MLB: July 2012

He is pretty good. He is not a stat’s and SABR guy, but he seems to be trying to learn how to use data to help his team. He sometimes gets it wrong, and he spent about 2 months of the season totally obsessed with sac bunting but he is getting better. What I do like is that he uses the bullpen well. He doesn’t overwork the relievers, and he isn’t afraid to use his closer in non save situations if that is what’s necessary.

3 games back. The All Star break always seems to kill the top West Coast teams.
I’m kind of hoping for a Yankees/Dodgers world series. That’s the way I remember it growing up.

Kemp and Ethier upgrade a historically bad offense to merely a terrible one. I don’t see the dodgers having enough offense even with the two of them back to compete with San Fran or Arizona.

How much blame can one team put on the shoulders of another team’s manager? That’s pretty attenuated. What could LaRussa have done to the Reds as the manager of the Cardinals?

They would have to keep up their historic slump in order for them not to be competitive. It’s possible that they will continue to play .215 baseball the rest of the way, but I don’t think it is likely.

IIRC he was a bit if a headcase when he was here too. And fans questioned his work ethic. The Reds were not a very well run team then either.

RTFirefly:

He reported it to his superiors. He may be held to task for not doing more, but he can hardly be said to have actively covered it up.

That’s really disappointing about Bill James. I had a lot of respect for his baseball analysis. As of the Freeh report, though, I wonder whether he would still defend Paterno.

As for Pete Rose, all I have to say is that his life seems to be better than mine.

See, what makes this newsworthy (and jaw-droppingly bizarre, IMHO), is that James made his comments AFTER THE FREEH REPORT CAME OUT.

Take a gander at, for instance, Sox advisor Bill James defends Paterno - ESPN - Boston Red Sox Blog- ESPN.

I agree it may not be fair to say that Paterno actively covered up the abuse. It’s entirely appropriate to say, though, that he didn’t seem terribly interested in bringing the truth to light, or terribly concerned about the kids, or terribly concerned about…well, much of anything that I would hope a person in a position of respect and authority would be concerned about.

The other thing is…well, when James was writing about baseball, he always had reasons for his opinions. He was never (well, rarely) given to spouting opinions without facts to back it up. He was the original Let’s-Look-at-the-Evidence kind of guy. What does Billy Martin do to pitchers? Let’s look it up. What’s the real advantage to the running game? We can find out. Ozzie Smith saved the Cardinals 100 runs? Baloney–and we have data to prove it. (I remember that essay as a particularly thorough and convincing one.)

Here, he’s doing the opposite; he’s holding forth without any apparent evidence to support his position–a position that (when it comes to the question of Paterno’s power, at least) is in direct contrast to the opinions and experiences of a whole lot of people who know a whole heck of a lot more about Penn State and how it works than James knows. It’s not how James built his reputation.

Just so we’re clear, if it even matters, I don’t blame Paterno for the whole fiasco. But regardless of how few “allies” he had, regardless of the level of his “power” within the university, as the single most readily identifiable person in authority, as the guy who was admired by millions and who was paid accordingly, as a guy who knew at least in outline if not perhaps in detail what Sandusky was doing–if he had stood up at any point in the last x number of years and said “Fuck this indecision, I’m going to the police,” a whole lot of suffering would have been averted.

OK, he passively but knowingly covered it up.

ETA: But we’re getting away from Bill James here. Anything else Paterno-specific that doesn’t directly bear on Bill James, let’s take to one of the 20 quadrillion Paterno/Sandusky/Penn State threads.

Great comeback win for the Reds today!

Down 6-0, Brandon Phillips hits a 3 run homer to cut the lead in half in the 6th inning, then a couple walks in a row followed by a four run burst in the 7th put the Reds on top to stay, final 7-6 Reds.

“Brandon Phillips brought his hitting shoes today!”

5 RBI’s: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=cin&content_id=23164213&topic_id=8877984

Happy Friday!

Well, the Astros give away a whole lot of nothing for a whole lot of nothing on the major league level, and get four minor-leaguers (none of whom, I assume, are much of anything as prospects, but there’s at least a possibility there). Possibly the least consequential ten-player trade in history.

Why does Toronto hate Franciscos?

The Jays get Brandon Lyon, a serviceable bullpen arm. David Carpenter and J.A. Happ, on the other hand, not so good.

From the report, looks like a 19-year-old with injury problems (only 2 appearances this year) and three 20-somethings (23, 22, 21) who haven’t played above A ball yet.

Because they sucked. Cordero is a disaster, and Ben Francisco was just clogging up the roster. One of the plusses to this trade is simply getting rid of them; Cordero was a game-losing machine, and the elimination of Francisco allows for Travis Snider to play in the big leagues so the team actually has a* chance *to have a decent outfield.

As to the trade, believe it or not, Happ is actually needed. More than half the pitching staff is out to injury; it’s Happ or any number of AA pitchers who are not ready for the big leagues. Happ with start in the pen and eventually replace whichever starter next fails big time, which probably will happen within the next 72 hours.

The prospects given up are actually good prospects. However, they’re distant-future prospects, 2015-2016 guys, on a team that needs to aim to win in 2013-2014, since this year is now an injury-riddled writeoff. The Jays dealt prospects in areas where they have depth - Carlos Perez was hopelessly buried behind other catchers, and the team has a lot of young pitching from low A to AAA that can be developed.

Eh, I guess Happ’s numbers aren’t completely in the tank. He’s got a sub-5 ERA and almost 8.5 K/9.

Jayson Stark says the Red Sox might be after Matt Garza. Depends on the price. Stark also says there is interest in Cody Ross, but I assume that interest is coming from other teams who are buyers at the deadline. Ross is on a 1 year contract, so I’d deal him for the right offer. Especially now with Ellsbury and Crawford back.

Well big fun series this weekend for the AL central. The Tigers are finally getting hitting 5-9, and Verlander, Sherzer, and Fister looked dominating each of their last starts. If they can pull the home sweep I can definitely see them steaming on up to get a good lead on the division. But Unfortunately they Got Porcello and Turner for the last two games. :frowning: So I’m not expecting the sweep unless the bats really hit this weekend.

As a Giants fan I’m cautiously optimistic about Tim Lincecum after today’s performance. If he can manage to get it together, there’s no way the Dodgers are going to be able to keep up. The local radio guys were saying before the game that he’s been way more relaxed and easygoing the last week or so than he was at any point before the All-Star break, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed anyway…

There’s some guys on the Reds (who won again last night and are now 53-40) that nobody has heard of that are slowly putting together solid seasons, which is really helpful given Votto’s absence.

Zack Cozart, Todd Frazier, Homer Bailey, Chris Heisey, Devin Mesaroco. If these guys keep excelling like they are the Reds are going to be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.