Night Musings 17
Josh is the greatest living writer you've never heard of. Also, he likes bugs.
Latest posts by josh (see all)
- The Iceman Cometh - May 22, 2013
- Bunches of Wins - May 2, 2013
- Ode on a Balk - April 14, 2013
- First Win - April 2, 2013
- Because We Have To - March 29, 2013
151 Responses to “Night Musings 17”
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Obstructed View Forum- setting up a website June 13, 2013 EnricoPallazzo
- Orphan Black June 7, 2013 dmick89
- Google glasses May 23, 2013 dmick89
- TV Dramas vs Movie Dramas May 21, 2013 BVS
- Closer by Committee May 19, 2013 BVS
- Mish is probably quite happy with the 24 news May 13, 2013 dmick89
- Cast iron cookware May 12, 2013 uncle dave
- televisions May 2, 2013 EnricoPallazzo
- Hope Monster, comics. April 22, 2013 josh
- Hannibal April 19, 2013 dmick89
@ comic. (dying laughing)
I’ve been trying to remember who Josh Vitters reminds me of. This morning, as I was contemplating the size of my teaspoon while eating Honey Nut Cheerios, it came to me:
3B, 198PA, .160/.250/.240 -1.5 WAR = Gary Scott
At least we turned Scott into the best year of Greg Hibbard’s career.
So we have the worst offensive players of the year, but how does Vitters and Mather compare to some of the Cubs all-time worst?
Has there ever been two 100 loss teams in the same division before?
@ GBTS:
Looks like Tigers and Royals did it in ’02. That’s the only one I can find.
@ GBTS:
I blame, uh…. El Nino. Also, the new CBA. When something goes wrong, it’s usually the rules’ fault.
GBTS wrote:
Try harder.
WaLi wrote:
Well, for comparicons sake, Aaron Miles’ 2009 season was only -1.8 WAR, so when I described Joe Mather as a “tall Aaron Miles,” I was actually insulting Aaron Miles a little bit.
Koyie Hill was -.5 and -.6 in 2010 and 2011. I’ll have to look into more historical shittiness and see if Mather is the cherry on top of the pile.
@ Aisle424:
Vitters has almost as low an fWAR, in 1/3 as many games. But B-Ref has Mather as the clear winner. Vitters is more disappointing, to me, but only because I thought from the chatter last year that he might have potential.
@ Aisle424:
That’s impressive by Miles. He did that in 170 PA compared to Mather’s 242 PA.
What’s amazing is that Sveum had the knew how shitty this season was going to be and decided to tank the season early enough to give Mather 242 PA. Sveum is our real hero.
@ WaLi:
He did get the memo.
@ Suburban kid:
I’ll look again tomorrow.
@ josh:
WARP has Vitters as the winner. (dying laughing)
@ Suburban kid:
Whoops, I overlooked this one:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1912-standings.shtml
Nothing gets past SK, our resident St. Louis Browns fan.
@ GBTS:
Well the Browns 100th loss that year was something he recently enjoyed.
@ GBTS:
It makes sense, since he saw their first game in 1902.
I always took SK as more of a Federal League kinda guy.
Too lazy to read every word, but not sure if these Garza quotes were posted here:
http://muskat.mlblogs.com/2012/09/30/930-garza-says-thanks-to-sveum/
I guess he wasn’t a fan of Cuey (dying laughing)
Berselius wrote:
See: Mather, Joe
Also: Vitters, Josh
@ Berselius:
I’m surprised Quade was so hated. Was it because of the nicknames?
Berselius wrote:
@ Berselius:
I don’t know if that’ll make the cover of Vine Line.
@ GBTS:
That gets my vote as the new banner.
@ GBTS:
If my Photoshop skillz were up to par I’d put in some Matrix-style bullet effects for that one.
(dying laughing), from Julie’s blog
Tickets are selling for nine cents! Get em while they’re lukewarm!
@ Berselius:
Eh. I’ll wait till they bottom out.
@ Berselius:
While I sort of want to try to get home dugout seats for the first time in my life, I’m still not paying $20 for a pair of tickets. I wonder how lax the seat Nazis would be if I bought a 50 cent ticket to the 500s.
@ Rice Cube:
RC, are you baiting me? Is this another one of your devious attempts to derail the discussion here?
So if St. Louis finishes one game ahead of the Dodgers or Milwaukee for the WildCard2 spot, does this mean the Cubs sent them to the playoffs by taking Mather and his -1.5 WAR from them?
Ugh.
@ SVB:
Correct. The Cardinals are black magic.
@ Rice Cube:
I’d totally take a day off work for that price, if I didn’t have to pay $584 in airfare to get there.
WaLi wrote:
Who knows? The players absolutely loved him at the end of the 2010 season. I don’t get these players when it comes to their likes or dislikes, but I also don’t care. (dying laughing)
Your blog got a brief mention in the latest Heckler article:
http://www.theheckler.com/2012/09/26/cubs-to-offer-simulated-wrigley-playoff-experience/
Maybe those ticket prices are on to something. Since the Cubs seem to want to live in the past and promote their rich history, they should make everything 1908 prices. Once they win the World Series, they can upgrade to the new millenium prices.
@ Rice Cube:
I’m pretty sure Jacque Jones will be unhappy with your word choice.
fwiw, when I lived in West Africa, stuff like that was called white magic…
@ Mucker:
Sweet, I can finally afford season tickets then! (dying laughing)
SVB wrote:
I would not presume to do so, after all, you are the master baiter.
/groan
I’m thinking we should start two contests, but I don’t have anything of interest or value to offer as a prize.
Contest 1: Who can come closest to naming the Cubs 2013 Opening Day pitching staff? (I’m thinking that is practically impossible. Anyone who can get more than 6 is probably clairvoyant.)
Contest 2: Which will happen sooner?
A. Cubs win World Series
B. FBI finally figures out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa
This one might take a while to resolve. SK can leave his winnings to his heirs.
@ Rice Cube:
But I don’t fish.
Rice Cube wrote:
What the hell. This happens to me every damn time. I was told I had to pay $100 for tickets to this blog. You are insulting your best customers!
@ WaLi:
I bet if you write another “Physics of Baseball” post like the one about Soriano’s bat, then you’d qualify for the 10% courtesy discount.
FanGraphs suggests that the Cubs actually came out ahead with their free agent signings this season:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/revisiting-last-years-free-agent-signings/
Rice Cube wrote:
You won’t get close. Those old people take their jobs SERIOUSLY.
You may be able to sneak into the Field Box seats, (though the security on those has tightened in the last few years), but there is no way in hell you are sneaking into the club boxes.
Thibs ——-> 4 year extension with the Bulls
@ Aisle424:
Yeah, those old bats are vigilant. Even BatMish would have trouble ninja-ing past them. 100s seem a safe bet tthough.
@ Aisle424:
Is that good? Didn’t the guy that everyone liked get hurt last year?
My basketball knowledge is limited, though I still have fond memories of MJ.
From a month ago but still amusing:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/astros-not-even-good-enough-to-play-for-pride,29305/
@ josh:
It’s good. Thibodeau is the coach and he is pretty damn good.
@ Rice Cube:
Funny, although if you watched that clip i posted in comments yesterday, their center fielder had an amazing catch where he was parallel to the ground and had to reach skyward to snag a line drive.
@ Aisle424:
Maybe I’ll attempt to watch a game or two this time.
Matt Cassel, excellent blocker.
Just because this needs to be posted again
@ Mish:
It got the job done…
@ Berselius:
I call this picture “First at Bat, Rest of Cubs Season”
Seriously this GIF should be 2013 slogan
Injury “expert” be trollin’. Carroll pats himself on the back for Bailey’s no hitter by way of being a proponent of babying young pitchers.
If only we had $5000 around so he could respond to criticism.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/will_carroll/10/01/fantasy-baseball-injuries/index.html?eref=twitter_feed
In light of the craziness that would ensue in the event of multiple ties in the AL and the NL wild card races, I hope it wouldn’t make me a terrible fan to hope for said ties so extra baseball will be played past game 162.
@ Berselius:
I wish I could make a living just saying some bullshit like “injury nexus.”
“There’s no scientific data to back up what I’m saying, but I got a good feeling.”
@ Berselius:
all well and good except for the fact that his workload has been largely limited because of ineffectiveness the past few years (he was a question mark for the rotation this year), not to mention a shoulder injury in 2011.
GW wrote:
I don’t have to point to Philip Humber…..
Oh, but I will, because I’m a ______________
The segment about “ChicagoZor” pretty much sums up the Cubs to me.
@ GW:
To be fair, his rotation spot was in danger of being poached by Cubs Ace Travis Wood. That’s tough to stack up against.
@ Berselius:
Wood is currently the ace of the Cubs rotation so the Reds rotation was super deep.
A home run, eh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_and_dumber#Dumb_and_Dumber_To
Hooray.
You couldn’t fill a thimble with Will Carroll’s actual medical knowledge. His whole shtick is making unfounded inferences, and to follow up criticisms with telephone tough guy bluster.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
@ mb21:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
Hell of a play by Cutler.
What’s that? No, baseball is over now.
@ Rice Cube:
It’s about time. A lot of drama has surrounded the rumored sequel.
cabrera hr
@ GW:
Most Vanquished Pies
TThe Cubs are fucking themselves out of that final playoff spot. They need to win tonight.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
he wouldn’t even win that award on his own team (even before he trimmed down this year)
@ GW:
Fielder!
Joe Mather doing his part to help the Cubs get that #2 pick.
100!
#2!!!
WOOT
*sigh*
100
This time next year: 100.
Detroit —> October
@ mb21:
NO!
Josh Hamilton is going to save us.
Fuck.
I guess the Bears are winning and/or won then.
That. Was. Fucking. Delicious.
So I’m following the Rangers-A’s game and Michael Young hit only his 8th homer of the season recently. He’s the worst among qualifiers in terms of fWAR. How many intangibles do you have to have to remain in the everyday lineup with that kind of pedigree?
@ GW:
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Yes, that was enjoyable for the Bears. Watching Romo disintegrate is pretty fun too.
Who knew Briggs could run like that?
Trout tonight: 4-4, needs a HR for the cycle, vs. Feliz Hernandez, in Seattle.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I heard he was pretty good.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Oh yeah? How many WARs did he score, faget?
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25253055&c_id=mlb
SenorGif please.
@ Rice Cube:
@ GBTS:
This was the moment that it dawned upon Jose Altuve that the Astros season was lost.
From his perspective, he had a long way to go.
Can you program your Twitter account to delay a tweet? Else, Derek Holland has a good excuse for not being responsible from the slur that came from his. (But not for his pornstache.)
The thing you guys are missing in your discussion about Cabrera as the MVP, vs Trout, is that Cabrera is an absolute HERO for being willing to move to 3B when the Tigers brought in Fielder. Sure, his defense is bad, costing Detroit 5 runs based on BRef (if I’m interpreting that correctly), but that’s actually much better than his previous full seasons at 3B (-17 and -9 in 2007 and 2006). And he didn’t bitch about the shift like Hanley Ramirez did, or Michael Young a few years ago, etc. etc. etc. Cabrera isn’t even the worst defender on his team.
Anyway, I know that discussion is out there elsewhere, even at Fangraphs (meh). Since defense is still hard to quantify, Trout’s superior defense won’t get valued as highly as it could/should. But Cabrera still has the third best Fld% for a 3B in the AL (remember who votes). But the MVP always includes these intangible things and triple count plus not-sucking-as-much-as-expected plus track record (Cabrera exceeding on D, maintaining on O; Trout having none in the majors) will rule the day, I think. Plus Cabrera performing well despite his off-season troubles, etc.
Don’t underestimate the value of not-sucking-as-much-as-expected, if that wasn’t important, you wouldn’t have both Presidential candidates’ campaigns trying to lower expectations through the floor for their guys.
By the way, in a page from an MB meme, I don’t care who wins the MVP.
@ Rice Cube:
Seems we clinched the #2 pick last night, no?
@ SVB:
Indeed. Didn’t need the tiebreaker after all as the Rockies decided to win.
@ SVB:
Yeah, but they had better defensive 3B options. He basically pitched a fit at the prospect of being DH and effectively hurt his team overall.
@ GBTS:
I like how he makes Castro chase after him.
@ SVB:
With the Tigers clinching, I can almost guarantee you that Cabrera wins the MVP, but that doesn’t make it the right call. Trout played amazing defense, took extra bases on hits as much as anyone else in the history of baseball, stole bases like motherfucker, and drove in 80 or whatever runs from leadoff. He vastly outperformed Cabrera from a total player perspective and with a month less time to do it in. To me, there’s no contest, but I think the argument you present will be what wins, unfortunately.
Congratulations to Beane. I don’t remember what he paid Cespedes, but that guy had a solid season.
The A’s are not a flashy team, but they are fun to watch. Well rounded. Still, 92 wins is sort of unbelievable for that team.
I don’t like Miguel Cabrera for MVP; love the player and fantastic year, but that’s it. The Triple Crown is really why people are voting for him. This isn’t his best year offense wise; his 2010 and 2011 are better by wRC+. I don’t buy the winning/playoff argument either; I usually don’t accept the argument on its face, but its especially bad when the Angels have a better record in the better division. And while Cabrera might be “carrying his team” in September. the Angels have a better September records than the Tigers.
As for the Triple Crown, who the F cares? We know that RBIs and AVG are not good stats, and even if they were, someone having more RBIs or a higher AVG than Cabrera wouldn’t take away from what he’s done. ANd while he leads the categories, I don’t see any of his HR/RBI/AVG being historically awesome on its own.
So I was going to write an awesome post about the full moon, physics, and baseball (in order to decrease my OV subscription costs per SVB’s advice), but I got to my conclusion and it didn’t matter for shit.
@ Mish:
Agree 1,000,000%. Now we have to convince the voters. I hope you’re right and that they consider all that, but I feel like they won’t.
Joe Pa’s assessment of the A’s a month ago was that they were playing to their park. At this point they are .608 at home, .543 on the road. Still better at home, but that’s a decent road record for a team that can’t hit worth a damn.
Orioles in one run games:
Down a little from a month ago, but not that much.
Split W L WP
One Run 28 9 .757
@ josh:
I think there are enough smart voters out there that they can push the voting towards Mike Trout. I’m basing this on the fact that recent votes have given the Cy Young to deserving pitchers like Greinke and King Felix though.
@ Rice Cube:
Oh, and Tim Lincecum before he stopped smoking the magic weed.
@ josh:
Not sure that is going to last, but stranger things have happened. It seems likely they will have to play the A’s in a one-off and I’d prefer the A’s to win, so hopefully it is not a 1-run game
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I like either team. The A’s are a strange team. No real standouts, but just solid all around.
Jon Greenberg’s masterpiece on the 100th loss:
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/8451498/jon-greenberg-one-100-loss-season-enough-theo-epstein-rebuilding-chicago-cubs
@ josh:
I believe they might lead the league in strikeouts, which is pretty impressive considering how well they seem to be able to score and get on base anyway.
@ Rice Cube:
I agree. i think they have to do better next season. I can’t wait 7 years for them to start looking like a major league club. Blugh.
@ Rice Cube:
They don’t even really have a superstar pitcher, like the Giants of 2 years ago did. Bizarre.
@ GBTS:
I added that to the home page because it belongs there (dying laughing) http://www.obstructedview.net/
the direct link: http://www.obstructedview.net/aside/castroaltuve-gif.html
The extra wild card thing worked, I’d say. Kept both leagues interesting until almost the very end.
@ josh:
It could still be interesting as the AL East and AL West haven’t been decided yet. Oakland and Baltimore could still avoid the wild-card game while the Yankees and Rangers might have to go to sudden death.
The Cardinals are about to clinch though…magic number —> 1
@ josh:
I did like the fact that both Bay Area teams won a World Series either while I was living there or while I was paying attention.
Anyone know where I can find some good hair extensions?
Mish wrote:
Shawn Camp locked up the MVP award months ago anyway.
Awesome run by Briggs. He showed some good moves. He had the element of surprise, but that was still a rush.
@ WaLi:
I wasn’t watching Devon Hester, but that was icing on the cake.
josh wrote:
The corpse of Paterno pontificates on the AL West playoff race?
@ mb21:
The only thing that would make that better is if Castro also walked away instead of applying the tag.
@ Suburban kid:
Paz? Poz? Ah you knew what I meant.
@ WaLi:
Those are coming to the OV store before the holiday season.
@ GBTS:
(dying laughing) that would have been awesome. I actually laughed out loud at that play. I also liked Brenly saying as it happened “Bizzaro World Series.” (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
What about that exciting opportunity Dorothy44 had for us? Is that coming to the OV store too?
@ GBTS:
I’m not sure the internet can handle all the rage from the articles bashing Castro for being lazy or aloof.
@ mb21:
Now I’m trying to decide if Brenly’s a Superman fan, or a Seinfeld fan.
@ WaLi:
Relax. The only difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is 2 weeks.
@ josh:
(dying laughing) I didn’t even read what she wrote. I just deleted her.
@ WaLi:
See, by not posting/publishing your negative results, you doom future generations to repeating your work.
Where better to post negative results than a Cubs blog? Especially this season.
RT @MLB_PR In new deal w/FOX in 2014, no more Saturday blackouts of out of market games for MLB EI & MLB.TV customers
@ Mish:
A long fought victory for Alvin, who either attends or watches locally every single Cubs game.
@ SVB:
I’m not so sure. We should set up a haircut poll to settle this issue.
@ SVB:
Just for you:
http://www.obstructedview.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21
Also the link to the forums at the top of the page just takes you to OV.net, not to the forums as promised by the header.
WaLi wrote:
It’s fixed. Don’t know why that happened, but all pages were redirected to front page.
@ WaLi:
Also, I’d post that here on the blog, but can’t do it right now. Great stuff.
GBTS wrote:
I’m sure there’s a picture of a doofus sitting in the bleachers watching a mini TV somewhere on the Internet, but damned if I can find it.
@ mb21:
Thanks. The forum is good enough of a spotlight for me. I’m sure it is full of errors anyways (dying laughing)
Do you think Tyler Colvin actually submitted this question? How else could one think his trade was the worst in modern–day Cubs history.
I really hope the Nats start Strasburg in their regular season finale so the internet explodes.
@ Suburban kid:
Maybe he’s always watching MLB.tv on his cell phone.
10m alexberngard @AlexBerngard
@Cubs How much wood does a wood chuck, chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? #AskRizzo
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AR: You’re going to have to ask Travis or Kerry. #AskRizzo
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Nice.
New Comic: http://www.obstructedview.net/comics/the-way-of-de-ro.html
bahleeted