About once or month or so a side project of mine which may or may not involve wagering requires me to type up a spreadsheet full of baseball players' statistical minutia (trust me, if it wasn't profitable I wouldn't do it) and every so often I stumble upon a little nugget of information. This is why, some time ago, I was able to report in this very blog that Joey Votto hadn't hit an infield pop-up in two years and how I found that absolutely amazing since he's a power(ish) hitter.
Well I have sad news to report. Some time between the last time I did my spreadsheets and tonight, Joey Votto popped out. Sad. And yet we must carry on, so I have found another interesting statistical quirk: Josh Tomlin of the Indians has allowed 15 home runs, but only 14 walks. That's right, more HRs allowed than walks. That has to be rare, right? To the baseball-reference machininator.....
Wow, Bronson Arroyo has a shot too with 25 and 23, but that's already too many home runs to sustain so he's out. Join me please in rooting for Josh Tomlin to become just the 16th player in major league history (who qualifies for the ERA title) to allow more homers than walks in a season. It will at least give us all something to care about as we continue on this hellstorm of a Twins' season. And really, isn't caring what it's all about?
FACT: On that list you will find Brad Radke twice, Carlos Silva twice, and Rick Reed twice with five of those seasons occurring as Minnesota Twins. I don't know if I find that funny sad or funny funny, but either way I'm laughing right now.
FACT #2: The new Harry Potter is awesome. If you don't go see it you are a moron.
Showing posts with label Joey Votto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joey Votto. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Week in Review - 05/16/2011
Seriously you guys, I am an awesome chef. Not that tonight's meal was particularly difficult (steaks for the guys, turkey burgers for the broads all on the grill plus a romaine salad) but it's the attention to detail that's the important thing. Steaks and turkey burgers were all perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned, and although the salad was just romaine, cucumbers, carrots, and edamame, but rather than just lazily slicing the veggies the cukes were peeled, sliced, and quartered and the carrots were shaved, not to mention how I boiled and shelled the edamame. Now that's a salad.
But really, I've mastered the grill and can cook anything to near perfection. I can make a great garlic lemon butter for fish and have an absolutely killer dry rub for chicken wings. I took my dad's ole reliable beef stew recipe and, using nothing more than various spices in my cabinet and a little celery revitalized it to the point where my mom was basically begging me to take home the leftovers. Chili? Please. I've got three different recipes that are all great (a tomato-based one, a beef broth based one, and a simple one that can be made in under an hour). The last time I made pork chops I was begged for the brand name of the seasoning I used (hint: I made it myself. Holla.) I'm basically bulletproof (except for homemade fries on the grill. I can season them to perfection but I can't make them crispy. If anybody can help please e-mail or leave your tip in the comment section).
So in other words, I just had a great meal and am possibly a little drunk. Let's type some words.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Joey Votto. Votto always makes me mad because a year or two ago it looked like both leagues would have a monster hitting first baseman from Canada - Votto for the NL, Morneau in the AL. Only now our version has turned into a chicken-legged little girl with noodle arms, a scrambled brain, and a comprised immune system while Votto has continued to build upon his MVP campaign from last year. He's in the top 5 in basically everything in the NL, he's hitting .350 and leads the league in walks, and has the Reds in first in the NL Central - helped by a couple of walk-off hits Votto put up this week. He also reached base in each of the first 33 games of the year, and hasn't hit an infield pop-up since 2009 (no joke, that's for real). Meanwhile our Canadian is at the point where hitting the ball of the wall is a major accomplishment. Gross. This is like trying to book a Canadian music act and hoping for Rush but getting stuck with Bryan Adams. Yes, Rush is awesome. If you don't think so you probably think Nickelback is awesome too. Actually now that I think about it I think Nickelback is Canadian. I should have just used them instead of Bryan Adams in that analogy. Oh well, too late. To sum up; Awesome: Rush, Joey Votto. Girls: Adams, Nickelback, Morneau.
2. Jose Bautista. It's not often I admit I'm wrong (mostly because I rarely actually am) but I was way off on Bautista. I thought we had a bit of a Brady Anderson situation on our hands last year, but this season Bautista hasn't slowed down as evidenced by his three bombs he hit earlier today against your precious Twins squad (although to be fair hitting them against Duensing and Slowey isn't exactly Spahn and Sain). Actually during the broadcast I heard Dick or Bert mention that since September of 2009 Bautista has hit more home runs than any other player in the league with 77 and the next closest was in the 50s. Since Dick or Bert said it I'm going to assume it's probably not accurate, but the point remains - somebody fixed something in this guys swing and he went from Gary Gaetti to Eddie Matthews (no relation to Cory). I don't think he's going to continue to slug .868 because that's just not possible (right?), but he's become the best hitter in baseball. For your reference, his sixteen home runs are more than Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Cuddy, Kubel, Thome, Delmononucleosis, Valencia, and Denard Span combined. Sick.
3. Russell Westbrook. Since we're talking about things I was wrong about why not go ahead and throw Russell Westbrook out there since he basically completely dominated the Grizzlies (along with Kevin Durant of course, which doesn't hurt). I thought his questionable outside shot and so-so ball handling at just 6-3 meant he'd be a tweener his entire career. Maybe he's still a bit of a tweener but it doesn't matter because he's also unguardable. It apparently doesn't matter that he'd still lose a game of HORSE to Ralph Samspon because he can do things like score 40 in game 3 and drop a triple-double in game 7. Seriously if you were starting a franchise today who would you take over him? James, Wade, Howard, Durant, Rose, and that's it. That's the whole list. It's like you don't really realize how good he is, possibly because he's actually in the shadow of his own teammate, but Westbrook is the real deal. Russell, not Lawrence.
4. Carlos Boozer. What the hell Boozer? For most of the playoffs the easiest bet possible was to take the under on Boozer. It'd usually be something like 15 points, 10 rebounds, or 25 combined and it was always easy money. Now all of a sudden in the last two games he's been an absolute dynamo who can suddenly and inexplicably can any jumper he tosses up. In game 6 vs. Atlanta he scored 23 (on 10-16 shooting), just his second 20 point game since April 2, and then had what looked like an ok game in the opener vs. Chicago (14 pts, 9 rebs) but I swear he scored every single time the Bulls needed a bucket. Plus the guy can't shoot for shit yet hit 50% of his jumpers. Or maybe he can shoot, what the hell do I know? I only watch the NBA in the playoffs, I'm not a psycho.
5. Zach Britton. When your team sucks and you have no hope you need one of two things to keep your fans interested: a superstar or a young dude who could become a superstar (which, incidentally, is why the Twins' season is going to be boring until Gibson gets the call). Luckily for the terrible for years Orioles it looks like they might have finally found a new great hope (since Wieters turned out to be more Drew Butera than Johnny Bench) in Britton. After his nine inning 3-hit/no-run performance against Tampa this week (in which he didn't get the win because the O's offense can give the Twins a run for their anti-money) he ranks 7th in the AL in ERA (2.42) and ninth in WHIP (1.02) and has been the starting pitcher in six of the Orioles' wins (out of 18 total). Dude's looking like he's going to live up to the hype. Hope must be a pretty sweet thing to have. I wouldn't know. And I'm not just talking about sports, I'm talking about life. My tears taste like steak tonight.
WHO SUCKED
1. Ron Gardenhire. I've never made it a secret that I think Gardy is a terrible game manager (and why would I because that should be obvious to even the weird old ladies who watch the Twins), but in particular two things he is seemingly addicted to have been absolutely driving me crazy this year: the early inning sac bunt and the late game pinch run. I can sort of give him a pass on the early inning bunting just because this team is so awful and struggles to score so much that maybe getting a runner on first with nobody out is actually a major accomplishment. I can't, however, excuse the late game pinch running. An example would be Saturday's game, where Justin Morneau doubled with 1 out in a tie game in the ninth and was immediately pulled for Alexi Casilla, meaning that one of the only decent bats on this team (despite what I wrote above) was replaced with a faster version of Nick Punto. How often does that pinch runner even matter? What percentage of possible at-bat outcomes would result in a score by Casilla and not a score by Morneau? How often would Casilla do something stupid like getting picked off? You eliminate an important batter (IN A TIE FREAKING GAME) for, at-best, a marginal uptick in your odds to score. Just so stupid. Of course it didn't matter in this case since the bullpen decided getting batters out was for fags, but the point stands. Retarded move.
2. Rajon Rondo. Rondo was basically the key guy if Boston was going to beat the Heat. The big 3 of Boston aren't as good as Miami's 3 guys (and every nickname I've ever heard for these guys is terrible - Moheatos? Heatles? Please) but could at least hang tight. Rondo's matchups, on the other hand, were very Celtic-favorable because let's face it Bibby is about as mobile as Luka Mirkovich at this point and Mario Chalmers is Mario Chalmers. Unfortunately for Boston Rondo never bothered to show up. I know he was hurt for games 4 and 5 and that's rough but it doesn't excuse the missed lay-ups or somehow continually losing Chalmers on defense. And I really think that if Rondo doesn't figure out how to make a jump shot he's got a limited shelf life. Although I'm already baffled at his success despite having Jeff Hagen type range. Whatever. I don't like 'em. He looks like Momaw Nadon.
3. Alex Gordon. Raise your hand if you thought Alex Gordon's hot start meant that after four disappointing years full of up and downs between Kansas City and AAA Omaha everything suddenly clicked. Ok, now if you're currently raised your hand what I'd like you to do: take your other hand and make a little puppet out of it to distract you, and then use the hand you have raised in the air and grab the nearest gardening tool you can find and stab your face. Honest to god, this guy is awful and he can't even field to make up for it. Just in case you're still on his jock here are his stats this week: 0-4 with 2 Ks vs. Freddy Garcia. 0-1 as a pinch hitter. 1-5 with 2 ks against Ivan Nova. 1-4 with 2 ks against Justin Verlander. 1-4 with a K vs. Brad Penny. Seriously. Outside of Verlander that is a shitbox group of pitchers and yet he managed to get almost no hits while striking out almost constantly. Yes, I think he finally gets it. I'm shocked Dawger and Bogart haven't picked this guy up yet.
4. Jon Lester. Sigh. Why do so many players upon whose bandwagon I thrust myself upon end up letting me down? And I don't even like the Red Sox....hate 'em, in fact and all their obnoxious fans with their stupid accents and overuse of the word wicked and the pink mafia that constantly invades Fenway Park. But that's not the point. The point is that for some reason Lester has decided that getting people out is super overrated. I might be overreacting a bit because it's not like he's been awful - he'd pretty clearly be the best pitcher on the Twins (of course, I think whoever the ace of the St. Paul Saints is might take that honor as well) but he's just not taking that next step I've been waiting for. Everybody I love let's me down. Hear that, kids? You're my last hope for happiness.
5. Miami Heat. Oy. That's it? That's all you can do against Chicago? Sorry Heat, but that was pretty freaking pathetic. I would write more but I'm tired and fuck the Heat. Dwyane Wade, despite one of the most egregious misspellings of our generation, is one of my favorite players in the entire world. Lebron and Bosh? Whores. Weak, sissified whores. And despite Lebron's very stellar performance at the close of the Celtics series he still hasn't shown he can be a big time player. He can defer to Wade all day long, because it's pretty clear who the Alpha is here.
Be honest. You googled Momaw Nadon, didn't you? And then you laughed.
Finally, I just want to mention that this will now be the official video of DWG for when something awesome happens.
But really, I've mastered the grill and can cook anything to near perfection. I can make a great garlic lemon butter for fish and have an absolutely killer dry rub for chicken wings. I took my dad's ole reliable beef stew recipe and, using nothing more than various spices in my cabinet and a little celery revitalized it to the point where my mom was basically begging me to take home the leftovers. Chili? Please. I've got three different recipes that are all great (a tomato-based one, a beef broth based one, and a simple one that can be made in under an hour). The last time I made pork chops I was begged for the brand name of the seasoning I used (hint: I made it myself. Holla.) I'm basically bulletproof (except for homemade fries on the grill. I can season them to perfection but I can't make them crispy. If anybody can help please e-mail or leave your tip in the comment section).
So in other words, I just had a great meal and am possibly a little drunk. Let's type some words.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Joey Votto. Votto always makes me mad because a year or two ago it looked like both leagues would have a monster hitting first baseman from Canada - Votto for the NL, Morneau in the AL. Only now our version has turned into a chicken-legged little girl with noodle arms, a scrambled brain, and a comprised immune system while Votto has continued to build upon his MVP campaign from last year. He's in the top 5 in basically everything in the NL, he's hitting .350 and leads the league in walks, and has the Reds in first in the NL Central - helped by a couple of walk-off hits Votto put up this week. He also reached base in each of the first 33 games of the year, and hasn't hit an infield pop-up since 2009 (no joke, that's for real). Meanwhile our Canadian is at the point where hitting the ball of the wall is a major accomplishment. Gross. This is like trying to book a Canadian music act and hoping for Rush but getting stuck with Bryan Adams. Yes, Rush is awesome. If you don't think so you probably think Nickelback is awesome too. Actually now that I think about it I think Nickelback is Canadian. I should have just used them instead of Bryan Adams in that analogy. Oh well, too late. To sum up; Awesome: Rush, Joey Votto. Girls: Adams, Nickelback, Morneau.
2. Jose Bautista. It's not often I admit I'm wrong (mostly because I rarely actually am) but I was way off on Bautista. I thought we had a bit of a Brady Anderson situation on our hands last year, but this season Bautista hasn't slowed down as evidenced by his three bombs he hit earlier today against your precious Twins squad (although to be fair hitting them against Duensing and Slowey isn't exactly Spahn and Sain). Actually during the broadcast I heard Dick or Bert mention that since September of 2009 Bautista has hit more home runs than any other player in the league with 77 and the next closest was in the 50s. Since Dick or Bert said it I'm going to assume it's probably not accurate, but the point remains - somebody fixed something in this guys swing and he went from Gary Gaetti to Eddie Matthews (no relation to Cory). I don't think he's going to continue to slug .868 because that's just not possible (right?), but he's become the best hitter in baseball. For your reference, his sixteen home runs are more than Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Cuddy, Kubel, Thome, Delmononucleosis, Valencia, and Denard Span combined. Sick.
3. Russell Westbrook. Since we're talking about things I was wrong about why not go ahead and throw Russell Westbrook out there since he basically completely dominated the Grizzlies (along with Kevin Durant of course, which doesn't hurt). I thought his questionable outside shot and so-so ball handling at just 6-3 meant he'd be a tweener his entire career. Maybe he's still a bit of a tweener but it doesn't matter because he's also unguardable. It apparently doesn't matter that he'd still lose a game of HORSE to Ralph Samspon because he can do things like score 40 in game 3 and drop a triple-double in game 7. Seriously if you were starting a franchise today who would you take over him? James, Wade, Howard, Durant, Rose, and that's it. That's the whole list. It's like you don't really realize how good he is, possibly because he's actually in the shadow of his own teammate, but Westbrook is the real deal. Russell, not Lawrence.
4. Carlos Boozer. What the hell Boozer? For most of the playoffs the easiest bet possible was to take the under on Boozer. It'd usually be something like 15 points, 10 rebounds, or 25 combined and it was always easy money. Now all of a sudden in the last two games he's been an absolute dynamo who can suddenly and inexplicably can any jumper he tosses up. In game 6 vs. Atlanta he scored 23 (on 10-16 shooting), just his second 20 point game since April 2, and then had what looked like an ok game in the opener vs. Chicago (14 pts, 9 rebs) but I swear he scored every single time the Bulls needed a bucket. Plus the guy can't shoot for shit yet hit 50% of his jumpers. Or maybe he can shoot, what the hell do I know? I only watch the NBA in the playoffs, I'm not a psycho.
5. Zach Britton. When your team sucks and you have no hope you need one of two things to keep your fans interested: a superstar or a young dude who could become a superstar (which, incidentally, is why the Twins' season is going to be boring until Gibson gets the call). Luckily for the terrible for years Orioles it looks like they might have finally found a new great hope (since Wieters turned out to be more Drew Butera than Johnny Bench) in Britton. After his nine inning 3-hit/no-run performance against Tampa this week (in which he didn't get the win because the O's offense can give the Twins a run for their anti-money) he ranks 7th in the AL in ERA (2.42) and ninth in WHIP (1.02) and has been the starting pitcher in six of the Orioles' wins (out of 18 total). Dude's looking like he's going to live up to the hype. Hope must be a pretty sweet thing to have. I wouldn't know. And I'm not just talking about sports, I'm talking about life. My tears taste like steak tonight.
WHO SUCKED
1. Ron Gardenhire. I've never made it a secret that I think Gardy is a terrible game manager (and why would I because that should be obvious to even the weird old ladies who watch the Twins), but in particular two things he is seemingly addicted to have been absolutely driving me crazy this year: the early inning sac bunt and the late game pinch run. I can sort of give him a pass on the early inning bunting just because this team is so awful and struggles to score so much that maybe getting a runner on first with nobody out is actually a major accomplishment. I can't, however, excuse the late game pinch running. An example would be Saturday's game, where Justin Morneau doubled with 1 out in a tie game in the ninth and was immediately pulled for Alexi Casilla, meaning that one of the only decent bats on this team (despite what I wrote above) was replaced with a faster version of Nick Punto. How often does that pinch runner even matter? What percentage of possible at-bat outcomes would result in a score by Casilla and not a score by Morneau? How often would Casilla do something stupid like getting picked off? You eliminate an important batter (IN A TIE FREAKING GAME) for, at-best, a marginal uptick in your odds to score. Just so stupid. Of course it didn't matter in this case since the bullpen decided getting batters out was for fags, but the point stands. Retarded move.
2. Rajon Rondo. Rondo was basically the key guy if Boston was going to beat the Heat. The big 3 of Boston aren't as good as Miami's 3 guys (and every nickname I've ever heard for these guys is terrible - Moheatos? Heatles? Please) but could at least hang tight. Rondo's matchups, on the other hand, were very Celtic-favorable because let's face it Bibby is about as mobile as Luka Mirkovich at this point and Mario Chalmers is Mario Chalmers. Unfortunately for Boston Rondo never bothered to show up. I know he was hurt for games 4 and 5 and that's rough but it doesn't excuse the missed lay-ups or somehow continually losing Chalmers on defense. And I really think that if Rondo doesn't figure out how to make a jump shot he's got a limited shelf life. Although I'm already baffled at his success despite having Jeff Hagen type range. Whatever. I don't like 'em. He looks like Momaw Nadon.
3. Alex Gordon. Raise your hand if you thought Alex Gordon's hot start meant that after four disappointing years full of up and downs between Kansas City and AAA Omaha everything suddenly clicked. Ok, now if you're currently raised your hand what I'd like you to do: take your other hand and make a little puppet out of it to distract you, and then use the hand you have raised in the air and grab the nearest gardening tool you can find and stab your face. Honest to god, this guy is awful and he can't even field to make up for it. Just in case you're still on his jock here are his stats this week: 0-4 with 2 Ks vs. Freddy Garcia. 0-1 as a pinch hitter. 1-5 with 2 ks against Ivan Nova. 1-4 with 2 ks against Justin Verlander. 1-4 with a K vs. Brad Penny. Seriously. Outside of Verlander that is a shitbox group of pitchers and yet he managed to get almost no hits while striking out almost constantly. Yes, I think he finally gets it. I'm shocked Dawger and Bogart haven't picked this guy up yet.
4. Jon Lester. Sigh. Why do so many players upon whose bandwagon I thrust myself upon end up letting me down? And I don't even like the Red Sox....hate 'em, in fact and all their obnoxious fans with their stupid accents and overuse of the word wicked and the pink mafia that constantly invades Fenway Park. But that's not the point. The point is that for some reason Lester has decided that getting people out is super overrated. I might be overreacting a bit because it's not like he's been awful - he'd pretty clearly be the best pitcher on the Twins (of course, I think whoever the ace of the St. Paul Saints is might take that honor as well) but he's just not taking that next step I've been waiting for. Everybody I love let's me down. Hear that, kids? You're my last hope for happiness.
5. Miami Heat. Oy. That's it? That's all you can do against Chicago? Sorry Heat, but that was pretty freaking pathetic. I would write more but I'm tired and fuck the Heat. Dwyane Wade, despite one of the most egregious misspellings of our generation, is one of my favorite players in the entire world. Lebron and Bosh? Whores. Weak, sissified whores. And despite Lebron's very stellar performance at the close of the Celtics series he still hasn't shown he can be a big time player. He can defer to Wade all day long, because it's pretty clear who the Alpha is here.
Be honest. You googled Momaw Nadon, didn't you? And then you laughed.
Finally, I just want to mention that this will now be the official video of DWG for when something awesome happens.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Week in Review - 7/12/2010
Crap. Really, really wanted the Twins to get Cliff Lee, but you can't fault them. The Rangers have one of, if not the, best and deepest minor league systems and they weren't afraid to open up the wallet, so to speak, to get Cliff Lee.
Justin Smoak has a chance to be a future star (although this is a pretty fantastic post from Baseball Time in Arlington explaining why he won't be), Blake Beavan doesn't make any top 100 lists put is a former first round pick who is putting up excellent minor league numbers, and the two "throw-ins" look alright as well. Josh Lueke looks like a decent relief prospect with a 2.11 ERA in 32 appearances this year between A and AA (and a rape charge on his record to boot), and Matthew Lawson is putting up solid numbers as a second basemen at AA.
This was an offer that I don't think the Twins could have matched, even if they had tried. And so it's time to look towards plan B, assuming they aren't giving up on the season although they probably should. There are other options (Dan Haren, Roy Oswalt, Ben Sheets, Ted Lilly, etc.) which I plan to break down later this week. Maybe. No promises.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. John Danks. On top of the Twins losing out on Cliff Lee, I'm getting a very, very bad feeling about the White Sox, capped off by Danksy tossing a ridiculous two-hitter against the Angels, which was extremely fortunate because Ervin Santana threw a three hitter at the same time but happened to give up a run. And they just keep winning like that - they're pitching is completely ridiculous. Hell, Gavin Floyd was another name considered for the Awesome column thanks to his 15 innings pitched and 2 runs allowed this week. Their pitching is out of this world good right now, and pitching wins championships as everybody knows. Even with Peavy now down for the year they're going to fine because the clown they called up to take his place looked just fine and dandy on Sunday. Do you want to know the last time the Sox gave up five runs or more since June 9th (the beginning of their incredible run) Five. The Twins in that same time frame? 19. I'm calling it now, Sox win the division, Twins finish fourth.
2. Adam Dunn. Speaking of the White Sox freaking me out with their looking goodness, I am convinced they are going to end up with Adam Dunn. The same Adam Dunn who is currently destroying pitchers' arms (and souls). Well, maybe not consistently doing it, but when he is on he just crushes souls. Such as on Wednesday when he went 3-4 with three home runs, driving in 5 of the team's 7 runs in a one-run victory of San Diego, or on Friday when he went 3-4 with two home runs and 3 RBI. Of course, he went 1-9 with seven strikeouts in the three other games this week, but who cares? The Twins are stuck with guys like Cuddyer who will go 1-9 with seven strikeouts in three games and not even bother giving you a single multi-home run game, let alone two. I love watching this Big Donkey hit, but I'm going to hate watching him tee off on Baker, Blackburn, and Slowey when he's on the Sox. Seriously, can you even imagine?
3. Buster Posey. If we're talking guys who are tearing the cover off the ball, this guy is absolutely on fire, only it's some kind of fire never been seen before. He had a hit in every game this week, and games where he went 4-4 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, 4-5 with a double and a home run, 2-4 with a HR (twice), and 1-3 with a triple and 2 RBI. For the week he hit .566 with those 5 home runs and 14 RBI, and is now at .350/.389/.569 with 7 home runs in just 137 at-bats, and has pretty much single-handedly taken the Giants from a team with good pitching to a team with good pitching and one good hitter (ok, fine, three). I'm still expecting them to fade as the season continues on, but Posey is fun as hell to watch, either way. Just think how bad it would suck to have him on your fantasy team and sitting on the bench, like a guy I know.
4. Travis Wood. Because the Reds don't already have enough good, young arms, Wood went out and in his third ever professional start threw 8 perfect innings against the Phillies. He gave up a double in the ninth to break it up, but ending up getting threw 9 with just 1 hit allowed vs. 8 strikeouts. Of course, Roy Halladay matched him with 9 shutout innings so he didn't get the win, but even so, quite the nice outing. So now they have Wood, rookie-of-the-year candidate Mike Leake, coming-into-his-own Johnny Cueto, cuban sensation Aroldis Chapman, impressive in his debut Matt Maloney, stud if he can return from injury Edinson Volquez, and killer stuff if he can figure out how to stay healthy Homer Bailey. And I would trade any single Twins' pitcher for any one of them.
5. Steve Stricker. Yes, I know it was the John Deere Classic and I know nobody cares about that, and I know Stricker was the best player in this week's field by far, but the way he demolished that course was pretty incredible. Every hole was the same: middle of the fairway - approach to within 10 feet - make putt, on his way to a 60-66-62-70, which probably would have been even more impressive if he hadn't had a six shot lead into Sunday and gone into coast mode, resulting in tournament total of 26 under par and a 2-shot victory over Paul Goydos, who also played incredibly over the weekend, four shots clear of third place Jeff Maggert, but was just out-incredibled by Stricker. Normally I'd say play like that would make him a favorite for the next major, but this time the next major is the British Open and all the normal rules of good golf go right out the window. I do know who is going to win, by the way. Well, I have it narrowed to two. Stay tuned.
WHO SUCKED
1. Twins. Forget Cliff Lee, maybe it's time to just become sellers? Pavano could probably bring back a prospect or two from the other teams that missed out on Cliff Lee. I'm sure somebody would be willing to take on a year and a half of Cuddyer's contract for a stretch run here. If they don't think J.J. Hardy is the long-term answer he'd probably be tradeable, along with O-Hud. Jesse Crain might have a little bit of value. Jim Thome could help somebody out. There a ton of options, which they should consider because it's obvious this team completely sucks. There are only three guys on this team who can hit, and one has a headache, one is apparently so immobile he couldn't even fill in at first base for one game, and the other one couldn't run a 20-yard dash in under 5 seconds, let alone a 40. None of the starters can pitch, the two most important relievers have below average stuff, and the manager is a moron. God I hate this team so much.
2. LA Clippers. A lot of teams have been clearing cap room with an eye on this offseason for several years, and with the top 3 prizes all picking the Heat, naturally some teams are going to end up disappointed. The Bulls made a ton of moves with the sole purpose of clearing space, but at least grabbed Carlos Boozer. The Knicks were obviously hoping for LeBron, but getting Amar'e Stoudamire softens that blow. The Hawks were maybe the biggest winner, managing to get Joe Johnson to stay with them (Pierce and Nowitzki were never leaving.) The Nets whiffed big-time, but have responded by signing quality pieces Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro, and Travis Outlaw and still have $19 million left and are looking like a front-runner for Udonis Haslem - not to mention they picked up Derrick Favors already this offseason. The Clip show, on the other hand, drafted auto-bust Al-Farouq Aminu and then threw $20 million at Randy freakin' Foye and Ryan Gomes. And then they signed Brian Cook, too, which I'm sure is what will put them over the top. Look out Lakers.
3. Kevin Millwood. All Millwood had to do was pitch halfway decent this year, wait for the trade deadline to come around, and get traded to a contender of his choosing thanks to his being a free agent next year and a limited no-trade clause in his contract. Instead, he's completely sucked, racking up an ERA of 5.77 while losing nearly every game he's pitched. So then he trots out there on Monday against the Tigers, gets destroyed in his one inning of work for four hits and five runs, gets yanked, and then got placed on the disabled list with a "strained forearm." Yeah, I'm sure that's it. It has nothing at all to do with the fact that he hasn't pitched a good game since May. You know what Millwood is perfect for now? He'd be perfect as the kind of guy the Twins will trade for.
4. Brandon League. The only reason I've even heard of this guy is because I heard on the radio that if the Twins had actually offered both Ramos, Hicks, and one of the starters for Cliff Lee, they might ask for League back to help in the bullpen as well. Ha ha. Or maybe the real secret was the Mariners wanted to get of League, because this week he gave up as many runs as outs he recorded (5 to 5), including a game against the Royals on Wednesday where he came in with a 3-2 lead in the 8th, walked David DeJesus and Billy Butler, and then gave up a three-run homer to Alberto Callaspo, and then was yanked. Actually, come to think of it, he'd pretty much fit in perfectly as a Twin.
5. John Wall. I got most of the first quarter of the Wizards' first summer league game against the Warriors, and I saw Wall turn it over four times (he finished the game with 8), including an easy pass to a wide open dude in the corner which he turned unnecessarily into a no-look pass before whipping into the corner with Nuke LaLoosh-like accuracy. I also saw him take an open 18-footer from straight on which hit all backboard, and a three-pointer which barely grazed front rim. Not to mention getting called for a foul on the perimeter trying to check noted offensive star Brian Chase (note: I have no idea who this is). It's now clear to me that we are heading for a bust of epic proportions here, the likes of which we haven't seen since Ryan Leaf or Dennis Hopson. I'm talking like, the kind of bust that Stephen Curry would have been if he had been drafted by a team other than Golden State.
This was an odd week, with lots of worthy people I couldn't find room for in the Awesome section. So honorable mentions to:
Spain, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Matt Garza, Michael Beasley/David Kahn, Joey Votto, Roy Halladay, Chris Tillman, Devin Ebanks, Derrick Caracter, Diego Forlan, Huston Street, Bronson Arroyo, Johan Santana, Nick Markakis, Magnum Rolle, Madison Bumgarner, Max Scherzer, A-Rod, Lance Stephenson, Roy Oswalt, Stephen Strasburg, and, of course
Justin Smoak has a chance to be a future star (although this is a pretty fantastic post from Baseball Time in Arlington explaining why he won't be), Blake Beavan doesn't make any top 100 lists put is a former first round pick who is putting up excellent minor league numbers, and the two "throw-ins" look alright as well. Josh Lueke looks like a decent relief prospect with a 2.11 ERA in 32 appearances this year between A and AA (and a rape charge on his record to boot), and Matthew Lawson is putting up solid numbers as a second basemen at AA.
This was an offer that I don't think the Twins could have matched, even if they had tried. And so it's time to look towards plan B, assuming they aren't giving up on the season although they probably should. There are other options (Dan Haren, Roy Oswalt, Ben Sheets, Ted Lilly, etc.) which I plan to break down later this week. Maybe. No promises.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. John Danks. On top of the Twins losing out on Cliff Lee, I'm getting a very, very bad feeling about the White Sox, capped off by Danksy tossing a ridiculous two-hitter against the Angels, which was extremely fortunate because Ervin Santana threw a three hitter at the same time but happened to give up a run. And they just keep winning like that - they're pitching is completely ridiculous. Hell, Gavin Floyd was another name considered for the Awesome column thanks to his 15 innings pitched and 2 runs allowed this week. Their pitching is out of this world good right now, and pitching wins championships as everybody knows. Even with Peavy now down for the year they're going to fine because the clown they called up to take his place looked just fine and dandy on Sunday. Do you want to know the last time the Sox gave up five runs or more since June 9th (the beginning of their incredible run) Five. The Twins in that same time frame? 19. I'm calling it now, Sox win the division, Twins finish fourth.
2. Adam Dunn. Speaking of the White Sox freaking me out with their looking goodness, I am convinced they are going to end up with Adam Dunn. The same Adam Dunn who is currently destroying pitchers' arms (and souls). Well, maybe not consistently doing it, but when he is on he just crushes souls. Such as on Wednesday when he went 3-4 with three home runs, driving in 5 of the team's 7 runs in a one-run victory of San Diego, or on Friday when he went 3-4 with two home runs and 3 RBI. Of course, he went 1-9 with seven strikeouts in the three other games this week, but who cares? The Twins are stuck with guys like Cuddyer who will go 1-9 with seven strikeouts in three games and not even bother giving you a single multi-home run game, let alone two. I love watching this Big Donkey hit, but I'm going to hate watching him tee off on Baker, Blackburn, and Slowey when he's on the Sox. Seriously, can you even imagine?
3. Buster Posey. If we're talking guys who are tearing the cover off the ball, this guy is absolutely on fire, only it's some kind of fire never been seen before. He had a hit in every game this week, and games where he went 4-4 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, 4-5 with a double and a home run, 2-4 with a HR (twice), and 1-3 with a triple and 2 RBI. For the week he hit .566 with those 5 home runs and 14 RBI, and is now at .350/.389/.569 with 7 home runs in just 137 at-bats, and has pretty much single-handedly taken the Giants from a team with good pitching to a team with good pitching and one good hitter (ok, fine, three). I'm still expecting them to fade as the season continues on, but Posey is fun as hell to watch, either way. Just think how bad it would suck to have him on your fantasy team and sitting on the bench, like a guy I know.
4. Travis Wood. Because the Reds don't already have enough good, young arms, Wood went out and in his third ever professional start threw 8 perfect innings against the Phillies. He gave up a double in the ninth to break it up, but ending up getting threw 9 with just 1 hit allowed vs. 8 strikeouts. Of course, Roy Halladay matched him with 9 shutout innings so he didn't get the win, but even so, quite the nice outing. So now they have Wood, rookie-of-the-year candidate Mike Leake, coming-into-his-own Johnny Cueto, cuban sensation Aroldis Chapman, impressive in his debut Matt Maloney, stud if he can return from injury Edinson Volquez, and killer stuff if he can figure out how to stay healthy Homer Bailey. And I would trade any single Twins' pitcher for any one of them.
5. Steve Stricker. Yes, I know it was the John Deere Classic and I know nobody cares about that, and I know Stricker was the best player in this week's field by far, but the way he demolished that course was pretty incredible. Every hole was the same: middle of the fairway - approach to within 10 feet - make putt, on his way to a 60-66-62-70, which probably would have been even more impressive if he hadn't had a six shot lead into Sunday and gone into coast mode, resulting in tournament total of 26 under par and a 2-shot victory over Paul Goydos, who also played incredibly over the weekend, four shots clear of third place Jeff Maggert, but was just out-incredibled by Stricker. Normally I'd say play like that would make him a favorite for the next major, but this time the next major is the British Open and all the normal rules of good golf go right out the window. I do know who is going to win, by the way. Well, I have it narrowed to two. Stay tuned.
WHO SUCKED
1. Twins. Forget Cliff Lee, maybe it's time to just become sellers? Pavano could probably bring back a prospect or two from the other teams that missed out on Cliff Lee. I'm sure somebody would be willing to take on a year and a half of Cuddyer's contract for a stretch run here. If they don't think J.J. Hardy is the long-term answer he'd probably be tradeable, along with O-Hud. Jesse Crain might have a little bit of value. Jim Thome could help somebody out. There a ton of options, which they should consider because it's obvious this team completely sucks. There are only three guys on this team who can hit, and one has a headache, one is apparently so immobile he couldn't even fill in at first base for one game, and the other one couldn't run a 20-yard dash in under 5 seconds, let alone a 40. None of the starters can pitch, the two most important relievers have below average stuff, and the manager is a moron. God I hate this team so much.
2. LA Clippers. A lot of teams have been clearing cap room with an eye on this offseason for several years, and with the top 3 prizes all picking the Heat, naturally some teams are going to end up disappointed. The Bulls made a ton of moves with the sole purpose of clearing space, but at least grabbed Carlos Boozer. The Knicks were obviously hoping for LeBron, but getting Amar'e Stoudamire softens that blow. The Hawks were maybe the biggest winner, managing to get Joe Johnson to stay with them (Pierce and Nowitzki were never leaving.) The Nets whiffed big-time, but have responded by signing quality pieces Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro, and Travis Outlaw and still have $19 million left and are looking like a front-runner for Udonis Haslem - not to mention they picked up Derrick Favors already this offseason. The Clip show, on the other hand, drafted auto-bust Al-Farouq Aminu and then threw $20 million at Randy freakin' Foye and Ryan Gomes. And then they signed Brian Cook, too, which I'm sure is what will put them over the top. Look out Lakers.
3. Kevin Millwood. All Millwood had to do was pitch halfway decent this year, wait for the trade deadline to come around, and get traded to a contender of his choosing thanks to his being a free agent next year and a limited no-trade clause in his contract. Instead, he's completely sucked, racking up an ERA of 5.77 while losing nearly every game he's pitched. So then he trots out there on Monday against the Tigers, gets destroyed in his one inning of work for four hits and five runs, gets yanked, and then got placed on the disabled list with a "strained forearm." Yeah, I'm sure that's it. It has nothing at all to do with the fact that he hasn't pitched a good game since May. You know what Millwood is perfect for now? He'd be perfect as the kind of guy the Twins will trade for.
4. Brandon League. The only reason I've even heard of this guy is because I heard on the radio that if the Twins had actually offered both Ramos, Hicks, and one of the starters for Cliff Lee, they might ask for League back to help in the bullpen as well. Ha ha. Or maybe the real secret was the Mariners wanted to get of League, because this week he gave up as many runs as outs he recorded (5 to 5), including a game against the Royals on Wednesday where he came in with a 3-2 lead in the 8th, walked David DeJesus and Billy Butler, and then gave up a three-run homer to Alberto Callaspo, and then was yanked. Actually, come to think of it, he'd pretty much fit in perfectly as a Twin.
5. John Wall. I got most of the first quarter of the Wizards' first summer league game against the Warriors, and I saw Wall turn it over four times (he finished the game with 8), including an easy pass to a wide open dude in the corner which he turned unnecessarily into a no-look pass before whipping into the corner with Nuke LaLoosh-like accuracy. I also saw him take an open 18-footer from straight on which hit all backboard, and a three-pointer which barely grazed front rim. Not to mention getting called for a foul on the perimeter trying to check noted offensive star Brian Chase (note: I have no idea who this is). It's now clear to me that we are heading for a bust of epic proportions here, the likes of which we haven't seen since Ryan Leaf or Dennis Hopson. I'm talking like, the kind of bust that Stephen Curry would have been if he had been drafted by a team other than Golden State.
This was an odd week, with lots of worthy people I couldn't find room for in the Awesome section. So honorable mentions to:
Spain, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, Matt Garza, Michael Beasley/David Kahn, Joey Votto, Roy Halladay, Chris Tillman, Devin Ebanks, Derrick Caracter, Diego Forlan, Huston Street, Bronson Arroyo, Johan Santana, Nick Markakis, Magnum Rolle, Madison Bumgarner, Max Scherzer, A-Rod, Lance Stephenson, Roy Oswalt, Stephen Strasburg, and, of course
BIEBER FEVER!
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