It may also have something to do with being a relative soft-tosser (his fastball tops out in the high-80s and he only throws it about 43% of the time!). At that lower velocity, when people do make contact and put the ball in play you’ve got to imagine it’s liable to be hit hard. His main attribute seems to be that he doesn’t walk too many and doesn’t give up an outrageous number of HR as he’s mostly a groundballer.

But he has been a little unlucky and has been putting together solid back-of-the-rotation FIPs the last 4 or 5 years.

When a pitcher’s BABIP is that high over a sustained period time, it means he throws meat. Perhaps he gives up a disproportiate amount of line drives vs. groundballs and flies, or perhaps hitters make harder contact consistently no matter the trajectory.

A ex-Nat i can talk about.

It would be a good pickup for the cards to sign odalis for about 1 mil guaranteed and have him as a swing-man/lefty long reliever.

The cardinals do not have any proven lefty pitching this year (and odalis’s era and FIP shows he does much better in the NL, and he’ll do better with the cardinals’ defense behind him than the nationals’ AA-team-for-half-the-year-because-of-injuries was), and i’m sure odalis would take a bullpen role if it keeps him on a major league roster. He’s playing in the WBC but it’s not as a starter.

all of those teams had pretty bad defenses over that time. The Nationals allowed a .305 BABIP against last year, KC allowed a .311 in 2007, the Dodgers allowed a .310 in 2006 and KC allowed a .315 in 06. Defense is the number one factor in BABIP.

Two things I neglected to mention above, possible counter-points to the sign Odalis argument -

1) He’s apparently a grade-A douche. In an org that seems to value “team chemistry” and has a manager who likes to fall out with players, that’s perhaps not an ideal combination.
2) He can’t hit a lick. Whilst his pitching last year was worth about as much as Braden Looper’s (Looper’s 1.7 wins to Perez’s 1.5) his hitting was worth over half a win less than Loop’s, making him a less valuable player in the NL. It’s possible Perez has a bit more upside, though, as he has been an occasionally dominant pitcher in the past and is still only 32.

did get it wrong. his FIP was actually higher than his ERA for the first time in some time this last year.

kick the puppy

Yes, that move was quite unfortunate, in hindsight, but, apparently, normal operating procedure for Mr. Rickey. He traded almost every “star” the Cards had in the ’30’s and early ’40’s before they got “old” (or maybe it was expensive).

My girls bought me “The Baseball Chronicle” for Christmas this year. I’ve been reading one year a day since then and it’s a wonderful stroll back. Even though the Cards were very good in the ’40’s, one has to wonder if the Big Cat were still there with Musial, et al if that success would have carried through into the early ’50’s. I’m just glad that Mr. Rickey was no longer GM when Mr. Musial came around!

- that’s a bit facetious, perhaps. It’s simply because there’s someone out there who offers positive performance (better than our current 6th starter and our current #5 are likely to put up) who’s available for virtually nothing.

These low-risk, low-reward “adding a useful piece for peanuts” sort of moves can really improve a team, and it’s an easy way to add a win or two for little outlay. It’s what the Rays have been doing successfully all off-season, adding small, incremental improvements in areas where they lack depth or where the current incumbent is easily improveable (see: Boggs or Piniero c.2009). I’d still have preferred, you know, Derek Lowe or somebody, but I’d rather have Odalis Perez than nada, arguments in favour of trying out the youngsters notwithstanding.

It isn’t sexy but keep adding half a win here, half a win there, and proofing our team against the extreme likelihood of injuries as the season rolls on, and it could add up to the marginal gains needed for a place in the postseason. Plus, if it doesn’t work, you’ve lost nothing but pocket-change.

or even pay us to play in St Louis due to the fact that he won’t have to face the mang a couple of times a year…

I just had that idea too

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/commishs-hot-stove/commishs-hot-stove/cardinal-beat-updates/2009/02/la-russa-pens-game-1-lineup-schumaker-at-2b-rasmus-in-lf/

that TLR thinks that Rasmus needs more seasoning before elbowing Ank out of Center Field. Even I know that he should switch the two, and Ankiel is one of my favorite players.

Any time you can sneak in a line from Abe, it’s a good thing.

First place I saw it was in the classic Fungoes April Fools article Pujols comes clean, reveals problem with "bionic elbow". An even funnier read with all the A-Rod uproar.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mang

Crap!

There was just a huge disagreement about weather hitters had enough time to pick that up just the other day here

fabulous quality, much better than what I expected, with the print production on par with what you’d get from the team media guide except that the analysis is much better and the writers don’t pull any punches. The authors are critical, but VEB-style, with analysis to back it up, rather than bernie-style blather ;) And the player blurbs are well-researched enough that I learned something I didn’t know about almost every player. Amazing.

I just ordered a second copy to be sent to my Dad in Branson…

so I’m glad to hear they’re getting good marks.

oh.

I just can’t stand to see people hoping for Odalis Perez, of all people to come in here and be some sort of savior.

I’m not sure anyone said that. He’s basically free (by MLB standards) and could add some depth. That’s all. No-one’s arguing he should be the opening day starter, and no-one even wants him in the rotation (except possibly instead of Pineiro, but it’s close).

Just because we all wanted to see Lowe, or Sheets, or some other big FA acquisition and it hasn’t come to pass, doesn’t mean that the ballclub should ignore any freely available talent out there. I can understand the frustration with the club (I had my hopes pinned on Sheets, or, at worst, someone like Garland, before it became clear that Carp might be ready for opening day) but ignoring small, incremental additions that might help the ballclub just because we wanted a big signing is a bit obtuse, IMO.

The Rays and RedSox have had fantastic off-seasons by signing cheap, under-the-radar talent to small or incentive-based contracts and have improved already very good teams by filling a few minor gaps and improving depth. There’s a lot to be said for moves like that.

I don’t think anyone here seriously wants Odalis in the rotation. And don’t worry, we’ll trade for Halladay in June….maybe…..ok, probably not but there could still be a trade left to make out there. I trust Mo, and remember ST has just barely begun. Deals can be made until the end of July.

This is why I look forward to Wednesdays

It would be sweet

if we were in the DH league but still

I like that lineup.

link