5-2! Without being close to full strength. Mind you, nobody's really at full strength right now, but it's something to put up that kind of week when you're short your best position player and your closer's just getting stretched out. Forget the blown save. I know we could be 6-1, but that shit happens. What matters is that, for the most part, the M's have played really solid, really sound, really effective baseball, all without their most identifiable player. A pessimist would look at Chavez and Balentien's numbers and say that Ichiro isn't going to make the team play any better than it has when he comes back, but then we've already got five wins that no one can take away, and it's nice to know that this is a roster capable of coming together in the face of mad adversity. And besides, when you're 5-2 with the best run prevention in the AL, it's not so much about improving as sustaining.
It's funny the way this weekend worked out. RRS needed picking up, so the offense and the bullpen came through. Felix needed picking up, so the offense and the bullpen came through. Then the offense needed picking up, so Bedard came through. It's one of those weekends that tempts you to declare that this team is greater than the sum of its parts, that it just meshes in a way that makes it seem special, and though I don't tend to buy into that kind of stuff, it's not like the evident truth is any less flattering - this team is capable in all facets, such that it doesn't have to rely on any particular strength to shoulder the load. Yes, run prevention is going to be key, but giving up a couple runs isn't going to be a crippler. Not anymore.
Unlike last season, Lowe says his fellow pitchers also believe they can give up some runs without it resulting in an automatic loss.
"They don't stop,'' he said of the hitters. "We got that feeling down there (in the bullpen) just watching it. We were down two in the eighth and we had confidence they were going to come around."
It's early. The six divisions in baseball are currently led by us, the Marlins, the Padres, the Blue Jays, the Cardinals, and the Tigers. Shit's going to change, and it's going to change an awful lot. But realistically speaking, I don't know that this team could've started out much better. I was afraid that I'd have to force a little enthusiasm at the home opener on Tuesday, but after this week - and, most notably, after today - that's no longer a worry. Sweep me up, Mariners. I think I'm ready for you.
0 recs | 151 comments
Luck or not, this is an awesome way to start the season
And it doesn’t take a whole lot of luck to change the expected outcome of this division.
Endy is going to start hitting like shit again, and we’re not going to bring in nearly this percentage of our baserunners, but it’s still really fun to watch this team play, especially the new guys like Gutierrez and Branyan who have looked nothing shy of exactly what we thought we were getting or better.
I still kind of want to be mad at the management for the way they’ve handled the farm system, honestly I think Z has given up on a number of very important pieces of our future way, way too early. But even though it’s only been 7 games I don’t think there’s any denying that the moves they’ve made with the major league roster have worked out pretty swimmingly so far.
OlSalty - April 12, 2009
We can only hope Zduriencik will renege on his stance with Aumont
But there’s no reason to let that bother us while we’re 5-2!
…
5-2!
cwel87 - April 12, 2009
!
JI - April 12, 2009
Yea, 5-2. It's pretty early.
But how telling is it that leading the division by 1.5 games is the largest we’ve had since 2003?
……..2003.
And since then the latest we’ve led the division was on 4/17/2007 after 9 games. We’ve played 7 so far.
The first week was basically a feeling-out process for Wakamatsu. I’m sure being that he’s an analytical type he could’ve rolled out the most statistically optimal lineup for the first week. Instead he decided to play around with his options to see what he has available and it’s been fascinating to watch.
How bout Wak trying to create a ‘Willie Bloomquist’ out of Ronny Cedeno. We know he has infield experience but outfield? He’s whipped up a SSS UZR of +0.7 in LF. Griffey in the lineup with a lefty on the mound and manages to hit a homerun one days and draw three walks in another. Sweeney getting key hits off right-handed pitching.
I give Wakamatsu credit for having the balls to experiment with the team to the extent that he has. I would’ve been interested in how things played out even if they started 2-5. But with a 5-2 start it’s interesting AND it’s resulted in wins I’m hooked.
ThundaPC - April 12, 2009
I don't like the Bloomquist comparison to Cedeno.
We don’t want another Bloomquist. We need a guy who can give us above-average defense and offense while playing a different position everyday. Bloomquist was a late defensive substitution and pinch runner at best— he was never everyday material. Cedeno gives us so much more than that. To me, he is like the new Mark McLemore.
Wilder. - April 12, 2009
Yea, probably not the best comparision.
What I was going for was ‘Bloomquist’ meaning guy who can play a lot of positions. Only in this case he’s much more serviceable.
ThundaPC - April 12, 2009
I gotcha but perhaps a more apt comparison would be Mark McLamore
Even then I think that does a bit of disservice to Cedeños infield defense. But it sounds a lot better than bringing up WFB.
Willie Mays Haze - April 13, 2009
Great start to the season, great road sweep within the division.
This upcoming series against the Angels is going to be the big test. We have the back of our rotation pitching against a lineup that has murdered Mariners pitching the last few seasons. These division games count double in my mind. We guarantee a win and loss for both teams. In other words, we may win on any given night, but we have no control on how the Royals (or any other team) do against the Angels. These are the games when we win, the Angels take the loss (no need to look at the out-of-town scoreboard).
Another big thing worth mentioning about this young season is the length of the games. I think we’ve had one game go for longer than three hours; and it was only a few minutes over. The more games we keep to a minimum amount of time, the fresher our players will be as the season progresses. This could prove to be a huge advantage going into the last two months of the season.
Wilder. - April 12, 2009
Short games are also less terrible to watch
Jeff Sullivan - April 12, 2009
Something feels off about Aardsma throwing nothing but fastballs to Cust in the 9th.
Does he not feel comfortable enough with the slider to throw it in that situation? Or did the M’s know something about Cust that we don’t? Sure, he managed to get out of it, but I can’t imagine that throwing 9 fastballs in a row is a recipe for success.
Jack Moore - April 12, 2009
That came up on Baker's blog
Jeff Sullivan - April 12, 2009
Interesting.
I didn’t watch the game today (Vegas to SoCal traffic is stellar!), but I’ve always thought of Cust as someone can hit only fastballs.
Teej - April 12, 2009
*who
Teej - April 12, 2009
Aardsma was bringing it at 96-97 consistently on Oakland's gun (which we've been speculating to be at least 1-2 mph slow all weekend)
he didn’t look very good against the first four or five Aardsma threw him, though he did end up hitting a rope to Cedeno to end it
seattlebruin - April 12, 2009
Aardsma wasn't throwing 96-97
He’s been topping out around 94-95.
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
Hmmm, I thought the gun was saying 96-97?
Maybe I’m just going insane
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
maybe that's what you adjusted to after the gun was slow.
Mariner John - April 13, 2009
I thought so too
I could swear I saw the gun read 97, I was pretty surprised and just assumed it was reading fast.
Snuffleupagus - April 13, 2009
The A's feed
definitely had him hitting 97 fairly consistently.
sammy - April 13, 2009
I almost thought a big fly/gapper was inevitable
Cust was barely behind and I would expect a big-leaguer, especially one that has proven to only hit the fastball, to be able to make the adjustment and give one a ride.
But oh well, he didn’t. GO M’S!!!!!
masonize - April 13, 2009
Maybe I'd feel different about it had I seen it live.
That’s not a terrible philosophy to have in lower levels of baseball, but it just seems like major league hitters (especially good major league hitters like Cust) would be able to catch up to that kind of heat.
Jack Moore - April 12, 2009
I could see it being more of a problem if he couldn't locate his fastball.
Aardsma looked like he was hitting his spots against Cust— lots of high, outside heat. But it is worth mentioning Cust rocked the last fastball, it just went straight into Cedeno’s glove. Aardsma got away with one there.
Wilder. - April 12, 2009
This is a great philosophy for a relief pitcher.
It’s not like you need to work 2-4 pitches to keep a lineup guessing for 6 innings like a starter does. If you have something working, you only need it for 3 outs.
Wilder. - April 12, 2009
Perhaps I am mistaken
But I have thought that the more times a hitter sees a pitch, the better he is able to recognize it…and if he sees a pitch many times in a row can start to get a sense of the speed and spin and make the correct adjustments. But its also possible Cust may never be able to catch up to Aardsma’s fastball, for whatever reason, I suppose.
Gihyou - April 12, 2009
Yeah, I'm not saying I support his thinking
It seems silly to me. But there you go. His words.
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
He did catch up to it.
He hit a wicked liner to left. Aardsma was just lucky.
Rollo Tomasi - April 13, 2009
It was a wicked liner that was fair by about 20 feet
A guy that gets the same shift as Jason Giambi could barely hit the fastball fair. He made good contact, but technically Aardsma was correct in thinking he couldn’t quite catch up to it
Malcontent1 - April 13, 2009
I guess I kind of agree with what he's saying, but it doesn't really jive with what actually happened
Because after every fastball they see they’re going to get the timing down more and more and eventually they’re going to make good contact.
OlSalty - April 12, 2009
Cust did catch up on it though. He ripped it pretty hard to the opposite field. Hope Aardsma doesn't think
“hey I got him out, what a great pitch/strategy”
That ball was crushed
Rudy4three - April 12, 2009
I'm OK with this strategy
Cust looked bad on most of the fouls, and I was surprised Aardsma didn’t generate a swinging strike three a bit earlier
seattlebruin - April 12, 2009
If Aardsma hadn't said it himself, I would have.
Watching it on TV, it was pretty clear that Cust was well behind the fastball. I don’t 100% agree with throwing him nothing but it, but once it got to 2-2, I really doubt he wanted to risk throwing an offspeed pitch and losing the groove on the fastball.
And no, Cust didn’t catch up to it. That’s a silly thing to say people, he hit it the other way. That’s the definition of being late on a pitch.
Matthew - April 13, 2009
Yes.
I translated Rob Johnson saying “It’s coming in real good, keep bringing it” as, “You’re throwing the heater for strikes, and you just walked a guy, so let’s not fuck around with you trying to locate something off-speed.” Which is pretty decent logic I guess, considering the control tendencies of the M’s relief staff.
As for the pitch Cust did hit being “crushed”, well, he hit it right where the defensive shift was designed for him to hit it.
lemonverbena - April 13, 2009
Should we care about much about how Shawn Kelley looks right now?
I mean, it’s great that he’s pitching well, but isn’t he outta here once Tyler Johnson is ready to roll? Or does Batista move to long man and Jak get the boot?
Pete_ - April 12, 2009
Batista to release or long man, assuming Jakubauskas continues to look good
seattlebruin - April 12, 2009
Kelley's a pretty good relief prospect so yeah I think his success is somewhat important
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
I don't know
I think Corcoran is the one on the edge of losing his job right now
Malcontent1 - April 13, 2009
So this has been neat so far.
Goose - April 13, 2009
Really? We're still last in plate discipline?
I dunno, this may seem dumb, but it’s sure felt like we’ve been a lot more patient this year than last. Weird.
SethGrandpa - April 13, 2009
I think its that the newly acquired players are naturally more disciplined.
Fin - April 13, 2009
We still have the Old Guard to hack away.
EnglishMariner - April 13, 2009
This just goes to show how accustomed we were to the free-swinging Mariners.
We see an improvement and yet we still have a long way to go from where we came.
Wilder. - April 13, 2009
We're also amongst the tops in contact rates
In and out of the zone. I sometimes wonder if the biggest problem with this team is how little it strikes out.
The Typical Idiot Fan - April 13, 2009
Russell Brayan is working hard to fix the problem
abender20 - April 13, 2009
Griffey has walked like six times, too.
Two Rs and Two Ls - April 13, 2009
I think abender was talking about the other thing
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Absolutely.
On a related note, Chris Davis is currently striking out in 45.5% of his ABs. Keep up the good work!
abender20 - April 13, 2009
Jeff you are going to need to force enthusiasm
Silva is starting on Tuesday
phil333 - April 13, 2009
And you know that
Griffey will be in the field for the home opener.
marinerdan - April 13, 2009
I know it
And loathe it. It’s always good to put your worst foot forward for the first home game. I know! Let’s put Griffey in Center for old time’s sake too!
BTW — is there any indication they’ll be skipping a pitcher due to the off day? I’m going on Sunday as well and really don’t need to see two Silva outings in a row.
short - April 13, 2009
I doubt it
With Felix’s bad ankle, they’d probably rather give him the extra day, plus, part of RRS’s struggles the other day was attributed to an extended layoff, so I’m sure they’d like to get him out there again on schedule.
Also, Griffey will probably be in Right, so it shouldn’t actually be too bad
Malcontent1 - April 13, 2009
Not sure
Oh, I’ll have interest.
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
I'm just happy they're coming out of the gates playing well and don't need two months
to start stringing together wins. The first and last months of the season are the most important in my mind since you play your division the most in that time. If they get lucky wins then great. Look where that has gotten the Angels the last couple of years – they’ve been pretty much a .500 team except for in intradivisional play.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
When the lefties Jimenez or Johnson are healthy
My guess is Kelley goes? Would Jaku be next in the pecking order to go to Tacoma?
Tony S - April 13, 2009
Would it be Kelley?
He’s pitched very well. Jaku has also pitched well. I guess it’s going to be somebody who doesn’t deserve to be sent down? The bullpen has pitched well except for Morrow’s first game.
drm1125 - April 13, 2009
I would send Jak down because at some point one of our starters is gonna miss a start or go on the DL..
and we’re going to need somebody to come up and make some starts. I would rather see Jak up here than Olson.
Rudy4three - April 13, 2009
So basically I want him sent down to get him stretched out
Rudy4three - April 13, 2009
Pretty sure Tui gets sent down
He’s the only position player that hasn’t seen the field thus far, and his callup was more to reward him for trying hard than because they actually wanted him to contribute right now. I doubt they will carry fewer than 12 pitchers until guys get more stretched out anyhow, at which point my guess is they call up Clement to rotate him through catcher/DH. My hope is Jaku gets sent down to continue starting because god knows we need some RH starting depth now and with that curve and changeup he strikes me as being as good a backup as any we’ve got.
Also, if they’re smart enough to know that same-handed pitching matchups aren’t all that important they probably also realize that Jimenez is not much of a LOOGY, being primarily a changeup kinda guy. I expect Johnson up here as soon as he’s up to strength.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Tui's going to be sent down when Ichiro returns.
ningwers - April 13, 2009
Too early to tell.
There’s no clear hierarchy in the pen.
Matthew - April 13, 2009
They're all equally likely to cause us a heart attack =(
I guess this is what happens when your bullpen is full of power arms who have no idea where the ball is going
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Jeff - how many offspeed pitches did Jakubauskas throw?
Jaku seems to throw the curve a maximum of once per batter just to show the hitter he doesn’t always throw fastballs.
Still, it seems like he’s relying on his FB to an almost Silvan level – how many/what percentage of offspeed pitches did he throw in Oak? USE the change, damn it!
marc w - April 13, 2009
You're such a Jakujunkie
40 pitches, 30 fastballs (89mph), 3 changes (79mph), 7 curves (76mph).
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
I am.
Thanks Jeff.
marc w - April 13, 2009
You'll be happy to note that M's pitchers still use the FB more than anyone else in the league
at 68%. I suspect this is mostly thanks to Silva’s start and Aardsma and Morrow’s relief outings. Also, I guess fangraphs classifies some of Washburn’s pitches as fastballs which, let’s face it, they aren’t.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Faster than Morrow's
or Wakefield’s!
appleshampoo - April 13, 2009
Ruh rohs
s/Morrow/Moyer/
appleshampoo - April 13, 2009
Or it's Felix.
Mariner John - April 13, 2009
He's actually slightly down from last year
(though above the heady days of 06 and 07).
The bullpen relies on fastballs to an almost ridiculous degree, and Batista went from a 45% FB guy to like 70% or something when he moved to the ‘pen.
Seems like it’s something Wetteland and/or Adair is really emphasizing.
marc w - April 14, 2009
Or it's a case of small sample sizes.
cwel87 - April 14, 2009
The Tigers are leading the AL Central?
They opened the season losing 3 of 4 to Toronto. Wow, that division’s already looking mediocre.
Llewdor - April 13, 2009
KC is leading the leagues in FIP and K/9
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Just to remind us we're only one week into the season
cwel87 - April 13, 2009
Cleveland has been the big surprise.
But it is awesome to see the Royals are not the juggernaut all the “experts” thought they would be. I guess .500 is an improvement, though (and of course it’s still early in the season).
Wilder. - April 13, 2009
Bedard
For a moment I forgot about the name Adam Jones.
Then I saw him on Baseball Tonight gunning out a guy at the plate trying to score on a single… from third base.
Fuck.
zeeehjee - April 13, 2009
Great charge and throw by Jones, but more the product of bad baserunning and no slide call from the player on deck
lemonverbena - April 13, 2009
Yeah...
And the runner had no help from the on deck hitter. No signal to slide. Nothing saying a throw was coming in.
zeeehjee - April 13, 2009
He is batting .409.
1.144 OPS.
I love getting a heavy dose of him being im in Maryland and all. He is getting raved these days.
Slica - April 13, 2009
Yeah, I heard about this new guy the Orioles got when they ripped off some stupid team last year
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Erik Bedard has already been worth a half-win above average.
In two starts, one of which he only went five innings.
I like the healthy version of Erik Bedard.
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
He's been roughly as valuable this year already as he was last year
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
Also, .7 WAR.
He has been “worth” 3.2 million already. That’s unfathomable.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
Daham.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
0.8 according to tRA
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
I need to remember to use Statcorner for pitcher WAR.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
tRA question
is everyone’s tRA* bunched so closely because of SSS regression to mean for HR/FB and K rates?
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
tRA* regresses everything to the mean
And it does it based on playing time. Since hardly anyone has played, it’s regressing them all extremely heavily
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
I like how close together Bedard and Silva are. That's a TON of regrsession (although it makes plenty of sense to do so).
abender20 - April 13, 2009
I propose re-titling pitching WAR this year pitching WAS, or pitching wins above Silva
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
In which case, he's at .9 WAS.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
I think my favorite part about this
is how Silva is, by definition, always 0 WAS
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Such are the hazards of being the measuring stick.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
Mr. Silva, meet Mr. Mendoza
God I love being a Mariner fan.
tinit - April 13, 2009
The fangraphs WAR is likely to change quite a bit as Bedard's season-end FIP fluctuates
I guess he’ll probably not end the season with a 1.5 FIP.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
That's sort of the point.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
?
Saying he’s already worth half a win when that number is based on a rate stat not a counting stat? It’s entirely possible that after his next start Bedard’s value drops back to 0.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
pRAA is a counting stat
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
Does your pitcher WAR use pRAA?
I haven’t looked at your methods since before you started publishing WAR
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Nope, but ignoring WAR, Bedard's been worth six runs above average right now
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
WAR is a counting stat
It’s rate performance multiplied by number of innings pitched. Just like wRAA is wOBA * PA. There’s no difference.
Seriously, this is a pretty baffling argument you’re having.
davidcameron - April 13, 2009
It's a counting stat
but it’s a counting stat that can go in both directions, which makes it different than something like strikeouts or RBI. I think that’s what he’s getting at.
Jeff Sullivan - April 13, 2009
No the first time either!
JI - April 13, 2009
Completely different argument.
Assuming I’m the one being referenced here.
Terminator_X - April 14, 2009
Yes, technically it's possible.
But man he’d have to pitch like shit for that to happen. Especially to that degree.
Terminator_X - April 14, 2009
Using StatCorner
and yeah, SSS, but yesterday was everything we expected of Bedard when we traded for him and then some
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Word.
I think at this point you can only use counting stats for value assesment – wRAA and total UZR. Statcorner is sweet because they have a regression model that accounts for playing time early on. I think by June we can stop looking at tRA* and start paying attention to tRA/FIP.
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
I loved this weekend.
However, I spent most of last evening and this morning reminding myself these guys are still Mariners. Which means, this feeling will not continue.
When Sweeny, Chavez, et al regress it will be sad.
Also Silva, Washburn and RR-S are pitching the next three games.
InSpokane - April 13, 2009
Except this is what Endy Chavez's regression looks like
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Nice
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
Sweeney regress?
Maybe for the better because he hasn’t been stellar whatsoever. The man is slow on the bases, though, and that is definitely not coming back.
Wilder. - April 13, 2009
I don't think he will maintian his 5 for 20 line, with 3 hits on Sat.
InSpokane - April 13, 2009
That wouldn't be regression, it would be a full-on collapse
Graham MacAree - April 13, 2009
Ok. well then I am anticipating a full on collapse.
InSpokane - April 13, 2009
I am anticipating a Free
Chris Shelton campaign.
marinerdan - April 13, 2009
Rob Johnson's the real regression candidate
We’ll have to see how long he can keep up his scoreless innings streak – 18 innings caught, 0 runs allowed.
marc w - April 13, 2009
Breakout season!
RotY!
Bearskin Rugburn - April 13, 2009
CERA of 0.00!
He’s the best!
Phil Hatzenbuehler - April 13, 2009
I used to love CERA because I being uniformed about the uselessness
of it all, liked to use it to shut up Dan Wilson fans. Ben Davis CERA was better at one point, and I loved that.
marinerdan - April 13, 2009
I just lost interest
after Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist.
johnbai - April 13, 2009
Well done.
Phil Hatzenbuehler - April 13, 2009
This is fantastic
.Taylor - April 13, 2009
It's going to be annoying as fuck when Kenji catches for Washburn and Washburn inevitably implodes
Because there’s very little doubt Jarrod will whine his ass off to the media.
cwel87 - April 13, 2009
I've never paid attention to interviews from 2008 (or 2009, actually, unless it's Ichiro)
So my question: how the hell does Washburn get away with acting so pettily and childish?
Decatur - April 13, 2009
Veteran. Has a World Series ring. White. Consistent.
Bulletproof.
Teej - April 13, 2009
Bulletproof? Has anyone tested this?
Or does he just catch them like Ozymandias?
Kunkoh - April 14, 2009
Wakamatsu wants more walks.
Per Pravda. It’s nice to have a staff that no longer ignores problems simply because we’re winning.
ThundaPC - April 13, 2009
It's nice to have a guy in charge who understands the difference between process and results
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Its nice having a whole front office that does so.
joof - April 13, 2009
It's also nice to see that Jose Lopez is still awesome
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
Indeedsy.
joof - April 13, 2009
Headline: Wakamatsu happy with aggressiveness
:)
Matthew - April 13, 2009
AGGRESSIVE IN THE STRIKE ZONE
JI - April 13, 2009
Yeah, that's possibly the worst headline for this article ever.
cwel87 - April 13, 2009
I love Pravda.
ThundaPC - April 13, 2009
speaking of "freeing" players
I read yesterday that it only costs $10 for a message on the Cheney Stadium board. Has anyone ever thought of putting “free Jeff Clement” up there? I wonder if they would do it…
Snowman1025 - April 13, 2009
Sounds like a worthy cause, and there's only one way to find out if it works.
abender20 - April 13, 2009
If not, you could say Free #9 or something like that.
Fin - April 13, 2009
If this is true, you are a treasure to LL
seattlebruin - April 13, 2009
I'll ask Corkum on Friday.
I can’t wait to see the new Cheney Stadium board. BIG TIME improvement over the scoreboard they had before.
PositivePaul - April 13, 2009
I think its worth pointing out
Miguel Batista – BB = not bad
Edgar for Pres - April 13, 2009
Too bad those two are inescapably intertwined
cwel87 - April 13, 2009
That's not totally true
When Batista has been an effective pitcher in the past it has been because he has limited walks and by limit walks I mean BB/9~3ish. He isn’t a good pitcher and I’m not gonna be cheering for him because we have guys in AAA who are just as good but at least when he is pitching in relief he can get some groundballs and eat up some innings.
Its actually pretty interesting looking at fangraphs’ pitch type records for Batista. It looks like he has slowly phased out his slider and now basically is just throwing fastballs and variations of a fastball with a curve and maybe a change in there every once in a while.
Interestingly this year hitters have swung at around 50% of his pitches and made contact on every one of them.
Edgar for Pres - April 14, 2009
Betancourt - Swingy at everything + Epic power + Pitch recognition = good
abender20 - April 13, 2009
Congrats Mariner fans
Enjoy the wins, guys. There is a lot of joy in Toronto over their hot start too. It’s nice to see teams not go wire to wire.
brent in Korea - April 13, 2009
Is this a clever dig at us and our false hope?
tootthekazoo - April 14, 2009
Well.
I feel pretty good about this week, even though I tend to think this team is going to have issues scoring runs and the occasional bullpen meltdown/back-end starter getting cuffed around by a good lineup.
They have a considerably better shot at being on the high end of my 75-85 win range I penciled them in for the longer they stay in contention, though, and 85 wins could easily take this division. Basically, this team reminds me of a typical Billy Beane team of the mid-00’s, with a little less offense, which isn’t surprising, since GMZ took a fairly similar approach to offseason roster construction (load up on cheap defense and underrated players).
eponymous_coward - April 14, 2009
Back then
wasn’t Beane saying that defense was irrelevant?
Rollo Tomasi - April 15, 2009
Not irrelevant
impossible to quantify and thus no way to understand if it was over or under valued (and he believed it was overvalued). Now that we have UZR, +/-, PMR, etc, we can correctly quantify and thus value defense, which Beane has done the last few years in Oakland
seattlebruin - April 15, 2009
By the mid-200s he'd sort of started to focus on defense a bit more.
Aaron Campeau - April 15, 2009
*2000s.
Aaron Campeau - April 15, 2009
I think the idea was that defense was being overvalued
and he could stretch his dollar the furthest with Matt Stairs types.
JI - April 15, 2009
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Lookout Landing to post a comment.