Yardbarker: St. Louis Cardinals

Head-to-Head: Jason Bay is the most appealing free-agent bat

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:10:28 -0500

In what is considered a thin free-agent class, two elite sluggers remain available: Matt Holliday and Jason Bay. Both play left field, both should sign a nine-figure deal and both can be real difference-makers. But removing the Scott Boras factor (he represents Holliday), which big bat actually is more valuable? Stan McNeal argues that Holliday is a better option, but Chris Bahr explains why Bay will provide more bang for the buck: Jason Bay and Matt Holliday. Both elite sluggers are in their...

Head-to-Head: Matt Holliday is the most appealing free-agent bat

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:09:56 -0500

In what is considered a thin free-agent class, two elite sluggers remain available: Matt Holliday and Jason Bay. Both play left field, both should sign a nine-figure deal and both can be real difference-makers. But removing the Scott Boras factor (he represents Holliday), which big bat actually is more valuable? Chris Bahr argues that Bay will provide more bang for the buck, but Stan McNeal explains why Holliday is the better option: Choosing between Matt Holliday and Jason Bay is sort of li...

The Cy Young stats

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:00:12 -0500

So the NL Cy Young award recipient was announced the other day, and surprisingly, it didn't go to the guy with the most wins, or the best ERA for that matter. Instead, it went to Tim Lincecum, who lead the league in FanGraphs WAR by a pretty big margin. Naturally, given the two candidates that he narrowly beat, this sparked a lot of debate about whether or not FanGraphs' WAR was the best way to go. From what I gathered, a lot of people thought that timing should...

When Good Posts Go Bad: ERA+ and the CYA

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:02:32 -0500

The other night while writing about the signing of Brad Thompson I started thinking about Tim Lincecum and Zack Greinke winning the Cy Young Awards in their respective leagues. More specifically I started wondering how many times the leaders in ERA+ from both the AL and NL won the CYAs. I sat down tonight to [...]

This Week in Sportswriting: Conventional Wisdom and Statistical Reasoning Conflict

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:41:31 -0500

We've been having our fun with statistical looks at the candidates for MLB awards around these parts. But in the greater sportswriting world, some of the choices writers -- and coaches -- make are apparently meant for ridicule, not rational discussion.Take, for example, the decisions of Will Carroll and Keith Law to leave Chris Carpenter off their Cy Young ballots. It solicited a nasty tweet from flat-earther Jon Heyman, and Law's decision in particular sparked a five-alarm message bo...

Does Bay's slugging outweigh his defense...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:10:00 -0500

Rob Bradford of WEEI takes a look at the market for Jayson Bay. The Mets are said to prefer Matt Holliday but they have also said they will only go so far to obtain the left fielder. If Holliday goes elsewhere then the best alternative is Jayson Bay. Bay's defense is worse then Holliday's and he hits slightly less but would that be enough for the Mets to pass. Here's Bradford's take on the Mets...Mets: You know they have money, and they also fit the model in terms of the type ...

Two Internet Writers May Have Cost Chris Carpenter the NL Cy Young

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:47 -0500

The BBWAA has acknowledged the internet folk of late, but their glasnost hit a snag in this year’s NL Cy Young voting. Both ESPN.com’s Keith Law and Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll bucked conventional wisdom slightly, leaving St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter off their ballots. This mild disparity may have cost Carpenter the award. Each voter chose [...]

Joe Jackson talks briefly to a newsboy about yesterday's news

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:52:16 -0500

File photo—Kansas City Royals pitcher Brad Thompson, center, sells newspapers outside a nickel theater in St. Louis, July 14, 2009. The Indians won 3-1 in fifteen reels. View full size photo » It's the most famous young face in the history of baseball—it's the symbol of purity corrupted, of the sport's loss of innocence in the face of organized crime and a gambling scandal that nearly ended baseball as ...

IRF Reacts to Brad Thompson

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:17:58 -0500

My IRF (Inner Royals Fan) got some good news* when it was announced the Royals had signed RHP-Brad Thompson to a minor league contract. *You may be asking yourself about my usage of “good news” when referring to the Royals signing Brad Thompson. If you are, let me remind you that included in IRF are the words Royals [...]

With Angels out, market resets on Holliday

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:05:48 -0500

With the Angels supposedly out of the Matt Holliday hunt, Jon Paul Morosi says the slugger's market just reset drastically.

DeRosa would deliver marginal upgrade at best

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:05:29 -0500

FOXSports, citing a Major League source, has listed the Phillies as the favorites to land Mark DeRosa. Despite a 23-homer season, expectations should be tempered. In a nutshell, here’s the problem with Mark DeRosa: we’ve seen him before and didn’t like the results. The Phillies need a third baseman. For various reasons, some good (the existence of Chipper Jones), some not so good (not seen as everyday player), DeRosa has never started more than 100 games at the position, setting...

St. Louis Cardinals: Top 10 Prospects

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:00:28 -0500

General Manager: John Mozeliak Farm Director: Mike Girsch Scouting Director: Jeff Luhnow FanGraphs’ Top 10 Prospects (2009 Draft Picks/International Signees Not Included) Honestly, this is a pretty barren system, in terms of can’t-miss, impact talent… but it does have its fair share of intriguing names. The organization’s minor-league talented has been gutted by trades, as well as the graduation of [...]

Rule 5: You do talk about the Rule 5 draft

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:18 -0500

Nothing exemplifies the Hot Stove season quite like worrying about the Rule 5 draft. Most of the players don't stick it out all year; most of the ones that do are eventually traded for Ronnie Belliard or Blaine Boyer; and most of the time it would be completely absurd to spend time thinking about this. Fangraphs won't return my calls, but according to my new WARP/seconds-in-your-limited-lifespan converter most of these guys peak around fifteen, twenty seconds. (Brian Barton, simpl...

Classic Postgame Presser

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:04:00 -0500

This care of ECB reader Jim, a loyal reader since Day 1 of ECB, a law school buddy of mine, a long-suffering St. Louis Cardinals (football) and Rams fan, and an alum of Miami University...

We have an early candidate for postgame presser of the year folks! Take a look at Miami Head Coach Charlie Coles field a question from a Lexington sportswriter after the Kentucky-Miami game on Monday night seeking a response as to how unranked and underdog Miami "let the game get away" to fourth-ranked Kentucky, home of the present "Jesus in Nikes" John Wall...

Let's see...

Thick Southern drawl... check.
Incredulous facial expressions... check.
Calling out the opposing head coach... check.
Sarcasm level of 12 on scale of 1 to 10... check.
Certain ramblings making no sense... check.
Mocking newspaper writer for a stupid question... check.
Proving a point... check.

If Coors Light opened up their commercials to coaches of other sports, I think we'd have a candidate for a great commercial here.

Waino, the Cy Young, and Me — a poem by Chris Carpenter

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:02:21 -0500

I got this in the mail last night, and I think it's worth a post. I'll turn this over to VEB-er MikeJGolde, the responsible party: I took apart Carpenter's (awful) article about Wainwright and reconstructed it into something more appropriate. His work of art follows the jump: Look at his body of work.Just start with that.What Adam Wainwright did this year, he did all year long.He was consistent through the whole season.Look at whatever number you want...

Wainwright for Carpenter, Carpenter for Wainwright, Somebody for DeJesus

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:33 -0500

At the P-D they're taking good advantage of the Cardinals' dual Cy Young candidates, as they've gotten both Wainwright and Carpenter on record as being Spartacus. (I would have liked one more, maybe PINEIRO: Why Joel Pineiro should win the Cy Young.) For my money Wainwright's take on Carpenter is more interesting: But we should talk about this year. This year he just out-executed everybody. If he wouldn't have lost that time because of inj...

The good and the bad of Ryan Franklin

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:15:03 -0500

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP Mark Loretta? REALLY?!?!?!?!!!!! Browse more photos » This year Ryan Franklin was an enigma. Thanks to a nifty .269 BABIP (compared to a league average of .300) and an 85.7 strand rate (compared to a league average of 70%), his production was far better than you would expect based off of his peripheral statistics. His ERA was excellent at 1.92; however, his...

holliday overload

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:36 -0500

St. Louis Cardinals Reliever Ryan Franklin enjoys an off-season snowstorm while vacationing at the War Drobe Mountain Lodge in Spare Oom, Colorado on November 8, 2009. View full size photo » just like i can't get used to christmas carols at the grocery store before thanksgiving, the MAJOR LEAGUE DRAMA of WHERE WILL HE SIGN? is starting to get goddamn old. and there's still a week left before he goes on the market....