Thursday Liftoff Links

by Timothy De Block on Jul 21, 2011 5:00 AM CDT in Link Dumps

While Jose Altuve was preparing to take a Major League field i was putting together these links to help you get through the off-day.

Movin' on Up

Astros County: The Only Astros Blog That Matters: Interview with Jio Mier
AC has an update on Mier's knee injury and climb through the Astro farm system straight from the horses mouth.

Appy Astros: Altuve Cast A Big Shadow
Appy Astro with some recollections of Jose Altuve's time in Greeneville and beyond.

Let's Make a Deal

MLB Trade Deadline Buyers: AL Edition
Last time The Biz of Baseball looked at NL buyers now they take a look at the AL buyers.

Giants Upgrade Infield With Keppinger | FanGraphs Baseball
Tommy Rancel's take on the Jeff Keppinger trade. It appears the Giants will be utilizing him at the shortstop position.

Astros County: The Only Astros Blog That Matters: The First Domino Falls: Keppinger traded
AC's take on the trade that not only freed Jeff Keppinger but also Jose Altuve.

You Throw the Ball, I Catch the Ball

The Irrationality of Modern Bullpen Usage - Lone Star Ball
as illustrated by the Texas/Seattle game

New SIERA, Part Two (of Five): Unlocking Underrated Pitching Skills | FanGraphs Baseball
A look at SIERA and some of the interesting conclusions made.

Getting Friendly with Pitcher K% | FanGraphs Baseball
FanGraphs has recently made some changes to K% primarily using plate appearances instead of at bats to calculate K%. In this article Carson Cistulli shows us how to use K% in analysis.

Beyond the Box Score 2011 Catcher Defense Ratings: July Edition - Beyond the Box Score
They're back... Beyond the Box Score July 2011 catcher defense rankings. If you're a fan of Humberto Quintero don't look he's average at best. Surprisingly J.R. Towles is rated higher than Carlos Corporan although for Corporan a small sample size caveat can be attached.

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Mr. Sabean and Bochy

Keppinger cannot play SS everyday.

Is Juan Uribe hurt? He seems to have more range (without looking) than Keppinger at SS, but Tejada at SS is just embarrassing. Have the Giants really had to play Tejada there though?

by SteveBartman_MVP on Jul 21, 2011 9:39 AM CDT via mobile reply actions

Uribe signed with the Dodgers. Yes, Tejada has been splitting time between 3d base and shortstop for the Giants. Tejada had a slight fielding resurgence with the Padres late last season (he will do that sometimes) and the Giants thought he could still play shortstop. But he has not been a good fielder at shortstop (not unexpectedly to most everybody else). I think the Giants will become unhappy with Keppinger if he plays shortstop very much, but maybe they have become accustomed to bad defense at shortstop.

by clack on Jul 21, 2011 9:46 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

Well that’s really embarrassing I forgot about Uribe signing with the Dodgers.

I didn’t know of Tejada having a defensive resurgence last year, that’s interesting. The Giants could really use a legitimate bat like Hunter Pence. Clayton Kershaw may have potentially boosted Hunters trade value after shutting down San Francisco.

I’m intrigued about the possibilities of the trade deadline the next 10 days. I’m absolutely positive our FO is incapable if they can’t get a great haul for Pence/Bourn, when they legitimately have all the leverage. I won’t discredit the report about Crane lowering payroll to 60 million anymore, but I’m far from annointing it as gospel either.

by SteveBartman_MVP on Jul 21, 2011 10:18 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

The Pirates just scored 4 runs in a 3 game series. Pence sure has the potential to shiny up somebody’s team.

"Prince Fielder is too fat even for the Oakland A’s" - Billy Beane

by ol Pete on Jul 21, 2011 10:57 AM CDT up reply actions

I got the impression that Brandon Crawford has sort of taken over SS. I’d think Kep is a platoon at 2nd and spend time at 3rd. Going to the Giants I expect something crazy offensively though.

"Prince Fielder is too fat even for the Oakland A’s" - Billy Beane

by ol Pete on Jul 21, 2011 11:00 AM CDT up reply actions

I haven’t seen his stats of late, but I recall him starting strong offensively, but fading rather fast after the quick start. He can play defense, which I would rather have. Then again, the Giants offense has been dismal this year.

by SteveBartman_MVP on Jul 21, 2011 11:34 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I think it was one of his first games, if not his first, when he hit a grand slam off of a Marcum curveball. That’ll skew things. I’m with you on the defense.

"Prince Fielder is too fat even for the Oakland A’s" - Billy Beane

by ol Pete on Jul 21, 2011 2:29 PM CDT up reply actions

With Tejada and Sanchez out for awhile now I can see Keppinger playing some short

and second for the Giants.

by StrosSouth on Jul 21, 2011 3:13 PM CDT up reply actions

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