Evan Grant chat session at 11 a.m.
by Adam J. Morris on Oct 5, 2009 10:11 AM CDT
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PrintEvan Grant, now back at the DMN, is doing a chat session at the DMN website at 11 a.m.
Go participate and ask good questions.
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The whole Cruz issue is maddening.
Grant seems to be drinking the koolaid . Cruz hit his exact average with runners in scoring position, and he hit low in the order for much of the year thus missing a lot of RBI opportunities. How can a manager in charge of a team as offensively crappy as the Rangers were this year justify keeping his best power bat on the bench? Maddening i tell you. And I also don’t like that none of the reporters that cover the Rangers seem to press for any answers on this issue. EG’s answer is Cruz is ‘Streaky’? Really?
It didn't make the chat cutoff
But I did ask “streaky? More so than Josh Hamilton or Ian Kinsler?”
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912) also -
"Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance."
~Ambrose Bierce
by Ed Coffin on Oct 5, 2009 1:12 PM CDT up reply actions
I just can't believe...
that any intelligent person would still judge a hitter, in part, by using RBI.
Simply stupefying.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Brilliant idea Evan!!!
trade Cruz (who will make near the minimum again next year) for an OF that will hit 25-30 hr and about 100 rbi.
"You can probably stick a fork in the Rangers' playoff chances for 2009." - AJM on 7/26 with the team 4.5 games out
and cost $5M
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Nellie tied with the team lead
at 6.1 ABs/RBI with Byrd. He also had 4 of 6 months with an OPS above .880. I don’t think he is nearly as streaky as Kinsler.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Another brilliant Evan idea
Leave Neftali in the pen. I like his beat writer stuff, but damn his analysis suuuuuuucks.
"You can probably stick a fork in the Rangers' playoff chances for 2009." - AJM on 7/26 with the team 4.5 games out
fortunately Evan isn't runnung the team
Bot Nolan and JD have said Feliz will have the opportunity to be a SP.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Seems like Evan is going the TR Sullivan route and just regurgitating what Wash says.
Hank is 7 runs below a zombie replacement at first base. Do you realize how terrible that is? Zombie’s can’t think, they’re slow, and they’re often ejected from the game for eating opposing baserunners’ brains. - Ben quantifies Hank Blalock
by LSJ on Oct 5, 2009 7:12 PM CDT up reply actions
It does seem like whenever he does some analysis
or offers an opinion it falls in line with what the Ranger’s front office or Ron Washington.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
I asked Evan
for behind the scenes details on why Hank F was buried after having a good game on September 2 and why they went back to him after the humiliating 1 run in 5 game debacle (with the team 7.5 games out).
EG gave me the Heisman.
Methinks the DMN is going to continue their policy of never being critical of the Ranger FO / ownership until further notice.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"Ranger players, especially veterans, weren’t surprised that Daniels couldn’t find a deal"
Josey
You know the answer to that. You just won’t accept it.
But just in case you weren’t sure, here it is again:
Hank’s post ASB OPS: 585.
For comparison, that’s nearly 100 points lower than Chris Davis’ first-half OPS, when he was a “sack of shit” who was supposedly single-handedly dragging down the entire team.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d bet that continuing to give full-time at-bats to Hank F when he was hitting worse than Yuniesky Betancourt wouldn’t have played really well in The Room.
"I cannot believe how fucking off base I was about Tiny E before this season. The Kid is great and is going to become a star."
- Wails
So
what went on behind the scenes to publicly make a big deal that Hank F wasn’t going to play any more (even though he had a good game on September 2) and then go running back to him with pants around the ankles / hat in hand on September 19 when the team had scored 1 run in 5 games and was 7.5 games out?
How big was JD’s failed smile after the team scored 3 runs and Hank F’s HR was the difference that ended the losing streak?
Surely there had to be some juicy behind the scenes things going on between Wash and the Ranger FO during this time and I wish Evan would have confirmed/denied.
Ignoring the question gave me the answer.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"Ranger players, especially veterans, weren’t surprised that Daniels couldn’t find a deal"
I think a smaller OF
such as Fenway’s LF would hurt a player’s UZR and +/- rating.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Feliz
I like to flip questions the other way, when I’m looking for an answer such as this and often times the answer becomes pretty apparent.
Do you think the rest fo the league would be happy or sad to see the following pitchers moved to a 7th/8th inning role?
Feliz, Halladay, Greinke, Santana, Verlander, Peavy, CC, Beckett, Lincecum, etc.
Said differenty, if news broke today that the Ms were just too concerned with what high pitch counts were doing to Felix’s shoulder and all of next season they were going to liimit him to a set up role, pitching no more than 3X/6IP per week (at best), EVERY Rangers reporter, blogger, writer and columnist would drop everything to talk about it and unanimously concur that this was AMAZING news for the Rangers. It would be huge from a competitive advantage standpoint.
I love Evan’s baseball savvy, but he’s not thinking straight on this one.
Now leaving CJ in the pen, when you have NO OTHER (at least right now) lefties that can fill that role (pitching up to 5X per week, in the 8th and 9th innings), is understandable (and I don’t think anyone is saying CJ COULD be a top 10 starter in BB).
Those are my thoughts…
Jack Daddy
I wouldn't put Feliz in with that group of pitchers.
But I understand your point.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Agreed
SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE REPLY — NOT USED TO THIS FORMAT
But, we don’t know what he is, only what his potential could be. That’s part of the point. But playing devil’s advocate, since Feliz isn’t on that level YET. Replace those 8 names with Anderson, Cahill, Porcello, Neiman, Price, Happ, Matusz, etc.
Same argument – we would LOVE IT, because you can’t influence a pennant race or season as much throwing 60 innings vs. 160-180. People like to throw Rivera’s name into the argument. Really? That’s why we shouldn’t move Feliz? Because he the Yankees left the greatest closer in the history of the game as a closer? Well then, by all means, Feliz should be in the pen (meanwhile, nobody is suggesting that Feliz CLOSE next year. If they were, I suppose the argument MIGHT be closer, but even then it would be stupid).
BTW, notice the comments under Evan’s chat? Think he’s already going back over there, with those idiots that hang around? I can’t take them.
Jack Daddy
no need to double post
if you fail to hit the reply button. We all do it from time to time.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Mitch Moreland -Tom Grieve Rangers Minor League Player of the Year
Martin Perez - Nolan Ryan Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year
Agreed
But, we don’t know what he is, only what his potential could be. That’s part of the point. But playing devil’s advocate, since Feliz isn’t on that level YET. Replace those 8 names with Anderson, Cahill, Porcello, Neiman, Price, Happ, Matusz, etc.
Same argument – we would LOVE IT, because you can’t influence a pennant race or season as much throwing 60 innings vs. 160-180. People like to throw Rivera’s name into the argument. Really? That’s why we shouldn’t move Feliz? Because he the Yankees left the greatest closer in the history of the game as a closer? Well then, by all means, Feliz should be in the pen (meanwhile, nobody is suggesting that Feliz CLOSE next year. If they were, I suppose the argument MIGHT be closer, but even then it would be stupid).
BTW, notice the comments under Evan’s chat? Think he’s already going back over there, with those idiots that hang around? I can’t take them.
Jack Daddy
Evan Grant continues to be a great beat guy
and a fucking disaster of an analyzer. Thank goodness a guy like him doesn’t run this team.
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