Archive for September, 2009

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Who are the MVP leaders based on Total Runs?
Teams are clinching playoff spots almost daily now that we’re in the last week of the season, but has anyone sewn up the MVP award? As we did last week for the Rookie of the Year candidates, let’s use the Total Runs metric first introduced in [...]

September 28, 2009 Tags: Albert Pujols, Baseball Info Solutions, Ben Zobrist, Chase Utley, Chone Figgins, Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Mauer, Mark Teixeira, Miguel Cabrera, MVP, Prince Fielder, Ryan Zimmerman, Zach Greinke Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, awards, stats One Comment

Another thought on Milton Bradley

The struggles of Milton Bradley are well documented. However something occured to me as I listened to Talkin’ Baseball on ESPN Radio with Bruce Levine – arguably the best baseball talk show on the radio. Today Bruce’s new co-host Jonathan Hood related some comments that apparently came from Bradley’s mother. She had alluded to Milton’s young son [...]

September 26, 2009 Tags: Bruce Levine, ESPN, Jonathan Hood, Milton Bradley, Ryan Dempster Posted in: controversy, observations, players 3 Comments

Tommy Bleeds Dodger Blue

Happy 82nd birthday today to a classy guy, Tommy Lasorda.
Growing up in the 70’s, any fan of baseball had to appreciate Lasorda’s Dodgers even if they weren’t your team. I was a Cubs fan through and through, but Bill Buckner was my favorite player and he came from a top-shelf organization, the LA Dodgers. They [...]

September 22, 2009 Tags: audio, Bill Buckner, Dave Kingman, Dodgers, Tarantella, Tommy Lasorda Posted in: observations, oldschool, on this date, rivalries 5 Comments

Bradley Gone Despite Budget Cuts at Newspaper

I bet Milton Bradley would have preferred Bruce Miles would have just stayed home.
Earlier this season, management at the Daily Herald decided to stop/limit their Cubs beat writer, Bruce Miles, from travelling with the team. Newspapers are under pressure to cut costs, but when coverage is affected, I think really calls into question a paper’s ability [...]

September 21, 2009 Tags: Bruce Miles, Daily Herald, Milton Bradley Posted in: observations, players, the media No Comments

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Who are the Rookie of the Year leaders
based on Total Runs?
With just over two weeks left in the 2009 season, let’s take a look at the top rookie hitters in all of baseball, using the version of Runs Created used in The Fielding Bible—Volume II:

2009 Top Rookie Hitters, MLB

Player

Runs Created

Chris Coghlan, Marlins

Seth Smith, [...]

September 18, 2009 Tags: rookie Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, awards, stats No Comments

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

Catcher Pickoff Leaders
Over the last several seasons, no one compares. Yadier Molina has nabbed more baserunners who fell asleep on the bases than any other catcher by a wide margin. Here are the leaders in catcher pickoffs since 2003:

Most Catcher Pickoffs
(Since 2003)

Player

Pickoffs

Yadier Molina

Miguel Olivo

Jose Molina

Ivan Rodriguez

Jeff Mathis

How much is that helping his team? [...]

September 13, 2009 Tags: catcher, Gerald Laird, Ivan Rodriguez, Joe Mauer, Jose Molina, Kenji Johjima, Koyie Hill, leaders, Miguel Olivo, Paul Lo Duca, pickoff, Russell Martin, Yadier Molina Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, stats No Comments

With Cubs Season Fading, Bears Looking Good

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing like the ‘27 Yankees. The Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies have won 9 of their last 10 games, now threatening the Dodgers for the NL West division. So now it appears the Cubs would have to basically win out to challenge the Wild Card, whether that be the Dodgers [...]

September 11, 2009 Tags: 2009 Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, Colorado Rockies, Dodgers, Green Bay Packers, Jay Cutler, jersey, Lambeau Field, NFL, St. Louis Cardinals, Wild Card, Yankees Posted in: Chicago, game day, observations, playoffs, standings No Comments