Other Notes:
Why Detwiler? Because they don't mind jerking him up and down for a start. His clock has started. He's aged into being less of a prospect. When Milone or Peacock come up, it'll be for a good long stint, not one game.
Why not Espinosa? Because just like fans vote for who they want to see, players vote for who they know and like. They don't know Danny. He's a rookie. He needs to earn his stripes, right? Where's a Dibble pic when you need one?
Just to get it out of the way - a review of my All-Star feelings.
- Don't care about who gets in.
- They should keep one player per team because it matters to kids. (or at least it mattered to me as a kid)
- WS home field advantage should go to the team with the best record.
- Starters should go 3 if they can.
- Don't worry about everyone getting in the game. Try to use one player per team though.
The good thing is, at least they picked a Nat who's actually having a stellar year thus far. Espinosa is doing very well among 2Bs, but a sub-.250 BA doesn't play easily among the fans, especially on a rookie on a low-profile team. Clippard has pretty much been our best reliever all year and his season deserves some recognition. Nice if Espi could have gotten in as well, but at least it wasn't someone like Bruce or Jeter, getting in on career rep instead of actual performance.
ReplyDeleteRe: Marquis. This is the problem with trading him. He's a veteran with a history of reliable slightly above average pitching, the kind of guy who makes a solid #3-5 starter depending on the rest of the staff--and the rest of the league knows that just like you do. That's not going to bring the kind of return that justifies moving him. He might or might not be worth re-signing (probably he is, unless we make a major splash in the FA market in the offseason), but there's no point in trading major-league talent for random org filler who project as so many Ankiels and Hairstons.
Completely wrong about home field advantage, I'm sorry. This is literally the only sports all star game left that means anything and is still watchable. The reason: they still try (and it is because of the home field advantage). Take it away and nobody even wants to play in it anymore and it will turn into the home run derby.
ReplyDeleteI have a Yankee-fan friend who regularly rails against the "all teams represented" rule. And I tell him, easy for YOU to say, since there will pretty much always be at least one Yankee in the starting lineup, and more on the reserves. As someone who's been a fan of crappy teams pretty much his whole life, it actually means something to me to see Dmitri Young or Matt Capps come into the All-Star Game and contribute. Seriously.
ReplyDelete@BGR
ReplyDeleteYou just described every All-Star game ever that doesn't involve Pete Rose diving through home plate. I do not want to see our guy(s) hurting themselves so that Philly/SanFran/Atl can have an extra game in the World Series played at home. It's a horrible rule.
@Dezo
Marquis is a very mediocre player with 10+ years of MLB on his arm and a 7.5m salary. He was having the best year of career (and, in all honesty, still is), but his latest outing may have scared away any possible suitors looking for a #3. He'll have one more start before the break and hopefully pitch a gem, but if he tanks this one too, he's a Nat for the rest of the year.
I also think the chances Marquis will be a Nat next year is simmering around 10% (with 90% of that stat made up). So, the only real question is do we trade him for whatever we can get or cross our fingers and hopes he gets us 8 or 9 more quality starts for the rest of this year?
ReplyDeleteDezo - That is some consolation to the Danny fans, both Weeks and Phillips have as much claim to a spot. As for Marquis, I think you can get a guy that projects to more than random org filler but a higher gamble type. Could be special, could be nothing. A-ball prospects with one big flaw. Is that gamble worth it? That's the question.
ReplyDeleteBGR - I don't get that they try any harder now than a decade ago. Baseball is about punctuated effort and that's easy enough to do just for pride. Half-hearted break-up slides, and guys not ramming into OF walls don't really change the game in a significant way.
Carl - funny enough it's because I'm a Yankee fan that I want this rule. Timed my growing up to coincide with a dry spell and remember watching games in the early 90s to see when Roberto Kelly or Scott Sanderson would come out. Never once thought "oh that guy from the Rangers got snubbed!" that's a serious adult way of looking at things. The All-Star game isn't a serious adult game.
calindc - the only thing that keeps it from being truly horrible rule is the fact that it replaced the idiotic rotating HFA of the past. Leagues aren't even separate anymore. If every other sport can figure out how to do HFA based on record baseball can.
Yeah, you're both wrong. I used to think you had baseball knowledge...
ReplyDeleteBGR - Sorry I just don't see it. It certainly helps avoid the dreaded tie but I think as long as the players are on the field they are trying.
ReplyDeleteI agree Harper. Most of the guys playing aren't going to be in the world series and they know it anyway. I think the reason that the football pro bowl is a joke is because no one wants to get hurt. And in basketball, every team has their own plays they run. Getting 5 random guys on the same page for a single game is impossible, so they don't bother. Baseball is different. It's not like a pitcher's gonna serve up home run balls to the opposing batters just for fun.
ReplyDeleteNo professional atheletes wants to make strong contact in an exhibition game and risk injury. That's why only baseball works in this format. Football is ALL strong contact - on the line every down, almost every play ends with it - which is why it fails miserably. Honestly that should just be a flag football game. Basketball and Hockey rely on contact to make the defense work. So there games are simply offensive affairs with maybe 1 or 2 minutes of competitive play if it's close and late. Baseball does not depend on any contact (besides bat on ball). It's all incidental, so you can have pretty much the same game going on in exhibition or 'for real'
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