Effectively Wild Episode 13: TIE Fighter
August 3, 2012
Ben and Sam discuss two outfielders in the news: Yoenis Cespedes and Jayson Werth.
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Archive for August, 2012
FanGraphs Audio: Jeff Samardzija
August 2, 2012
Episode 224
David Laurila, curator of FanGraphs’ Q&A Series, talks with Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzija.
Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.
You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.
Audio after the jump. (Approximately 13 min. play time.)
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Bring Baseball Back to the Olympics!
Queen Elizabeth — or her Amidala-like surrogate — parachuted into London to witness the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. She did a fine job of looking bravely impassive as the ceremonial figurehead of her country, much as she did at the Diamond Jubilee honoring the 60th anniversary of her reign.
It was well and good for her, I’m sure. But I’m afraid that I have no use for these Olympics. If the Olympics don’t care about baseball, then I won’t care about them. This is the first Olympic Games to lack baseball and softball in 28 years; baseball began to rear its head at the Olympics as an exhibition sport as early as 1904, finally becoming a medal sport in 1992, while softball became a medal sport in 1996. In terms of its overall presence at the Games, it’s hardly an upstart. Why isn’t it here? Well, politics, obviously.
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The Dodgers Should Claim Cliff Lee
While this kind of thing is expected, there’s still some news today from Jeff Passan of of Yahoo Sports.
Source: Phillies have placed Cliff Lee on waivers. Executives expect him to clear Friday afternoon, be eligible for trade.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 2, 2012
Most teams run nearly their entire rosters through waivers in August, just on the off chance that someone gets through and they can end up making a deal with a contender in a seller’s market. Probably every big name player in baseball is going to be put on waivers at some point in the next few weeks, and so Lee is no different in that regard.
He is somewhat different, though, in that his contract makes it likely that he’ll actually clear waivers, and a team putting in a claim would force the Phillies to make a pretty interesting decision.
Will The Pirates Bullpen Fold Down The Stretch?
The Pirates are off today and will play a weekend series against the Reds in Cincinnati. Pittsburgh will enter the series either 2.5 or 3.5 games behind the Reds in the National League Central, depending on the outcome of the Reds game this afternoon against the Padres. At 60-44, the Pirates lead the race for the first wild card with the Braves, Cardinals, and the three NL West contenders — Dodgers, Giants and Diamondbacks — all within 5.5 games.
The Pirates upgraded at several positions at the trade deadline, adding Wandy Rodriguez to the starting rotation and Travis Snider to the outfield. Gaby Sanchez, obtained from the Marlins, took over first base from Casey McGehee, who was exchanged for reliever Chad Qualls.
But the trade for Snider sent pitcher Brad Lincoln to the Blue Jays, a move that may significantly weaken the Pirates’ bullpen for the last two months of the season, particularly against left-handed batters. With a large portion of the Pirates’ remaining games against the Reds, Cardinals and Cubs — all of which have very good lefty power bats — bullpen ineffectiveness against lefties may hurt the Pirates down the stretch.
Mike Olt’s Arrival May End The Michael Young Era
As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, the Rangers have summoned third base prospect Mike Olt from Double-A, and he’ll be joining the team in Texas in time for tonight’s game against the Angels. With Adrian Beltre manning the hot corner, though, third base is not in his immediate future, and the Rangers certainly aren’t calling Olt up to sit on the bench. Instead, his arrival signifies the likely end of the Michael Young Era in Texas. At least, the era where Young played any kind of meaningful role on the team.
Yoenis Cespedes: Rookie of the Year in Any Other Year
According to reports, this is how Billy Beane feels.
The casual fan will be excused for not knowing this, but Yoenis “La Potencia” Cespedes is having a phenomenal rookie year.
The Cuban import entered the league this past offseason with a fanfare rivaled only by that of Yu Darvish, who had the weight of his own nation’s media trained on him. But Cespedes — he of the plucky YouTube training video, he of the flight from totalitarian Cuba — has been just as worthy, if not more, of the media’s eye.
His rookie campaign started with a little old fashioned oh-em-gee — three home runs in the opening Tokyo series against the Mariners — but then the excitement petered out as an injury, a muscle sprain in his left hand, stalled his season.
But do not let that trick you. Not only is Yoenis Cespedes crushing the ball this season, he is hitting like one of the best rookies in the league — and if this were any year but Mike Trout’s, then he’d be in serious Rookie of the Year contention.
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Job Posting: Trackman Developer
Trackman is hiring a Developer of Baseball Applications
Job Description
Join our team as the Developer of Baseball Applications and take a leadership role in a small, fast moving entrepreneurial company that is breaking new ground in sports.
In this highly visible role you will take ownership of developing applications for controlling, collecting, displaying and distributing data from TrackMan’s 3D radar system, which accurately measures the complete trajectory and spin rate of both hit and pitched baseballs.
