Category: Sports

Happiness Is A Healthy Quarterback

by A.J. Coltrane

I’m currently in an office pool where a buddy and I each picked four NFL teams to start the year. Success is (basically) based upon total team wins. I wound up with the Buccaneers and Titans (and the Ravens and the 49ers). The Bucs are now 1-8. The Titans are 4-5. I’m not doing as well as I’d like.

This got me looking for something to blame for my lack of awesomeness. I’ve decided it’s the fact that the quarterbacks on the teams that I picked have been hurt or surprisingly ineffective. I can’t control that, right?

The Bucs are 30th (out of 32 teams) in passing yards. Their quarterback to start the year was Josh Freeman. He got benched after three games, and cut shortly after that when nobody else wanted to trade for him. Apparently he’s a little too fond of being young, rich, and famous, if you know what I mean.

The Titans are 23rd in passing. Jake Locker has been hurt much of the year. He’s only appeared in five out of nine games, and he’s missed parts of two of those with mid-game injuries. He’s now out the rest of the year with a foot injury.

All of which led me to wonder, what’s the winning percentage of #1 quarterbacks vs the backups? (A #1 quarterback is defined as the guy that starts the first game of the year.) I guessed it’d be .550 for the Game 1 Starters vs .400 for whoever the club threw out there as a replacement.

The actual 2012 totals:

2012 Results Wins Losses Total Percent of games played
Week 1 Starter 239 221 0.520 90.2
Backups 16 34 0.320 9.8

I’m a little surprised the Week 1 starters played 90 percent of the games. I thought it’d be lower due to injury or whatever. Good to know.

The #1 starters performed loosely as expected, winning 52% of their games, but the guys that were backups to start the year won 32% of the games that they eventually started. Ick. That’s way worse than I had even guessed it might be.

The moral is, of course:  Be very happy when the #1 QB is healthy. The alternatives are generally pretty dreadful.

The Veterans Committee is at it Again

By Bladd Drwg

The veterans committee gets to vote (and probably not elect) anyone this year again. Here is the blurb from espn.com of who they get to consider:

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Retired managers Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox will join holdovers George Steinbrenner and Marvin Miller on the Hall of Fame expansion era committee ballot next month.
Dave Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Billy Martin and Ted Simmons also are held over from the 2010 ballot, while Dave Parker and Dan Quisenberry have been added. Vida Blue, Ron Guidry, Al Oliver and Rusty Staub have been dropped.

The committee will meet at the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and its vote will be announced there Dec. 9.

Torre and Cox retired as managers after the 2010 season and La Russa after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2011 World Series title.

None of the players on the ballot really deserve to be in the hall, unless you consider Billy Martin as a manager, and then you can make a case for him. Concepcion, Garvey, John, Simmons, Parker and Quiz all were excellent players during their careers but were never quite good enough to be considered greats and the hall would actually be worse off for electing any of them.

There is an interesting argument with the other 5 names. Torre, LaRussa and Cox all had hall of fame managing careers. Torre won 2300 games and 6 pennants and 4 WS titles over 29 seasons. Cox won 2500 games, 5 pennants and 1 WS title over 29 years. LaRussa won 2700 games, 6 pennants and 3 WS titles over 33 years (and is the only one of the 3 to win a pennant with more than one team). They rank 5th, 4th and 3rd respectively in career manager wins, behind only John McGraw and Connie Mack. They are also the only 3 managers in the top 10 in career wins that are not in the HOF. All three should be but I would bet only one of them makes it this year and my money is on Torre.

Steinbrenner and Miller are interesting cases – one was an owner (Steinbrenner) and one was the head of the players union (Miller). Both had significant impact on the game – Miller with leading the players union into the era of free agency and Steinbrenner, well, for being Steinbrenner. I really think Miller has a stronger case than Steinbrenner but both should eventually make it to the Hall. Getting them elected, well that might be harder since neither was particularly well liked by a segment of the voters, so we may never see a plaque with their names hanging in the gallery.

 

For your viewing pleasure, a cartoon by the late, great Bill Gallo and his classic George Steingrabber character:

Steingrabber

The Book On The Seahawks

by A.J. Coltrane

Until the Seahawks prove otherwise they’re going to get a steady diet of what they got last night. The Rams defense packed eight players “into the box”, rushed the lanes on either side of the Center, and dared the Seahawks to throw. Teams have been doing that off and on the this year and last year, but I think the rest of the league will watch that game and say “Oh, ok…”

Marshawn Lynch wound up with 8 carries for 23 yards, and a big case of the grumpies.

Wilson was 10 of 18 for 139 yards — 80 of which was on one long touchdown pass. He was also sacked seven times;  he’s currently 2nd (worst in the NFL) in sacks as a percentage of pass attempts. Seattle has allowed the 7th most sacks overall, mainly because they rarely throw the ball. They’re on pace to allow 54 sacks. Wilson won’t survive the season if it continues.

It’s a simple, obvious formula for the defense, and it’s something that’s been coming for a while. Wilson is too short to see over the line when pressure comes up the middle. Now we get to see how the Seahawks adjust.

What’s the adjustment?

“Get healthier at wide receiver and offensive line.”

…Ok…

———

They *are* 7-1, however. So there’s that. Just don’t count me among the believers.

Pushing a Player into the Line

By Blaidd Drwg

If you have been hiding under a rock, the Patriots got flagged for a penalty on a FG in overtime, which ultimately lead to the Jets kicking the winning FG. The Jets tipped the refs off that the Pats were using a play which one player pushed another into the line, which in the 2013 NFL rule book, is a penalty. I see no problem with a team telling the officials to watch out for something that the other team is doing illegally. It happens all of the time in baseball with pitchers.

This link has video of 2 ESPN idiots analysts arguing that the penalty should not have been called.

I don’t give a crap about the spirit of the rule. The actual rule is this (Rule 913 from the NFL Rulebook):

(2) Team B players cannot push teammates on the line of scrimmage into the offensive formation.

Penalty: For unnecessary roughness: Loss of 15 yards.

Based on the rule, it is a penalty. I don’t care what Skip Bayless or anyone else thinks the rule means. This is pretty clear. It mentions nothing about 2nd level.

Just remember, the Patriots won a playoff game a few years ago because the refs called a play based on the letter of the rule rather than the spirit. Perhaps you remember the Tuck Rule in the game against the Raiders? This is only a big deal because it is the Pats and Jets, two teams that hate each other. If this was any other 2 random NFL teams, this story would have already been put to bed.

The Curley Shuffle

By Blaidd Drwg

Back in my younger days when I was just a pup, they used to play this inbetween innings at Mets games at Shea Stadium. I have absolutely no idea why this popped into my head completely out of the blue recently. I probably have not heard this song in 20+ years.

What are the Seahawks?

by A.J. Coltrane

Expectations for the Seahawks have been sky-high this year, but are they a great team or just a good team? Popular opinion says “Great defense, great running game, great quarterback, they added a stud wide receiver in Percy Harvin, the young guys are maturing and improving …  Super Bowl here we come!” 

As the season has rolled on, the team health has been less than ideal. Most people I’ve talked to feel like the offense and defense will get a *lot* better when the starters return from injury. That remains to be seen, and it assumes that the collective team health actually improves and that nobody else gets newly hurt.

Bill Barnwell at Grantland offers this opinion:

Are the Seahawks a good team or are they the caliber of the best team in football? So far, it seems like the former. In the best-team pocket, they have that blowout win over the 49ers at home. In the other, they have narrow victories over the Panthers, Texans, and Titans, and a close loss to the Colts. I think they have the talent level to be the best team in football, and they’re only going to get better as their injured/suspended players (Chris Clemons, Bruce Irvin, and soon Percy Harvin) come back and get back in the swing of things. But the results haven’t been there yet. 

Concerns:  (As a refresher, there are now 32 NFL teams)

1.  The Seahawks are 24th in passing yards per game.

2.  They’re 5th worst in offensive sack percentage (Sacks divided by attempts.)

3.  They’re 28th in offensive 3rd down conversion percentage. (link)  (Or 5th worst again.)

4.  They have the 5th most penalties on the year, and they’re 3rd in penalty yards. (same link as #3.)

5.  Last year the Seahawks had the 4th healthiest team in the league. They’re not nearly that healthy this year.

The Good Stuff:

1.  They’re 2nd in rushing yards/ game.

2.  They’re 8th in rushing yards/ attempt.

3.  The defense is 2nd in yards allowed per game.  It breaks out to 2nd in passing yards allowed, 11th in rushing yards allowed.

4.  They’re 3rd in points allowed per game.

 

I’m of the opinion that the Seahawks have a great defense, a good running game, and a fringy passing game. Overall I’d go with “good” or “very good”. We’ll see if that’s enough.

When Steve Carlton was the Strikeout King

By Blaidd Drwg

Really Goosh? How?
Really Goosh? How?

I recently decided to buy back a small piece of my youth and purchased a 1984 Topps complete set. It was fun reliving the memories of the 1983 season and my 10 year old self putting together the set. Living in NJ in 1983, there was excitement over the big rookie in NY that took the league by storm – Darryl Strawberry. His rookie card is in that set, along with another NY rookie who wouldn’t really make an impact until the next season – Don Mattingly. There are also cards of a very young Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg, a very old Pete Rose and my all-time favorite name Doug Gwosdz (pronounced GOOSH, had the nickname “Eyechart”).

One of the cards that caught my eye was a highlights card that had Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan and Gaylord Perry on it. I had forgotten this, but 1983 was the year that Walter Johnson’s 55+ year old record for strikeouts in a career fell, and 3 pitchers managed to pass the total of 3,509. Here is the way things stacked up going into the 1983 season:

Player Age Strikeouts
Walter Johnson n/a 3,509
Nolan Ryan 36 3,494
Gaylord Perry 44 3,452
Steve Carlton 38 3,434
The card that inspired the post.
The card that inspired the post.

Obviously Nolan Ryan was the one who was going to break the record first give he was just 15 behind Johnson going into the season. Ryan was starting to look like it might be near the end for him – he had been good but not great for a couple of seasons, so 4,000 strikeouts looked like it might be his upper limit. Perry was a bit of a longshot to catch Johnson because of his age and general ineffectiveness over the previous few seasons. Carlton, despite 1983 being his 38 year old season, had come off this 1982 season:

  • Cy Young Award
  • 295 IP
  • 23 Wins
  • 19 CG
  • 286 K
  • 5.5 WAR

Ryan passed Johnson first and then Carlton and then Perry. Something strange then happened at the end of 1983. Here is how Ryan and Carlton pitched that season:

W-L ERA IP SO
Carlton 15-16 3.11 283.2 275
Ryan 14-9 2.98 196.1 183

Carlton again led the league in IP AND SO, at age 38! So despite being the first pitcher to pass Walter Johnson, Nolan Ryan was not the all-time strikeout leader at the end of 1983:

Player Age Strikeouts
Steve Carlton 38 3,709
Nolan Ryan 36 3,677
Gaylord Perry 44 3,534
Walter Johnson n/a 3,509

Carlton was not nearly as good at age 39 in 1984 (nor for the rest of his career) and Ryan was about as good as he had been the previous 4 seasons, allowing Ryan to finish up 1984 as the all-time strikeout leader, a spot from which he never looked back, adding 1840 strikeouts to his career total after age 37. Since Johnson’s record was initially broken, 5 other pitchers passed the 3,509 total. For one brief season, Steve Carlton was baseball’s all-time strikeout king.

Robinson Cano and Free Agency

By Blaidd Drwg

I saw this piece on espn.com and my reaction was 3 words:

AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!

Here are the details:

The gap between second baseman Robinson Cano and the New York Yankees on a new contract is enormous, with sources telling ESPN’s Buster Olney that the soon-to-be free agent is seeking approximately $305 million over 10 years.

Cano is going to be 31(ish) next season and, while he has been durible and excellent, he is on the wrong side of 30 and is more likely to get, at best, a 7 year $150 million dollar deal, and that is probably only if the Yankees bid on his services. He is due to decline, and I just don’t see any team willing to pay 30 million a year for a guy over 40, including the Yankees. It just won’t happen.

Tossing a Ball to the Fans

By Blaidd Drwg

The River City Rascals of the independent Frontier League, instituted and then reversed a rather interesting policy concerning players and coaches tossing balls into the stands.

From ESPN.com (this is the entire piece):

A unique policy devised by a baseball club in the independent Frontier League was quickly reversed after commenters on social media panned the move.

The club, the River City Rascals, which plays in O’Fallon, Missouri, posted a sign in its home dugout that said that, as of yesterday, players and coaches would be charged for throwing balls into the stands.

“Players and coaches will now be fined $5 for each ball that is tossed into the stands,” the sign read. “We ask that you return every ball back to the dugout, including at the end of innings and games.”

The notice warned team personnel that the $5 would be taken directly out of their paycheck and that it was ownership’s wishes that this was not discussed with fans.

But after negative reaction over taking away a common fan friendly practice filled Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday night, a club official acknowledged it reversed course by the morning.

“We have reversed it, but won’t be discussing it any further at ownership’s request,” said the team’s general manager Dan Dial.

The 14 Teams in the Frontier League have a $75,000 salary cap for a 24-man roster, which means players are earning as little as $600 and as much as $1,600 a month. They are subsidized with meal money and free housing.

I know that independent teams operate on a shoestring budget, but that is beyond silly. Did they think that this was the 1910’s, not the 2010’s, where games would routinely use the same ball for the whole game?