Upcoming LL Podcast Solicitations

I would like some continuing discusson on what our minor league prospects look like, not just the top 10-15. Some of the fringe players such as Hawkins Gebbers and James McOwen. Maybe some discusson on Dennis Raben and Mike wilson. Just a thought.

Like Ken Schram and “The Schrammie”

What are the best ways to evaluate whch pitchers will perform best in the future?
tRA, Swinging Strike %, In Zone vs Out of Zone swing rates and miss rates, etc.

tOPS, Hit F/x, what’s next for Pitch F/x, new potential fielding metrics.

Random hilarious occurrences from games.

Guests, maybe from non-Mariners blogs for a change of pace. Maybe other team-specific bloggers like RJ or Grant, or guys from FanGraphs/BtB/THT, etc.

Having just read Jeff’s fun fact of day involving CHONE projections I’m curious about how baseball performance is projected.

I’d be interested to hear about how different methodologies work and what they use to make their projections.

Some skills are more easily acquired/honed than others, so taking that into consideration, what can many of the M’s players reasonably do to get the most out of their talent?
I don’t mean, “If RRS added 10 MPH, he’d kick ass” and I don’t mean, “It would help if Kotchman developed 30 HR power.” I mean, what are the chances that Kotchman reduces his GB% and/or lays off pitches low in the strike zone? Or… RRS’ change-up is currently a, I don’t know, 35-40 on the scouting scale. If it was more like 45-50, what would that make him, and how likely is that?
Tui’s development as a 3B stalled because of a couple of reasons, one of which was poor defense. Would a move to 2B and work with new coaches increase the likelihood that he’ll be a league-average player? Does the shift to 2B make it more likely that he’d improve his defensive skills (because the skills for 2B are better suited for him, as an example), or do you think that if he hasn’t become an acceptable defender at either of 2 positions in many years in the minors, that no one should hold their breath about that skill improving now?

This is rambly, and I hope you understand the distinction I’m getting at…..

If Jeff and Matthew got ripped in 4 weeks too? Or did it take a little longer? Jeff can you please get that ad removed from the rotation because I’m sure people are making false assumptions when they glance at my screen from afar.

DMZ does something kind of cool each year where he looks at the Vegas odds and tries to pick some teams he thinks will over or underperform their stated win totals. Something like picking overrated and underrated teams might be cool.

We all know what is awesome about GMZ. I’d love to have you guys look back and say what he has done wrong. Its more interesting to listen to than a continuous lovefest he deserves.

Team outlook for 1, 3, and 5 years?

Formal: issues with methodology, why Marcel is important, why some systems project AAAA guys as MLB all-stars, etc.

More casual: discuss why each system goes with the Earth collision disaster movie selected, talk about the various ways people misuse projections, blah blah blah beer.

What type of pitcher would we want? We have great IF defense so we would like a groundball pitcher. We have great OF defense so we would like a flyball pitcher. We have a very expansive park so we would like who gives up flyballs. We want a guy with high strkeouts because thats a great repeatable skill. What is the verdict?

LL use to do this and it was awesome. I suggest bringing this back any way possible.

It’d probably be nice to have an explanation to point to that sounds more casual and friendly.

It’s casual, it’s responsive to LL reader interest, you don’t really have to ‘prepare’ anything.