There will be a Klawchat today at 1 pm EDT … as far as I know, it’s the first in-flight ESPN chat, as I am currently somewhere over South Carolina.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but I’ve been slammed with draft content and travel. I do have some fun stuff coming up next week, but I’ll hold off on announcing any of it till later.
One of the q’s during the chat was regarding the demotion of Travis Snider. Here’s what MLBTradeRumors.com had to say about it:
“The Jays expected a better showing from Snider, but his demotion could be good for the team. Here’s the bottom line: If the Jays call Snider up after the All-Star Break he’ll be shy of a full year’s service time after 2009, become a Super Two player after 2011 and remain under team control for a year more than expceted, through 2015.”
I’ve said before I think that line of thinking is really short-sighted (for the team, not for MLBTR) – and, by the way, sending a player down to manipulate his FA or arb dates is grounds for a grievance. Eventually, some team is going to push this too far, the union will fight it, and the team is going to lose and face penalties.
Keith, where would you hit your best hitter? I’ve always thought that 2nd was the best spot and I see Minn finally stacked their lineup with Mauer 2 and Morneau 3. What is your opinion on lineup construction?
Keith: This guy got you:
Is Carlos Beltran still a valuable player? He seems like he doesn’t want to win and isn’t good at baseball. Maybe it’s just not his sport.
No way that’s a serious question. $5.
Mitch: Second. Although the research I’ve seen indicates that lineup construction doesn’t matter that much over the course of a season – less than a win’s worth of offense.
Markl: He’s referring to Steve Phillips’ tirade against Beltran from Sunday Night Baseball last week. He even used the handle “Steve.” I took the question because I wanted to comment on Phillips’ comments, which I thought were objectively wrong (although I think I typed the wrong year in referring to Beltran’s playoff heroics) and inappropriate.
Thanks. Still can’t figure out why the Mets don’t go Reyes, Beltran, Wright instead of Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Sheff, Wright. I guess Wright is only effective from the 5 hole and isn’t good enough to hit 3rd or 4th. That or he lacks those crucial leadership skills.
Keith, doesn’t that lineup construction question depend on how wide a range of offensive talent you have in your lineup? I mean, let’s say you’ve got a guy (let’s call him Garlos Comez), who makes outs more than 70% of the time he comes to the plate. And let’s say you give him an additional fifty plate appearances over the course of the season by leading him off instead of hitting him ninth, subsequently taking those fifty or so PA away from the rest of your team, which collectively OBPs better than .340. Isn’t that going to be more extreme than typical lineup-construction issues, or is it still less than one win?
I’m too tired to Google it, but I’m pretty sure Tango ran a bunch of sims, and found that with major-league caliber players, the difference is miniscule, even with disparity of talent. I don’t think he did it with guys who hit, say, .150/.160/.200, but that’s not what you’re asking, either.
Right. At that point, you’re being hurt more by the fact that the guy’s in the lineup at all than where in the lineup he’s hitting.
That’s a good succinct way of putting it.
I was surprised you did not think Jeff Francoeur just needed maybe 4 days in the minors this year. 5 at a stretch should fix it.
More seriously that is why I hate the NL (more accurately prefer the AL). Great pitching duel and manager pulls Doc after 95 and 7 scoreless aggghhh maybe he was done (we weren’t in the dug out) but still…..
Just how good a manager is Cito Gaston? It seems to me he’s getting a lot of undeserved credit, but that’s the way it usually goes anyway I guess.
Let’s just say there was probably a reason he was fired the first time.
After 10 years and two WS titles. Not a bad run.
Is anyone else having trouble reading the twitter comments and other things on the right side of the page when browsing on Firefox? I don’t have the problem on Internet explorer but do on Firefox.
Keith,
Can you explain the Super 2 rules in depth? Basically the way I understand it is that the first X amount of players called up become super 2s.
Why wouldn’t a team with a MLB with a top talent (Price, Weiters, Hanson, etc) call up lesser talents that have options up to fill space and then option them back down?
Wouldn’t this reach the capacity for super 2s faster and then easier to call up the studs without starting their arbitration clocks?
Rod, yes, I’m using Firefox also and there is a dark gray background with a fuzzy blue text that is extremely difficult to read.
Also, when I try to add a comment here, I don’t know if it is added ro not. after hitting ‘submit’ it just takes me to a blank screen, no indication like I used to receive. That has been happening for a couple days now.
Rod, Bob:
I use Firefox and am having no issues seeing the tweets on the right side. I wish I knew more about the settings and stuff to tell you how it is setup, but it is fine for me.
I use Google Chrome and have the same problem with a dark background/fuzzy text on the right side.
I’m using FF 3, and the right sidebar has a white background, although that is the last element to load.
The blank screen after you submit a comment is a new bug from late last week. I probably need to reinstall WP, but don’t exactly have time right now – the good news is that it isn’t preventing comments from going through.
All set now, thank you.
It looks good today.
Keith-
You mentioned a pair of guys who weren’t draft-eligible until 2011. What are the rules on determining a players eligibility?
You can be drafted:
* out of high school
* out of junior college after either year
* out of a four-year college after your third academic year OR if you turn 21 within 45 days of the conclusion of the draft (meaning the cutoff is July 26th this year)
Thanks. I thought that MLB had a rule saying once you went to a 4-year college, you were committed for a certain amount of time. How do you feel about that rule? I know you generally are against rules that limit the power or options of the players and this seems to do that, so I’d guess you don’t like it?