ATM report--Minnesota Supreme Court refuses to hear the appeal

[nyy26wc]

1) The Minnesota Supreme Court refused to hear MLB and the Twins's appeal of the injunction that prevents the team from being contracted.

2) The Senate Judiciary Committee called a hearing on baseball's antitrust exemption, for February 13.

3) Phillies RF Bobby Abreu had an emergency appendectomy and is expected to be ready for the start of spring training.

Abreu's one of the most underrated players in baseball. He hit .543 SLG, .393 OBA, .936 OPS, 44 RCAA, .678 OWP, 7.85 RC/G, 132 RC in 162 games in 2001. It was the 4th time in his 4 years as a starter that Abreu had a .900+ OPS and his 3rd consecutive year with 44+ RCAA. Abreu had a .930 career OPS, compared to his league average of .781 and RF average of .831, 181 RCAA and 144 RCAP in 693 games.

4) The Yankees re-signed OF Shane Spencer to a 1 year, $885,000 contract.

Spencer hit .428 SLG, .315 OBA, .743 OPS, -2 RCAA, .475 OWP, 4.83 RC/G, 39 RC in 80 games in 2001. Following his storybook start to his career in 1998, he's had a negative RCAA and RCAP in each subsequent year. Spencer has a .792 career OPS, compared to his league average of .784 and positional average of .816, 6 RCAA and 3 RCAP in 251 games.

5) The Redsox signed 2B Quilvio Veras, OF Jeff Abbott and C Henry Mercedes to minor league contracts and invited them to spring training.

Veras had the worst year of his career in 2001, hitting .357 SLG, .330 OBA, .686 OPS, -9 RCAA, .386 OWP, 4.17 RC/G, 32 RC in 71 games for the Braves, before being released. He has a .734 career OPS, compared to his league average of .776 and 2B average of .739, 7 RCAA and 36 RCAP in 767 games. Veras had an OBA of at least .357 (his career league average is .344 and 2B average is .341) in each of his 6 years prior to 2001 and he has alternated between negative and positive RCAAs since 1997.

Abbott hit .333 SLG, .326 OBA, .659 OPS, -1 RCAA, .413 OWP, 4.22 RC/G, 5 RC in 28 games with the Marlins in 2001. He's had a respectable minor league track record, but hasn't received much major league playing time (649 PA in 5 years), in which he's had a .724 career OPS, compared to his league average of .781 and positional average of .780, -18 RCAA and -20 RCAP.

Mercedes had a .640 OPS, -3 RCAA and 0 RCAP in 170 PA, from 1992-97.

6) The Rockies re-signed P Jose Jimenez to a 1 year, $1.9375 million contract.

Jimenez had 8 RSAA in 56 games in 2001 and has 12 career RSAA in 161 games.

7) The Angels re-signed Ps Mickey Callaway, Steve Green, Elvin Nina and Derrick Turnbow and INF Alfredo Amezaga to 1 year contracts.

Callaway had a 7.40 ERA and -8 RSAA in 7 games with the 1999 and 2001 Devil Rays and was traded to the Angels in a minor league trade in December.

Green, 24, pitched in 1 game for the Angels in 2001 and had a 3.66 ERA in AAA in 2001. But, according to the Minor League Scouting Notebook, Green "tore a flexor muscle in his throwing arm. Status in doubt for now."

Turnbow had a 4.74 ERA in 24 games with the 2000 Angels. Last year, he suffered a fractured ulna, which didn't heal correctly, so he needed another surgery last month to place a pin in his arm and it's not known yet when he'll be able to resume his career.

Nina, 26, had a 5.47 ERA in AAA in 2001 and has never pitched in the majors.

Amezaga had a .795 OPS (.370 OBA, .425 SLG) in 70 games in AA in 2001 and a .637 OPS (.307 OBA, .330 SLG) in 49 games in AAA. He has a .748 career OPS (.368 OBA, .380 SLG) in his 3 years in the minors and was given a C+ grade by the Minor League Scouting Notebook.

8) The Devil Rays signed 1B-OF Andy Barkett to a minor league contract.

Barkett hit .413 SLG, .373 OBA, .786 OPS, 0 RCAA, .519 OWP, 5.56 RC/G, 7 RC in 17 games as a 26 year old rookie with the Pirates in 2001.

9) The Astros signed 3B Cole Liniak to a minor league contract.

Liniak was once a Redsox prospect, reaching as high as #2 on John Benson's team list in 1998, before having his stock plummet. He had a .524 OPS, -5 RCAA and -4 RCAP in 15 games with the 1999-2000 Cubs.

10) The Angels signed P Marty Janzen to a minor league contract.

I remember when the Yankees traded Janzen as part of a package to get David Cone in 1995. The day the trade was announced, scouts were quoted on the Yankees's TV broadcast as saying that, while the trade would be good for the Yankees in the short run, it would be regarded as a short-sighted horrible deal, as Janzen was a sure thing for future Cy Young Awards.

In 27 games with the 1996-97 BlueJays, that sure thing had a 6.39 ERA and -17 RSAA.

11) The Beaver County Times reports the Pirates could be interested in Yankees P Orlando Hernandez.

[Fleet N. Ema]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
11) The Beaver County Times reports the Pirates could be interested in Yankees P Orlando Hernandez.

Well, it looks like the ghost of Cam Bonfiay is er, alive and well in Pittsburgh. It appears the Bucs are interested in El Duque. He's 37-something, his ERA has gone up each year he's been in the majors (3.13, 4.12, 4.51, and 4.85), his RSAA's decline isn't quite as straight down (21, 7, 13, -1) but still....

He's coming off of an injury to boot. The only thing he might have to offer is an erstwhile impressive post season resume. That turns the Pirates interest from amusing to bordering on delirium. Geez, I can just picture an impressive World Series Game Seven, ninth inning rally off Mariano Rivera courtesy of Pokey Reese, Derek Bell, Pat Meares, and Kevin Young eh?

The Pirates said they needed a new park to compete--I think a new brain and a better player evaluation staff might've been a better investment. A new facility will not turn Gord Ash and Randy Smith into the second coming of Branch Rickey and George Weiss.

Best Regards

John

[Xanadu Dragon]

Beaver County Times - -

how much is this different from "Poontag Town News"?

[gyb13]

Originally posted by Fleet N. Ema
Well, it looks like the ghost of Cam Bonfiay is er, alive and well in Pittsburgh. It appears the Bucs are interested in El Duque. He's 37-something, his ERA has gone up each year he's been in the majors (3.13, 4.12, 4.51, and 4.85), his RSAA's decline isn't quite as straight down (21, 7, 13, -1) but still....
John, I must say that reading this paragraph made a :warn: alarm all over my computer. I think you mentioned somewhere you are a baseball columnist, so hopefully you'll welcome some constructive criticism:
The point you are trying to make is that El Duque has been declining over the past 4 yrs. I agree with that statement to a certain degree, but I have to be critical of your usage of stats to prove this.
First, ERA. Though it has gone up every year, you make no comparison of his ERA to the league ERA. In fact, his 4.51 was slightly better, relative to the AL, than his 4.12:
ERA+
1998 143
1999 109
2000 112
2001 92
Second, RSAA. From his RSAA numbers, you could make a statement like 'El Duque was about a league average pitcher in 2001.' Instead, you tried to loosely fit it with your ERA story so as to not have to say anything about his 2000 season being slightly better than 1999.
Third, 2001. There was no mention of the context of El Duque's drop - namely, his injuries which limited him to 17 gms in 2001. Instead, it is loosely implied that his decline is due to his age. Sure, a more advanced age can lead to more injuries, but there is no mention of this either.
Finally, "but still...". If this phrase is your closing argument on a subject, maybe the argument isn't that strong?

Just food for thought. I thought about making these points in a PM, but I decided not to (w/o wanting to single you out - sorry about that), in the hopes that people who read this are more critical about the context of statistics in a numbers-heavy sport like baseball. And now back to your scheduled program...

[Fleet N. Ema]

Originally posted by gyb13

John, I must say that reading this paragraph made a :warn: alarm all over my computer. I think you mentioned somewhere you are a baseball columnist, so hopefully you'll welcome some constructive criticism:
The point you are trying to make is that El Duque has been declining over the past 4 yrs. I agree with that statement to a certain degree, but I have to be critical of your usage of stats to prove this.
First, ERA. Though it has gone up every year, you make no comparison of his ERA to the league ERA. In fact, his 4.51 was slightly better, relative to the AL, than his 4.12:
ERA+
1998 143
1999 109
2000 112
2001 92
Second, RSAA. From his RSAA numbers, you could make a statement like 'El Duque was about a league average pitcher in 2001.' Instead, you tried to loosely fit it with your ERA story so as to not have to say anything about his 2000 season being slightly better than 1999.
Third, 2001. There was no mention of the context of El Duque's drop - namely, his injuries which limited him to 17 gms in 2001. Instead, it is loosely implied that his decline is due to his age. Sure, a more advanced age can lead to more injuries, but there is no mention of this either.
Finally, "but still...". If this phrase is your closing argument on a subject, maybe the argument isn't that strong?

Just food for thought. I thought about making these points in a PM, but I decided not to (w/o wanting to single you out - sorry about that), in the hopes that people who read this are more critical about the context of statistics in a numbers-heavy sport like baseball. And now back to your scheduled program...

My Bad, should've checked the ERA+. My basic point was that the Pirates shouldn't be looking at El Duque--he's not what I'd call a wise investment in the short or long term. They need an infusion of quality youth.

Feel free to criticize on the forum. I toss stuff out there so others can scrutinize, analyze, dissect my points--that's how I learn.

So if I write something that wasn't well thought out--fire away.

Best Regards

John

[gyb13]

Originally posted by Fleet N. Ema
My Bad, should've checked the ERA+. My basic point was that the Pirates shouldn't be looking at El Duque--he's not what I'd call a wise investment in the short or long term. They need an infusion of quality youth.
I definitely agree the Bucs aren't a good match.
Originally posted by Fleet N. Ema
Feel free to criticize on the forum. I toss stuff out there so others can scrutinize, analyze, dissect my points--that's how I learn.
So if I write something that wasn't well thought out--fire away.
Awesome. Open-mindedness in baseball folks (and all folk for that matter) is always in short supply. :)