As it turns out, Jason Fry of FAFIF had a way, way more awesome time at Star Wars night. He actually got to be a stormtrooper. I guess I’m only really surprised by the fact that he didn’t already own stormtrooper armor.
Awesome. The excessively useful Seamheads.com has their first batch of Negro League statistics up, covering the years 1916 through 1922, and some Cuban Winter League stuff before that. There’s batting average, on-base percentage and all you’d expect, and then even wOBA and wins above replacement. It passes the sniff test, too, with Oscar Charleston — widely regarded as the greatest Negro Leagues player ever, and by some as the greatest baseball player ever — coming out as the greatest player in the database so far.
The OG Ted Berg talked to new reliever Daniel Herrera and the Mets’ catchers about the diminutive lefty’s screwball yesterday. Interesting stuff on an interesting pitch — and it also means that next time I’m at Citi Field, I won’t have anything to ask Herrera. Other than hair care tips, I guess.
If you’d like to read one of the better pieces of sports writing, and/or have a thing for commas, might I recommend this re-print of David Foster Wallace’s “Federer as Religious Experience” over at Grantland today. (I guess they’re out of new material already.) It’s about tennis, which is not baseball, but I don’t even really like tennis and I liked this the first time I read it.
Mike Fast over at Baseball Prospectus – no paywall — has a piece up today about umpire positioning and how it affects the called strike zone. There’s some interesting stuff in there about the strike zones of individual umpires that’s worth looking at. It’s not something I generally think about.
ESPN’s Mark Simon has a piece today evaluating Curtis Granderson’s controversial defense in center field this season, and why he rates so poorly by advanced metrics. If you’re ever unsure about how advanced defensive numbers are cooked up, check this out. Simon walks you through everything without descending into SABR-Flatland — when the revolution comes, he’ll be in charge of PR.
Toby talked with the Mets’ first pick of the 2011 draft, outfielder Brandon Nimmo, over the weekend down in Florida; you can see the video over at Mets Minor League Blog. And in general, might I recommend everything over there, as reading about the big league club has certainly become very depressing very quickly.
I’m going to assume most of you know about the new ESPN venture called Grantland, which has been around for a few months now. Some of their content has been good and some of it not so much, but being someone who attempts to write longer-form pieces on occasion, I’ve been interested. I’d like to think that high quality overtakes high quantity in the long run, and since that seems to be what they’re aiming at . . . well, I’m rooting for them.
But more importantly, Jonah Keri’s coverage of baseball for Grantland is killing it (as the kids say[?]), and I want to point ya’ll towards it. Today, there’s an introduction to FIP and other advanced pitching stats, which every baseball fan should read. Out of all the advanced stats, FIP is probably the easiest to understand and the most useful for winning your fantasy baseball league/not signing Oliver Perez. And those are certainly good things.
Chris McShane takes a look at Jason Isringhausen’s regression over at Amazin’ Avenue. The lesson: Gravity always wins, as usual.
My own two cents about Izzy:
On zero days of rest: 11 games, 5.19 ERA, 7 R, 9 K, 8 BB, 1 HR
On one or more days of rest: 33 games, 3.30 ERA, 11 R, 26 K, 9 BB, 5 HR
He hasn’t been super-effective with any amount of rest this season, but maybe Izzy shouldn’t pitch without a day off between appearances anymore. The dude’s old, and it just seems like he hasn’t been as sharp coming off no rest. So maybe someone else could take the ninth if Izzy pitched the day before.
Plus, if the Mets split closing duties between Isringhausen and Parnell or Beato or whomever, it allows them to get the young guys some reps while continuing Izzy’s quest for 300 saves. Everyone wins! Except for the Mets, of course, who are stuck with all these shaky relievers.
Ted Berg asks the all important question. Here’s my answer: You know that scene in Braveheart when the first little band of Scotsmen take over a English fort and kill the guy who executed William Wallace’s lady friend? And William Wallace (Mel Gibson) gives a short “tell them Scotland is free” speech to the Englishmen he releases? And at the end of his speech, he turns to his men and says “burn it”?
I’d probably give that exact speech, out of context, ending with the “burn it” command and then setting the ball on fire. Just because. Derek Jeter is the worst.
