Stuff

[DOUGHBOYS]

I haven't done 'Stuff' in a looonnng time. Here we go....

Johnny Cueto had 10 base runners attempting a steal against him last year.
Nine were thrown out.
There were 40 attempts while AJ Burnett pitched.
Two were caught stealing.

David Price gave up zero triples last year. And neither did Ricky Romero.
It was the only thing that Romero didn't give up.

Only eight American League hitters had a batting avg over .310 last year.
Yet Rick Porcello gave up a .310 batting average last year.

In an extreme home run park, Elvis Andrus has 14 lifetime homers in four full years.
He's never scored 100 runs. He's never hit .300
Still, he has gone as high as the third round in a couple of early drafts.

15 players hit 40 doubles last year.
Most are going highly in rounds of drafts this year.
Except one.
Daniel Murphy.
Murphy was the only player of these 15 not to have double digit home runs.

Andrew McCutchens body and role is changing.
With each passing year, more home runs....and less stolen bases.
12/16/23/31 for home runs
22/33/23/20 for stolen bases
He also was caught stealing more last year than any year previous.

Only three players had 20+ home runs last year while walking less than 30 times-
Alex Rios
AJ Pierzynski
Dayan Viciedo
If you're seeing a trend here, it is also worth including that Alexis Ramirez had less walks (16) than any player in baseball with 500 plate appearances.
Adam Dunn had more bases on balls than the four above, combined.

They say it's the little things that count when managing a team.
Clint Hurdle had a team last year that hit only .243
Only five teams were worse.
The pirates were also caught stealing a major league leading 52 times.
And at the same time, stole only 73 bases, last in the National League.

For the last five years, one team has been in the top four in offensive bases on balls taken.
If you ask a media guy, the answer would be the Yankees or Red Sox, it isn't.
Answer at the bottom of the post.

Looking to get more of a bargain out of your draft choice?
Take a St. Louis Cardinal.
They had almost 100 more plate appearances than any other team in baseball last year.

They say that even bad teams can get a lot of Saves.
Last year 11 teams had under 40 Saves.
None of them made the playoffs.
The top five teams in Saves all made the playoffs.
'They' was wrong last year.

Milwaukee batters were hit by a pitch an amazing 90 times last year.
25 more than the runner up White Sox.
The answer for the abuse taken by Brewers hitters could be found within their own pitching staff.
While their hitters were being cuffed about the body, their pitchers were doing their best NOT to retaliate.
Brewers pitchers had a Major League low of 31 batters hit. A ratio of 3-1
Maybe Bob Uecker can have Bob Gibson as a guest in Spring training to 'visit' with these pitchers.

The Los Angeles Angels sacrificed hitters more than the Chicago Cubs last year.
Either Mike Sciosia forgot which league he was in or the Cubs quit caring, or both.

The Cubs also only had 24 sacrifice flies for the season, a major league low.
When asked why, General Manager Theo Epstein replied, "These fans have sacrificed enough watching us, they don't need to see more."

The World Series winning Giants led baseball in sacrifice flies with 61.

19 Houston Astros were intentionally walked last year, nobody knows why.

During the last two years, the Philadelphia Phillies have stolen 212 bases and been caught 47 times
Remember the Pirates?
In 2012 alone, they stole 73 bases and were caught 52 times.
.
.
.
..
The answer to the question above is the Tampa Rays.
The Rays offense is good at drawing a walk...
2008-3rd
2009-4th
2010-1st
2011-4th
2012-1st

[DOUGHBOYS]

One more thing to add....And this is Junk, not Stuff...

Delmon Young.
You remember, that frustrated minor leaguer that was so upset that Tampa would not start his clock that he did stupid things like throw bats in the minors.
Young was thought to be all that and a bag of Doritos by prospect hunters.
It turns out that the Lastings Milledge approach to baseball that somehow baseball owes him, has not been kind to Young.
Not to compare Young with the likes of Milledge or Elijah Dukes or some other kid with a 90 cent body and 10 cent head, but Young has made the least of his talents while prospect hunters are looking for the opposite.
Earning over 6 million dollars last year, he grovels for a $750,000 deal with incentives this year.
Young wears out a welcome quickly. If anything, it'll be entertaining to watch how he and Phillies fans interact this year, especially if getting off to a slow start.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Ok, just one more thing, then I'll shut up....maybe

Last year the press was all (lady?) gaga about the Miami Marlins. We know where they ended up.
This year, guaranteed, the pre-season talk will be focused on Toronto and the Dodgers.
The press likes, no, the press LOVES paper teams. An Automatic transfer from paper to the field is their train of thought.
It makes it easy for them to say that Greinke will do this or Reyes will do that.
So that they can say the Dodgers will do this and the Jays will do that.
But you know what?
Nobody talked about Baltimore last year. Nobody talked about Oakland. And, there wasn't much said about the World Champion Giants.
The press are like crows. Drawn to shiny objects. And right now, the Dodgers and Blue Jays have shiny teams.
Trouble is, that shine wears off quick once your ass gets kicked one, two, or 93 times.
Just ask those in the press who backed the Marlins.

[King Ken]

Great 'stuff' Dan!

[blazer68]

yeah really entertaining and informative