Wednesday: Braves are adding, Giants subtracting

A quick look at some happenings today around Major League Baseball:

The Braves have traded for old friend Matt Diaz, a right-handed hitting outfielder who was having an underwhelming season with the Pirates. However, it's not hard to imagine Diaz having a resurgence with Atlanta, the team he played for from 2006-10. Maybe that's just because everytime we see Diaz, he's dominating Phillies pitching to the tune of a .329/.364/.567 line with 8 HR and 31 RBIs over 58 games. Buster Olney speculated earlier today that the Braves may not be done dealing, though he later retracted that thought.

The Giants, meanwhile, DFA'd former Phillies OF Aaron Rowand and former AL MVP Miguel Tejada. Rowand, who is making $12 million this year and the same amount next year, would be a logical target for the Rangers, per Olney. The ESPN insider notes Rowand's numbers against left-handed pitching this season.

Meanwhile, Father Time might not be doing the Phillies any favors, so we'd better hope the John Bowker era is a good one.

Comments

[Willard Preacher]

Personally I hate that the Braves got Diaz, not that I'm concerned that it will result in a late season surge or anything. He's just a Phillies-killer and I have nothing but bad memories of the dude.

[Willard Preacher]

Not like Olney to speculate on something, then be wrong or to retract his statement.

Oh wait, never mind. That's exactly like Olney to do that.

[dlhunter]

Grantland...ick.

[bay_area_phan]

Totally off-topic, but I was wondering if the Beerleaguer peanut gallery had any thoughts on Ryan Howard . . .

[Little Ollie]

The guy who wrote the Grantland article is a dermatologist from Chicago. That's about as sterile a perspective you could imagine.

[NEPP]

Ryan Howard is the best 1B in team history.

[Willard Preacher]

"Ryan Howard is the best 1B in team history."

Wow, an alternative perspective. And it's right, too!

[Mike Williams]

Father Time catches up with everybody, so rather an obvious article considering the Phils current run and player ages. Mayberry in left, the bullpen, and maybe trade Brown for an infielder? They do have some youth and it'll be interesting to see how they evolve and what Amaro does down the right.

Anyway, right now they are winning, so why can't we live in the moment?

[Fatalotti]

NEPP, in the history of teams in general, or just in the history of the Phillies?

[Greg S.]

NEPP and others:

A first ballot Hall of Famer's career:
.262/.356/.490

Ryan Howard's career thusfar:
.275/.368/.561

HOFer's splits:
LHB vs LHP: .249/.321/.455
LHB vs RHP: .269/.374/.509
RISP: .263/.375/.481

Howard's splits:
LHB vs LHP: .233/.312/.443
LHB vs RHP: .297/.395/.623
RISP: .282/.413/.563

[Willard Preacher]

BTW, is there a more desperate attempt to troll a passionate fanbase than that Grantland article? Good way to generate page hits, today and in the future, by incensing one of the most electronically active fanbases on the planet (I feel comfortable saying that strictly based on the roughly 9 million Phillies blogs out there).

I have diligently NOT gone to Grantland, and I'll continue to do so, even as they begin to professionally troll us. Eff 'em.

[Albert Ross]

"philipper is about as wrong as wrong can get."

Now there's a brilliant argument. Air-tight and meticulously laid out hypothesis, fully proven and backed up with verified data.

I'd say that's TTI's best example of his reasoning skills that I've seen to date.

[AL]

I like Grantland but that article fails to mention that the Phillies just spent the most they have in a few years on a position player heavy draft, among many other conveniently left off facts about the Phillies organization that makes them viable going forward.

[Albert Ross]

BTW -

I'd still love to see a comparison of Howard's career OPS/OPS+ with RISP and runners on base as compared career stats for HOFers.

Don't know where to get those data myself, but from a quick perusal, I've seen that of current day "stars," Pujols and A-Gon (Votto based on a short career) compare favorably, but not many others.

[Heather]

"A first ballot Hall of Famer's career:
.262/.356/.490"

Please, this means absolutely nothing unless we know the era and position he played, for starters.

I mean, if you want to play around with triple slash lines, here's one for you:

A HoF's triple slash: .262/.337/.328
Ryan Howard's triple slash: .275/.368/.561

OMG, Ryan Howard is better than a HoF!

Except of course, the HoF is Ozzie Smith.

[Dickie Thong]

Pete Rose was pretty good at 1B.

[Phlipper]

Man, that Albert Ross is sure one smart dude.

[Saint Bob]

How could anyone hate this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YcN9ZryCz4

[Greg S.]

HOFer's OPS with RISP:
.856

Howard OPS with RISP
.976

[Greg S.]

Heather: Not Ozzie Smith

[Fatalotti]

Greg S, the point is, until you tell us who it is, the comparison is worthless.

It may be a great comp, but we need to know who you're referring to.

[Cyclic]

Did anyone mention this?

From Phillies Nation...
http://philliesnation.com/archives/2011/08/howard-approaching-another-30-hr100-rbi-season/

*(Among my theories for Howard’s excessive contract extension is that the Phillies may have looked at their closest NL competition – viewing the Brewers and Cardinals as teams that could challenge in the coming years; teams that do not have overwhelming resources, nor the ability to add unlimited payroll, and decided to force their best players out of those cities – or at least to handcuff the complementary pieces they could add around them. Ruben Amaro’s aggressive contract offer to Ryan Howard forces the Brewers and Cardinals to choose if they want to spend some 20-30% of their team’s total payroll to extend Prince Fielder, and Albert Pujols, respectively. Fielder can now demand that he be paid as much, or more than Ryan Howard – a player that he is younger than, and likely better than. The Brewers would have to decide if it’s worth $25-30 M per season to extend one player, or if they would be better served spreading that money around to fill multiple spots on their 25-man roster. Again, a theory.

A Brewers team without Prince Fielder is much less of a threat to the Phillies than this 2011 club from Milwaukee. The same can be said about the Cardinals, a team that has often gone with “replacement level players” at many of the spots around Pujols and Matt Holliday in the batting order. The Cardinals 2011 payrolls is $98 M, the Brewers payroll is $85.5 M. The Phillies have forced them to decide if $30 M per season for 7-10 years of Albert Pujols is a wise move for the Cardinals organization. According to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman, Prince Fielder is thought to be seeking a $200 M contract- and many in baseball would be shocked if the Brewers were the team to offer that cash. Brewers catcher, Jonathan Lucroy was a guest on the Tony Bruno radio show, “Into the Night” (97.5 FM,) on Monday night and said, ”I don’t see any reason we couldn’t (continue to compete next year, even though), everyone knows we’re probably going to lose Prince next year.”

So do we still have such big issues with an “overpay” of Ryan Howard that can actually help ensure that the Phillies weaken the core of one of their top competitors? If Fielder leaves Milwaukee, I think Amaro will have proven once again that he’s multiple steps ahead of most other organizations in baseball.)

[Cyclic]

Fatal, it's Reggie Jackson

[Heather]

Just reading the Wiki entry for Ozzie Smith, I didn't realize Jack McKeon traded Ozzie Smith from the Padres basically because he was mad at him and his agent.

LOL Jack McKeon.

(Also, Joan Kroc offering Ozzie Smith employment as an assistant gardener...LOL. Good times.)

[NEPP]

Jackson had a 150 OPS+ through Age 31. The late 60s/early 70s werent exactly an offensive boom time in baseball.

[Little Ollie]

Did anyone see Yank/Bosox last night and that mass of humanity on the mound for the Yankees? CC Sabathia looks like he's put on a few dozen pounds. Listed at 290, he's probably closer to 340. I know the season he's having, but I just can't see someone with that "physique" continuing what he's doing much longer. I wouldn't feel intimated at all if the Phils were to face him in the WS. I'd be more concerned with all that extra weight than I am with the Phils' aging bodies. This won't be discussed anywhere though because it's not PC. CC makes Joe Blanton look like Lady Gaga.

[Iceman]

I don't really even get the point of the Grantland article. Why people are obsessed with dreading what's going to happen in the future before the historical season the Phils are having is even over is baffling to me.

[Phlipper]

"BTW, is there a more desperate attempt to troll a passionate fanbase than that Grantland article? "

Bingo. It's as if the writer of that article never realized that the Phillies will be able to actually make moves in the future to diversify their team.

[Greg S.]

I was hoping you'd guess. The player is Reggie Jackson. Yes, he played for a billion years, and yes he is Mr. October, he played outfield and DH, but otherwise I think a vary fair player for comparisons.

Can't find his postseason splits, but guess what, his slash numbers in the postseason are nearly identical to Howards.

Reggie postseason: .278/.358/.527
Howard postseason: .278/.382/.517

[Iceman]

Although maybe the article isn't ground that's really been treaded on a national level. With all the talk of how old this team is on BL, I feel like the topic has been beaten to death.

[Heather]

Cyclic, I think it's a real stretch to assume that the Phillies overpaid Howard to "force" the Cards and Brewers to overpay their first baseman. Is the Jayson Werth deal going to "force" every other team to overpay for decent but not elite outfielders?

[Bubba]

The Grantland article was poorly researched.
They did not reference snow balls at Santa or the collapse of the Phils '64 season.
These are mandatory topics for a cheap shot story on any Philadelphia sports team.
Very shoddy excuse for journalism.

[The Truth Injection]

Albert Ross: Did you see the argument he was laying out in the last thread? It was insipid.

I would've added more but I didn't get an e-mail back from conshy matt yet telling me how I'm allowed to think.

[Heather]

Re: Best firstbaseman the Phils ever had....Does he have to have played all his career for the Phils? Because as a previous poster said, Pete Rose is probably the best first baseman the Phils have ever had. Jimmie Foxx could probably be in the argument as well. Albeit most of their careers were over by the times they were here, they're both better players than Howard when viewed in totality.

[Greg S.]

NEPP: Reggie didn;t have to bat against the shift.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

"This won't be discussed anywhere though because it's not PC. CC makes Joe Blanton look like Lady Gaga."

Don't know about P.C. People sure talk alot about Prince Fielder's size. Sabathia's damn good. I don't know that his size / shape have much to do with his ability to continue pitching as he has. Rick Reuschel was pretty portly and he was effective until he was like 40. Hell of a fielder, too. Not alot of ground to cover for a pitcher.

[Albert Ross]

TTI - feel free to explain the obvious holes in his logic in this thread - seeing as how you failed to do so in the last thread and again in your comment on this thread.

I mean, I know that it's totally obvious.

It's not like you're ducking the matter, or anything like that.

I'd just like to know that you see all exact same obvious flaws in his logic that I see.

[Heather]

Also re: Jimmie Foxx, it's a shame that he and all those other players on the great Athletics teams in the late 1920s and early 1930s are almost completely forgotten about, largely because the team moved.

[aksmith]

You really needed to see CC to convince you that Joey B looks like Lady Gaga? . . . Interesting.

"CC makes Joe Blanton look like Lady Gaga.

Posted by: Little Ollie | Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 03:13 PM"

[Heather]

I don't think a lot of people say much about CC's size because his size doesn't obviously effect his pitching. If you can be fat and a great pitcher, I don't think most people give a hoot. People question Blanton's size mostly because he appears to have a problem with his conditioning the last few years (appears to get gassed at around 80 pitches...unacceptable for a starter.)

[drock]

Does Tejada have anything at all left in the tank? He didn't hit much this year, and his defense is suspect at this point, but wouldn't he be better than MiniMart at 3B (or even SS)? Polanco's recent games really scare me, and there are no viable (read: non-embarrassing in a playoff lineup) alternatives on the bench. I've never been a huge fan of Tejada, but having a veteran option for the left side of the infield would help me sleep at night.

[Fatalotti]

Greg S, never watched Reggie Jackson, but would the shift have hurt Jackson?

Did he pull the majority of his groundballs?

[Little Ollie]

Rick Reuschel is another one who would look like a pole next to CC -- listed at 6'4" and 225 pounds, a full 65 pounds lighter than CC though close to the same height.

CC has logged 211 innings so far. Needed 128 pitches to get through 6 innings last night.

Of course his size affects his pitching. Everything about an athlete's body affects their performance. I would not want to depend on him as my ace in the post-season.

[NEPP]

Rose wasn't an elite 1B by the time he came here...he was more of a veteran leader. I was thinking for their time in a Phillies uniform.

[lorecore]

Grantland's TV comercial pisses me off. He gets a tip to bet a horse and he puts down money to "Show"?! What a pansy.

[bay_area_phan]

"Is there a more desperate attempt to troll a passionate fanbase than that Grantland article?"

Desperate and highly effective. Dangling that article in front of Phillies fans and seeing if they'll react is like dangling a meat pie in front of Pavlov's Dogs to see if they'll drool. Maybe grantland is really jw?

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Reuschel was much bigger than 225.

[Little Ollie]

And CC is much bigger than 290!

[Heather]

Look, CC has thrown 180+ innings every year he has been in the major leagues. For the past 5 years, he's thrown over 200 innings, as high as 253. His career ERA is a 3.52, although that's a bit inflated due to his first few years with the Indians when he wasn't quite as good. If you just take the last 5 years, his ERA has varied from 2.70. to 3.37.

I don't know what part of him you would find not dependable or objectable, but if we could get CC Sabathia on this team I would drive him from New York myself.

CC may be a fata$$, but he's a dependable, elite, fata$$ who is one of the top ten pitchers in either league, and has been so for the last 5 years.

His weight has not demonstratably effected his performance.

[Fatalotti]

New tread.

[Little Ollie]

CC hasn't lasted all that well into the post-season. 4.66 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in five years including the last four. So I don't agree he's the dependable number one you want out there when it counts.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Cyclic: Looks like RAJ put his MBA from Stanford to good use there.