Ya know how Cecil Cooper hasn't always been preceived as being truthful with the Astros? Or how his communication skills aren't always on point? Well this differing style of management should make you smile.
Chris Sampson loves pitching on the outside edge of the plate against both lefties and righties. And what's more- he succeeds way more often than not.
The taint of steroid use broken down by the numbers. Very interesting and original idea.
Speaking of 'roids, here's an article that breaks down the Man Ram suspension. There's a link to the LA Time's thorough analysis as well.
Pitch Counts have changed the game of baseball a great deal in the past generation.
Nolan Ryan weighs in on that subject, and what it means for his Rangers.
What do you think the Astros smell like?
You stay classy, Milwaukee Brewers fans. There's nothing sexier than a Midwestern shedding their clothes.
Bellaire High School is the number one ranked high school baseball team in the nation. Got me to thinking..how have the Astros not drafted any of their players recently?
Maybe this little guy will swim over to the Houston Ship Channel? Either way, this may be the coolest thing I've seen in a while.
0 recs | 4 comments
My pick for the Astros' scratch-and-sniff caps:
crawfish.
Only_A_Lad - May 28, 2009
I am skeptical of using that "google hit" method for evaluating steroids taint.
The idea, I suppose, is to capture media mentions. But how do you define media? Do you include anybody’s blog as a form of “media?” Do you include “comments” by readers? When you think about all of that…I’m not sure what you have proven in the end,
Another pet peave from that article (I’m not really blaming the author, since he probably is attempting to reflect how the media treats these things)….
I do not like the way “HGH” and “steroids” are combined for disccussion purposes. Evidence exists that steroid use can increase users’ strength (though perhaps the evidentiary link to baseball performance is missing). However, the research evidence shows that HGH does not affect the users’ strength, power, etc. Even if HGH turns out to be a benefit in faster healing from injuries (the reason given by most users), I think that is a much different issue than taking steroids which increases strength and power. Normally, we would say it is a good thing when a player finds a way to heal his injuries faster and get back on the field faster. Certainly one can criticize a player who uses HGH because it is banned in the rules. But if you do that, then you have to differentiate players who used HGH before it was banned in baseball (like Ankiel and most alleged HGH users).
clack - May 28, 2009
Complete Games & Pitch Counts
I don’t know if Little League is a major contributor to the pitch count mentality, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to push the limits of under-teens to see what their arm “genetic potential” is.
That said, I do tend to give more credence to a higher pitch count, more complete games approach for MLB starters. Heck, I might even be on board with the wilder suggestions of reducing the starter count (5 to 4). One fewer starter with higher pitch counts would mean less reliance on a bullpen, which would probably mean a smaller bullpen.
That, in turn, could mean more money for higher quality starters and relievers.
Yes, I know, it would mean wearing out starters faster. But so what? They can have a smaller number years as a starter, but probably with more glory. Then, they can “graduate” to the veteran, grizzled reliever role to pull the team’s nuts out of the fire when the new, replacement starter is having a bad day and is pulled early.
Or they could become junk ballers like Tim Wakefield.
Think about it. It has merit!
pel - May 28, 2009
I think the growth in salary for pitchers is partly responsible for the emphasis on pitch count.
If a team is going to pay a pitcher $120 million (for X number of years), like a Santana or Sabbathia contract, then the team is going to be extremely cautious with its investment asset to ensure that it doesn’t become useless before the contract is over. In effect, the team becomes extremely risk averse, and wants to do whatever the medical staff tells them, to reduce the risk of arm injury (and most orthopedic doctors in the field will tell them number of pitches thrown affects risk of injury…even if they don’t know what the threshold is). That’s an extreme example (in terms of contracts), but I think the same logic applies to the higher cost of pitchers in generals (including big bonuses for amateur pitchers). Basically the replacement costs of pitchers is too high to take risks.
Is there some CYA in this for team management? Probably. If you take the Ryan approach and discard pitch counts—-and then your ace pitcher or your most valuable prospect ruins his arm, you (manager/GM) will get blamed for it.
While I think it is possible that pitch counts are used too mechanically at the major league level, I do think that very young pitchers (say, younger than 23) do need a lot of protection from overuse in the minors (and majors, if they get there that young). Teams developed measures like pitch counts because organizations went through periods when they would have almost total devastation of their pitching prospects to injury. I recall when this happened to the Astros repeatedly in the 80’s.
clack - May 28, 2009
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