Lookout Landing

Another quick one:

Biggest Contribution: Adrian Beltre, +20.0%
Biggest Suckfest: Jeremy Reed, -8.8%
Most Important Hit: Beltre grand slam, +20.5%
Most Important Pitch: Brown out, +4.8%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): +17.5%
Total Contribution by Hitters: +27.5%

(What is this?)

Comparing Degrees of Awfulness:

League average winning percentage: 50.0%
Kansas City winning percentage: 31.9%
Difference: -36.2%

League average OPS: .756
Player A OPS: .250
Difference: -66.9%

In other words, by comparison to the average, Player A has been nearly twice as bad as the Royals this year. For them to be equal, Kansas City would need to have a 16.6% winning percentage, a clip which would leave them with a current record of 20-99. That's how bad Player A has been so far.

League average ERA: 4.28
Matt Thornton ERA: 5.72
Difference: -33.6%

Now we're getting somewhere. You talk about your close matches - Matt Thornton is pretty much the Kansas City Royals of pitchers. If that isn't reason enough to get rid of him, perhaps his four-walk/one-homer performance this afternoon will do the trick. How often do you see a guy throw more balls than strikes, particularly against that kind of lineup? I mean, really.

Since the end of May, Adrian Beltre has put up a .280/.330/.494 line at the plate. You'd love to see him cut down on those ugly at bats he has every now and then, and by consequence boost his walk rate a little bit, but over said time span he's drawn (unintentional) free passes at the same clip as he did a year ago, when he flipped out all over the place, so that isn't the problem. Missing the ball completely has been the problem, as Beltre's swinging and missing now more often than he did back in April. Having posted a .340 BA to go with a .590 SLG when putting the ball in play since June 1, you get the feeling like Beltre's just one tiny adjustment away from re-discovering his past form.

That's more of a long-term thing, though. What's important for now is that you realize that, for the past two and a half months, Adrian Beltre has been a good player. Things are getting better, if more gradually than we hoped.

To Minnesota tomorrow, as Spiroid takes on Joe Mays at 5:10pm.