Thursday July 24, 2003

TWINS THOUGHTS

BASKETBALL THOUGHTS

BIG BROTHER THOUGHTS

The Mendoza Line

Baseball jargon is a funny thing.  There are terms that really only make sense to baseball fans. And some, only to those directly involved in the game.

·         “Can of Corn” - A lazy, easy-to-catch fly ball.

·         “Texas Leaguer” - a blooper that happens to fall in for a hit, usually just out of reach of the infielders. (note, this is also called a ‘ducksnort’, even if Bert Blyleven and Dick Bremer seem to want to call it a ‘duquephart’)

·         “Jimmy Jack”, “Big Fly”, and many other terms for the home run.

One that has always been interesting to me is the term ‘Mendoza Line’.  A commentator may say that a hitter is struggling to stay above the ‘Mendoza Line.” This year, Phillies OF Pat Burrell could be said to be struggling to get up to the “Mendoza Line.” 

Well, what is the “Mendoza Line”, and where did it get it’s name?

What is the ‘Mendoza Line’? 

It is a batting average of .200. Obviously .200 is not a very good batting average anyway, so being below that is really bad.

Where did the ‘Mendoza Line’ get its name? 

George Brett is the person who coined the phrase. Originally, it didn’t mean .200 specifically.  He meant it in the context of the Sunday paper, in which all players with the required number of plate appearances are listed in order by batting average. Mario Mendoza, not a good hitter, was generally at, or near, the bottom of that list. Brett basically was saying that a player never wanted to be below Mendoza on that list.  Over time, it is generally accepted that the Mendoza line is .200.

So, what was Mario Mendoza’s career stat line like? Check out his career stats below. I should mention that OPS+ is an adjusted viewing of a player’s productivity compared to league average.  An OPS+ of 100 is considered an average player. For some perspective, Barry Bonds OPS+ in 2001 was 262, and was 275 in 2002.

So, based on all these numbers, you can see why George Brett would not want to see his name below Mario Mendoza’s.  Five seasons under .200 in batting average.  He didn’t walk a lot as shown in his on-base percentage.  And, he had very little power.  His career high in doubles was 10, and that was in 1979, when he played in 148 games!  He had 4 career home runs.  And, again, if an OPS+ of 100 is “average”, Mendoza’s career OPS+ of 41 tells a story.  (Again, to add perspective to Twins fans, the maligned Luis Rivas’ career OPS+ for 3 years is 81, and Cristian Guzman’s is 75 (not good, considering it was 111 in 2001!))

Well, Mendoza was a shortstop, so he must have been quick, right?  Maybe when he did get on base, he was able to steal bases?  Nope! In his career, he stole just 12 bases in 20 attempts (60%). He never stole more than 3 bases in a season.

SLICK FIELDER?

Unable to hit in the major leagues, Mario Mendoza was generally considered a slick fielding shortstop.  First, let me say that I never saw him play, so I am unable to give any first hand thought into his defense.

Also, defensive stats are something that I am very uncomfortable with.  I think Fielding Percentage is a good statistic, but many times, infielders that have great range and get to baseballs that others wouldn’t get may get more errors.  Range Factor is basically an equation showing the number of plays a player makes per game (Assists + Putouts / 9).  An infielder who plays primarily behind a flyball pitcher, or on turf, may not have a real high Range Factor, while the outfielders on that team may have an above average Range Factor. 

That said, let’s take a look at Mario Mendoza’s career defensive numbers at shortstop (where he played 90% of the time).  His career fielding percentage was .961.  The league average for shortstops at that time was .964. So, from that, he’s a very average shortstop.

How about his range factor?  His career number is 3.26.  League average at that time was 4.12. So, Mendoza’s Range Factor was more than 20% below the league average!

So, to say he was really a ‘slick fielder’ may not exactly be accurate.

So, what was it that kept Mendoza in the big leagues for as long as he was?  That is something I don’t know.  Maybe his managers can answer that. Maybe he was a very smart player who knew the game well, and played smartly. The kind of guy that would make a great coach and a great manager?

Post-Playing Days

Since his last major league time in 1982, Mendoza became a coach.  The Chihuahua, Mexico native got his first managerial opportunity in the Mexican Winter league in 1991 (and has managed there almost every winter since).  

As far as his managerial career in affiliated leagues, Mendoza first managed in Palm Springs, the High Class A team of the Angels in 1992 and 1993. From 1994-1996, he moved up to the Angels AA affiliate in Texas.  In 1997, he moved down to the Angels Low-Class A team in Cedar Rapids. From 1998-2000, Mendoza managed Lake Elsinore, the Angels High-Class A team. In 2002, Mendoza became the manager of Shreveport, the AA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

Mendoza’s son, Mario Jr., started the 2003 season at High-Class A Rancho Cucamonga. He is 24 and in Class A, so probably isn’t considered much of a prospect. He’s a right-handed pitcher. He’s listed at 6-3, 200 lbs. (His father was 5-10, 180) Here are his stats this season.  At Class A, he pitched four games in relief. He was 1-0 with a 11.57 ERA in 7 innings.  In AA, he pitched 2 games in relief.  He had no record, but a 27.00 ERA.  He is no longer with either of those teams, or any other teams in the Angels minor league system.

So, there is the Mendoza Line’s full story.  It’s quite interesting.  If you have any comments, please e-mail me.

TWINS THOUGHTS -

I think it’s fair to say that the Royals have the Twins number this year.  Last night was no different as the Royals won 8-3.  Johan Santana gave up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings.  He struck out 4, but also walked three.  He actually left the game down 3-0, but Juan Rincon came in and gave up a 3-run homer to Angel Berroa, which made the score 6-0. Rincon gave up 3 runs in 3 innings, but kind of took one for the team, giving them 3 innings. Joe Mays got the last 2 outs for the Twins, giving up just a single.

The Twins did continue to knock Royals’ closer Mike MacDougal around, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9^th.  I think MacDougal would be a poster child for a young player with skills, but just no sense of control. At times he can look dominant, and at other times, he can look clueless.

Shannon Stewart had 2 hits and a walk in 5 plate appearances.  Doug Mientkiewicz had a single and 3 walks in 5 plate appearances.  In a pinch-hitting appearance in the 9^th inning, Justin Morneau had a line shot single.

The Royals are for real! I don’t think Twins fans can take the Royals lightly any longer. Carlos Beltran is one of the game’s best hitters and base stealer, as well as playing a solid center field.  Raul Ibanez has been underrated for the last couple of years. Angel Berroa is putting up very good numbers 1.) for a rookie and 2.) for a non-big 3 shortstop.  They’ve got some good young pitchers that, if healthy, are tough to hit. And, they’re doing what they’re doing now without the oft-injured Mike Sweeney, one of the best overall hitters in the game!

Luis Rivas hit a bomb!! That ball was well struck!  Now I’m worried about him!  When he hits home runs, he tends to take that into upcoming at bats and swings for the fences and ends up flying out a lot.  He’s not going to be a home run hitter.  He just needs to hit for average and get on-base. Any power he provides is a bonus. But, he has done well in the 2 spot of the order!

Today, Brad Radke will face lefty Darrell May in a noon game which will air on ESPN.  Hopefully the Twins will be able to salvage one win and a split in the 2-game series.

BASKETBALL NOTES -

Well, Tuesday’s announced four-team trade became official yesterday. The Wolves traded Terrell Brandon to the Hawks and Marc Jackson to the 76ers, while receiving Latrell Sprewell from the Knicks. Now that this trade is official, be sure to look at yesterday’s posting for my thoughts on the trade.

Well, apparently a couple of NBA teams felt bad about not being included in that trade, so they went and made their own trade.  As you’ll be able to see, it’s not official, as some additional players will need to be added and moved to make the trade even work under the trade regulations of the NBA.  Here are the principals of that trade:

Indiana will re-sign Brad Miller to a free agent contract and trade him to the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings will send Scott Pollard to the Pacers.

The Spurs will somehow receive Hedo Turkoglu from the Kings and Ron Mercer from the Pacers.

You’ll notice that the Spurs are not losing anyone in this deal.  They will have to either add a player or a draft pick to make the deal work. Both Hedo and Mercer are in the last year of their deals, so the Spurs will still have lots of salary flexibility to work with after next season.

BIG BROTHER THOUGHTS -

How good is Big Brother?  Maybe it’s the voyeur in me that makes me so interested in watching it all the time. I’m not sure. But to see other people struggle (or, in some cases, thrive) in an environment where they’re in a house and a backyard with others for 90 days is fascinating.  The every day tensions that occur are fun. That strategizing that creates paranoia. It’s fun! I’m always wondering how I would react to different scenarios if I were in the house. Last night’s live eviction show was no different. First, I love seeing the updates of what former housemates are doing these days. But, then to see the reaction of the evicted houseguest is priceless. I won’t say which person was evicted last night, but I will just say that I don’t think I’ve really ever seen such a shocked look, and real disappointment from someone as they left the house.  She (I can say that because both nominees were women) looked almost mad as she left.

Well, that’s it for today.  As always, feel free to e-mail me on any of the above subjects or, well, anything.

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