Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Juan Pierre starts ahead of Matt Kemp tonight, with Andre Ethier moving to right field. Pierre is batting seventh.
I don't miss making the daily outfield updates like last year.
> Juan Pierre is back in there to face Matt Cain, with Joe Torre explaining, "I just don't want anybody sitting there stale, especially someone that isn't used to sitting. It doesn't appear Pierre will bat second though in the near future, as Torre said he wants to toy around with who hits there, and Pierre will bat seventh or eighth when he's in there. Also, there is a slight chance that Torre will have four outfielders in the lineup one day. Andre Ethier is Torre's pick ahead of Mark Sweeney to play there should something happen to James Loney, such as an injury or slump.
Sorry. Done snarking now. Snark doesn't happen on this blog.
Pedro Martinez left the game in the 3rd or 4th -- missed exactly when -- with a pulled hammy.
You can find it if you hunt for it.
"I started a joke... that started the whole world crying..."
Let's just hope he doesn't make more than 80 starts.
http://tinyurl.com/27vttt
2007 vs. righties:
Kemp: .318/.340/.495/.835
Pierre: .301/.338/.372/.710
I can't seem to find the "vs. tough righties" split...
Yeah, because Pierre has been sitting on the bench for...one whole day!
This is mostly on Colletti, not only because he signed Pierre last year, but because he didn't trade Pierre--or any of the other outfielders--after signing A Jones. However, it looks like Torre is going to play right into it by trying to fit four outfielders into three slots.
Jon, I fear you will be doing daily outfield updates for at least the next few months.
Melky Cabrera homered to tie the game.
Then the Blue Jays wasted a leadoff double by Aaron Hill.
The score is tied 2-2.
Do they sing "God Bless America" every day in the Bronx? That would drive me nuts in a hurry. I do not like that song.
D4P returns just at the right time.
Also, I don't think it was a mistake to keep Pierre (unless someone offers something of value) because if something happens, I don't think they felt comfortable with the Repko/Young option has a replacement.
Finally, once Loney took over 1B, he sat out just a few games so again, I don't think that you will Ethier playing first on any regular basis.
If that's the point, then I'm not sure what the point of Torre is. Starting Pierre isn't wrong because he had a streak, or because the GM likes him. Starting Pierre is wrong because he's not good at baseball. That's the point. Use him when a starter needs a break, if you must, but this is the second day of the season, and J.D. Drew doesn't play here any more.
http://juanpierreoutwatch.blogspot.com
And just yesterday, I was thinking, what the heck are we going to do with the OutWatch? Well, unfortunately, we have our answer.
The Juan Pierre OutWatch. Now more than ever!
The front office may not take Repko over Pierre, but I would. At least, some upside with Repko.
21 Yes. They also play "YMCA" and the them from "Rocky" every game. The ground crew rakes the field and dances to "YMCA", some crazy fan runs the stairs and pours water on himself during the Rocky theme.
According to his stats, he is listed as being 162 games for the next 5 seasons (2003-2007).
To go from that to be a part-time player is going to be an adjustment. Part of the reason for playing him is to see if Pierre can adjust. If it turns out he can't, that may pave the way to a move where the Dodgers will be willing pay more of his contract.
23- This city has been through a lot in seven years. I don't think you meant to offend anyone, but be careful because it's still raw for a lot of folks, especially here...
In other news, I'm going to watch the game tonight with a real live Dodger fan in a Manhattan bar. I've never gotten to do that before. And he reads this site! He might put his fist through something when he finds out the Bison is benched.
Maybe Russ should play everyday or else his path to the HOF will be detoured?
That's snark.
Its like what my professor said: If you're going to commit a tort, make it really bad.
If at some point in the future Matt Kemp turns into Pedro Munoz and I lament "if only we started Kemp against Cain April 1st, 2008" I'll concede the point, but I really doubt I will, especially since Kemp has already established he's a big league player.
Back to tonight's game: I think we'll get a number of variable lineups for the first week or so as Torre continues to fiddle and see how players perform. I'd imagine that he'll start to settle into a standard lineup at some point, though.
I will not be satisfied until the city of Gainesville is burnt to the ground, the soil is salted, and Joakim Noah apologizes to me for his hair.
Other possibilities, C Jones, Martinez, Howard, Ortiz, M Ramirez, Webb, and Martin.
You're right, because he wouldn't be starting over a proven major leaguer who is one of the best hitters on the team.
I wish I could talk myself into thinking boneheaded moves make sense.
Sweet. I gave up watching that game after awhile.
With Grady it was frustrating that he could not understand that Pierre was a bad player. In contrast, this is infuriating because Torre understands Pierre is the worse player, and by the SECOND game, he has given up on doing what he is paid the big bucks to do, which is to keep his overpaid players positive while they sit on the bench.
Welcome back D4P!
I would take Wright, Cabrera, and Sizemore over him, but then it gets hazy because I am counting on prospects and pitchers are scary.
He'll take a walk? When? He never takes a walk. That's the problem, dinosaur.
Pujols is definitely great, but I would be a bit worried about the elbow. When someone says think six years in thh future, I am probably going to pick a bunch of young guys.
Minotaur is obviously huge risk. I have no idea where I would rank him, but those three immediately came to mind as people I would take.
That probably most reflects my feelings on this. And just to spite all of us Pierre will have a great game, hit a walk off grand slam, throw 2 runners our at home, and earn a starting spot for the rest of the year.
But Jay Bruce has to deal with having Dusty as his manager. Which means, Jay Bruce won't get the playing time he deserves and Reds' management is not much help.
http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/archives/2008/04/help_is_on_the.html
Help is on the way ... oh wait, never mind
According to two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Dodgers agreed in principle earlier today on a minor-league contract for free-agent infielder Marcus Giles, who had a really good spring for Colorado but ultimately was released last week because the Rockies didn't have a spot for him. The plan was for Giles to go to Las Vegas, reacquaint himself with 3B, where he has just nine career appearances and none since 2005, prove that he could play there for about 10 days, then get called up and share time with Blake DeWitt until Nomar or Abreu comes back. ... And then, as Giles was in his car driving to Las Vegas from his home near San Diego, HE CHANGED HIS MIND. Just decided he wasn't coming. Turned the car around and went home. ... And the worst part is, the Dodgers passed on two other players they could have signed because they were convinced they had Giles, and neither of those players is still available. One of them is believed to have been Alex Cintron, a free-agent infielder who signed a minor-league deal with Baltimore yesterday. ... It still isn't clear why Giles changed his mind, other than one source saying he just doesn't have the desire to play anymore. At any rate, his indecision has left the Dodgers back at square one, at least for the time being.
Plus, Kemp has more experience coming off the bench. The Giants are tough for 5-6 innings, then fold when it comes to the bullpen. If needed, Kemp will get his shot then.
I'm not saying I like this lineup. In fact I hate it. But I get it, and it's neither stupid nor irrational.
Who is the worst player you would take back in a trade just to get Juan Pierre off our hands?
Hey, a man can dream!
I would take anything for Pierre just to make sure he does not take at bats from other players.
All four in the game at one time and Loney sits? What kind of a plan is that?
25 offers the only posiitve possibilty, otherwise, Torre caves to "Mopey".
Very disappointed.
(Rule 1 violation)
Did anybody else hear that? I'm in awe. Can anybody sanely think he'd be better than Hu?
I believe Bochy went to San Francisco of his own accord. The Giants wanted a new manager and the Giants parked a dump truck full of money outside his home.
"Furcal, spinning like a ballet student".
Instead of:
"Furcal, spinning like a ballerina".
The man knows his way around words.
I've had girls compliment me in very feminine terms. I'd wish they'd had Vin's touch and awareness.
Also, when Bochy's contract was up with San Diego, the Padres -- with the Sandy Alderson era still relatively new -- didn't exactly make a full effort to retain Bochy.
Bowa said it.
91 Is there somewhere I could see the rest of the list? I would be interested.
M.Cain
T.Lincecum
J.Peavy
C.Young
B.Webb
R.Oswalt
A.Harang
J.Cueto
E.Volquez
C.Zambrano
B.Sheets
Y.Gallardo
I.Snell
J.Smoltz
P.Martinez
B.Myers
vr, Xei
vr, Xei
I thought you said you did the rankings, but this says it was by Alan Hull.
Neither have I.
To be fair, the amount of money I get paid to sit around and watch baseball is less than $4 million per year.
I don't think it's going to take quite that long.
Fantasy baseball question: A guy wants to trade to me Maglio Ordonez for Ichiro Suzuki, and my other two outfielders are Dunn and Carl Crawford.
Would you do it?
http://tinyurl.com/393lm5
Even Molina would have scored if that ball was hit to Pierre in CF.
Cain made his major league debut on August 29, 2005 at the age of 20 against the Colorado Rockies, losing the game despite giving up only three hits and two runs in five innings. Following his debut, Cain joined the team's regular five-man starting rotation, finding immediate success. He earned his first major league win on September 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and notched his first complete game, a two-hitter, against the Chicago Cubs on September 9. Cain finished his first season with seven starts over 46⅓ innings in which he posted a 2–1 record, 30 strikeouts, a 2.33 ERA, a 0.928 WHIP, and a minuscule .151 opponent batting average.3 4
When he was called up, Cain was the second youngest player in the major leagues, behind Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners.
1) Why Mauer at 12 and Martin not in the top 30?
2) Felix 16, Kazmir 22, but Hamels is all the way down at 30? What makes those two rate higher?
3) Chris Young? Would you really trade Bruce, Kemp or Justin Upton for Chris Young?
And Lowe gave us a shot of confidence with his easy handling of that inning.
Yes, moronic indeed.
Looking at the actual percentages (e.g. lefty-righty splits) ruins the magic. Baseball Guys just go with their gut.
Anyway, one stat nerd's take on it.
We feel your pain!
Using Baseball-Reference.com, for Matt Cain:
Age 19: 159 IP (A+/AA)
Age 20: 192 IP (AAA/MLB)
Age 21: 190.2 IP
Age 22: 200 IP
Age 23: 2 IP and counting :)
Felix has age on his side, he's younger than Buchholz and Joba and is already an established force. The skies the limit on him. Kazmir out pitched Hamels last year putting up near the same ERA despite being in the AL and having the worst defense in baseball behind him.
I'm really high on Chris Young and expect a monster season out of him. His minor league numbers suggest much better average and patience this year. He'll drop off the list if he repeats 2007 though.
Someone is benched tonight.
Oh well, politics.
Our instinct just won't allow it.
Watch for the trend in future Lowe starts.
You really don't have to root for it, it'll happen anyway ;)
http://www.truebluela.com/2008/3/13/9441/89554
I feel even more justified in hating Lowe before he became a Dodger.
Does anyone think it would be wrong for me to take one of those balls hit by Young and try to get it signed by Kershaw when he's in Huntsville later this month?
As 146 and 25 note, what other reasons can you think of to justify taking at bats from Kemp, your #3 hitter and replacing him with Pierre, your #8 hitter? This is a Championship Season, where every win counts.
(rule one violation)
Way too big of karmic difference to make up.
Roberto Kelly did catch the final out of the no-hitter.
http://tinyurl.com/3dgdf3
Besides, legitimate bartenders are supposed to keep their mouth's shut.
Besides, legitimate bartenders are supposed to keep their mouth's shut.
Man
Kent!
To be fair, Lowe has said many dumb things before, so maybe he said even worse.
I go to the blogging cages. Same helmet.
Per Wikipedia.org: A picosecond is one millionth of one millionth of a second (0.000 000 000 001 seconds).
Why do they have to show Larry King when he's in the stands? He frightens me like a gargoyle would.
Snark alert....high.
Even better at bat by DeRoche. Er, LaWitt. Er, DeWitt.
---
I look at Derek Lowe as basically a complete clown, in the circus sense. He's a solid pitcher who is a total goofball off the mound. He sticks his foot in his mouth, but it never bothers me for whatever reason, because he's like the Fool in a Shakespeare play.
Courtesy of the wonderful Bill James Goldmine 2008, Bengie Molina in 2007 was:
0 for 12 going 1st to 3rd on a single
0 for 9 scoring from 2nd on a single
0 for 4 scoring from 1st on a double
James calls this the "Triple Doughnut".
Windmill, come back, all is forgiven!
They have extra special vision (they can see the ball at those speeds) and super quick reflexes/reactions (they can get their hands/bat to the ball at those speeds). Kemp in particular, has shown in the past that he is gifted in these departments.
As for the game, i cant believe Cain is still pitching. Please walk James, bring in a leftie and pinch hit Kemp.
Baseline coaches (who are already required to helmets this year at all levels) will be prohibited from moving closer to the field than the front edge of the coaching box or the side closest to fair territory until a batted ball passes by them.
https://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/914834.html
He suffered from the mass hallucination.
You almost feel sorry for Cain, who was probably even more discombobulated after all that. Almost.
And thank you Bochy for bringing in Tachsner so we can see Matt Kemp instead of Pierre. Bless you!
Totally different mindset than starting. sort of rediculous that Pierre stars only to be pinch-hit for in the 6th inning. why start a guy in the first place if you take him out in that postion?
Now Kemp moves into right with Ethier shifting to left. All strong throwing arms are needed in such a tight game. Now when Lowe comes up next inning he can be pinch hit for with Sweeney.
Ah well.
.118 .167 .294
2-17, 1 HR, 1 BB, 10 K
And now Lowe's out, as he probably should've been at that point anyway - but not good to see a ball rocket off his foot like that.
Bowa freaked out because a rule was applied to him. How DARE the rule.
It's one thing to rebel and freak out while trying to make a rational argument.
It's another thing to freak out when you don't have one iota of logic behind you. The guy is trash.
And psycho, dumb trash at that.
Bowa freaked out because a rule was applied to him. How DARE the rule.
It's one thing to rebel and freak out while trying to make a rational argument.
It's another thing to freak out when you don't have one iota of logic behind you. The guy is trash.
And psycho, dumb trash at that.
Thats basically what i remember. Some guys just cant pinch- hit, and Matt might be one of them. not that thats a problem, because he never should be pinch hitting.
Great, Beimel throwing ball 4 to a kid who hit .240 in A ball.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.