October 13, 2011

Yay! Some Good News!

Jacoby Ellsbury was named the American League's Comeback Player of the Year.

After playing in only 18 games in 2010, Ellsbury turned in an MVP-caliber season. He played in 158 games, batting .321 (5th in AL, 8th in MLB), slugging .552 (5th/9th), with 119 runs (3rd in MLB), 212 hits (3rd in MLB), 46 doubles (3rd in MLB), 5 triples, 32 homers (5th in AL), 105 RBIs (6th/10th), 39 steals (4th/9th), and a .928 OPS (5th/10th).

He led all MLB players with 83 extra-base hits and 364 total bases - and became the first player in Red Sox history to have 30 HR and 30 SB in the same season.

Ellsbury:
I know what I'm capable of doing. I know everybody has been surprised by the power numbers, but it's always been there. ... [E]very year, I've consistently gotten better. This is what I was looking for last year.
Dave Magadan, hitting coach:
He's played with a chip on his shoulder. There were strides made in 2009. Certainly there were concerns after missing the whole year last year. He picked up right where he left off and improved upon it.
Example
Gordon Edes, ESPNBoston: Schilling accuses Sox owners of 'character assassination' & A primer on Cherington, GM-in-waiting

Transcripts of WEEI interviews with Dustin Pedroia, Peter Gammons, and Curt Schilling.

WEEI's Arielle Aronson has gathered links to a dozen stories from Chicago re Theo Epstein.

12 comments:

Jared said...

On Cherrington: "His second cousin is Susan Butcher, a multiple winner of the Iditarod dog-sled race."
Always good to know.

allan said...

Actually, that is very cool.
L will be glad to hear it!

Maxwell Horse said...

Good for Ellsbury. But he better not get the MVP. That goes to Verlander. I have read that the Tigers don't get into the postseason without him. He was responsible for over a quarter of their wins! If he's not in the rotation, the Tigers finish the season with a losing record of 71-91! You have to admit that's pretty impressive.

Of course, I don't quite understand why the Tigers would have chosen to go with a 4-man rotation had Verlander not been there. Nor do I understand why they would have elected to forfeit every fifth game instead of just using another serviceable pitcher in his place, but I guess it doesn't matter.

(Sorry, I've been wanting to post that somewhere for a couple weeks.)

9casey said...

Watching the Tiger game Miggy hits a ball down the third base line Beltre is behind the bag , right before the edge of the grass . The ball takes at least a 15 foot hop over Beltre. Showing the replay MacGarver gushes on about what a great call the ump being shielded behind Beltre and how it was right down the line . Tim, why do you think it hopped so high?

9casey said...

Joh Henry was weei. said he nevered wanted to sign Crawford....

allan said...

Oh, that's nice.

allan said...

alexspeier Alex Speier
#redsox owner John Henry says he 'personally opposed' signing Carl Crawford, but deferred to baseball ops weei.com/sports

PeteAbe
Bullet points on the Henry interview: He didn't want Crawford, Theo is gone, Larry is staying and he's committed to fixing the issues

alexspeier Alex Speier
For what it's worth, Henry has gone on record in past saying he opposed other deals (notably Beckett trade), but he deferred to baseball ops

laura k said...

L will be glad to hear it!

I am! Very cool!

Good for Ellsbury. But he better not get the MVP.

Yeah, that would be a terrible tragedy, a miscarriage of justice. /eye rolling

Maxwell Horse said...

"/eye rolling"

At this point I'm genuinely unsure if my sarcasm was recognized.

Jere said...

Yes, I hope everyone made it to paragraph 02 of Maxwell's (Smart) comment!

laura k said...

At this point I'm genuinely unsure if my sarcasm was recognized.

I am sarcasm-challenged, but not that bad!

Kathryn said...

So Henry goes on record saying he didn't want to sign Crawford. Why? (Not why did he not want to sign him, but WHY SAY THIS???)