The Flagrant Fan Blogs: Ryan Doumit

<div style="text-align: justify;">I have not done this in a while and it is time to get back at it. I am the president of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. General is such a bland word. I think of generic when hearing the word. But that is far from the case as you see the links below. General simply means that the writers of this chapter write about everything baseball and are not specifically a site about one team or fantasy baseball or something like that. They are a great group of people writing about baseball because they love it. This post is about their work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What I do is go to each site and pick out one of the posts I find there. It is a time-consuming thing to do, but there is a lot of rewarding reading that occurs because of it. I have done the work for you, so all you have to do is click the link and enjoy yourself. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from this Flagrant Fan to you wherever you are.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The links:</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A radio personality has issues with <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/harvema01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Matt  Harvey</a></strong>. <i>The Hall of Very Good</i> rightly <a href="http://www.hallofverygood.com/2013-articles/december/radio-host-matt-harvey-has-done-nothing.html" target="_blank">pokes a few holes</a> in the stupidity of what the radio guy said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In its most recent post, <i>Off Base Percentage</i>'s Mike Hllywa <a href="http://www.offbasepercentage.com/2013/12/yankees-sign-carlos-beltran-capping-big.html" target="_blank">took a look</a> at the Yankees' spending spree this off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over at <i>The Golden Sombrero</i>, <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rosemi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Mike  Rose</a></strong>nbaum <a href="http://thegoldensombrero.com/wordpress/archives/6535" target="_blank">posted some video</a> from the recent Arizona Fall League featuring <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hedges000aus&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Austin  Hedges</a></strong>, a Padres' prospect catcher.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://grubbyglove.com/?p=5499" target="_blank">This post</a> from <i>Grubby Glove</i> is the oldest of the link list, but it was such a fine piece and such a noble thing, that I linked it anyway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If podcasts are your thing (and I like them a lot), Eric and Jana from <i>#Off the Bat</i> presented by <i>Number One Baseball</i> had <a href="http://numberonebaseball.com/2013/12/off-season-extravaganza/" target="_blank">a great time</a> discussing the off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">TheNaturalMevs of <i>Diamond Hoggers</i> has some <a href="http://diamondhoggers.com/2013/12/20/a-rumor-ill-print-about-prince-fielders-wife-avasail-garcia-and-miguel-cabrera/" target="_blank">real juicy gossip</a> for you concerning the Tigers and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fieldpr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Prince  Fielder</a></strong>. I needed a napkin for this one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My friend, J-Doug is a brilliant, brilliant guy. His <a href="http://www.rationalpastime.com/2013/11/world-series-probability-added-papi.html" target="_blank">most recent post</a> at <i>Rational Pasttime</i> gives us a real cool win probability map of the most recent World Series and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/ortizda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Ortiz</a></strong>'s role in it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mike, over at <i>The Sports Banter</i> <a href="http://thesportsbanter.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-york-mets-2013-14-offseason-plan.html" target="_blank">left a blueprint</a> of what the Mets' off season should look like. At least one of his suggestions has already come true.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our German entry, <i>Dugout 24</i>, has <a href="http://www.blog.dugout24.de/was-ist-ein-bbcor-baseballschlager/" target="_blank">an interesting article</a> (once translated - thank you Internet!) about aluminum bats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ben, of <i>Ben's Baseball Bias</i>, gave <a href="http://www.bensbaseballbias.com/2013/11/peter-bourjos-for-david-freese.html" target="_blank">his thoughts</a> on the trade between the Cardinals and Angels that swapped <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freesda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Freese</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bourjpe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Peter  Bourjos</a></strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Did you know that the Mets have a Santa Claus curse? Just ask <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighda03.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Wright</a></strong>. Michael Clair of <i>Old Time Family Baseball</i> <a href="http://oldtimefamilybaseball.com/post/70594179815/the-new-york-mets-santa-claus-curse" target="_blank">has all the details</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I don't always agree with Sully of <i>Sully Baseball</i>. But he is easily one of the most entertaining podcasters in baseball today. Here is <a href="http://sullybaseball.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/sully-baseball-daily-podcast-december-21-2013/" target="_blank">one of his latest</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sisco Kid put a <a href="http://baseballsiscokidstyle.blogspot.com/2013/12/looking-back-at-robinson-cano-contract.html" target="_blank">lot of thought</a> on the recent mega-contract of <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Robinson  Cano</a></strong> for his most recent post at <i>Baseball Sisco Kid Style</i>. Definitely worth the read.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I met Dan, the author of <i>Left Field</i>, over the summer at a minor league game. He is not only a multi-talented writer and beer connoisseur, but a great family man and a terrific guy. And he is making head way in the baseball writing world and now writes for <i>High Heat Stats</i> and has his articles featured in a major newspaper. This post <a href="http://left-field.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-year-in-music.html" target="_blank">I have linked</a> is also his work and it caps the year in music. Awesome stuff.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot has happened in the past year for my good friends at <i>MLB Dirt</i>. They are now part of the <i>Field Rush</i> network and are teeming with great writing talent. I am still a part of their roster, but haven't had time to write for them in forever. Here is one of their <a href="http://www.fieldrush.com/chris-martin-former-boston-red-sox-prospect-reflects-recent-trade-to-colorado-rockies-and-career/#.UrXSZPRDs90" target="_blank">latest and greatest</a> from Andrew Martin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mario Salvini of <i>Che Palle!</i> has <a href="http://chepalle.gazzetta.it/2013/12/15/il-triplete-di-kemp/" target="_blank">some fun</a> with the <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kempma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Matt  Kemp</a></strong> gossip that has been keeping TMZ happy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot has also happened with <i>Call to the Pen</i> over the last year as they have become a part of the <i>Fansided</i> network. They also have a large crew of talented writers.<a href="http://calltothepen.com/2013/12/21/phillies-orioles-jonathan-papelbon-trade-rumor/" target="_blank"> Here</a>, one of them reports on the latest <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/papeljo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jonathan  Papelbon</a></strong> rumor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of my favorite buds, Daniel Day of <i>The Ball Caps Blog</i>, has <a href="http://ballcapsblog.com/2013/12/07/whos-worth-more-a-baseball-player-or-the-doctor-keeping-your-wife-or-child-alive/" target="_blank">some perspective</a> of our weird money distribution in light of the Robinson  Cano deal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Through the Fence Baseball</i> has to be one of the hardest working baseball blogs in our chapter. One of their terrific team of writers, Jake Mastroianni, has a <a href="http://throughthefencebaseball.com/white-sox-transformation/40671" target="_blank">fine piece</a> on the rebuilding of the Chicago White Sox.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also met Bryan at a minor league game this past summer and I came away so impressed. In one of the <a href="http://replacementlevel.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/hot-stove-parenting/" target="_blank">best posts I have read this year</a>, Bryan talks about the 2013 Red Sox and his son. An amazing piece of writing over at <i>Replacement Level Baseball Blog</i>. Like Dan, Bryan also now writes for <i>High Heat Stats</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chuck Booth of <i>MLB Reports</i> (one of the most faithful #FF guys on Twitter!) has a <a href="http://mlbreports.com/2013/12/20/tjsurgeries/" target="_blank">terrific piece</a> on <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Tommy  John</a></strong> Surgeries over the years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the last three years, Graham Womack has invited the public to list the greatest 50 players not in the Hall of Fame. Theo of <i>Hot Corner Harbor</i> has a <a href="http://hotcornerharbor.blogspot.com/2013/12/50-Best-Not-in-Hall-of-Fame-2013.html" target="_blank">very interesting post</a> about his selections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a really enjoyable piece, Matt  Whitener of <i>Cheap.Seats.Please</i> has a great <a href="http://cheapseatsplease.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/cut-the-check-mlb-signings-report-and-recap-3/" target="_blank">run down</a> of free agent signings. I was torn between picking this piece or the previous one on what all second place teams needed. Cool idea!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Christopher Carelli has neared the big time as he is writing for Yahoo Sports. He deserves every success. His <i>The Baseball Stance</i> blog is a good place to keep up with his various writings and <a href="http://thebaseballstance.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-york-yankees-giant-fork-in-road.html" target="_blank">this one</a> shows that he has been watching closely at what the Yankees are doing this off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of all the links here, and I love them all, you HAVE to read <a href="http://xtrabasehit.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-last-talk-with-pop-baseball-story.html" target="_blank">this one</a> over at <i>The Baseball Enthusiast</i>. You just HAVE to. Unbelievable writing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nik of <i>Nik's Baseball Corner</i> made all his <a href="http://niksbaseballcorner.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/top-82-free-agents-with-predictions/" target="_blank">free agent signing predictions</a> back in November. It is fascinating to look back. Nik hits the nail on several and was way off on several. But it's all fun.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The heading of <a href="http://offthebenchbaseball.com/2013/12/18/braves-acquire-ryan-doumit-for-some-strange-reason/" target="_blank">this piece</a> about the Braves acquiring <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/doumiry01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ryan  Doumit</a></strong> (or Dumbmitt as I call him) drew me in immediately. And it gave me a good laugh. But the article is good except for the part about Doumit being a respectable catcher. Check it out at <i>Off the Bench Baseball</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A discussion of the 2013 season's best pitchers is <a href="http://payoffpitches.blogspot.com/2013/12/breakdown-of-2013-walter-johnson-award.html" target="_blank">the topic</a> of the latest post over at <i>Payoff Pitch</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Radical Baseball</i> is one of our newer sites and is written by Kenneth Matinale. I love posts like <a href="http://radicalbaseball.blogspot.com/2013/12/worst-lefty-batters-against-lefty.html" target="_blank">this one</a> on the worst left-handed batters against left-handed pitching over time. Great job.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another of our newer sites is <a href="http://knowhitter.com/2013/12/13/kingdome-crossover-seattle-mariners-this-week-in-walk-up-music-news/" target="_blank">not happy</a> with the Seattle Mariners' off season and not for the reasons you'd think. Check out Ben's entertaining post over at <i>Know Hitter</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dave, over at <i>Baseball Roundtable</i> has some Hall of Fame <a href="http://www.baseballroundtable.com/bbrts-2014-hall-of-fame-selectionspredictions/" target="_blank">predictions and thoughts</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Did the BBA really get <i>High Heat Stats</i>!? In my chapter!? Woo! That site is the bomb! They used to be the blog for baseball-reference.com until that site stupidly cut it loose. <a href="http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/12/seth-smith-and-the-almost-lost-art-of-pinch-hitting/" target="_blank">This post</a> by Doug on <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithse01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Seth  Smith</a></strong> shows why the site is so great.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another great new site to the BBA is <i>Baseball Hot Corner</i>. Here is that <a href="http://baseballhotcorner.com/shin-soo-choo-agrees-7-year-130-million-deal-texas-rangers/" target="_blank">site's take</a> on the Rangers' new deal with <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/choosh01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Shin-Soo  Choo</a></strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There you have it. Phew! I had forgotten how much time that takes. I was a young man when I started this post. Have a wonderful holiday season and here's to a very good baseball New Years to all of us. </div>

BBA Linkfest - General holiday greetings

I have not done this in a while and it is time to get back at it. I am the president of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Allianc...

+ Read more »

<div style="text-align: justify;">Last night on Twitter, Dave Cameron <a href="https://twitter.com/DCameronFG/status/288797175289372674" target="_blank">responded</a> to a statement made by Michael Morse that he was vehemently against being used in the designated hitter role: "My suggestion to all these guys that don't want to DH - Don't suck at fielding, then." That quote leads to today's post which is: Six fielders who should be DHs. Why six? Who knows. All posts in the last week have started with six. Just humor me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The problem identifying the top six worst defensive players is that Fangraphs and Baseball-reference.com do not always agree on defensive statistics. So the criteria becomes, then, who do both sites agree on as woeful fielders? Three years of data was used in the criteria and then players who are playing out of position are taken out. For example, nobody has lost more runs to average for his fielding than Shawn Kemp. Well, that is because he should not be playing center field. Should we punish Kemp for playing out of position? Perhaps so. But it did not seem fair here because he might actually be good in left or right fields.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, without further ado, here are six fielders that should be DH's</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reynoma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Mark  Reynolds</a></strong> - Reynolds has been just about the worst third baseman that baseball has seen in the last twenty years. The Orioles finally got a hint and moved him to first base halfway through last season. And from what was seen of Reynolds there on television, the move seemed to work pretty well. Except the numbers do not agree. According to the fielding metrics, Reynolds was just as bad at first base for his time there (-8). Reynolds has now lost 38 runs for his teams over the last three seasons which is about three and a half wins. In five seasons, he has lost 61 runs for his teams. Ugh. Hey, at least he did not strike out so much.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/player_search.cgi?results=johnsch05,johnso011chr&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Chris  Johnson</a></strong> - Johnson might be one of those guys who is out of position at third base. The Astros did have him play first base for six games last season. And there is a reason why people lump these players into the 1B/DH category like they are the same thing. I do not agree and think first base is a highly underrated important position on the infield. But either way, Johnson should not wear a glove. He has cost his team 32 runs in the field in the last three seasons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/doumiry01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ryan  Doumit</a></strong> - This catcher turned outfielder is heading quickly into a DH for the Twins and that is a very good thing. Doumit can hit but he was just about the worst fielding catcher in baseball and him plodding around the outfield is downright scary. His affectionate name here is "DumbMitt." As a catcher, he allowed nine passed balls in two out of three seasons. One of those seasons led the league. He can't throw anyone out either. The Twins used him 48 times as the DH last season. Keep him there, Twinkies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/betemwi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Wilson  Betemit</a></strong> - It has always confused me that teams have constantly desired Betemit as a player. Oh, he is versatile and can play all four infield positions...poorly. In fact, his last name is an oxymoron. He is certainly not a bettemitt. He is a worse mitt. Betemit has cost his teams 29 runs in just about the fewest games played on our list for the three years (281). He is a DH and a DH only. He is not versatile but simply can play awful defense in more positions than most people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/morsemi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Mike  Morse</a></strong> - Morse is built like a Greek god or something. The guy is a stud. Perhaps he should have been a tight end in football. Or perhaps the women think he has a tight end. But he is more the Johnny Five kind of muscular guy than anything else. There is a reason Morse is fighting the DH role...because he is one. He is not a good first baseman. He is not a good right fielder. He is not a good left fielder. He is a handsome devil of a DH if there ever was one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/q/quentca01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Carlos  Quentin</a></strong> / <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wiggity01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ty  Wigginton</a></strong> - Quentin has had some injury problems to his wheels over the years, so perhaps this is unfair. But the facts are the facts. Quentin has played parts of six seasons, all in the outfield, and yet has 24 errors. That is a lot for an outfielder. He improved to terrible from really really bad with the Padres last season. He only cost them 8 runs this past season after having double digit types of bad seasons before that. But B-R somewhat disagrees with Fangraphs how bad he has been Wigginton has played for a bunch of teams at a bunch of positions and is really not that good at any of them. According to B-R, he has cost his teams 118 runs in his career. Yeesh. He has played five different positions and all were played poorly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So there you have it. Those are six players (seven really) who have been so bad on defense that they should be DHs. What other thing do they all have in common? They are all bad base runners too. Slow and fielding do not usually go together well. But speed, or lack of it, does sort of define the DH position.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>

Six fielders who should be DHs

Last night on Twitter, Dave Cameron responded to a statement made by Michael Morse that he was vehemently against being used in the designa...

+ Read more »