Quick Hits: FanGraphs Event, Yankee Bullpen, Mets, Cervelli, CC, Granderson, and Other Baseball Thoughts

It's time to play some catch-up on the blog. A little of a lot here on a Monday. Some quick hits for you:

- The FanGraphs Live event last Saturday in Manhattan was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and the panels were all extremely engaging. Amanda Rykoff has a great review of the whole event at The OCD Chick, and Dave Cameron and Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs both have great recaps. A few observations/conclusions from the panel:

The FanGraphs live event was awesome

• I may be a nerd (Amanda did label this a "mini-dorkapalooza")
• Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues dislikes Francisco Cervelli as much on Twitter as he does in real life (and Jay Jaffe of Pinstriped Bible dishes out some dislike as well)
• Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues argues that the strength of the AL East pushes each team to get better
• Reporting on Twitter discourages analysis and makes it more about a personal brand
• The Wall Street Journal has a great formula for their sports section: smart, funny and analytical
• The game story is slowly leaving the papers (and with it, the need for the box score as well as Tim Kurkjian wrote on ESPN)
• Bloomberg Sports has an awesome fantasy sports tool that can even show video of Jeff Francouer drawing multiple walks
• Statistics are now for a wider audience than just nerds (though Tim Marchman of SI looks at the problems with defensive stats)
• The biggest myth in sports (according to one panelists) is that the pitcher stopping his windup mid-motion has led to a lot of injuries 
• I now own a FanGraphs t-shirt
• "Accept randomness"
• It was nice to finally meet in person people like Ben and Amanda who were, until now, just Twitter avatars and bylines on blog posts. This type of thing should occur more often.

- Joel Sherman of the New York Post asked today (re: the Yankees bullpen): "Do you believe in this group?" At one point the answer would most certainly have been no, but Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, Boone Logan and Kerry Wood have joined together to form a nice "Bridge to Mariano". The Yankees bullpen in August is 1-1 (the one loss came from Mariano Rivera) with a 1.02 ERA in 35.1 innings and has a WHIP of 0.991. Since July 2nd, they've only allowed 16% of inherited runners to score (which was a bugaboo for a while with this team as they were at 30% at that point). With Andy Pettitte coming back (forcing Dustin Moseley back to the bullpen), and Alfredo Aceves and Damaso Marte on the mend, this is looking like a pretty good group. And despite his latest glitch, Mariano Rivera is pretty great/probably the greatest ever. The Yankees are 62-0 when leading after 8.

-CC Sabathia is getting less strikeouts as David Golebiewski of FanGraphs pointed out today and Dave Cameron pointed out last week. Here's my theory: from 2005 to 2010, Sabathia's thrown more innings than anyone in baseball. Maybe he's resting his arm a bit knowing he has plenty of years left to pitch in baseball. While strikeouts are the surest way to prevent outs, groundouts are usually a good way as well and they usually require less pitches. That's probably a good thing for someone who will have over 20,000 pitches in a 6-year span. Like Girardi told Chad Jennings of LoHud: "we don't want to wear the big guy down."

-The Mets are an absolute mess. Fred Wilpon is in hiding according to Joel Sherman. The ESPN Page 2 Mets logo is looking a lot more like another New York mess of a team (H/T Jay who also pointed out that logo was released before the K-Rod incident). The only thing sorry about K-Rod was his apology according to Flip Bondy of New York Daily News. Jay also chimes in with what he calls "an all-time GIF" and some more Mets make-fun-of material. They already play at "Shitty Field". But instead of worrying about any of this, the Mets are worried about the Jews according to Rob Iracane of Walkoff Walk. Seriously, people.

-Mike Ashmore at Thunder Thoughts has a great look at the daily lives and finances of minor league baseball players. This is awesome and makes you rethink your stereotypes about baseball players. It also is of little wonder that when they finally have the chance to be paid, they take it. It's also of little wonder why players risked their health to take steroids in order to get themselves over the proverbial hump.

-Flip Flop Fly Ballin' has an equally awesome Yankees musical history. Lots of "tings" in there.

-Robinson Cano is now 4th in the AL in WAR. How did that happen? Also, how did Phil Hughes become a two-face? Maybe he needs Andy Pettitte to come back and stop being so frustrated.

-Retrosheet research papers. Stats and Info on 3 A-Bombs for A-Rod. Another way to get Yankees tickets. The 30 Worst Baseball Cards of All Time.

-In 1994, the Yankees had three catchers (Mike Stanley, Matt Nokes and Jim Leyritz) who each had a weighted on base average (wOBA) of .380 or better. The Yankees only have three players who have that total this year (Robinson Cano, Marcus Thames, and Nick Swisher).

-Oh, and Austin Kearns, the "other" deadline acquisition (who I really, really wanted them to get)

-I really am happy that Curtis Granderson is seeing the swing doctor as Brian Costa writes for the Wall Stret Journal and that he's trying to work out his issues. It shows a lack of maturity when players are stubborn and refuse to adjust. But why was his swing so out of whack to begin with and why is it taking until August for him to get it fixed? Chad Jennings calls Grandy a "work in progress" but does point out they are 24-2 (at least as of 8/13) when he drives in a run.

-I'm also really happy the Yankees seem to have some good people on their team as Sophia Hollander of the Wall Street Journal writes. I like when they have good players; I like even more when I can root for the people and the player at the same time.

-J-Doug of Beyond the Boxscore responds to Bill Simmons misconceived pessimism.  The Red Sox sellout streak is sort of artificial according to Bloomberg. Boston's bullpen should be contributing to Simmons' pessimism though the math is less daunting than before.

-Someone who does have some daunting math is Mark Teixeira going after his career numbers.

-Will the new Texas owner spend more? Shawn Hoffman of Baseball Prospectus looks into it. Sort-of-Best. Caption. Ever.

-The OCD Chick and MetsGrrl take on Rob Dibble (who deserves it). Who is the worst player on the field itself? Joe Posnanski and Craig Calcaterra debate.

-Despite yesterday's loss, ESPN's Rob Neyer says that the myth that the Yankees always stink against "debutantes" is false. Sean Forman of the New York Times has more.

-Chipper Jones and Jeff Bagwell are "two peas in a pod" according to Rich Lederer of Baseball Analysts. Both should be in the Hall of Fame easily.

-Jack Moore of FanGraphs (via ESPN) says that starting pitching doesn't really rule October. I see his research but I don't really agree.

-You will not eat stadium food again if you read this Outside The Lines report

That is all...for now.