Jimbo said:I commend him for that
Oh yeah me too. I'm not saying it was a bad move. I respect him for giving the fans what they wanted to see instead of taking the easy way out.
Jimbo said:I commend him for that
Oh yeah me too. I'm not saying it was a bad move. I respect him for giving the fans what they wanted to see instead of taking the easy way out.
One more thing. Leyland also said max would be scratched from the lineup today to give him more rest before the postseason but he changed his mind on that one too.
And Austin Jackson gets a double, his 2nd hit tonight (it would be great for him to get HOT !), so he is now at .300 and coming OUT of the game !!!
Also, this will be the 1st year that Prince Fielder will hit .300+, he'll end the year at .312 !
With Miggy winning the Triple Crown, JV on the mound, and all these .300 hitters it's hard be believe we're not 25-games over .500
Anyway, nice reaction to Cabrera being taken out of the game. Go Tigers!
Actually, all the .300 hitters, Cabrera, Prince and JAckson have had very good years, it's the rest of the underachieving line up that has dragged them down.
Can't wait to see this lineup with V. Mart in it again.
Dirks also had a great year. Yep, it will be great to get Victor back next year...but what dead weight do we get rid of? I posted my choices 2 or 3 weeks ago.
One problem is that no one knows how an older V-Mart will perform after a full season out with an injury. I can't wait to have him back but I think it's unrealistic to expect last year's numbers from him. The real question is how close will he be?
One problem is that no one knows how an older V-Mart will perform after a full season out with an injury. I can't wait to have him back but I think it's unrealistic to expect last year's numbers from him. The real question is how close will he be?
Nice! ESPN puts a tiny little "Cabrera's First Triple Crown since '67" buried on their MLB front page like it was just another score result. Anyway, with big September/October numbers 11 HRs and 28 RBIs in 29 games, along with leading the Tigers to the division championship after being 3-games out with 15-games to play, I predict Miguel will win MVP by a considerable margin.
Go Tigers!
The hosts MLB Tonight on MLB Network all agreed that Cabrera is the MVP hands down. They also mentioned a baseball prospectus poll taken by 28 sports writers and shockingly 27 out of those 28 writers said Trout would be the MVP. Harold Reynolds and Dan Plesac both agreed that it was flat out wrong for anyone but Miggy to get the MVP. They said any player, former player, or manager would tell you Cabrera is the MVP but unfortunately the writers decide.
They said the most important thing to the writers is the WAR(wins above replacement) stat and that means more to them than any stat included in the triple crown. Trout is 1st in WAR with a 10.7 while Cabrera is tied for 7th with a 6.9. These sabermetrics fans will tell you that RBI is a meaningless stat because it depends on your teammates getting into scoring position more than individual skill. They will tell you that the two are close enough in average,which they also don't thing is a great stat. Sabermetrics fans believe OPS(on base plus slugging) is a better indicator. Cabrera is winning that category handily too. Cabrera is first in OPS with a .999. Trout comes in second at .963. They will tell you that Trout's defensive numbers, which are included in the WAR stat are much better than Cabrera's. They will also tell you that Trout's 49 stolen bases is more impressive than Miggy's 139 RBI because again RBI is a team stat. My problem is that WAR seems to have some subjectivity to it. How can someone accurately put a number score on defense? I sure hope this poll doesn't turn out to be representative of the actual voters.
The only plus side from all this is that the poll also had Verlander winning the Cy Young over Price because of WAR too. Verlander is 1st with a 7.5 while Price is 2nd with a 6.4. Some pitching stats that Sabermetrics people don't like are ERA and especially pitcher wins. They say pitcher wins are a meaningless stat because they are as dependent on team defense and run support as they are on pitcher ability. They also don't like ERA because it is too dependent on team defense. They prefer defense independent pitching stats like xFIP. xFIP is used to predict what should have happened more than what did shown in ERA. It uses the league average for HRs off balls in play plus 3 times number of walks allowed minus 2 times number of strikeouts all divided by number of innings pitched. This number is then added to 3.10 to give a number that can be compared to current ERAs. They say this accurately predicts if a pitcher is getting lucky and his ERA will go up or unlucky and his ERA will go down.
Sorry if that gave any of you a headache, but as an accountant math and stats are a part of my life. I enjoy looking at these more complicated sabermetrics stats but I think it's just crazy to say Trout is MVP solely because he has the highest WAR. If I were a Rays fan I would also be very upset about Verlander winning the Cy Young over Price because of WAR. If you are looking for someone to infuriate you check out Keith Law's articles or twitter feed. He is a baseball writer for ESPN and one of the Baseball Today podcast hosts. He is someone who thinks MVP and Cy Young should just be decided based on a math formula (WAR) every year instead of sports writers' opinions.
Twins fire 3 coaches and reassigning 2 today
gone is 3rd base coach, 1st base coach and bullpen coach (he was with team for 35 years)
reassigned hitting coach and one other guy
Gardy still has a job...for now