Dodger position players went 1 for 28 today. As the Dodgers’ sweep of the Giants proved, it’s always dawnest before the dark: Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 0.
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KT
is that the air releasing from the balloon
Adam Luther
I will remain positive. Time to sweep the Cubs…they can hit, but a one-hitter the other night vs. Burnett. Bunch of hits today in a losing effort. Then Rockies in. From there…it gets really fun on the road vs. the Bucs, the Hanley-less Marlins, and ever tough Braves…
Anonymous
I agree. The Snakes’ pitching cannot be that great, and the gnext Gnats’ losing streak starts tonight.
Anonymous
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft indeed.
Anonymous
Dodgers 19
Giants 3
….
Diamondbacks 19
Dodgers 4
….
It’s a wacky game!
Anonymous
Tiensy, I read your exchange with Derek in the previous thread; I do see 2 good years in Uribe’s career but they are 2004 and 2009. They are the only 2 years when his Rbat is positive (all this from B-R). In 2010, every component of WAR is negative except position where he gets credit for 102 games at short and 24 at second and Rrep which has, I strongly believe, nothing to do with the player’s performance except as it compares with a so-called replacement player in the player’s league thus in 2010 Uribe while costing his teams runs in every category (small numbers) was better than a replacement player this allowed his WAR to be 1.3 not as you claimed (but I’ve noticed you use fan graphs) two 3 WAR years in a row. I have to disagree with you and agree with Derek and WBB more in saying Uribe was below average from ’05 to ’08, good in ’09 slipped in’10 but hit 24 HR which caught Colletti’s eye I’m sure; so for those 2 years Colletti, not even sure Uribe would be used at short, more than doubled his salary from 3.25M to over 7M/year for 3 years.
At the time tbla had a picture of a smiling Uribe realizing he was being offered 7M/year not 7M for 3 years so we all thought the contract was a gross over-pay at the time-how little we knew.
Anonymous
Although I like Uribe…
…
At the time Ned picked him up…my brother-in-laws (big Giants fans) indicated (snickering) that Ned may have made a “boo-boo”… :-/
Anonymous
My co-worker, true Giants fan, said Uribe was a great club house guy. He didn’t mention anything about Uribe on the field.
Anonymous
Mitch Poole is a great clubhouse guy, too.
http://tinyurl.com/mitchpoole
But I don’t want him playing third base.
Anonymous
Or anywhere near the batter’s box.
Anonymous
.320 wOBA and 98 wRC+ mean Uribe was essentially league average as a hitter in 2010. That’s an objectively good offensive season for a SS. It was good enough for something like 8th among all major league shortstops. I fail to see how anyone can assert that Uribe’s 2010 was a below average season, when only 7 shortstops in the entire world were better than him at the plate.
Anonymous
How does this performance stack up against 2nd basemen?
Derek TC
Saying Uribe’s bad hitting season was good because most players at the position that Uribe mostly played that year were also having bad seasons doesn’t matter here. The Dodgers had Furcal and Uribe wasn’t signed to play SS so you have to look at how his stats match up with the position you are signing him to play when giving out that contract. Do you really think he earned the contract he was given?
Derek TC
Also, in 2010, .320 wOBA was exactly league average. I don’t consider that a good season, even if he was playing SS, where most of the other guys didn’t have good seasons either.
Anonymous
Are you serious? A good-glove shortstop hitting league average isn’t having a good season?
Derek TC
Not a good hitting season, and not when you give him an excessive contract to play a position other than SS. Bottom line, He didn;t hit well in 2010, just because you compare him to SS doesn’t mean he hit well.
Anonymous
Since the question was whether Uribe’s 2010 was a good season or not, his season should be evaluated based on what he did, and not what he was expected to for the Dodgers in 2011. To answer your question, though–league average bat stacks up very well against 2nd basemen. A 98 wRC+ this season would be tied for 9th in the majors with Infante, just above Uggla. In 2010, it would’ve been 11th in the majors.
TLDR; If Ryan Braun can play shortstop, then and only then let’s compare shortstops to left fielders in determining whether they are good or not. Until then, let’s do the reasonable thing and stop pretending that shortstops are supposed to hit like first basemen and they fail if they don’t.
Derek TC
The issue was with the contract he was given. He was not signed as a SS so your argument comparing him to SS doesn’t fit. I see your point, I just don’t think it matters in the context we are discussing. He might have had a decent season “as a short stop”, but he wasn’t signed to play there.
Anonymous
No Derek, the issue was whether Uribe was given his contract after one good year in his career as you claimed, or whether he had been good for several seasons before. He did. Also, being the 5th best in the league is not “a decent season.”
Uribe’s .322 wOBA would’ve been the 14th best among qualified major league 3rd basemen in 2010, just above Casey Blake. Using the 100 PA cutoff point is silly at best, and disingenuous and fraudulent at worst. You might as well say Stephen Fife is an elite pitcher because he has the 6th best ERA among starters with 16 innings pitched or more.
Derek TC
Dude, Uribe sucks at hitting and has sucked at hitting his whole career, he had 2 pretty good seasons and one was years before he was given his contract. Just because you are comparing him to other crappy hitters and he was one of the better crappy hitters in that group doesn’t mean he was a good hitter. This argument is pointless if you are really going to say he hit well. What a joke.
veryolddodgerfan
Jonah Keri was saying in his article about the hanley trade that Mister Hanley was swinging at more balls out of the zone than ever before. i’d say that statement is now verified. or at least i can say he’s swinging at a lot of balls out of the zone.
Anonymous
Well, Go Mets!
“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”
-Gore Vidal
Anonymous
AaSsWw….
…
I appreciate your posting of this quote.
…
I was not very familiar with Gore Vidal, however, I’ve seen numerous references to the man since his passing.
…
As competitive a person as I am, I would never want anybody to ever be able to attribute a quote like that of Mr. Vidal, to my name. It doesn’t make sense. There is no altruism, whatsoever in that notion. …
So, thanks for educating me on this man whose name I’ve heard and seen so much lately. :-)
Anonymous
Sorry…. I should say… “It doesn’t make ‘good’ sense.”
Anonymous
Gore Vidal was not the most pleasant of individuals.
Anonymous
Yup. I’m finding that out……. :-)
Anonymous
He was a bit acerbic. Sadly, he was totally correct, if not prophetic, about the general decline of the nation in his lifetime, one of a few obsessions. This made him somewhat bitter.
That’s dangerously close to rule 5 so I’ll leave it at that.
Anonymous
Yes Vidal definitely shared some of Charles Bukowski’s personality traits.
veryolddodgerfan
where was he on the Toolsy scale?
veryolddodgerfan
I wonder if there’s any video of Gore Vidal/Bill Buckley?
Linkmeister
At least one: http://tinyurl.com/c3oku4k
KT
I never heard of him until he passed and all you guys posted
Anonymous
Some things never change… What is the problem? I think our present 25 players are as good as any other team’s 25. Manager? I feel that Mattingly gets as much out of his players as any other manager. What is it, does this team have to go through some cataclysmic catharsis before the McCourt Curse is lifted? Give us a sign…
Anonymous
It mightn’t have made any difference today, but I’m still waiting for Mattingly to signal a hit-and-run.
Anonymous
I don’t think it needs a cataclysmic collapse, but the reality is that Ned and Donnie are/were Frank guys, and Frank inc still owns a big and mysterious chunk of the ravine.
The Yanks and Rangers probably have a significantly better 25 at this point, since you mention it.
foul tip
The baseball gods answered you, in this series. The sign was an uplifted single finger of one hand.
Anonymous
I know, we have to sacrifice Ned in the dark of the moon…
Anonymous
In the words of Sir Alex after United collapsed at the end of a match, “we threw it all away.” On to Friday.
Anonymous
Didn’t Zimmerman sing that?
Jason Ungar
yes he once had mountains in the palm of his hand. and rivers that ran through, everyday
Anonymous
On the plus side, if Fife doesn’t stick around as a pitcher, maybe he can Ankiel his way into a role as a hitter.
Anonymous
And Loney can pitch again.
Anonymous
Reds call up Dioner Navarro from AAA where he was hitting 330
Anonymous
So a Broxton-Navarro battery has a chance to happen soon for the Reds – interesting.
Anonymous
Wow – Dioner stinkin’ Navarro and Delwyn Young now both on the Reds!
Strange Days Indeed!
Anonymous
nsx: Ben Nicholson-Smith on the Dempster deal:
Dempster was the one piece they had to move yesterday and they pulled it off, acquiring two pretty good Class A prospects from Texas in the process.
Anonymous
Key words: “pretty good” and “Class A prospects”. ’nuff said. Dreck, indeed.
Anonymous
you are calling all our Class A players dreck also I assume
Jason Ungar
…Loney is hitting .300 since the all star break and his OBP is .295..How does that work?
Anonymous
Loney has a sac fly, but no walks since the break. Sac Flies count in the denominator for OBP.
Jason Ungar
interesting, thanks. same with Sac bunts?
Anonymous
no
Anonymous
Of his 13 hits since the break, the only 2 xbhs are 2 doubles, neither of which were RBIs.
James is now at about 160 consecutive ABs without a triple or HR.
Anonymous
just a random observation but Loney has a long swing, guys like him need plenty of at-bats to get going but Don Mattingly seems to want no part of it, you’d think because he’s our best option at the moment he’d at-least give him that. Based on some stuff i’ve read slash i’m reading right now, giving a guy confidence is profoundly important, he’s the one guy i think would flourish under a different manager, i’m not saying he’d be a superstar but i’d think he’d give you solid offensive numbers to go with that gold glove.
Anonymous
Agreed that we could do better than Donnie, but, that being said, a guy making well over 10 grand per plate appearance shouldn’t need a neckrub, blankie and warm cocoa to do his job.
Just my opinion.
Anonymous
hehe seriously though how would you feel if Matt Kemp (or in your case a co-worker) was persuading something else (Prince Fielder) to take YOUR JOB?
Anonymous
I’ve been part of hiring and firing, replaced people on teams, effectively been replaced, in jobs with public aspects. Sometimes, people are negative and abusive towards my public persona, but that’s pretty rare. I’m pretty good at my day job, so it’s usually positive stuff.
I can’t even begin to imagine performing at a level as far beneath my pay as James.
Anonymous
Loney has no Gold Gloves in case your comment confused any reader.
Mattingly is using a platoon at first, Loney will play against most RHP
Anonymous
Mattingly is using a platoon at first, Loney will play against most RHP<< that's a fact,
Anonymous
Puig’s first game is going on right now. He struck out swinging in the first inning batting 4th. AZL league
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2012_08_01_giarok_dodrok_1
Anonymous
In the early going Gnatt Cain, is getting banged around a little, and Hunter Pence has stranded his first few baserunners. 2-0 Metropolitans in the second.
Anonymous
Somehow has only given up 2 despite 5 hits and a walk in 2 innings.
Anonymous
He’s walked a couple more to lead off the third. Horrendous contract that the Gnats will regret sooner rather than later.
Anonymous
Wow. 2 pieces of incredible OF D bails him out.
Anonymous
One of the league’s luckiest pitchers.
Anonymous
Juan Uribe’s BA against LHP this season is better than your record of predictions about Giant players
Anonymous
Results matter, and they got it done tonight.
Anonymous
The Clevelanders have DFA’d Derek Lowe, who’s been awful lately.
Anonymous
The fact that he’s still playing at 39 is impressive.
Anonymous
Wonder if Lowe is still with that former FSWest girl that ended up getting canned for having a liason with him.
Anonymous
Pence reached base for the Gnats, but he had to K on a WP to do so.
Anonymous
i can picture him now making those awkward warm up swings in a giant uni. lol.
Anonymous
Pence is a decent player, but the Gnats gneed lots more to finish above third.
Jon Weisman
New root beer review up top. Baseball chat can remain here.
Anonymous
I was always partial to A&W Root Beer myself – it’s got that “Frosty Mug Taste”, don’tchaknow?
Anonymous
Plus the fact that when it goes on sale at the local market, I pick up a few 12-packs, and it ends up working out to @ 20-some cents per can. The supply ends up lasting a long time – even with the kids clamorin’ for it now and again.
Anonymous
Gratifying to see Gnatt Cain take an L with nearly 100 pitches in five innings, and Pence an ohfer (with two Ks, though he reached base on one of them).
Anonymous
MSTI has Puig video
Jon Weisman
NPUT