How much is that doggy in the window?

In talking with Nick about his team, he told me he felt that he went out got the best players at each infield position. He did this through a variety of trades and free agent signings. In the draft, he picked up a ton of pitchers and wasn’t happy with he position players. He was able to deal some pitchers and position players to pick up the players he felt he needed to fill out his roster. By using spot starts in favorable situations, Nick thinks he can keep his pitching competitive even though he gave up some name guys.

Stats Fun

I thought it would be interesting to look at the trades that were made and see how the players performed before and after the trades (i.e. did switching to a new team help the player). Rather that use Yahoo’s team log that only show the stats the player posted for you team, I used Baseball Musings website that offers a day-by-day stats data base (gotta love the nerdiness of baseball). This shows stats for all the games they played during a given time frame. So here we go. (Numbers in after “Before Trade” and “After Trade” indicate games played during the time period.)

April 24 Ryan Braun for Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke - SP	Wins	Saves	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
Before Trade - 4	0	0	3.28	1.18	8.0	2
After Trade - 12	3	0	3.86	1.20	7.6	9

Ryan Braun - OF	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade - 17	14	5	20	4	.382	1.103
After Trade - 58	35	6	29	7	.280	.778

May 11 Albert Pujols & Troy Tulowitzki for Evan Longoria & Hanley Ramirez

Albert Pujols - 1B	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade -32	18	7	25	1	.320	.986
After Trade - 44	23	9	27	6	.299	.944

Troy Tulowitzki- SS	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade - 31	24	1	14	3	.311	.809
After Trade - 31	23	8	20	4	.302	.947

Evan Longoria-3B	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade - 33	30	8	29	5	.328	.995
After Trade - 42	17	5	27	7	.276	.824

Hanley Ramirez-SS	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade - 33	19	7	19	2	.288	.879
After Trade -42	23	4	27	12	.293	.843

May 29 Cliff Lee for Robinson Cano

Cliff Lee - SP	Wins	Saves	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
Before Trade - 6	3	0	3.22	0.99	8.5	4
After Trade - 5	3	0	1.50	0.83	7.3	5

Robinson Cano - OF	Runs	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
Before Trade - 49	35	10	37	2	.359	1.007
After Trade - 27	21	5	19	0	.374	1.017

Graph Time (what would a posting be without graphs?)
      

Set an open course for the Virgin Sea

This week’s music: Sail Away by Styx

My Take: No take this week (except I just saw Dad had the #1, 5, & 6 hitters but his pitching let him down big time). I’m tired an just glad to get this done. James woke up screaming last night and “slept” with us. Today we went to the Toledo Zoo and while we had a good time, it was very hot and exhausting (except apparently for the boys).

Some housekeeping notes:
              1. No update next week because I’ll be “sailing away” to Virginia
              2. I hope to post again tomorrow with some different info

Now down to business.           

New fun data: Average Ranks For the Week

	Batters	Pitchers
Hello and BaZambo	294	297
Basement Dwellers	356	365
BeanBallers	316	779
Monroe Struts	367	419

Last Week’s Batting Hotties: (according to Yahoo!)
   Hello and BaZambo: Vernon Wells-OF (#12 for the Week)                                   

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
9/21	4	3	5	1	.429	1.335

  Basement Dwellers: Alex Rodriguez-3B (#3 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
8/21	8	3	10	0	.381	1.386

  BeanBallers: Carlos Quentin-OF (#1 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
7/18	6	4	11	0	.389	1.633

  Monroe Struts: David Wright (#2 for the week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
11/22	7	2	8	1	.500	1.511

  Free Agent: Justin Upton-OF (#4 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
12/21	6	3	5	1	.571	1.749

Last Week’s Batting Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: # 898 Victor Martinez (5/19, 2R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .263, .596)
  Basement Dwellers: #984 BIG Jorge Posada-C (2/16, 1R, 0HR, 3RBI, 0SB, .125, .283)
  BeanBallers: #1483 Marlon Byrd-OF (7/26, 1R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .269, .604)
  Monroe Struts: #1355 Troy Glaus-1B (3/19, 2R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .158, .567)

Last Week’s Pitching Hotties:
  Hello and BaZambo: Mariano Rivera-RP (#14)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
5.0	2	1	0.00	0.80	14.40	0

  Basement Dwellers: Chris Carpenter –SP (#39)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
8.0	1	0	0.00	0.88	7.88	1

  BeanBallers: Josh Johnson-SP (#120)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
8.0	0	0	2.25	0.75	10.13	1

  Monroe Struts: Yovani Gallardo-SP (#13)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
9.0	1	0	0.00	0.56	12.00	1

  Free Agent: Jamie Moyer-SP (#9)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
15.0	2	0	1.80	0.60	7.20	2

Last Week’s Pitching Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: #1490 Jaime Garcia-SP (8.0IP, 1W, 0SV, 9.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4.5 K/9, 1QS)
  Basement Dwellers: #1437 Carlos Marmol-RP (2.1IP, 0W, 0SV, 11.57 ERA, 3.43 WHIP, 19.29 K/9, 0QS)
  BeanBallers: #1473 Ubaldo Jimenez-SP (5.2IP, 0W, 0SV, 9.53ERA, 1.76WHIP, 11.12 K/9, 0QS)
  Monroe Struts: #1402 Jonathon Broxton-RP (4.1IP,0W, 0SV, 8.31 ERA, 2.08WHIP, 14.54 K/9, 0QS)

Graph Time!

Hope You Find Your Paradise

This week’s music: Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp

My Take: Welcome to the week of Greg. Greg had 4 players in the week’s top 10 (Pedroia, Holliday, McCutchen, Perez) and 6 in the top 20. Greg has nearly caught me in runs, has caught me in average, and setting a tough pace in most other stats (both Pitching and Hitting). If the Dwellers keep up this type of play, they may need to move out of the basement and into attic.

Pitching is ridiculous. You really can’t look solely at player rankings because it is too volatile from week to week. Neftali Perez went from being Greg’s worst pitcher last week (#1369) to his best this week (#8). Johan Santana has been Dad’s worst pitcher the last 2 weeks and still has a 2.76 for the last month (which is lower than Dad’s team ERA for the year). Finding good pitchers and knowing when to hold and when to drop has to be based more on long term stats than anything else. Unfortunately, this means you’re likely to ride a bad pitcher for too long, hoping he can right the ship or waiting to see more conclusively that he just doesn’t have it. If you have a secret to pitchers, I’d love to hear it because they are killing me.

Next to Greg, outfielders ruled the week. 5 of the top 10 players in the league were outfielders.

Last Week’s Batting Hotties: (according to Yahoo!)
   Hello and BaZambo: Josh Hamilton-OF (#2 for the Week)                                   

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
16/27	6	1	6	2	.593	1.422

  Basement Dwellers: Dustin Pedroia-2B (#1 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
12/23	9	1	5	4	.522	1.339

  BeanBallers: Jose Reyes-SS (#10 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
9/27	8	2	5	1	.333	1.061

  Monroe Struts: Carl Crawford-OF (#5 for the week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
9/21	9	1	3	3	.429	1.381

  Free Agent: Manny Ramirez-OF (#4 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
9/21	7	3	6	1	.429	1.355

Last Week’s Batting Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: # 1356 Vernon Wells (2/23, 2R, 1HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .087, .342)
  Basement Dwellers: #1480 Chase Headley-3B,OF (0/19, 1R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0SB, .000, .136)
  BeanBallers: #1483 Jorge Cantu-1B,3B (0/17, 0R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0SB, .000, .150)
  Monroe Struts: #881 Mark Reynolds-1B,3B (2/17, 2R, 1HR, 2RBI, 0SB, .118, .505)

Last Week’s Pitching Hotties:
  Hello and BaZambo: Felix Hernandez-SP (#36)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
9.0	1	0	1.0	0.67	9.0	1

  Basement Dwellers: Neftali Feliz-RP (#8)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
4.0	0	4	0.00	0.00	15.75	0

  BeanBallers: Josh Johnson-SP (#9)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
15.0	1	0	1.20	0.73	9.6	2

  Monroe Struts: Billy Wagner-RP (#73)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
4.0	1	3	0.00	0.75	11.25	0

  Free Agent: Scott Baker-SP (#15)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
7.0	1	0	0.00	0.43	15.43	1

Last Week’s Pitching Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: #1484 Roy Halladay-SP (14.0IP, 0W, 0SV, 5.79 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 8.36 K/9, 1QS)
  Basement Dwellers: #1510 Matt Garza-SP (1.1IP, 0W, 0SV, 47.25 ERA, 7.50 WHIP, 13.50 K/9, 0QS)
  BeanBallers: #1472 Johan Santana-SP (13.0IP, 1W, 0SV, 5.54ERA, 1.38WHIP, 2.77 K/9, 0QS)
  Monroe Struts: #1463 Mike Pelfrey-SP (7.0IP,0W, 0SV, 6.43 ERA, 1.43WHIP, 2.57 K/9, 0QS)

Graph Time!

Where did the sun go (and why does my grass still grow?)

This week’s music: Bad Company by Bad Company (rocks, I know)
                                   I’ll take requests if you have them

My Take: Nick asked for some in depth analysis and I am primarily focused on my team so here’s what I noticed. My team is doing just enough to get by, nothing more nothing less. One bad week, and I’m sure I’ll lose first.(Please stop cheering, it’s rude)

Stevie Strasburg apparently fired up Nick’s pitching staff because they seemed to improve across all pitching stats except ERA. Speaking of ERA, Dad is the new ERA leader, first time this season someone other than Nick has lead that category.

Batting stats are tight, runs, RBI’s, and HR’s are close for everybody and it seems like everyone is managing to keep pace.

Last Week’s Batting Hotties: (according to Yahoo!)
   Hello and BaZambo: Josh Hamilton-OF (#2 for the Week)                                   

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
10/27	7	4	13	0	.370	1.322

  Basement Dwellers: Vlad Gurerrero-OF (#13 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
9/25	8	2	7	0	.360	1.069

  BeanBallers: Adrian Gonzalez-1B (#14 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
10/25	5	3	7	0	.400	1.323

  Monroe Struts: David Wright-3B (#30 for the week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
8/23	3	2	8	1	.348	1.114

  Free Agent: Carlos Pena-1B (#1 for the Week)

H/AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS
8/24	9	6	9	0	.33	1.468

Last Week’s Batting Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: # 1481 Jose Bautista (1/20, 1R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0SB, .050, .224)
  Basement Dwellers: #1444 Ryan Doumit-C (2/16, 1R, 0HR, 0RBI, 0SB, .125, .375)
  BeanBallers: #1468 Nick Hundley-C (1/16, 0R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .063, .174)
  Monroe Struts: #971 Chase Utley-2B (3/19, 3R, 0HR, 1RBI, 0SB, .158, .472)

Last Week’s Pitching Hotties:
  Hello and BaZambo: Stephen Strasburg-SP (#5)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
12.1	2	0	2.19	0.89	16.05	1

  Basement Dwellers: Cliff Lee-SP (#84)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
16.0	1	0	2.81	.88	5.63	2

  BeanBallers: Josh Johnson-SP (#33)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
8.0	1	0	0.00	0.50	5.63	1

  Monroe Struts: Billy Wagner-RP (#73)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
4.0	0	2	0.00	1.5	11.25	0

  Free Agent: Ted Lilly-SP (#3)

IP	W	SV	ERA	WHIP	K/9	QS
16.0	1	0	0.56	0.38	6.19	2

Last Week’s Pitching Notties:
  Hello and BaZambo: #1497 Shaun Marcum-SP,RP (4.0IP,0W, 0SV, 15.75 ERA, 2.75WHIP, 6.75 K/9, 0QS)
  Basement Dwellers: #1369 Neftali Feliz-RP (1.0IP,0W, 0SV, 18.00 ERA, 5.00WHIP, 9.00 K/9, 0QS)
  BeanBallers: #1448 Johan Santana-SP (6.2IP,0W, 0SV, 5.40ERA, 1.80WHIP, 1.35 K/9, 0QS)
  Monroe Struts: #1428 Adam Wainwright-SP (6.0IP,0W, 0SV, 6.00 ERA, 2.17WHIP, 9.00 K/9, 0QS)

Graph Time!