Comments on: Spring Training Status Report

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:50:32 +0000

[25] Heh heh hehheh. Point taken.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:02:48 +0000

[24] God forbid Long does his job and makes a good hitter better. I understand your concern, but Johnson is tearing up spring training, so whatever he’s doing is working.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:51:00 +0000

[21] I know, but did you read the thing the other day about what Long was saying? Working on Nick’s weight transfer or keeping his back foot planted or something? Long seemed very optimistic that with some adjustment, Nick could really be a home run threat. It sounded a lot like a serious plan to me, which is the source of my discomfort.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:48:36 +0000

[19] Hah ah ahh ah aha a !!! He did, that’s right!

By: a.O

a.O — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:56:55 +0000

[20] The only thing you need to know about Neyer is that he hates the Yankees with a passion.

By: OldYanksFan

OldYanksFan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:16:43 +0000

We have NJ batting 2nd, followed by Teix and ARod. I don’t think the message is to hit HRs. Nick has played in YS before and it didn’t screw up his swing. My guess is he will just accidentally hit a few HRs to RF.

By: Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO

Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:15:32 +0000

Venting time? I really used to love Rob Neyer but have now given up..hislatest blog post just made me wanna wretch..The Red Sox are a “fine organization” for letting No-mahhh sign a one-day deal then retire? Umm..doesn’t every team do this for their start players? Really, at some point can Rob just come out and admit he’s not an impartial journalist anymore? Got my back here, thelarmis?? (Yes, I take this shit wayyyyy too seriously!)

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:16:21 +0000

[18] Yeah, he hit Keith Olberman’s mom in the head! Ding!

Wait . . .

Agreed on the games, that’s the most important stat for Nick Johnson. Anything in triple digits would impress me.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:15:23 +0000

Remember what happened to Knoblauch when he got it into his head that he could hit dingers?

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:14:29 +0000

[16] Yes, I saw that double, it was a thing of beauty! I’ll be really happy if he can stay focused on solid contact, my concern is just that if he starts to feel he’s “expected” to hit more home runs that could lead to disaster.

But actually, this will all be moot, considering who we’re talking about. We’re talking home runs when we should be talking health. If he can give us 125 games, home runs or no, we’ll call it a success.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:53:48 +0000

[15] Well, he laced an opposite-field double over the LF’s head the other day, so he seems to have both strokes working. Also, the homers have been from the RF gap to center, he’s not pulling it down the line.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:36:04 +0000

I have to say, this business about turning Johnson into a home run hitter worries me. I mean, sure, great if we’re just talking about tweaking his balance to harness more power but I don’t have a lot of confidence that encouraging hitters to hit with more power can be done without significant detriment to consistent line drive hitting. I’d really hate for Johnson, who evidently has a very, very nice off field stroke, to start getting pull-happy.

We’ll see what happens, but I just wanted to lodge my (predictable) complaint at the outset.

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:54:41 +0000

[7]

Correction:

Aceves (career) after 0-1 count: .164/.215/.275
AL pitchers 2009, after 0-1 count: .237/.279/.362

By: a.O

a.O — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:40:39 +0000

[10] It is really hard to argue with keeping him where he was last year because, as you say, he did a fantastic job. Imagine if he could do that for 6+ every fifth day?

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Maybe Ace is at least slightly ahead of the curve among A.L.pitchers, which is better than being < average.

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:30:59 +0000

[3] I agree that it might be a benefit of the decision, but not the overriding logic. In having Cano in the fifth hole, you’re almost force-feeding him at-bats with runners in scoring position; hoping that Long’s teachings will carry over from ST and get him going throughout the year if he has early success. Robbie-flavored Cano will almost certainly get a lot of hits if he maintains at the least the ability he had last year. Hope that it translates in this scenario.

By: bp1

bp1 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:28:12 +0000

Re: Ace.

Man – how many games did he save last year by throwing 2, 3, or 4 innings of shutout ball out of the pen, allowing the bats a chance for a come from behind win. He was an unsung hero. He won 10 games out of the pen, but I seem to recall he had a strong influence in many more – games that might have been losses without his contributions.

He was magic in the long guy role – an insurance policy for crappy starts. He turned a lot of crappy starts into wins, it seemed.

I kinda liked him exactly where he was. (shrug of the shoulders)

By: bp1

bp1 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:24:33 +0000

Thanks for the summation, Cliff.

Cano – man – untapped potential up the yazoo or what? Amazing ability to put the bat on the ball. If he can learn just a bit more selectivity about what he swings at – he will be a force.

Gardner. I ain’t seeing it. He just doesn’t look like a starter for a major league ball club. Johnny Damon might have had an uglier swing (barely), but at least JD made consistent contact – hard contact at that. Gardner? Not so much. Is Gardner really a better option than someone like Thames or Winn? Best case is he’s a one year stop gap until they get another outfielder next season or maybe at the trading deadline.

Joba/Phil. I’m rooting for Phil. Not that I dislike Joba, but there’s something about Phil that I like a lot. Maybe I’m suffering “Joba fatigue” from all the hand wringing over him the past couple years, I dunno. Or maybe it’s just that I’m a Phil guy. Either way this goes – I hope both those guys have breakthrough years and we can start talking about how good they are, not how much unrealized potential they have.

By: a.O

a.O — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:18:45 +0000

Cool. So what are you concluding from this?

Looks like he doesn’t differ much from the typical pattern, so that contradicts my hypothesis. On the other hand, guys do hit much better off him on the first pitch. So perhaps hmmm… is the correct conclusion.

Not sure how you would test the second part about predictability in selection & location with B-R, but I hope you try!

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:11:40 +0000

[6]

“When guys hit him hard it is because they get aggressive early in the count and/or start to guess right on his pitch selection. He could become Maddux-like if he overcomes those two problems by realizing when the hitting strategy changes and avoiding falling into a routine with his pitch selection.”

======

This caused me to run to B-R.com (again)

Aceves stats on first pitch of AB (CAREER): .321/.321/.547
Aceves stats after 0-1 count (career): .215/.275/.491
AL pitchers 2009, first pitch of AB: .340/.346/.563
AL pitchers 2009, after 0-1 count: .237/.279/.362

Things that make you say hmmm ….