47 thoughts on “January 21, 2019: Adjustment”

    1. He has mentioned q couple of times that his shoulder is basically ground beef at this point, so if he's not officially retired, he's certainly done playing baseball.

      I'm not much for unboxing/pack opening/etc videos, but Phil's are better than most.

    2. All the baseball cards owned by my brothers and me migrated to my basement about a year ago. Sheenie has been pushing me to do something with them, so I've been slowly sorting them by set and weeding out duplicates or badly bent cards. Last night I stumbled upon the Greg Maddux rookie referenced in the story.

      1. I was going through cards this weekend. Ended up throwing a bunch out. I'm trying with the idea of covering an old nicked up table in my favorite worthless cards.

          1. Do you really think anyone wants picked over cards from the late 80s and early 90s? Technically, thrown out = put in recycling.

              1. Really? I asked my 13 year old son and he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Kids don't even know these players.

            1. G was fascinated by the concept of the Expos when going through my old cards this summer. The idea that there was a team that is no longer around was a cool one for him.

              He has his own book of twins cards now, including some 80s and 90s players.

  1. Happy Jeets ascends directly into heaven gets inducted into the baseball hall of fame day to all those who celebrate.

    Some NY sprots writers are already complaining if Jeter doesn't get in unanimously or if others are also inducted this year and thereby soiling his ascension. I think it would be hilarious if Bonds or Clemons made it in this year so all the post HOF vote discussion will be on that aspect.

    1. If we're talking hilarity, I'll up that with Bonds and Clemens actually tallying more votes than Jeter. Which in a non-cheat world is not Bizzaro. Hey wait -- Jeter faked a HBP, right? Cheater!

      1. The real hilarity (which has zero chance of happening) is that everyone assumes Jeter will get in easily, so they leave him off in order to vote for other candidates, and he falls short of making the hall.

    2. TIL from some sycophant in the Chi Trib that Jeets is the "Tom Hanks of baseball, admired and respected by all fans whether they were genetically predisposed to hate the Yankees or not."

      Also that he was super clutch and "the cleanest of squeaky-clean superstars."

      🤮

      Oh, Jeter had a cumulative WPA of 0.03 in 16 ALDS series, -0.28 in 10 ALCS series, and 0.27 in 7 WS.

      In "late and close" situations, his tOPS+ was 91. In high leverage situations, 99. The evidence for his clutchiness is in the eye of the beholder, not the data.

      Now, is he deserving of being elected? Sure. JAWS has him 12th all-time for SSs, slightly above the HOF average. He's 10th in rWAR, with the only non-HOF SSs above him being ARod and Bill Dahlen.

      That says deserving, not deity.

    1. Problem with drinking and driving is that the people who decide whether they should drive are often drunk when they make that decision. Don't drink if you aren't at home and haven't made arrangements to get home without driving. Also, don't let friends (or even enemies) drive after drinking.

  2. I have read a few articles recently regarding Polanco's defense. Have not seen any of them mention the "chronic ankle problems" he experienced that lead to his ankle surgery in November. Being that it was his plant foot (Right) and also the foot that he pivots off of to go to his right, it would seem to me that this could have had some affect on his fielding ability. Also, this will be the second year of the team working with him to throw a bit more side arm. If he fully heals I would expect that we may see some improvement in his defensive metrics. Grant it, he won't be the next Ozzie Smith, but could we see acceptable improvement? Thoughts?

      1. Agreed. My thoughts are between Mr. Donaldson and a healthy wheel, he may become closer to average?

  3. One last note before I get into dinner service:

    Chicago White Sox fans seem to be waaay over confident. Buster Olney tweeted out the MN Twins lineup and said something to the affect that it is a scary line up. White Sox fan remarks that it will be the second best line up in the division. I know they had a solid offseason and will be much better, but I have seen lots of buzz from their fans thinking they have already passed our Twins. We will see.

    1. They do have some really good young players but they'll need all of them to really step up with no set backs to carry the Twins this year.

    1. Very pleasantly surprised Walker made it. He needed a big jump.

      Downside is Schilling is now at 70%. His playing career deserves it but that's it. Bonds and Clemens both inched closer too.

  4. Jason "the concrete is not dry" Giambi getting 6 and Cliff Lee getting two votes really surprised me. I know Giambi had steroids but he fessed up and the media loved him. While Lee is not a HoFer, he had such a dominate run I thought he would linger on the ballot for a few years

    1. Lee is Johan's No. 2 most similar pitcher. Johan was knocked out on the first ballot. He had 2 Cy Youngs, 51.6 career rWAR and was 81st in JAWS for SP. Lee had 1 Cy Young, 43.5 career rWAR and is 132nd in JAWS for SP.

  5. Calcaterra:

    If you have a Hall of Fame and don’t include the two greatest players of their era, your Hall of Fame is dumb.

    Also, he basically announced a Ty Cobb-in-Field-of-Dreams rule for Curt Schilling.

    1. People make a lot about Helton’s home/road splits, but they’re still quite excellent. He had a .386 OBP & .469 SLG on the road. I ran a quick Play Index query to see how many HoFers were at least .385/.465 over their entire careers, which returned a list of 36 names. It doesn’t look like PI has been updated to reflect the new election, so one more name needs to be added to that list. It’s not Cap’n Dreamboat’s.

      I believe there are over 150 position players in Cooperstown. If Helton’s road splits are higher than the career batting lines of 75% of those HoFers, his home/road splits should really be a non-issue.

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