The Week in Baseball: 8/4-8/9

Biogenesis: Baseball finally got around to suspending the rest of the players connected to Biogenesis. Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peraltra, and Evereth Cabrera are all suspended for 50 games along with other nondescript players. The biggest name is obviously Alex Rodriguez who was suspended for an astounding 211 games. The union obviously feels like that suspension is too harsh and others agree. I didn't realize this was the first time ARod has been officially suspended by baseball so yeah 211 games is a little too long*. Of course ARod held a press conference and it was weird/awkward/sad/strange.

*For those of you arguing that it's ridiculous that MLB is suspending players for drug use but aren't suspending players for crimes like DUI's, just stop. It takes two sides to sign an CBA and suspending players for DUI arrests isn't in the CBA because of the union. I'd also argue this is an area where baseball just can't win because if Selig becomes Goodell and just starts suspending players, you'd be outraged that Selig is using power to suspend players.

Raul Ibanez Struggles Fielding: Raul Ibanez has had a pretty good season. Even though he's a million years old he's hit 24 home runs. Oh sure his OBP is bad and he doesn't field good but that just ruins the narrative. And when I mean Ibanez can't play the outfield anymore, I REALLY MEAN HE CAN'T PLAY IN THE OUTFIELD ANYMORE!



A New Strike Zone Formula?: Fangraphs has a section in their stats corner dedicated to a players approach at the plate. You can see where a player makes or doesn't make contact. Well Beyond the Boxscore came up with a formula that basically added all of those percentages into one big category. The result? Well the result was the same as the Fangraphs formula so it needs a little work. I do suggest reading this long, but good post.


BABIP King: One of the reasons why the Atlanta Braves have blown past everyone in the NL East is because of Chris Johnson. Johnson was just a throw-in for the Justin Upton trade and he's quickly turned into a piece of gold. Johnson is posting his best walk rate and OBP of his career. Oh and he's hitting a historic .425 BABIP!!!!! That's incredible. Right now if the season ended Johnson would have the greatest BABIP season ever, ahead of dead-ball leaders Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson. And it's not all bloop hits that find a gap, according to Beyond the Boxscore he gets most of his hits on line drives. Johnson can of course regress but this late in the season I doubt he regresses that badly the rest of the way.

FIGHT!: Yes a "fight" broke out in the Nats-Braves game because Julio Teheran didn't like Bryce Harper pimping a home run. The best part of this episode was the Twitter back-and-fourth between these two teams and the fact it made Chipper Jones quit Twitter.



Jose Fernandez is Quite Good: Everyone knows the Marlins are ran by a bunch of morons and cheapskates. And yet they still find talented young players like Jose Fernandez. Fernandez is the young Cuban pitcher with the nasty curveball who according to Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs is only getting better as the season moves on. How this is fair or even reasonable is beyond me.

The Best of the Weekend: A look at the best games and pitching matchups of the weekend.

Friday, Angels at Indians, Weaver vs Kazmir: The Indians desperately need a win. The Tigers went to Cleveland and swept them out of their own yard. Just their luck though they have to face Jared Weaver right off the bat in this series and their bats have went limp. Is this the Indians collapse everyone expected was going to happen?

Saturday, Red Sox at Royals, Doubront vs Guthrie: The Royals won last night and if they want to gain ground on the races need to take at least two games out of this four game series with the Red Sox. Jeremy Guthrie has been a pleasant surprise for the Royals and their tough to beat rotation. The Royals hitters are going to have to continue playing well if they want to be taken seriously as contenders.

Sunday, Rays at Dodgers, Hellickson vs Kershaw: I'm tired of the fucking Dodgers. YASIEL PUIG! KERSHAW IS THE MVP! Gag me with a fucking spoon. It's time for this team to start taking a swoon. Time for Adrian Gonzalez to go into his late season funk. Time for Puig to finally look like a fucking rookie. Do I faith the Rays are the team to beat them? Not really.