Out of left field

Out of left field is an occasional post concerning matters that don’t necessarily require 1,000 words of analyzation, but do deserve a comment or four.  In no order of importance whatsoever…

Shane Greene has more than twice the WAR that Didi has this season.  Giovanny Gallegos has more WAR than Luke Voit this season.  I’m leaving that there without suggestion or comment.  (Thanks to Mike Petriello for the find on Gallegos – Mike is a great follow on social media.)

Baseball has a human trafficking problem.  Baseball has a PED problem.  Baseball has a domestic violence problem.  Baseball has local oligarchs exploiting fans problem.  But we hear about all the above occasionally.  Every day – EVERY DAY – I get online or watch TV and I’m bombarded with all this crap about how stats and all these damn home runs are killing the game (because home runs are so boring…) and whether or not Mike Trout is really that good.  (“First-time caller, long time moron, Mike – I mean he’s always playing on losing teams, how good can he be?”)  It’s really annoying.

Recently had a friendly debate on Twitter with writer Sheryl Ring (another great social media follow) about who was the better player – Ted Williams or Hank Aaron?  Short version: Sheryl says Hank’s overall play gives him the edge.  I say the distance between Ted and Hank offensively is FAR greater than people realize and that no amount of better defense and speed would negate it.  What do you think?  (Not that it matters, but Sheryl ran a poll that received 678 votes and Ted won with 59% of the votes.)

Among 98 players with at least 300 PA in the AAA International League this season (many of whom have major league experience), Mike Ford was 1^st in wRC+, 2^nd in SLG and 8^th in OBP.  It really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he can hit.

If the playoffs started tomorrow and everyone is healthy, this is your starting nine: DJ 2B, Judge RF, Gleyber SS, Stanton LF, Voit 1B, Encarnacion DH, Sanchez C, Gio 3B, Hicks CF.  It would kill me to not have Ford in there but Encarnacion’s resume seals the deal.  Ditto with Gardner and Tauchman but when healthy, Hicks is better.  And there is no way – NO WAY – Didi should be in the lineup ahead of any of the aforementioned names.

Did you catch my first article for Fangraphs and the Hardball Times last week?  If you missed it, you can read it HERE.

Follow me on Twitter if you don’t already, @thetrainingrim.  I’ve been blocked by Michael Kay, Jack Curry and Meredith Marakovits, but I’m followed by David Cone.  I’m winning there too.

Did I miss something?  Let me know.