Speaking of the Mariners, anybody heard about the latest controversy? Apparently former manager Eric Wedge and a front office guy blasted Mariner management for an awful work environment and refusal to use modern stats.
I’d compare Halladay more to Pedro and Koufax than I would those guys.
If one just plays with WAR for a bit, going by Fangraphs:
Halladay: 67.6, 5 seasons above 7
Saberhagen: 58.9, one season above 7
Cone: 55.5, no seasons above 7
Rogers: 46.8, no seasons even above 5
Wells: 58.1, one season above 6
Rogers and Wells aren’t really good comparisons at all. Now Koufax and Pedro:
Koufax: 57.9, but three seasons above 7 and they were around 10
Pedro: 87.1, 5 seasons above 7 and one was a 12
Pedro to my mind is clearly ABOVE Koufax and Halladay, who are closer than I thought.
I can’t really think of a pitcher with a career like Roy Halladay’s. His closest similarity score is Tim Hudson, which is a dreadful match; Hudson is nothing at all like Halladay in any respect, really.
I’ve mentioned this before but Halladay really had one of the strangest careers ever in that he is one of the only great players I can think of who, after breaking into the majors, had to completely change the way he played baseball. When he broke in he was a huge, hard throwing pitcher and very intimidating, but it took MLB hitters little time to realize Halladay’s fastballs were all as straight as an arrow. In 1999 he pitched superficially okay - 8-7, 3.92 ERA - but strck out 82 men against 79 walks, a panic-inducing ratio, and my recollection is he was getting a lot of line drives hit right at guys. In 2000 he was a total, utter disaster, one of the worst pitchers in the history of baseball to play that many innings, and the Jays almost gave up on him.
They sent him down to single-A ball, in fact, and told him “son, you’d better learn something different because you can’t get guys out.” And so he worked with Mel Queen, a longtime Jays coach, and totally changed his delivery from an overhand to the herky, three-quarters thing you’ve been watching him do these past twelve years. In mid 2001 he came back up and got the shit beaten out of him by the Red Sox in his first game (he was doomed, as he had to come in in relief in the first inning, never a sign things are going well for your team.) Beginning the next game - this is literally true - he was instantly one of the five best pitchers in baseball. You just couldn’t believe it was the same guy. He didn’t look at all like the guy who’d gone down in 2000; didn’t pitch the same at all. His pitches had astounding movement. That year he struck out almost four times as many men as he walked and in 105 innings gave up exactly 3 home runs. Before 2001 he was a hitter’s dream, running 2-0 and 3-1 counts and leaving flat fastballs high in the zone; after he was an absolute nightmare to hit against because you never had a good count and everything was at the knees.
He basically did that for 11 years, and then his body blew out and that was that.
Not surprising. The general consensus amongst Mariners fans has been, for years, that the organization’s troubles can all be laid squarely at the feet of Lincoln and Armstrong.
Rajai Davis to the Tigers? http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Unsure-Larry-David.gif
I’ve only been paying a little attention over the last few years, but am I supposed to be excited about trading for a hitter who’ll strike out 200 times a season? Is 30 HRs a season really that valuable (with a middling OPS)? Haven’t the DBacks learned their lesson about these guys yet?
I look forward to Skaggs competing for a Cy Young in the next three seasons now that the DBacks have traded him away.
Evidently not because Mark Trumbo is a pretty brutal player to give up anything of value for. He’s very strong and does nothing else of value.
There are two PtBNLs headed to the desert in the near future, dunno if that makes it any better.
Has a PtBNL ever turned into a player who actually plays for the major league team?
This seems like a remarkably stupid trade, and it angers me that I root for a team that can never go out and get an interesting/impact free agent. Another year of mediocrity, coming right up!
About once I decade, i suppose. One of them could be the next Coco Crisp or David Ortiz, we are about due.
Jules Andre:
Elliott Johnson was the PtBNL in the Wil Myers-James Shields trade last year, and he played for the Royals before they decided they would win more games without him.
Moises Alou turned out to be a decent player.
Do NOT trade Matt Kemp.
- He’s coming off a bad, injured year, so you won’t get much value.
- When he’s right, he’s awesome, and it’s worth betting he’ll get right again (especially since you already have another 3 outfielders).
- hi, Opal (you are still missed).
And he is the only person on their team OR in the minor leagues who can play an even passable center field. Eithier only slightly better than awful, and everyone else was either horrifying or so bad offensively that their defense didn’t matter.
They have 3 corner OF, but Kemp isn’t a corner he’s a CF.
Anyway, I don’t think he is going to move unless they get a top quality 3B (or shortstop) and probably a solid catching prospect in return, and that’s just not going to happen.
Can’t hurt to shop him. Stranger deals have been made. If we can get a solid 3B and a good catcher out of the deal, I’d say go for it. It would have to be solid, though, and you’re right, it’s not very likely. But how long has it been since the Dodgers had someone more than “adequate” at 3rd?
Beltre?
Unless they include several bars of gold in the deal, no one is going to take on Kemp’s salary when they could just sign Choo and get a better player.
Ready for another Boston deal? Will Middlebrooks and Ryan Lavarnway are very available.
Oh, right, you said “top quality”. Never mind.
And that’s the other thing. Kemp’s value is crazy low right now. Two years ago he was the best player in baseball (at least the NL) but he has spent 90% of the last two years so badly hurt that he was unable to play. It’s a terrible time to shop him.
Looks like the Dodgers re-signed Uribe for 2 yrs. Probably their best option, since there doesn’t seem to be any help on immediate horizon from the farms.
The Blue Jays have solved all their problems by bringing back Tomo Ohka, who apparently has told them he’s a knuckleballer now and can get people out. Well, that’s good enough for me!