Month: October 2010

Instant Replay and respect for the men in blue

Sports columnist Terence Moore has it right when it comes to umpires, instant replay and when it comes down to it, fan respect.  And he quite succinctly makes his point in his first two sentences of his article posted today (my emphasis):

This umpire mess has to stop. Not the questionable calls or even the horrible ones, but the whining over it all.

As a person who works in a technology field, I should probably embrace instant replay over the inconsistencies of human judgment,  But I don’t.  Call me a traditionalist but that’s just not how baseball is played.

My special concern is WHY the idea of instant replay is gaining so much ground now. 

1.  The mob mentality.. Now that the issue has come to light, many fans have seized on it and thrown it back into the umps’ face.  Instead of “where are your glasses, Blue?” fans are yelling “Replay! Replay Replay!” It gives them something else to be angry about.

2. Major League Baseball, in their effort to appear to please everyone all the time (without really doing so) is slowly jerking their knee and responding.  “See we’re doing something about it?”

(In complete fairness, I know of plenty of knowledgeable, even-thinking people who support the idea of Instant Replay and have logical, thought-out reasons why they support it.  I certainly would not clump them in with the first group.)

Whether or not one supports Instant Replay should not give a fan license to treat an ump with disrespect as Terence Moore’s piece describes in detail.  Now, I go to 20 or so college baseball games a year and sure, I’ve been known to call out an ump on a questionable call. But though I do not like his particular decision at the time, he has my respect for the tough job that he does. 

Even Frank Robinson from the MLB commissioner’s office weighed in on the umpires’ treatment.

"From fans, players, managers, coaches and front office people, I’ve never seen so much hostility toward umpires that I’ve seen this year.  "All of this (umpire bashing) is very, very unfair. Do they miss calls? Of course they do. One thing people forget: Umpires are human beings.”

So let’s proceed with the Instant Replay discussion carefully and thoughtfully.  And if you’re lucky enough to be out at park this year, don’t take it out on the ump.

Guest post: Rich Williams on what happened to the 2010 St. Louis Cardinals

This post is penned by friend and die-hard Cardinals fan Rich Williams.  When asked by us Cub fans over email what happened to St Louis this year, Rich wrote this very thoughtful and analytical piece on the Cardinals.  What went right, what went wrong and the look to the future. 

I asked his permission if I could re-post it here and he graciously yes.  Thanks, Rich!

-tbz

 

After watching Halladay pitch a no-hitter in his first ever post-season appearance, Texas pound the Rays, and the Yankees continued Torment of the Twins, I think we can all agree that both STL and the Cubs (maybe a little more with the Cubs) have a longgggggggggggg way to go.   My pleasure will become in watch Dusty make stupid pitching choices on the way to a 3-and-out.

So, I can’t let Alex’s questions go by without some insights. I have to admit, this is the most complex Cardinal season I have ever tried to dissect.  I think there are a few problems I can immediately identify:

1. LOW OBP by leadoff batters caused overall run totals to sag.  Felipe Lopez was not the answer offensively or defensively to Schumaker sagging to his career means in both areas. Ditto Aaron Miles, although his BA was inexplicably decent for a part time player.

2. Inconsistent performance by 3-4 hitters in RISP situations.  I don’t believe there is such a thing as a clutch hitter (ala Bill James), so the only explanation I can offer is both were pressing and expanding their strike zones because ……

3. Very LOW OPS in 5/6/7 slots after Freese went down, Rasmus went down, Ludwick was hurt then was traded, Allen Craig could not hit MLB pitching, etc.  Molina struggled offensively all year and finally broke down when Larue got his head kicked in by Cueto.

4. Lack of depth, period for third base (feliz????) both at bat and on the field.

5. Not getting Jake Westbrook enough innings after spending so much to get him

6. Bad chemistry in the club house with enough blame to go around.  Felipe became the scapegoat, but the problems between the players and Tony eventually extended to Albert, Holliday and Carpenter.  Losing Ludwick was a major contributor to negative clubhouse atmosphere just when they needed it most.

7. A curious inability to beat tail-ender teams like the Cubs while piling up an impressive record against above-.500 and contending teams.

8. Below average defensive performance compared to previous years in general, particularly against lesser teams.

 

Summary:

The Cardinals season got decided in the six weeks following the sweep of the Reds immediately after the All-Star Break.  All the problems above seemed to descend in a vengeance. Problems in finding a 4th and 5th starter (Lohse and Suppan) aggravated these issues by consistently putting a team behind 4-5 runs early when they could not score.   This in turn burned down what had been one of the most effective bullpens in the NL culminating the outrageous game in Denver where the Rockies came back in the bottom of the 9th trailing 9-3 to win 12-9 on a walk-off 3-run homer.   September found them so far behind and still struggling to score runs that even the Cincy mini-collapse only narrowed the ending gap to 5 games. Getting swept by Cubs (who finished 11 games in back of them) in STL was pretty much the end of the line.

 

2011 Needs:

1. A lead-off hitter that improves on these stats:

BA (rank) … OBP (rank) … SLG (rank)

245 (12th) … .309 (13th) … .350 (13th)

2. An everyday 2nd baseman with league average OPS at least.  (Trade)

3. An everyday third basement with league average OPS at least. (Freese, Descalso, Greene are likely contenders)

4. Overall depth at infield positions as opposed to outfield positions. This is where a lot of younger players from Memphis who came on late will contend (Greene, Descalso).

5. An everyday right fielder with minimum league average OPS, if not a little more.

6. Sign Pujols to an extension.

7. Resign Westbrook.

NB: Brendan Ryan remains an way above league average fielding shortstop that the pitching staff trusts and insists is in the game most of the time. His offense can remain a semi-black hole as long as his defense comes back in 2011 instead of his 2010 where he got injured early.  The Skip Schumacker experiment at 2b is over and he will either return to outfield duty of get traded as a throw-in somewhere.

Good things in 2010:

1. Young players making strides: Jaime Garcia, John Jay, Tyler Greene, Colby Rasmus, Jason Motte, Kyle McClellan.

2. Starting pitching and bullpen.

3. Pythagorean for RS/RA projected a better record (92 wins) even with problems above. See defensive issues, problems against lesser teams, consistency in run scoring.

4. 86 win season matching 2006 club.  Reds simply beat them despite playing sub-.500 ball against winning teams by cleaning up on tail-enders (but only by 5 games=91 wins). Reds outscored Cardinals gave up far fewer runs and dominated the heads up series 12-6.

Where to improve:

Offense:

Improve on these 2010 numbers across the board:

RUNS 736  14th Overall

ON BASE PERCENTAGE .332  13th Overall

SLUGGING PCT  .402  16th Overall

Pitching:

Improve on following 2010 numbers

QUALITY STARTS 94  6th  Overall   (Find 4th and 5th starters who are healthy and go six innings)

WHIP

1.30 10th Overall  (Ditto)

BAA

.256  16th Overall (Ditto)

Cardinals are way ahead of the Cubs in fielding a contending team, but need to fill some obvious gaps to stay competitive.  The Reds will likely come down to earth in terms of RS/RA but will look to improve as well.  Offseason will be worth watching for both.  Cubs need to clear deadweight payroll, Cardinals will try to deal with limited payroll flexibility given they have locked in Holliday, Lohse and Carpenter and look to lock in Albert.

And what will Tony Larussa do?  

What ever happened to Matt Murton?

He’s breaking records in Japan, that’s what

On Tuesday, former Cub outfielder Matt Murton broke the Japanese professional baseball record for most hits in a single season.  That record had formerly been held by none other than Ichiro Suzuki.

Murton got his 211th hit for the Hanshin Tigers on Tuesday.  Ichiro’s former record of 210 hits was accomplished in 1994. 

One monkey wrench thrown into the whole record business…  Japanese baseball has extended the season 14 games since 1994.  Ichiro got his 210 hits in only 130 games while Murton hit his record-breaker in his 142nd game.  I don’t know if Japanese baseball culture is hung up on that kind of thing like we were here in America ala “the asterisk”. 

Humble Matt gave credit to Ichiro:

"1994 and 2010 are two different seasons.  He did it in 130 games. It is what it is, it’s a great honor. In terms of Ichiro, this doesn’t change anything. He’s one of the best players in baseball."

142 games or not, I’ll bet the Cubs would like to have some of that hitting action. 

World Series time (sorta)

orangebluemon 061 I sat first row in Game 1 of the World Series today.  Ok, maybe it was University of Illinois baseball’s annual “Orange and Blue World Series” but it was still a baseball game.  The O&B WS is the Illini’s split squad series they play at this time of year.

I took some photos and did a write-up over at IllinoisBaseballReport.com if you want to see more details. 

Update:  I went back for Game 2 and Game 3, too.

Brad’s gone too

Speaking of retirements, Brad Ausmus is hanging up his tools of ignorance for the last time today.

Never a big stick (he hit .251 for his career), Ausmus will be more known for slick glove behind the plate.  He won three Gold Gloves in his career.  More amazing to me though is the fact that Ausmus caught 1,938 games in his 18 year career.  That ranks 10th among all catchers all time.  Look through his stat board and you’ll see that he often led his league in many defensive categories like catcher putouts and catcher assists.

Ausmus participated in six postseasons and one World Series (in 2005 with the Astros).   

Saturday night tidbits

Changes in Free Agency

MLB and the MLBPA announced a few changes in how free agency will be handled.  Here are the changes in a nutshell:

  • Players will no longer need to file for free agency.  The process will be automatic.
  • Players can entertain offers five days after the last game of the World Series instead of the previous 15 days.
  • Teams must tender contracts by December 2 which is nine days earlier than before.

The changes will take effect beginning next offseason.