Jays @ Yankees (Aug. 20-22)

[Randle McMurphy]

Very average defensively, that Lawrie.

[Santoki]

That 2B experiment will surely go down as the oddest and stupidest in all of AA's tenure. Still mind-boggling.

[dagger]

That 2B experiment will surely go down as the oddest and stupidest in all of AA's tenure. Still mind-boggling.

And nobody disagrees with that, certainly not the players who have been quoted. One of the great mysteries of the season.

[tecumseh18]

It's not a complete mystery. They wanted to get offensive production out of 2B without sacrificing defence, and ideally improving it. That much is understandable. EE and DeRosa weren't embarrassing themselves at 3rd as badly as one might have expected, but how long was that gonna last?

But here's a question. Based on offensive statistics comparisons, 2b seems to be considered a more important defensive position than 3rd base. But is that really true? And if it is, then doesn't it make sense to play our best defensive infielder - Lawrie - at 2b?

Another question: has Kawasaki turned some sort of corner? Has he been working with a "heavy bat" down in Buffalo? Is there any reason to think that his production in NY is sustainable?

[djsunyc]

does lawrie wear 13 b/c of arod?

this is going to sound a little ridiculous but it seems the team needs a presence like joe torre in the dugout. i'm sure he can be coaxed out of retirement.

[Santoki]

It's not a complete mystery. They wanted to get offensive production out of 2B without sacrificing defence, and ideally improving it. That much is understandable. EE and DeRosa weren't embarrassing themselves at 3rd as badly as one might have expected, but how long was that gonna last?

But here's a question. Based on offensive statistics comparisons, 2b seems to be considered a more important defensive position than 3rd base. But is that really true? And if it is, then doesn't it make sense to play our best defensive infielder - Lawrie - at 2b?

Another question: has Kawasaki turned some sort of corner? Has he been working with a "heavy bat" down in Buffalo? Is there any reason to think that his production in NY is sustainable?

You'd think a guy like AA wouldn't succumb to traditional nonsense like that. And, I like Kawasaki, but he's a utility guy at best.

[Fairview4Life]

does lawrie wear 13 b/c of arod?

this is going to sound a little ridiculous but it seems the team needs a presence like joe torre in the dugout. i'm sure he can be coaxed out of retirement.

What they needed were the starters to not be one of the worst groups in franchise history. That doesn't come with Joe Torre.

[djsunyc]

does lawrie wear 13 b/c of arod?

this is going to sound a little ridiculous but it seems the team needs a presence like joe torre in the dugout. i'm sure he can be coaxed out of retirement.

What they needed were the starters to not be one of the worst groups in franchise history. That doesn't come with Joe Torre.

lol - i think the starters are ok - just need some tweaking.

[Fairview4Life]

does lawrie wear 13 b/c of arod?

this is going to sound a little ridiculous but it seems the team needs a presence like joe torre in the dugout. i'm sure he can be coaxed out of retirement.

What they needed were the starters to not be one of the worst groups in franchise history. That doesn't come with Joe Torre.

lol - i think the starters are ok - just need some tweaking.

They weren't OK this season though. Hopefully they are next season and this year was an aberration, but Joe Torre isn't Dumbledore.

[flatjacket1]

Why do you keep suggesting that what we receive, or forfeit, is any way related to win/loss record?

Just read that now. Thanks for clarifying. Thought performance factor would relate to W-L.

[There There]

Just read that now. Thanks for clarifying. Thought performance factor would relate to W-L.

Performance factor is a somewhat confusing way to coin it... Perhaps they should have included a reference to revenue generation, but regardless, the intent obviously is to ensure that Revenue sharing is distributed to the "have-nots", with the "big market" stipulation in place to ensure that teams, like us, who, based on market size, should be have's, are not reaping benefits from the revenue sharing because of an inability to properly exploit the market.

[s e n s i]

Very average defensively, that Lawrie.

his glove is merely decent iirc. not to call out lateral quicks, but I wonder if he's changed his mind on that yet.

it's not like he's hollywooding it up over there either, those diving stabs, barehanded scoops and spinning, ranging throws are always necessary. an average or even good defensive 3B sees those balls skip into left field or end up eating it.

with the lack of range over at SS (though he was never great, some of it can be attributed to reyes bum ankle limiting explosiveness imo), lawrie is essential to the left side of the infield, making plays to his left that would otherwise end up as singles.

[BigLeagueChew]

Very average defensively, that Lawrie.

his glove is merely decent iirc. not to call out lateral quicks, but I wonder if he's changed his mind on that yet.

it's not like he's hollywooding it up over there either, those diving stabs, barehanded scoops and spinning, ranging throws are always necessary. an average or even good defensive 3B sees those balls skip into left field or end up eating it.

with the lack of range over at SS (though he was never great, some of it can be attributed to reyes bum ankle limiting explosiveness imo), lawrie is essential to the left side of the infield, making plays to his left that would otherwise end up as singles.

The Alomar-esque like play from 3rd base is salt in the wound to how bad moving him 2nd base was. The fact that he can make a strong throw like that from the other side of the diamond is pretty ridiculous. It looked like he was playing even with the bag to guard the bunt and still managed to grab that ball. His reaction time and range is so good.

[Lateral Quicks]

Very average defensively, that Lawrie.

his glove is merely decent iirc. not to call out lateral quicks, but I wonder if he's changed his mind on that yet.

it's not like he's hollywooding it up over there either, those diving stabs, barehanded scoops and spinning, ranging throws are always necessary. an average or even good defensive 3B sees those balls skip into left field or end up eating it.

with the lack of range over at SS (though he was never great, some of it can be attributed to reyes bum ankle limiting explosiveness imo), lawrie is essential to the left side of the infield, making plays to his left that would otherwise end up as singles.

Yeah, as anyone who actually cared to read my posts on the matter would know, I've never questioned his range or ability to make the spectacular play. Nor have I claimed that he can't get better - he's still young and relatively new to the position after. His consistency - my primary beef with his defense - has been improving, which is great to see. If Randle wants to bring this topic up every time Lawrie makes a nice play, he's certainly free to do so, but I could just as easily post every time Lawrie fails to make a routine play and/or boneheaded play (though, as I said, those are happily becoming more rare).

[Schad]

It's not a complete mystery. They wanted to get offensive production out of 2B without sacrificing defence, and ideally improving it. That much is understandable. EE and DeRosa weren't embarrassing themselves at 3rd as badly as one might have expected, but how long was that gonna last?

But here's a question. Based on offensive statistics comparisons, 2b seems to be considered a more important defensive position than 3rd base. But is that really true? And if it is, then doesn't it make sense to play our best defensive infielder - Lawrie - at 2b?

It's actually an open question whether 2B is more important defensively than 3B. Bill James pegged it as such (and with CF also more important than 3B), while Tom Tango's positional adjustments have them more or less equal. We're in an era where the defensive spectrum has been bunching for some time...at every position save catcher, you'll find more capable hitters than bad ones. Even at shortstop the days of Roy Oyler-esque no-hit all-field players is at an end; you can get by with poor hitting, but you cannot get by with zero offensive punch.

[Schad]

So basically we pay but we don't receive. It's not .500 by the way, it's top 15 teams.

Why do you keep suggesting that what we receive, or forfeit, is any way related to win/loss record?

The performance factor you're referring is basically a ranking of how team's performed in generating revenues.
It is a predetermined ranking in Appendix 26 of the CBA and can only be adjusted once ( in 2015 if I'm not mistaken ), if the team has basically generated more revenue from local broadcast agreements, either through extending an existing agreement or signing a new one.

And it's unlikely we will forfeit anything close to $10m this season, since the percentage this year is only 25%.

We don't forfeit 100% until 2016.

It's in our interest to eventually become a payor, since even if we forfeit 100% revenue sharing by 2016, a percentage of those forfeited funds would be distributed back to us.

As a "big market" payee, we would increasingly forfeit a higher percentage of net revenue sharing proceeds, until 2016 when we forfeit it all, AND we would be ineligible to receive a percentage of the forfeited funds.

Thanks, that explains my confusion previous; the on-field performance thing threw me. There's also a decent chance that our local revenues have increased enough to change our fortunes in the formula anyway, even with the awful record...attendance is up roughly 25% at the moment, such that we'll probably top our overall figure from 2012 in the next home series, with a month remaining.

[Lateral Quicks]

Three walks for Sierra in his first six plate appearances...

[Fairview4Life]

An apple train? Seriously, Houston?

[Fairview4Life]

The hill in certre field is still as dumb as the apple train. Just awful.