Author: lee perrault

 David Ortiz

This Thank You Is Huge

Our rivals/enemies/counterparts 210 miles to the South came out with their own bit of news on the heels of CC Sabathia's poor 2 inning performance today (who cares if it's spring stats, it's still fun to say!). With the contracts of future Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in their final year this season, there's been much talk about what kinds of contracts the Yankees should extend to two icons that have been with the franchise for close to 15 years. Let's take a snapshot of both players from the point they signed their 2001 contracts. Derek Jeter has averaged 18.9 million per year during his 10 year contract, reaching as high as 21 million this year. Since 2002, he's been worth 40.1 Wins Above Replacement, averaging about 132.2 million dollars of market value. During that same time period, Jeter has been paid 157 million dollars. While it's not the return on investment you should see from a player who never officially reached free agency, it's a testament to what Jeter has been able to accomplish over the years, as the odds normally say a large long term contract like this usually follow the path the Cubs are enduring with Soriano.

March 10, 2010 lee perrault
Uncategorized

Scheduling Highlights

With opening day less than one month (wooo!) away, I wanted to highlight some points in the season to pay a little more attention to. Every season has easy stretches, tough road trips, and high leverage situations. Monday April 12th @ Minnesota The Red Sox play guests of honor at the home opener of Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins. With no contract yet in sight, story-lines will surround the possibility of Joe Mauer's final year with the Twins, and the coincidence that a potential suitor rolls into town on the heels of stalled or cancelled negotiations. Also, speculations of Target Field's park factors will be begin to arise. While rumor has it that Target Field is not going to repeat an opening month full of laughable power as Yankee Stadium did last year, the park's dimensions should be favorable for Minnesota's right handed power bats. Keep an eye on Cuddyer in fantasy drafts.

March 7, 2010 lee perrault
Sabermetrics

UZR Making Me Crazy

This tactic is starting to get really old. Dear Members of the Baseball Media, before you attempt to reference a statistic you're intentionally bashing, it would be prudent to actually learn what it is. Our newest culprit is Chris Gasper of the Boston Globe who decided to try and tackle the subject with a completely unbiased and objective analysis. For our viewers at home, my apologies if my last sentence overloaded your sarcasm meters. I'll replace them if they weren't very expensive. While using combative and derisive language, Gasper drew comparisons of newer baseball statistics to the masses being slaves to technological advances; these very same advances that fuel his blog. Right. I thought I'd go through Gasper's post piece by piece and see what we could find. Come enjoy the ride!

March 3, 2010 lee perrault
Sabermetrics

Sabermetric Tools

We talk about a handful of complicated metrics and pull data from a myriad of different places. One of the first things about diving into the world of Sabermetrics is knowing where to look for information for your own analysis. I included a list of my most favorite places for your perusal. Fan Graphs Slowly turning into the defacto SABR campsite, Fan Graphs gives you all the benefits of any normal statistical aggregator site, while also adding the more useful new metrics to every player page. Need to quickly find a player's xFIP, WAR, and specific batted ball data? Fan Graphs is the quickest way to get it.

February 28, 2010 lee perrault
Mike Lowell

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Today, Mike Lowell talked to the press about his role and future with the Boston Red Sox. Lowell wanted to reach out to the fanbase after his trade to the Texas Rangers failed to materialize in the offseason because of injury. Mike Lowell has comes to terms with the business of baseball, and that his past services to the ballclub shouldn't be overlooked, but also shouldn't prevent the club from continuing to improve position by position. He wanted to pass this along to the fans as well, to not look at his situation with any bitterness or contempt for the front office's decisions.

February 24, 2010 lee perrault
Uncategorized

The All-80s Players

Fooled you! Anyway, they only 80s I wanted to talk about were the 80 million dimes given to Johnny Damon by the Detroit Tigers, and how it relates to our favorite rivals 210 miles south. Personally, I was hoping teams would continue to stonewall Damon. With his declining defense, girl-scout level throwing power, and offensive season fueled by a short right field in Yankee Stadium III, the possibility that he couldn't even scrape by a $5M deal was fueling my schadenfreude. My guess was that he'd eventually cave to Kenny Williams' $4M deal the White Sox offered. This deal by the Tigers seems panicked, at best. After trading away Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson for prospects, I understand the need to restock the outfield to replace Granderson. However, I'm very curious about the timing.

February 21, 2010 lee perrault
Adrian Beltre

Wrapping Up the Offseason

Spring Training is only a day away, and it's been a busy offseason for the Red Sox in 2010. The team struggled in the playoffs last year after putting up another solid regular season; tweaks were made to sew up the loose ends on the team's defensive deficiencies. Another front line starter was brought into the fold. Is Lackey here to supplant Josh Beckett in 2011 and beyond, or simply be another high priced compliment to the rotation? With the Olympics currently underway, let's review what's happened this offseason, and see what moves the teams made deserved a spot on the podium. Third Base: Adrian Beltre replaces Mike Lowell While the Lowell trade was derailed by an injury the fan base is still scratching their heads over (was Lowell hiding it, was the organization?), the acquisition of Beltre signaled the end of Lowell's regular playing time. Arguably the most talented defensive third basemen in baseball, Beltre brings his slick glove to Fenway to provide the teams with the defensive wins they had lacked all last season. Even returning just to his 2008 level of offensive woudl make Beltre a 4 WAR player, a huge bonus for the Red Sox with minimal risk.

February 17, 2010 lee perrault
David Ortiz

Davey Beisbol

David Ortiz' last two seasons have been considered disappointments, there's no way to spin his plummeting OPS numbers. 2008 and 2009 were Ortiz' worst seasons since his final days in Minnesota, when he started to look more like a "never-will", rather than a burgeoning talent. Interestingly enough, I found something in his baseball-reference page that made me do a double take. David Ortiz' Hall Of Fame Monitor is extremely close to the range of "likely" Hall Of Famers. Not what I expected. I never quite considered David Ortiz a Hall of Fame candidate. For as happy as I was for Jim Rice, undoubtedly one of my childhood baseball heroes, I was never convinced he was a Hall of Famer either(actually, I'd still pick Dewey over him). I personally tend of have very high Hall of Fame standards, especially when a body of work without much domination is propped up by "Fear" or some other random reason. When I saw Ortiz' HOF Monitor score was a 92 (likely HOFers are 100+), I decided I wanted to investigate this further and wanted a player with similar Hall of Fame credentials to use as a comparison. The perfect player? Don Mattingly.

February 14, 2010 lee perrault
Pedro Martinez

Hope Springs Eternal

Right before spring training starts, the questions we've raised in the offseason taper off, and spring training battles slowly start to take shape. Major media outlets are trying to field any lagging fan questions, players without homes scramble for a job, or continue to pout and lament over their perceived value. One of the things I tend to do around this time of year is always go back to some of the reasons why I've worn this team like a red badge of courage for so long. In my short 31 years, I never suffered though the ultimate let down from the Impossible Dream, I never got to cheer the most famous fly ball ever to just stay fair, or got to give Bucky Dent a very special middle name.

February 11, 2010 lee perrault