Nah. Kerry’s just got to eat a bunch of Krispy Kremes to keep that big ol’ butt he needs to have to throw 98 mph.
You’ll be glad for those baggy pants soon enough.
Agreed. Given his previous arm troubles, I’m not sure I’d let him throw 110 pitches and would definitely not let him throw over 120.
**
To be fair, I think at least some of his lack of control is due to the year off recovering from surgery. I understand that it takes often takes longer for a pitcher’s command to return than his velocity. Oh, and I realize Wood wasn’t exactly a control pitcher before.
**
Matthews might be able to hit a little (not as much as you’d like a corner OF to hit, though). The others…aren’t very good hitters.
I live in SC, but get the latest scores from: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/allgames/scoreboards/today.html
The last time I went to a Cubs game, bleacher seats were 60 cents and grandstand $1.25. I think boxseats were $3.50, but I never bought those high-priced seats. What are the damages now, I tremble to ask?
Matthews is currently hitting .210/.272/.379 (avg/obp/slg). This is the best season he’s ever had in the majors. The man can not hit. And he’s 27 this year, so this is about as good as it’s ever going to get for him. The only person he looks good compared to as a hitter is Girardi.
And, speaking of Girardi, I still want to know where he got a reputation as a good catcher. He can’t do that, either. (For example, this year, the team ERA with Hundley catching is something like 3.50-3.60; with Girardi catching, it’s in the 5.90-6.00 range)
But, I’ll stop ranting now.
And, for barbitu8: ticket prices here -
http://cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/ticketing/chc_seating_pricing.jsp?frame=chc
Bleachers $20!!! Slightly higher than the 60 cents I used to pay. And they have a lot more than the 3 different kinds they used to. Ah well, that’s progress.
I guess you’re right about Matthews. (I thought offhand that his minor league numbers showed a little bit of hitting ability. Not even close to his father’s though. I don’t have his minor league stats readily accessible, so I can’t check.)
You’re right in that if he’s 27 now, and this is the best he’s done in the majors, he’s not likely to improve.
**
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but catcher defense is hard to quantify. A potential problem with the stat you cite above is that it can be susceptible to outside influences (say, if Hundley catches all of Wood or Lieber’s games, and Girardi gets the pitchers who aren’t as good). I’m not saying this IS the case–I don’t know–but this is a potential problem with “catcher ERA”.
How a catcher calls a game or “frames pitches” is important, but difficult to quantify. Far too much emphasis (IMHO) is placed on a catcher’s ability to affect the running game, and not enough on handling pitchers.
That’s true, it is somewhat of a problem. However, I’m fairly sure that that’s been a constant thing over the course of his career - ie, when he was with the Yankees, he was consistently worse than Posada, CERA-wise. And, this year, Baylor uses him a whole hell of a lot, so I don’t think there’s much difference between the guys he catches and the guys Hundley catches.
For a bit of a study on this catcher-ability stuff, see:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/20000110woolner.html
DynoSaur, good points. I didn’t mean to imply that studying Catcher ERA was a waste of time, just that any such study has to be done extra carefully, to eliminate possible “sample bias”.
Baseball Prospectus is a great site, isn’t it?
Any of you Cub fans hear that Kyle Farnsworth apparently had seven pitches in one outing clocked between 100 and 103 mph? I find this a little hard to believe. (I think Gammons reported this.)
Oh, yeah. Great site. Great book.
And, Farnsworth hitting 100 doesn’t surprise me at all. 7 pitches in one outing seems a bit much, but it’s entirely possible. He’s always had a better fastball than Wood; he just didn’t have anything else he could throw for strikes before this year. Farnsworth’s still only got two pitches, so long relief looks like the best place for him…
Oh, and he hit 100+ once today (er, Monday), too.
DynoSaur, did I mention that at least one of the BP founders plays in my fantasy baseball league? (At least one other did, too, before other commitments cut his fantasy baseball time back)
I have all of the past Baseball Prospectus books. One of the books I most look forward to every season.
I saw that Farnsworth got four outs–all by strikeout, today. I suspect that he might be a candidate to close if something happens to Gordon and/or Fassero.
Crazy ol’ cinci, eh?
Girardi sort of stepped up yesterday…I’ve never seen that man run so fast around third…
and of course, Kerry (the supposed fat ass, DynoSaur ;)) gets thrown in as a pinch runner…
Hundley thrown out of the game…
Courtney Duncan just about pitches a full game…
and once again…Flash Gordon proves amply why he should NOT be the number one closer.
jarbaby
You’d be correct here. Last I heard, he was being groomed for the job, so it’s probably his whenever Gordon’s contract is up.
And the fantasy league thing - very cool. Does he win every year, or should I stop believing in his analysis?
I never said it was fat, I just said it was big.
No, but he did win last year. He’s the guy who wrote this article, if you’re curious:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/20010522huckabay.html
Great guy, and he writes very well.
jarbabyj, I understand that Girardi runs very well for a catcher. He’s also hit for a decent batting average a couple of years. As to what else he does well…err, umm…he might be a really good guy in the clubhouse.
Another amazing outing by Mr. Hundley yesterday :rolleyes: nice throw into the stands there Todd!
What happened? I swear to god he was a better player than this when he was with the Dodgers. Wasn’t he?
jarbaby
Well, he was certainly a better hitter. Defensively, it was pretty much the same. The really sad thing here is that, as piss-poor as Hundley is hitting, he’s still hitting better than Girardi (their OBPs are basically the same, but at least Hundley has SOME power).
The really, really sad thing is that neither one of them is even hitting as well as the much-maligned (especially by me) Gary Matthews, Junior. When you can’t outhit the Corporal, there’s something wrong.
A thought occurs to me…with the demonstrated performances of Gary Matthews Jr, Todd Hundley, and Chip Caray, perhaps the Cubs should just declare a ban on hiring anyone whose father or grandfather has worked for the team…
And, to go back to an earlier discussion between jarbaby and myself, is Sammy hustling enough for you, lately? (I just wish someone else would hit consistenly…the Sammy and the Seven Dwarves bit is getting old)
Hmmm…I suppose he’s playing well, if we consider swinging for the fences at a pitch that’s bouncing in the dirt. He still longs to be the center of attention, although I do appreciate that he’s kept his stupid mouth shut for most of the season.
I haven’t heard him say “baseball’s been very very good to me” even ONCE! Golly…is trying to come up with a new slogan or something?
jarbaby
OK, all Cubs fans, join me in prayer that there will be no June swoon this year.
And, DRY, your contact at Baseball Prospectus really doesn’t like Pete Rose, eh? Not that I can say I disagree with him all that much…
I apologize for my ignorance, but I’ve been out of Illinois for 16 years. Is Chip Cary the grandson or son of Harry Cary? I believe Harry Cary’s son called the Braves games, and may still do.
Did you know that Harry Cary used to announce the Cardinals’ games? And he was no relation to Harry Carey, Jr., who was a cowboy actor.
Let’s keep our collective fingers crossed.
Ah, if only we could all be so lucky as to be ignorant of Chip…
But, he’s the grandson. Hired in '98, was supposed to work with granddad…unfortunately, Harry died before this could happen…
The son is Skip, and is still doing Braves games.
Besides Cardinals games, Harry also did A’s games and White Sox games…because of this, I know a great many Cubs fans who loathed Harry…he was the enemy for 40 years, or something…I didn’t start watching baseball 'til late '83, so I didn’t have that problem…
Doesn’t like him at all, apparently. Though he did make a good point that Rose was somewhat shafted in that he may not have signed the agreement to be made ineligible if Rose knew it would cost him membership into the Hall of Fame.
Re the Cubs, I read another article from the Prospectus site that said Wood has thrown over 100 pitches in every one of his outings save one. That’s potentially disturbing, though apparently Wood hasn’t had one of those killer 130+ pitch outings.