The 2011 Major League Baseball Thread

are you saying i normally take your sunshine away?

Go, Yoda, Go!

Not exactly. I'm mostly just disputing the idea that rarity means quality. But really, it's just simple math: you can reach a milestone by being an incredible player for a certain period of time, or a pretty good one for a longer period of time. You can offset playing the game better with playing the game longer, even if it diminishes your total contribution to your team.

But anyway, the second paragraph you quoted is a better summary of my argument.

Pretty decent piece by Jonah Keri on Grantland today. The case, in a nutshell, is that we need new statistical milestones. Here's a quote (I added the emphasis):

A little smarmy at first, but I think it's a solid point. Players are, I think, probably playing longer, and some of these grand milestones are far less grand. A lot of these numbers have been hit as much by players in the last 20 years as they had in the 70 or 80 years before (depending on the specific number and time frame, but you get the idea).

Anyway, 3,000 hits ain't what it used to be. But 3,500, or whatever Jeter might end up with, would be a fair sight more impressive. But you've simply got to dock him for the way he's atrophied in shortstop (even compared to his mediocrity there in most of his prime), and the fact that, to get there, he'll probably have to keep playing even though he's become a liability.

I suspect Jeter will play one more full season after 2011 at shortstop. After that they'll transition him to right field or third. First base or third are the natural places a middle infielder gets moved at the end of their career, but obviously Mark Teixeira is one of the best defensive first basemen in the sport, so he's not going anywhere. A-Rod plays a decent enough third, still throws very well, and already moved from SS when he became a Yankee. If Rodriguez's health issues from the past couple seasons become chronic, that would make more sense for him to move to RF, or to become the usual DH...though he's still too valuable an asset in the field at this point. To me Derek makes the most sense in RF rather than 3B, but wherever he winds up he'll change primary positions in the next few years. He can still hit, and that inside-out swing taking balls to RF doesn't really go into prolonged slumps. He could keep dumping balls over there into his early forties, easy.

Assuming he stays healthy, of course.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I just hate Jeter. I guess overrated is a relative term. Derek Jeter was a great ballplayer, is a decent ballplayer, and will be a hall of fame player.

But he was never the best shortstop of his time and I don't consider him to be one of the top 10 shortstops in the history of the game.

Meanwhile, Texas better straighten out there bullpen fast. Holy crap is that thing awful.

I agree that Jeter in the OF or at 3B makes way more sense. Preferably the OF, because I doubt he'd be much better at 3B than SS, but it wouldn't shock me if either change helped his fielding. Good or bad, shortstop is probably the word place to have a defensive liability, so either move would be worthwhile.

As for whether or not he can still hit: seems pretty up in the air to me. He was roughly average last season and has been significantly below average this season. What little power he had has almost completely vanished and he'll probably never slug even .400 again. I think his best case scenario is playing a few more years getting on base at roughly the league average with little pop. That's certainly enough, given the affection he garners, to keep racking up numbers, though. For better or worse he'll have to be pretty darn awful to be forced out of the lineup.

Jeter is the kind of player who will take himself out of the lineup, when it gets to that point. He's all about winning, and though his critics think he's a liability, his teammates don't, and he keeps getting them to where they need to be. When it gets to a point, in one year or three years or five years or whenever, that he looks at his contribution and it isn't working, he won't want to be there anymore. Stats are stats, but if the Yankees stop contending, and his fielding or lack of hitting is a clear function of it, he just won't want to be out there.

He already has more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes, if he retired tomorrow he'd be in Cooperstown in five years, and he's been part of five World Championship teams. He'd love to add a sixth or seventh or eighth title, but not at the cost of embarrassing himself or the organization.

Careful now...that kind of territory is reserved for the Miami Heat and the Miami Heat alone.

Hmm, we'll see if he takes himself out. We really only have one data point on this issue, and that's whether or not he volunteered to move to 3B when they acquired Alex Rodriguez, as Rodriguez was a much, much better defender. And of course he didn't.

It's not unthinkable. A lot of really great players have hung on far too long. It's an easy mistake to make, and it seems to happen as often as not. Their competitiveness is just as likely to cause them to keep trying as it is to hang 'em up. Pete Rose was as competitive as any player I can think of, and he played way too long.

And sure, no doubt that Jeter's teammates don't think of him as a liability. But then again, the athletes in any given sport never indicate much lucidity about the things that actually win or lose them games. They're invariably a highly superstitious bunch with confirmation bias coming out of the wazoo (whatever a wazoo is) who attribute winning and losing to completely nebulous, intangible things like momentum, "heart," or non-explanations about "not seeing the ball real good."

Anyway, the theory is pretty much already being tested, because his Wins Above Replacement this year is 0.9, which is basically just a smidgen above the performance you'd get from most AAA-replacement level players, and for $10 million less. But he'll have to be a lot worse than average before he's faced with this choice, given all the good will he's coasting on.

Don't know how many of you MLB fans watched the Home Run Derby tonight, but it was a good'un. Sometimes they're pretty dull, but every once in a while they are fun and even compelling. Petty early on it came down to a two-man race between Adrian Gonzales of the Red Sox and Robinson Canó of the Yankees. They led the first round with nine homers by Gonzales and eight by Robby, and in the second round Gonzales added eleven while Canó banged twelve, giving them both a total of twenty. Far, far ahead of the other two second round participants, derby captains David Ortiz and Prince Fielder.

Gonzales set the pace in the finals, with another eleven taters. But Robinson passed him, even with extra swings to spare. His dozen HRs in the final round are a record in this exhibition (which began in 1985). Robby is just the third Yankee to win the derby (Tino Martinez in 1997 and Jason Giambi in 2002). Besides the big totals and two worthy opponents, Canó had a bunch of true monster shots, and the element that made it all the most interesting and memorable was that the pitcher throwing to him was his father, Jose Canó. The elder Canó, who had a brief callup to the Majors in 1989 with the Houston Astros (pitching in six games, three starts), served up the batting practice balls to his All-Star son.

It was pretty damn cool.



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I thought Jose Bautista was going to do so much better. Ah well 4 homers is ok, but I would have liked to have seen Longo, Reynolds, Teixeira, Joyce and others try too. I mean its for fun so why not?

As for Jeter sitting out the all-stars people shouldnt be critical, and many are. After this last week the man may be exhausted, and since its all for fun whats the harm?

I watched the beginning of the derby and thought Cano would win after his first two bombs. He just seemed to have a really ideal swing for it.

Meanwhile...


THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES ARE IN FIRST PLACE! SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS. I CHECKED THE STANDINGS ON EVERY SITE AND THEY ALL SAY THE SAME THING.

Rangers are absolutely killing it right now. 12 game win streak and they've just been bashing team's heads in. They've got a real chance to pull away in the West with this series against Los Angeles.

Since the All-Star break, the Rangers have a 0.40 ERA. 2 runs allowed in the 45 second half innings.

Toronto nabs Colby Rasmus. Pretty much every expert is saying it's a very, very shrewd move by them, and I agree.

Meanwhile, yes, I was up at 2:00 AM watching the end of that 19-inning travesty of a game between the Bucs and the Braves. And yes, that was one of the worst calls I've ever seen.

So. Mad. If that one win ends up being the difference between us going over .500 or not for the first time in 18 years...or, God forbid, enough to stop us from actually making the flippin' playoffs...this city's going to go into some kind of sports coma.

James Shields just got rocked by the Oakland A's Of course hes on my fantasy team. Right now the score is 12-0, bottom of the 6th, and all I can say is.....WTF?! Owned by the A's oh man there goes any delusions we were still contenders.

That was horrid. Inexcusable.


You know how sad the American League Central Division is? For the past couple weeks, not even one team has maintained a season total positive run differential. The N.L. West has only one team in the positives right now, The Diamondbacks, and San Francisco is only at -1 after today's loss. To have all five teams in the A.L. Central be that inept in the first week of August...wow. By contrast, four of the five teams in the A.L. East have scored more runs than they've given up (not the lowly Orioles, of course).

Yeah, I find it funny that baseball got all realign-y on us when there was far more parity, but now that the A.L. East is almost twice as good as every other decision, nothing's happening.

Meanwhile, the Bucs have dropped seven straight, and something like eight of nine since that horrid call Holden just mentioned. I don't really believe it's responsible, but if the season keeps falling apart, it's sure going to look like that sapped the wind from their sails. Very disappointed right now. Still plenty of time and we're just a shade under .500, but some of our luck is catching up with us.

Oh, and following up on the discussion about the increasing cheapness of historical markers: Jim Thome is just two bombs shy of 600 homers, a milestone only six players have ever achieved. But does he really feel like a Hall of Famer to everyone, let alone like an all-time great slugger?

I always forget just exactly how much I hate Tim McCarver and Joe Buck until I have to listen to them again.

Volume, OFF.