Odds and Ends: Wilder, Vlad, Jose Reyes

"I did a Q&A recently. I forgot, at the time, that Albert Pujols is actually younger than Chase Utley."

As far as we know. There have been rumors for years that Pujols is far older than he says.

If Vlad had hit behind Bonds, then Barry may have even more homers because teams would have possibly pitcher to Barry more so that Vlad wouldn't have a runner on everytime when he stepped to the plate. Vice versa, if Vlad had hit in front of Barry, Vlad could have more homeruns because he would probably have more pitches to hit.

Posted by: JP | May 19, 2008 at 10:57 AM

And thank you, JP, for the wonderful insight on protection in a lineup. Now will someone explain a lefty- lefty matchup to me??

Vlad, given his style, would have been best suited to bat behind Bonds, not in front of him. That pitchers would be scared out of their mind that a walk to Bonds would mean getting their best pitch whacked by a crazy Vlad swing would mean Bonds would get many more pitches to hit.

Even more interesting, at least to a Dodger fan, would be Vlad in Dodger Blue. Matt Kemp was already in the system when Vlad was signed, so it would have meant that Kemp stayed at his natural position of centerfield. It would have also meant no J.D. Drew/Juan Pierre debacle, especially if the Dodgers had made the same move to pick up Andre Ethier. Actually, if you think about the way each player compares, the Dodgers outfield might look a lot like a younger version of today's Angel outfield if Vlad had joined the Dodgers

I seriously doubt Pujols is as young as he claims.

Not only did Pujols go to a community college, he went to a US high school and immigrated with the rest of his family. There are undoubtedly many confirmed records of his age.

Didn't read the Neyer article, but this topic was covered at length in The Baseball Economist. The author, who agrees with Neyer, gave a ton of statistical analysis that showed that lineup protection actually resulted in a (minor) increase in strikeouts and decrease in slugging pct. He wrote that although you'd think that lineup protection would give you better pitches to hit, it actually just makes the pitcher concentrate more and use maximum effort, as opposed to when facing the bottom of the order and such. The only benefit of lineup protection in itself is getting the pitcher tired faster.

What are the chances that Jose Reyes gets traded?

He's being vilified in New York, ever since his slump last year, and the Mets lack many real trade options if they want to improve the team.

I'm not saying they'd give him away; I'm just saying it's not inconceivable that he could be moved. For example, the Dodgers might give up Hu, Elbert and Meloan after the season, with Furcal headed to free agency. Maybe the Rays would give up Kazmir, Bartlett and Jaso?