Aaron_Kennelly

I don't believe net WPA includes either a position adjustment or any accounting of defensive value. true, but it better accounts for him [expletive] his pants whenever faced with any kind of runners-on-base situation his defensive value isn't really anything to sing praises for though How so? He's had positive defensive value in both of the last two years, before even factoring in a positional adjustment, while playing several positions near the top of the defensive spectrum.

That big jump is definitely due to UZR not being updated daily. I think it is updated weekly, on Mondays, from my anal retentive following of it. Also of note: It's not just a player's defensive performance that can cause a big jump in UZR. UZR measures runs above average. So everything that other players at your position do will affect your numbers. If the average shortstop (the aggregate of all shortstops) has a bad week, then you will look better in comparison. So, though Jorge Soler hasn't played in awhile, his UZR has been changing slightly from week to week, depending on how other players play defense. This is also another thing that is a bit of a problem with UZR. There was some discussion about this in 2014 when Alex Gordon had a huge WAR, thanks largely to a huge UZR in left field that came out of, well, left field. He'd always been a really good left fielder, but his UZR there in 2014 was way above his norm. And he wasn't actually making more plays. His OOZ (out-of-zone) plays made was actually smaller than the year before. It's just that the average left fielder was worse defensively that year, because a bunch of good defensive left fielders from 2013 either were injured, or started aging, or moved over to center field. I think this has actually affected Addison Russell quite a bit. He hasn't been quite as good defensively this year as he was last year at short. He's made about the same amount of plays out of his zone on a per inning basis. And his insider edge fielding numbers look the same, for plays out of his zone. But, he has made a few more errors this year. Last year he made all of the plays classified as routine on insider edge. This year, he's missed a few. Still, he's been very good. He's almost as good as last year, when he was probably the best in the league, in the time he played the position. And his numbers this year are still very good. Well above average in DRS and UZR. But, his numbers aren't crazy good like they were last year. And I think it has a lot to do with the influx of really good young shortstops. There's been a lot of old and bad shortstops replaced within the last year. Russell and Lindor have now played a full season, and both are exceptional. And they pushed out the numbers of the guys they replaced, Starlin and Jose Ramirez, who were bad. Corey Seager, who is also very good, took over for Jimmy Rollins, who was very bad. Zack Cozart, another one of the best in the game, was injured for most of last year, and Eugenio Saurez, who was dreadful, took his place. Ian Desmond has moved to the outfield, and Danny Espinosa has slid in at short and been good. Jhonny Peralta was slid off the position. Jose Reyes hasn't played there. It's just a much better group of shortstops, collectively.

Eloy did that after already dominating the Midwest League All-Star Game, too. I guess this performance was a little more special, being that he was, I would assume, one of the youngest guys in the game. And it was under the big lights, with all the big stars there. But, it's nice to see him show himself as the star of stars whenever he's had the chance.

I'm planning on updating my rankings in the next day or two. Any chance we can get Jesus Castillo added (if he's not on there already)?

Was there an exit velocity reading on that thing?

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/George-Costanza-Squirts-Ketchup-at-Table-Seinfeld.gif

I was going to ask who hits the home run for them this inning, but it looks like I was too late.

South Bend scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win 12-11.

They had a 15 game lead 3 weeks ago. Isn't 12.5 as big as it has been over the second place team? Regardless, that doesn't refute the notion that 6.5 is a big lead. I think the point to remember is that even with the last two to three weeks of hot garbage, the lead is still 6.5 games. Unless you expect this to continue unabated, I thin that's pretty comforting. Yeah. It was 12.5 at its most. So we've lost 6 games. So if everything that's just happened over the last three weeks happens exactly the same over the next three weeks, then we'd still be leading the division. That's not to suggest that 6.5 games is an insurmountable lead or anything. It's just that there is a lot of baseball to be played. And a lot has to happen to blow a 6.5 game lead. So having that cushion is nice.

They had a 15 game lead 3 weeks ago. Yeah, that kinda puts into context how big of a lead that is, ya know?

A 6.5-game lead is a huge lead. To put it into context: If we were to lose our next seven games and the Pirates win their next seven games, then it would still be basically a toss-up for the division. Having a 6.5 game lead is definitely settling. This is aside from, you know, other worries.

At least Bryzzo got to play in the playoffs last year, so they won't be an answer to some trivia question, like Ernie Banks.

http://i.imgur.com/mIFs0xN.jpg

Good thing we let this guy bat so he could come back out and give up 4 runs.

Sean Rod bomb incoming.

Terrible decision to let him bat.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/mission%20accomplished%202.jpg

Your wish is his command.

Nice. Now we'll only be down 8-7 when the next inning starts.

I think our pitchers are playing QWOP.

Kill me.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

Tommy, he couldn't even get Lester out.

Javy and Willson are hard-wired to do horsefeathers like that in concert.

Holy horsefeathers, he did walk him.