peter

Fantasy baseball advice for those who ask.

LA: Lake Arrowhead or Corey Patterson

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Daily Graphing: Corey Patterson — The Hardball Times

I have no quarrel with the graphs or the logic that says Corey Patterson isn’t as good as he could be. But I think we have to move away from the simplistic truism that players will get better by improving their walk rates. It’s awfully stale.

And it isn’t necessarily true. A lot of players balance a diverse set of skills that have made them major leaguers, and taking pitches isn’t an important part of that. Adding patience can be a negative, especially when it throws a player off his rhythm. Maybe the Cubs efforts to make Patterson a leadoff hitter hurt him.

Patterson needs to walk more if he’s going to bat leadoff or high in the order. If he’s going to hit down in the order his other skills are enough to offset his shortcomings, most of the time. It’s too bad that he seems incapable of improving his game, but that’s why we admire superstars. They do things that guys like Patterson can’t imagine.

So, Patterson isn’t looking like a superstar today. But if he is used properly in Baltimore he’s going to be a differencemaker in AL only leagues. His price isn’t going to collapse, but even at $20 (unless his confidence is now totally shot) he’s a bargain. (We’ll have to read the leaves of ST to make a better judgement.)

Verducci: How About Gossage?

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Without hysteria SI’s Tom Verducci lays out the reason Bruce Sutter shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. Popularizing a pitch is a good reason to have an exhibit, not to be enshrined.

On The DL

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On The DL

This blog team (mostly gals, one guy) posts blind gossip items purportedly about ballplayers and asks readers to speculate on who is doing what to whom. The tone is rude and sassy and definitely not for kids or folks who don’t like to think about such things. No way to tell how much if any is based on anything other than active imaginations, but that may make it (and especially the comments) more fun.

MLB.com On the Move column

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Major League Baseball Fantasy

I’ve been finding MLB.com’s On the Move column analyzing the offseason player movement to be pretty good, but today’s take on Corey Patterson strikes me as oh soooo knee jerk. Everyone knows that Patterson crumpled last year in the face of insane pressure for him to change his game. Does that mean he “is worth no more than speculative AL-only bench bid” this year?

I don’t think so. Sure, there’s a chance Patterson’s career was wrecked with his confidence last year, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that this guy walked 46 times in 2004 while tallying 63 extra base hits and stealing 32 bases. And he turns just 27 years old this year. Look at Juan Encarnacion for a less talented hitter with no better patience, less power and speed, and his apparent collapse in 2001 as an antecedent. Get Patterson away from the top of the lineup, let him hack and run and the Orioles are going to enjoy what he gives them.

Meanwhile I’m hoping he has a bad spring that drops his price some.

USATODAY.com Salaries Database

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USATODAY.com Baseball salaries database

The new Ask Rotoman blog will be chockablock with references to useful and timewasting services on the web. This is a good one. Track your favorite team’s salary by year, or your favorite player’s, or see how your team in this year or that wasted its precious dough, here.

The Baseball Analysts

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The Baseball Analysts: Abstracts From The Abstracts

I ended up at this site because of these abstracts of all of Bill James’ Baseball Abstracts, from 1977 to 1988. At one point I conceived of a project creating a comprehensive index to James’ books, because I found myself spending a lot of time looking for his little studies of this or that. The WWW and the explosion of baseball research published there means that James’ work is easily found in reference (if not the actual stories) through Google. Still, these amiable descriptions of the contents of each book are nearly as enjoyable to read as the originals.

Baseball Analysts also has a very nice set of links to important and interesting baseball information. Nice work.

Wilkinson, Defiant Figure of Red Scare, Dies at 91 – New York Times

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Wilkinson, Defiant Figure of Red Scare, Dies at 91 – New York Times

Frank Wilkinson is the hero of Ry Cooder’s amazing 2005 album Chavez Ravine, but this obit tells of a long life lived in pursuit of an oddly elusive ideal. The baseball stadium in LA was a small part of his life, but he was important part of the ballpark’s (and baseball’s) history.

Orioles lose out on Burnitz

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I think it can be fairly argued that by letting Burnitz slip away the Orioles are trying to satisfy Miguel Tejada.

Suing Over Statistics – Los Angeles Times

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Suing Over Statistics – Los Angeles Times

A fantasy games company is suing MLBAM, saying it shouldn’t have to license stats to run its fantasy games. Another shot in what promises to be an exciting battle this year.

The New Ask Rotoman Site

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The fact that you’re here means it’s happening. The fact that you can’t reach all the parts means it’s not totally happening. Yet.

By the time the Guide is available (January 24th, though usually it shows up in some places earlier), this place should be humming.