MLB 2009

[jon abbey]

Taking Teahen out of the outfield to put Crisp in it is a serious downgrade defensively.

actually Crisp covers a ton of ground out there, it's just his arm that's like a 12 year old girl. the range is much more important than the arm, so I'd say that's likely an upgrade, since Teahan is a natural infielder (right? didn't he start as a 3B?).

[Mo Noyz]

The much moved Teahen did indeed start out at third (also played first, and now plays second). As far as being a natural infielder, eh, I'm not truly sure about that. He has some pretty damn good wheels, and range never seems to be a problem for him. He usually makes really great reads, for the most part, and gets a solid jump on the ball.

And runners who tried testing his arm when he moved to right field after Gordon was brought up learned a quick lesson.

Crisp may have slightly better range, but I'd still take Teahen with slightly less range and a rocket launcher for an arm.

Just my opinion...

Offensively, well, that's a completely different story. Although, Teahen DID have a great spring training this year. He does have a little more power now, similar to what he had 3 years ago. But, he still can't hit a lefty for shit.

[jon abbey]

Crisp can't hit much either, his only real skill is covering ground in CF (and pushing DeJesus to LF helps their D also) and maybe base-stealing on the rare occasions he's on.

baseball GMs (I guess like most GMs) are notorious copycats and they saw how TB was successful with an OF that could cover a ton of ground last year. so low-budget teams like Seattle and Baltimore and KC have all gone that way this season, going with light-hitting, good defensive OFers over guys like Bobby Abreu and Garrett Anderson and Adam Dunn, all of whom were available pretty cheaply, but all of whom are dreadful OFers.

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

Because you'd do it to me...

"Teahen" and "Garret".

[Mo Noyz]

I almost said something, but I think I continued to make that same mistake well into his second season. So, I had no room to talk...

[surfer]

M's up 5-2 in the 4th. Holliday bats twice already tonight with the bases loaded. 0-2: a ground out and a foul out.

[Mo Noyz]

Crisp can't hit much either, his only real skill is covering ground in CF (and pushing DeJesus to LF helps their D also) and maybe base-stealing on the rare occasions he's on.

I certainly don't disagree about DeJesus. His defensive skills were outstanding in CF, so moving him to left is a definite plus.

I'm far too lazy to pull up Teahen's AVG against lefties, but I'd be shocked if Crisp had a lower AVG against either.

The bottom line is that with Crisp's signing, Teahen was the odd man out. You can't put DeJesus or Guillen in the infield. The Royals had a bizarre logjam in the outfield as well as 1B coming into the season. They dealt Gload which knocked the 1B problem out, but...

I'm sure you and Brotherman won't agree with me here, but I thought Moore did a really poor job in free agent signings this year. I'd have kept Gathright and said fuck Crisp. I'm just not seeing what the downside would have been there. I'm assuming Crisp has the better OBP, again not knowing in my laziness, but at least with Gath we knew what we had, and it wouldn't have created a situation where Teahen was forced back into the infield where we already had a solid middle with Callaspo and Aviles.

Now, this is likely where Brotherman and I really disagree (though, I had to at least score points with my Gath comments). I would have kept Gload and sent Butler down. I just have no real faith in the cat. And Gload and Jacobs could have made a nice 1B/DH combo while Billy scrubbed up in Omaha. At least Gload would have given us some serious D at 1B.

Jacobs was perhaps our best signing, but letting Nunez and Ramirez go while signing Fat Sidney and Fartsworth was just fucking absurd, IMO. Ponson jumped the shark many years ago, and I have always found Fartsworth a great fastballer with absolutely nothing else to offer.

Our bullpen will suffer, especially Soria who may be one of the elite closers in the league.

I will give Moore props as far as Davies goes, though. Considering his last month in 2008 and his dominating performance the other day, perhaps trading Dotel for him wasn't as lame an idea as I initially thought.

I'm thinking 75-78 wins this year.

That's a pretty pathetic improvement over last year. And in a somewhat weakened division.

Disappointing...

[jon abbey]

I don't follow KC very closely, but it seems to me that basically the problem is they have a whole slew of mediocre hitters and no good ones, except Guillen. is that unfair?

[jon abbey]

I recommend the individual team threads on SOSH, they're making an effort to keep them more active this year, and there's some good stuff there (KC was the one I just looked at).

http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?showforum=98

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

I'm sure you and Brotherman won't agree with me here, but I thought Moore did a really poor job in free agent signings this year.

I don't disagree at all.

The only free agent pickup they made this year that I endorse is Juan Cruz. I'm not a Jacobs fan. He definitely has power, but the guy had a .299 OBP last year, which is just beyond brutal. Yes, that's right, he got on base less often than Gathright and Guillen last year.

If they get any sort of a prospect for Gload, it's hard to fault them for that move. I definitely do disagree about Butler, as you know. He's still just 23. If they're only going to win 75-78 games, why not keep letting him develop in the majors?

I don't disagree that he needs work, but I don't think there's any challenge left for him in AAA really. Both last year and the year before he had an OBP over .410 and a slugging % around .550 in AAA.

[Steve Reynolds]

Sox are 1 - 3 and I'm not a good loser...

still will be watching @ 4:00 today

my baseball thinking has me thinking a hundred losses

you guys should have known me in the 80's when for the most part the Sox didn't compete save for 1986 - yet no matter how hard I moaned I checked every box and pulled hard all the time

lately they have almost always started strong so this year's bad first games with little hitting with the guys I am concerned about (Lowell, Ortiz, Ellsbury & Drew) looking as bad as my worst thoughts about them,,,,

[jon abbey]

I think Boston may have some rotation issues, although they obviously have unbelievable depth. Lester threw too many innings last year and is due for a return to earth, Dice-K can't leave two runners on per inning forever (plus the WBC), and Wakefield is going to turn into a pumpkin at some point. same with the bullpen, great depth but let's see just how good they are in reality.

[Harold Baines]

Like Frank before him, Crede goes long in his first AB back at Comiskular.

Colon in his first start back does not draw a "5." He gets Liriano today.

[Mo Noyz]

I don't follow KC very closely, but it seems to me that basically the problem is they have a whole slew of mediocre hitters and no good ones, except Guillen. is that unfair?

No, that is absolutely spot on.

The Royals can be summarized like this: Two great starting pitchers, one question mark, and two bums in the starting rotation. Mediocre to good bullpen, that is worse than last year, but still has one of the better closers in the majors.

A defense that has gone down a bit from the last two seasons, with no true first baseman and a center fielder who can't make the cutoff man from the warning track.

A little more power in the lineup with Jacobs and Olivo (starting), but with far less speed around the bases with the loss of Gload and Gathright. Small ball and long ball will not be part of the game plan with any consistency this year. Gap hitting, gap hitting, gap hitting...

Manager position has been downgraded since Buddy Bell left the team.

[Mo Noyz]

I'm sure you and Brotherman won't agree with me here, but I thought Moore did a really poor job in free agent signings this year.

I don't disagree at all.

The only free agent pickup they made this year that I endorse is Juan Cruz. I'm not a Jacobs fan. He definitely has power, but the guy had a .299 OBP last year, which is just beyond brutal. Yes, that's right, he got on base less often than Gathright and Guillen last year.

If they get any sort of a prospect for Gload, it's hard to fault them for that move. I definitely do disagree about Butler, as you know. He's still just 23. If they're only going to win 75-78 games, why not keep letting him develop in the majors?

I don't disagree that he needs work, but I don't think there's any challenge left for him in AAA really. Both last year and the year before he had an OBP over .410 and a slugging % around .550 in AAA.

Alright, I can't argue with that logic.

Instead of signing Jacobs, though, would it have made more sense to keep Gload so they at least had one defensive first baseman? Then they wouldn't have had this bizarre little revolving door at 1B/DH.

[Borat Pri Hagafen]

Yeah, like i said, I didn't like the Jacobs signing much either.

[jon abbey]

Pujols (2)

[surfer]

Cust (1)

[jon abbey]

Pujols (3)

[surfer]

Crosby (E5 times 2), 4 runs score, please release him, what is he doing at 3B?


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