Baltimore's Chris
Davis has hit 20 homers and slugged .766. That's more home runs than the
entire Seattle Mariner infield, including the catcher. It's a higher
slugging percentage than any two Mariner infielders.
The Marlins are on pace to draw fewer than 1.5 million fans. In a new stadium.
The Cardinals have 10 pitchers with sub-3 ERAs. The Astros have none.
Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown last year. This year, he's hitting more line
drives, walking
more, striking out less, hitting for a higher average, getting on base more often and hitting for more power.
The Reds' Shin-Soo Choo is on pace to elicit 42 HBP. That's as many or more than 13 entire teams.
Kyle Lohse's 4.37 ERA (feeding a 1-6 record) is still a run better than the Brewers' team average.
The A's have drawn 231 walks this year. Chicago has drawn 245 walks this year. That's the Cubs and White Sox combined.
Pittsburgh's Jason Gilli has been credited with 22 saves in the first third of this season. He tallied five saves in his 10 Major League seasons prior.
Oriole sophomore Manny Machado is on pace to hit 72 doubles. The team in Miami has 73.
Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown hit .303 in May and slugged .688. He did not draw a single walk.
Remember when David Ortiz was done? He's hitting .326/.400/.596. Again.
D-backs' catcher Miguel Montero is hitting .077, and slugging .077, on three-ball counts.
Pirate hurler Jeff Locke is 5-1, 2.25 despite a weak 42/26 K/BB ratio.
Royals' savior James Shields has a 2.83 ERA in a league-leading 86 innings, a K/BB ratio of nearly four and a pair of complete games. And KC remains in the cellar.
Props to Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs and other baseball bloggers for much of this information.
Showing posts with label James Shields. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Shields. Show all posts
16 December 2012
A Great Trade for Toronto
You, perhaps, comprehend the recent blockbuster trade between Tampa Bay and Kansas City. Perhaps you grasp string theory, follow NHL negotiations and appreciate the subtle talent of Demi Lovato. Or perhaps you're one of the general managers involved. For the rest of us in the baseball universe, the Tampa-KC deal was a Christmas-time Gift of the Magi.
With the Yankees diving headlong towards the salary cap, the Red Sox scrambling back to relevance and the Orioles seeking a new bottle for their lightning, the pitching-rich Rays appeared ready to enter 2013 a co-favorite for the AL East title.
The Royals, meanwhile, are still mixing up potions to consolidate the talent they've amassed on their roster with all those high draft picks. Absent the elusive formula, they remain a second-division team.
And yet, the franchise with the distant horizon flipped long-term investments for instant gratification, while the franchise aiming to fly its flag this year relinquished a key piece of the puzzle for a possible future bonanza. Suddenly, explaining the general theory of relativity seems simple.
Specifically, the Royals sent minor league outfielder Wil Myers, a top-10 prospect, along with three other farmhands of various promise, for James Shields, an All-Star hurler and Wade Davis, a mid-rotation righty who pitched effectively out of the bullpen in 2012. While Myers and his comrades were KC's for six years of cost control, the two Major Leaguers they landed in return are signed for two years at $29 - $35 million, plus three option years on Davis at $25 million with a $2.5 million buyout.
Similarly, Tampa dumped their #2 starter and a useful bullpen piece for future returns just as the rest of the division has stepped back and left them to catch the bouquet. They save millions of dollars, for sure, but that's not how you win a pennant. They are betting on minor leaguers, none of whom is likely to contribute at the MLB level this coming season, if ever.
This is an Arty the Smarty transaction in which both sides are swimming against the current. Even if Shields and Davis deliver steak as expected, the good people of western Missouri still have to choke down lumpy mashed potatoes and creamed spinach along with them. This deal suggests that GM Dayton Moore dreams of a .500 season. And won't Rays GM Andrew Friedman be kicking himself if the team skids to within a few games of the playoffs for want of a #2 starter while this bag of goodies spends the year developing in Durham?
If you're Friedman or Moore, perhaps you can explain this. Perhaps the Royals believe that their talent-laden lineup is ready to metamorphose in 2013 and a pair of Major League arms will catapult them to the top of a weak division. Perhaps Tampa Bay believes it has squeezed all the quality it can out of Shields and will use the pocketed funds to fill holes at first, DH or back in the rotation. Only they know.
On face value though, this deal fails the smell test for both sides. But it looks great for the pennant hopes of the Toronto Blue Jays.
With the Yankees diving headlong towards the salary cap, the Red Sox scrambling back to relevance and the Orioles seeking a new bottle for their lightning, the pitching-rich Rays appeared ready to enter 2013 a co-favorite for the AL East title.
The Royals, meanwhile, are still mixing up potions to consolidate the talent they've amassed on their roster with all those high draft picks. Absent the elusive formula, they remain a second-division team.
And yet, the franchise with the distant horizon flipped long-term investments for instant gratification, while the franchise aiming to fly its flag this year relinquished a key piece of the puzzle for a possible future bonanza. Suddenly, explaining the general theory of relativity seems simple.
Specifically, the Royals sent minor league outfielder Wil Myers, a top-10 prospect, along with three other farmhands of various promise, for James Shields, an All-Star hurler and Wade Davis, a mid-rotation righty who pitched effectively out of the bullpen in 2012. While Myers and his comrades were KC's for six years of cost control, the two Major Leaguers they landed in return are signed for two years at $29 - $35 million, plus three option years on Davis at $25 million with a $2.5 million buyout.
Similarly, Tampa dumped their #2 starter and a useful bullpen piece for future returns just as the rest of the division has stepped back and left them to catch the bouquet. They save millions of dollars, for sure, but that's not how you win a pennant. They are betting on minor leaguers, none of whom is likely to contribute at the MLB level this coming season, if ever.
This is an Arty the Smarty transaction in which both sides are swimming against the current. Even if Shields and Davis deliver steak as expected, the good people of western Missouri still have to choke down lumpy mashed potatoes and creamed spinach along with them. This deal suggests that GM Dayton Moore dreams of a .500 season. And won't Rays GM Andrew Friedman be kicking himself if the team skids to within a few games of the playoffs for want of a #2 starter while this bag of goodies spends the year developing in Durham?
If you're Friedman or Moore, perhaps you can explain this. Perhaps the Royals believe that their talent-laden lineup is ready to metamorphose in 2013 and a pair of Major League arms will catapult them to the top of a weak division. Perhaps Tampa Bay believes it has squeezed all the quality it can out of Shields and will use the pocketed funds to fill holes at first, DH or back in the rotation. Only they know.
On face value though, this deal fails the smell test for both sides. But it looks great for the pennant hopes of the Toronto Blue Jays.
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