Hot Stove Thread 2014-15

Cy Young winners:

NL: Clayton Kershaw (unanimous)

AL: Corey Kluber (by 10 points/4 first-place votes over Felix Hernandez)

 

I have a hard time seeing Kluber > Felix; Felix's WHIP was 0.92 for the year! and he had that tremendous/historic run of consecutive games of 2 or less runs which was amazing. Kluber had a great year but still thought Felix should have won.

 

Maybe they were just dazzled by wins and strikeouts. Kluber had three more of the former and 21 more of the latter.

I've also seen some advanced stats used to make the case, something about Hernandez having the better defense behind him. Of course, that relies on defensive metrics that even most statheads admit don't do the job properly.

Hernandez was the better pitcher. The gap isn't so wide to call it a horrible injustice, but they did get it wrong.

 

I would have voted for Felix, but Kluber's win is acceptable. Not like Welch over Clemens in 1990, to name one at random.

 

Jays trade Anthony Gose to Tigers for Devon Travis. I know very little of Travis. Anyone can help me out?

 

He's the Tigers' No. 1 prospect. Batted .295/.358/.460 at Double-A last year, and is being converted from 2B to CF.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2014/11/devon_travis_steven_moya_sit_a.html

Gose is fast, fast, fast and pretty good defensively, but has never been much of a hitter.

 

Recently fired Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd is on MLB Network right now talking about "How to construct a Major League roster."

 

Thanks! Gose is really fast, but doesn't steal as many bases as someone with his speed should. He has a really bad attitude, does not care about improving his game and no discipline at the plate.

 

I can appreciate that Posnanski offered up his reason but he went digging for mites when all he needed was a worm.

His full piece: http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/the-al-cy-young-vote/

Strikeout rate and home run rate. That's bothersome.

If everything is so close, how 'bout we go to the decider:

Felix set a MLB record for consecutive starts with 7+ innings and > 2 ER (16) -- and in 34 starts he allowed 3 ER or more 5 times.

That's 29 out of 34 starts allowing 0, 1 or 2 earned runs -- and 16 of the 29 were of the 0- or 1-run variety.

Kluber allowed 3 ER or more in 10 of his 34 starts. His longest 7/2 streak was 6 games, and in the next 3 he went 7/3, 6.1/3, 2.2/5, before another 5 7/2 starts.

Use "high strikeout rate" and "lower home run rate" to choose a starter for the All Star Game, not to pick the Cy Young.

 

He only played three games in centre. I imagine the Blue Jays will make him play his natural position at second base.

 

"You couldn't get it right and you couldn't get it wrong."
That's so cute from the BBWAA.
I can't remember the last time the BBWAA surprised me in a way that wasn't stupid.

 

Good stats, Xan. Effective way to make the case.