to Flotsam Media for this
delightful post. This is like a holiday present to our staff, and to anyone who reads this blog and even remotely enjoys it.
dak gets angry at me sometimes when I post about things that are fun and good instead of annoying and bad. But this: deserves a hearty round of applause.
Posting may slow from its normal "erratic-slow" pace to a holiday-inspired "glacial-nonexistent" for the next week or so. But we'll be back before the end of the year.
Have a happy holiday season.
Labels: flotsam media, grit, statistics
In the airport waiting for our flight to MO. Thinking about the Chicago White Sox' woes this season. Impatient hitters, injuries, bad starting pitching, aging veterans. You know what they need?
Some grit.
St. Louis Cardinals free agent-to-be David Eckstein is becoming target No. 1 on the Sox' offseason wish list. He would give them a leadoff hitter with a career .349 on-base percentage and a sure-handed shortstop.The White Sox are single-handedly trying to prove as true everything that I, and people like me, believe. If they sign Eckstein next year, all things being equal, they will be the worst-GMed team in history.
By the way, reader Mike directed me to this article via an AOL FanHouse blog discussion, located
here. For a good time, read the comments below the post. Two rings in five years!!!!!!
About to board. I'm coming,
Yakov!
Labels: david eckstein, grit, yakov smirnoff
That's the subject heading of reader Karl's e-mail to me about
this piece, and I see no reason to change it on this blog.
Erstad, playing regularly and without pain for the first time since 2005, has been exactly what Williams had hoped he would be. He is not one of the White Sox's offensive problems, batting .375 since April 20, and doing all the smart and gritty things that make him valuable. "Love him," Williams said. "Every day, the epitome of the grinder comes out to win a ballgame."
Erstad in 93 AB so far: .258/.307/.366. EqA of .256, or slightly below league average. So, as Karl pointed out, yes, that is probably exactly what Williams had hoped Erstad would be. (Ersty's EqA is above his 90th percentile PECOTA projection, so don't worry, it will probably go down.
Also, if you're from the NE, like me,
this is the epitome of the grinder:
This grinder's Deliciousness EqA is like .308.
Labels: darin erstad, food metaphors, grinders, grit, white sox
