At SSI, we offer Felix an engraved apology.  His swerveball has re-emerged and taken over the major leagues, and we have another mea culpa:  Felix' May downturn might have been little more than just bad luck.

I feel like I can't enjoy his success quite the same, after bailing on him in May.  But FWIW, here's the retraction.  :- )

…………………..

I was pleased to see LL's flexibility about a non-defense-friendly solution to the 3B problem.  Even I'm squeamish about messing up Branyan with a position switch, so they're ahead of me on the curve for creativity on this one.  ;- )

………………….

View article …

Every.  Single.  Year.  :- )

The trade deadline rolls up over the horizon and we fans mooooan, "our two best minor-leaguers are injured and the other guy's in a slump.  We don't have anybody we can trade for a bat!"

We probably have 25 players in the minor leagues that other GM's would love to get their grubby li'l hands on. At SSI we expand on the thought.

………………

Jon has his usual cool-breeze, professional read at BB&T and it's on the trade deadline, no less.  Refill?  Mmmmm…

He quotes a tweet on Prospect Insider that has the M's adding a starting pitcher (??) and a LH bat.  I didn't see whether this was simply a comment in the chat thread or from Jason his ownself.

View article …

At Dead Cat's Bounce, Gomez has a neat article on the 16-year-old Bryce Harper, "Baseball's LeBron James."  Supposedly Harper is a candidate for the #1 overall NEXT year!!  Throws 96, has hit a homer 570, and can pitch a knuckleball with either hand, we're sure.

At SSI, we kibitz Geoff Baker on the LF situation and Taro thinks he's found the glove wizard to replace Frenchy.  :- )

And Larry Stone links us to a quick baseball video you definitely won't want to have missed.

Cheers,

Dr D

At SSI, a breakdown of Morrow's start against the Padres.  Rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.   He's got issues with FB command, but had you noticed that he threw 14 of 19 offspeed pitches for strikes?

At Baseball Musings, David takes his stab at the question of why Derek Jeter suddenly gained two steps at age 35.  IMHO David's answer shows his usual fine feel for the game.  And it ain't like Raul didn't try to tell us.  ;- ) I don't know why, as crazy as we are about defense these days, we don't talk more about positioning.

Compass Rosy has an awesome screen shot of the ball that Gutierrez just missed — a catch which would have won the game and fueled another month's worth of rapture over Mr. Matinee Idol.  :- )  In a way, Dr. D being who he is, am almost relieved that the catch-and-photo didn't provide the year's bumper sticker for the defense-wins-games crusade.

But Mr. Matinee Idol is having a great week and has raised his OPS+ to 80.

Hey, we kid.  Gutierrez has a wonderful swing, and one of these days he might be a fine ML ballplayer.  If I'm Jack Zduriencik, I'm glad I picked him.

View article …

At Mariner Central, we have Lonnie, G-Money, and the gang flying around the field like the Brazilian soccer team.  Great discussion on the timing of the Cheney Carousel.

At SSI, we call for an end to the "maybe he'll take $12m a year" nonsense.  We mean that in a good way.  :- )

At LL, Matthew takes the oscilloscope to Jarrod Washburn and, justifiably, can't put his finger on why the dude is so much better.  It's quite a puzzle.

Shannon Dreyer's follow on Yuniesky Betancourt has a lot of flavor and color to it.  Kudos.

Jeff Sullivan's 29-30 postgame is a data-rich environment.  Never saw anything like that run-value location chart either.  Mass kewl.   I'd be curious whether Felix, Burke, and Wok had this particular chart in mind.

At Spirituality in the 21st Century, we look at the spiritual blessing of vindication.

Really enjoyed this Griffey article by Steve Kelley. Told me a few things I didn't know, too… :- )

At SSI, we ask, who in the world would you take over Felix-Bedard.  And did you know Washburn is #8 in FIP?

If there's ever a time you were going to surf Prospect Insider, this week would be it.  Live there.

Cheers,

Dr D

At SSI, a homage to Erik Bedard and also to Felix "300 Wins" Hernandez.  ;- )

A Hall of Fame thread rages at Mariner Central over the JJ Putz trade.  442 posts and going strong.  Post of the thread goes to #429, which references the "disastrous Erik Bedard trade."  Ah, the smell of propaganda in the morning.  Amazing, the things you can accomplish with sheer repetition.

At Dead Cat's Bounce, an interesting All-Star ballot.  It includes Asdrubal Cabrera, who is, of course, an ex-M's minor leaguer.  Now, if you are interested in learning about the concept of disastrous trades, meditate on a half-season's worth of Perez and Broussard, in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo and Asdrubal Cabrera.  You should then be able to tell the difference between a "disastrous" trade and a "fair" trade.

Erik Bedard has started ten games for the 2009 Seattle Mariners.  He has given up 3 runs or fewer, exactly ten times.  I know I'm out on a limb here, but I'm having a hard time imagining any trade for Steve Carlton that could be characterized as disastrous. If there was one, it would involve Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, not a couple of promising minor leaguers.