Archive for the 'Dustin Pedroia' Category

May 02

Carl Crawford Has Better Aim Than Any Of Us Knew

Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia Cork Gaines 2 Comments »

In the fourth inning tonight, Dustin Pedroia tagged up on a flyball to left field. Below is the result of Carl Crawford’s throw.

Like we always say, if you can’t throw The Hobbit out, hit him in the balls.

Jan 12

[THE HANGOVER] Hudson Valley’s New Manager Is Just A Young Pup

Brady Williams, Brian Cashman, CC Sabathia, Dustin Pedroia, Fernando Perez, Joe Maddon, Peter Gammons, Theo Epstein Cork Gaines 4 Comments »

Just the links today as we loathe the observance of National Clean Off Your Desk Day.

DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Renegades Rumblings takes a closer look at the 2009 Hudson Valley coaching staff, including new manager Brady Williams who is only 29 years old. [Renegades Rumblings]
  • Fernando Perez recently participated in a round-table discussion called “Hot Stove, Cool Music” that included. Theo Epstein, Peter Gammons, Dustin Pedroia and CC Sabathia. Sox & Dawgs recaps Perez’ thoughts on playing at Fenway during the playoffs. [MLB] [Sox & Dawgs]
  • Joe Maddon has been sending “good luck” text messages to the head coach of his favorite football team, the Arizona Cardinals, who are now one win from the Super Bowl after many years of sucktitude…Sounds familiar. [USA Today]
  • Brian Cashman says the Yankees spent $435 million this off-season to keep up with the Red Sox and Rays. [St. Pete Times]

Nov 12

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Dustin Pedrioa Supporter Makes Case For Delmon Young

Delmon Young, Dustin Pedroia, Gettin' A Delmon Cork Gaines 2 Comments »

[Update: Delmon Young has finished second in the voting to Dustin Pedroia. Young received three first place votes out of 28]

Today, the winners of the Rookie of the Year awards for each league will be announced. The general belief is that Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox will take home the award with Delmon Young of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays finishing second. Two websites challenged each other to come up with 5 reasons why their candidate should win the award.

The Serious Tip presents “5 reasons why Delmon Young should win Rookie of the Year“.

In summary…

  1. Consistency
  2. Clutch Hitting
  3. Versatility
  4. Fielding Prowess
  5. Overexposure

We have to take issue with #3 “Versatility” and #4 “Fielding Prowess”. One of the Top 5 arms in baseball? Probably. Gold Glove-caliber? No way. For those that have seen Young play on a regular basis, know that he often looks uncomfortable in right field, plays wayyyyy too deep (a sign that a player has trouble going back on balls) and takes terrible angles on balls all the time. We are not saying he will never be a good defensive outfielder. He just is not one yet. And while he was passable as a center fielder, he spent the entire time playing the position from the restaurant on the other side of the center field wall and complaining about the move to the press.

One More Dying Quail rebuts with “Five Reasons Why Dustin Pedroia Should Be Rookie Of The Year“. We have long thought that Pedroia should and would win the award. However, after reading the argument at OMDQ, we are now thinking that maybe Delmon Young does deserve the award.

To summarize the argument…

  1. David Eckstein is also scrappy and never won the award
  2. Pedroia made a great defensive play on Sept. 1
  3. He sucked for the first month and never strikes out
  4. He is as tough as Raul Rodarte of the Mexican League
  5. The author is afraid of his wife

That is one hell of an argument. Let’s see if we can come up with some better reasoning one way or the other…

  1. Offense (traditional stats): Delmon Young hit .288-13-93 while appearing in 162 games. Dustin Pedroia hit .317-8-50 in 139 games. Delmon loses points for not understanding the rules of baseball and knowing that he does not have to swing at every single god damned pitch. If Delmon Young would have shown any patience this season he could have hit .320. EDGE: Eck’s Clone Pedroia
  2. Offense (newage stats): Pedroia had a VORP of 35.9 compared to 5.7 for Young (not a typo). Pedroia had an OPS of .822 compared to .724 for Young. Pedroia had an EqA of .276 while Young’s EqA was only .251. We are pretty sure that Pedroia got a 30 point boost in his VORP for being little and scrappy. EDGE: The Eck-esque Pedroia
  3. Clutchiness: In close and late situations, Pedroia hit .299-2-2 in 67 at bats with a .780 OPS. Young was .264-3-13 with an OPS of .723. Of course Young had a huge walk-off home run in the Disney series against the Rangers. Young also seem to play the game with a chip on his shoulder and strong desire to be known, which means his concentration level seems to rise to a new level when it matters most. EDGE: Delmonator
  4. Defense: Pedroia gets a slight nod right off the bat because he played second base on a team in a pennant-race, but lets look at the numbers. Pedroia had a Range Factor of 4.88, just below the league average of 4.98. Young had a RF of 2.13, higher than the league average for RF of 2.08. This tells us that Young’s speed helped him overcome his problems with the glove and may not have been as bad as we previously thought. On the other hand, Young was Dishin’ Out Delmon’s all season long to the tune of 16 outfield assists. Pedrioa did not have a single outfield assist! BUT…Pedroia looks like David Eckstein. EDGE: Split
  5. Cockiness: We can only base this on 2007 so Delmon Young does not get credit for throwing a bat at an unpire, however, he does get bonus points for 1) bitching about having to play center field; 2) believing every pitch is his pitch; and 3) thinking that Joe Maddon singled him out for not hustling on the penultimate game of the season. Pedroia gets bonus points for being Major League Baseball’s poster-child for the Napolean Complex. EDGE: Delmonator

In the end, it was closer than we thought it would be, but the numbers don’t lie. VORP And EqA give Pedroia a huge edge and he did it all season long playing middle infield for a team in a pennant race under the scrutiny of the unforgiving Boston fans and the unforgiving Boston media.

We love Delmon Young and he will have the better career when all is said and done. But for 2007? The AL Rookie of the Year is Dustin Pedroia.

5 reasons why Delmon Young should win Rookie of the Year [The Serious Tip]
5 reasons why Dustin Pedroia should be Rookie of the Year[One More Dying Quail]

Oct 26

The Hangover: The Rays Claim Two Bad Knees Off Of Waivers

Chris Snelling, Dustin Pedroia, Greg Norton, Jay Witasick, The Curse of LaMar-Naimoli Cork Gaines 3 Comments »


Devil Rays (66-96)
Since when do the Rays need another outfielder with a history of leg problems and since when do the Rays need fewer experienced arms in the bullpen? The Rays claimed Chris Snelling off of waivers from the A’s. Jay Witasick was released to make room on the roster. It appears as though Snelling was released because he is the only person in professional baseball with legs worse than Rocco Baldelli. In 8 professional seasons he has been on the DL seven times, including…

  • torn ACL (2002)
  • knee surgery (2003)
  • right knee tendinitus (2003)
  • torn meniscus in the left knee (2005)
  • surgery (2006)
  • yet another knee surgery (2007).

Next June, when both Snelling and Rocco are on the DL, maybe they can take a trip to Aruba together and sit in the hot tub and compare scars.

Marc Topkin provides good background on the Rays new Aussie. [ tampabay.com]

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • A friend of mine that is Phillies fan, called me up after he heard the Phillies had named Chuck LaMar their Director of Professional Scouting, and asked me if he should be worried. I started laughing. It is a curious move by the Phillies. For all of LaMar’s faults, he did seem to be a competent evaluator of amateur talent. For the most part, he had a strong draft history with the Rays. On the other hand, this was the GM that was considered the worst GM in baseball to work with when it came to making trades, and the Phillies have him in charge of professional scouting, and he will provide input on trades for GM Pat Gillick. Strange move. [MLB]
  • Dustin Pedroia was named Top Rookie by the players association and won the same award by the Sporting News as voted on by players and managers. [tampabay.com]
  • Greg Norton has been a professional baseball player for 15 years. He wants to prove that he can repeat his 2006 performance when he hit .296 with 17 home runs in only 96 games. In those 15 seasons, he has only played in more than 120 games 5 times. It appears that 2007 was the norm and 2006 was the exception to the rule. [Devil Rays]
Oct 22

The Hangover: And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ For Evan Longoria

Andy Sonnanstine, Chuck LaMar, David Price, Delmon Young, Don Zimmer, Dustin Pedroia, Evan Longoria, George Steinbrenner, Joe Maddon, Joe Torre, Mark Prior, Reid Brignac Cork Gaines 5 Comments »

Scottsdale Scorpions (1-10)

thurs
Mesa 6, Scottsdale 2. Reid Brignac led of for Scottsdale, going 2-3 and hitting a olo home run, his first in the AFL. Evan Longoria was 2-3 with 2 doubles and a walk.

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Scottsdale 9, Peo Javelinas 3. Evan Longoria was 3-4 with 2 doubles, a home run and 3 RBI in Scottsadale’s first win. It was Longoria’s 4th home run. John Jaso also homered for the Scorpions, going 1-2 with 2 RBI. Reid Brignac was 0-4. Mike Prochaska started and picked up the win, going 3 innings, and allowing 1 run on 3 hits, and a walk, while striking out 2. Calvin Medlock relieved and pitched 2 scoreless innings striking out 2.

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Phoenix 3, Scottsdale 2. Evan Longoria went 1-4 and is now hitting .317. He also committed his 3rd error of the AFL.Longoria is 4th in the AFL with a 1.063 OPS. He is tied for the league lead with 4 home runs, is third with 8 RBI and second with 4 doubles. Chris Nowak started at first base and went 1-3 with an RBI. Nick DeBarr and Evan Meek each pitched in relief. DeBarr threw 2 perfect innings with a strikeout, while Meek strike out two, but gave up a hit an a walk in two-thirds of an inning.

sun
OFF DAY

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • 2007 has been unkind to the state of Ohio. [The Sporting Orange]
  • Was anybody esle disturbed a little to see a member of the Orioles in the Boston dugout and throwing the first pitch in game 7? [The Kansas City Star]
  • We believe the Dustin Pedroia should be and will be AL Rookie of the Year…But Baseball America thinks that Delmon Young was only the 13th best rookie (5th best in the AL)…seriously. [ArmchairGM]
  • Yet another blogger that thinks Joe Torre should take a year off and then replace Joe Maddon as manager of the Devil Rays. After hearing Torre refer to the Yankee’s contract offer as an “insult”, we are starting to warm to the possibility if Maddon gets off to a bad start in 2008 or if the Rays fail to reach .500 at the end of the season. It is not a secret that George Steinbrenner considers Tampa his home turf and has never been fond of the Devil Rays franchise. Taking the Tampa job and beating the Yankees could be the ultimate answer from the manager that is a lot more fiery and calculating than his public persona would suggest. [Quick Hits From The Sidelines]
  • Keep in mind that Joe Torre and Don Zimmer are close, and Zim was none-too-happy about the way the Yankees handled his pal Torre. [tampabay.com]
  • More funky baseball math. This time, Roto Authority suggests that Andy Sonnanstine was the 4th unluckiest pitcher in 2007 which suggests he could be much better in 2008. [Roto Authority]
  • Minor-ity Report take a look at David Price and compares his numbers to Mark Prior. Not the first time we have heard the comparison, but Price’s numbers in college were actually better than Prior’s and Price has an extra year of college under his belt. And did we mention that Price is left-handed. We are starting to get giddy. [Minor-ity Report]
  • Despite a big dropoff in production in 2007, the Devil Rays still believe that Reid Brignac is their future shortstop. It just won’t be in 2008. [TBO]
  • “The only thing that keeps this organization from being recognized as one of the finest in baseball is wins and losses at the major league level.” – Devil Rays GM Chuck Lamar…We are not sure why this is one of “The 35 Dumbest Sports Quotes Ever”. Isn’t it true? [LiveJournal]
  • Jon Garland or Jose Contreras for Carl Crawford? Contreras? No. Garland? Not likely. He is set to make $12 million in 2008 and will be a free agent at the end of the year. [Mets Blog]
  • Then again, MLB Rumors cites “industry sources” that “The Devil Rays and White Sox have worked over the past couple months on possible deals this off season that involve Jon Garland and Carl Crawford”. Maybe THIS GUY qualifies as an “industry source” [MLB Rumors]
  • In the four professional sports leagues in North America, there are 92 teams. Sports Frog ranks the Devil Rays 89th, ahead of only the Memphis Grizzlies (90), Charlotte Bobcats (91) and the Houston Texans (92). See? The Rays don’t always finish last. [Sports Frog]
  • RJ Anderson discusses his upcoming book about Chuck LaMar. [The Stat Pack]
Sep 25

The Hangover: It Will All Be Over Soon

Akinori Iwamura, Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Pena, Dustin Pedroia, Elijah Dukes, Evan Longoria, Roger Clemens Cork Gaines 7 Comments »

Devil Rays (off day)

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • This just in…Evan Longoria is good. Longoria plays third base. Akinori Iwamura plays third base. Aki ranked 23rd (out of 35, min. 250 PA) of major league third basemen in OPS. Aki has a weak arm. Aki may need to move to a new position in 2008. The writers that cover the Rays must be praying for Elijah Dukes to do something stupid. 3…2…1…. [Devil Rays]
  • Rays of Light makes an argument that Carlos Pena has been more valuable to the Rays than Alex Rodriguez has been to the Yankees. Scott takes a look at the WARP values (number of wins a player is worth) for each player. While A-Rod has a higher WARP (10.5 to 9), El Gato’s WARP represents a higher percentage of the Devil Rays wins and hence he is “More Valuable”. It is an interesting argument and not necessarily “wrong”. We don’t pretend to know all the math behind these numbers, but the problem with using WARP for this argument is that in theory it is team independent. Therefore, if A-Rod was playing for the Rays (and posted the same numbers) he would still have a WARP of 10.5 and if Pena was on the Yankees, his would still be 9.0. In essence, to use WARP as a percentage of team wins, penalizes a player on a good team and gives a HUGE advantage to a player on a team that has very few wins. In an absolute sense, A-Rod is worth more wins and in the end W’s are the only stat that really matters. [Rays of Light]
  • Why does John Donovan of SI.com think that the Devil Rays deserve to be ranked last in his latest “Power Rankings”? Is it because they have the worst record in baseball? Nope. Worst pitching? Nah. They are the worst team in the league because “Boston’s Dustin Pedroia is the AL’s Rookie of the Year. It shouldn’t be all that close.” [SI.com]
  • John Sickels takes a look at the crash-and-burn that was Dewon Brazelton and tries to answer the question ” What the hell happened here?” [Minor League Ball]
  • Roger Clemens will make his scheduled start tonight, despite speculation to the contrary. If we are lucky, Clemens will talk to reporters and support Carlos Pena Comeback Player of the Year. And of course that will be Rocket’s secret code for wanting to pitch for the Rays in 2008. [TBO]
Sep 24

The Hangover: If The Devil Rays Scored 42 Runs On A Football Sunday, Would Anybody Notice?

Al Reyes, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia, James Shields, Joe Maddon, Raymond, Scott Kazmir, Tim Wakefield, Wes Bankston, Wool E. Bull Cork Gaines 1 Comment »


Devil Rays 6, Red Sox 4.
The Devil Rays played yesterday? Unfortunate that the Rays pulled off their best performance in over a week, when the game was played at the same time as a Bucs home game in which the Bucs looked as good as they have since the 2003 season opener against the F’eagles*.

*We are of course dismissing every game since then against the Falcons and Michael Vick.

DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…

  • On Saturday, the Rays hitters broke the AL record for strikeouts in a season. BJ Upton became the first member of the 20-20 club in franchise history. [USA Today]
  • Apparently beating Tim Wakefield is a “sign of progress”. We believe being dominated by a knuckleballer is #4,376 on the list of reasons why the Rays are yet to experience success as a team. It comes in just ahead of “too many rainouts at the Trop” and just behind “Joe Maddon’s shoe size”. Believe us, we understand that finding an angle on a game with one week remaining in the last week of yet another 90+ loss season is a trying task at best. But Papa Joe…come back to us. please. [TBO]
  • Carl Crawford did not play this weekend and with only one week remaining, he may not return this season. [tampabay.com]

“I’m not so sure right now he’s going to be able to do this,” Maddon said. “We’re hopeful for the first game back (Tuesday), but it just doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere we need it to go for him to participate right now. We’ll look at it again after the day off but I’m not anticipating he wil be able to play.”

  • Joe Maddon makes a case for Delmon Young to be rookie of the year. [TBO]

“You put the whole picture together to tie this whole thing into a nice little bundle, and I think it equals Rookie of the Year,” Maddon said. “Everybody just wants to talk about offense – talk about his defense and his stolen bases this year. He’s playing a complete game for us right now.”

  • Joe Maddon probably should have saved his “Delmon Young for tookie of the year” speech for the Yankees series as it likely fell on deaf ears with the Boston Media. The voting members of the Boston are likely to already have their vote cast for Dustin Pedroia. [courant.com]
  • Marc Topkin interviews Joe Maddon. We love, love, love the last question “ Since the Rays won’t be in it this year, who do you think is going to win the World Series?”. ON the surface it seems a little ridiculous that Topkin would need to preface that question by informing the manager that his team has already been eliminated from playoff contention. But in Topkin’s defense. He is interviewing Papa Joe Maddon, the eternal optimist. [tampabay.com]
  • Stacy Long offers his thoughts on the pitchers and hitters that should be named as the top minor leaugers for 2007. Not much to argue with. [Stacy Long's Riverwalk Talk]
  • The team decided to shut down James Shields for the remainder of the 2007 season, but will not do the same with Scott Kazmir, who will make his next scheduled start, stating that the lefty has looked fresher than Shields recently. [Devil Rays]
  • We didn’t write it, but we were thinking it. This was one campaign that we are sure seemed much better on the drawing board. [The Serious Tip]
  • Al Reyes hopes to have his option ($2 million) picked up for 2008. It should not even be a question. Reyes mentions that he would prefer to close but would be willing to be used as a setup man if that is what is asked of him. [TBO]
  • Wes Bankston, who was designated for assignment last week, was claimed off of waivers by the Kansas City Royals. [The Raw Feed]
  • Raymond and Wool E. Bull show their hip hop moves…If you are into that sort of thing. [Deadspin]
  • With the Devil Rays becoming the Rays in 2008, devilrays.com will need to change their domain name. The obvious choice is rays.com but that will not happen as the owners of that domain name, Rays Boathouse in Seattle, is not selling. [Seattle Times]