Dumbbutt media 2010

Some will say that Blyleven's career was equal to Hall of Famer Don Sutton's but I say it is just short of Sutton's. They both had big totals in other categories but Sutton wound up with 37 more victories, going over the magic 300 mark by 24.

Many stat people suggest wins are not important in evaluating careers. But until wins don't decide who's in the playoffs and who's out, who makes the World Series and who doesn't, I will continue to view them as important. A pitcher's goal for each game is to win the game, not to strikeout the most batters. And until that changes, I will count wins and losses. I also believe the truly great pitchers pitched to the scoreboard with the real goal in mind.

Some will say Blyleven was handicapped by playing for a string of horrific teams. But his many teams combined for a record of slightly over .500. For the most part, they were mediocre. While his career mark of 287-250 is clearly better than his teams' overall record, it isn't that much better.

My basic philosophy is to emphasis impact more than numbers. That's why I voted for Ozzie Smith but not Trammell (though during their careers it's true the Tigers never would have traded Trammell for Smith). It is why I vote or Jack Morris, a bulldog who was considered the best pitcher of the '80s, and who pitched the best game of the '90s. Morris was considered the ace of three World Series teams and was almost always selected by his manager to start Game One of the playoffs. Blyleven was the ace of many teams but usually mediocre teams. Like Morris he did pitch well in the postseason. But he was not the top pitcher on his two teams that won World Series titles.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/01/04/heyman.hall/index.html

Jon Heyman, Diviner of IMPACT

Love how he intimates that wins are the ultimate measure of a pitcher's impact, and then "My basic philosophy is to emphasis impact more than numbers."

I'd emphasis something else in that sentence for its pure dumbuttness.

I also believe the truly great pitchers pitched to the scoreboard with the real goal in mind.

"regardless of all the evidence being on the other side"

i can't wait for twenty years from now when sportswriters are saying "oh well jon heyman & buster olney & tim kurkijan didn't even vote mark teixeira in the top five of the mvp for the first five years of his career! what was his impact"

I believe in unicorns and the Tooth Fairy.

Blyleven was the ace of many teams but usually mediocre teams. Like Morris he did pitch well in the postseason. But he was not the top pitcher on his two teams that won World Series titles.

In 1992, Morris wasn't the top pitcher on his team. Juan Guzman was clearly better (and Jays fans knew it), and arguably so was Jimmy Key.

In 1991, Morris wasn't the top pitcher on his team. Kevin Tapani was clearly better, and you could argue that Scott Erickson was too (particularly if you're Heyman and want to make a case for wins -- Erickson won 20 that year and Morris didn't).

In 1984, Morris wasn't the top pitcher on his team. Dan Petry and was better, and Willie Hernandez was not only better but also won the Cy Young and MVP awards (and Petry finished also ahead of Morris in CY voting, so at the time, the BBWAA also saw Morris as the third best pitcher on his team).

this is quite possibly the dumbest thing i have ever read in my life

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/345620-now-that-frank-thomas-is-retired-is-he-really-a-hall-of-famer

oh, the stannards of the internets

Each line is either funny or hilarious.

reading both the piece and his responses in the comments section, i'm convinced that the dude is faintly retarded or autistic minus the "savant".

Frank Thomas was always a "stats" guy. He knew his numbers every game he played and throughout his career.

In fact, you could say, and some of his teammates did, that he cared more about that than winning.

As ESPN baseball beat reporter Bruce Levine mentioned on his show yesterday called "Talking Baseball," many times Thomas' teammates wanted him to try to drive in a run with a man on third and less than two outs to help the team, instead of taking a pitch that missed by a millimeter to draw a walk and give a lesser hitter a crack.

He cared more about stats than winning, which explains why he padded his walk total instead of possibly improving his hits, RBI, and average in one AB.

Could someone explain to these betrayed members of the 1990-2005 White Sox why Mike Caruso, Ron Karkovice, and George Bell likely got PITCHES TO HIT in those situations?

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/03/31/fanhouse-tv-steve-phillips-former-mets-gm-joins-fanhouse/

oh good christ

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/05/04/contact.pitches/index.html?eref=sihp

we are missing an essential part of the game's allure and romance: the crack of the bat. You hear it less and less in today's game. Hitting and pitching have evolved in ways that mean the baseball is put into play less frequently than ever before.

it was also romantic when sammy sosa & mark mcgwire were each hitting 65 homers a year -- i think all players should start roiding up again -- because of the romance

Now, there's no team that doesn't value walks.

It's as if they realized it's just like not making an out.

how do i rekindle my love affair with routine groundouts to the shortstop?

watching david ortiz at bats?

Was This a Great Game (When I Didn't Have Extra Innings, MLB.TV, MLB Network, Baseball Tonight, Access to Every Newspaper Online, Dozens of Baseball Analysis Websites, and Would Therefore See [and/or Read About] a Small Fraction of the Mental Mistakes That Occurred), or What?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=5148731

it was also romantic when sammy sosa & mark mcgwire were each hitting 65 homers a year -- i think all players should start roiding up again -- because of the romance

― the rural führer (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, May 5, 2010 9:06 AM (2 hours ago)

tbh they were pretty gay for each other iirc

yrc

I'm pretty sure Neyer sort of defended this concept the other day? eg, there wouldn't be quite so many walks if the umpires called a rulebook strike zone.

yeah but did he say that the game was worse because of walks?

i don't think anyone would argue against that, would make the games shorter i bet

i have no idea if there are stats to back up the fact that there are more walks now than __ years ago, or what exactly verducci was arguing (didn't read the thing)

walks = more runs

tru

Today baseball includes fewer hits, less contact and more walks and strikeouts. Baseball remains a beautiful, fascinating game that becomes even more interesting the more you know about it. But if you're the kind of fan who simply likes to see the ball put into play, there is less to like.

One-pitch at-bats. Ball = walk. Strike or foul ball = batter out. Unconditional shin-to-shoulder strike zone.

it's a stupid column because a. it's romanticizing "the crack of the bat" which 75% of the time in baseball results in an out and b. because what's one or two less combined hit a game, anyway? & if there are higher walk rates that means more runners on base & more "pressure" situations, more drama etc imo

lol andy

Team averages, NL

1979: 6176 plate appearances, 1436 hits, 241 doubles, 43 triples, 119 home runs
2009: 6221 plate appearances, 1421 hits, 288 doubles, 35 triples, 155 home runs

some sanity in this whole debate http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/05/07/the-charm-of-modern-baseball/

Pos OTM.

Verducci's argument doesn't make sense even if you follow its own stupid internal logic -- which kind of out is more exciting to watch, K's or routine fly balls to RF? And I never saw anyone stand up with two outs and two strikes and root for a ground ball to short.

Standing up w/ 2 strikes and 2 out is one of the dumbest things the Great Unwashed do.

(even worse, w/ 2 strikes in a double-play situation. Same reason they go to deafening superhero movies I guess)

nickcafardo
Great seeing a gutsy player like Dustin Pedroia playing with a gimpy knee and sacrificing personal stats so he stay in the lineup.

just saw this gem from richard roeper:

For those of us who will always have baseball at No. 1, there's something pretty cool going on with the game these days.

Almost every big-picture preseason article I've read notes how there's an increased emphasis on defense, speed, fundamentals and smart baseball, as opposed to just relying on behemoths to hit three-run homers.

Granted, fearsome hitters such as Albert Pujols (who just hit one out as I'm writing this) and Prince Fielder still can dominate. But in the post-steroids (or at least not nearly as many steroids-users) era, it's great to see something of a return to baseball that was played in the 1960s and '70s.

earl weaver rolls his eyes.

bob costas stop sucking stephen strasburgs dick

i think this guy is really on to something revolutionary here:
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/07/19/diary-of-a-losing-team-batting-champs/?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin

not everyone is as "bright" as you are

yeah joe pos is getting to be a bit of a broken record on the royals posts

i still like his stuf fthough

dumbutt?

yeah, Shasta knows that anyone who wants to lay out the details of Jason Kendall's season to the 97% of baseball fandom that doesn't care about KC is OBVIOUSLY a moron!

so he's dum in thinking anyone cares about KC royals then

i mean it wasn't dumb but why on earth are you devoting 4000 words to "why batting average isn't as important as obp" in july of twenty ten.

my 3rd grade nephew who lives in the sticks has written a book report on moneyball.

Why is Chris Rose allowed to do play by play? This is a development that I find completely disturbing.

jon heyman:

• Ichiro, with 179 hits, will need to hustle to get to 200 again.

why would he need to "hustle" to get to 200, he had 179 hits through 138 games, i think he can get 21 hits in the final 24....

(now at 183 through 140)

no but he writes the same 'red sox are a boring team this year' article the first week of EVERY season which pisses me off more than anything for some reason

i wonder how many more decades/championships it's gonna take for boston sportswriters to stop having auch a massive hard-on for the 2004 red sox that they can't fully appreciate any current players

it's kind of some weird reverse w/NYY where there are always one or two players on the current incarnation who are not "true" yankees, and in boston there are only one or two players who are "true" bosox.

*inverse

Uh Plaschke holds the title for this already. Sorry guys.

Lee, how about worst sportscaster? cuz listening/watching JT Snow enduces more awkward cringes per minute than I thought possible.

It's October, so everybody line up and give blowjobs to Derek Jeter:

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/columns/story?columnist=matthews_wallace&id=5645405

broken wrist (right arm): Typing this lefty (but not as well as Clif Lee!) -- Do you see the Mariners going after Jorge De La Rosa this offseason, they need another good pitcher even with the putrid offense.

Steven Goldman: Man, I did a similar thing when I was 16, broke my left thumb playing baseball and had a cast on up to my elbow for forever. There was one upside, which is that I got very good at unsnapping bras with one hand, a skill that has not deserted me to this day. Is that TMI?

uh, FUCK YES. Why am I reading about this in a baseball chat?

that's a joke son

TMI police (TMIville): So you've been cross-dressing for 20+ years?

Steven Goldman: Un-dressing. Others. Not cross-dressing. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If you've seen me, though, you know that the only possible upside to me in a dress is a potential career as the mother in the national touring company of "Hairspray."

Not 100% sure it's a joke, all of the BP guys try to channel Gammons and talk about music/gaming/books during their chats. A comment here and there, sure, but sometimes half of the questions in these chats are about some video game or crappy indie band these guys are listening to. Anyway, the point stands: I don't want to read this crap in a chat.

Maybe I'm coming across as an asshole here, and obv there is a section of BP's fanbase who enjoy mixing in a little gaming talk with their baseball. Plus it's not like I'm paying money to read these chats. But usually these diversions are obnoxious. Use Twitter if you want to make gaming recommendations.

No I find it kind of irritating too, but it depends on the % to me. Kevin Goldstein answers a billion questions so I care less when he has one or two questions about Naked Raygun or whomever (he's probably desperate for a diversion at that point.) Other guys it seems like every other question is about gaming or what to read and that's usually when I just give up and read something else.

i like steven goldman, don't think there's really anything to see here

he's not a klaw type who's going to go on about his shitty taste in music afaik

Yeah I can't read Law chats any more. The few insights about prospects are sprinkled with so much nonsense about shitty bands, books, cooking, and snark about Yankees/Red Sox's fans (who admittedly totally deserve it) that it's like "I just wanted to know what scouts think about Mike Trout! Why are you talking about Dostoyevsky??!?!"

Baseball journalists -- the ones on Twitter, at least --- could probably band together to publish a Paste-type magazine. The only time I've seen chatter about anything other than MOR indie rock was when Amy Nelson and Howard Bryant discussed Cameo and Funkadelic.

And I suppose we have Derek Jeter to thank for that.

(Not like I've expected someone like Jon Paul Morosi to tweet about a shipment from Hardwarx, but...)

Hardwax, even.

fakejonahkeri
This Raime 12" is dope.

klaw's big find of the year was fucking mumford and sons

Goldman likes to work in Star Wars and Preston Sturges

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/yankees/2010/11/scout-jeter-deserved-gold-glov.html

"Before, he was above average range-wise, and now he’s just average. I don’t think his defense is going to become a negative for him for quite some time," the scout said. "They say that great outfielders never have to dive, I think that applies to Jeter, too.

"Because he’s older, a little more wise and he knows opposing hitters, how infields play, his catcher, his pitcher - all those factors. Good shortstops have instincts, and I put an 80 on his instincts this year.

"If you were going to create a baseball player, you’d want him to have Derek Jeter’s brain. That’s part of who he is and that’s never going to change, even if he’s a tick slower. He’s smarter than he was when he was younger."

there's a lot of dumb scouts out there y'know

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/510665-derek-jeter-the-ridiculous-stupid-clueless-speculation-continues

<3

god where do they dig up the people who write on bleacher report, that site is seriously the worst.

He led the league in plate appearances.
He was 10th in the league in times on base.

John Jaso goes through life to a little different beat.

Take his iPod for starters. Rather than filling his ears with rap music that's so popular with most of his teammates, he's listening to classic rock, including a lot of stuff from the 1960s and early '70s -- like The Beatles, Neil Young and Led Zeppelin.

what a lede

jon heyman's yearly "why i am a moron" column

and this thread has come full circle

hold on, that really says "December 20, 2010"???????????????????????????????????????

he does it every single year, right?

The list is even worse than the article.

somehow, Alomar, Raines and Larkin slipped through

19. Marquis Grissom. He is one of only seven players with 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 400 stolen bases. He has four Golf Gloves, not to mention a .390 career World Series average, fourth best ever for those with at least 50 at-bats. His career was better than you probably remember, but it was not quite good enough.

Clubhouse chemistry matters!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/08/24/field-front-office-many-believe-chemistry-still-matters-baseball/32271291/

There's a reason why the Blue Jays traded for LaTroy Hawkins instead of Papelbon! That's what winning is all about!!

i think it does matter! just not as much as talent.

If the answer is LaTroy Hawkins or David Ross I don't like the question

Papelbon is a clubhouse cancer obviously (WITH TWO MORE RINGS THAN ANYONE ON THE FUCKING BLUE JAYS)

latroy is a lot cheaper than papelbon (and has actually been better with his new team thus far)

from what i understand, papelbon is actually pretty popular with his teammates -- although i suspect he'd throw quite a tantrum if asked to pitch the eighth instead of the ninth. fortunately matt williams would never ask him to do that

I watched Latroy a lot the last few years. He's not good. Also he's 42.

dan shaughnessy is so far and away the worst sportswriter in america that he makes mitch albom & bill plaschke look like gary smith

icymi honey

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/12/08/dan-shaughnessy-of-the-boston-globe-wins-the-j-g-taylor-spink-award/

CHHoF

"meritous"

https://www.fanragsports.com/inside-baseball-jon-heymans-top-60-heroes-of-2017/

weird article that alternates between interpreting "hero" as "someone who is good at baseball" and "someone who was charitable"

Herman's piece from the beginning of the thread is still hard to top, love his revisionist history.

Jack Morris, a bulldog who was considered the best pitcher of the '80s

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/so-what-do-we-think-about-bullpenning-now/

I don't have a problem with the article itself but he uses "nails" as an adjective three times in the same article, a usage I've never seen before. Is that a common baseball phrase? Or a Cameron-ism?

it's a baseball phrase, if not so common as to use three times

Not that I read minor-league baseball stories off the wire (or from anywhere, for that matter), but still.

http://www.sporttechie.com/a-computer-will-now-write-minor-league-baseball-stories-for-the-associated-press/

yeah that's been going on for almost two years; it's not very good but will no doubt get there eventually

Oops. Turned up on my FB wall yesterday--I ought to check dates.