Results tagged ‘ Peavy ’
If only….
…exams didn’t exist.
If only, I could pause the baseball season, finish exams and then jump right back in.
If only on top of that, the Stanley Cup Finals were not during baseball season, and baseball season wasn’t during the Stanley Cup Finals
Still, despite my concerns, I’ve been unable to blog in what seems like ages, and haven’t been able to watch a full ballgame in quite some time. So real quick, here’s what’s on my mind cause it may be a couple weeks before I can blog again:
- Wrigley Field looks awesome with the ivy fully green. Can’t wait eventually go there again.
- How about Chris Carpenter huh? You’ve been on the shelf for a year, you come back, you get two good outings, you go back on the shelf straining an oblique, and then you come back and in your second start, you’re perfect through six innings. Carpenter hasn’t allowed a run yet this year in 23 innings, and his control has been impeccable.
- The Tigers are still looking good, Justin Verlander has just been nasty, and Rick Porcello is quietly trying to etch his name on the AL Rookie of the year trophy.
- How about a 10 game winning streak for those Padres? Amazing. And Jake Peavy’s looked good recently. Oh and by the way, after K’ing 10 Cubbies on May 22nd, the only NL team Mr Peavy hasn’t had a double digit K game against is the Phillies.
- Speaking of hot, what about those Yankees?
- Or Maybe Joe Mauer, who has 11 home runs in just 27 games this year. Here’s some perspective for you. He had 9 in 146 games last year.
- Zack Greinke is just incredible. AL Cy Young right there. You know you’re good when you give up 1 earned run and your ERA actually GOES UP!!! After his complete game vs the Tigers earlier this week, Greinke’s ERA went from 0.82 to 0.84. Sick.
- They say Albert Pujols is in a slump, but hey, but people seem to forget that he’s still batting a measley .308 in May. Hang in there Albert.
- Ryan Zimmerman’s hitting streak might have ended at 30 games and the Nationals might well be 13-34 yes folks, 13 and 34, but hey, it was one hell of a ride.
- Why is it that whenever I see or hear of Clayton Kershaw, I can’t help but think of Sandy Koufax? Not the dominant Koufax that won 129 games between 1961 and 1966, posted a 2.19 ERA in that span, won 3 Cy Young awards and an MVP title along with 2 world series championships. No, the young, raw Koufax who showed signs and flashes of his future self but was suppressed by Dodger manager Walter Alston throughout his early years.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks. Exams, Stanley Cup Finals, hopefully the odd baseball game thrown in as well, starting with Dodgers/Cubs on ESPN on sunday night baseball. Can’t wait for that one. If only I get the time to watch it. Oh and Matt Wieters has finally been called up and went 0-4 for the O’s last night. However, since I have virtually no time, I can’t see him play against the Tigers this weekend. Still, it could be worse. Looking forward to a summer of baseball.
Just utter stupidity
Seriously, it’s comments like this from Padres GM Kevin Towers on Jake Peavy that just drive me absolutely insane:
“He’s not too expensive to keep,” said Towers, whose
opening-day payroll this year was $74 million. “It’s just that last
year, we lost 99 games with him. So if we’re able to add multiple
pieces here that we think are going to improve our club, we’ve got to
look at it.”
This therefore, when read in conjunction with this statement from Jake’s agent Barry Axelrod, would seem extremely contradictory, wouldn’t one say?
“Axelrod said the Padres approached him about a possible trade
because of the team’s financial situation and need to rebuild. Peavy
has a no-trade clause, and Axelrod said he gave San Diego a list of
five potential candidates the pitcher would approve a deal to.”
So if you have a Cy Young caliber, top 10 pitcher in the majors who’s just entering his prime, and you then self proclaim that he’s ‘not too expensive to keep’, wouldn’t that surely indicate that you don’t have a problem with Jake sticking around? Seriously? Remove him and then who’ve ya got? I don’t care if you get two or so quality major league starters back in return. Peavy has an aura that only the top pitchers have when they take the hill. If anything, you’d had thought he’d be the piece that you build your future around, not trade away. Honestly. What you’d give to have some people just step back and take a look in the mirror.
To trade or not to trade
It’s early sunday, and I’ve got a few things on my mind. First I want
to get some things off my chest about Jake Peavy, who just so happens
to be my favourite major league starter right now. Rumours are swirling
around right now that Padres GM Kevin Towers is shopping Peavy, who,
after enduring their most losses since 2003 with 99, need to get
something in return for Peavy while his value is sky high. And if
there’s talk of Peavy’s contract being too expensive right now, then
you can forget about it. Just compare what Jake’s going to make until
his contract expires in 2012, at a total of $52 million, to what C.C
Sabathia’s gonna get this offseason. And Johan Santana? Forget it.
Peavy’s a bargain for the current escalating market. I’d chalk Peavy up
among the top 5 major league pitchers right now, even though his record
from this past season, 10-11, wouldn’t suggest it. But check out his
WHIP: 1.18, tied for 14th in the majors, his ERA: 2.85, ranked 6th in
the majors, and his run support? How about 3.63 runs per game, ranked
439th! The padres ranked 15th in the NL in batting average (.250) and
were last in runs scored (637). So where’s the help for a guy who
clearly is one of the best pitchers in the game?
At the same time, why would you want to give up a guy who, at 27 years
of age, is the face of the franchise (outside trevor hoffman) and has a
bunch of promising years ahead of him? Let’s not forget that Jake
UNANIMOUSLY won the NL Cy Young award in 2007. So therefore, I can only
ask Kevin Towers, NOT to trade Jake Peavy this offseason. Let him stay,
build on what you have, and reap the rewards that way. Don’t make a
deal now that you’re going to regret for a bunch of prospects who could
end up on the scrap heap 5 years down the line while Peavy could be
marching towards the hall of fame.
Peavy watch!
As I watched Jake work at Coors field this morning, I got an interesting snippet of info from the FSN Rocky Mountain broadcast crew: In Peavy’s last 8 starts, the Padres have scored a total of 20 runs. Now you can perhaps begin to understand why Jake has an even 8-8 record! Jake’s 2.68 ERA is currently tied for the NL league lead with fellow NL west compatriot Tim Lincecum of the Giants. When you read inside the numbers even further, it gets even more interesting. Peavy’s 1.43 home ERA is tops in all of the majors, yet he’s only 4-4 at Petco Park in 2008. The way things go? Yes sir! But Jake didn’t have his best control last night at Coors, walking a season high 5, and he has now dropped to 0-2 in 3 starts vs the Rockies. Of course, it’s never easy pitching in Denver, as it’s well known that the thinner air creates less resistance meaning there’s less friction on pitches, resulting in less movement. The thinner air also means that balls travel further, DESPITE the fact that the Rockies fences are further back than you’ll find at most parks. Still, Jake managed to turn in 6 solid innings, and he should get another crack at win no 9 back at Petco thursday afternoon vs the Brewers. And if I’m not mistaken, it should be Ben Sheets opposing the reigning NL Cy Young award winner. (I originally thought it could be CC Sabathia, but the Brewers don’t have Monday off, whereas the Padres do, so Sabathia is in line to start Wednesday not thursday. Too Bad.) Stay tuned for more Peavy watch as we close down the last two months of the year.
sometimes life just isn’t fair….
So I’m watching Jake Peavy spin a gem saturday night (or rather sunday morning) at Petco Park vs the offensively challenged Giants. Peavy’s had a great season, a terrific ERA, more than a strikeout per inning pitched, but he’s got no run support all year. Same goes for the rest of the Padres starters. And tonight’s no different. Peavy’s thrown 6 shutout innings. But here’s the unfair part. So has Barry Zito. Zito, by all standards, has had an awful year, marred by inconsistency and just getting hammered often. But on this night, he’s also thrown 6 shutout innings. The top of the 7th roles around, and Peavy gives up a cheap single to left off the bat of Fred Lewis, who did a good job taking the ball the other way. Lewis then stole second. Bengie Molina then hit a Seeing Eye Single through the right side on a tough pitch from Peavy and Lewis scored. The Padres then couldn’t get anything off Zito through 8 innings and Brian Wilson closed the door, and the Giants won 2-0. Peavy’s line, 7IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 0BB and 7 K’s, lowering his season ERA to 2.59. Now tell me how fair that is? Tell me how fair Peavy’s 8-7 record is this year? Or his 1.12 WHIP? Or the fact that he hasn’t given up more than 4 runs in one start this year? Or that 14 of his 19 starts have been quality starts? Or how the Padres have scored just 72 runs in his starts? That’s an average of about 3.7 runs per game. See how unfair this game is? If Peavy had say, another run on average per start, he might have 11/12 wins by now and might be on his way to another Cy Young. Instead, it’s just gonna go down as a great year if you can read between the lines. If you can’t and just look at the won/loss then he’s just another guy.
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