Weekend Recap

September 7, 2010

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On Sunday, I announced the intention to form a worldwide network of local reporters.  I neglected to mention a few things in the original article.  The first is that reporters are free to decline any opportunity for any reason.  The second is that I will attempt to suggest a few relevant questions whenever I give an assignment.  These are intended to be thought starters – you are not forced to answer these questions.  Drop me a line at kosmo@ObservingCasually.com if you have any questions.

Martin Kelly tried his hand at short story writing with The Bomber Pilot.  I like it – give it a read.

My Rockies swept the division-leading Padres over the weekend and nabbed a win against the Reds on Monday.  They are now just 4 1/2 games back in the NL West, thanks to an 11-4 record over the past 15 games.  The Padres have been free-falling as of late, and the Rockies might find themselves battling the Giants (whom they trail by 3 1/2 games) down the stretch.

Carlos Gonzalez has 10 hits in 19 at bats during the 4 games, boosting his league leading batting average to .340.  He trails NL home run leader Albert  Pujols by 4 homers and RBI leader Joey Votto by just a single RBI.  A hot stretch by CarGo would give him a legitimate shot at becoming the first NL player to win the triple crown since Ducky Medwick in 1937.  That year, Medwick paced the senior circuit with a .374 batting average, 31 homers, and 154 RBI.  If Gonzalez does win the triple crown, many people will point to his huge home/road splits.  However, as has been point out several times in the past, Coors Field boosts a typical player’s OPS by about 120 points.  The 450+ point differential enjoyed by CarGo must be due to some non-physical factors.

Today is the day that CarGo’s teammate Troy Tulowitzki will officially become one of his closest pursuers for the batting title.  Due to injury, Tulo falls just short of the threshold for plate appearances required to qualify for the batting title.  After yesterday’s game, Tulo had 424 plate appearances and the required number of PAs was 424.7.  4 plate appearances in today’s game will make him an official qualifier.

Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez finally notched his 18th win on Monday, in his 6th attempt.  After roaring out of the gates to a 14-1 record by the end of June, Ubaldo has run into a bit of a rough stretch, going 3-5 with a 3.98 ERA in the second half.  It hasn’t all been his fault, though.  he has lost the opportunity to win several games because of offensive struggles or bullpen woes.  In the 5 games prior to Monday, Ubaldo was 0-4 with a very good 3.00 ERA.  On the other hand, the offense has taken him off the hook in some games where he hasn’t been at his best (such as yesterday, when he gave up 4 early runs), so I suppose it all balances out in the end.

In NFL news, the Arizona Cardinals parted ways with quarterback Matt Leinart.  The Cardinals expected Leinart to be a cornerstone for them to build around – but in reality, he simply delayed their success by keeping the ball away from Kurt Warner.  Warner retired after last season, meaning that the Cardinals head into the season without their top two quarterbacks from last season.  Derek Anderson will be the starter and will be backed up by rookie Max Hall.

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis finally ended his holdout with the Jets.  I don’t begrudge professional athletes their money (are they overpaid?), but I despise holdouts.  A contract should be respected as a legally binding agreement.  So what if you outperform the contract – you agreed to a salary and should stick to it.  If you think you’re going to outperform your contract, just sign a one year deal with a tiny signing bonus in anticipation of cashing in with the next deal.  Interestingly, there’s a posion pill in the contract.  Id Revis holds out in the next few years, the 4 year deal becomes a 7 year deal – with the final 3 years at low salaries.  Sure, you might say that a player could still hold out anyway, but this posion pill gives the team considerably more leverage, as the player cannot negotiate with any other team while they are under contract.

6 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Evan @ 40Tech
    Sep 07, 2010 @ 10:25:54

    Sounds like the Rockies are gearing up for one of their September stretch runs. I still remember ’07, when they were so hot that it carried them throughout the playoffs.

    Reply

  2. Zarberg
    Sep 08, 2010 @ 15:57:43

    Being a former Mets fan who grew up in a family with a long history in Boston, I’ve developed into more of a Yankees hater than anything else. Mind you, I don’t wish any of them dead and I respect the Yankees who deserve me respect – I just love to hate that team.

    That being said, there was a really interesting article comparing Derek Jeter to … Marco Scutaro of all people. This year their “big three” offensive stats are nearly identical and unless you’ve lived under a rock or simply enjoy baseball for just the traditional stats, Jeter is nowhere near as good a defensive shortstop as he used to be, and he was slightly above average, at best, in his prime.

    http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/would-derek-jeter-take-less-money-to-help-new-york-yankees-contend-090610

    I almost wish the Yankees would lowball him to the point of him considering leaving. I don’t think that will happen, but sure would be interesting. Just what is the lowest amount he could take without genuinely being insulted?

    Reply

  3. kosmo
    Sep 08, 2010 @ 21:03:44

    I hope the Yankees give Jeter a ton of money as a reward for his years of service.

    Hey, why not make them overpay for a declining player? 🙂

    To be fair, though, using just this year to judge him probably isn’t fair – it’s a small sample size.

    Reply

  4. Zarberg
    Sep 08, 2010 @ 21:16:56

    Statistically speaking there’s a pretty big prescedent for a sudden and drastic decline when a player reaches mid-to-late 30’s.

    Reply

  5. Zarberg
    Sep 08, 2010 @ 21:17:14

    … and it would help if I could correctly spell precedent

    Reply

  6. kosmo
    Sep 08, 2010 @ 21:44:43

    Oh, certainly. But with a sample size of 500ish AB, it’s also possible that this level of suckitude is a fluke, and that Jeter will suck less next year.

    In any case, I’d love to see the Yankees give him 25M/year.

    Reply

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