Monsters finish weekend with loss in Toronto
October 7, 2013
NFL Week Five: Winners and Losers
October 7, 2013
“While We’re Waiting” serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“Indians Player of the Year: 2B Jason Kipnis, Slash line: .284/.366/.452/.818 Stats: 17 HR, 36 2B, 4 3B, 84 RBI, 76 BB, 86 R, 30 SB, 57 XBH, 160 H, 255 TB, 149 G, Advanced: 5.8 WAR, 101 RC, 6.2 RC/G, 133 OPS+, 31 RS%
You could’ve made a case for catcher Carlos Santana, who had a higher OPS (.832), more homers (20) and walks (93) and 100 runs created. His defense, however, drags his WAR down to 4.4 and his run-scoring percentage of 25% was lower than Kipnis. In the end, Kipnis’ blend of power and speed, his defense, and his ability to score at a higher rate won out for me.
Fun Fact: Kipnis became just the fourth player in Indians history to have at least 15 homers, 30 stolen bases, 75 walks and 85 runs in one season. The others include Grady Sizemore (2007, 2008), Roberto Alomar (1999, 2001) and Kenny Lofton (2000), Only 2008 Sizemore and Alomar (both years) added at least 80 RBI to the mix.” [Bastian/MLB.com]
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“The woes of the running game were on full display late in the second quarter of Thursday’s game against the Bills. The Browns had a first-and-10 at Buffalo’s 12-yard line. Three Willis McGahee rushes netted just eight yards, but the Browns were saved by a Buffalo penalty. The Browns moved to first-and-goal at the 1-yard line and it took McGahee three tries to get that one yard for the Browns first rushing touchdown of the season.
McGahee, the Browns leading rusher, is averaging 2.6 yards per carry and 42 yards per game. Spread that out over 16 games and McGahee would end up with 677 rushing yards, the lowest figure to lead the Browns since the immortal Boyce Green ran for 673 yards in 1984.” [Tom/Red Right 88]
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“Joey Bosa and Michael Bennett in particular played lights-out games, with 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown between them. The Buckeyes didn’t have any trouble getting to the quarterback, with five sacks on the day. And by “the quarterback,” I mean Siemian, since he received all of the Buckeyes sacks. I don’t think Colter was jealous.” [Peltier/Eleven Warriors]
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This is some creativity I can appreciate. “Aw, this is sweet. The San Diego Chargers are making their first visit to Oakland this season, and they’ll see this sign when they arrive: a tribute to Lennay Kekua, the late girlfriend of Chargers rookie linebacker Manti Te’o, who passed away last year after a brief illness. Or maybe a car crash. Or something. Anyway, who says Oakland fans are heartless clods?
No, as seemingly nice as this gesture is, the truth is it’s a straight-on troll: surely you remember that Kekua doesn’t actually exist, and that poor Te’o was catfished in a way that we’ve never seen before in sports. We’re thinking he won’t regard this with quite as much reverence, or humor, as the Raiders faithful.” [Busbee/Shutdown Corner]
1 Comment
Santana and Kipnis are the obvious choices for team-MVP. The question is who is the 3rd most valuable?
Gomes?
Ubaldo?
Masterson?
Swisher?
Seems both fangraphs and b-r give the nod to Gomes despite having such signficantly less ABs than many position players. That speaks well for a possible future contribution.
Gomes was actually hitting less HR/FB than he did for Toronto, but increased his LD% signficantly (and decreased his GB%). Those switches indicate that his BABIP that jumped 100 points year-over-year might have been as much about a skill-increase as luck (important obviously).