Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Posts

Worshipping at the church of the rally-killing homer

If your brain starting leaking during the fifth inning of tonight's Red Sox-Indians game, Tim McCarver's the reason.  Casey Blake's leadoff homer prompted the FOX analyst to offer us this gem:
Joe, conventional wisdom tells us that one of the more dangerous things in baseball for a pitcher is to give a leadoff walk to a hitter. However, we’ve researched this, and one would think that a leadoff home run — Casey Blake had the leadoff home run in this inning — would lead to fewer multi-run innings than a leadoff walk.

That’s not true. A leadoff home run — this year — has led to more multi-run innings than a leadoff walk.
I don't need to tell anybody here why no functioning adult should be surprised by this stat, but it did make me think of Ed Farmer's theory regarding a home run's ability to extinguish a rally.  Normally I take that as obvious wishful thinking, like when he calls a homer in nearly every late inning situation.  Now, I'm not so sure.

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The most interesting item in Ryan Sweeney's MLB.com chat was this line:

Yes, I loved being a pitcher and I always thought I was going to be a pitcher. I would definitely like to play once every five days and golf all the time.

Otherwise, it didn't offer much substance, but the chat, along with Mark Gonzalez's Arizona Fall League overview, reminded me to check on some winter ball stats:
  • Sweeney:  4-for-14, 0 XBH, 4 BB, 4 K, 0-for-1 SBs.
  • Chris Getz:  1-for-8, 0 BB, 3 K
  • Donny Lucy: 1-for-7, 1 BB, 2 K
  • Jack Egbert:  5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
  • Adam Russell:  4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
  • Dewon Day: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K
  • Fernando Hernandez Jr.: 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
From the Caribbean League:
  • Jason Bourgeois: 7-for-21, 0 XBH, 5 BB, 2 K, 5-for-5 SBs
  • Heath Phillips: 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 9 K
  • Wiki Gonzalez:  0-for-9, 1 BB, 1 K
posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:59 AM by Jim with 3 Comments

Stoneman stepping down; Angels stepping up?

Los Angeles Angels general manager Bill Stoneman is stepping down, according to the Orange County Register:

After presiding over the most successful period in franchise history, Bill Stoneman is ready to step down as the Angels' general manager.

The Angels have called a news conference for Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. to make what is billed as "a major announcement." The Angels would not comment on the record but indications are the announcement will be Stoneman's decision to step down as GM after eight years and move into a consultant's role with the team.

This is big news for the offseason, because for years the Angels have simultaneously boasted the largest crop of trading chits and the GM most unlikely to trade any of them.  Or, as Mark Gonzalez said, Stoneman "is afraid of his own shadow and has the personality of a dead cod."

In the past couple years, the White Sox and Angels have been linked in a couple potential deals that never came through -- Joe Crede for a Chone Figgins and/or Ervin Santana package, and Paul Konerko has been an alleged target. In their stockpile (order in likelihood of availability):
  • Middle infielders: Erick Aybar, Maicier Izturis
  • Corner infielders: Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, Brandon Wood
  • Outfielders: Juan Rivera
  • Pitchers: Santana, Scot Shields
This is a welcome change.  Stoneman did his job for his team, but at the same time, you could basically rule out any rumor involving the Angels because chances were Stoneman wouldn't pull the trigger.  That's not saying the new Angels GM will usher in a dramatic change in mindset, but he couldn't be any more reluctant.
posted Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:11 AM by Jim with 4 Comments