alex WOULD NOT.
If you are for something Stu, isn’t it a lock that Alex will be against it? Isn’t that how you guys work?
I see that everyone has thrown out the emotion and started using their noggins. Good bye Leo, good luck and thanks for 15 years of outstanding work.
BP has an interesting writeup on Furcal. Y’all should read it. I’ve ofen accused the Braves for being the antithesis of a stats oriented team and ofen they make decisions that defy logic and scientific reasoning. All that being said the negotiations for Furcal won’t go very far. They’ll do enough analysis to see that 11 million dollars for a guy that doesn’t hit like Andruw ain’t worth it.
KJ elbow chip. I’m like Jenny. So thats why he disappeared in September.
Chipper. Great guy, huh? Really looking out for the organization. Yeah sure. He’s owed 47 million over the next 3 years. 2 of those years are option years with easy to obtain trigger clauses.
Chipper: Lets make it 50 for 5. Take away the options and I’ll call it a career at 38 and retire as the second greatest Braves position player.
Schuerholz: Ok, but you have to switch to 1B too.
Sounds fine to me, Johnny. Heck, the union won’t let you give back money unless you get an extension anyway.
In my opinion, scouts, as well as coaches, should have a place in the hall of fame.
I think we would be extremely foolish to not offer Raffy arbitration. Worst case he takes it and we go 4 million over budget next year and have to trade Thomson. We could use the draft picks regardless.
We don’t have to draft hard to sign players.
We could use the picks to draft some players without signability issues. This would allow us to restock the minor leagues. If they just let him go I’ll be a frustrated man.
My feeling is that the Braves have been less concerned about getting stuck with an arbitration bill and more concerned with going over-budget for signing draft picks. And that that’s why they haven’t been offering arbitration to their free agents lately.
Mac, If I’m the Braves I work with Chipper and make something happen. An extra 5 mil per year might let us afford a real relief pitcher for Chrissakes! He really wants to retire a Brave.
Man I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Mazzone holds his first Oriole Camp Leo.
Leo: Uhhhhh, Sam I thought you said that we had some guys that could throw here.
Sam: Leo, Leo, Leo..Forget about that man. You’re home man. Its gonna be a barrel of laughs getting both of our asses kicked by the Yankees, Sox and the Jays too for that matter. Wait until you meet Mr. Angelos he’s a great guy! Shoot he’ll be down here any minute now to see if you’ve worked a miracle yet!
Leo: Sam, when do I get to talk to our scouting department to see what diamonds in the rough we have to work with.
Sam: Har! Dude you are soooooo funny man. The only scouts we have are a couple of the Angelos boys daughters selling cookies to the players.
Leo: Well I’ll be damned. I didn’t want to be in the Hall of Fame anyway. I hear its overrated.
The Braves didn’t offer Drew arbitration. The bitter taste of the Maddux surprise was still there. Offering Furcal arbitration is an iffy proposition. If he takes it and he award or settlement is 10 million we are screwed for getting a decent relief pitcher and it has a ripple effect across the negotiations with Giles, Ramirez and our other arb eligibles as well as a decision on Thomson.
Johnny, I bet Jenny would LOVE your jokes on the O’s.
In respect of the arbitration, the one thing in common about Drew and Maddux is the they are both represented by Boras. I remember the Braves offered arbitration to Wright and Bryd. Besides, Furcal at this point is a very attractive player to sign, not like when Maddux was getting old and the injury concern surrounding Drew. So, I will not be surprised if the Braves offer Furcal arbitration.
One final note from me on Leo, the following is from AJC:
“Here’s what came into my thinking,” Mazzone said. “No. 1, I’ve been here for 15 years. I know that pretty soon Bobby and John will retire. But I also know that opportunities don’t come along very often where you can work with your best friend in the dugout and also go back to your home state. And those were very important things to me.”
This is really the perfect time for Leo to leave. He is very comfortable working with JS and Bobby, but he doesn’t know exactly when the two will be retiring. So, he takes the initiative to move now so that he still has the chance to earn more money, working with his best friends, and going home. If he waits until JS and Bobby retires, Perlozzo may be out of his position already (not I have anything against Perlozzo, but no manager in MLB has job security except Bobby). If I am Leo, I will be doing the same thing. So, finally, thanks Leo for everything he has done.
Har har, Johnny. Actually, I’m talking with some Orioles fans at the same time and they’re pulling out the same old attendance jokes, so it goes both ways. I kindly pointed out to them that they, of all teams, have no right to make fun of the Braves, not while they’re such a laughingstock. So now I’m having to defend my teams on both fronts. Fun!
When are the Braves actually going to start moving on Furcal? Is there a specific date this stuff starts?
BTW, the poll question on AJC is the dumbest I’ve ever seen, and that’s from a pretty good crop of dumb polls. “Which team will have the lower ERA in 2006, Atlanta or Baltimore?” Just because Leo switched teams? How ignorant. That’s ignoring like 50 different variables.
I really don’t think that’s anymore ignorant than the majority of poll questions on the majority of internet sites. They ignore multiple variables all the time. I don’t think the pollsters are looking for the fans to make a correct guess…I just think they want to know what the fans think.
Jenny, almost all of the rumors and transactions will not happen until after the World Series. If the Braves are playing in the World Series, we wouldn’t have time thinking what to do with Furcal at this moment.
kc-
Or, Leo knows exactly when JS and Bobby are going to retire. That’s what worries me.
The article says two to three years, and I think it’s probably close. The change of guards will be happening soon. I am thinking Jim Fregosi is waiting in the wing as manager if TP is too inexperience. For GM, the Braves have Frank Wren and Dayton Moore to consider. So, there are internal candidates standing by already…
I think you’re reading a bit much into the Chipper comments. Chipper stated he would be willing to restructure his contract, JS was simply addressing that.
but the impression I got was that he wants to go to Baltimore and coach with his man-crush Sam for a couple of years until Sam is fired because the Orioles suck, and then retire.
And earn twice as much while he’s doing it. Money he should have been paid long ago. Good for you Leo, I say.
Jenny,
I’m not sure how ignorant a question that is. Atlanta’s ERA last year was only .5 below Baltimore’s.
The Five Easiest Predictions about the Series:
1. Biggio will get hit by a pitch. Deservedly.
2. Carl Everett ot or Ozzie Guillen will say something goofy. Possibly Carl will say something goofy about Ozzie.
3. El Puque (sic) will pitch and the announcers will use the word “raft” is their recounting of his story.
4. Someone will hit a cheap home run in Fruit Juice Park.
5. One umpire will blow a major call. Well, D’uh!
I don’t care who wins as long as they’re playing NEXT weekend, too!
Climbing sheepishly on the bandwagon, I say ROLL TIDE!
Here is an excerpt from the AJC article about Mazzone leaving:In fact, the club never negotiated to keep Mazzone. “No, because he never asked to,” general manager John Schuerholz said. “It appeared as if Leo was going to go somewhere where he would be able to get more money and a longer contract than we provide, as we understood it. We did not talk to Leo about it. He did not talk to us about it. He just began to pursue those opportunities, with our permission.” What? So a long-time valued employee expresses interest in perhaps moving on, and you expect HIM to ask YOU if you’d care to maybe convince him to stay?
Kirk, don’t worry about the details now. Seriously, I have also come to a conclusion that Leo’s leaving is not an issue of money. Even if JS matches the offer from the O’s, I am sure Leo will still leave because of every other things that matters to him.
They had a gentlemen’s agreement between them. I have no doubt that Mazzone, Cox, and Schuerholz have their exit strategies worked out well in advance.
You know what guys, I am thinking JS will retire when his son reach Atlanta. Jon is not far away. This may be JS’s last winter as the Braves’ GM.
Based on his AAA stats, Jonathan is more than a year away from the bigs. At least, from the Braves, anyway.
I had a strange dream last night. In it, the Astros won the World Series in Game 7, with my cousin pitching. Afterwards, we went to the combination retirement/congratulations party that Craig Biggio was throwing. It had a Hawaiian/tiki-torch/luau theme going for it, and someone hit Biggio with a baseball as a joke while he was making his retirement speech. I’m not joking at all about this.
Does anyone know any good jokes? I’m having a very bad day. I woke up to an e-mail from my mom telling me that our five-year-old tabby cat died suddenly yesterday. I haven’t seen him since I left for school two months ago so I never got to say good-bye. I need something funny.
A South Carolina player and a Clemson player are in a car. Who drives?
The cop.
Thanks, Stu.
No problem. Hope it made you laugh. Sorry for your loss.
Alabama fan walks into a travel agency, says he wants to sign up for the “special SEC cruise.” As soon as he pays his money, the clerk clocks him over the head, ties him up & dumps him into the river behind the office.
A few minutes later, an Auburn fan walks in, says he wants to sign up for the “special SEC cruise.” As soon as he pays his money, the clerk clocks him over the head, ties him up & dumps him into the river behind the office.
After a while, the Auburn fan, floating down the river, catches up with the Alabama fan, who’s also floating down the river.
Bama fan to Auburn fan: Hey, do they serve dinner on this cruise?
Auburn fan: They didn’t last year.
jenny;
We have thirty cats. It kills me to lose even one. So:
The large animals are playing the small animals in a hockey match. They mop the ice with them in the first period, leading 5 goals to zero.
In the second, the Rhino takes the face-off, crosses the blue line and WHAM! a vicious forecheck!
The Elephant scoops up the puck and SLAM! Straight into the boards!
The small animals rally to win 6 to 5!
In the locker room, the coach gives all the credit to their “enforcer”, the Centipede.
“Where was he in the first period?” a reporter asks.
“Getting his ankles taped.”
Sorry ’bout the cat. Got 3 myself: Maddux, Glavine & Smoltz
Did you recently have Glavine declawed?
The Braves didn’t offer Drew arbitration. The bitter taste of the Maddux surprise was still there. Offering Furcal arbitration is an iffy proposition. If he takes it and he award or settlement is 10 million we are screwed
I think they should be thrilled if he took arbitration, but there’s no way he would. Arb would give them a chance to keep him with only a one-year commitment, for a year in which they have insurance money from Hampton. Seems like an easy choice.
Basil,
Let’s just say that Glavine is the cat that’s overfed.
Two UGA grads are out hunting in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other UGA grad takes out his cell phone and calls 911. He tells the operator “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator replies “Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” After a brief silence, the operator hears a gunshot. Then the 2nd UGA grad gets back on the phone and says, “OK, now what?”
bad credit?
Well, that’s going to be deleted.
thanks for deleting that crap.
What was it? I missed it…
One day, a female crab was scuttling along the beach, when all of a sudden she saw a male crab walking forwards instead of sideways like all the other crabs around him. This was so bold, so unexpected, that she immediately fell in love with him.
Later, after many years of married life, she asked him, “Darling, the first time we met I saw you walking forwards. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen you do that. Why don’t you walk forwards any more?”
He replied, “Honey, I could never get THAT drunk again…”
It was a Holocaust joke. You didn’t miss anything.
Gevalt. Thanks for deleting it, Mac.
A grasshopper walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Hey, we got a drink named after you.” The grasshopper says, “Really? You got a drink named Murray?”
Happen to be watching the Tenn/Ala.\ game. I’ve never really understood the rule where if a fumble goes out of bounds in the end zone, it’s a turnover/touchback. I mean, if the ball happened to go out at the 1-foot line, the offense would retain possession. So why doesn’t the offense get to keep the ball at the spot of the fumble or something?
That’s the rule. That’s always been the rule. I am glad that that’s the rule.
Jamie Christiansen can have any woman he wants in this state right now.
probably a lot of the men, too.
Thanks for the jokes, guys. And congrats on Bama winning, Mac. I can’t be too vocal because the guy next door is a huge Tennessee fan and about put his hand through a window, but I bet you were pretty pumped.
Missed the end of the UT/Bama game. Looks like the Tide & the Dogs’ll be limping toward Atlanta.
Don’t know if it will be funny or sad but I can’t wait to see what happens as Leo reunites with Bruce Chen.
I hadn’t even thought of that, Michael. Jeez, I don’t know. Would the Orioles trade Chen?
Oh man, did anyone see the end of the Auburn-LSU game? Screw LSU.
Awful ending for that kicker.
Decent WS opener, although I kept flipping back to the football game. A good SEC game vs 2 teams I kinda don’t care about? Can’t help it. There was more drama in the football game.
Yeah, Mac, and Leo will have Javy as his catcher again!!!
The Dawgs have to get through Jacksonville though. Sorry, us Gator fans never guit…
We might have a shot though. Shockley is out.
Or quit. We can’t spell either.
Rob,
Hate to break the news to you: But even if Florida beats Georgia, the Dogs can still win the SEC. Florida has 2 league losses, remember? But take your best shot…
Pirate Joke!
Guy runs into an old pirate who has a peg leg, a hook for a hand, and an eye patch. After chatting for a bit, he asks “how’d you get the peg leg?”
Pirate: “Aaaaar.. I fell off the boat one day as a lad, and a shark just tore me leg clean off. AAR!”
Guy: “Wow, sorry. What about the hook?”
Pirate: “Aaaaar.. we were attacked one night by two other pirate ships. Some boarded me ship and we went to had-to-hand combat, AAR! I fought off 20 men, but one was able to cut me hand off.”
Guy: “That’s some excited life you must’ve had. Now what about the eye patch?”
Pirate “Aaaaaar.. I was on deck one day and noticed a huge bird soaring above me. I looked up to get a good view of it and SPLAT!, it crapped right in me eye. AAR!”
Guy: “Uh, ok. That’s pretty gross and all, but it doesn’t seem like enough to put your eye out.”
Pirate: “Aaaaaar.. first day with the hook.”
Sorry about the cat, Jenny. Lost my old dog last year, and it still stings. I have a diabetic old cat named Otis (yes, that Otis) who’s still kicking, and next year I hope to get another dog (tentative name: Larry).
You heard about the new pirate movie?
Wait for it…
It’s rated Aar!
Mac!!!!!
On the Sports Reporters show this morning the goofy fat Irish guy from Boston said that Americans only want a USC-Texas National championship game. He says that they’ll accept nothing else! (Lupica argued, go figure)
It’s not like you don’t have enough to do, but if you create a “Bama blog as effective (and addictive) as this one, you may be able to influence the national championship chances of the Tide.
Or do you regret that you have but one blog to give to the country?
In case Smitty stops by today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I leave that to Warren St. John, who’s a lot more influential than I.
FYI–Good story in yesterday’s NY Times (10/22) by St. John about Brodie Coyle. Also, nice to see a rare SEC piece up here.
Jenny?I know this probably won’t go over really big with all of the football fans in here, but I’m going to pass on the funniest thing I’ve heard in awhile anyway.
Football combines two of America worst characteristics?violence and committee meetings.
Anyway, sorry about your cat. I have a cat who is 18 1/2 (he was born in March and I was born the following September, so I’ve never known life without him) and I know how torn up I’m going to be when he finally dies. Not saying good-bye would be terrible, so I can really feel for you.
Thanks Jenny!
Who did the 7th inning stretch trumpet thing during game 2?
Hey, the Astros’ “deadly” bullpen just gave up a grand slam to Paul Konerko! I feel FULLY justified in gloating.
How does it feel? How does it feel? Nyah nyah nyaaah!
Now their All-Star closer just gave up a game-winning homer to a guy who hit no homers during the regular season, Scott Podsednik!
Hee hee hee! Neener neener! Whee!
I was just pointlessly, spitefully rooting against Pettitte getting his Smoltz-tying post-season win.
SO we saw the two biggest hits in White Sox history tonight
That was a HECK of a game. Too bad I missed it all but the ninth inning.
Lidge is having the kind of postseason that broke Wohlers. If the Astros lose the series in Houston, I wonder how much they’ll have left for next year.
Astros have plaed great at hom in the post season. Both games were good, I think the ‘Stros could take 2 of the next three.
Did anyone see the stat that said “11 of the last 12 teams to take a 2-0 lead have gon on to win it all. 1996 Atlanta Braves were the last to blow it.”
I hate FOx
Well, I think Houston has had enough poetic justice to last them the next few seasons. I’ve been rooting for them, which is of course why they’re playing so badly. What was that play Biggio screwed up? How do you just drop a pop fly like that? Great comeback in the top of the ninth. Too bad it didn’t matter; however, if there had to be one guy to hit the game-winning home run, I’m glad it was Scott Podsednik, the only guy on the Sox I actually like.
Haha, check out this photo. That’s some serious manlove from Pierzynski.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/tigers/0510/24/D01-358978.htm
Is Rob Parker the dumbest writer in the country? Discuss amongst yourselves.
This guy is living in dreamland. My favorite line is: “The Braves run is over.” Okay, Expert Rob, good to know where you stand.
Rob Parker can keep dreaming.
If Rob Parker can be a columnist, then anyone can.
An AJC columnist not calling for gloom and doom?
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/sportscolumns/entries/2005/10/20/mazzones_role_o.html
Over at THT, there is a new article handing out “gold gloves” based on a fielding metric one of the contributors developed. My guess is that it may need some work. Take a look at the winner for left field: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/2005-gold-gloves/
This is totally off topic, but have you seen the new Gatorade commerical where they show versions of famous winning big plays that have been modified to be “almost, but not quite” plays? I don’t think I can ever believe anything I see on film again.
Kirk, the worst part about the left field gold glove winner is the paragraph following that. It’s absolutely ludicrous and shows that this particular metric is completely useless.
I don’t know much about the metric, but how does ludicrous extrapolation and flawed analysis based on a metric make the metric itself useless?
I mean, the metric could be useless, or it could be good, but how does pointing to someone making flawed judgements say anything about the metric itself?
I could play leftfield better than Kelly Johnson! Andruw didn’t look to average to me out there this season. Plus they say we should trade Andruw for another outfielder and we should play KJ LAngerhans, and Francour. What are we going to do play a short fileder?
That same metric judged Jeromy Burnitz the best right fielder in the NL and A-Rod the worst 3b in the AL. Thanks for playing, David, but I think your model needs some work.
It did think Furcal was the best SS, though.
Well, JoeyT, the metric led to holding KJ as the best left fielder in baseball. What judgment was made based on that? The judgment to believe the metric? Seriously, I don’t understand your argument, because if the metric produces something this awful, how can it not be soemthing wrong with the metric?
That might be the worst article I’ve ever looked at. Seriously, there is no way that guy could watch baseball at least from time to time and still print that BS. Wow.
Common Sense: 1 Stat Nerds: 0
Someone needs to give that geek an abacus and tell him to start at the beginning. Burnitz can be underated, but those rewards are ridiculous. If its your own numbers, and you keep having to say words like “shock” “wow” “big suprise”, then maybe you should recheck the system.
also, anyone that blogs an article like he’s a pro, and is too ashamed to allow comments, obvioulsy knows he’s full of it.
I must’ve seen A-Rod play 100 games at 3B this year. Overall, he was very good. He had a streak of 60-something games without an error. Unfortunately for the Yanks, his errors came in big spots in big games (early season vs. Boston/post-season vs Anaheim).
I don’t think Johnson was that bad. He made some pretty big mistakes, but he moves well and threw okay. Best left fielder in the majors seems like a stretch.
First off, David isn’t an idiot. He knows a lot about baseball and baseball statistics. I have talked with him several times. He is very willing to listen to critiques. Please, don’t attack someone personally who has put a lot of work into something like this.
Second, I don’t doubt that he’s never watched Kelly Johnson play the outfield. That’s not the point. How many times have you judged a hitter or pitcher you’ve never seen by his stats? If you want to go by opinion metrics, see Tangotiger’s Fan Scouting Report. David set out to design a fielding metric that judges fielders in an objective way using some newly available hit-type data. That is a laudable goal. I don’t think the metric is very reliable.
It is clear that this method has some very serious problems. There’s no way KJ is the top left-fielder in the game. No way. He might be better than we think, but that’s a different story. If you compare the 2004 and 2005 numbers you will see guys flipping from gold gloves to iron gloves and vice versa. For example, Andruw scores near the top in 2004. It certainly needs quite a bit of work. He’s also too hard on PMR. I still think it’s the best.
I suspect the metric is heavily polluted by line drives, which are caught very rarely in the outfield. If you have a few hit right at you, you’re going to look very good in this system.
Stu, your comment wasn’t on the metric, initially, it was:
the worst part about the left field gold glove winner is the paragraph following that. It’s absolutely ludicrous and shows that this particular metric is completely useless.
I don’t see how some rant about trading Andruw, which is what “the paragraph following that” is, has anything to do with the quality of the metric.
The metric seems to be pretty simple. It seems to be recording how many putouts (of) or assists (if) a player makes relative to what would be expected from the ground/fly balls the team faced from batters of each handedness. Besides just trashing a metric as wrong, it might be more constructive to figure out why it’s wrong. Why would KJ have so many more put-outs than one would expect from his position, given the number of flyballs he faced? I think it’s an interesting question.
Ah, I gotcha. I was unclear. “It” was supposed to refer to KJ being thought of as a great left fielder. My mistake.
Gotcha, and I agree. I still think the results are worth discussing, though. Perhaps the author should have framed his article as the outcomes of a specific metric rather than awarding “gold gloves”. That smacks of hubris.
no one knows the 7th inning stretch trumpet guy’s name?
Klesko lead the league in fielding % playing left one year. I think we can all agree that fielding stats are over rated like pitcher’s wins.
Dix, the guy’s name was Chris Botti.
That metric is definitely a problem. It came out with some understandable results, like Furcal and Orlando Hudson, but the rating of KJ and A-Rod was mind-boggling. And then the conclusions drawn after that were equally strange. Trade Andruw to put KJ in center field? Um, NO WAY.
I agree with Joey’s idea. Make it the outcomes of a specific metric, and then discuss the metric, which obviously has big problems if it came up with conclusions like those that can easily be refuted by a casual fan using visual evidence. I don’t like ARod, but there is no way he’s the worst 3B in the AL. Absolutely not. And David Bell? What?
i think the braves need to sign furcal and farnsworth, and drop mike hampton and use the money somewhere better. hell be out all of 2006 and someone needs to replace him.