BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-12-2018

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-12-2018

Washington Times, June 12, 1918:

Friend Wife will have to have the feed bag ready early today, for Mr. A. Fan will be rushing off to Oriole Park to see the Dunnmen get down to work at 6 o’clock. Today 6 o’clock starts will be inaugurated by Manager Dunn as an experiment.

The wording leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s cool that the Orioles were experimenting with night baseball as early as 1918. It couldn’t have come any earlier that 1918 - these 6:00 starts were made possible by Daylight Saving Time.

Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: June 12, 2018 at 10:39 AM | 34 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: dugout, history

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: June 12, 2018 at 10:43 AM (#5690281)

Today's Birthday Team isn't great, but it would be a million times worse without the Negro Leagues Hall of Famers.

C: Red Dooin (3.84 WAR)
1B: Ryan Klesko (26.99 WAR)
2B: Otto Knabe (9.64 WAR)
3B/Manager: Sol White (0 WAR)
SS: 1880s Jack O'Brien (9.59 WAR)
LF: Joe Hornung (7.9 WAR)
CF: Hideki Matsui (21.23 WAR)
RF: Matty McIntyre (20.58 WAR)

SP: Bill Foster (0 WAR)
SP: Sean Newcomb (2.9 WAR)
SP: Kyle McClellan (2.41 WAR)
SP: Gerry Arrigo (2.22 WAR)
SP: Lou Schettler (-0.01 WAR)
RP: George Kontos (3.82 WAR)

Fun name: Bitsy Mott
Fun nickname: Darrel "Kool FM" Akerfelds
Umpire: Dutch Rennert
Writers: Neal Russo, Richard Ben Cramer

2. eric Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:04 AM (#5690307)

Which line is Adam Dunn, career, and which is Bryce Harper, 2018?

.237/.364/.490
.228/.360/.509

Harper's hitting to a perfectly respectable 131 OPS+--he is the 2nd line there--but probably not the line he (or Boras) wanted in his walk year. Even his defense has been Dunn-ish: -4 Rfield in 63 games (about -10 over a full season). If he were 2015 Harper, he'd be looking at $600MM+ contract. 2017 Harper would probably still be looking at $400MM or even $500MM. What does 2016/2018 Harper get?

3. zack Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:21 AM (#5690320)

Dan just FYI, the links for Foster and White don't work anymore, and it looks like bb-ref added the apostrophe for the Jacks O'Brien to their ID/URLs.

4. Sweatpants Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:27 AM (#5690327)

Can you name the top six left-handers from the Dominican Republic in games played? I'll spot you the first.

1. David Ortiz (2408, 4th overall)
2. Current player, two-time World Series champion and three-time .300 hitter (1691, 27th)
3. One-time World Series winner had a four-year stretch in which he managed five homers over 2500+ PA and still managed an OPS+ of 124 (1667, 28th)
4. Two-time World Series winner, weakest regular on one of history's most famous teams (1522, 40th)
5. Twice qualified for the batting title with an average under .200 (1493, 41st)
6. Two-time World Series winner, reached 500 PA only three times and led the league in caught stealing all three seasons, 1990s player (1379, 47th)

5. eric Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:36 AM (#5690334)

4. Cesar Geronimo?

6. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:40 AM (#5690344)

3. is Matty Alou, I bet

7. RickA. Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:52 AM (#5690361)

[removed]

8. Sweatpants Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:57 AM (#5690365)

3 is Alou and 4 is Geronimo.

9. Tom Nawrocki Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:01 PM (#5690368)

Harper's hitting to a perfectly respectable 131 OPS+--he is the 2nd line there--but probably not the line he (or Boras) wanted in his walk year.

Harper is his last four seasons has hit .330, .243, .319 and .228, which is Roy Campanella-esque. I'd expect him to eventually stabilize around his career average of about .280, which would make him a perennial All-Star but probably not win him any more MVP awards.

10. Crispix Attacksel Rios Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:04 PM (#5690373)

6. Two-time World Series winner, reached 500 PA only three times and led the league in caught stealing all three seasons, 1990s player (1379, 47th)

Alfredo Griffin?

11. Misirlou doesn't live in the restaurant Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:04 PM (#5690376)

2. Current player, two-time World Series champion and three-time .300 hitter (1691, 27th)

the Melk Man?

12. eric Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:07 PM (#5690382)

I wonder if Harper's variations are injury (and stubbornness) related.

13. Sweatpants Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:15 PM (#5690395)

2 is Melky Cabrera.

14. SoSH U at work Posted: June 12, 2018 at 12:18 PM (#5690398)

I take it all of these guys throw lefthanded.

15. Hank G. Posted: June 12, 2018 at 02:54 PM (#5690549)

Harper is his last four seasons has hit .330, .243, .319 and .228, which is Roy Campanella-esque. I'd expect him to eventually stabilize around his career average of about .280, which would make him a perennial All-Star but probably not win him any more MVP awards.

If he keeps deviating so widely from your estimated career average, there is no reason that I can think of why he couldn’t win another MVP, at least as long as he is not in the same league as Mike Trout. After all, Campy won three (whether they were all deserved is another question).

Some of Harper’s problems have been with injuries, but as far as I have heard, he is healthy this season. His next contract will be interesting. At some point, you have to stop basing your evaluation on potential and base it on what he has actually done. Harper is in his seventh season, and IMO every season except his rookie season and 2015 has been a disappointment.

16. Hank G. Posted: June 12, 2018 at 02:55 PM (#5690550)

I wonder if Harper's variations are injury (and stubbornness) related.

I get the injury reference, but what do you think he has been stubborn about?

17. Panik on the streets of London (Trout! Trout!) Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:01 PM (#5690553)

At some point, you have to stop basing your evaluation on potential and base it on what he has actually done.

27 WAR accumulated in 6.5 seasons. Just over 4 WAR per year. Hasn't turned 26 yet. Not too shabby honestly. Batting titles and MVP's are very different things. I have no love for Harper but he's a good baseball player. Whether he deserves 300 billion dollars or whatever is another thing.

COKE to Hank w/r/t batting titles.

18. SandyRiver Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:24 PM (#5690574)

3. One-time World Series winner had a four-year stretch in which he managed five homers over 2500+ PA and still managed an OPS+ of 124 (1667, 28th)

And the season following that 4-year run, Matty A. had 201 hits with OPS+ of 87. How often has a 200-hit season been accompanied by OPS+ that low? (or lower?)

19. Batman Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:33 PM (#5690582)

And the season following that 4-year run, Matty A. had 201 hits with OPS+ of 87. How often has a 200-hit season been accompanied by OPS+ that low? (or lower?)

That's tied for third. Juan Pierre had an 82 with 204 hits in 2006, Doc Cramer had an 84 with 200 H in 1940, and Taylor Douthit had an 87 with 201 H in 1930.

Pierre had four 200+ hit seasons with OPS+ of 82, 89, 94, and 107. He also had a 77 in a year when he had 196 hits.

20. Misirlou doesn't live in the restaurant Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:35 PM (#5690584)

And the season following that 4-year run, Matty A. had 201 hits with OPS+ of 87. How often has a 200-hit season been accompanied by OPS+ that low? (or lower?)

We like to call that a Juan Pierre. JP had 3 seasons of 200+ hits and an OPS+ below 100, with a low of 82, the lowest on record. Alou's 87 is 3rd worst, behind JP and Doc Cramer (84)

21. eric Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:36 PM (#5690585)

I get the injury reference, but what do you think he has been stubborn about?

I'm imagining him having a lingering health issue that doesn't prevent him from playing, per se, but does negatively impact his effectiveness. Rather than going on the DL and letting it heal, he stubbornly plays through.

22. stanmvp48 Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:38 PM (#5690592)

Did I read correctly that Cory Kluber has some incredible streak of not walking batters? Something like 138 in a row

23. Misirlou doesn't live in the restaurant Posted: June 12, 2018 at 03:51 PM (#5690623)

Batman beat me to the punch, but he didn't mention this. JP did it 3 times with 3 different teams. Cubs, Rockies, and Marlins. And his 196 hit/77 OPS+ was with the Dodgers. The guy loved to spread the suck around.

24. Ned Garvin: Male Prostitute Posted: June 12, 2018 at 04:35 PM (#5690669)

#6: Luis Polonia? La Hormiga Atomica?

25. tolbuck Posted: June 12, 2018 at 04:44 PM (#5690675)

Did I read correctly that Corey Kluber has some incredible streak of not walking batters? Something like 138 in a row

It was 139 before his last start. Then he faced another 29 batters without issuing a walk.

He is working on a string of 26 consecutive quality starts. The last time he didn't get a quality start was August 18. He only gave up one run in that start, but he had to leave with one out in the sixth because he twisted an ankle covering first. The last time he gave up more than 3 runs in a start was July 29, or 31 starts ago.

26. Sweatpants Posted: June 12, 2018 at 05:44 PM (#5690727)

Yes, 6 was Polonia. 5 was Carlos Pena.

27. AndrewJ Posted: June 12, 2018 at 06:40 PM (#5690762)

And a happy 94th to 1940s Yale 1B George H. W. Bush, nephew of 1960s Mets exec Herbert Walker and father of former Rangers owner George W. Bush.

28. vortex of dissipation Posted: June 12, 2018 at 07:01 PM (#5690775)

Batman beat me to the punch, but he didn't mention this. JP did it 3 times with 3 different teams. Cubs, Rockies, and Marlins. And his 196 hit/77 OPS+ was with the Dodgers. The guy loved to spread the suck around.

Didn't Juan Pierre have a reputation for being a stellar teammate, and a hard worker? He would have made a fantastic fourth outfielder and pinch runner.

29. Misirlou doesn't live in the restaurant Posted: June 12, 2018 at 07:20 PM (#5690788)

Didn't Juan Pierre have a reputation for being a stellar teammate, and a hard worker? He would have made a fantastic fourth outfielder and pinch runner.

Yes and yes.

I actually met JP. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Marlins pitcher Tom Koehler, from Brooklyn, organized a Sandy relief fundraiser at Marlins Park. He and other current and former Marlins players held a clinic for kids. I brought half my LL team. JP did a base running clinic. He was great with the kids and looked truly happy to be there.

As a regular OF he was mostly useless. But by all accounts a great human being.

30. Tom Nawrocki Posted: June 12, 2018 at 07:34 PM (#5690793)

Todd Helton said Juan Pierre was the hardest-working, most inspirational teammate he'd ever had.

31. SoSH U at work Posted: June 12, 2018 at 07:39 PM (#5690797)

His work habits were almost legendary around the game. It's a big reason he kept getting work, and playing time, even as his limited skills deteriorated.

And, while announcing his retirement, he tweeted:

I do have one regret I finished with 18 homeruns really wanted to get 20 so if any team wants to sign me for 3yrs that should be enough time

32. Hank G. Posted: June 12, 2018 at 07:40 PM (#5690798)

27 WAR accumulated in 6.5 seasons. Just over 4 WAR per year. Hasn't turned 26 yet. Not too shabby honestly. Batting titles and MVP's are very different things. I have no love for Harper but he's a good baseball player. Whether he deserves 300 billion dollars or whatever is another thing.

Yes, he is a good baseball player. But that’s not what the expectation was. He was supposed to rival Trout for best player in baseball, with 8-9 WAR seasons every year. There was talk of his contract possibly breaking $600 million, because they thought 2015 was the true Bryce Harper. There was also the belief that the Yankees had the edge in signing him. But then Judge had his breakout year and they traded for Stanton. Considering Stanton’s contract, do they want to spend even $30 million a year for another slugging outfielder?

Not that it is fair to compare anyone to Trout anymore, but with the season 41% completed, Trout has 5.7 WAR. If he does not get injured again, he he headed towards a season for the ages.

33. Batman Posted: June 12, 2018 at 11:03 PM (#5690947)

I like that Pierre’s Twitter and Instagram handles have “beastmode” in them. His Twitter picture is him hugging Jose Fernandez.

34. QLE Posted: June 13, 2018 at 02:15 AM (#5690998)

#32:

To be a bit frank, but at least intellectually honest, I'm half-inclined to regard him as Rico Petrocelli with a good rookie year.

Then again, given how long it took for Stephen Strasburg to finally have a season to match his publicity (and, so far, it doesn't look promising for him to have another just like it), it could just be that someone associated with the Nationals has a gift for insuring publicity beyond actual accomplishments.....

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-12-2018

Reader Comments and Retorts

News

BBTF Partner

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics