BBM Powered NL East Rivals Chat:
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WholeCamels: What do you guys think of Fernando Martinez?
Alex Nelson: His approach is a little lacking.
dajafi: Jayson Werth catches the one in the middle of the three balls he sees.
Eric Simon: He needs to play baseball better.
WholeCamels: Good enough.
Eric Simon: And be less injured.
dajafi: Fernando Martinez is Spanish for Chris Snelling, no?
Ted Berg: I think he has gone from overrated to underrated as a prospect, but he shouldn't be in the bigs.
Alex Nelson: Disappointing. He's shown some pop in AAA this year but little patience. And he just can't stay healthy.
Ted Berg: Guy has two good weeks in AAA and they call him up.
Eric Simon: Super Alex Escobar.
WholeCamels: Bad sign for a 22 year old (health).
dajafi: Lefties hitting worse vs. Dickey?
FuquaManuel: So Charlie Manuel loads the lineup with them (lefties)!
Eric Simon: Worse managing Manuel: Charlie or Jerry?
Alex Nelson: Count the rings.
Ted Berg: Gotta be Jerry. Gotta be.
FuquaManuel: Jerry. But Charlie has his moments.
WholeCamels: Winning is great deodorant for the Manuels
Eric Simon: True of a lot of managers, Peter.
dajafi: Charlie is a lousy tactician but a good clubhouse manager. Not sure what Jerry does well.
FuquaManuel: Russ Gload batting 3rd... that about says it, huh?
Eric Simon: Jerry gives good press conferences. That's about it.
Ted Berg: Jerry Manuel pinch hit Omir Santos for Ramon Castro when Santos was in the bullpen not even watching the game and Castro already had two hits.
Ted Berg: I know that was a long time ago but its still damning.
WholeCamels: And Charlie can be loyal to fault, flipside to great clubhouse stuff.
Eric Simon: Least favorite Brave, current and historic?
Ted Berg: Chipper is the obvious call.
Alex Nelson: John Rocker. Followed by Chipper.
FuquaManuel: Chipper, Francoeur, Rocker, Smoltz.
WholeCamels: Oh man... Probably John Smoltz.
Ted Berg: Jeff Blauser. Just because.
WholeCamels: Billy Wagner
Alex Nelson: Mark Lemke.
FuquaManuel: I second Wagner.
dajafi: Larry Jones, Jr.
Eric Simon: Marcus Giles?
FuquaManuel: Melky Cabrera.
WholeCamels: Terry Forrester.
dajafi: Wagner a very close 2.
Eric Simon: Javy Lopez.
WholeCamels: I actually loved Greg Maddux.
Ted Berg: Me too.
dajafi: Thirded
Alex Nelson: Really? Always thought he was kind of a jerk.
Ted Berg: He was a hero to nerds everywhere.
dajafi: I liked Tom Glavine too.
Eric Simon: Oh. Eff Brian Jordan.
FuquaManuel: Does Bobby Cox count as a Brave?
dajafi: Sheffield was a loathesome Brave.
WholeCamels: Deion Sanders might be the worst person ever: a Cowboy AND a Brave!
Eric Simon: That's pretty bad.
Eric Simon: Who's the most popular Phillies closer of the past decade? Least popular?
FuquaManuel: 2008 Lidge, Jose Mesa.
Eric Simon: Can't take one season. All or nothing.
WholeCamels: Scary but Wagner was the best. But loathed him.
dajafi: I hate all closers. Myers was a miserable human being but the least upsetting closer, or Wagner, who also was a bad guy.
WholeCamels: Eric, it’s Tom Gordon by default.
dajafi: Lidge might not record an out.
dajafi: Gordon was likable
WholeCamels: Charlie's guy!
dajafi: Lidge is a good guy, just a bad pitcher.
FuquaManuel: Charlie has more confidence in Lidge than Lidge has in himself.
WholeCamels: Loved Gordon.
dajafi: That loss last night was galling for the involvement of Frenchy, who sucks and is a douche, and KRod, who redefines douche.
Eric Simon: Any douche conversation involving these teams begins and ends with Shane Victorino, right?
WholeCamels: Ha. Are you guys sad that Victorino is out?
FuquaManuel: Victorino wears those hideous Affliction t-shirts, which just about says it.
Ted Berg: And that white suit.
dajafi: Not a huge Victorino fan. He and Jayson Werth are special-needs ballplayers.
WholeCamels: He's eminently replaceable.
Eric Simon: Do Phillies fans dislike Werth?
dajafi: Love/hate with Werth. He's so talented, yet so dumb.
WholeCamels: Reyes is our Victorino, except he's been known to be really good.
Alex Nelson: Is Reyes really that douchey?
Eric Simon: Reyes is a diva. I can see being annoyed by that.
dajafi: Reyes used to anger me because he only hit for power vs the Phils.
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from SBNation.com
1
from Beyond the Box Score
From Our Editors
SubscribeUpdated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
How Well Have Baseball Teams Used Their Payrolls This Season?
We expected the Tampa Bay Rays, whose payroll is dwarfed by the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox in the A.L. East, to do well this year, but unlike the past couple of seasons, their success is no longer an anomaly. Look at the payroll numbers in 2010, and consider these two items:
- We're more likely to see a World Series involving two teams at the bottom five of this list (Rangers, Padres) than one involving two teams from the top five.
- Seven of the top ten teams in payroll have records of .500 or better this year. Six of the bottom ten have .500 or better records.
Take a look at the chart below to see how your team is looking this year in terms of monetary efficiency:
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jon Bois • Aug 14, 2010 6:35 PM EDT
On This Episode Of "When Fan Promotions Go Wrong"
Well, that's it. From now on, no Major League basball player who falls and breaks their arm while running the bases is allowed to just lay there and cry. Thanks to eleven-year-old kid, the pain threshold required of baserunners has officially been raised.
Beecher Halladay, who may or may not be wanted in the Wyoming territory for cattle rustling, took part in a fan promotion at Angels Stadium back in July. He had to run from an arbitrary spot in the outfield to third base in an arbitrary amount of time in order to win some kind of arbitrary t-shirt. Things went south early as Beecher slipped, fell and broke his humerus bone. If you think that was the end of Beecher Halladay, well then you don't know Beecher Halladay:
Continue reading this commentary »
by Sean Keeley • Aug 14, 2010 12:23 AM EDT
Savannah Sand Gnats Are On Fire
Out of the box marked "Absolutely no way it can possibly go horribly wrong," comes this promotion from the Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League. Tomorrow night's game against the Kannapolis Intimidators, Ted Batchelor will run the bases. Nothing too remarkable about that. Except that Batchelor will be in flames when he does so, and "one lucky fan will light Batchelor on fire."
Turns out that Batchelor is an old-hand at this, owning the Guinness World Record for the "Longest full-body burn without supplied oxygen" - 2 minutes, 57 seconds, in case you were wondering - "medium rare," to the rest of us. On that basis, even if executed at the speed of a David Ortiz home-run trot, the stunt should hopefully not pose any major problems to Batchelor's well-being.
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jim McLennan • Aug 13, 2010 6:49 PM EDT
Demotion To AAA Suspends Dayan Viciedo's Pursuit Of History
Craig Robinson can't quite celebrate yet, but he's a little closer to holding onto his record now.
On Friday the Chicago White Sox optioned Dayan Viciedo to AAA Charlotte to make room for Mark Teahen on the roster. Perhaps unknowingly, this roster move suspended Dayan Viciedo's pursuit of Craig Robinson's record for most plate appearances without a walk to begin a season. Robinson's mark, set with the Phillies in 1973, is 148. Viciedo heads to Charlotte with zero walks in his first 82 trips to the plate. Also suspended is Viciedo's pursuit of the career/multi-season mark, set by Alex Sanchez back in the mid-1980s. Over multiple seasons, with multiple teams, Sanchez went walk-less in his first 207 Major League PAs. He is now a roving hitting instructor for the Kansas City Royals. (No, actually he's not.)
Continue reading this commentary »
by Will McDonald • Aug 13, 2010 4:30 PM EDT
With Chipper Jones Out For The Season, Braves Fans Should Get To Know Freddie Freeman
With Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones out for the season and Troy Glaus slumping of late, we turned to John Sickels of SB Nation's Minor League Ball blog to take a hard look at prospect Freddie Freeman, an infielder the Braves may promote to supplement the roster down the stretch.
Freeman was drafted in the second round in 2007, out of high school in Orange, Calif. A 6-foot-5, 220 pounder, he has strong natural power from the left side. He broke out in 2008 with a .316/.378/.521 season for Low-A Rome, but scuffled a bit in 2009 with a wrist injury that cut into his power somewhat. Fully healthy this year, he's hitting .305/.367/.506 for Triple-A Gwinnett, with 15 homers, 37 walks, and 71 strikeouts in 387 at-bats.
Continue reading this commentary »
by John Taylor • Aug 12, 2010 7:37 PM EDT
Chipper Jones' Hall Of Fame Case: Much Stronger Than His Knee
On Thursday, we've learned that Chipper Jones is out for the season with a torn ACL. The short-term consequence is that the Braves, who are trying to send manager Bobby Cox to the playoffs one last time, will have to find a way to fend off the Phillies without him, but just as concerning is the fact that Jones was already considering retirement before the injury occurred.
Color commentary types from opposing teams' broadcasts routinely assert that Jones is a future Hall of Famer, but they tend to toss that praise like confetti. Will he really reach the Hall? Well, to begin, let's take a look at the stats.
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jon Bois • Aug 12, 2010 12:50 PM EDT
Are We Missing A Potential NL Rookie Of The Year?
Quick - which rookie starter, with 20 or more innings of work, has the best ERA in the majors this year? Stephen Strasburg? Not after last night's shellacking by the Marlins. Travis Wood? Close, but no. Jaime Garcia? Wrong. The best ERA belongs to the Diamondbacks' Barry Enright who has quietly posted a 2.64 ERA over his first 47.2 innings in the major-leagues.
And when I say "quietly," I mean that almost no-one outside of Arizona has noticed. No-one, that is except opposing hitters. The Brewers - who managed only three hits in six innings off Enright last night, might know his name. Or the Mets, who could get one run after facing him for eight innings on July 20th. Enright has yet to allow more than three runs in any of his eight starts, and only reached that number once.
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jim McLennan • Aug 11, 2010 6:34 PM EDT
Brett Anderson And The Most Revealing Athlete Twitter Account In The World
Athlete Twitter accounts are wildly popular, as you would expect. Shaquille O'Neal's account has more than three million followers. Nick Swisher's follower total is up to seven figures as well. C.J. Wilson has more followers than Community's Gillian Jacobs. Even a little-known non-prospect like the Texas Rangers' Michael Schlact has a few thousand people following along and hanging on every word.
Why do we follow? If I can speak for everyone, and I most certainly can, we follow because we want to get a glimpse of what these people are like when the games are over and the cameras stop rolling. The average American is as interested in an athlete's personality as he is in the athlete's ability, and Twitter, in theory, may provide a window into a given athlete's true soul.
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jeff Sullivan • Aug 11, 2010 3:15 PM EDT
MLB Attendance Watch: Tough Times In Toronto And Cleveland
A couple of weeks into the baseball season, I wrote a piece on early attendance trends, which at that point indicated a loss of about 700,000 fans on the season. Turns out that was an under-estimate. With the better part of two months left to go, numbers are already down by almost that much, compared to 2009 - projected forward for the rest of the season, another million fans will be lost from the ballpark in 2010.
What's more disturbing is that this comes on the heels of the five million decrease from 2008 to 2009. Obviously, the economy plays a factor, but it's the first time there have been consecutive drops of more than a million since 1950-52. over which time the annual crowds dropped from 17.2 to 14 million. As before, however, the overall number conceals a wide variation among teams.
Continue reading this commentary »
by Jim McLennan • Aug 10, 2010 5:01 PM EDT
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