More HOF Discussion

Tom Tango just posted a nice list of the career Win Shares for players (post-Ruth) that are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Take a look.

It's a shame that Raines (390 career WS) isn't getting the consideration he deserves, the same applied for Darrell and Dwight Evans. I know that Win Shares is not the be-all, end-all of statistics, but it's a very good one, and a pretty accurate measure of the contribution one makes to his team over the course of a season or career.

Since you won't find him on that list, I'll let you know that Jim Rice achieved 282 Win Shares during his 16-year career, well behind this list, which includes one of his comparable players "The Snake" Dave Parker, at 327 career Win Shares.

Once again, if Rice is good enough for the HOF, why isn't Parker?

Another Jack Attack

Eric Seidman over at the always useful FanGraphs put together some thoughts on your shortstop, and I think you should go read them.

I think most Pirate fans tend to be on the overly optimistic side when it comes to Jack Wilson, so it's worth pointing out some things:

1. He's had only three seasons where he topped 600 PA's (2003 - 2005), and it's reasonable to expect that at his advancing age, those years are behind him. So, you have to invest in a reasonable replacement for him (i.e. NOT Chris Gomez).
2. As brilliant as he can be with the glove, which saves runs and generally has a somewhat underrated value, do remember that he has only had two seasons above league average in OPS, 2004 and 2007, when he was 104 and 107 in OPS+, respectively. Before you point out that 104 and 107 OPS+ is well above-average for a shortstop (with which I agree), please remind yourself that his other seasons he had the following OPS+: 40, 67, 70, 74, 77, and 77 in (2001-2003, 2005-2006, and 2008). This is all by way of saying to please remember that 2004 and 2007 are outliers, and not indicative of Jack's true talent level.
3. Also, please bear in mind that his high water marks in OBP are .335 and .350, set again in 2004 and 2007, the rest of his OBP season numbers fare no better than .316. Shortstops may not slug the ball with authority, but they should be able to get on base with greater frequency.

It matters little how many outs you contribute while on defense if you give them right back when you come to the plate. I think Jack Wilson should and probably will stay with the Pirates one more year, mostly because Team Neal won't find anyone willing to take him off the Bucs' hands in this market. Prospects have become the most valued commodity in baseball right now, mostly because they are both cheap and controllable, so teams would rather take a chance by hanging onto a prospect with upside than overpaying for a veteran or free agent who is a relatively known quantity. This is particularly true in this economy, where many free agents have been paid below-market value for their services.

Team Neal is hopefully smart enough to know that paying more than nothing or at least very little of Jack's salary this year in a trade should only be used as a means to get a higher value of return in prospects. The people who value Jack Wilson most probably reside in Pittsburgh, but that doesn't mean he's being paid an unfair amount. If he does get traded, let's hope the return is of at least comparable value.

"The former was a lulu, and the latter was a cake..."

Ben Henry, proprietor of The Baseball Card Blog, has decided to close up shop, but his last post is something truly awesome.

Go here to check it out: Casey at the Bat.

More from India

Kris Liakos over at Walk Off Walk posted an interview yesterday with everyone's favorite imports from the Indian subcontinent, Rinku and Dinesh.

There's not a lot there, but I'm generally interested in all things involving the Pirates and their Indian pitchers. Here's a nice clip:

Before I hung up I got to talk to JB a little. He made the point that more than Rinku and Dinesh being Indian, it's just amazing that two guys signed a pro contract in a sport that they hadn't heard of 7 months earlier. We racked our brains to come up with someone else like that and couldn't. He asked me if I'd seen the "Babewatch" blog entry. I said I had but I didn't want to bring it up since Rinku seemed mad about it. JB said "he wasn't mad, he was INCENSED." That made me laugh.

If you haven't read the above referenced entry, please treat yourself and go here to read it. And if you don't add their blog to your Google Reader after that, then I don't even want to know you.

Adios, Ron Paul.

No, not this Ron Paul. The Pirates' backup catcher who forgot how to hit and field like a major leaguer somewhere between 2006 and 2007.

Enter Jason Jaramillo, who is basically the same player with (hopefully) a better attitude.

Also, here's Eric Seidman's take (basically Phillie-centric) at Fangraphs.

Personally, I'm not shedding any tears now that Paulino is officially gone. I had expected him to be dealt sometime before spring training, since he had made it clear he had no interest in contributing to the team, and turned it on in fall ball (presumably) for the purpose of increasing his trade value.

Jaramillo is an upgrade mostly for psychological reasons, but he does get on base at a decent clip (for a catcher), and between him and Robinzon Diaz, we seem to have a couple decent options for a backup catcher. Of course, that's more than a small concern, given the injury history of Ryan Doumit. It's a minor deal, and I'm fine with it.

Of course, that will surely anger many who expect the Pirates to undo recent history by making a big splash at the Winter Meetings every year. The fact that this is the only trade executed so far will not soothe their anger, to be sure, and will only help to pour gasoline on that raging fire.

Honestly though, what more could be expected from a team that has little to offer at the major league level? There's no chance of any small-market team landing any of the big free agents (Sabathia, Teixeira, Ramirez, etc.), and when you don't want to trade what little minor league talent you have (since you just drafted them), or the fairly talented major league players you have control over for multiple years (since you'd get basically the same thing in return), the best you can do is try and sign a lesser name free agent for less than they're worth (like the Tigers did with Adam Everett) to fill a gap until you can improve at that position internally.

Of course, that doesn't make headlines, and just angers your already insane fan base. These are the reasons why I don't envy Neal Huntington. We'll see what happens tomorrow in the Rule V draft, and the free agent market over the next two months.

Congrats!

A long-standing wrong has been righted, as the BBWAA has finally opened its ranks to two of my favorite writers, Rob Neyer and Keith Law of ESPN.com, as well as Will Carroll and Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus.

The more sabermetric friendly the BBWAA gets, the better life will be for nerds like me. Congrats to Rob, Keith, Will and Christina.

Hall of Fame

1. Harold Baines

2. †Jay Bell

3. Bert Blyleven

4. †David Cone

5. Andre Dawson

6. †Ron Gant

7. †Mark Grace

8. †Rickey Henderson

9. Tommy John

10. Don Mattingly

11. Mark McGwire

12. Jack Morris

13. Dale Murphy

14. †Jesse Orosco

15. Dave Parker

16. †Dan Plesac

17. Tim Raines

18. Jim Rice

19. Lee Smith

20. Alan Trammell

21. †Greg Vaughn

22. †Mo Vaughn

23. †Matt Williams

† Denotes a first-time appearance on the ballot.

Here's what my ballot would look like:

IN:

Bert Blyleven: Much ink has been spilled about this, especially by Rich Lederer, who wrote something new just the other day. If Jim Rice gets in this year (which he probably will), then Blyleven should be in too, with a signed apology from the BBWAA. Someone said this week (I believe it was Rob Neyer) that when the post-Blyleven pitchers with less than 300 wins start going in to the Hall, it will make it even harder to justify why Blyleven is not there. I completely agree, so can we just get the guy in already?

Rickey Henderson: Joe Posnanski wrote today about this, and I completely agree, as is the usual with me and JoePo. There's no cogent argument for why Rickey should not be in the Hall of Fame.

Mark McGwire: It's well past time to come down off the soapbox. Keeping McGwire out sends the Hall of Fame down a very treacherous, hypocritical, and slippery slope.

Tim Raines: People focus more on Andre Dawson for some reason, and I feel like Rock gets left out, which is a shame, because he was one of the best players of my youth. If Blyleven is Rich Lederer's project, Raines belongs to the inimitable Tom Tango, who covered why Rock should be in the Hall of Fame from all conceivable angles, and it's clear that he belongs. One thing about baseball in the 80's that is becoming more and more clear: We didn't know what was really valuable (see Boggs, Wade). Even I was surprised to see some of these numbers.

Alan Trammell: Basically outshined by Cal Ripken Jr. for most of his career. Had a very good bat and a very good glove, and deserves more credit. Don't believe me? Look here.


OUT, with regrets:

Andre Dawson: Would make my "Hall of Very Good," and my Hall of Fame for nicknames.

Dale Murphy: Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Was spoken of with reverential tones on TBS when I was a kid, but now is pretty much an afterthought.

Dave Parker and Jim Rice: Mostly because Rice getting in is the only way Parker gets considered, when Parker was in fact the better player. In my estimation, neither should go, but it's ridiculous to put Rice in when Parker is getting so much less support. I guess the Cobra should've played in the weaker league and a better pitcher's park so he could garner a few more votes.


Out, with no regrets:

Jack Morris: Never has one World Series done so much for someone's career. Please, please, please familiarize yourself with the numbers. And by the way, he was AWFUL in the 1992 postseason. No way am I supporting a pitcher with a 105 ERA+ for his career.

Baines, Bell, Cone, Gant, Grace, John, Mattingly, Orosco, Plesac, Smith, Greg Vaughn, Mo Vaughn, Williams


There's my (slightly informed) opinion.

You Don't Know Jack

Any of you that read Dejan's work regularly (and really, everyone should because he does a fantastic job covering such a lousy team) ought to appreciate this post from the PBC Blog:

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/archive/2008/12/09/winter-meetings-2008-day-2.aspx

Needless to say, I have always appreciated Jack Wilson's upbeat attitude and apparent willingness to remain a Pirate for as long as possible, so this story is probably just icing on the cake.

Of course, the aforementioned Mr. Wilson is a hot topic of trade rumors at this year's Winter Meetings (I, for one, think absolutely nothing is going to happen), while all around him, supposedly interested teams, and alleged replacements wind up going other places.

First, Adam Everett was signed by the Tigers for $1 million, far less than he's worth.

Then Mark Loretta went to the Dodgers, and supposedly the Buccos never made him an offer.

Now the Twins are supposedly involved, but I sincerely doubt that the Pirates will manage to pry anything of great value from them for a shortstop who is owed a lot of money and is of advancing years.

Like I said, I think when January rolls around, Jack Wilson will still be a Pirate.

Change? We don't need no stinking change.

This is not specifically Pirates baseball related information, but there is a really interesting article up on Driveline Mechanics about two brothers who are both pitchers, and whose father developed an interesting pitching motion for the two of them that would take stress off the pitching shoulder, and place it on the bigger, stronger muscles of the back instead.

According to the post, Fritz Outman (Josh and Zach's father) studied biomechanics for 15+ years, and is publishing a book on how this all works. From what my completely untrained eye can see, it definitely looks like a lot less stress would be placed on both the pitching shoulder and elbow, which means the Pirates probably should have hired the guy to teach this delivery to Sean Burnett, Bryan Bullington, John Van Benschoten, and various other pitchers in the minor league system.

Of course, MLB is to stubborn to try it, partly because (in my estimation) no pitching coach would want to accept the fact that someone else came up with this delivery, and then have to do a crazy thing like learn something new.

Here's a clip of an interview that Josh did with David Laurila from Baseball Prospectus referenced in the post:

DL: You grew up utilizing a unique pitching motion, which was taught to you by your father, and you changed it prior to becoming eligible for the draft. In an interview last year, you said that your old motion "wasn’t something that was projectable in the minds of Major League Baseball." Can you elaborate on that?

JO: It was just something that fell outside of the previous profile for draftability so there was a concern that it would scare people off. There are no pitching coaches who know it, or previous players who have used it, so I changed to a more conventional style to fit in better with people’s expectations of what a pitcher looks like. With a guy like Dontrelle Willis, his motion is more of a variation on a theme. Mine was its own unique theme.

DL: Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle was quoted as saying that you probably would have been drafted much lower had you not changed your motion, because people would have been afraid of the injury factor. What are your thoughts on that?

JO: I think that was an assumption made under faulty information. What I was taught actually took stress off of my arm, so there wasn’t full comprehension on how my motion worked. Using a vertical arm position freed up my rotator cuff and enabled the use of the larger pectoral and abdominal muscle groups rather than the smaller deltoids and various other shoulder muscles. It used my lats to slow my arm down rather than just the posterior deltoids, and because those are larger, stronger muscles that can withstand more force it took a large workload off of my shoulder muscles. And eliminating the leg kick in lieu of a normal walking step, I was expending less energy to get the same production from my body, while sparing my throwing arm much of the wear and tear associated with pitching.

I find it disappointing that MLB wouldn't even take a shot at letting this kid pitch with the mechanics that got him drafted in the first place. Considering how much money is spent on pitchers that ends up being a sunk cost due to shoulder and/or elbow injuries, you would think that a team or two would be willing to at least try this, given that it does seem to be based on a great deal of facts.