Interesting Article from BA

I was scrolling through my favorite blogs and found this very interesting article.
To me, most of the signings shown had results I expected. Anytime you sign a pitcher over 30 to a multi-year deal you are asking for trouble. The major reason I was glad the Indians didn't sign Kevin Millwood. Signing them to a one year deal is safe, but extended contracts for pitchers for small market teams are a no-no. Just look at A.J. Burnett, the BlueJays took a big risk signing him to the deal they did. He may be 28, so relatively younger than the pitchers in the study, but we are talking about a pithcer with a history of injuries.

The guys at Baseball Analysts always do a great job of giving sabermetric orienteted information, and they give great insight on college baseball and prospects. I would recommend adding their blog to your bookmarks.

Random thoughts...

-Nothing exciting really on the front for the Tribe. They've been fairly successful this spring. Not a whole to say until the first cuts when ST gets a little furthur in. I guess the good thing is that there arent any serious injuries or no shows. Marte and Garko have done pretty well respectively.

-Something I learned while reading yesterday was that the preconceived notion where walks/patience equivocates to power is wrong. Instead it is reversed. Power leads to walks. I can't link the article because its a Baseball Prospectus Premium article. However, if you have a subscription and have yet to see the article let me know. You might be thinking to yourself, why does power lead to walks...here's an excerpt

One stathead cliché is that walks produce power. Although there is an important relationship between the two, I believe it is actually the other way around: power produces walks. In the very rigorous, multivariate regressions that I’ve done as part of PECOTA, I have found that isolated power and batting average are both favorable predictors of walk rate, but the reverse isn’t true: walk rate doesn’t predict power.

The article had graphs and statistics showing what he believed to be true, and it is certainly something I will look into as the season begins.

Can't Get Enough

Yesterday, the Tribe lost to the Mets 6-3. However, Sizemore had almost a perfect day going 3-for-3 with a homerun, and 2 rbi's. Also, Garko and Marte both got a couple of hits as well.




After just receiving Baseball Prospectus's new book in the mail, along with the three other baseball books I have recieivd the past two months, I cannot wait to see how this upcoming season unfolds. This could possibly be Barry Bonds last chance to be baseball's all-time homerun leader. This could be the year where the Indians finally give Cleveland its first championship since before the SuperBowl Existed. What rookies will take center stage this year? Will managers learn to use their ace relievers when there is a jam in the seventh or eight innings? Or will they keep their best reliever on the pine while their third best reliever is going through the heart of the order with two men on in the seventh inning? There is a lot im looking forward to this season, and I hope it will make for some exciting comments and analysis.

Major leagues?

What is with MLB not having boxscores for the spring training games. Its not like they publish them an hour or two following the game, they dont publish them at all. Therefore , i am forced to visit ESPN or CBSSportsline's websites to get a boxscore. You cant tell me MLB wouldnt mind having the visits to their webpage having these boxscores would bring.

As for the Indians, a 6-3 lost to the Mets so far, I will talk more about the game later as I have yet to find a boxscore, and it wasnt on the radio today.

Undefeated in '06

There isnt much to say about the Tribe's opening ST win today because well it wasnt televised or on the radio. Talk about torture. Although, looking at the box score it seems Andrew Brown had a good start wtih 3ks in 2 innings.

Number 2 of my questions for the Indians is their starting pitching.
Paul Byrd: He certainly pitched well last year for the Angels, and if he can repeat it this year he will certainly be a better than average innings eater for the Tribe.
My concern is with Jason Johnson. Unless he can be better than Elarton was last year the Indians are probably gonna allow more runs than they did last year. This makes me think either Shapiro is expecting a better offense, or hoping Carmona makes a strong Spring Training push.

First Spring Training Game

With the Indians' first ST game coming tomorrow, there are a few things I will be looking for while they are in Florida and early on in the season.
1.) Will Boone and Broussard be on the team by the end of the season?
Grabbing Andy Marte from the RedSox for Coco Crisp was a great deal by Shapiro. They adressed a critical weakness in the farm system, and brought in one the best (if not the best) 3rd base prospects in the game. I just cant see Shapiro being happy with the production from the corners, and eventually something is gonna have to be done. How far is Garko from being ready at First base? Broussard has alot to prove this year, or he could run the same fate as Boone. Credit Shapiro for having other alternatives at first in case Broussard flops as well.

number 2 will be coming tomorrow.