As usual, 1 pm at the Four-Letter. I expect to do a chat next week too, but not the final week of August.
→ August 14, 2008
→ By
→ By
The collected thoughts of sportswriter, bookworm, & food critic Keith Law
As usual, 1 pm at the Four-Letter. I expect to do a chat next week too, but not the final week of August.
Copyright © 2011 Curtail Theme on the Genesis Framework
I love seeing people try to come up with new arguments for what they believe is right.
Over 162 game RBI’s will eventually show us who is good! Just look at the top 10!
Alexi Ramirez can defend at 2b. He made a web gem, his arm is so strong!
Let’s also not forget that his arm is bionic as well, and thus has more range than any other 2B’s.
This gem was classic, too:
“Wrong again (MA): Keith, you’ve said many times that Jed Lowrie would have to move off shortstop. Well, he the new shortstop for the Red Sox. How did your keen eye miss this?”
After all, now that Lowrie has played SS in Lugo’s absence, he can, contractually, never be moved off the position. Good lord, I love Lowrie as much as the next guy, but I’m not sold on him as the SS of the future (though the fan boy in me hopes he can field the position with enough adequosity – yes, I made that word up – to stick there).
What I loved about the Lowrie comment is that I’ve been saying Lowrie could play shortstop, in the face of doubters, since at least October, when I saw him play it in the AFL. Either the guy was going just off of something I said two years ago – Lowrie was a BAD defensive 2b in college – or he has me confused with someone else.
Keith – do you find that much of the time you have questioners baiting you, the same way I bait Joe Morgan so I can find lend my name to posterity on FJM? Or are most of these guys serious?
Malcolm,
I’d almost bet on them being serious. the average baseball fan in a non Keith Law or Rob Neyer chat expects an answer of these things.
I’ve seen this a lot from people who are Keith’s detractors as far as the Lowrie comment. They will try to pull something they heard a couple of years ago as if they have no understanding of projection or growth.
KLaw,
Read the chat today and I found your comment about plate collisions interesting. Just a couple of weeks ago, while watching a game that included such a play, I considered how stupid that part of baseball is. I thought at the time it was just a sign of me getting old, but maybe we’re on to something. Keep up the good work.
Sorry but I am a fan of plate collisions and runners that try to run over the catcher. Either side can back down if they are concerned about injury and the rare contact play only adds to the game.
I say this as a former HS catcher. Admittedly I was pretty bad, but the adrenaline involved in such a play was hard to match.
Keith, or anyone else on here. Does anyone know of a decent site to get updates on draft picks signing? It’s not covered a lot by the newspaper sites other than the top guys.
Also, Keith, will you do another evaluation of teams’ drafts once the signing period is over?
Tom,Baseball America has a draft databse on their site.
thanks Bob
Phil,
I also used to catch in college, and I must say, I hated the plate collisions. Though at the time (and I assume still to this day), anyone who intentionally slammed into the catcher was ejected automatically. For me, the adrenaline rush really wasn’t worth the dislocated shoulder I received in one such collision. Not fun.
After reading yesterday’s chat, I had the exact same thought as Malcolm. There is definitely a bit of KeithBaiting going on in those chats now.
Gorge Foreman,
It is not that you’re getting old. I’m 22 and think plate collisions are stupid.
K-Law,
I get that OPS uses messy math by adding numbers with differing denominators, and that OBP is undervalued by doing so, but shouldn’t it be undervalued a bit? Isn’t a single better than a walk if men are on base since it often can move a runner two bases? Obviously, my argument is not that OBP isn’t important since not making an out is the name of the game, but doesn’t OPS allow us to see what a hitter does with his at-bats a little bit better?
I think the logic is that what’s most important about an at-bat is not making an out.
keith,
can you write a story shaming joe maddon for bowing to the extremely racist tampa sports radio that constantly calls bj upton lazy because he is black and talented? he didn’t run out a ground ball to the catcher….big deal.
or maybe shaming joe maddon for walking Hamilton with the bases loaded.