Favorite Seasons

Occasionally I’ll get a text from a friend who looks up baseball stats as much as I do and it will say something like, “Look how many doubles [insert random player] hit in 1976, he only hit five in the next eight seasons.”  There have been a rash of these texts back and forth recently so I figured I’d highlight some of my favorite crazy stats/seasons that players have had recently in case there’s someone out there who enjoys this as much as we do.

Valuing Ubaldo

I had a conversation tonight with a friend about Ubaldo Jimenez’s trade value.  I asked him if he’d trade the 27 year-old pitcher if he was the Rockies and he said no based on his affordable contract.  Jimenez is signed for $2.8 million this year, $4.2 million next year and then has a $5.75 million and $8 million team option for 2013 and 2014.  Obviously that’s a very team friendly deal for any team in the majors.  Then I asked if he’d trade him for a Zack Greinke-like return.  Greinke was traded this past offseason for Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffress.  He said he would.  So, using that framework for a deal, what should the Rockies be looking for if they deal their ace pitcher at the deadline?

We know he's worth a ton...but how much?

Is It Too Early to Worry About Cliff Lee?

I’m in a pretty competitive fantasy baseball keeper league.  A few years ago I plucked Cliff Lee off the waiver wire after he made a few good starts. He went on to have one of the greatest seasons ever by a starting pitcher when he went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 170 strikeouts. Needless to say, I kept him and to this day, he’s one of the greatest waiver wire pick ups in the history of baseball. Good for me. I did wait on Jose Bautista, though. Wish I had that back.

Anyway, I’m a little worried about my stalwart pitcher. I may be the only one, but I’d like to see if I’m crazy for my thoughts. Let’s find out.

I loved being a Yellow Dart while I was an Indian. Now I'm a Phillie and I walk batters again.

A Triumphant (Kind Of) Return to WaB

I meant to write this post last year and never did. Then I meant to write it this Spring and never did. Now PTI has stolen my thunder by talking about it on their show last week. Since I have an evening at home by myself with nothing to do, I’m finally getting around to answering the question that I know everyone on the internet has been wondering since right around 2008.

But before we get to that, don’t expect this to become a regular thing. I might write something every couple of weeks, but I’m still retired.

Now back to the burning question that no doubt has you on the edge of your seat:

The World Series…But Different

I got a great email from my friend and friend of WaB (and former contributor), Jet, today.  It’s definitely worth a look.  Check it out:

NLCS Prediction Post

In my previous prediction post, I accurately called three of the four series, including the lengths of two of them.  The other one I called a toss-up and went with my heart instead of my head.  Sue me.  I stopped there because I wanted to play video games which I felt at the time was the correct choice.  I still feel it was the correct choice.  Anyway, I didn’t think the Braves were going to win the World Series so this post isn’t going to look a whole lot different than it would have if the umpire had accurately called Buster Posey out before he scored the only run of Game 1.  (Sour grapes?  Nawww, not me.)

We’ll start in the NL because I like it more:

Revisiting Brandon Phillips’ Short Playoff Stint

Two posts in one day?!  Yeah.  That just happened.

It’s the top of the 8th and the Reds are clearly looking like a team that will once again not score any runs.  That will lead them to a 3-0 sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies.  There’s no shame in that, obviously, the Phillies are a good team.  However, our old friend and Brandon Phillips went and opened his mouth again before the playoffs started and because of that, we’ll put him under the microscope.

We’ll start with the good.  In Game 2, Phillips led off the game with a homer.  He followed that up with a single and double.  Good work.  His team still lost the game 7-4.  But really, that one game makes him the best hitter on the Reds during their minimal playoff stay.  Yipee!

A Playoff Problem

I have a problem.  I suppose it’s a nice problem to have, but it’s a problem nonetheless.  Let me explain.

I grew up as an Atlanta Braves fan – no – I was born an Atlanta Braves fan.  I love them.  I have this hat that my mother bought me while I was sitting in the front seat of the shopping cart at K-Mart.  I wore it everywhere right up until I turned 21 years old.  That’s when my roommates bought me a new one because “the old one makes you look dirty.”  I couldn’t disagree.  People didn’t recognize me without the hat.  If you look at my Facebook pictures, probably 85% of them have the hat in them and the other 15% are from college graduation when I wasn’t allowed to wear it.

Roy Halladay Is Amazing

Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, Roy Halladay has already made this postseason something to remember.  Halladay got Brandon Phillips (HA!) to ground out weakly in front of the plate to claim the first postseason no-hitter since Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956.

For a guy making his first ever postseason start, that’s going to be hard to top.

Nine innings, no hits, one walk, eight strikeouts.

Beat that, Cliff Lee.

I’ll have some more later, maybe but I wanted to get this up before dinner.  That was awesome.

Some Playoff Predictions

As promised, I’m coming back this offseason with some real posts.  Since I haven’t done that since like August, this is a big step for me.  First up will be the Major League Baseball playoff predictions.  Luckily, I’m really good at this so you won’t even have to watch the games and you can just jump right into hockey season.  I can’t wait for hockey season.

Let’s get started: