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Linkage Time

By Marc Normandin

There are some pretty good articles and websites I want to link to today, because I have not spent time posting such a thing in awhile.

We'll start with some Frank Thomas Hall of Fame articles. I agree with John Brattain saying that such an article is not even necessary, but still is a good read. Here you can see Brattain's work at The Hardball Times

My thoughts? Here's a comment of mine from a Baseball Analysts article:

Frank Thomas Career
Career WARP3: 114.8
Peak WARP: 52.5
JAWS: 83.65
BRAR: 1083
BRAA: 860
FRAA: -89

I guess I'll compare him to first basemen...

Average HoF First Basemen
Career WARP3: 98.2
Peak WARP: 43.1
JAWS: 70.7
BRAR: 717
BRAA: 465
FRAA: 2

What amazes me, besides the fact that Thomas could be inducted today with some career left to play, is that he has more Batting Runs Above Average than the average HoF first basemen has Batting Runs Above Replacement level.

Conclusion? Frank Thomas rules.

Here's a snippet from the latest Rob and Rany on the Royals (sadly these have been few and far between for obvious reason):

Chip Ambres and Matt Diaz are members in good standing of the 40-man roster. And yet, since August 26, Terrence Long has started every game, and so has Emil Brown (actually, Brown has started every game since July 16, but at least he occasionally hits the ball out of the ballpark). Remember, this is a team that's rebuilding. That's run according to "The Plan" (as Allard calls it). What's The Plan? From what I can tell, it involves losing a whole lot of games, but otherwise the details are hazy.

(Oh, and here's a Bonus Example: Baird has decided that Andres Blanco, who might eventually hit enough to play shortstop in the major leagues, should henceforth be . . . a second baseman.)

Chip Ambres is hitting .262/.352/.383 in limited duty this year (2/3 in SB) and has a .262 EqA. Terrence Long, an "established veteran type", has an EqA of .244 in 435 wasted plate appearances. Matt Diaz has only hit .267/.304/.373 in limited duty, but his price tag is the league minimum, whereas Long is pulling in $4.7 million. If payroll was measured in value towards the team, Long would be selling his house and car and probably his firstborn to the Glass family, because he owes them bigtime. And Andres Blanco? Moving him to second means only one thing. This isn't moving anytime soon.

This isn't baseball, but if there is anyone who doesn't read The Superficial daily you might want to add that to your list of things to do when your boss or professor isn't looking.

I've also started reading Deadspin, a sports news site that covers most of the bases from what I can see (and ice, and parque flooring, and football fields as well) so make sure you check it out.

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