Ben and Sam discuss Manny Machado’s injury and season, then talk about playoff rotations.
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It was a dramatic one Sunday in Kansas City. The Royals played the Rangers in a late-season matchup of wild-card hopefuls, and the game was scoreless going into the bottom of the tenth when the Royals loaded the bases with none out. Then, after Mike Moustakas hit, there was one out. Then, after George Kottaras hit, there were two out. Up came Justin Maxwell, and the count ran full, and on what would be either a decisive pitch or a foul, Maxwell swung and lifted the ball out for a walk-off grand slam. A single would’ve done, or an error would’ve done, or a walk would’ve done, but a grand slam is emphatic, and the Royals celebrated like the Royals seldom have over the past however many years.
However, with a week left in the season, the Royals still don’t have much of a shot of advancing. They trail the Indians by three and a half games, the Rays by four. The Rangers are two games in front of them, and the Indians play a soft schedule. Our own playoff odds give the Royals a 1-in-71 shot, so while they’re happily playing meaningful baseball in late September, it’s unlikely there’ll be meaningful baseball in early October. Featuring the Royals, anyway. And that’s too bad for a team that might be one of baseball’s best.
Episode 381
Dave Cameron is both (a) the managing editor of FanGraphs and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he turns his attention to the last week of the season and what it holds for Baseball in America.
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 39 min play time.)
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There is always a bit of a lull between the end of the minor league playoffs in September and the start of the annual top prospects lists in early November. Because of that gap, I’m breathing new life into an old feature that I wrote for the site in FanGraphs’ infancy back in 2008 and 2009.
The series ‘A Minor Review of 2013’ will look back on some of the major happenings in each MLB organization since the beginning of April as a primer for the upcoming FanGraphs Top 10+5 prospects lists. This series will run throughout September and October. I hope you enjoy the series and are eagerly anticipating the start of ‘Prospect List Season.’
The AL Cy Young race has gotten pretty interesting. A month ago, Max Scherzer looked like a near lock, with his glistening 19-1 record and strong peripherals that supported the idea that he’d pitched like an ace this year. However, he’s gone 1-2 with a 4.66 ERA in his last five starts, perhaps opening the door for voters to take a closer look at all the candidates. And when they’re investigating, they just may find that the difference in quality of competition is a pretty significant factor this year.
| 11:57 |
: There’s a spider
he’s deep in my soul he’s lived here for years he just won’t let go he’s laying around he’s got a new bit now he’s ready to fight |
| 11:58 |
or throw a hissy fit? |
| 11:59 |
: I don’t need your trophies or your gold.
|
| 11:59 |
Blood for Ba’al! I mean Zips for Yusmeiro Petit… |
| 11:59 |
Even though the Blue Jays year blew up in their faces, they did do what was right last off-season, right? Better to have love and lost…. |
| 11:59 |
: Yeah, they aggressively improved their team. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees.
|
Typical Billy Hamilton story outline: Ordinary introductory paragraph noting Hamilton’s speed when running the bases. Reference to Hamilton’s record-breaking stolen-base numbers in the minor leagues. Note regarding Hamilton’s immediate base-stealing success in the majors. Cautionary remark pertaining to Hamilton’s limited offensive potential at the plate. Renewed appreciation of footspeed. Statement that Hamilton could be one-of-a-kind, at least for his generation. Explanation that — while base-running scores tend to be close to zero — Hamilton looks like an actual valuable weapon. Insert joke that Hamilton is so fast he’s already finished reading this article.
Run-of-the-mill paragraph pointing out how slow Jose Molina is. Note that Molina is perhaps the game’s slowest runner. Obligatory reference to Molina’s high-quality pitch-framing. Joke that Molina slows the game down in more ways than one. Acknowledgment that no one expects catchers to be able to run; decent speed is just gravy. Acknowledgment of Molina’s relatively advanced age. Note that this is not intended as a criticism. Statement that this is just a fact, to which Molina would certainly admit without shame.
Predictable musing about how Hamilton and Molina might compare.
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.
1. The Top Prospect-Age Hitters by FIB*
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
The Top Prospect-Age Hitters by FIB*
Introduction
Minor-league regular seasons everywhere have come to their respective conclusions. Last week, before the author had become a really big deal and moved to Europe, he published a leaderboard of the top-10 qualified minor-league pitchers by kwERA (i.e. an ERA estimator derived entirely from just strikeout and walk rates).
Today, despite the fact that he’s a really big deal now and lives in Europe, the author has condescended to publish a second leaderboard — in this case, of the top-10 qualified minor-league hitters by FIB*, or Fielding Independent Batting (Asterisk). What FIB* isn’t is the same metric introduced to readers by Bradley Woodrum about two years ago. That one, called Fielding Independent Batting, but without the very integral asterisk, accounts for xBABIP and is presented as an index stat, like wRC+. What FIB* is is a batting metric calculated almost precisely like FIP, except then placed on the same scale as wOBA*.
*The equation, in full: [(HR*12 + BB*3 – K*2) * .141] + .3267.
Ben and Sam discuss a World Series suggestion by Scott Boras and the Hall of Fame cases of three PED-implicated players. (Breaking Bad spoilers from 2:00-6:00.)
Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
There is always a bit of a lull between the end of the minor league playoffs in September and the start of the annual top prospects lists in early November. Because of that gap, I’m breathing new life into an old feature that I wrote for the site in FanGraphs’ infancy back in 2008 and 2009.
The series ‘A Minor Review of 2013’ will look back on some of the major happenings in each MLB organization since the beginning of April as a primer for the upcoming FanGraphs Top 10+5 prospects lists. This series will run throughout September and October. I hope you enjoy the series and are eagerly anticipating the start of ‘Prospect List Season.’
