Thursday, July 20, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Claude Crocker BRO b. 1924, played 1944-1945, d. 2002-12-19
Charles Johnson LAN b. 1971, played 1998, All-Star: 1997, 2001. Was not Mike Piazza. Really not Mike Piazza. Johnson had one really good fluke year in 2000 at age 28 in which he inexplicably hit .304/.379/.582 and 31 homers, and then went back to being the .250 hitter he was before and after. His decline was steep and rapid.
Heinie Manush BRO b. 1901, played 1937-1938, All-Star: 1934, Hall of Fame: 1964 (Veterans), d. 1971-05-12. What a name. A "pale Ty Cobb" according to Bill James, he actually got himself thrown out of a World Series game. He twice posted season averages of .378 for the Tigers and Browns; the Dodgers got him as a late-career player, and he rewarded them by hitting .333 in 1937. It represented his last good year, after which he became a bench player until he quit the game after 1939. Thanks to the stupefying numbers he posted earlier in his career, he still retired with a career .330 average.
Bengie Molina ANA,LAA b. 1974, played 1998-2005. Number 25 on the Top 100 Angels list, it sure seems at this moment that Mike Napoli is about to make Angels fans ask, Bengie who? Probably the second-best catcher in Angels history after Brian Downing, he was brilliant while his legs held up, which seemed to be about 2003; the last few years saw a rather rapid decline in his defensive value. He's getting a little over half-time play for the Blue Jays this year.
Mike Witt CAL b. 1960, played 1981-1990, All-Star: 1986-1987. Also a Top 100 Angel, Witt was the staff ace for many years; in what amounted to a pretty good trade for the Angels, he got shipped to the Yankees in 1990 for Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, who gave the Angels one and a half of his last good years.
Slumping Toward Tomorrow: Diamondbacks 8, Dodgers 0
Another day, another Derek Lowe implosion and another game without any substantive Dodger offense. Or, any. This is really starting to chafe. Little BOB of Horrors, indeed.Roster Notes
- It's hard to believe that I got disbelief after I suggested that it would take longer than 15 days for Casey Kotchman to return from his case of mono. Now, it looks like Kotchman won't be back this year, and the Angels are at the end of their rope with Kendry Morales. There's now talk about getting Shea Hillenbrand to play first, which might not be such a bad thing. As Maxwell pointed out last night, he is a simply horrible defender at third, while Kendry ranks among the better ones, in admittedly small samples. (FYI, Kendry's 112 Rate2 at first far outclasses Shea's 76 at third.)
- Erstad saw the New York foot specialist, and surgery wasn't discussed. But then, I've yet to read that he was ever given the label "doctor" anywhere, either.
- The Angels recalled Reggie Willits from Salt Lake.
- Jason Repko will soon be ready to return, which means the Dodgers will have to move one of Sandy Alomar, Jr., Jose Cruz, Jr., or Ricky Ledee to make room on the roster.
- Brett Tomko is happy to be back on the team and in the bullpen.
And you really can't compare two players at two different positions. There's enough data on Hillenbrand at firstbase to do apples to apples. Hillenbrand's ZR last season at first was a tick above Kotchman's, at .866. Not as sexy as Kendry's, which is admittedly surprisingly good, but it's better than league average. And it remains consistent this year: .868 ZR.
So the question becomes, how much of an offensive boost is Shea over Kendry?
: 7/20/2006 09:24:00 AM
: 7/20/2006 09:56:00 AMKendry's done what he could for now, time for a McPherson/Quinlan platoon to finish out the season.
: 7/20/2006 10:30:00 AM : 7/20/2006 11:21:00 AM : 7/20/2006 12:59:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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