Bye Bye Andy.
He's gone forever
the dominican phenom
yes, marte partay
over 3 years ago
obobcatu
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You don’t drink on Saturday afternoons while writing haikus?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
by Buckeye Brad on Oct 11, 2008 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
i’m bored
Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.
by Gradyforpresident on Oct 11, 2008 6:42 PM EDT reply actions
I’d still give him a little more time next year Going back to the limited at-bats, but still, I am not quite ready to part with him yet.
me neither. Part me of me says, get rid of the guy, but then again, I also feel that he could still become a solid player. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him hit 20 bombs for whatever team he ends up with.
How long can we complain about a hole at third base if we throw them away?
Not only should we have started Marte there this season, he should have been backed up by Branyan.
Unless Russell has a skinny city-slicker sort of mustache (in which case he would sit), he would have played third base while Marte sat. Marte will not play so long as there are other options.
Russ got a bad rap, apparently everywhere, or maybe he’s just an incredible jerk that nobody can stand to be around.
All I know is, third basemen who can slug 500 basically in their sleep do not, in fact, grow on trees, but you would think that they did from the way this guy has been tossed around like so much Josh Phelpsstuff.
Branyan’s status is puzzling – but the way all of baseball ignored Barry Bonds this season is criminal. There’s a guy who can OPS 1.000 while on the DL – and nobody even talks to him? Something just doesn’t add up.
Resident LGT beer kinda sewer
I wonder if he can play 3rd basebase :-)
by world dictator on Oct 15, 2008 12:11 AM EDT up reply actions
Things that didn’t add up in 2008, in order of mystery:
(1) Wedge’s treatment of Marte.
(2) Hafner’s shoulder surgery and kryptonite fall from grace.
(3) ?
(4) Barry Bonds.
Really that much of a mystery? Overwork for a guy with a screw in his elbow? Also a guy who seemed opposed to throwing anything but the same pitch over and over?
2007 BABIP: .240
2008 BABIP: .311
2007 strand-percentage: 86.4%
2008 strand-percentage: 70.1%
2007 homers per fly ball: 4.7%
2008 homers per fly ball: 12.2%
Yes, his strikeout rate fell and walk rate rose, too, so he was definitely a worse pitcher in 2008. But he also benefited from a lot of positive random variation in 2007, which regressed in 2008.
by Peter Bendix on Oct 16, 2008 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Where do you get your BABIP data? I’m seeing .332 and .246 in 2008 and 2007, respectively. I was looking at firstinning.com. Although now I look at Baseball Prospectus, and while I’m not a subscriber I can still see that they have his 2007 BABIP at .242. Hmm.
His GB% stayed the same. He issued walks at a higher rate than at any point in his career.
I see the numbers and I understand what you’re saying, but I think the mystery is WHY they fluctuated so wildly. Amazing luck followed immediately by the worst luck seems to fall short.
Steel Nick
I got my data from Hardball Times. Odd that it’s different from other sources, though – I have no idea why.
I don’t think it’s odd to see the stats that aren’t as much within a pitcher’s control – BABIP, LOB%, HR/FB – fluctuate a lot. The fact that his K rate went down and BB rate went up could be indicative of his being overworked previously, or his back issues.
Or, it could be a sample size thing. It’s not like his fundamental pitching ability really changed THAT much.
Interestingly, his fastball velocity was normal, but he threw his fastball less often than in the past.
by Peter Bendix on Oct 16, 2008 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions
I refer back to this article from July 19th, where it is noted that he tweaked his mechanics this year to compensate for a back injury/issues. This alone can have severe effects, and at least he didn’t suffer an injury from the change in mechanics (I imagine the mechanics change was done with the help of the coaching staff so this may have helped in reducing the chance for injury).
Hello Peter,
I wouldn’t totally discount the idea that the long 2007 season may have affected him – after all, 2008 was (I believe) worse than his seasons before 2007.
Additionally, it took a while before Perez and Lewis got on track as well, then Perez seemed to run out of gas before the season ended as well.
It will be interesting to see how they respond in 2009.
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
How about Jake Westbrook’s lightbulb filament season … burning brightly before snapping in half? Don’t guys usually suck before they need surgery, as opposed to developing devastating off-speed stuff?
by fleerdon on Oct 15, 2008 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions
No, it wouldn’t, but the platoon would have been the fallback plan, just in case starting Marte 5-6 times a week isn’t working out or (ahem) we have a massive power outage elsewhere in the lineup. We also would have saved Blake’s salary and/or traded him for something else of value.
But at least we can think about it this way.
Not playing Marte = Playing Blake = Increase Blake’s value = Acquiring Santana
Gotta admit, it’s a decent consolation prize
by world dictator on Oct 13, 2008 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions
I still don’t get it
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 13, 2008 9:22 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
All I can think about is that scene where Michael sings “Goodbye Toby” in the season finale of of the Office.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
by Turkmenbashi on Oct 17, 2008 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
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