Viva El Birdos Week in Review: 2/8/14-2/14/14

The VEB community projection series continued this week, transitioning to the pitching staff. Fourstick and Joe were guests on the Peoria Chiefs podcast. Jason Parks from Baseball Prospectus popped in to offer some more prospect insight in the comments section of Fourstick's writeup on Vaughn Bryan. RB gave us his annual spring surprise post. Craig compared Ozzie and Jeter. And more...

By Ben Humphrey Feb 15, 2014, 7:00am EST

VEB Writers on Podcasts

Fourstick was a guest on Peoria Chiefs play-by-play broadcaster Nathan Baliva's podcast this week.
Joe was also a guest on Baliva's Peoria Chiefs podcast.

Fanposts of Note

VEB stalwart The Moocow gave us his predictions for 2014. :=8O
stlfan: Best of Missouri Team #1 (1980-2010)
bmarkham: 2014 World Series Odds
kicker31 wants to know who you think the Cardinals' 2020 All-Star Game representatives will be.

VEB Site News

VEB Social Chair a fink has announced the date for VEBDAY 2014.
I wrote a guide on how one can find the "VEB Daily" discussion thread.

Saturday, 2/8/14

VEB Week in Review: 2/1/14-2/7/14
Fourstick wrote up perfect snowflake Mike O'Neill as part of the Other 15 series, which profiles those players on the Cardinals 40-man roster unlikely to make the 25-man roster out of spring training.

Sunday, 2/9/14

In my Knowledge Nest debut, I looked at why the plate appearance (PA) is a better stat than the at bat (AB).
Fourstick profiled Other 15 righthanded pitcher Angel Castro.

Monday, 2/10/14

The VEB community projections shifted to the pitching staff. Rui got the pitcher projections started with Adam Wainwright. We're still taking projections so if you haven't yet submitted yours, please do so! The position player VEB community projection results will be unveiled beginning next week. Time is running out. For every entry in the 2014 VEB community projections series, click here.
I explained how Wainwright is a case study in why K% is a better stat than K/9 for measuring a pitcher's strikeout rate.
Joe interviewed Future Redbird Rob Kaminsky.
Cardinals645 wrote up Charlie Tilson and Sam Gaviglio as a part of the Hatchlings series.
Fourstick profiled Jordan Swagerty and Anthony Garcia in his own Hatchlings post.

Tuesday, 2/11/14

Rui solicited your 2014 Lance Lynn projections.
Craig compared Lynn to other starting pitchers with similarly high strikeout and walk rates. There are some intriguing comparators on that list.
I examined just how important throwing a first-pitch strike is and how the 2013 Cardinals staff fared at doing so.
In the first Mathenaging post at VEB, I looked at how batters perform each time through the order and based on the opposing pitcher's pitch count, two underlying trends that might impact the manager's decision to pull a starter or leave him in.

Wednesday, 2/12/14

Rui looked at Michael Wacha's 2013 and asked you for your 2014 projections.
I broke down how the Cardinals managed Wacha's 2013 workload by banking innings, which they then cashed in on during October.
Spring is officially in the air because the Red Baron gave us that hallmark of the season: his annual Spring Surprises post.
Fourstick profiled Hatchlings Tim Cooney and Colin Walsh.
Cardinals645 provided us with a Hatchlings post of his own on righties Zach Petrick and Seth Blair.

Thursday, 2/13/14

Rui started things off with his Jaime Garcia VEB community projections post, so please give us your 2014 forecast.
Craig compared Garcia to other pitchers that would've been free agents in 2014.
Joe interviewed shortstop prospect Oscar Mercado, who Fourstick profiled in this Hatchlings postearlier in the year. (Having just returned from Clearwater Beach, I agree with Mercado that it's a very nice beach.)
Fourstick introduced us to Vaughn Bryan, a somewhat surprising inclusion in the Baseball Prospectus Cardinals top 10 prospect list. Jason Parks, the senior prospect guru at Baseball Prospectus was kind enough to join us in the comment thread and offered additional insight on Bryan. And Joe added Cardinals Scouting Director Dan Kantrovitz's thoughts on the youngster as well. All in all, quite the introduction.

Friday, 2/14/14

Rui has some thoughts on Shelby Miller and wants you to share yours by submitting your 2014 VEB community member projection for the Texan.
Craig compared Derek Jeter and Ozzie Smith. They're both all-time greats, but for different reasons.
Lil' Scooter graced VEB with her weekly Hunt and Peck collection of links to stories from around the sports world.