TuesdoLinks: Hall of Fame Games

Following the NL CYA response of Michael Wilbon his particular brand of idiocy, I was motivated to so a little digging on something of curious interest to me. What pitcher had more Wins (or, should we starting calling them Wilbons? as in mW’s?) than deGrom, but with the highest ERA? Raise your hand if you know this.

The answer is Jon Gray of the Rockies with 12 wins (deGrom had 10), but with an ERA of 5.12!

Perhaps more hilarious, Lucas Gioloto of the White Sox had the same 10 wins as deGrom, but his ERA was 6.13 across 32 starts. To put that into a perspective with which we LAA fans can identify, the last time any Halo starter gave us 32 starts and an ERA at least that high was...never. Oh, we have had quite a few guys have some pretty ugly seasons (Bill Stoneman’s 6.14 in 1974?), but not over 32 starts. Perhaps the closest to being Gioloto bad would be Jim Abbot of 1996. That was a 7.48 ERA, but in only 23 starts.

The point here being that Lucas Gioloto had what would work out to be the worst Starting Pitcher campaign in LAA franchise history, but he still participated in as many Wins as Jacob deGrom. And in Michael Wilbon’s world, that makes them equals.

Hey, did you know that turkey has less L-tryptophan than chicken? How’s that for a sabermetric Thanksgiving?

Gobble up some Pre-T-Day-Snooze-Fest-HaloLinks:

A Little Bit Of Angels News

Antique Store Find of the Day. Did you know that there once a Coca Cola competitor to Mountain Dew? Introduced back in the late 60’s (note the pull-tab opening), it faded away pretty quickly. But I give you Simba Soda!

Oh, blech! Really? In this episode of “To Trade Mike Trout?” MLB Tonight pulls an Albert Pujols comp card? Folks, Pujols was 32 (34) when STL opted not to pay him a fortune, and his decline was well established. Mike Trout has a reasonable chance to DOUBLE his WAR between now and when he is 32. DOUBLE. DUH-BULL..........

Somebody needs to advise Will Leitch of MLB.com that all it will take for Billy Eppler to turn Kole Calhoun into a Free Agent after next year is a $1 million buyout...........

The Reds just plucked our SLC hitting coach, making Donnie Ecker the assistant hitting coach in Cincinnati..........

But Eric Chavez is sticking around in Anaheim..........

Everywhere In Baseball

Check this out. This year’s Hall Of Fame candidates were announced. You might be focusing on Mariano Rivera, and whether or not he reaches the first unanimous vote. Me? Imma gonna be watchin’ to see who, if anybody, gives Vernon Wells anything...........

There are, of course, far more serious things to talk about within the upcoming HoF process. FanGraphs gets you started..........Victor has an interesting take. Before you go scratching your head, consider that his focus is more on voters and those who may influence voters, and less on the common fan. There are now hordes of common fans who never saw Edgar Martinez in his prime (which was pretty much 80% of his entire career)...........

James Paxton is out of the AL West. The Yankees jumped on the opening round of the Jerry Dipoto tank fire sale and grabbed Paxton for 3 prospects..........Now, if the Yankees use that as a baseline, and then go out and spend some money, watch out..........

Kurt Suzuki is not returning to the AL West. Once rumored to be a target of the Oakland A’s, Suzuki signed with the Nats, where he will be forced to enjoy backstopping for Max Scherzer..........

But the guy YOU want is Nathan Eovaldi, The Unicorn. Please please please gimme a guy who is over TJ and back on the mound and productive over whom I don’t need to worry about being fragile. Pretty please?

Because we are in that 6-month window of crazy, the Braves reportedly involved in Bryce Harper sweepstakes....but....Braves not in on Bryce Harper after all..........Or how about this one? The Dodgers lose Dave Roberts, and Roberts takes over for Bruce Bochy at the helm of the Giants??..........

Oh, this is rich. THE Reggie Jackson is calling out Manny Machado for his lack of hustle. Apparently, that has no place with the Yankees. Reggie should know. Billy Martin tried to pound that into his thick skull..........

No, Giants fans, don’t be whining about how injuries took you down in 2018. That hill belongs to the Angels by a wide, wide margin: “They were 15th, well behind the Angels, who led the Majors with 1,821 DL days, nearly all of which came from their pitching staff.”..........

Hey, Angels fans? You want Noah Syndergaard? For starters, and just for starters, it will cost you Andrelton Simmons..........

Take this with a grain of salt, because SI writer Tom Verducci is always looking at odd correlations to explain or predict TJ. His focus here is how risky it is to draft high school pitchers because of how velocity attracts scouts..........

Cleveland continues to wash Chief Wahoo out of their image..........

If you are going to improve a video game, you need to add cheat codes for intelligent baseballs capable of changing direction to outwit the shift. And exploding baseballs. Those would be cool.........

I am totally down with The Athletic moving into video, if it replaces The Hallmark Channel on my UVerse lineup..........

The Duffle Bag

Gary Gaetti, a long and productive career, whose lone pothole was the period he spent in Anaheim..........For baseball fans, who are also fans of Meat Loaf........This is how slow it is for baseball fans. This slow. This very slow............Ok, I thought I was done with this, but news is slow. More MiLB team logo/branding shenanigans. Yes, you see that right. S’mores.........