biggentleben
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Everything posted by biggentleben
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Article: Twins Sign Catcher Kurt Suzuki
biggentleben replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
A lot of it was due to overuse. He caught just under 300 games in 2008-2009 and another 270 in 2010-2011. That's simply a ton of games behind the plate for any catcher. -
Article: Twins Sign Catcher Kurt Suzuki
biggentleben replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
One mark on him offensively - he puts the ball in play. He rarely walks, but he also rarely strikes out. Fangraphs has him for a career 6.4 BB%, but also only an 11.9 K%. -
Article: Twins Sign Catcher Kurt Suzuki
biggentleben replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
If you saw him after his late-season trade back to Oakland, you saw some of that vigor again. Injuries have taken some of the raw athleticism away, but he was seemingly energized with the A's staff and his bat even came alive in a short stint with Oakland last season. Great example of that - in his first few years as a catcher, he averaged 4+ runs prevented by blocking. He was then 0.xx for the last couple years before bouncing back to produce a 5+ run prevention number in 2013 combined between the A's and Nats, which was second only to Yadi Molina. -
Article: Twins Sign Catcher Kurt Suzuki
biggentleben replied to John Bonnes's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
He's actually never been a Mariner (perhaps you're thinking of onetime Seattle closer Kaz Sasaki or a certain right fielder). He came up with the Athletics with a high reputation for handling a staff and holding runners close and surprised the A's with quality seasons at the plate. He's still young in catcher years, and while he won't ever hit .300, he can give you a solid contact guy that will give you .250 batting average with a .700ish OPS. Nothing spectacular, but not horrid for a catcher either. While injuries have taken away his elite defensive abilities, he's still highly touted for handling of pitchers. -
I think you will be blown away the level of pitcher they expect to get from Gardner. They asked the Braves for Teheran, per reports from Braves beat guys. That's about as untouchable in Atlanta as they come, basically like saying we'd like Sano AND Buxton for Gardner. Great first post, btw, and welcome!
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I'm mid South Dakota, so basically the middle of nowhere as far as TV goes. In fact, with the change to digital signals, I only get NBC at my place now. The CBS, ABC, and Fox signals all fall short of hitting me.
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I think every Twins fan in South Dakota has now posted. Surprised how many fellow SoDakians are around here.
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There is a really active and fun Cardinals community on huzzah.co, a forum started similarly to how the old BYTO started with exiles from the ESPN boards for the Braves, Dodgers, and Cardinals all creating one board together. I think you'd enjoy the back and forth there, and let me know if you're looking for a few good folks to bring you in the fold over there.
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I prefer strikeout and walk percentage (rather than per 9 stats). Also GO/FO is a good thing to look at for all pitchers.
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So, current draft order has the Vikings 4. 1. Texans 2. Rams (via Washington) 3. Falcons 4. Vikings 5. Raiders 6. Jaguars 7. Browns 8. Bills 9. Buccaneers Currently, assuming the same order, you would figure on Teddy Bridgewater #1, then Jake Matthews or another OL is a big possibility at #2, then the Falcons will want OL or anyone they could find on defense. It is feasible that the Vikings could see Jadeveon Clowney fall to them at #4!
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I think it's as much my dislike for Buchholz as my like for the prospects mentioned.
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Definitely win-now moves. I thought prospect-to-current was good in the Hamilton/Soler deal, but you did give up a bit more prospect currency than I guess I would have for Buchholz, but that can also be because I'm not exactly a fan of his as well.
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In 2011, Roy Halladay posted a 19-8 record with a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 233 2/3 innings (8 complete games!) and missed out on his second consecutive Cy Young award (and 3rd of his career) in voting heavily favoring the win stat (Clayton Kershaw had 21 wins, but Halladay had nearly 2.5 more bWAR on the season). Today, Doc Halladay retired. His shoulder was the main reason for his steep decline, but he said in his press conference today that EVERYTHING was hurting him - his back, his knees, everything except his shoulder. I LOVED watching the man pitch. He was a throwback to an era where guys didn't have 99 mph fastballs in the 7th inning to rely on and had to be pitchers. His held together motion generated deception and movement for him, and he threw 220+ innings six consecutive seasons. He was the definition of an ace - the guy who gave you a great start every start out and went deep in a high number of his games. The debates can now start on a man whose career was started late based on injury and ended early on the same token, but was brilliant in between. A bit of trivia - Justin Verlander was the last to top 250 innings in 2011, Halladay was the last to top 260 in 2003, Randy Johnson was the last to top 270 innings in 1999, Charlie Hough was the last to top 280 in 1987, Bert was the last to top 290 in 1985, and Steve Carlton was the last to top 300 in 1980 (Phil Niekro's 342 IP in 1979 closed out the last decade where every single MLB leader had 250 innings, and the 70s featured back to back 370+ inning guys, something not done since the 1910s).
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Wow, I'm seriously getting the education on who to trade with and who not to. Horrid initial offers I can live with, but when you're deep in discussions and then respond to the next email with "oh, I just traded him", that's pretty crappy game play. You at least offer the other guy a chance to match offers. Anyway, rant over. So I'm confused about the draft. There's two separate drafts - one for guys who weren't eligible in 2013 and then one more for MLB guys?
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Here's what I don't get about the redraft. Why did they not simply trade the guys from rosters to one another in one massive trade rather than continual add/drops?
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Yeah, it's me. Yay, I think. Minor was more on that fact that without him or Felix, my staff is fairly thin, so I'd want big pieces to move either of them. I'm not a fan that the other pronounced Braves fan is such a poor trader, at least in my experience thus far. As far as the re-draft, when there was such a struggle to find two more, I offered to put my team in the mix if it helped lure a new owner as I did see some possible benefits of having access to the minors of the other teams vs. mine. Perhaps I need to go offering around my minor leaguers with the valuations of them!
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Then this discussion is done. If you believe he wasn't dominant because he didn't strike people out, you are welcome to that misconception. I'll enjoy reality instead.
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No one said a quota - he's showing that stating that being the 5th best pitcher in an extended stretch is nearly a guarantee to be in the Hall of Fame. It should be. The Hall of Fame is for the best of the best. Not the best single seasons, but the best extended period of high success. Glavine, despite your insistence against it, was a dominant pitcher for an extended period of time in his career.
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I loved that deal for you. I've only made one small deal, but I've received some stuff that's at least close. Everyone wants to dump their 26th guy for one of my 3B, though, so far...that won't exactly make me want to jump forward on a deal. I'm looking for a big prospect package or solid outfielder/pitcher at the MLB level to move either.
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Here's the voting so far: IN Greg Maddux, 100 Craig Biggio, 88.89 Tom Glavine, 88.89 Frank Thomas, 81.48 OUT, BUT STILL ON BALLOT Mike Piazza, 74.07 Barry Bonds, 62.96 Roger Clemens, 62.96 Jeff Bagwell, 59.26 Tim Raines, 48.15 Jack Morris, 29.63 Curt Schilling, 29.63 Mike Mussina, 25.93 Larry Walker, 14.81 Edgar Martinez, 11.11 Mark McGwire, 11.11 Alan Trammell, 11.11 Jeff Kent, 7.41 Lee Smith, 7.41 OUT, OFF BALLOT Fred McGriff, 3.70 Sammy Sosa, 3.70 Don Mattingly, 0 Rafael Palmeiro, 0
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I'm a lifelong Braves fan. I watched nearly every game he pitched. He did get some extra space, but nothing extra than any other control pitcher could get. It's a matter of having incredible control to hit those spots over and over to make the umpire start calling them. Obviously, he did okay when umpires weren't giving him that corner, which tells you plenty. When he walked a guy, it was often because he wanted to. From 1991-2002 (his age 25-36 seasons with Atlanta), he was second in wins to Maddux, started more games than anyone else, had the 5th most shutouts, 2nd most innings pitched, 6th best ERA, and 6th best ERA+ in an era with the peak of Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, and Greg Maddux also involved in those statistics.
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I have not, but I do know through pictures that there is a display of the 1998 HR chase and a Morris/Smoltz game 7 display. Those are really unrelated to the player being in the Hall.
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6-8 inches? really? wow... A lot of HOF pitchers are in because of longevity and accruing statistics.
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I will always be anti-Lofton to some degree for costing the Braves David Justice and Marquis Grissom to get his worst season baserunning by far in his career. He hit .330+/.400+ for the Braves, but got a reputation for not playing through any nick or bruise and was caught nearly as many times stealing as he stole that season. He also had some horrible blunders on the basepaths that season on what should have been easy tag-up's, 1st-to-3rd's, and other plays. He then went on to his sub-.200 in the playoffs that season and struck out 1/4 of his plate appearances while committing multiple errors in the NLCS against the Marlins. The Braves gave up one of their franchise's most popular players to acquire him, and they were more than happy to let him go after one season. I will not argue that he aged very well, even having a very good full season his last year, which surprises me that he didn't attempt to keep on toward goals like 2500 hits or 650 steals, but he was simply done. Juan Pierre is another guy who's aged well, but also well traveled. My comparison isn't so much that Lofton was a poor player as he aged, but that he was easily available to teams. Heck, Juan Pierre has been found for a song in recent years and put up lines like .307/.351 with 37 steals in 2012 in only 439 PA. Guys like that aren't in the uber-elite of the pay threshold, and shouldn't require 20M+ over long-term to acquire.
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I'd question excellent based on his arm, but others don't include that in overall defensive viewpoints. I'm not saying Lofton was a bad player at all, either, just that he's nowhere near worth an elite contract in the game. How much different is Jacoby Ellsbury from Brett Gardner or Desmond Jennings or any number of guys knocking on the door every year with similar high-OBP, speed, defense CF skillsets? Not enough for me to pay him elite money.
