Brooks Raley threw 7 innings and allowed zero runs lowering his season ERA down to 3.18. When (not if) Dempster gets traded you would hope Raley is the guy who gets the promotion as he's the only starter who hasn't sucked ass in Iowa this season.
Smokies
No Game
everyone sucked.
Chadd Krist continues his hot streak and is now hitting .478 after a 2-5 effort last night. Javier Baez was also 2-5 although Expert Kevin Goldstein says he is having trouble with off speed stuff. Jose Rosario injured his arm last night and was removed from the game.
For a little guy Gioskar Amaya is flashing some good power down in Boise. Amaya hit his 4th HR of the year only one shy of Candelario's total. Amaya is a pretty damn good prospect and is now sporting a .938 OPS. Hayden Simpson did Hayden Simpson things out on the mound and Tayler Scott scuffled a bit for the first time this year.
Ben Carhart hit 2-3 and did it in a rugged yet stylish fashion. 2012 5th round pick Anthony Prieto struck out two in two IP.
Here’s a good vid to get you pumped up for tonight:
Royals sign Jason Kendall. To me, that’s almost as surprising as the Orioles signing Barry Bonds or something.
I heard (unconfirmed) that Hayden was in the low 90s last night. I think it was a tweet to KG. Progress!
@ Mish:
We’re going to hold off until Monday. Crowds etc.
@ jtsunami:
He must finally be getting over that mono.
@ josh:
If the O’s signed Bonds I’d suddenly be an O’s fan until he shows his age and that he sucks now (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
He looks kind of pudgy now. I think it would be ugly. Similarly for Jason Kendall.
@ josh:
Now that the PEDs have worn off I doubt he’ll be as awesome as he was a decade ago.
/snark
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/19/the-yankees-hit-a-lot-of-home-runs-this-is-a-problem/
I cannot imagine that hitting lots of home runs would ever be a problem. I guess this goes along with the basketball adage where you “live by the three-pointer and die by the three-pointer”, but if you have lots of power in the lineup I don’t understand how that could be a bad thing. Why manufacture runs when you can just make sure the defense can’t make a play?
@ WaLi:
Mono can take a long time to recover from. I had mono when I was younger and I still haven’t been able to reach 90.
@ Rice Cube:
A lot of the Yankees walk a decent amount too. It just goes back to all that pining for small ball that people thinks win championships.
@ Rice Cube:
The Yankees just score too many runs. That’s obviously a big problem that Cashman should address this offseason.
@ Mish:
Exactly. It’s mindboggingly stupid. Home runs are the best thing an offense can do. It’s the most productive event. It is the only event that guarantees a run unless you include sac flies, but that’s only known after the ball has been caught.
mb21 wrote:
I guess home runs are actually the same, but you know what I mean.
The only time homeruns could be a problem is if its the only way a team scores AND they don’t score many of them. It seems like the Cubs had that problem to a certain extent last year. You have to score runs somehow, if you can win consistently via homeruns, then its fine. If you have 2 guys that can hit homeruns and when they do is the only time you win, you can’t expect to do well.
I think people worry when a team is power oriented because they fear a power outage during postseason, but that’s just as likely as an on-base/scrappy outage. Winning baseball games is difficult no matter how you do it.
@ josh:
Yeah, people seem to think there are better ways to score runs and the bottom line is that you score runs. There has been some evidence that more balanced lineups, if that’s what you want to call it, do perform somewhat better in that they’re more consistent. However, I think the goal is to score runs any way you can. If you have a team with a lot of power it’s not a problem. It’s a luxury.
@ mb21:
Plus, homeruns are dramatic.
josh wrote:
/idiots
@ Mish:
Is there a benefit, though, of keeping tons of guys on base to ensure that the pitcher and assorted relievers remain in the stretch?
@ Rice Cube:
Probably more of an advantage against a starter. Still, if your team can consistently hit homeruns and score a lot of runs, that’s going to keep a pitcher as off-balance as anything.
Randy Wells ———–> elbow strain
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/competitive-balance-lottery-just-smoke-and-mirrors/
None of the mainstream sabermetrics guys (the fangraphs staff, jonah keri, etc…) can get it through their heads that the changes in the new cba that they so vehemently rue on behalf of their favorite sabermetric front office were, in all likelihood, championed by those very front offices. The Rays and Pirates knew that the jig was up in terms of spending a little extra draft/ifa money and bringing in tons of talent. As the bigger market teams got involved, that strategy became a whole lot more expensive.
@ Berselius:
Everyone —————-> shrugs.
Or just me?
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nationals-racing-presidents-catch-batman-fever-don-costumes-160516725–mlb.html
@ GW:
Yeah, given that big market teams were using analytical methods, I think the CBA rules are a decent step toward trying to re-level the playing field. What’s unfortunate is that the Cubs are a big market team and got on the bandwagon too late. Now all the moves handicap us. I don’t know. I’d like to flash forward three years and see how this all shakes out. Will it actually make it more fair all around or will they amend it because it’s so crazy and confusing? should be interesting.
@ josh:
don’t get me wrong, I despise the new rules. I just think that most of these writers would be shocked to find out how the vote played out on that particular issue.
bubblesdachimp wrote:
…of thousands.
@ Rice Cube:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ GW:
I think they’re an okay compromise. I really don’t know. I can’t see the long-term effects. The short term for the Cubs is bad news, but I don’t know what it will look like long-term. It seems especially unfair to young players, which could be a bad idea.
@ josh:
I don’t really know the rules well enough. I don’t mind change if there’s a purpose. The game seems to have some imbalance. It’s debatable whether that’s good or bad, but the small market teams want to help ensure their teams stay around and stay competitive, so it wouldn’t be too hard to throw them a bone and in exchange for some revenue sharing type stuff, I would think.
The hope monster’s a smarmy bitch.
@ GW:
Do you think the Rays of baseball world voted to change the rules on compensation for losing free agents? (The full-season rule?)
In a year where they were going good, these teams could get a rental for the cost of a prospect, but replenish with the compensation pick. So benefit to the low-budget team, but actually a benefit to any team, as Theo showed.
OTOH, the low-budget teams might be less likely to pursue a rental, and hang on to their FA at the end of the year so that they could get the additional draft pick, maybe keeping them in the race longer, rather than having to trade him for a prospect mid-season.
@ SVB:
I’m sure that change was insisted upon by the pa, since it was costing marginal mid-level free agents (the core constituency) money. I don’t think the small market teams minded, since they got the competitive balance picks in return.
Not an out, but WOW
@ mb21:
Hard to tell — was that Brendan Ryan?
Rice Cube wrote:
I doubt the value of forcing pitchers to pitch from the stress is higher than the value of run(s) scored.
It’s really great of the Cubs to do all this stuff for my birthday this Sunday. I haven’t even gone to a game in like 2 years.
Nice new Avatar WaLi. I approve.
@ SVB:
He just went back to his old one. I give it a C-
TOOTBLANS! TOOTBLANS FOR EVERYONE!
Wow, I hope they show that convoluted double TOOTBLAN on Gameday soon.
Really, it sounded like Johnson did what he was supposed to do, and Rizzo is the one who got caught too far off the bag. So it’s probably only really a single TOOTBLAN plus aggressive baserunning.
@ Rice Cube:
It’s up. Close play on Rizzo. Reyes looked for him right away. Good play by Reyes.
Dear Mish,
Sounds like the Cubs made up for those TOOTBLANs in the last half of the inning
Lord. Wasn’t Gary Sinise just on like two weeks ago?
Good Chris Carpenter ———-> surgery, donezo for year
srbutch5 wrote:
Love the pic. That’s the exact way I have been describing my hopes. I didn’t think Jedi was on par with the first two, but it was still a more-than satisfactory conclusion for me. Yeah, the Ewoks sucked, but I felt the rest hit the mark for the most part. I’d be happy with a Jedi-level quality out of TDKR.
What’s with these homies dissing my girl?
Cubs win! Ever so close to a top three pick still…
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/07/red-sox-in-on-garza-not-dempster.html
Another Sawx trade brewing?
Maholm has been pretty damn good of late.
lulz
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=23162721&c_id=mlb
Shit’s getting real.
mb21 wrote:
A Mississippi State boy, he good.
They’re summoning a pitcher? Who the fuck says it in that way?
I had to double check that this was Tango, not MGL:
http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/the_dark_knight_rises_reviews_controversy/
@ Mish:
Actually, MGL would ask “Are you Batman? No? Okay, then your opinion on this is irrelevant.”
Luckily, I am Batman.
@ mb21:
it’s part of the pact
@ mb21:
Theo and Jed love playing Magic: The Gathering.
cubs acquire justin germano from the bosox for $
@ GW:
That’s right. The Cubs are reinventing the lingo. They’re signing players to pacts and summoning them from the minor leagues. (dying laughing)
New breaking shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/trade-alert-cubs-complete-trade-with-boston-red-sox.html
@ GW:
That guy has walked about one batter per 9 this year in the minor leagues. 5+ K/BB. Wonder if he’s the guy they’re summoning from the minor leagues.
@ mb21:
the cubs way