The Year Jake Peavy Turned Hitters into Matt Walbeck

Tuesday, March 25, 2008
by Geoff Young
I recently picked up the Bill James Gold Mine 2008. There's tons of great stuff in here, as you'd expect, but two items in particular have captured my imagination (so far): the "record of opposing batters" James presents for certain pitchers, and the "comps" he offers of team batting records to individual career batting records (e.g., the Padres hit like Bobby Bonilla in wins last season and like Norm Sherry in losses). Hey, why not mash 'em up and see what happens? Well, that's just what I've done. I examined Jake Peavy's year-by-year "record of ...
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Posted in Baseball | 42 Comments »

I’ll Trade You Box Scores for a Time Machine

Sunday, March 2, 2008
by Geoff Young
Actual games, eh? Nice. The Padres lost on Friday and won on Saturday. Rookie Chase Headley, bidding for a spot in the San Diego outfield, homered and drove in four runs in the victory. Be sure to read a lot into that. Hey, I like having box scores to look at again, but seriously, it's March 2. Randy Wolf had a "rough start" Saturday, throwing 30 pitches in the process. Friday's starter, Shawn Estes, threw the same number in his outing. Why is Estes a candidate for the #5 spot in the rotation? On a related note, has anyone invented a time machine yet? I was pretty good in 1997, too... at something, I'm sure. Wolf was good this century, so he's ...
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Posted in Spring Training | 24 Comments »

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Party Like It’s 1989

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
by Geoff Young
Doing some research for an article, flipping through Baseball America's 1989 Almanac. The book doesn't list top prospects by team, but it does list them by league. Here are some familiar (and not-so-familiar) names for you: Triple-A Gary Sheffield, 3B, Denver (Brewers): American Association #2 (behind Mike Harkey, ahead of Randy Johnson). Steve Finley, OF, Rochester (Orioles): International League #4 (behind Dave West, ahead of Greg Jefferies). Sandy Alomar Jr., C, Las Vegas (Padres): Pacific Coast League #1 (ahead of Ramon Martinez). Alomar also was BA's Triple-A player of the year....
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Posted in Baseball | 27 Comments »

OBG08: Chris Young

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
by Geoff Young
I was flipping through The 1996 Big Bad Baseball Annual (aff link) and ran across Don Malcolm's preview of the Padres that year. First off, Malcolm's discussion of Skip Spence was inspired, if a bit incongruous. A small sampling, from page 201: Occasionally there is a scraggy looking, doubled-over raggedy man, with a heavily weathered face and the remnants of a once-toothy grin flashing in a skeletal grimace, who can be seen wandering the aisles in the cheap seats at Jack Murphy Stadium. He stumbles from ...
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Posted in Projections | 28 Comments »

Matched Pairs: Batters

Monday, January 14, 2008
by Geoff Young
I'm addicted to Baseball-Reference's PI tool. For grins I ran a search on everyone who has accumulated 1500 or more career plate appearances with the Padres (39 in total) and ordered them from top (Fred McGriff) to bottom (Enzo Hernandez) according to OPS+. Then I looked for "matched pairs" -- guys who have the same OPS+ (give or take a point). The rankings referenced in each entry are from the upcoming Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual. Let the fun begin: Another Retired Number? PlayerYearsPABAOBPSLGOPS+ Ryan Klesko2000-20063333.279.381.491134 Dave Winfield1973-19804512.284.357.464134 I've got Klesko as the best first baseman in club history and #6 left fielder. Winfield is the #2 right fielder and tied for 10th in left field. Logjam in Center Field PlayerYearsPABAOBPSLGOPS+ Mark Kotsay2001-20031647.283.355.426112 Steve Finley1995-19982640.276.334.458112 Kevin McReynolds1983-19861983.263.319.438111 It's amazing to me ...
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Posted in 2008 Annual | 32 Comments »

Brock2 Projections for Eight Rising Stars

Tuesday, October 22, 2002
by Geoff Young
Once again, I've been playing with Bill James' Brock2 player projection system. Thought I'd take a look at some young, up-and-coming hitters and see what the future might hold for them. As always, bear in mind that even James acknowledged that this system is more of a toy than a tool. But it's a heckuva lot of fun to play with. So without further ado, here are eight players who were 25 or under this year and who have 400 or more big-league at-bats under their belts. The two sets of numbers are pretty self-explanatory (peak refers to age 27 season). I've also thrown in the name of a player who would compare well statistically if the projections hold true. General assumptions are that offensive levels ...
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California Fall League Report: Lancaster at Lake Elsinore

Monday, November 8, 1999
by Geoff Young
After fighting through some nasty traffic to get out of San Diego, my wife and I arrived at the Lake Elsinore Diamond in the 2nd inning of the season finale. This game was everything that my first California Fall League experience wasn't: well played, well attended, and, well -- more like an actual baseball game. By the time we showed up, the home Land Sharks were already up, 1-0, thanks to a leadoff homer from Oriole outfielder Roberto Rivera. After receiving our complimentary set of Land Sharks baseball card, we quickly found our seats, in the first row, behind home plate. We sat in the section right next to all the scouts, with their radar guns, notepads, and cellular phones. Oriole righthander Sean Douglass, from nearby ...
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Posted in Baseball | 1 Comment »