Archive for October, 2012
Scouting Report 2012 – By the Fans, For the Fans
Last callout!
The results of this project have appeared on the pages of Fangraphs for the past few years. Please take a few minutes to follow the instructions and fill out the ballot of your favorite team.
http://www.tangotiger.net/scout/
This is the tenth annual ballot, and its success is entirely dependent on your participation!
Two Plate Appearances from Tigers-A’s Game Two
by Eno Sarris
October 8, 2012
A series between two teams full of unique individuals doesn’t really fit into a nice plot with themes, characters and nemeses. But when in setting up this series, it still made sense to highlight the depth and undervalued skills on the Athletics and the top-heavy, star-driven status of the Tigers team. Two plate appearances from Sunday’s game two between these two teams seemed to encapsulate the overall matchup well, and highlight many of those same themes.
Daily Notes, With All the Minor-League FAs So Far
October 8, 2012
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Custom Leaderboard: All the Minor-League Free Agents So Far
2. Video: Angel Sanchez, Defensively
3. Today’s Playoff Schedule
Custom Leaderboard: All the Minor-League Free Agents So Far
What Happened About a Month Ago
Just a little less than a month, Dave Cameron presented to the readership — with the assistance of Brandon Warne — presented a custom leaderboard featuring the players most likely to become free agents this offseason.
What’s Happening Right Now
What’s happening right now is the present author is announcing the creation of a custom leaderboard that he himself has made featuring 29 minor-league players who just declared free agency.
The Two Aforementioned Leaderboards, A Similarity
The similarity between the list below and the one presented by Cameron last month is that they both utilize FanGraphs Custom Leaderboard Technology™.
Giants Get Arroyo’d, Which Is a Thing
The Giants lost to the Reds 5-2 in Game 1 of their NLDS on Saturday, but for San Francisco, it wasn’t so bad — there were identifiable moments where things easily could’ve gone differently. One break here, one break there, and maybe it’s the Giants instead who’re leading the series. The offense, certainly, didn’t look as bad as its ultimate two-run total. While every game is important when there can only be three, four, or five games, at least the Giants could come away feeling like they hadn’t been badly outplayed.
In Game 2, the Giants got themselves slaughtered. The Reds scored nine runs, the Giants scored zero runs, the Reds racked up 13 hits, and the Giants racked up two hits. In Game 2, the Giants were badly out-hit, and accordingly, in Game 2, the Giants were badly out-pitched. With Madison Bumgarner pitching at home against Bronson Arroyo, I can’t imagine there were many people out there who expected the Giants to lose by the score of a forfeit.
The Yankees and Orioles: Who’s the Underdog?
October 7, 2012
The author, because he’s an idiot, mistakenly wrote this preview for the Yankees-Orioles series despite having definitely been assigned the Nationals-Cardinals NLDS, instead, by his fearless editor Dave Cameron. Interested readers can expect full coverage of the Nationals and Cardinals beginning tomorrow (Monday).
If you’ve made your way to FanGraphs — and if, furthermore, our demographic data is even half accurate — you’re the sort of person who either (a) has done well in school or (b) is currently doing well in school. Which, that means you’re probably also the sort of person who (a) has taken a number of quizzes before and also (b) has done well on those same quizzes — and maybe even (c) actively enjoys taking quizzes.
Tommy Hunter, or Generics versus the Brand Name
The Baltimore Orioles have had an amazing season. They weren’t supposed to be any good, but they kept winning. They were supposed to regress to the mean, but they never did. They spent the entire summer giving Pythagoras the bird, and then, forced to play for their lives on the road against a Rangers team that simply looked to have every advantage, they won handily. Behind Joe Saunders. Against a line-up full of right-handers. The 2012 Orioles are why there’s a Twitter account called “You Can’t Predict Baseball”.
But, now, in a five game series against the Yankees, everyone’s going to bet against the Orioles again. Everything points to New York being the better team. They won more games. They scored 92 more runs and allowed 37 less. They have the best offense in baseball. They’re the Yankees. They have players who we expect to be good.
The Orioles, meanwhile, have a roster full of guys with track records of mediocre performance. This isn’t a team full of fresh-faced kids straight up from the minors — well, besides Manny Machado, anyway — who are introducing themselves to the Major Leagues. It’s a roster heavy on guys who were discarded by other organizations, with histories that suggest that they just aren’t that good.
Perhaps no player typifies the 2012 Orioles more than Tommy Hunter. And it’s guys like Tommy Hunter who are why we need to reevaluate what we know about the 2012 Orioles.
Reds Lose Ace, Win Game
Eventually, you’re all going to get sick of me talking about how everything that’s going on now is for all intents and purposes unpredictable. Hopefully you aren’t sick of it yet, because Game 1 of the NLDS between the Reds and the Giants went to show why playoff predictions are a complete waste of time. Allow me to review the action:
(1)Ace Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto had to be removed after eight pitches due to injury, but
(2) the Reds still beat the Giants 5-2 on Saturday, because
(3) they hit two home runs off Matt Cain in AT&T Park.
It would’ve made perfect sense for this to turn into a pitcher’s duel. Cueto is one of the better starting pitchers in the National League, Cain is one of the better starting pitchers in the National League, neither the Reds nor the Giants have amazing team offenses, and AT&T Park suppresses run scoring like it’s poisonous and AT&T Park doesn’t want people to get poisoned. Instead, Cain was passable for five innings, and Cueto barely pitched. There still weren’t a whole lot of runs, but this didn’t go the way it was supposed to go.
Oakland vs Detroit: A Story of Depth
by Eno Sarris
October 6, 2012
If you hadn’t been paying close attention to the Athletics and the Tigers, you might have a couple preconceptions about the matchup. Maybe “old, slow sluggers” vs “speedy upstart youngsters.” Or maybe “tradition” vs “moneyball two.” Or maybe even “offense and an ace” vs “pitching and defense.” Delve further into the numbers, though, and this matchup between the elephants and the tigers isn’t so easily monikered.