Friday, May 17, 2013
Pinstriped Bible: Albin: Is Ichiro done?
(www.pinstripedbible.com)
Read More...The Yankees are only a month and a half into Ichiro’s new contract, and it already looks like they will rue the day the two sides reached a deal. Well, perhaps the business side of the organization is pleased, but I digress. Ichiro is hitting .239/.280/.328 through 145 plate appearances, and finally broke a 22 at-bat hitless skid last night. At this point, it is hard to be optimistic about him going forward.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Ichiro is scuffling. From 2011 through 2012, Ichiro ...
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1 2 >And since this article is basically just McCarron re-reporting Robo-thal, it's worth pointing out that he has the Phillies and Rays also potentially in on Wells. Basically, if your team has shown any interest in Scott Hairston or Cody Ross, the Angels would like to convince you to take Vernon instead. And who can blame them?
Que es mas macho? Fernando Lamas o Ricardo Montalbon?
Alfonso Soriano or Vernon Well or Corinthian leather?
To be clear, I knew absolutely nothing about him (not even that he existed) until a moment ago, when I thought "Surely they have a right handed outfielder who has hit acceptably in the high minors". And sure enough, Ronnier Mustelier.
This is great as long as you're not a Yankee fan.
Wrong. Wells' salary counts against whoever pays it. Otherwise, the Yankees could get under the cap just by cutting A-Rod and having someone else pick him up for the minimum.
Compared to last year, the replacement for Swisher is a healthy Gardner. Ichiro is replacing the combo of Jones and Ibanez. Both of those are likely to be upgrades on what the Yankees got from their OF'ers last year.
EDIT: Also, trading for Wells would be a terrible idea. Unless maybe the Angels will send the Yankees ~$60M of the $42M Vernon is owed.
Outs are the new market inefficiency. It's Moneyball.
And yet only 56% of MLB PA were taken by RHB in 2012.
Yeah, but being right-handed and batting right-handed don't necessarily go together. I'm right-handed, but I bat left.
EDIT: IOW, the Yanks already have two "righthanded" OFs who don't bat from the right side.
Alfonso Soriano 2006 ... 5.9 WAR
Other targets for the Yanks this offseason:
Travis Hafner ... 5.7 WAR (this actually makes some sense until everybody is healthy)
Gary Matthews Jr ... 5.0 WAR and a switch-hitter
Carlos Guillen or Bill Hall ... 5.6 WAR and more versatile than Troy Glaus ... or they could roll the dice on a kid like Joe Crede (4.4 WAR)
Wow, Joe Crede had a good year once.
Que es mas macho? Fernando Lamas o Ricardo Montalbon?
Montalban ... Lamas always seemed a bit fey ... not that there's anything wrong with that.
A guy like Scott Hairston is far more suitable for backing up an all left handed outfield
I'm not sure Hairston shouldn't start over Ichiro. I'm fairly certain Cody Ross should.
Congratulations! Knowing enough to ask that question proves you to be smarter than several real-life GM's!
And I'm left-handed and bat right!
It's actually only been in the past year that I've put any thought mechanically into my swing. A guy on our team who had played some Dominican academy ball (so presumably knows what he's talking about) was showing me how to swing by (apologies for the terrible description) bringing the knob of the bat to the ball, then punching through with the top (right) hand. This seems entirely un-natural to me. My right arm is more or less useless as an instrument of physical endeavour. My swing is almost entirely bottom (left) hand, with the right most just acting as a passenger along for the ride. In what might be a related development it is absoutely impossible for me to hit the ball to the right of second base.
I assume since the common bat/throw pairing is L/L or R/R that most swings are top hand dominant. Is bottom-hand swinging an actual thing? Or have I just been doing it wrong my entire life?
BL/TR is fairly common, but BR/TL is pretty rare. You, Rickey, Cleon Jones, and that kid I coached in Little League are the only ones I can think of OTTOMH.
As for your swing, forget all that knob-throwing BS and just turn your damned hips.
Cody Ross, and several pitchers.
As a fellow rarity I've kept an eye on it...there's actually quite a few pitchers who are L/R.
Good news on the hips! That's essentially my entire batting strategy. Playing baseball in a country where no one has ever played is really fun because it forces you to think about technique in order to explain to new guys how to hit. Pretty much my only contribution to the various cricketers or footballers who show up is "HIPS!"
I play guitar righty, bat lefty, play golf righty, throw lefty, kick righty...
Okay. That explains a lot.
Anyone else do things at all like that? I've never thought of myself as ambidextrous, but it seems odd to not be but still alternate things like that.
I'm right-handed and bat left, as stated above; I throw with my right hand and I think I kick with my right foot. My hockey swing and golf swing are, like my baseball swing, left-handed.
Not sure what you mean by "connection," but I think there is a pretty decent correlation between which hand you throw with and which side you bat from.
"Swinging toward your left" could just as easily be viewed as "swinging from your right." But I don't think it has anything to do with that.
Why do we call it "playing left field"? When you do it, you're standing to the right of the guy playing right field. But you're on the batter's left. And when you bat right-handed, you're on the pitcher's right.
Regardless, I was not much of a hockey shot so I doubt I'd have been any good with the lefty bat either.
I'm also a BR/TL. This is what happens when right-handed people teach you how to play baseball (or wiffle ball for me as a kid).
I work with a guy who can write with both hands at the same time.
I'm about as dominantly right-handed as one can get.
My only guess was that while your timing was off most of your swing repetition reflex is responding to the ball as it is closer to you, whereas when your timing is better it starts earlier on. Otherwise it was all BS and had more to do with the power of suggestion.
I'm the same for lefty. I can barely hold a pint with my right.
I would guess that the "batting righty" descrption comes from the fact that most people who bat right-handed use their right arm as the dominant one in their swing. I suspect people who are left-handed but bat righty are actually using a different swing that R/R. I don't know enough about swings to know for sure, but it just makes sense. In my swing my right arm is barely doing anything. I'd have to believe that a R/R batter is doing something quite different.
Same. Bat, throw, write, mouse, you name it -- I'm purely RH.
My dad, meanwhile, writes and throws RH but bats LH. It always seemed weird to me.
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