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Everything posted by User Name

  1. User Name
    Ellis himself said he was out:
  2. User Name
    It's not about the Ross/Sanchez matchup, it's about Ross caddying for Lester. He is the better catcher, and would've probably caught a significant portion of Lester's starts this season had he not had the concussion issue. Nothing to see here.
  3. User Name
    Partially helped by playing more than 50 games (almost a third of their schedule) against the putrid White Sox, KC and Minnesota offenses.
  4. User Name
    I read the post the first time. But "comfortable with Farrell" doesn't do him justice. I also think you're very much overrating Leyland is what i'm trying to say.
  5. User Name
    I think manager should have its own category. And while it's mainly opinion, there's clearly a negative bias against Farrell in most Red Sox fans' eyes. If you ask most Detroit Tigers fans, they'll tell you that Leyland is a good overall manager, but not a good handler of pitching.
  6. User Name
    I don't see Detroit's edge in "intangibles" or manager for that matter.
  7. User Name
    What you call intangibles (which, as you said yourself, is immeasurable) in this case, is just a sizing up of the managers. I've caught hundreds of Tiger games and you're just going by the devil you know here. Leyland makes a lot more head-scratching decisions than Farrell, especially with bullpen management. As for defense, i don't understand why you'd use dWAR over UZR, since the latter is widely regarded as the superior defensive statistic, mostly because it adds positional adjustment to fielder value and the evaluation method is better. Using UZR, the numbers are as follows: Red Sox: 21.6 UZR Tigers: -12.9 UZR Per this measurement, the Boston advantage looks even bigger, given their superiority over the central line (C, 2B, SS, CF). A word of warning regarding dWAR and UZR regarding C/2B/SS is that they are both very unreliable for C, and can be for 2B/SS.
  8. User Name
    http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/525x330/452657.jpg VS http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/525x330/alt/434671.jpg This is it, boys and girls, the start of the ALCS. Those who root for teams who are playing golf or eating themselves into a stupor will look for excuses to put the Sox down. They will talk about the "superiority" of Tigers pitching. They will talk about Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. They will talk and talk and talk. All of that talk has meant jack squat so far since the Sox have overcome absolutely every obstacle placed in front of them so far. Only 69 wins last season? f*** that, let's lead the league this year! Two closers down? f*** that, we got Koji. Buchholz out three months? Who cares, let's keep having excellent starting pitching AND trade for Jake Peavy. In other words, all the Red Sox do is win........in light of this: WIN!
  9. User Name
    Big blow for the Dodgers. Their best bet was two wins from Greinke and Kershaw each, since Wainwright against any other pitcher is pretty much an auto-win for the Cards.
  10. User Name
    We'll also be facing their "mighty bullpen" and we have a pretty competent pitching staff of our own. All this, of course, with our league-leading offense and a superior defense. How about you size that up?
  11. User Name
    We're talking strictly defense, as has been the topic of discussion for the last three-four pages between OUN and I. He posted a 2.5 WAR this year for a reason, since his offense is still above-average and he's a good baserunner. He's just not a good defensive OF anymore.
  12. User Name
    You mean slurve, which is a slider/curve hybrid, and is incredibly hard to perfect, but damn near unhittable when thrown correctly.
  13. User Name
    The league's preference to work off the fastball is not new. Specialized relievers have actually improved the appearance rate of certain breaking balls, since more pitchers in the league equals more pitchers throwing different type of pitches. The fact that the curveball percentage remains so high is a testament to the league's attachment to the pitch. Some of it may have to do with the concerns raised (as mentioned above) by the slider, cutter and spliiter.
  14. User Name
    I'm talking specifically about the curveball, and my post mentions nothing about any other pitch than the curveball. If you go all the way back to 1985 (which is the earliest year that i could find) the percentage of curveballs thrown is still slightly lower than the 2010-2013 number. The 70's are sure to be a whole other deal, since the curveball was the premier pitch of many a dominant pitcher, but i bet the percentage wouldn't be far off. Again, the premise is incorrect.
  15. User Name
    I'm saying "if". And no he isn't. Martinez has always been a terrible defensive catcher. Even back when he had healthy knees.
  16. User Name
    But Martinez is worlds worse than Avila at C, and C is the most important defensive position in the diamond. You negate the improvement right then and there. In the end, it doesn't matter what they do. That defense will have holes. But realistically, what's going to decide the series is SP performance and the back-end of the BP's. It's a toss-up. If you think the Sox couldn't beat the Tigers, then you're a hopeless homer. This could go either way.
  17. User Name
    LOL but he's not a better hitter than Fielder. And LOL where do you play Cabrera in this case? The point is improving the D, you have to make a sacrifice somewhere. You have several possible alignments, but all of them have their weaknesses with a hobbled Cabrera, and Martinez no longer being a real option defensively. The tigers could just roll out their best available offensive alignment and forget defense too.
  18. User Name
    Yeah but you have a substantial downgrade of the most important defensive position in the diamond. Martinez received constant criticism because he had poor mobility behind the plate and gave bad targets when he was with the Red Sox almost a half-decade ago. How will he fare now that he's barely catched the last two years and has balky knees? I don't see the improvement. You want to improve? Move Fielder to DH, Cabrera to first, Peralta to third, and sit Martinez. Against lefties, then you play Martinez.
  19. User Name
    It doesn't. You put a stone behind the plate, and significantly downgrade catcher. Avila had his problems throwing runners out, but he's a top-notch defender behind the plate.
  20. User Name
    You're talking like Martinez catching will help them defensively. Not only can't he catch consecutive games, his awful defensive skills are what got him moved from the position in the first place. Martinez catching doesn't help their defense. It exacerbates their defensive problems. I think you're the one who's misinformed here. No offense meant.
  21. User Name
    What misinformation? Their defense was awful by every available measure. And the Red Sox can beat the Tigers. In the playoffs, anyone can beat anyone.
  22. User Name
    Is your point that you don't think the Red Sox are well equipped to handle to the Tigers? Because i don't think that's an argument that'd fly. The two teams are pretty evenly matched, but the Cabrera injury is a significant point in the Sox' favor.
  23. User Name
    jung, i don't understand where you're coming up with the idea that curveballs are thrown less now than they used to be. I did an analysis the first time you mentioned it using data from 2001 to the present, and if anything, curveballs were thrown slightly more on average the past three seasons (10.9%) than the 2001-2010 seasons (9.3%). If anything, since 2001 (the year when pitch percentage data is available for fangraphs) the usage of the pitch has steadily increased. The premise is incorrect.
  24. User Name
    Choo is not a natural CF. His original position is RF where he's slightly below average, but he's been excellent in LF over a decent sample.
  25. User Name
    There's also the fact that the Tigers' pitching staff relied heavily on striking out a lot of batters without walking a lot of them. The AL Central had three of the most K-prone teams in the Majors (MIN, CLE, CWS) and a Kansas City team that was last in strikeouts as a team but was pretty bad offensively overall and barely walked. The Sox also K a lot, but none of those teams even sniff the amount of plate discipline the Red Sox sport as a team. If there's a team in the Majors that can grind the Tigers SP into submission, that's the Red Sox.
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