A Grumpy Stuff and Junk

[DOUGHBOYS]

We are a quarter of the way through the season. For those infatuated by 'On pace', simply multiply a players number by four to get his 'numbers'.
In my mind, 'on pace' is similar to a fella leaping off a tall building.
In passing every floor, he yells, "Everything is great so far!"
We know the ending.
A player playing above his head all season? It just doesn't happen.
Oh wait.
Brady Anderson. Roger Maris. Bryce Harper. Ok, it happens.

Speaking of Harper....
Adam Dunn with less power?
Harper is on his way to 100 BB's, 200 K's, and around 30 homers.
Are you really a 'three true outcome' player if having 10 times as many walks and strike outs as home runs?
Hunter Pence was FAAB'd in many Main Event leagues this week.
Here are Pence roto numbers....316/19/7/25/1
Here are Harper's numbers.......229/25/7/25/1
Pence is pissed that he doesn't have Harper's bank account.
Harper's owners are pissed that they have over paid for hype.
Don't be upset though, we play this game for a year, the Phillies are locked into Harper for a generation.
Sabr's will prop Harper by mentioning his On Base Percentage. Their 'go to' stat for failing players.
Harper is 33rd in the league. Tied With Josh Donaldson.
Another player that fantasy owners just as soon forget.
Harper is not in the top 25 of any roto category.
But take heart, every MLB talking head and announcer say the best is yet to come.
(Of course, that has been said since the very first at bat, rendering it, now, meaningless)

Joey Votto has been so terrible, I feel like I'm kicking him when down.
But he's been more than down for two years.
He sees a lot more strikes because pitchers fear of him has disappeared.
Votto is not in the top 20 of drawing base on balls.
Votto has as many RBI as Bryce Harper has homers (7)
Votto is killing his owners by staying healthy.
Like the fella jumping off the tall building, we know the ending.
The difference being that Votto's owners don't feel so great on the way down.

Andrew Benintendi is 1-30 in the first inning.
Can we have an 'Opener' for a hitter?

A friend told me that Josh Donaldson has been worth the money Atlanta paid for him this year.
Hmmm. I guess it is all perspective.

Donaldson.....258/22/6/19/0
Brandon Belt..228/19/6/17/1

The political correctness people have struck in baseball.
The DL is now the IL.
Apparently, the word 'disabled' conjures up 80 year olds in wheelchairs.
'injured' a much softer sounding word.
Fantasy-wise, I always think of Tulo as being that 80 year old in a wheelchair.

(Edit- For edits)

[DOUGHBOYS]

PART TWO (Since these stupid Message Boards do not allow long posts other than administrators....stupid boards)

REST?
Travis Shaw was not 'rested' this weekend. He was benched.
If Mike Trout gets a day off THAT is 'rest'.
Travis Shaw, a slumping Travis Shaw, against three lefties over a weekend?
Shaw was treated (rightfully so) like Dwayne Johnson's hair stylist...he wasn't needed.
Joc Pederson is not being 'rested' against Southpaws.
THAT, IS BEING BENCHED.
When your Manager has little faith in you hitting a pitcher...BENCHED
Why do writers jump all over a player for bad results, but soften their approach for 'rests' ?

Top 10 ERA Pitchers this year....(Not one of them taken in the first five rounds of Main Event drafts this year)

1 Jon Lester.......1.16
2 Zach Davies......1.54
3 Hyun-Jin Ryu....1.72
4 Luis Castillo.....1.76
5 Tyler Glasnow...1.86
6 Jordan Lyles.....2.09
7 Caleb Smith.....2.11
8 Jake Odorizzi...2.32
9 Spencer Turnbull2.42
10 Zach Eflin .......2.47

Top 10 K Pitchers this year...(SEVEN of them taken in the first five rounds of Main Event drafts this year)

1 Gerrit Cole......86
2 Max Scherzer....79
3 Stephen Strasburg75
4 Trevor Bauer.....72
5 Luis Castillo.....70
6 Justin Verlander68
7 Jacob deGrom...64
8 Matthew Boyd...63
9 Blake Snell.......62
10 German Marquez59

We do love our strike outs.
Note- The only pitcher on both lists being Luis Castillo.

You know who is quietly having a not-terrible year?
Andrew Cashner.
Seriously.
Cashner has won four games for a team that sucks balls.
Here is his line...4.25/4/33/1.37
Comparable to that of Jhoulys Chacin...4.57/3/33/1.26

There are 94 pitchers who are 'qualified' pitchers with innings thrown.
Every single one of those 94 pitchers is averaging at least one strikeout every two innings.
That has never happened over a full year in baseball history.

48 of the top 68 strike out pitchers are averaging a strike out an inning or better.
A strike out an inning has gone from a thing to not a thing.

Want to see boredom on the baseball field?
Watch a Yu Darvish game.
77 K's or walks in 36 innings.
Those are Little League numbers.

Hyun-Jin Ryu has a 54/3 K/BB ratio. Yep, 54/3

Spencer Turnbull...2.42/2/44/1.21

Hyun-Jin Ryu.......1.72/5/54/0.73

Spencer Turnbull WAR- 1.8
Hyun-Jin Ryu' s WAR- 1.7

That is stupid... or retarded .....or any of those other words like 'disabled' that we're not supposed to say.

[mbendar16]

Dan,
That last stat boggles my mind. Not sure exactly how WAR is calculated, but Ryu must be the worst fielder in baseball for it to be lower than a solid but not spectacular Turnbull.

Mark

[DOUGHBOYS]

Dan,
That last stat boggles my mind. Not sure exactly how WAR is calculated, but Ryu must be the worst fielder in baseball for it to be lower than a solid but not spectacular Turnbull.

Mark

Here is the way WAR is calculated from the only person that could possibly understand it.....

Toddz - "75109179046719414719751932`90752214285789137`907510957120957149571923754986799875823759842572193857192485671923875912846129384192385385985319287379128375193287519283757198749312857192387129387594817359871928529845923871923875791284591823789275918465983719283834474733822992292151256189578765128756198273561928376129837653871617561823651328756129873561938756198356193875618237673564`87356`7856`87368727377"

That is the Readers Digest version in Numerish.

[DOUGHBOYS]

One more...

Do you think there are less players running this year?
You may be right.
There are 172 qualifying hitters in baseball. 55 of them do not have a stolen base.
39 more, have only one.
So of the qualified hitters in baseball, 55% do NOT have more than one stolen base.
This includes Andrew McCutchen, Josh Reddick, Jose Iglesias, Bryce Harper, Brian Dozier, Jean Segura, Manny Machado, Jose Altuve, Eddie Rosario, Brian Goodwin, Willy Adames, Steven Duggar, Ian Desmond, Kike Hernandez, Jorge Polanco, and Jeff McNeil, all with a speed gene.

Only five players in baseball, one quarter of the way through the season, have more than eight stolen bases.

Ah, one more....

Albert Pujols has received many accolades over the past couple of years for passing counting numbered landmarks..
In getting his 600 homers and 2,000 RBI, his average is suffering.
If he has four more quarters like the first fourth of this season, he end his season with a lifetime batting average under .300
It will be the first time ever in his career in not having a .300 batting average.

His worst batting average with the Cardinals was .299 in his final year with the Cards
He's hitting .216 as of now for this year.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'll keep this thread going for awhile.....

It was said that two years ago, MLB juiced the ball. I have no idea whether they did or not. Don't really care.
If they did, it is said to bring more fans to the ball park.
If so, it is not working.
Two years ago, two teams (A's and Rays) averaged less than 20,000 in attendance at the bottom of all other teams.
This year, 12 teams are averaging under 20,000.
This includes the whole A.L. Central.
And why not, the favorite in the A.L. Central, the Cleveland Indians were more concerned about selling off players rather than building a better team.
Message received by their fans.

No team has averaged less than 10,000 in attendance since the Montreal franchise. And we all know what happened to that franchise.
The Miami Marlins are averaging less than 10,000 fans per game.
As they should.
I'm a big baseball fan and I wouldn't go to a Marlins game if living next door to the Stadium.
Derek Jeter and his buddies have totally failed in bringing this franchise around to being watchable.
If anything, they are worse off than with the last regime.
Miami has a lot of stars in the sky, none on the field, and darned little in their system.

The Giants are also putting a crappy product on the field. They are feeling that pinch at the turnstiles as well.
Two years ago, the Giants were filling their ball park almost every night.
They tell their fans they want to win.
Telling them they were in the running for big free agents while hardly signing ANY free agents at all.
Noise.
They were third in attendance, drawing over 40,000 fans a night.
Two years later, 10th in attendance, with 32,000 fans a night.

GM's have changed baseball with their so-called Ivy League smarts.
They forget that baseball fans don't care about their smarts.
They want to see good baseball.
If the baseballs are juiced, it isn't working to that end.
If GM's are smart by playing to lose, that also is not working.
Fans need one thing to have them come to the ball park.
HOPE.

The Angels are one of those teams that smart GM's are trying to avoid being. A middling team.
But you know what?
Angels attendance remains constant at over 35,000 a game.
They have star power in Trout, Pujols, and Ohtani.
In paying to see the game, their fans know their team will be entertaining and competitive.

Their is no hope for the Marlins and damned little for a lot of other franchises.
Asking fans to 'support' their team without hope of winning is asking too much.
GM's are telling owners to look at the Cubs past.
Convincing them that tearing down and building up is the way to go.
They forget that Cubs fans LIKED being the lovable losers and still paid to go see them.
Winning was icing on the cake.
That doesn't work in Miami or San Francisco or any losing venue.
Baltimore fans who have little to see, have seen their attendance drop from 25,000 to 15,000.
Sooner or later, the owners will feel the pinch at the turnstiles and de-bunk and override their 'smart' GM's.
They'll restore what smart GM's have taken away.
Hope.
And a reason to go watch the home team.

[DOUGHBOYS]

One more note about attendance. Star power matters.
As noted, Angels fans still go see the Angels and Mike Trout.
The Phillies have increased their attendance 50% after adding McCutchen, Harper, Segura, and Realmuto.
The willingness to win and Star power at work.
Harper is like an Elvis Presley movie, of little substance, but the public pays to see.