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2006 Article Updates! Advertise your business, or pay tribute to your favorite team! |
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This Could Be Your Ad! Sponsor . . .
2006 Article Updates! Advertise your business, or pay tribute to your favorite team! |
A lot has happened in the past couple of months, so I thought that I would update some of my more recent articles:
Win Twins! - June 28 - I was wrong about Rondell White. Rather than release him, the Twins found an excuse to put him on the DL. That's a far better move. They have to pay him anyway, so they might as well tinker with his swing and see whether they can get him to hit again in some rehab starts.
Apparantly, the Twins weren't as happy with Boof Bonser as I was and sent him back down to the minors. In his stead, they've brought Scott Baker back up. These guys seem pretty interchangeable to me right now: control artists who give up the longball. Carlos Silva fits that description as well, but he also never strikes anybody out. The Twins need to replace him with Bonser, because there's not going to be a lot of pitching available at the deadline.
Giambi as Good as Ever - June 14 - As promised, here are Giambi's updated totals for the past calendar year (07/14/05-07/14/06):
| Player | Games | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | BA | OBA | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Giambi | 149 | 480 | 103 | 124 | 18 | 0 | 49 | 127 | 128 | 114 | .258 | .430 | .602 |
Also, Gregory had some feedback on the article.
Addition by Subtraction - May 25 - Unfortunately, it wasn't long before both Towers and Adams were back up with the big league club. After suffering for two more dreadful Towers starts, he's finally gone for good. As for Adams, one can only hope that the Blue Jays would go after a middle infielder before the trade deadline (SS or 2B - it doesn't matter because of the resurgent Aaron Hill's versatility). Adams needs more time in the minors to work through his various problems.
Bad Fish? Blame Girardi - May 9 - Obviously, the Marlins have improved drastically over the past two months. So am I ready to give Girardi some credit as a manager? Not really. On a personal note, I had the Marlins predicted to win over 47% of their games, and they're still not approaching that. On a more objective note, Girardi still isn't utilizing his team to its fullest potential.
After all, the team still projects to a .472 winning percentage even after losing 12-0 to the Astros today. They're 9-18 in one-run contests and 2-5 in extra innings.
Some people probably want to give Girardi credit for having the idea to use Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco as starters. I say that it should have been obvious to use them as starters months ago. Nolasco has four above-average pitches but nothing dominant. Does that sound like a good starter or reliever to you? Johnson is a groundball pitcher who doesn't use many pitches per inning. That helps him far more as a starter than it does as a reliever. These guys had been starters all of their lives, and each had built up their arm strength considerably in the minors. There was no reason for them not to be featured in the Opening Day rotation.
One last note: Girardi had started playing Mike Jacobs against lefties this year. He has a .167 batting average against them in 60 at bats this year. Wes Helms isn't doing that much better, but he's right handed, and has handled southpaws very well in the past. Girardi's main job is to put his players in roles that allow them to succeed. Girardi hasn't been doing that consistently.
Tired of defensive stats that are misleading, arbitrary, and compicated?Then pick up your copy of The Fielding Bible today for $7 off the cover price! Read Keith's Review to find out more. |