Apparently, John Smoltz has cleared waivers

Now, which team has..

an exhausted bullpen.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
~Earl Wilson

by BeantownVol on Aug 11, 2009 1:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Everyone keeps bringing up the bullpen thing, but who would really want this John Smoltz out of the pen. He’d only be useful in a total blowout situation. You couldn’t put him in a close game cause he’d either blow the lead or make the other team’s lead worse.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Aug 11, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe..

His walk totals are low this year and his Ks are up. That is crucial for the bullpen. He’s just had alot of bad luck in a difficult place to pitch.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
~Earl Wilson

by BeantownVol on Aug 11, 2009 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You dont give up 1.5:1 hits per inning and a run an inning due to bad luck. He’s been getting shelled, just b/c he has struck out a good number of people doesnt mean he’s getting the job done.

by rstrangeiv on Aug 11, 2009 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eh

a .390 BABIP is unsustainable. The LD% is no different from normal, in fact, it’s below his career average. His GB% is down just a tad, but the HR/FB rate is just through the roof, and that’s largely beyond a pitcher’s control.

He’s probably not a 3.50 ERA guy, but he’s certainly better than an 8.33. I bet if he gets a chance, especially if it’s in the NL, he could post solid numbers for the rest of the year as either a starter or reliever.

by Bronn on Aug 11, 2009 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thank you +1

I was just trying to get those numbers

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
~Earl Wilson

by BeantownVol on Aug 11, 2009 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

BABIP isn’t always about bad luck or the defense behind a pitcher. It’s not as if Smoltz has been giving up a bunch of seeing-eye singles and bloopers. Batters are squaring up like never before on Smoltz. A .390 BABIP is perfectly sustainable if you’re not fooling anyone.

by paulyicecubes on Aug 11, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't agree

I know the above rationales are standard, but I do think a .390 BABIP is sustainable if a guy is getting hit hard. If you throwing batting practice pitches you’re going to get shelled no matter how many innings you throw. Remember, as a bullpen guy, he’s going to have fewer innings then when he was starting, so chances are that .390 is closer to his mean. The same goes along with the HR/FB rate. If you throw gopher balls, the balls get crushed and therefore you give up more homeruns per fly ball. That is under the pitcher’s control.

by ghost of tom thobe on Aug 11, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

.390 BABIP is sustainable if a guy is getting hit hard

Not unless it’s justified by an increase in LD% (Smoltz’s has dropped).

Remember, as a bullpen guy, he’s going to have fewer innings then when he was starting, so chances are that .390 is closer to his mean.

We’re using those numbers for their predictive value-the effect that future performance has on his season numbers is irrelevant.

If you throw gopher balls, the balls get crushed and therefore you give up more homeruns per fly ball. That is under the pitcher’s control.

You made that up. Three of Smoltz’s 8 home runs allowed were hit by lefties in parks with very shallow walls in RF (Fenway and Yankee). Neutral parks would probably have held them.

Pete Rose was actually banned from baseball for teaching Jeff Francoeur how to play. He made up the gambling stuff to hide his shame.

by VivaLosBravos on Aug 11, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Second quote

Remember, as a bullpen guy, he’s going to have fewer innings then when he was starting, so chances are that .390 is closer to his mean

Pete Rose was actually banned from baseball for teaching Jeff Francoeur how to play. He made up the gambling stuff to hide his shame.

by VivaLosBravos on Aug 11, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fangraphs’ pitch values:

wFB wSL wSF
Career: 26.1 85.9 22.9
2009 -16.1 5.2 -3.2

That’s some significant decreases. His 2009 stats aren’t going to get better because he isn’t going to get better. He is well past prime and had major shoulder surgery. If he had the surgery two years ago and posted a decent year, then I would agree that he would come back up closer to his career (or even league) averages. But the fact is he has not pitched well on any level, minor or major leagues, since he had the surgery, so what proof do we have that his 42 year old arm with multiple surgeries is suddenly going to get better?

The comment that the .390 BABIP is going to decrease to some “mean” is a fallacy since there have to be terrible pitchers below the mean as there are great pitchers above the mean. Smoltz, at this point is his career, is a terrible pitcher.

You made that up. Three of Smoltz’s 8 home runs allowed were hit by lefties in parks with very shallow walls in RF (Fenway and Yankee). Neutral parks would probably have held them.

I didn’t make anything up. I used logic rather than particular stats. I don’t see stats backing up the above claim either (i.e., distance of home run or even direction of the homer—the balls could’ve went to dead center or right). Your claim makes sense, but it doesn’t refute my claim that he’s giving up my homers per fly ball because of poor pitching.

by ghost of tom thobe on Aug 11, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/event_hr.cgi?n1=cabreme01&t=b

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/event_hr.cgi?n1=markani01&t=b

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/event_hr.cgi?n1=damonjo01&t=b

Two were hit to straightaway right and one to right center.

he’s giving up my homers per fly ball because of poor pitching.

1) small sample size
2) Among those with the 10 highest HR/FB rates in the last three calendar years are Hamels, Harang, AJ Burnett, and Felix Hernandez, none of whom pitch poorly. There may be some kind of correlation between stuff and HR/FB, but the causal connection you’re implying is clearly fictitious.

Pete Rose was actually banned from baseball for teaching Jeff Francoeur how to play. He made up the gambling stuff to hide his shame.

by VivaLosBravos on Aug 11, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

block quote fail

I suck at this

Pete Rose was actually banned from baseball for teaching Jeff Francoeur how to play. He made up the gambling stuff to hide his shame.

by VivaLosBravos on Aug 11, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

False "depth"

Not entirely related to Smoltz being DFA’ed, but is anyone else tired of hearing about how “deep” such and such team’s starting rotation is, when in actuality, the back end is just filled with a bunch of no-longer-good big names? For example, if I created a team with:

Smoltz, Glavine, Pedro, Moyer, Penny, Diasuke, and Livan Hernandez — would I have a “deep” rotation, or a bunch of scrubs?

True depth is only achieved with quantity AND quality…

by fphjr01 on Aug 11, 2009 1:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I know

I was looking at Sporting News Today online, and they had Todd Jones comment on the best rotations in baseball. It went like this:

Yankees’ top 3
Red Sox’s top 3
Cardinals’ top 4
Phillies’ top 2.5 (really!?)
Tigers’ top 4
Giants’ top 2.

No mention of the Braves, who have the third best ERA in the land. No mention of the Dodgers, who also have 4 really good starters.

Since when is having 2.5 good pitchers enough to get credit for a good rotation? The whole thing was pretty worthless.

by Bronn on Aug 11, 2009 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This Todd Jones person....

…sounds like a stupid-head.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti

by sddbaker on Aug 11, 2009 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thats utter bullshit

by Zeus12888 on Aug 11, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh gee, the Yanks, Red Sox, and Phills were up there.

Gawd, the gushing those 3 teams get from sports personalities is nauseating.

by Sparhawk on Aug 11, 2009 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Masterson and Buchholz made up a big part of that depth. If you adjust for league (add .30 runs to NL teams), then the Red Sox pitching does lead the majors in FIP, edging out the Braves by 0.02 runs.

I always liked the Braves pitching better though because there are less question marks.

by VictorW on Aug 11, 2009 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Since I'm non-sequitor-ing today

wrt FIP, and I haven’t checked lately, I’m wondering if anyone has looked into FIP vs. Jair Jurrjens. I understand that FIP = fielding independent pitching, i.e. what happens if there is no defense, but in reality, there is a defense out there. Non-Braves fans will probably like to chime in about how JJ continues to “outperform his peripherals” but at what point do we acknowledge / investigate / challenge the idea that maybe JJ really is this good, and its not because he’s lucky or uses magic, but is skilled at getting balls hit to someone with a glove.

I’d like to argue that he is pretty bad ass at this pitching thing, and after almost 2 years of it, doesn’t seem to be “regressing to the mean” in any way. Just a non-factual argument here. Appreciate someone with more time to at least shoot me straight.

Back to your point — the Sox edge out the Braves by 0.02 FIP-units, but is that true if JJ is teh awes0me, just not measured by FIP.

by fphjr01 on Aug 11, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm no "expert"

But his season disparity of -0.69 ranks 16th lowest among qualified pitchers, behind Cain, Santana, and Carpenter among others.

His K and BB rates are almost identical to last season, where his ERA-FIP was actually +0.07, indicating that he had actually been slightly underperforming his peripherals.

What has changed is that he’s giving up more flyballs this season, effectively lowering his BAbip, and has also increased his strand rate. Since his career is still a very small sample size, I think it’s still too early to judge these skills as repeatable.

Pete Rose was actually banned from baseball for teaching Jeff Francoeur how to play. He made up the gambling stuff to hide his shame.

by VivaLosBravos on Aug 11, 2009 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah

I caved and checked myself and was surprised that the difference was less than I seemed to remember. I’m probably biased against the start-of-season predictions saying “he’s headed for 4+ ERA land, just you wait, small sample size!”

Almost 300IP as a starter is probably crossing out of “SSS”, but I won’t argue that here. Thanks for checking though.

by fphjr01 on Aug 11, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Masterson is an Indian.

was in the deal for V Mart.

by Mr. Sanchez on Aug 12, 2009 8:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What the hell, I’d rather have him than Acosta.

If Dunn walks 30 fewer times, he'll drive in 15 more runs. This is thanks to the scientifically proven formula: RBI = (this is nonsense) (I made it all up).

Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

by TradeAndruw on Aug 11, 2009 1:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I wonder

When September rolls around, and if the Braves fall out of contention, and if Smoltz is still available, I wonder if the Braves could do the equivalent of a one-day contract or the 7-day contracts like they do in the NFL and NBA and let Smoltz come in and retire as his rightful place as a Brave? Sure, it’s a painful way to go out, but at least it’s something.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Aug 11, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’d go along with that. Hell give Tommy Gun the same thing if we fall out of contention. In the mean time I don’t see us being involved with this waiver wire deal.

by Chesterhighwater on Aug 11, 2009 1:24 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Didn’t the Yankees do that for Billy Crystal?

If Dunn walks 30 fewer times, he'll drive in 15 more runs. This is thanks to the scientifically proven formula: RBI = (this is nonsense) (I made it all up).

Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

by TradeAndruw on Aug 11, 2009 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Irrelevant

The Braves aren’t falling out of contention.

"Ohhhh Shit."-Bobby Cox, 3/28/09

by 10-4 on Aug 11, 2009 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This^

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

by HEYJUDE on Aug 11, 2009 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti

by sddbaker on Aug 11, 2009 1:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

O good god. How about ‘do not want’ that picture. It’s Spatz…the psycho cat my dad used to have that attacked everyone, including me. Fueled my hatred of those nasty creatures (except the one I used to have that looks like your avatar). But still…that one. Ugh. I gotta go find a dog to pet.

by Lizziebeth on Aug 11, 2009 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't let one bad cat ruin it for the rest of them

I have 17 (yes, I said seventeen) cats, and they’re all pretty great. Some are better than others, of course, but a few of them are as sweet and needy as little children…and they still don’t pester me as much as my 6 (yes, I said six) dogs.

P.S.—My wife works at an emergency animal hospital.

"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09

by buzzdeadwax on Aug 11, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

just don’t tell my wife…she’ll be wanting to take home a few animals.

0 pets and loving it!

by Sparhawk on Aug 11, 2009 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You just haven't met the right cat

But it does suck when you want to go on vacation.

"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09

by buzzdeadwax on Aug 11, 2009 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how about...

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti

by sddbaker on Aug 11, 2009 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I Don't Like This

I don’t think that this would be a good idea. We don’t have enough time left in the season to give Smoltz the time to get things together. He would need some rehab time and probably some adjustment time coming into the bullpen and that’s time that we don’t have. There is only a little over a month and a half left in the season. That’s enough time to make a serious run, but not if we have a serious risk like this coming out of the pen in important situation. Smoltz could have stayed in Atlanta and gotten one more start, but instead he chose to go to Boston for $$$Greener pastures…He made $14 million last year and made 5 starts and 1 relief appearance. I know he had taken more money in the past but last year he didn’t live up to his end of the bargain, so he could have been a little more open to comprimise…Thanks for all you did for Atlanta John Smoltz. You are my favorite pitcher out of the big 3 but its time to hang it up and make amens…

by michaelcooksey on Aug 11, 2009 2:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs