As sad and pathetic as it is there are actually psychopaths out there who truly believe Ron Gardenhire is a great manager. Well to those of you who are out there I am sorry to tell you that a great big giant fist just ripped its way through the anus of your argument today, because Gardy started Ben Revere in right field tonight against the Red Sox.
Assuming you have heard of baseball you are no doubt aware that one of the main prerequisites for a right fielder is a good arm, owing to the fact that at times you'll have to make the throw from right field to third base - basically the longest throw in the game. In fact I'd say the only prerequisite to playing right field is having a decent arm given the list of nearly immobile stiffs who've patrolled right in baseball history. Instead tonight Gardy put Ben Revere out there, the player with one of the worst outfield arms in history and the guy who throws the ball in a way generally reserved for women, children, invalids, and Shannon Stewart.
And who was in left field, typically the outfield position given to the player with the worst arm? Delmon Young. Now, Delmon's arm will never be confused with Roberto Clemente or Carlos Gomez or that kid from that movie, but just watching the games you know his arm is far, far better than Revere's. We can even go into nerd stats a bit to prove this, although full disclaimer: I don't know how good these fielding stats are, but they're better than nothing.
According the the Arm Runs Above Average stat Delmon's arm has been that of a completely average outfielder this year, at 0.1 runs better than the average, and over his career his arm has actually been very good, mostly due to a couple of great throwing years in Tampa, including 2007 where he threw out an impressive 16 runners on the bases, all of which coming as a DUH DUH DUH right fielder.
Revere's arm on the other hand has been 2 runs worse than average, meaning his arm alone has given teams 2 more runs than an average arm would so far this year, so you're looking that an arm that costs the team about 4 runs in a full season, and that's as a CF/LF (note: he more than makes up for that with his range, but that's not what we're talking about).
So we have clear evidence, both quantitative as well as qualitative, that Revere has a terrible arm and much worse than Delmon Young. So why would Revere play in right and Young in left? I can think of two reasons, and neither is flattering for your favorite manager.
The first possibility is that Delmon Young said "I'm not comfortable playing Right Field" which doesn't make any sense because that was his main position when he was with Tampa. It also doesn't make sense because when a player says "I don't want to do this" when it's something that clearly would help the team a good manager would say "Tough, do it or sit or be traded." Since we've seen Gardy roll over like a frenchman in the past when it comes to letting the players run the team this is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility.
The other reason I can come up with is that Gardenhire is a moron. You know how a lot of times in the past (and present) whenever he'd do the lineup if somebody was filling in for a regular he'd just put them in the same spot in the batting order? So like, last year if Casilla was playing for Hudson he'd hit Casilla second even though it greatly weakened the lineup or Mike Redmond batted third a bunch of times when Mauer would sit? I'm betting there is a good chance this is the same stupid crap. Kubel would normally play RF but with a tough lefty on the mound he's sitting for Revere (who, by the way, is also left-handed and is hitting 73 points worse vs. lefties than Kubel this year). So rather than do the smart, logical thing and shift Delmon to right and play Revere in left, he just plugs Revere into Kubel's outfield spot because apparently not only is shuffling a lineup similar to solving Fermat's Theorem, but changing around the outfield is akin to figuring out the alchemical fucking formula to turn lead into gold.
Honest to god. So the two options are either the manager is incompetent and lazy, or spineless and stupid. Manager of the Year though, and they can't take that away from him. I looked it up.
- As long as I'm here I might as well tell you guys about the latest Danny Dan Gladdenism I heard on the radio, and no I have no idea why I've heard so much Twins radio this year, it's not like I'm a long haul trucker. So about a week ago whoever the new announcer guy is brings up the Moneyball movie that's coming out. Gladden says, and I'm paraphrasing here but the the same points remain, "Yeah I know about Moneyball, that book by Billy Beane. I just don't think that kind of stuff works. I'm not going to see that movie. I didn't read the book and I'm not going to see the movie."
The book isn't by Beane, it's just about him, and he doesn't think "that kind of stuff" works but he never read the book and thus can't possibly know what it talks about other than "stats" which is not really the point of the book anyway. Just a beautiful way to sum up Dan Gladden, and all of the staunchly "old school" guys who hate the idea that there are newer, more advanced stats that can help understand some parts of the game at a different level. God I miss Fire Joe Morgan.
- Lastly, take a look at these two rotations and tell me which you'd rather have.
Pitcher 1: 3.21 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 3.75 K/BB
Pitcher 2: 4.71 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 2.10 K/BB
Pitcher 3: 5.00 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 1.47 K/BB
Pitcher 4: 4.58 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 1.54 K/BB
Pitcher 5: 4.56 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 2.23 K/BB
OR
Pitcher 1: 3.45 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 2.40 K/BB
Pitcher 2: 3.56 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 2.50 K/BB
Pitcher 3: 3.81 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 2.88 K/BB
Pitcher 4: 3.72 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 2.44 K/BB
Pitcher 5: 4.41 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 2.34 K/BB
The first group is the current Twin rotation, the second group is Kyle Lohse, Matt Garza, Phil Humber, R.A. Dickey, and Livan Hernandez. Isn't that the most saddest depressing thing you've ever heard? Seriously if it wasn't for the tens of dollars I'm making from advertising on this site I'd burn it to the ground. Through the computer or something. I heard if you put a match in the USB port cool shit happens.
- Lastly, and this time I mean lastly, I just want to mention that there is a already a sequel filming for the world's most awesome movie, and everything about it looks awesome. From the name (Piranha 3dd) to the new additions to the cast (David Hasslehoff, the guy who plays Todd Packer on the office, and the incomparably insane Gary Busey) everything looks just right. Usually sequels have a low % chance to be good, but the first one was so good as hitting everything you want in a creature/horror movie (hot chicks, boobs, gratuitous nudity, making the bad guy the true star, lots of killing, and creative deaths - second only to the Friday the 13ths here) that I totally trust them here and can't wait to see this. Between this and Shark Night it's a banner year for killer fish movies.
Showing posts with label Dan Gladden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Gladden. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Monday, July 19, 2010
Week in Review - 7/19/2010
It is truly amazing how truly, frighteningly awful my golf picks for the majors have been so far this year. First, I was absolutely convinced Jim Furyk was going to win The Masters. He shot 80 on Day 1 and missed the cut. Then I made Hunter Mahan my pick for the U.S. Open. He shot 80 on Day 1 and missed the cut. For the British Open, I couldn't decide between Ernie Els and Justin Rose. They both missed the cut. And, I went on and on about how awesome the British Open is, and then we end up with the boringest major in a hundred years. Seriously, congratulations to Oosterhuizen and everything, but he got lucky twice with weather to get a big lead then coasted to the win and nobody ever bothered to challenge him. Impressive win to be sure, but boring as all hell.
In conclusion, I suck.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Carl Pavano. Honestly, what more can be said about Pavano at this point? Who would think he'd be putting up a career year at this point? His 3.48 ERA would be his third best ever, second best if you make more than 100 innings a requirement. His 1.03 WHIP would be the best of his career. His four complete games (3 out of his last six games) are already double his career best, and his 1 shutout ties his season best. A 34-year old soft-tossing nancy is suddenly one of the best pitchers in the league and capable of carrying a staff - like he did with his complete game on Saturday, just when the Twins needed it most. And he may be getting a little lucky BABIP and strand rate-wise, but really not much. This is a legit career year. So let's not waste it, kids.
2. Francisco Liriano. Might as well include him here, too, since he came up with a pretty big outing on Friday right when they needed him too. Similar ERA to Pavano, but they've arrived there in different ways. Liriano has allowed more baserunners, has struck out a lot more guys,and where Pavano has been been a bit lucky Liriano has been a bit unlucky, but either way it's clear these two are going to have to carry this team. Not saying they're Drysdale/Koufax or anything, but it certainly seems like we have ourselves a bit of a "Liriano and Pavano and pray for a tornado" kind of situation. It works better if you pronounce tornado with a bit of a schwa sound. Or like you imagine a British guy would say it.
3. Tim Lincecum. It's sort of boring to write about Wiley Wiggins here seeing as how he's won the last two NL Cy Young awards and just kind of keeps chugging along. He picked up win #10 for the year on Thursday, just cruising against the Mets with a six-hit shut-out. He is once again leading the league in strikeouts and is top 10 in ERA, and although he probably won't win a third straight, he can take solace in the fact that if you put his name into google when it does that thing where it adds words onto your search, "Tim Lincecum Weed" is the first entry. Also I know I'm not exactly the first person to make the Tim Lincecum/Mitch Kramer comparison, but come on, it's uncanny. Creepy, even. And don't forget, Mitch Kramer was a pitcher. Do you think they're the same person? Cuz it'd be a lot cooler if you did.
4. Demarcus Cousins. He tailed off a bit towards the last couple of games of Summer League, finishing 1-12 and 3-15 from the floor in the final two games, but Cousins looks like he is everything he was advertised to be, and maybe even more. What I saw with my own eyes was a guy who showed a more complete offensive game than he ever did at Kentucky. I think in college he didn't have to show an impressive offensive game because he could just overpower everyone, but in Summer League he really showed that he can score in a lot of ways. Nice. But what I read about, was how he complained about every call, got in running verbal battles with every opponent, and basically acted completely uncoachable. Kind of like he was in college, but worse. Much worse. One thing is for certain - this is going to be an interesting ride.
5. Gordon Beckham. Funny Beckham story. He's struggled all year, and was hitting just .216 going into Thursday's first post All-Star Break game agains the Twins - a game Snacks and I attended. As Beckham gets up for his first at-bat, Snacks turns to me to say, "What happened to this guy? I thought there was going to be a new guy to hate in the division for years, instead he looks like he's going to get sent down" and before he can even get to "guy", Beckham hammers the ball over the fence on his way to 2-3 night. He then went 2-3 and 1-3 before finishing the series by going 4-4 against the Twins. So to recap, he sucks. Snacks questions his ability. He responds by going 9-13. So Snacks single-handedly saved Gordon Beckham's career. Thanks a lot, A-hole!
WHO SUCKED
1. Dan Gladden. I've ripped Gladden here before, both for using the nickname "Dazzle Man" as well as for being a complete dickmitten when it comes to talking about baseball, but he hit a new low on Thursday, low enough that a low-level meaningless third-rate blogger thinks he deserves his own section in WHO SUCKED. Anyway, to refresh your memory, the Twins lost to the Sawx thanks to Kevin Slowey and Alex Burnett sucking, plus little baby boy Morneau's headache kept him out of the lineup. It was the first game after the All-Star Break, and thanks to Kate J. I attended. On the way home, the Dazzle Man's reason for the loss, "You know, after three days off it's tough to get back into the rhythm of playing again." Now is probably where I should go into some kind of tirade, but this one is just so over the top I'm just going to stop talking and let it sink in. I'm not talking now. Be the ball, Danny.
2. Al-Farouq Aminu. Remember how last week I was talking about the Clippers sucked and were making bad offs-eason decisions including their drafting of Aminu and then there was that one guy who left a comment and said I was stupid? Well who's laughing now? Aminu has been B-R-U-T-A-L in Summer League. He's shot 29% in the five games, with games where he shot 4-13, 3-12, and 3-15. Even in his best shooting game where he went 4-9 he turned it over 4 times and committed 8 fouls (they allow 10 for some reason). And for a 6-9 athletic player five rebounds per game in Summer League isn't very good. Basically he's shown one skill and that's getting fouled and making free throws. Valuable to be sure, but it wouldn't kill him to hit a shot once in a while.
3. Justin Morneau. Seriously? SERIOUSLY!!!???!?!?
4. Bobby Jenks. It's always nice to know that you're never quite out of the game when you still get to hit against Bobby Jenks aka "Stupid Fat Idiot" as he's known around my house. One of the announcers kept harping about how Jenksy was 20-21 in save opportunities for the year and had saved 15 in a row, and I kept thinking that's awfully hard to believe. Then you look at his stats and see he has an ERA of 4.76 and a WHIP of 1.56, and things are even more confusing. Basically he's somehow doing an ok job, but when he flames out he flames out spectacularly, as we all know. In the ten games this year where he's allowed at least one run in half of them he allowed at least two and three times he's allowed three. So basically when he comes in the game he either shuts you right down or you're going to light him up like he was Nick Blackburn.
5. Scott Baker/Kevin Slowey/Nick Blackburn. Good god take your pick, because these guys all suck and they're killing the team's season. If they don't get it figured out, and it's seeming more and more like they won't, it won't matter how much of a career season Pavano and/or Delmon Young have - they won't win a division this way. Seriously, at this point they might as well replace these three clowns with Jeff Manship, Anthony Swarzak, and Glen Perkins. They couldn't possibly be worse. I read they're finally at least moving Duensing into the rotation, but I have a feeling it might be both too little, and too late.
Finally, and this could probably deserve all five spots on the Awesome list by itself, but here is Miguel Angel Jimenez's shot on 17 on Saturday. Sadly, it still ended up as a double-bogey, but it's still pretty sweet and the kind of thing you'd be more likely to see in a game of Golden Tee. Check it:
In conclusion, I suck.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Carl Pavano. Honestly, what more can be said about Pavano at this point? Who would think he'd be putting up a career year at this point? His 3.48 ERA would be his third best ever, second best if you make more than 100 innings a requirement. His 1.03 WHIP would be the best of his career. His four complete games (3 out of his last six games) are already double his career best, and his 1 shutout ties his season best. A 34-year old soft-tossing nancy is suddenly one of the best pitchers in the league and capable of carrying a staff - like he did with his complete game on Saturday, just when the Twins needed it most. And he may be getting a little lucky BABIP and strand rate-wise, but really not much. This is a legit career year. So let's not waste it, kids.
2. Francisco Liriano. Might as well include him here, too, since he came up with a pretty big outing on Friday right when they needed him too. Similar ERA to Pavano, but they've arrived there in different ways. Liriano has allowed more baserunners, has struck out a lot more guys,and where Pavano has been been a bit lucky Liriano has been a bit unlucky, but either way it's clear these two are going to have to carry this team. Not saying they're Drysdale/Koufax or anything, but it certainly seems like we have ourselves a bit of a "Liriano and Pavano and pray for a tornado" kind of situation. It works better if you pronounce tornado with a bit of a schwa sound. Or like you imagine a British guy would say it.
3. Tim Lincecum. It's sort of boring to write about Wiley Wiggins here seeing as how he's won the last two NL Cy Young awards and just kind of keeps chugging along. He picked up win #10 for the year on Thursday, just cruising against the Mets with a six-hit shut-out. He is once again leading the league in strikeouts and is top 10 in ERA, and although he probably won't win a third straight, he can take solace in the fact that if you put his name into google when it does that thing where it adds words onto your search, "Tim Lincecum Weed" is the first entry. Also I know I'm not exactly the first person to make the Tim Lincecum/Mitch Kramer comparison, but come on, it's uncanny. Creepy, even. And don't forget, Mitch Kramer was a pitcher. Do you think they're the same person? Cuz it'd be a lot cooler if you did.
4. Demarcus Cousins. He tailed off a bit towards the last couple of games of Summer League, finishing 1-12 and 3-15 from the floor in the final two games, but Cousins looks like he is everything he was advertised to be, and maybe even more. What I saw with my own eyes was a guy who showed a more complete offensive game than he ever did at Kentucky. I think in college he didn't have to show an impressive offensive game because he could just overpower everyone, but in Summer League he really showed that he can score in a lot of ways. Nice. But what I read about, was how he complained about every call, got in running verbal battles with every opponent, and basically acted completely uncoachable. Kind of like he was in college, but worse. Much worse. One thing is for certain - this is going to be an interesting ride.
5. Gordon Beckham. Funny Beckham story. He's struggled all year, and was hitting just .216 going into Thursday's first post All-Star Break game agains the Twins - a game Snacks and I attended. As Beckham gets up for his first at-bat, Snacks turns to me to say, "What happened to this guy? I thought there was going to be a new guy to hate in the division for years, instead he looks like he's going to get sent down" and before he can even get to "guy", Beckham hammers the ball over the fence on his way to 2-3 night. He then went 2-3 and 1-3 before finishing the series by going 4-4 against the Twins. So to recap, he sucks. Snacks questions his ability. He responds by going 9-13. So Snacks single-handedly saved Gordon Beckham's career. Thanks a lot, A-hole!
WHO SUCKED
1. Dan Gladden. I've ripped Gladden here before, both for using the nickname "Dazzle Man" as well as for being a complete dickmitten when it comes to talking about baseball, but he hit a new low on Thursday, low enough that a low-level meaningless third-rate blogger thinks he deserves his own section in WHO SUCKED. Anyway, to refresh your memory, the Twins lost to the Sawx thanks to Kevin Slowey and Alex Burnett sucking, plus little baby boy Morneau's headache kept him out of the lineup. It was the first game after the All-Star Break, and thanks to Kate J. I attended. On the way home, the Dazzle Man's reason for the loss, "You know, after three days off it's tough to get back into the rhythm of playing again." Now is probably where I should go into some kind of tirade, but this one is just so over the top I'm just going to stop talking and let it sink in. I'm not talking now. Be the ball, Danny.
2. Al-Farouq Aminu. Remember how last week I was talking about the Clippers sucked and were making bad offs-eason decisions including their drafting of Aminu and then there was that one guy who left a comment and said I was stupid? Well who's laughing now? Aminu has been B-R-U-T-A-L in Summer League. He's shot 29% in the five games, with games where he shot 4-13, 3-12, and 3-15. Even in his best shooting game where he went 4-9 he turned it over 4 times and committed 8 fouls (they allow 10 for some reason). And for a 6-9 athletic player five rebounds per game in Summer League isn't very good. Basically he's shown one skill and that's getting fouled and making free throws. Valuable to be sure, but it wouldn't kill him to hit a shot once in a while.
3. Justin Morneau. Seriously? SERIOUSLY!!!???!?!?
4. Bobby Jenks. It's always nice to know that you're never quite out of the game when you still get to hit against Bobby Jenks aka "Stupid Fat Idiot" as he's known around my house. One of the announcers kept harping about how Jenksy was 20-21 in save opportunities for the year and had saved 15 in a row, and I kept thinking that's awfully hard to believe. Then you look at his stats and see he has an ERA of 4.76 and a WHIP of 1.56, and things are even more confusing. Basically he's somehow doing an ok job, but when he flames out he flames out spectacularly, as we all know. In the ten games this year where he's allowed at least one run in half of them he allowed at least two and three times he's allowed three. So basically when he comes in the game he either shuts you right down or you're going to light him up like he was Nick Blackburn.
5. Scott Baker/Kevin Slowey/Nick Blackburn. Good god take your pick, because these guys all suck and they're killing the team's season. If they don't get it figured out, and it's seeming more and more like they won't, it won't matter how much of a career season Pavano and/or Delmon Young have - they won't win a division this way. Seriously, at this point they might as well replace these three clowns with Jeff Manship, Anthony Swarzak, and Glen Perkins. They couldn't possibly be worse. I read they're finally at least moving Duensing into the rotation, but I have a feeling it might be both too little, and too late.
Finally, and this could probably deserve all five spots on the Awesome list by itself, but here is Miguel Angel Jimenez's shot on 17 on Saturday. Sadly, it still ended up as a double-bogey, but it's still pretty sweet and the kind of thing you'd be more likely to see in a game of Golden Tee. Check it:
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