…and I don’t think that Goldstein is sensitive enough to this…is that Andrus shows a willingness to draw walks, to go along with overall improvement over the course of a year at a level. For the year Andrus only draws a walk every 12.8 official at-bats and has an OBP of .340, but since the minor league ASB, he is right at what I see as an important line of one per ten, and his OBP is .360. A 19 year old with a .360 OBP in AA is not, in my mind, necessarily destined for the bottom of an order, or for poor on-base numbers in general.

Borbon is different. He’s three years older, has grown up in the more walk-friendly American environment, and when you compare his AA BA of .316 and his very poor very poor walk rate of one per 24.5 official at-bats, he’s simply a guy with no interest in taking bases on balls.

One thing I don’t get here. He says that Andrus is a plus defender with speed and a singles hitter – but with no other secondary skills. That smacks of bias to me. What other skills could he possibly have? There is only one more. Power. He doesn’t think that Andrus will hit for power, and without an outlandish OBP he’s just not going to like him.

I don’t know if Andrus will hit for 13-15 HR power (or hit a plus number of doubles), but to say that a player does everything but hit for power, then conclude that he has no other secondary skills, that’s pretty weak.

if a hot run in the playoffs can save his season….

From a guy who’s been psyched on him at points, I couldn’t be more meh’d out on John Whittleman.

Here’s hoping he’s not a headcase or injured or otherwise not cutting it. That guy can command the strike zone even when he’s off, but it still gets uuuugly.

10 bases in 19 attempts, like Borbon has in AA, that would make them useless.

I’m not sure hitting 300 in the minors projects to hitting 300 in the majors.

and i really think that as we see the game become less and less about steriods and power, we will see the other assets (speed, fielding, pitching) become more and more valuable. we’ve already seen that happening to a certain extent.

i also think a lot of these prospect guru’s would have been the types to say the prospect ricky henderson didnt have enough power so he isnt a complete hitter and that he probably wouldnt be more than a bottom of the order guy.

is just speed of movement. yes, pitching is an explosive activity. slowing em down just stresses the arm more (and lowers velocity). slow and controlled does not = improved mechanics.

about how all the pitchers today have to pitch a certain way or its wrong. pitching didnt used to be like that and im not sure the answer to pitching is like an answer to a math problem. there is no absolutes in anything really, and to think that every pitcher has to have the same mechanics and they must be perfect or it should be altered, i just have a huge problem with.

its kinda like our pitching dev. system, why is it that every kid learns a 2 seamer, a change and then a slider, in our system even arm angle is like that. arent each individual pitchers makeup and body different. some kid might have the makeup and ability to have the best slurve in baseball or the best cutter in baseball or the best 4 seamer in baseball and we wouldnt know it b/c we treat all the pitchers the same.

that worries me a ton with our dev. and after danks and his cutter and volqueso and his arm slot change, it really really worries me.

It’s more of a case to case basis…and by the way, improved mechanics is the OPINION of that particular team and their ‘pitching people’…

Don’t forget that he was consider the 2nd best SP in a weak pitching class.

In alot of ways he kinda loses the benefit of the doubt now in most scoutingvcircles and would have to perform even better than last year to get t he same type of interest

Add to the fact that he will heavily scrutinized now, with scouts not just asking how does he match up with the other college arms, but should even be considered 1st round talent

I’d try the web broadcast (assuming it exists) over the television. I taped the USA vs China game, but the coverage only picked up in the sixth.

Baseball Musings had a link up today that said Pettite asked not to pitch to Pudge after the first time…Yankees might still be looking for a solution at catcher if Posada can’t come all the way back.

Just scanned your article and also the one about the inverted W arm action, which I have always referred to as scap loading. Good stuff. I see you came across Paul Nyman. Man that takes me back. I remember having a few exchanges with that guy neary a decade ago. Talk about making stuff up along the way.

of the BMac-Nolan bullpen session, as compared to Connor’s firing?

Here: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/gamechatter/discussion/boston_red_sox_73_53_baltimore_orioles_60_65_wednesday_august_20_2008_705pm/P100/

Somebody mentions the Red Sox altered his arm slot when he was sent down with the intention of improving his fastball command and he’s gotten worse since…there’s also some talk about his meteoric rise last fall perhaps going to his head, so a combination of mechanical/mental problems may be in play right now…

I guess that makes him an interesting buy-low candidate (though I’m not sure why Theo would want to deal him), but whatever.