In Brief…Okay, Not That Brief

My plans for tonight got cancelled, so here are a few things to think about on a few guys while other sources float around different, less relevant pieces of information and stats…

• The Indians acquired Yohan Pino from Minnesota today to finish off the Carl Pavano trade. In his article on the deal, Paul Hoynes says that Pino isn’t considered a high-end prospect. I’d like to know why - I could guess it’s because he gives up a lot of hits (8.2 per 9 innings), but we know hits aren’t necessarily a good measure of a pitcher’s talent. His SO/9 number is very good (8.1), BB/9 are good (2.2), and HR/9 are very good too (.7). So, we’ll see.

• In other Indians news, Jason Knapp - who the team got from Philly for Cliff - had an MRI on his shoulder. The fear mongers are out, deriding Shapiro for trading for a player who was on the DL when they made the deal. My opinion? Let’s hope something is wrong with his shoulder because 8 walks in 11 & 2/3 innings isn’t getting it done. 12 K’s in those same innings helps, but…

• …the more I really pay attention, the more it becomes obvious to me how much of an indicator BB/9 is of a pitcher’s performance. Here’s why. If a pitcher is walking guys, it also means he’s getting behind in the count and is, therefore, probably giving up hits. Even if for whatever reason hits aren’t happening (defense, luck, bad hitting) the walks are still putting men on base, and the real danger comes in giving up a home run…which is also more likely to occur when hitters get to face counts like 1-0, 2-1, and 3-1 all night long.

• Stephen Jackson wants to be traded to the Cavs. Supposedly, this stems from his desire to win a championship - although he also mentions being traded to the Knicks to play with his buddy Al Harrington, as well going to Texas (San Antonio, Dallas, Houston). Likely, his desire to play in Cleveland has something to do with his relationship with Coldstone (Mike Brown for those that need reminding), who he’s extremely tight with. He’s even close with Mike’s kids. I was going to say that Captain Jack is an interesting case because he plays in the bizarre Golden State system where no one rebounds, but then I remembered that he’s played a lot of other places too - and, as a forward, has a career average in rebounds per 36 minutes that’s only .4 rebounds more than Mo Williams (4.2 vs. 3.8). He’s also a really bad shooter (41.8%) and average from 3 (31.4%). Really, his best quality is  FT shooting at 80.1% (then again, we’re talking 4.1 attempts per 36). So when you read about Captain Jack in the paper and they say he averaged 20.7 PPG in Golden State last year, well…don’t get too excited.

• Terry Pluto mentioned on this week’s podcast that a few people emailed him to ask him whether not the Indians non-call up of LaPorta had anything to do with arbitration (thanks for reading, guys!). He said no. His reasoning was that they called LaPorta up in May and that the clock started ticking then. This is actually not true (that’s a link to a post by Paul DePodesta, who works in the front office of the San Diego Padres, was Billy Beane’s assistant during the Moneyball era, and ran the Dodgers for about a year). If a player is sent down after being called up and kept on the 40 man roster, those days do not count as days of service…which means my calculations still apply. I maintain my argument.

• I’m starting to get excited about the start of the NFL season because I’ve been learning a lot about the game in the past few weeks and can’t wait to see how that affects my viewing. I heard Michael Lombardi - whose highly insightful blog is a pleasure to read - say today that when he was running personnel for the Browns he tried to convince Art Modell not to fire Belichick because Belichick didn’t need the 3.5 million people in Northeast Ohio to buy into what he was doing, he needed the 60 guys in the locker room to do so - and those guys had bought in. Art, as we know, fired Bill. Another great decision by the man my grandpa once had a voodoo doll of.

• And finally, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been reading The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, which is about rookie Baltimore Ravens LT Michael Oher. I’d like to pass along this anecdote. During Michael’s junior year in high school, after a couple of imperfect games and some heavy prodding by “advisors”, Oher’s coach realized that their best offensive play was “Gap.” Gap, essentially, is a hand-off to the running back, who then runs behind the LT. The next game, the offense ran nothing but Gap. The team continued to do so for the entire season…and won the state championship. This is fascinating to me because it shows the kind of impact a player that isn’t a QB, WR, or RB can have on the game. He can win it by himself, even though he never touches the ball. No other major sport is like this. And what’s doubly interesting is that the NFL compensates appropriately - LT are often the 1st or 2nd highest paid players on the team. When a similar kind of thing happens in the NBA with a guy like Andy Varejao, people think the team over-payed. Well, actually, I just think that the NBA market is starting to get it…

That’s it for me. Maybe next Friday I’ll have a date. HA.