5. "He throws a rising fastball"—I hear this all the time from announcers who claim that so-and-so pitcher is so hard to hit because his fastball "rises." It may look like it's rising due to a combination of a pitcher's height and delivery, but it's physically impossible. Sorry.
4. "He can adjust the bat in the middle of his swing"—The latest offender is Lou Piniella, who made the claim about his new Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome. Trouble is, it's not possible. There's a limited amount of time where you can hold your swing up, but once it's started, it's not changing.
Humans can't perceive an unexpected break in a pitched ball in the last 5-10 feet of the ball's trajectory, and then react in the last fractions of a second when the pitch is already to you. You could close your eyes once you began your swing and the results would be exactly the same as if you'd kept them open. That's why pitchers who are gifted with balls that break late are so consistently effective.
3. "He'll perform especially well during his contract year"—We almost accept it as an axiom that a player performs exceptionally well in the last year of his current contract because he's extra-motivated to parlay that into a gargantuan new contract, but I'm not convinced that that's the case. Here's why:
—First, we only remember the guys who perform well and then sign a huge contract and come back to earth. There are a lot of contract-year guys everyone ignores because they don't follow this pattern, so there's an element of confirmation bias (finding what you're looking for).
—Second, the end of a player's first contract usually ends up being around a player's peak seasons anyway.
–And finally, teams overpay for peak seasons, making it even more notable that they paid so much money for a guy who ends up regressing to the mean.
But even if there is a slight effect, why do players need extra motivation at all? You're already a millionaire and you play a game you love in front of thousands of screaming fans every day for pride and your team's success.
2. The Gyroball—If Daisuke Matsuzaka could actually throw it, he wouldn't have logged a 4.40 ERA last season.
1. The adjectives constantly used to describe Jamie Moyer—Have you EVER read a story mentioning Jamie Moyers that didn't precede his name with "the crafty, soft-tossing veteran lefty..."? We know he doesn't throw hard already, no need to mention it every time you write about him. In fact, here's the template for Jamie Moyer stories in the media:
"The (opponent) was baffled by the assortment of pitches by (veteran/soft-tossing/crafty) lefty Jamie Moyer, who has been in the league for (# of years in league) years—almost as long as some of his teammates have been alive.
Can we please just call him Jamie Moyer?
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4 months ago
Did you ever play baseball?
from 4 months ago
As a matter of fact, I did.
4 months ago
I could adjust my bat in the middle of a swing.
Although 99.9% of the time I'll probably miss the ball.
4 months ago
a-rod
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2006 154 572 113 166 26 1 35 121 90 139 15 4 .290 .392 .523 .914
2007 158 583 143 183 31 0 54 156 95 120 24 4 .314 .422 .645 1.067
2007 was his contract year i see a little difference dont you. the only reason you dont hear about the other players in there contract years is because they dont have a high profile as the others players that are highlight machines. dont think being on ESPN every day dosnt add a few zeros on the end of that check.
and you are right Dice-k does not have a gyro ball but he does have 7 other pitchs that he can throw its just the one bad inning he has that makes his era look bad.
from 4 months ago
This is exactly my point, people cherry-pick one player or one year to make this point. But Rodriguez was just as good in 2001 and 2002 as he was in 2007, and 2001 was the first year of a new contract.
I like Dice-K and I think he's a great pitcher. But saying that "if you take out this one inning per game, he's really good" is meaningless. Every inning counts toward your season statistics.
from 4 months ago
Off the top of my head I can think of Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez in 2004 who did not have great seasons - Pedro had at the time the highest ERA of his entire career in 2004, and Derek Lowe was so bad during the regular season, he initially was taken out of the post-season rotation, and only got back in because the sox had no one else to turn to in game 4 of the alcs. or how about andruw jones last season? it is far from a given that a player will have a great year in a contract year. the writer is correct that when it comes to this theory, we seem to always only talk about the times when it does happen, and ignore what i think are the just as common players who have an average or below average season the year of their contract.
from 4 months ago
Look at the stats of Adrian Beltre and Gary Matthews Jr. and you'll know why I will never let "contract years" die.
from 4 months ago
This is exactly my point, people cherry-pick one player or one year to make this point. But Rodriguez was just as good in 2001 and 2002 as he was in 2007, and 2001 was the first year of a new contract.
I like Dice-K and I think he's a great pitcher. But saying that "if you take out this one inning per game, he's really good" is meaningless. Every inning counts toward your season statistics.
4 months ago
From the beginning, man who believed The Gyroball should die. Who knows what he said in Japanese? Are you the one cheated? Then, Die.
Who did try to throw the Gyro ball? Weaver Brothers.
4 months ago
Lest we forget, although it is really an all sports classic,
We'll just play one game at a time.
Is there some other way of which I am not aware?
4 months ago
Name players that fall under your contract year theory.
4 months ago
Contract year cliche is in every sport not just baseball
4 months ago
There are so many more cliches that could be thrown out besides these. The gyro ball was dead before it started, it was popular for 2 seconds, never a cliche. More than contract years sabermetrics needs to go, this emphasis on trends is just not worth it. Baseball is a game of passion and things may seem to go one way more than others, but let the guys play man.
4 months ago
you hit the nail on the head with jamie moyer. i love it
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