Asshole Chicago fans strike again. Classless fuckers.

Really? A guy with the handle "EagleFan" and a fan of all things Philadelphia calling a fanbase classless?

it'd accomplish that your better players don't get stupid suspensions

I doubt the "better players" are thinking straight at the time.

At the cost of getting you and whatever "scrub" you sent out there suspended for a loooooong period of time.

One cool result of the Youkilis ejection - Mike Lowell was the first substitute to have a multi-homer game since Joe Foy in 1967.

I just saw the Victorino/beer incident, what a moron. I laughed when I saw the Phillie fan throwing popcorn at the Cubs fan being dragged away.

i suppose. but that's why you have a farm system and bench players

Some random scrub out of the dugout probably only makes the league min and isn't likely to want to give up the 25K or so the 10game vacation would cost

eh, so you get creative with his compensation package

And consider the GM probably gets suspended, too.

If a "star" doesn't want to get plunked, fill in the next douche who plunks you and they'll think twice about wanting to be victim number two.

If it was simple as just telling Youk not to charge the mound, then they'd tell him not to charge the mound.

In the heat of the moment, he does something stupid. Even if you had a whole scheme setup where someone else charges the mound, Youk would have just run alongside him, because he was pissed off. He didn't care about the consequences.

Pretty much the best we can hope for from Pedro, however, Hamels needs to get his f'in head on straight for the remainder of the season.

He looked pretty gassed in that 5th inning.

Atlanta is now 19-10 in the post-Frenchy era. It's a shame he wasn't dealt earlier in the season.

To be fair, maybe there wasn't anyone dumb enough to make a favorable trade with until then. Some of the proposed deals I saw before that made it look like we were just gonna get another Francoeur back.

The Royals released Ryan Freel. I'm not sure why the acquired him in the first place. I don't see why you go down that road when you're as bad as the Royals. Let those ABs go to a kid who might develop, which I guess they're doing now with Anderson.

Francouer before the trade: .634 OPS, 32 R's, 35 RBI's, 46 K's in 304 AB's
Francouer after the trade: .814 OPS, 12 R's, 20 RBI's, 13 K's in 111 AB's

Church before the trade: .707 OPS, 26 R's, 22 RBI's, 22 K's in 202 AB's
Church after the trade: .835 OPS, 14 R's, 10 RBI's, 9 K's in 62 AB's

Yeah I can't say I've been disappointed by Francouer. Low expectations of course, but at least he can play everyday.

And lest anyone be confused, I just threw those numbers out there figuring I wasn't the only person who didn't know what they actually looked like versus what they sort of kind of figured they were.

The benefit to the move for the Braves comes not only in the clubhouse but also in the batting order with Church hitting in the bottom of the order while Francouer was still getting AB's nearer the heart of the order. Plus at about the same time the switch from Johnson to Prado really kicked in, so there was more than one thing going on to improve the Braves performance at the time of the trade.

Even though the Braves essentially got a Francouer-ish type player in return, it helped that he was left-handed so we had someone who could platoon with Diaz. Plus, if Anderson needs a spell, we don't lose a lefty bat in the lineup.

btw, did anyone else see Anderson turn on the pitch last night for his HR. His game has slipped, but that batspeed and his wrists were unbelievable.

I'm not above saying I told you so to Braves fans. ;)

I said in April and May that GA doesn't even start to show up until the second half, but once he does, he's generally a pretty productive player. No star or nothing, but not a guy you are pissed at having in the lineup at least.

But, boy, do I know the frustration of watching him play in April and May and waiting until the weatehr heats up.

He's still the laziest looking player I've ever seen, with the most lackadaisical approach to base running & defense. If any player ever needed greenies ...

edit to add: And he's still less productive for the year than the departed Kotchman.

Yeah, that's always been the hang on him, that he is so lazy looking and acting. Biggest regular complaint us Angels fans had about him, which is why the fanbase was always a little ambivalent about GA, even when he was an MVP candidate in the early 2000s.

I haven't looked at the numbers. How are you defining productive? I was at the Dodger game on Sunday and got an eyeball glance at GA's numbers and they topped what I recall Kotch having, but I am talking the basics here, not the saber stuff, and only hitting. But you don't need to tell me about Kotch, I always liked him when he was here. I still don't much understand that trade from either perspective (Braves or Red Sox).

Looking at his numbers for the first time myself, the .315 OBP sticks out to me as unproductive.

Garret Anderson: 97 OPS+
Casey Kotchman: 102 OPS+

So Anderson isn't even above average in production this year.

dola

And Anderson is only 104 OPS+ for his career. That's much lower than I thought.

He isn't that great of a player, but at least he appears decently in the field (I haven't looking at UZR and range factor numbers, so that's a totally subjective opinion).

He's always been limited with respect to sabermetric stats because he's almost aversive to talking walks. He was always a straight contact guy. Fit right in on the Angels of course. Most years, he was lucky to break 30-40 walks, IIRC.

Defensively, at his peak, Anderson was always a functionally solid but usnpectacular fielder. Fans around here always suspected he could reach more balls, but that was based on the notion they think he's not giving 100%. No one in baseball seems to think he doesn't give 100%, though, that his "lazy look" is just the way he is, a quiet guy who is very methodical, doesn't start anywhere fast, but he gets there, sorta thing. He played CF pretty well one year when Erstad was hurt most of the season, too. I would presume he's slower now, since he has had some leg problems the past few years (and he's older, of course).

If you throw out sabermetric stats, he doesn't hit well enough to offset it either (career .296 BA).

Hell, Alfonso Soriano doesn't talk walks either, but he's a career 114 OPS+ hitter and has got some speed.

You made me curious, so ...
Garret Anderson Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

He's a bit below league average in RF this year (1.83 to 1.96), but it's been worse in previous seasons & he hasn't been league average since 2003. The Rtot(Fielding Runs Above Average) stat is positive though, so it seems to point to his decreased range being offest by better than average fielding of the balls he does get to.

So to sum it up..

Garret Anderson has the work ethic of Manny Ramirez and the skillset of Dante Bichette

Depends on when you're measuring, I would think. In his early years and since about 2003, GA's been more of a CON guy, less power although he was usually pretty solid driving runs in. But no one from around maybe 1999-2003 would have turned down his production. I would imagine his OPS+ was higher during those years. He probably hit well enough to offset it then, and that's assuming you need to value that (not every baseball personnel guy is a saber guy).

He also almost never missed a game from 1995-2003 or so. It was strange when he became injury prone, because us Angels fans had been so used to his consistency.

Pretty close to the mark. OPS+ above 100 from 1999 through 2004 (104,103,104,127,131,104) but then only above 100 once since then 2007 (114), but remarkably consistent since 2004 (97,94,114,97,97)

What was the big deal with Halladay again? Lee is now 3-0 allowing a whopping total of one earned run a game.

Tired of Snell yet dawgfan?

Way too early to judge him in Seattle. The Yankees make a lot of pitchers look bad, and his last start he was getting jobbed on a regular basis by the umps - check the gameday on MLB.com and see how many strikes were called balls by the umps.

Obviously I want to see better results, but I'm not ready to write him off.

Can't believe the Reds got rid of Gonzales. It won't make any difference this year and the guy they got from the Red Sox probably won't make it to the majors, but at least Jocketty won't pick up his option for 2010.

Now if only the Reds could find a taker for Willy Taveras, I might regain some faith in the front office.

yay we get AGon back!!! He makes me happy.

Nice to see the Pirates playing competitive.

17-2 cubs.

ugh.

MLB really needs to look at scheduling less minor league teams next year.

4th time this season Greinke pitches when the Royals get shut out. He drops his ERA to 2.33 but gets no run support and gets the no decision.

SI

3rd game-winning homer allowed by Rafael Soriano in his last 8 appearances for Atlanta.

Felix Pie hit for the cycle, and felt he had to apologize to Mike Scioscia, who was upset that Pie celebrated. Chris Tillman also picked up in first big league win. Nights like those show hopefully they'll be good.... Eventually.

Eventually will probably be much sooner than you think. The Orioles offense is decent to begin with and will only get better as guys like Wieters and Reimold really put things together. The starting staff will be very good in a couple years with starters like Guthrie, Tillman, Matusz, Hernandez, Arrieta, Erbe and Britton. The future is bright in Baltimore. I think they'll be very good in 2011.

Absolutely, just have to hope they pan out. Bergesen and Hernandez have done good, while Matusz and Tillman have shown they can be good. Brandon Snyder can hopefully take over at 1st next year, and Josh Bell (who they got in the "Flat Breezy" trade) can take over for Mora at some point.

They need to put Pie in left field, trade Luke Scott, and put Reimold at DH.

I think their better with Reimold in left and Pie coming off the bench. I'm not sold on Pie. Snyder will play 1B next year. He's come a long way from a Virginia SS and all those injuries in the low minors. I guess the one thing Baltimore really doesn't have are outfield prospects after Reimold but I guess they're ok with Jones in CF and Markakis in RF. :D The middle infield is kind of barren, too. Ryan Adams is just now putting things together at Frederick.

Crazy 9th inning for the Red Sox/Rangers last night. I still have no idea why Terry Francona would pinch run Buchholz for Varitek both after Varitek got on base and after he had Woodward attempt the bunt. I can understand the pinch running, I just don't understand the placement. But then Francona/Buchholz get bailed out by 5 straight hits with 2 outs. Could be the difference for the Wild Card.

Been seeing stories lately how the Nats still haven't signed Strasburg. What happens if they can't sign him? I probably should know this, but I don't.

/tk

He goes back to the draft next year and Washington gets the #2 pick in the draft next season.