Late night link dump: K-Long, Joba, Pitch F/X, LF
ByQuite a few short items to note this evening.
Kevin Long already working with Yanks hitters
On the official site, Bryan Hoch writes about hitting coach Kevin Long’s work with players this off-season. He’s currently with Alex Rodriguez, has spent time with Nick Swisher, and plans to visit Curtis Granderson before players report to camp. Unfortunately, it looks like Long won’t have enough time to visit with Robinson Cano.
Joba to be honored at Thurman Munson Awards dinner
For his philanthropic efforts this past year, Joba Chamberlain will be honored at the 30th Thurman Munson Awards dinner. As YESNetwork.com’s Jon Lane explains, “His DUI arrest in October 2008 was a big mistake and he’s done everything he said he’d do in terms of talking to children about the dangers of drinking and driving.” While the circumstances aren’t ideal, at least Joba has made the best of it.
Two pitch f/x tools to waste your time
Tango points us to a pair of pitch f/x tools. First is Texas Leaguers. The other is Joe Lefkowitz’s Pitch F/x Tool. Don’t blame me if you don’t sleep tonight.
Every available left fielder
I’m pretty sick of talking about left field candidates — hence compiled a list of free-agent, right-hand hitting outfielders. I still think Reed Johnson is the frontrunner, though the Yanks could go with Jerry Hairston. Xavier Nady remains a wild card, though I think if he’s healthy Atlanta will be in on that too.
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Is Miguel Cabrera invited to this dinner?
Long’s quotes about Swisher’s struggles in the playoffs were very interesting.
Long didn’t chalk Swisher’s performance up to small sample sizes, which is often what coaches say about playoff struggles. Long thought there were substantive reasons why Swisher was so bad:
I think the playoffs opened up his [Swisher's] eyes to how pitchers can throw offspeed pitches over and over again to expose you. He was ready to take another step forward….
Swish is a fastball hitter, and in the playoffs, he got a steady diet of offspeed stuff,” Long said. “They were able to throw them for strikes, and Swish’s swing has a lot of movement to it. The new mechanics are going to control some of those movements and put him in a better position.
It’s good to see both Long and Swisher identifying a problem and being committed to fixing it.
Agreed. It did seem very noticeable in the playoffs that all of our hitters were seeing tons of off speed stuff each AB. Seems like we got a lot of first pitch curveballs and offspeed pitches in traditional fastball counts.
Too bad it only almost worked.
Nice. Granderson will own lefties now since Kevin Long is here. The man is a genius.
Let’s not get crazy here…
It was hyperbolic. He’s still good though.
All Grandy has to do is improve enough to not totally shit the bed vs LHP and he’ll be an MVP candidate easy. Dude is so sick nasty vs RHP.
And he’s sick nasty outside of Comerica.
I like the idea of Hairston. He’s versatile, could play every day or sporadically. Good runner and a pretty good hitter. I would think he could be had for about $2m.
Yeah, but he might go somewhere where he’d be guaranteed more playing time. Though, knowing he’d almost certainly start against every lefty SOMEWHERE (2B, LF, maybe even CF) and that he’d get 30-40 games at 3B and SS…maybe that’d be enough.
Cano needs to most help.
Robinson Cano, 2009: .320/.352/.520 (129+)
Just saying. That ain’t too shabby. Would I like him to improve? Sure. If he never improves but just plateaus there, though, that’s still damn good.
If he had hit with risp he would’ve gotten some MVP votes.
There isn’t much he should change other than putting blinders on when runners are on base.
He could walk a bit more.
Robinson Cano, 2009: .320/.352/.520 (129+)
Not too shabby at all. Imagine if he wasn’t lazy.
Robbie Cano 113 OPS+
Robbie Alomar 116 OPS+
What do they have in common besides 1st name and position?
Neither are in the Hall of Fame.
/BBWAA fail
Alomar was considered a good defensive 2B?
Neither areBoth will be in the Hall of Fame
fixed
As much as I love Robbie, if he improves on what he is, he’s an MVP candidate. Not that I’d complain too bitterly, but can we really expect that to happen? Do we need it to?
Is there room on the roster for both Reed and Hairston?
Only if we return Jamie Hoffmann to the Dodgers (or work out a trade to demote him, return him to the Dodgers, and then bring him back for something).
We’re rolling with a 13-man position player roster. Currently, that looks like:
1-Johnson
2-Posada
3-Tex
4-Canó
5-ARod
6-Jeter
7-Gardner
8-Granderson
9-Swisher
10-Cervelli
11-Peña
12-Hoffmann
13-????????
13-????????
I hear Chico Escuela might be making a comeback.
Only if we return Jamie Hoffmann to the Dodgers (or work out a trade to demote him, return him to the Dodgers, and then bring him back for something).
We’re rolling with a 13-man position player roster. Currently, that looks like:
1-Johnson
2-Posada
3-Tex
4-Canó
5-ARod
6-Jeter
7-Gardner
8-Granderson
9-Swisher
10-Cervelli
11-Peña
12-Hoffmann
13-????????
14-PROFIT!!!
Hairston makes a lot of sense considering how versatile he is and how well he fit in last yr.
How well he fit in? By doing what, riding coattails to a title? I like Hairston, but could care less how he fit in and more if he can produce when called upon.
He was here in pinstripes for three full months last year (including playoffs) and during that time he didn’t stab a single teammate.
Jerry Hairston, Jr.: A great clubhouse non-cancer who fit in well
Well then consider me put in my place.
A-Rod could’ve shanked Pena a couple times if he felt like it, he hit so well in October that he still would’ve been the most popular guy in the clubhouse.
I’ll give Lanny the benefit of the doubt and assume he was talking about how well Hairston filled a role on the ballclub. Righty bat was useful, ability to give Damon, ARod and Jeter a day off and not kill you out there, pinch run…
While looking up Granderson’s stats, I found out he OPS+’d 132 in Tigers losses, and 88 in Tigers wins. Whatever it means, (I think it’s totally irrelevant, and probably just fluctuates) that is the first time I can remember seeing it. Usually you hear guys say, “He is so important to the team; he hit this (good) during wins, and that (bad) during losses. I’ve never seen a guy hit better, and Granderson hit a LOT better. Strange.
WOW! Reading Comprehension FAIL! That was sOPS not OPS+. Disregard that entirely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku
I have already commenced.
How about Kevin Russo for the utility role? He can play 2nd,3rd, and SS along with both corner oufield spots. Everything I’ve read about the kid ( actually I think he’s 24 or 25 years old) is that he can flat out hit. Plus, he would certailatly fit into the payroll constraints.
Perhaps.
The biggest thing working against Russo at the moment is the fact that the other 3/4ths of the bench is currently Cervelli/Peña/Hoffmann. Adding another greenhorn to that may not be wise.
Proven Veteran™ FTW.
I would like Hairston back but apparently San Diego has been talking to him and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were offering him a starting position given their roster.
San Diego lost one of the Hairston boys, looks like they need to get the other one to replace him.
Wasn’t that Oakland, not SD?
Scott went TO oakland, from SD.
Oh Sheeeeeeeet.
/Clay Davis’d
i’m still pullin for nady. if he’s healthy enough he’s a great fit. obviously that health part is a big “if” though.
i’m still pullin for nady. if he’s healthy enough, and that’s a big if, he’s a great fit
great, didn’t mean to post that twice
D’oh!
It happens, no biggie. I agree with ya, if and it’s a big IF Nady is healthy I would love to see him back. The sad part is, even if he gets cleared by the Doctors, he is still a major risk.
[...] Confidence Poll « Late night link dump: K-Long, Joba, Pitch F/X, LF Jan [...]
Wait why is Long working with the best hitter on the team (and top 5 in the sport) but not with Cano? Seems like a waste?
because he needs some company after breaking up with Kate?
I happen to like Brett. Sure he’s not exactly all-star material now, but how will he ever develop if he doesn’t get some more consistent playing time? I say sign Johnny Damon if he’s reasonably price, otherwise why not just give Brett a chance and see where it goes? If our #9 hitter is hitting .280 it’s not the end of the world
[...] along: Pitchf/x by Texas Leaguers and Joe Lefkowitz’s Pitchf/x (assist to Joseph Pawlikowski at RAB). This obviously has nothing to do with defensive metrics, but it helps in researching a pitchers [...]