Around the Web: Matt Kemp Love
October 1, 2009 · kensai · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike took on the same Paul Oberjuerge piece that I did…
True Blue L.A…and so did Eric Stephen.
Los Angeles Times: T.J. Simers writes that the Dodgers have a dynamic duo in Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. You know they must be good if they motivated Simers to write a positive article. In fact, that might be the most convincing piece of evidence to date.
Baseball Prospectus: Joe Sheehan seems to think that the Dodgers have a top tier bullpen.
The more you watch the likely post-season teams close out their seasons, the more you think we might be in for some very long nights next month. The number of teams with questions about their bullpens seems to be awfully close to the number of teams who will get to play in October.
Set aside the top tier for the moment. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers have three of the top four bullpens in the game by total WXRL, and those rankings are warranted…The Dodgers are bolstered statistically by two rookies, Ronald Belisario and Ramon Troncoso, but their postseason core will be closer Jonathan Broxton and two left-handers who weren’t around for much of the year, George Sherrill and Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo may in fact wind up being the best reliever in the NL postseason, a power lefty capable of throwing multiple innings and getting right-handed batters out.
Somebody let Steve Berthiaume know.
NBC Sports: Mike Celizic brings us this piece of unintentional comedic genius.
For all the hype, Los Angeles has done very little when it counts
That line doesn’t get the article off to a great start considering the Dodgers don’t get any hype at all. Matt Kemp goes 80-80 with 43 HR in a game and the lead story on every mainstream publication is about the Yankees fighting, Joba Rules, or how Mike Lowell grooms his goatee (impeccable, by the way).
Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike thinks Chad Billingsley has done enough to earn a starting spot. At least I have one ally.
FanGraphs: Marc Hulet has a solid overview of the world of prospect writing. I would have included both Baseball Intellect and Project Prospect in there as well.
In the comments, there are people mentioning the site that covers their favorite team’s prospects the best. I guess you could say my goal is to one day get such a mention. After all, it’s one of my main interests.
FanGraphs: How are the starter stars being acquired?
That works out to 11 pitchers acquired via trade, 13 in the draft, three as amateur free agents (read: intentional in this case), and three as actual free agents.
FanGraphs: How are the relief stars being acquired?
The count:
Seven traded
Four drafted
Three free agents
One Rule Five
FanGraphs: How are the catching stars being acquired?
Scoreboard:
Six drafted
Two traded
One free agent
One amateur free agent
FanGraphs: How are the infield stars being acquired?
All told we have a breakdown of: 18 drafted, 16 traded, three free agents, and three amateur agents. I’m sure most people see the developing theme here, but let me state the obvious: the best players in baseball this year were not acquired on the free agent market.
FanGraphs: How are the outfield stars being acquired?
Plus, there’s this great conclusion to the whole study.
Overall, we sampled 115 of the league’s best and brightest. Of those, a combined 54 players were either drafted or signed as an amateur free agent by their current clubs. An additional two were plucked on waivers or through the Rule Five draft and 44 more were traded for. Only 15 players were signed as major league free agents, and it’s hard to classify many of those signings as blockbuster in magnitude.
There are some teams that take the scouting and drafting game less seriously than they should. I doubt those teams read this website, but if they did and wanted to take one statistic–one message–from this series, it’s this: 47 percent of 2009’s best players were “just prospects” at one point or another. That’s not to include all of the players traded at early points of their career either. Meanwhile only 13 percent were signed as free agents.
Free agency may get all the hype and buzz, but the draft is where teams find impact talent.
This is precisely why I care so unbelievably much about keeping and developing talent from within. It’s not just because i’m crazy. 😮
Sports Illustrated: A sad story about Sal Fasano’s motivation for trying to get back into the big leagues. Gah.
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
