The Grass Is Always Greener
« Recent Transactions | Main | 07/01/2005 »Over at Only Baseball Matters you'll find a comparison between the paths the Cards and Giants have taken since meeting in the 2002 NLCS. Of course the Cardinals path has been rocky at times, as anyone who remembers the Tomko-Stephenson-Simontacchi and Fassero-Yan-Springer-Borbon legions of doom can attest. Speaking of which, Tomko evidently has been kicked out of the Giants' rotation while Fassero has a start coming up against Woody Williams.
Well, that makes me feel a little better about Mulder.
OBM points to this post from David Pinto. I said it when the Red Sox faced the Cubs, and I'll say it again: I sorta wanted the Cubs to win over the weekend, this time so the Cardinals can catch the White Sox for the best record in baseball. Prior and Wood are back though, the Cubs still have a lot of talent, and the two teams have 16 or so head-to-heads left.
Aaron Gleeman has his National League All Star lineup up, and he seems to have overlooked the Greatness That Is Jim Edmonds. Aside from that, Gleeman's inventory of National League catchers got me wondering how far Yadier's behind the bunch, and it isn't by much. Molina's only got a VORP of 5 against the 16-17 for LoDuca and Piazza, but of course VORP doesn't consider defense. Molina has an extra 10 or so caught-stealings over the average catcher and 5 (I'm guessing 2 is around average) pickoffs. Figure each one's worth a half-run or so and the rest of his game is average, and Molina's only a couple of runs behind the cream of a weak crop.
Posted by Rob at June 30, 2005 12:24 AMBaseball Prospectus has their offense and defense like this:
Piazza: 10 batting runs above replacement, 6 fielding runs above replacement
LoDuca: 13 BRAR, 9 FRAR
Molina: 0 BRAR(!), 22 FRAR(!!)
Apparently he's on a level with Lo Duca, though according to Bill Plaschke Lo Duca's leadership above a replacement Penny is like 50 million.
Posted by: Dan at June 30, 2005 02:01 AMWAINWRIGHT FOR ADAM DUNN OR AS PART OF A PACKAGE FOR WILLY MO PENA....
DISCUSS....
I'd love a Reds OF. But does anyone see the Reds trading Dunn inside the division? Does anyone see the Cardinals exceeding a Braves or Cubs offer?
Wait till Plaschke meets Yadier. Don't know how BPro calculates defense, but it's possible Yadier's been as valuable as any catcher in the NL. And that's without the arbitrary "since his 1-for-31 start."
Posted by: Rob at June 30, 2005 07:45 AMI've been a Yadier fan since last year's double collision game - guy can play. Take his stats since his awful 1/31, and I bet he's the best catcher in the majors.
Posted by: hmm at June 30, 2005 10:17 AMTOLAXOR -- For what it's worth, I like Pena a lot more than Dunn. He's got a bigger upside and costs a lot less (440K vs 4.6 Mil). Dunn hits the ball real hard when he hits it, but has a lower BA, OBP, and OPS than Reggie, is slower and has only 3 more homers. Only upgrade is that he's 25.
Posted by: cyclone at June 30, 2005 12:05 PMI'D THINK THAT WAINWRIGHT WOULD EXCEED A CUBS OR BRAVES OFFER!!!
FRANKLY - I DON'T SEE THE BRAVES MAKING AN OFFER AND I SEE THE CUBS GOING FOR SOMEONE WITH MORE "PROVEN VETERAN GOODNESS ™", LIKE A CAMERON (GOD BLESS DUSTY BAKER IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY)....
I'M WITH YOU ON THE WILLY MO THING... YOUNGER, AND WITH MORE TOOLSEY-RIFFIC FLAVOR!!!
Posted by: TOLAXOR at June 30, 2005 12:45 PM