Baseball Prospectus: You’ve worked with some interesting characters over the years. What lessons did you learn from Bobby Valentine when you worked with him in Texas?
Tom House: He’s a perfectionist. He helped me create a preparation base as a pitching coach. One time I’d planned the rotation out to a certain day. He’d say that’s not enough, tell me out to this day; five presentations later he finally gave it his stamp of approval. It was never enough, he was never just satisfied with what he had. His search for perfection and a better way to do things are second to none. He made me a better pitching coach.
The health and availability of players like Kevin Brown, Chris Carpenter and Mike Hampton will have a big impact on their teams’ playoff rotations.
The biggest weekend of the season is highlighted by two huge matchups on the West Coast.
While not as prolific a hitter as Barry Bonds is, Ichiro Suzuki is productive, exciting, and as big an outlier in his own way. Nate Silver explains.
If Red Sox and Yankee partisans are bored with the “fait accompli” AL East and AL Wild Card races, then here’s something for you to pay attention to. It’s how the seeding plays out. More to the point, Yankee fans have a vested interest in seeing the Twins wind up with a better record than the A’s. Sox fans, however, would do well to summon their karmic resolve for the opposite outcome. This is because the idea of facing two doses of Johan Santana and, if necessary, two doses of Brad Radke in a five-game series is mighty unpalatable.
The Diamondbacks are going the way of old teams, just faster than most, while the Tigers and Royals can find silver linings in their under-.500 seasons.
Suddenly, thanks to some big performances by the Rangers and Padres, there’s the potential for a 1967 AL finish to this baseball season.
Using the feedback he received upon his re-launch of the Playoff Odds Report, Clay Davenport had made some changes to the system.
Pitchers dominate today’s edition, with updates on Brad Penny, Roy Oswalt and Scott Kazmir, among others.
Would a B.J. Upton switch to third base actually be a good move, given the shifting defensive spectrum of the last five years in the majors? Dayn Perry takes a look.
With the regular season’s finish line in sight, Chris Kahrl looks at the Expos’ gracious loan of Alex Gonzalez, the Indians’ 2005 middle infield situation, and the Scott Cooper of a new generation, all in today’s Transaction Analysis.
Will Carroll delivers the latest injury news on Nomar, Sheff, Halladay and more in this edition of Under The Knife.
The Red Sox look towards the playoffs, the Reds look at the positives from 2004, and the Padres look to stay alive despite long odds and poor fortune.
CINCINNATI REDS
It’s not getting much attention, but Adam Dunn’s unwilling quest to shatter Bobby Bonds’ single-season record for batter strikeouts of 189 (1970) is going to be close enough that Dave Miley is going to have to think about whether he joins the wussy Jeff Torborgs and Al Pedriques of the world and actively interferes with pursuit of a milestone for no good reason. With 12 games to go, Dunn trails Bonds by 14. It will be tight, but four of the Reds’ remaining games come against Cubs flamethrowers. Prior, Wood, do your stuff, lads! GRADE: C-
A former major league pitcher who gained a boost of fame by catching Hank Aaron’s 715th home run ball, Tom House is now a performance analyst and co-owner of the National Pitching Association in San Diego. Under House’s stewardship, NPA has produced graduates such as Barry Zito, Mark Prior and Cole Hamels. Its advisory board includes such luminaries as Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan, as well as medical experts such as Dr. Lewis Yocum and Dr. James Andrews. NPA counts about 125 graduates currently pitching in professional baseball, about three times that number in major U.S. colleges. House recently chatted with Baseball Prospectus about the huge advances in sports medicine and technology in the last two decades, the best pitching coaches in the game today, and more.
For the first time since 2001, the A’s have more than two hitters providing high-caliber production.