especially since the US, as everyone knows, had NO European Allies of any sort during that war, no NONE at all

If you type in Bloomquist apology. One, not plenty. Written on 7th May…

http://www.royalscentricity.com/2009/05/official-apology-to-willie-bloomquist.html

Sadly, he has not been.

Esteban German in KC:
.280/.363/.394 in 316 games = 99 OPS+

Bloomie in KC:
.284/.333/.388 in 65 games = 92 OPS+

WIllie has his uses, at the minimum… Two years, $3M? I think it’s a bad decision. Like the Jacobs trade, it doesn’t really kill the Royals, but at best it doesn’t really help th em, and tells us that the GM doesn’t really value players properly.

Just so we’re on the same apge I’m not into “saving money” so that Glass can get rich — I don’t want to win a flag for “most efficient payroll.” It’s more that every team (even the Yankees, to a certain extent) have to work with a budget, and so a GM who knows how to maximize that is more likely to help the team win. Guillen, Bloomquist, Farns, etc. make me think Moore isn’t great with that.

there better players were available for less money — Eckstein, Counsell

Sleeping in chunks. Avoiding the the crazed negativity of the fanbase.

I’ve been watching the games and looking at all of Bannister’s data. I’ve been considering writing a “How good is Brian Bannister and how has he managed to be that good” article. My take is that he’s succeeding now (good FIP and tRA) by inducing the right kind of contact. His LD% is down (especially as compared to last year) and he’s getting considerably more GB’s and considerably fewer FB’s. That’s a formula that leads to a lot of pitching success.

And he’s done this by throwing different pitches. I didn’t see Tuscon’s piece at DM, but I’m sure he got into this. The BIS pitch classification data at Fangraphs is all wrong. They’ve got him throwing mostly fastballs, augmented by his slider, curve and change, which is essentially the same pitch profile as 2008. They have him throwing essentially no cutters, which isn’t true both from watching him pitch and from his statements to the media which have referenced the rebirth of his cutter. In this case, the Pitch f/x pitch classification data is more accurate. They have him throwing only 16% fastballs and mostly relying on his slider and cutter, and then mixing in his curve and change. Basically he’s decided that since his 4-seam fastball isn’t much good, he’s going to rely on pitches that move and changing speeds. And he’s doing it quite well. His slider and cutter (which are nearly indistiguishable, by eye or by Pitch f/x velocity and movement data) are genuinely good pitches and he’s making them work for him.

The real question of course is how good will Bannister be going forward; this is the “true talent level” question. ZiPS “RoS” projection has him with the FIP of a #3 SP. Statcorner’s tRA* for him is also in that range but even better. So I think he could easily be a an average #3 SP for the next few years. If he can consistently keep his GB’s up and FB’s down, then he’s somewhere in the #2-#3 SP range. And even in a down year, he’d likely be a useful, solid innings eating #4.