Bleacher Report - Articles by Landis Marks

Washington Nationals Are Suffering From Impatience At the Plate

Landis Marks — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:46:20 -0400

The Washington Nationals' batting coach, Lenny Harris, has been under the microscope this season. The Nats have the worst record in the NL, and it is due, in large part, to their poor plate discipline.

Harris, who took over for Kevin Mitchell in the middle of the 2007 season (Mitchell has had problems with alcohol abuse), has presided over an undisciplined lineup that was depleted by the loss of Nick Johnson, who was their most disciplined hitter and a clubhouse leader.

The following article gives insight into Harris’ attempt to get his charges to understand that patience is a virtue in the batters box.

He has not been successful at getting his message across, and the Nats are likely to make changes in the offseason. I say offer up some cash to Milt Thompson.

Everybody knows that DC is a prettier town than Philly.

"Satisfied that Milledge had regained some comfort with his swing, the two exited the cages and prepared for the evening’s game. Measuring a ballplayer’s true progress requires a long view, which is why Milledge’s truest tendencies are still evolving.

Still, among the 213 major leaguers who’ve seen at least 1,000 pitches this season, only 34, Milledge included, swing more often than they take. That makes Milledge, who swings at roughly 50.5 percent of all pitches, one of the most aggressive hitters in the game. The line between encouraging such an approach and restraining it requires balance."

Jerry Manuel Leads Mets into First

Landis Marks — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:18:03 -0400

Hard to believe, isn’t it? An interim manager giving a highly paid team the boost that they needed.

The Mets have won 10 in a row and Jerry Manuel is 18-9 overall as their manager.

Perhaps the argument can still be made that Willie Randolph was not the problem and that the turnaround was just a matter of time for a team with the obvious talent of the Amazin’s.

Yet you have to wonder about a team that blew a seven-game lead to the Phillies last September turning it around this July to catch the same team that had a 6.5 game lead over them when Manuel took over.

Who would have thought that Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis would step in and do the jobs that they are doing? Billy Wagner stepped up and got the save last night after going through a rough patch this spring. The team appears to have turned it around.

Will this continue? Well I don’t expect the Mets to play .670 ball for the rest of the season, but they could be close.

"We’ve been taking such a beating all year long for how we play the game and what we’ve done wrong and what little we’ve done right,” closer Billy Wagner said. “I love seeing guys who told us two weeks ago how bad we stunk, and now they’re going, ‘Well, you’re in first place.’ Yeah.”

Sidney Ponson’s Second Chance at a Second Chance

Landis Marks — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:20:16 -0400

Yankees win in the tenth 2-1 over the Rays.

Ponson had a strong outing today after a shaky start against his former team, the Rangers.

His line today was six innings pitched, allowing five hits and two walks, and his only run allowed was on a homer by Carlos Pena in the sixth inning. This shot tied the game but Ponson shook it off and sat down the next three in order including an inning ending strike out of Navarro

Maybe Cashman made a good decision going with a guy who has made some questionable decisions in his past, that has left him in hot water with the league and back home in his native Aruba.

Ponson, who has never had the season to match his potential, is running out of chances, but he has always been a rather lucky guy, as his 5-1 record attests.

Maybe that luck will continue with the Yankees. All he needs to do is give the Yanks some quality starts, and with Veras, Ramirez and Farnsworth handling middle relief, Big Sid may have found a home.

And Cashman may have just what he needs to make the playoffs.

Manny Acta Poised to Become New York Mets' Manager

Landis Marks — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:21:03 -0400

Manny Acta will be the future manager of the New York Mets. You read it here first. Or maybe somewhere else, but in any event, it seems safe to say that Acta will be going back home soon to be re-united with Omar Minaya.

Acta has done as much as he can with the Washington Nationals and their limited payroll. He is under contract with the Nats through 2009, but this is sports, where contracts aren’t worth the paper they are written on when it comes to breaking them.

Besides, the Mets will pay whatever it takes to get him. The fact that Acta is a native Spanish speaker will help with the predominately Latino Mets. He also has a way about him with young players, and he is respected by the Mets' veterans as well. Additionally, he already knows several of the Mets' players who have been recently traded from the Nats.

Acta will make more money, have more talent to work with, and will get away from that idiot Jim Bowden, who has to be one of the most hapless GMs in all of baseball.

Acta makes about $500,000 for the 2008 season, and he is scheduled to make about $600,000 in 2009. Willie Randolph was making about $2.2 million from the Mets. Acta will get a deal worth about $1 million per year from the Mets.

Book it!

Oakland Athletics Take AL West Lead, Led by Billy Beane

Landis Marks — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:55:41 -0400

The Oakland Athletics are proving the genius that is Billy Beane. Beane’s team built on the cheap is leading the AL West by playing smart percentage baseball.

The A’s will not beat themselves.

The A’s are 21st in the majors in batting average. The A’s are 28th in home runs. Yet the A’s are in the top ten in runs scored.

So how are the A’s scoring while not hitting for average or for power? It’s simple.

The A’s are walking their way around the bases. They may only be batting .254 as a team, but they have an OBP of .340.

The Beane Law of a minimum of a walk per 10 ABs has instilled plate discipline in a team that is near the bottom of the MLB salary heap.

The A’s work the pitchers and give up few easy outs, something that teams like the Kansas City Royals need to learn. Small market teams that can’t afford to bid for the services of the prolific long ballers have to learn to build by instilling plate discipline in their young hitters and free agent castoff players.

The A’s will be even better when the newly re-acquired Frank Thomas gets his eye and swing back.

Baseball at the Breaking Point? The Controversy Over Maple Bats

Landis Marks — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:58:43 -0400

Maple bats have got to go.

I have become convinced of this. For years now I have read horror stories about how spears of maple shards have been flying around endangering players, coaches, and fans alike.

I must say at first I didn’t think much of it, since all bats break, including the trusty ash bats that dominated baseball until recently. But there is a difference in the way that the two woods come apart on an off sweet-spot hit.

Hot-hitting Nate McLouth almost killed Don Long, the Pirates hitting coach with shards of his splintered maple bat.

The scar on Don Long’s left cheek still puffs around the edges, fresh enough that it looks like a misplaced zipper instead of the mark of someone who lived too hard. Like every scar, this one has a story, and it involves a piece of shattered wood, about two pounds heavy, that tomahawked 30 feet before slicing through his face.

Jeff Passan on baseball at the breaking point.

Milt Thompson: The Best Batting Coach in Baseball?

Landis Marks — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:33:40 -0400

Milt Thompson is perhaps the best batting coach in baseball. The dude has the Phillies operating as one of the most disciplined and best hitting teams so far in this young 2008 Major League Baseball season—and that is without the usually torrid hitting of superstar Ryan Howard.

Even as opposing teams' shifts are swallowing Howard's line drives, the slugging first baseman has walked 21 times in his first 114 at-bats this season. That is a BB/PA ratio of .18.

Howard’s batting average is an anemic, not worth a cup of coffee .167, but the walks plus his six taters this year, still give the Ryan-Man a respectable OPS of .645.

When he starts hitting, and he will, his OPS will match his outstanding career number of .980.

Thompson has the Phillies’ batsmen batting only .250, yet they are still productive with an OBP of .328 and an OPS of .768. The team's high OPS is due to the teams plate discipline as illustrated by a walk ratio of .11.

I am predicting that the BA will come up to about .270 for the season with an OBP of .370 and will lead the NL in home runs with 250.

Thompson one of the few DC natives in MLB may become a future MLB manager.

So Nats, if Manny leaves for the Mets next year, give the man an interview.

Why the Kansas City Royals Suck

Landis Marks — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:33:10 -0400

I found an interesting article on the Kansas City Royals and their lack of plate discipline.

How bad has the Royals’ offense been?
Well, so far, Kansas City is scoring 3.28 runs per game. That’s 72.5 percent of the league average. By that measure over a full season, the Royals would be the worst offensive team in the American League in the era since the franchise came into existence.

The Royals offense sucks to put it mildly. The general manager of the team is one Dayton Moore. Mr. Moore’s philosophy is that plate discipline is not taught but acquired. Yeah right. Moore’s biography may be found by clicking here. Moore is a Fellowship of Christian Athletes guy. With Moore at the helm having total control of personnel decisions the Royals will not have a prayer. The dude just doesn’t get it.The team was next to last in walks and on-base-percentage. Moore’s big move was to add Jose Guillen into the middle of the lineup. Jay G has a lifetime three to one ratio of strikeouts to walks. This year the ratio is nine to one.

Dayton Moore doesn’t have a clue, of how to build a winning team.

The value of plate discipline measured.

Seattle Mariners: Can Ichiro Suzuki's Slump Be Explained?

Landis Marks — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:13:47 -0400

Explaining the Ichiro SlumpIchiro Suzuki has taken a wrong turn on the road to Cooperstown

His BA is .257 a little off from a career average of .332.

Ichiro’s OBP is .319 which has brought his career number down to .378.

So what is the problem? Let’s look at his Pitch Data Summary courtesy of the Baseball Reference.

Ichiro is making contact. He is connecting on 93% of all pitches that he swings at, which is close to Wade Boggs numbers. Mr. Boggs made contact on 96% of his swings in one season, an absolutely phenomenal number. Ichiro overall averages 89%. In comparison the MLB average is only 80%.

He is swinging at more balls out of the strike zone, as evidenced by his PDS. Ichiro is not a great bad ball hitter and it shows, though conversely he is getting more walks than usual as he is averaging a BB per 11 plate appearances.

So the question for 2008 will be is Ichiro off to a slumping start or has his ability to drive the ball into the gap deteriorated at the ripe “old” age of 34?

Bill James Wants My $3 but He Isn’t Getting It...Yet

Landis Marks — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:25:54 -0400

After waiting for months for Bill James Online to launch, I was taken aback as if I was facing chin music from a hung-over Bob Gibson.

The man wants three dollars. And he wants it every month or else.

Bill run ads. You would make more money. Three dollars a month is a velvet rope.

Bill gets stats, but I don’t know if he gets this free ‘net thing though.

If you go to the preview page, keep refreshing to get teaser stats on baseball rankings for the hottest teams and players. He also does basketball team power rankings.

How he drives these stats I don’t know because the... What's this? Linky is not working.

Bad form Bill.

The rise of “freeconomics” is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web. Just as Moore’s law dictates that a unit of processing power halves in price every 18 months, the price of bandwidth and storage is dropping even faster. Which is to say, the trend lines that determine the cost of doing business online all point the same way: to zero.

Dmitri Young: Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden’s $10M Boob Job

Landis Marks — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:55:47 -0400

Last summer Nats’ GM Jim Bowden, the omnipresent egomaniac, decided to give Dmitri “Hot Plate” Young a $10 million contract. Young was in the middle of earning the NL’s Comeback Player Of the Year, that much is true, but why give a huge contract to someone who could have been signed for less at the end of the season. It is not like anyone would pay much for a player with limited skills who has had problems dealing with success in the past. The team if they really wanted him could have bid for his services as a free agent.

The Young contract I suspect was Bowden’s way of giving himself a slap on the back for giving Dmitri a chance when MLB was turning their back on the underachieving, overeating trouble maker.

D-Young pays them back by sitting on his fat ass all winter and not picking up a bat or doing a single sit up.

Now Nick Johnson is back and Young is testing the dughouse infrastructure in the Nats’ new house.

Just as no one could have predicted a year ago that Young would resurrect his career with the Nationals and become a valued clubhouse leader, it would have been hard to predict his status with the franchise right now: a highly paid backup to Nick Johnson who isn’t even available to play at the moment.

But maybe the Nationals should have.

Bay Area Teams Trim Payrolls for 2008

Landis Marks — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:21:18 -0400

The Bay area has seen a precipitous drop in MLB salaries as both franchises are trimming payrolls and probably wins for the 2008 season. The San Francisco Giants sans Barry Bonds has seen their 2007 team salary decrease from $90,219.056 to the relatively paltry $76,594,500.

The Oakland A’s (a Billy Beane Money Ball franchise) $79,366,940 in 2007 salaries is now down to $47,967,126.The Detroit Tigers in sharp contrast went on a spending spree $137,685,196 team salary is a sharp increase from 2007. Last year the team had a total team salary of $95,180,369. The auto industry may be on the ropes but that has not slowed down economics of Motor City Major League Baseball. The Tigers investments have already paid off.

The Tigers, who lost 119 games five years ago with a $49 million payroll, increased their payroll by $42.5 million from last year’s opening day and trail only the New York Yankees and Mets in payroll.

“We’re just trying to put the best club on the field as possible,” says Tigers President David Dombrowski, whose team has sold 2.6 million tickets, including a franchise-record 27,300 season tickets. “But economics always come into play.” USA Today

The Yankees at $209M once again lead the majors in salary expenditures. the mets arer second at $137.8 million. The BoSawx are third at $133.4 million.

Track your favorite MLB team and its player salaries here.

The San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s Have Trimmed Payrolls For 2008

Landis Marks — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:48:33 -0400

The Bay area has seen a precipitous drop in MLB salaries as both franchises are trimming payrolls and probably wins for the 2008 season.

The San Francisco Giants sans Barry Bonds has seen their 2007 team salary decrease from $90,219.056 to the relatively paltry $76,594,500.

The Oakland A’s $79,366,940 in 2007 salaries is now down to $47,967,126. The A's, of course, are run by GM Billy Beane, who was made famous for low payrolls in Moneyball.

The Detroit Tigers, in sharp contrast, went on a spending spree—$137,685,196 team salary is a sharp increase from 2007. Last year, the team had a total team salary of $95,180,369.

The auto industry may be on the ropes but that has not slowed down economics of Motor City Major League Baseball. The Tigers investments have already paid off.

The Yankees at $209M once again lead the majors in salary expenditures. The Mets are second at $137.8 million. The BoSawx are third at $133.4 million.

Track your favorite MLB team and its player salaries here.

MLB: Is This the Face of a Baseball Manager?

Landis Marks — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:19:23 -0400

Steve Wang is a baseball fan first and a doctor of statistical research second. His fascination with baseball lead him to the study of paleontology and evolutional biology.

Yeah, that is what I said.

I am always searching for ways that baseball reflects our culture. This guy quantifies it, by showing how it translates into the different faces of baseball managerial styles.

Faces are used as a cultural avatar.

The linked article outlines how baseball managers decision making processes can be represented by cartoon faces.

Wang use a mathematical representative process known as Chernoff faces.

Chernoff faces are a method of visualizing multi-dimensional data developed by a statistician named Herman…ah, well Herman something or other.

While reams of categorical data can be imposing and hard to parse, translating the differences among them into facial characteristics can communicate distinctions with striking clarity. By turning rates of bunting, stealing and pinch-hitting into hair sizes, nose shapes and smile widths, Dr. Wang used a kind of statistical Mr. Potato Head to portray the spectrum of managerial characteristics in a way that intrigued even the skippers themselves.

Bill James 60 Minutes Interview: Preview

Landis Marks — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:12:33 -0400

Bill James who is both revered and reviled (in some quarters) will be on 60 Minutes this Sunday. Regular readers of this blog, (both of you) know that he is referenced at least once a week on this site. For those of you who are looking to learn more about sabermetrics here is your chance to hear from one of the innovators in the new school of baseball analysis.

The following is from Morley Safer’s reporters notebook.

(CBS) Baseball has always been a game about statistics, something the Boston Red Sox took to a new level when they hired baseball statistics guru Bill James in 2002. His “sabermetrics” analysis of players’ stats is a system Red Sox owners believe is an integral part of a winning formula that has brought two World Series trophies to Boston since he arrived. However, more teams are getting into the act, say Sox owners, who now worry that their dreaded enemy the New York Yankees will get into the same game with their always-bigger wallet.

Is Bugs Bunny the Greatest Banned Player Ever?

Landis Marks — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:37:27 -0400

The great Carrot League contest that was re-visited earlier this week as been di-sected by the good folks at the USS Mariner.

Their amazing. painstaking deconstruction of this epic battle between baseball evil and comedic good stands in the parthenon of what the blogosphere was meant to be.
Sabermetrics, science, culture and how we treat our fellow man and rabbits for that matter are all analyzed with a controversial though, IMHO accurate conclusion.

With the DVD release of “Looney Tunes Golden Collection” it is at last possible for us to examine in detail one of the most famous baseball games ever played, and see what lessons the contest holds for the community of baseball analysts.

“Baseball Bugs” (1946) depicts a game held at the Polo Grounds. No date is given, but artifacts shown such as public address equipment and advertisements (”Filboid Studge,” “Nox, 2 for 25,” “Manza Champagne”) definitively place it during the 1946 season. The visiting Gas House Gorillas are playing against the home team, the Tea Totallers. It is a day game and conditions are good. LINK

Billy Wagner Gets Tips From Sandy Koufax

Landis Marks — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:52:08 -0400

Sandy Koufax got a call and couldn’t wait to help Wagner who just came to the Mets from the Nats in the off season. Koufax was a personal favorite of mine from childhood.

There was no one finer than Koufax. The lefty had a winning percentage of .655. He struck-out 2,396. His career ERA was 2.76.

At the age of 36 he was the youngest player ever elected to the Hall of Fame.

He was a minor league pitching coach for Dodgers organization from 1979 until 1990 but quit. Some said it had to do with a poor relationship with manager Tommy Lasorda. Ironically Lasorda was sent down to Montreal of the International league to make room on the Dodger roster for Koufax in 1955.

Koufax was formerly married to Anne Widmark daughter of the renowned actor Richard Widmark whose family just today announced his passing. Their marriage ended in divorce.

Wagner admitted he was a little in awe of the Dodgers great.

“It’s hard. You’re trying to work on stuff and listen to what he says,” he said. “But in the back of your head you’re thinking, ‘This is Sandy Koufax. This guy was great.’ So it took a lot of willpower not to get caught up in wanting to talk about him and what he had accomplished and let him work with me.” *

Athletics-Red Sox: Oakland and Boston Show Japan How It's Done

Landis Marks — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:33:27 -0400

Emil Brown redeemed himself today. After costing his new team the game yesterday with a boner base running move (way to show the Japanese how the Big Leaguers play the game, ditto Manny “The Statue” Ramirez) he smoked a three run homer to lead the A’s to a 5-1 win.

Manny spanked a homer today and after a down year in 2007 is getting his contract year off with a bang. BoSawx fans are on barbershop alert though. You never know with the mercurial Man Ram he may want to wind up his career back home with his boyhood heroes the Yankees.

When all is said and done it may be hard to measure the overall effect of these diplomatic tours to the Far East. Are the Japanese going to favor the more free spirited less disciplined brand of baseball over the top down, authoritarian Japanese way of doing things? I doubt it.

So what is the point of games that count played in far off places? Does the cost out weigh the benefits? I guess we will have to wait and see.

While we are on the subject of baseball and Japan I came across an interesting article on Yu Darvish, a Japanese pitcher whose father is from Iran.

This Kid can throw it and is a better prospect than Dice-K, if you can believe that.

Happy Dyngus Day, and Happy Birthday to Tony Pena, Jr.

Landis Marks — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:40:22 -0400

Pena will offer good fantasy value in 2008, and here’s why.Tony Pena is making the transition to small ball with the Kansas City Royals to make himself more valuable to the team. Link.

In 2007, the son of all-time great Tony Pena walked an irresponsible 10 times for the season, while batting .267. Pena wanted to be a free swinging SS and it was retarding his development as a productive major leaguer.

This spring manager Trey Hillman has Pena working on patience at the plate to garner more walks and also on bunting for base hits.

Pena is a free swinger, when he walked last July 26 against the Yankees, he had set a franchise record with 65 games and 244 plate appearances without a walk.

Pena has put up numbers of .284/.356/.640 and has great range as a SS. With his quickness on the base paths his batting average and steals stats will improve this season.

Use Pena. Jr for your rotisserie or ESPN Baseball Challenge team.

Dyngus Day pussy willow shortage..oh my!

Washington Nationals News: From Flopez to Flop Made EZ

Landis Marks — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:56:48 -0400

Felipe Lopez (.308/.352/.660) the over-priced Bowden pick up from his beloved Reds is officially a Flop. That is flop with a capital “F”!He has probably lost his starting position and may be replaced by Ron Belliard at 2B.When told that he may have to sit the $4.9M a year weenie had this to say.

“Bench?” López said Tuesday. “No. I already said that. No. Hell, no.”

Belliard, speaking diagonally across the same cramped locker room from López, countered with: “I’m not going to get upset. Whatever they decide is good with me.”

Good Ron. Ron who is the better hitter (.332/.427/.759) is toiling at the relatively meager price of $3.5M over two years, has been hot in Grapefruit League play hitting with power and a .400+ batting average. His defense has not been great but then neither has Flop’s.Yes I realize the Nats middle infield will be made up by often injured Cristian Guzman and a replacement level 2B in Ronny B.I hear food is gonna be good in the new Ballyard. It had better be… link

ESPN Baseball Challenge: Is it Better Than Rotisserie?

Landis Marks — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:27:47 -0400

I must admit it...I am totally addicted to the ESPN Baseball Challenge, and if you are a stat head Money Ball fanatic like myself you will love it to, because the stats that are used for this fantasy game more accurately represent the true value of a player to his team.

Typical 5x5 Roisserie leagues are based around the categories of BA,HRs, SB, Hits and Runs. In ESPN’s Baseball Challenge points are assigned by total bases as well as runs and RBI. In other words OPS is part of the calculation. As far as pitching goes it is mostly about WHIP, strikeouts and wins. Saves aren’t valued as much as in Rotisserie since you pick a team’s staff for that game and not individual pitchers. A bad team pitching performance can earn you negative points. So choose wisely.

The idea is to garner the most points while staying under the salary cap of $50M. The players values can go up or down based on performance, so if you can find a hot player for cheap you hold onto him.

There is no draft. You just pick the best roster you can among the nine position players, a DH and the staff that gives you the most bang for the buck.

The game can be played in a weekly or daily format, and you play either half of the season or if you prefer the whole season.

Play it and you will gain more insight into the modern way of valuing baseball players.

MLB’s Lost: Six Players Who Got Off The Island in 2008

Landis Marks — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:06:09 -0400

Lost fans finally know the identities of the Lost 6. In homage we will release the names of the six major leaguers who most improved there fortunes since 2007. The named players were those who most improved there chances for postseason glory, while at the same time will get more at bats and higher salaries. So without further ado let’s get to it.

1. Ryan Church (OF)..349/.464/.813

Church a streaky hitter for the Nats who had problems staying out of the doghouse and with the parent club is penciled in as the starting RF for the Mets, who will not repeat one of the greatest chokes of all time. With the off-season addition of Johan Santana, a more than serviceable rotation will compete to be among the leagues best. Suddenly Church has the chance to be a contender and the money is good too. He gets a raise from $395,000 to $2M per. Nice change for RC.

2. Brian Schneider (C) .235/.326/.561

From the same trade that sent Church to the Mets, Schneider will go from catching the pitcher-by- committee staff of John St. Claire to backstopping for the likes of Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Oliver Perez, et. Al. Schneider who is credited with keeping the inexperienced and rehabilitating staff together will also see his salary doubled from a relatively paltry $2M to a that’s more like it $4m per annum.

3. Chris Snelling (OF).395/.333/.728

Snelling whose 2007 strange trip sent him from the Nationals to the A’s to the Rays gets his contract bought by the contending Phillies. He gets no salary bump but $450,000 is not bad for a replacement level player.

4. Gary Bennett (C) .286/.335/.621

Bennett leaves the Cardinals who for a change appears to be a long shot to make the playoffs. The Dodgers look like a lock for post season play and the sunny climate of Los Angeles should help his knees and extend his career. His salary will remain at $875,000 which is good for a Sunday and getaway day backstop.

5. Jacque Jones (OF) .335/.400/.735

Jones whose HR total sank from 27 in 2006 to just 5 in 2007 makes a move from the surprising Cubs to the high powered Tigers. The Cubs will be hard pressed to make it to the playoffs this year while the Tigers look like a lock. He will earn a hefty $16M over three years.

6. Andruw Jones (OF) .311/.413/.724

AJ may not seem to fit with the rest of the Lost 6, with the exception that magic maybe gone in Atlanta. The Mets and the Phillies appear to be the class of the division fro years to come. He will love LA and appears to be getting out of Atlanta at the right time. Look for a big year. Jones deal is for two years and $36.2M.MLB ’s Lost 6: Players who got off the Island in 2008

Lost fans finally know the identities of the Lost 6. In homage we will release the names of the six major leaguers who most improved there fortunes since 2007. The named players were those who most improved there chances for post-season glory, while at the same time will get more at bats and higher salaries. So without further ado let’s get to it.

1. Ryan Church (OF)..349/.464/.813

2. Brian Schneider (C) .235/.326/.561

3. Chris Snelling (OF).395/.333/.728

4. Gary Bennett (C) .286/.335/.621

5. Jacque Jones (OF) .335/.400/.735

6. Andruw Jones (OF) .311/.413/.724