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?
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.
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.
“If this happened last year, you wouldn’t see me, I’d be home,” Garza said Sunday. “I like coming here and hanging out with the guys. I have a whole different perspective on this thing and a whole different hunger and I’m chomping at the bit.”
…
“I told him we’re on the verge of [100 losses] … and I told him last year we were close to .500 and I hated every day of my life coming in here,” Garza said. “It was miserable [last year]. I said, ‘This year, I enjoy it, and I look forward to coming in here.’ I said, ‘You brought that back, so thank you.’ Last year was a trying year. This year was a different type of mental fight but I can actually enjoy this one.”
…
“He’s more open, more sociable with us,” Garza said. “He treats us like players. It’s not like, ‘This is you, this is you’ — he gives you the opportunity to fail. The way he’s handled the situation we’re in right now, it’s tough. It’s tough for him to keep it the same way each day, that’s huge.”
“To end up with a guy like Dale is awesome, especially coming from the situation last year — I’m not even going to go into it — but this is awesome,” Garza said.
@ 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.
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?
I’m surprised Quade was so hated. Was it because of the nicknames?
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)
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.
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.
@ 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.
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.
List of all P since 1920 with as many IP as Kris Medlen (138) & as low an ERA (1.57): Bob Gibson 1968, Dwight Gooden 1985, Greg Maddux 1994.— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 1, 2012
@ 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.
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.
On Friday, Bailey was as on as he’ll ever be, no-hitting the Pirates with great stuff and a great plan. No-hitters are singular events, and I don’t have to point to Phil Humber to remind you that they really mean nothing in the grand scheme. For Bailey, what’s far more important is how he’s been used recently. In 16 of his last 20 starts, he’s gone over 100 pitches. He also hasn’t gone more than 120 pitches. Previously in his career, like many young pitchers, he’d been a bit babied. That kept him more or less healthy through the injury nexus, and yes, almost all of that was under Dusty Baker. Bailey’s career path brings to mind that of Josh Beckett, who had minor injuries that kept him from racking up huge innings totals. Bailey’s been loosed now and seems to be thriving under the higher, but not high, workload. It’s too early to say for sure, but maybe there’s something to learn from Dusty and Homer about pitching.
If only we had $5000 around so he could respond to criticism.
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.
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.
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.
You couldn’t fill a teaspoon with Will Carroll’s actual medical knowledge. His whole shtick is making unfounded inferences, and to follow up criticisms with telephone tough guy bluster.
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?
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.
@ 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.
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.
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.
@ 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 😀
@ 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.
@ 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
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.
The corpse of Paterno pontificates on the AL West playoff race?
@ 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)
Do you think Tyler Colvin actually submitted this question? How else could one think his trade was the worst in modern–day Cubs history.
Tyler (Chicago )
Bruce you mentioned earlier the Cubs mishandled Josh Vitters. Its extremely frustrating to me to see a year which players are to be developed and yet Vitters didn’t see enough playing time to get a fair evaluation. Bruce what is the future for this kid with the Cubs? I hate to see them give away another #1 pick before they see what he can actually do. (See Tyler Colvin trade) worst in modern day Cub history.
10m alexberngard @AlexBerngard
@Cubs How much wood does a wood chuck, chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? #AskRizzo
Retweeted by Chicago Cubs
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Chicago Cubs @Cubs
AR: You’re going to have to ask Travis or Kerry. #AskRizzo
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Comments
@ 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.
SVBQuote Reply
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?
WaLiQuote Reply
Has there ever been two 100 loss teams in the same division before?
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Looks like Tigers and Royals did it in ’02. That’s the only one I can find.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I blame, uh…. El Nino. Also, the new CBA. When something goes wrong, it’s usually the rules’ fault.
joshQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
Try harder.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
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.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
That’s impressive by Miles. He did that in 170 PA compared to Mather’s 242 PA.
WaLiQuote Reply
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.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
He did get the memo.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
I’ll look again tomorrow.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ josh:
WARP has Vitters as the winner. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
@ 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.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Well the Browns 100th loss that year was something he recently enjoyed.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
It makes sense, since he saw their first game in 1902.
joshQuote Reply
I always took SK as more of a Federal League kinda guy.
GBTSQuote Reply
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)
BerseliusQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
See: Mather, Joe
Also: Vitters, Josh
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I’m surprised Quade was so hated. Was it because of the nicknames?
Berselius wrote:
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I don’t know if that’ll make the cover of Vine Line.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
That gets my vote as the new banner.
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
If my Photoshop skillz were up to par I’d put in some Matrix-style bullet effects for that one.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
(dying laughing), from Julie’s blog
Tickets are selling for nine cents! Get em while they’re lukewarm!
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Eh. I’ll wait till they bottom out.
joshQuote Reply
@ 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 CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
RC, are you baiting me? Is this another one of your devious attempts to derail the discussion here?
SVBQuote Reply
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.
SVBQuote Reply
@ SVB:
Correct. The Cardinals are black magic.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ 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.
SVBQuote Reply
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)
mb21Quote Reply
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/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
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.
MuckerQuote Reply
@ 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…
SVBQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
Sweet, I can finally afford season tickets then! (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
I would not presume to do so, after all, you are the master baiter.
/groan
Rice CubeQuote Reply
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.
SVBQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
But I don’t fish.
SVBQuote Reply
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!
WaLiQuote Reply
@ 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.
SVBQuote Reply
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 CubeQuote Reply
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.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Thibs ——-> 4 year extension with the Bulls
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Yeah, those old bats are vigilant. Even BatMish would have trouble ninja-ing past them. 100s seem a safe bet tthough.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
From a month ago but still amusing:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/astros-not-even-good-enough-to-play-for-pride,29305/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ josh:
It’s good. Thibodeau is the coach and he is pretty damn good.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Maybe I’ll attempt to watch a game or two this time.
joshQuote Reply
Matt Cassel, excellent blocker.
MishQuote Reply
Just because this needs to be posted again
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Mish:
It got the job done…
joshQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I call this picture “First at Bat, Rest of Cubs Season”
Seriously this GIF should be 2013 slogan
akabariQuote Reply
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
BerseliusQuote Reply
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.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ 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.”
joshQuote Reply
@ 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.
GWQuote Reply
GW wrote:
mb21Quote Reply
I don’t have to point to Philip Humber…..
Oh, but I will, because I’m a ______________
SVBQuote Reply
The segment about “ChicagoZor” pretty much sums up the Cubs to me.
Jed Jam BandQuote Reply
@ 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.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Wood is currently the ace of the Cubs rotation so the Reds rotation was super deep.
mb21Quote Reply
A home run, eh.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_and_dumber#Dumb_and_Dumber_To
Hooray.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
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 OutfielderQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
SVBQuote Reply
Hell of a play by Cutler.
What’s that? No, baseball is over now.
joshQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
It’s about time. A lot of drama has surrounded the rumored sequel.
Mobile RodrigoQuote Reply
cabrera hr
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
Most Vanquished Pies
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
TThe Cubs are fucking themselves out of that final playoff spot. They need to win tonight.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
he wouldn’t even win that award on his own team (even before he trimmed down this year)
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
Fielder!
joshQuote Reply
Joe Mather doing his part to help the Cubs get that #2 pick.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
100!
#2!!!
WOOT
*sigh*
Rice CubeQuote Reply
100
mb21Quote Reply
This time next year: 100.
mb21Quote Reply
Detroit —> October
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ mb21:
NO!
Josh Hamilton is going to save us.
Fuck.
joshQuote Reply
I guess the Bears are winning and/or won then.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
That. Was. Fucking. Delicious.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
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?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ GW:
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Yes, that was enjoyable for the Bears. Watching Romo disintegrate is pretty fun too.
joshQuote Reply
Who knew Briggs could run like that?
joshQuote Reply
Trout tonight: 4-4, needs a HR for the cycle, vs. Feliz Hernandez, in Seattle.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I heard he was pretty good.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Oh yeah? How many WARs did he score, faget?
GBTSQuote Reply
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25253055&c_id=mlb
SenorGif please.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
GBTSQuote Reply
@ 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.
5 Run Home RunQuote Reply
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.)
SVBQuote Reply
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.
SVBQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Seems we clinched the #2 pick last night, no?
SVBQuote Reply
@ SVB:
Indeed. Didn’t need the tiebreaker after all as the Rockies decided to win.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I like how he makes Castro chase after him.
joshQuote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
Congratulations to Beane. I don’t remember what he paid Cespedes, but that guy had a solid season.
joshQuote Reply
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.
joshQuote Reply
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.
MishQuote Reply
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.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
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.
joshQuote Reply
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
joshQuote Reply
@ 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 CubeQuote Reply
@ 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 CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I like either team. The A’s are a strange team. No real standouts, but just solid all around.
joshQuote Reply
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
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ 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 CubeQuote Reply
@ 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.
joshQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
They don’t even really have a superstar pitcher, like the Giants of 2 years ago did. Bizarre.
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I added that to the home page because it belongs there (dying laughing) http://obstructedview.net/
mb21Quote Reply
the direct link: http://obstructedview.net/aside/castroaltuve-gif.html
mb21Quote Reply
The extra wild card thing worked, I’d say. Kept both leagues interesting until almost the very end.
joshQuote Reply
@ 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
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ 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.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Anyone know where I can find some good hair extensions?
WaLiQuote Reply
Mish wrote:
BerseliusQuote Reply
Shawn Camp locked up the MVP award months ago anyway.
BerseliusQuote Reply
WaLiQuote Reply
Awesome run by Briggs. He showed some good moves. He had the element of surprise, but that was still a rush.
joshQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
I wasn’t watching Devon Hester, but that was icing on the cake.
joshQuote Reply
josh wrote:
The corpse of Paterno pontificates on the AL West playoff race?
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ mb21:
The only thing that would make that better is if Castro also walked away instead of applying the tag.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Paz? Poz? Ah you knew what I meant.
joshQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
Those are coming to the OV store before the holiday season.
mb21Quote Reply
@ 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)
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
What about that exciting opportunity Dorothy44 had for us? Is that coming to the OV store too?
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I’m not sure the internet can handle all the rage from the articles bashing Castro for being lazy or aloof.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Now I’m trying to decide if Brenly’s a Superman fan, or a Seinfeld fan.
joshQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
Relax. The only difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is 2 weeks.
SVBQuote Reply
@ josh:
(dying laughing) I didn’t even read what she wrote. I just deleted her.
mb21Quote Reply
@ 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.
SVBQuote Reply
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
MishQuote Reply
@ Mish:
A long fought victory for Alvin, who either attends or watches locally every single Cubs game.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ SVB:
I’m not so sure. We should set up a haircut poll to settle this issue.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ SVB:
Just for you:
http://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.
WaLiQuote Reply
WaLi wrote:
It’s fixed. Don’t know why that happened, but all pages were redirected to front page.
mb21Quote Reply
@ WaLi:
Also, I’d post that here on the blog, but can’t do it right now. Great stuff.
mb21Quote Reply
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.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Thanks. The forum is good enough of a spotlight for me. I’m sure it is full of errors anyways (dying laughing)
WaLiQuote Reply
Do you think Tyler Colvin actually submitted this question? How else could one think his trade was the worst in modern–day Cubs history.
Mobile RodrigoQuote Reply
I really hope the Nats start Strasburg in their regular season finale so the internet explodes.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Maybe he’s always watching MLB.tv on his cell phone.
GBTSQuote Reply
10m alexberngard @AlexBerngard
@Cubs How much wood does a wood chuck, chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? #AskRizzo
Retweeted by Chicago Cubs
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Chicago Cubs @Cubs
AR: You’re going to have to ask Travis or Kerry. #AskRizzo
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Nice.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
New Comic: http://obstructedview.net/comics/the-way-of-de-ro.html
joshQuote Reply
bahleeted
GWQuote Reply