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Some things to read while being weird.
We’re still a few weeks away from the Baseball Writers Association of America crowning the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player, but we know one thing with near-absolute certainty: Jonathan Lucroy is the Milwaukee Brewers’ top candidate for the award. Lucroy was a near-unanimous choice as the season’s most valuable Brewer in the fan voting at Brew Crew Ball, and JP wrote his profile.
The balloting for the second spot in those rankings figures to be a little closer, with Carlos Gomez, Wily Peralta, Kyle Lohse, Aramis Ramirez and Mike Fiers competing for votes. You have until noon today to vote in that poll.
As of this writing, Carlos Gomez holds a commanding lead in that poll, but could he have been more successful if he’d laid down more bunts? Matt Klaassen of FanGraphs listed Gomez (and Jean Segura) among five regulars across all of baseball who were more effective when trying to bunt than they were in non-bunt plate appearances.
Gomez had 60 extra-base hits in plate appearances when he presumably was not trying to bunt this season, so the fact that he fared better when trying to leg out an infield hit is a little surprising. Klaassen says he had a .401 wOBA (weighted on-base average, an advanced hitting metric) when trying to bunt and a .364 mark in all other situations for a .368 average. Jean Segura had a larger gap, posting a .388 wOBA bunting and .267 otherwise.
Neither Segura nor any of the Brewers’ other infielders seem likely to be selected as one of this season’s five most valuable Brewers, as most of them had disappointing 2014 campaigns. Jordan Mader of Brew Crew Ball has a look at how their performances compared to their preseason projections, and notes that only Scooter Gennett exceeded expectations.
Meanwhile, Ryan Braun was another Brewer who came up significantly short of what the team was likely hoping to get from him this season. Before the season, Dave Fleming of Gammons Daily predicted that Braun would be the National League’s most valuable fantasy player and the Brewers would win the NL Central, and he went 0-for-2 there.
Several Brewers relievers exceeded expectations in 2014, including free-agents-to-be Francisco Rodriguez and Zach Duke. Neither bullpen pitcher, however, had a good enough season to crack Sam Clancy of Call to the Pen’s list of the winter’s top five free agent relievers.
In the minors:
- First baseman Nick Ramirez went 1-for-4 but it was not enough, as the Glendale Desert Dogs lost 7-3 to Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League on Monday (box score). Ramirez is still Glendale’s only player with multiple home runs this fall.
- John Manuel of Baseball America has released his report card for the Brewers’ 2014 draft, but it’s subscriber-only.
If you’d like more Brewers coverage today but you’re sick of reading, I’ll be appearing on The Talking Cheeseheads with Ben Larson this afternoon. Listen in live on Sports Fan 100.5 in Wausau or Sports Talk 1090 in Rice Lake, or follow the link above later for the archived audio.
Around baseball:
Reds: Fired third base coach Steve Smith.
Of course, the big story around baseball today will be Game 1 of the World Series tonight. James Shields and the Royals will take on Madison Bumgarner and the Giants at 7 p.m., and you can see the game on Fox.
Shields struggled in his lone start during the Royals’ ALCS sweep over the Orioles, allowing four runs on 10 hits over five innings, but he may have had an excuse for doing so: David Brown of Yahoo noticed a report saying Shields passed a kidney stone during the series. For what it’s worth, Shields denies the stone was a factor in his recent struggles.
The Giants have won eight of their last 10 games to reach the World Series, a pretty significant turnaround from the way they played over the last four months of the regular season. @joe_block notes that San Francisco went 51-54 after June 1, coasting to the postseason on the momentum of their 37-20 start.
This year’s Fall Classic features a boatload of former Brewers on both sides. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talked to Royals outfielder Norichika Aoki about his first trip to a championship series, and to Giants first baseman/outfielder Travis Ishikawa about hitting the home run that sent the Giants to an NLCS victory. Mike Oz of Big League Stew listed Ishikawa among eight players you can’t help but root for this week. Meanwhile, Mark Simon of ESPN asks how a pitcher should try to retire Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain, and Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio remembers Cain’s time with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Elsewhere in former Brewers:
- The Sporting News selected Marlins third baseman Casey McGehee as its NL Comeback Player of the Year. McGehee appeared in 160 games for Miami after spending the entire 2013 season in Japan.
- Paul Molitor remains a candidate to be the Twins’ next manager and has another interview scheduled for today.
- Jack Moore of The Hardball Times has a long piece on the underappreciated success of Ben Sheets.
Today in baseball economics, we have another team likely to raise payroll for 2015. This time, it’s the Tigers, who already had baseball’s fifth-highest mark at $163.6 million on Opening Day this season.
Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- 2011 Brewer Danny Ray Herrera, who turns 30.
- 2011-12 Brewer Zack Greinke, who turns 31 (Today In Brewer History).
- Jim Henderson, who turns 32.
- 2006-08 Brewer Gabe Gross, who turns 35.
- 1991-92 Brewer Franklin Stubbs, who turns 54.
Today is also the 28th anniversary of the Brewers releasing pitcher Pete Vuckovich, ending the MLB career of the 1982 American League Cy Young Award winner. Follow the link for that event’s entry in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to put this back in the closet.
Drink up.
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