I don’t think it’s totally beyond reasonable to give up a bit more than seems necessary when we can consolidate our talent into fewer people and a few picks that won’t be Rule V eligible. What are we down to now, 50? There are still some 5-10 players who can’t be protected, so between figuring out who shouldn’t be protected and consolidating that minor league talent into major league production, I think the Derosa move should make that a bit easier.

… Raz has recently had a fairly significant medical condition that has kept him out of the lineup.

over than that, i wholeheartedly agree: if he’s healthy, Raz should be playing every day.

I’m sorry, but he’s killing himself by not letting them walk him, practically turning himself into corey patterson with plus defense. I know it’s dumb rookie thinking, and he’ll be better next year or the year after or whatever, maybe, but at best given the approach he’s had so far he’ll have a .315ish OBP if he carries on the way he has been the last 2 months. Over the last 2 months, .277/.297/.503 (.800 OPS). And that .500ish SLF won’t carry.

And yes, I understand that a .800 OPS out of your +10-20 CF is awesome. It really, really, is. But colby needs to be the OBP machine that he showed he could be in the minors. OBP >>> SLG. Accept it, colby, and accept that the only active player with a career BA over .315 is Matt Holliday, and you aren’t Matt Holliday, so you need to take some of the cheap walks instead of making outs to make yourself even more valuable to your friggin’ team.

have 3rd row seats for fogerty tonight at the hollywood bowl, with the LA phil and fireworks etc. CF is one of the greatest songs of all time.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Pujols, Ryan, and Rasmus should play everyday that they’re able. I wonder how much Rasmus’s stomach ailments, or whatever the heck was going on, factored into his diminished PT over the past week or so. At any rate, the kid is legitimately as good as advertised. I do have a couple of concerns, though…

One thing that I do see though that worries me is that he’s a strictly pull hitter right now. He’s clearly wiry strong and can still hit outside pitches hard into the pull gap on occasion, but more often than not he either hits a weak pull-side flare or groundball or hits a lazy fly to left. With that said, the kid is just that, a kid, and he’s slugging .453 at the major league level with a horrible first month or so under his belt.

Second, this lack of walks is utterly disturbing. To me this is a much more serious issue than his pull-approach. Based on a quick look at his plate-discipline table on fangraphs, he doesn’t swing at more pitches out of the zone than the average hitter. However he DOES swing at a lot of pitches IN the zone, a whole 10% more in fact. He also makes contact with these pitches at a league average rate. Furthermore, when Colby does swing at out-of-zone pitches, he’s very unlikely to connect (48% to lg. average 62%).

To me, and I may be misinterpreting things, this suggests that he swings at an inordinate amount of pitchers’ strikes, thereby getting himself out (after all, just because it’s a strike doesn’t mean you should swing…this ain’t slow pitch!). Furthermore, when he does chase, which again isn’t more than the average player, he swings and misses a lot, which leads to strikes and strikeouts. With all this in mind, it seems that he gets himself out before a pitcher has a chance to walk him. I’m probably missing something here, but it’s still interesting to think about and I guess it’s the best I can come with as far as explaining why a guy who takes an average amount of O-swings doesn’t ever walk.

You said what most fans are thinking. TLR’s benching one of the only guys hitting on the team for other lefties who are ice-cold AND can’t field. There’s no justifiable reason for keeping him out of the lineup , no matter what his “magic baseball computer” spits out.

As for Rasmus’ “medical condition”—it’s easily-controllable heartburn. Anything more serious, and he’d be on the DL.

(Unless they’re lying about the diagnosis and Rasmus actually has an ulcer).

Pujols, in the on-deck circle, summoned Hoffpauir before the latter faced off against lefthander Daniel Ray Herrera.
“He told me to relax, get a pitch to hit and punch it the other way,” said the 26-year-old Hoffpauir. “Albert said (Herrera’s) changeup was his best pitch.”
[…] The pitch to Hoffpauir was a changeup, just as Pujols had said. “That’s why he’s so good. That’s why he’s Albert,” Hoffpauir said.


There was no question that Hoffpauir was nervous in his debut. “I think my knees were touching each other, I was shaking so hard,” he said.
link

Part of me thinks: Albert Pujols is ridiculous.
Another part thinks: Don’t they pay people to do this? This coaching batters thing?

A major league scout from another team observed the other day that “(Albert) Pujols should be promoted. He’s too good for this league.”

Then I can say “Dong jacked Hoff!”

Happy 4th!

1. Schumaker 2B
2. Rasmus CF
3. Pujols 1B
4. Duncan LF
5. Ankiel RF
6. Molina C
7. Thurston 3B
8. Thompson P
9. Ryan SS

apparently he kills lefties

With only the 7th most baserunning opportunities on the team (OPPS), such as opportunities to advance on balls in play or steal bases etc., Colby’s EQPBR, or runs earned on the base paths above the average, is 1.997, which is best on the team.
In 2006 Colby stole 28 bags in 36 attempts, (77.7%) almost Jacoby #‘s, granted against weaker catcher’s arms and slower pitcher’s deliveries.
So, Colby is obviously fast, but he is a great baserunner too. This is one large reason why his lack of walks and therefore OBP practically equalling his average is a concern.
Tony should consider batting Colby in front of Yadi until he starts walking more in front of Pujols, then again maybe the two hole will only ever see strikes due to fear of Pujols. By batting in front of Yadi he can show off his speed and steal more bases (Larussa probably is hesitent to send runnners batting in front of Pujols), or run on hit and runs. Yadi after all rarely swings and misses.
Batting order doesn’t really matter though according to Bill James. But I would like to see Colby attempt to steal more often.

the cubs had Rich Harden intentionally walk Fielder to load the bases with 1 out and the Brewers have gone on to score 5 runs here in the 1st. As Sleepy would say, that IBB was a “bad idea”.

Holy hell. He was only 36 too. What a tragedy.

On a related note, I love how in the wake of Sean Taylor’s death people in the media got a lot of material off of the whole “NFL players are scared!” angle. Then when Plaxico Burress shoots himself he’s an idiot for carrying a gun. I think that’s a bit contradictory.

Note-Now, Plaxico Burress didn’t seem to think that whole situation out so well, but if NFL players ARE targets like that, is it really a bad idea to tote a gun?

Chuck, this is dead on and thank you for articulating it so perfectly.