Remembering Fenway Park: Book Review

I received a complimentary review copy of this book. Links to Amazon.com are NOT part of their paid affiliate program.

Going to Fenway to see the Cubs this year? Me neither. I'll remain jealous of my wife, who saw a game there about 25 years ago. It was already an old park then, and has undergone a lot of changes since. For the better.

The history of the park tucked in behind Lansdowne Street goes back more than 100 years, before the Red Sox moved into their new home in 1912. It's the only remaining park that pre-dates Wrigley Field and has undergone substantial updates in the past 15 years.

Remembering Fenway Park looks like a coffee table book. It can serve as such, with enough heft and wealth of photographs.

It's the large-scale images that take a book like this towards coffee table land. What it really contains is a decade-by-decade account of Fenway Park. Harvey Frommer's narrative is interwoven with first-hand recollections from A to Z.

The park's story is told through a combination of oral history, Frommer's research and the collection of photographs. Beyond the black-and-white and color shots, there are tons of pictures showing pins, tickets, scorecards and memorabilia. You really can enjoy some detail looks into history without reading the print.

But the stories are a collection in their own right, and are held together fairly well. As with most oral histories, it may not be the most smooth and flowing read you can find. But, it is a coffee table book intended for enjoyment in quick bits.

The appendices are somewhat random, attendance and standings, broadcast teams and a collection of trivial numbers (actually fun). Not necessarily a reference book as a result, but a little bonus.

Cubs 2011 Opening Day Pitching Staff in PITCHf/x

Just some graphs and notes to send us into the season.

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Andrew Cashner:



The hardest thrower here, but he'll probably slide down behind Marmol now that he's in the rotation. Cashner's bread-and-butter is his powerful four-seam fastball. He has a good hard slider (and maybe even a few power curves) and a much improved change-up. His sinking two-seam fastball may become a more important weapon as a starter, particularly early in counts.

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Ryan Dempster:



The cagey veteran has quality swing-and-miss stuff. A nasty splitter and a good slider balance out his fastballs. He'll mix and match two- and four-seams depending on the situation and how he feels. Demp even throws a few straight change-ups.

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Carlos Marmol:



Two pitches, the nasty slurve/slider and the hard moving fastball. I've spotted a change-up and a two-seamer here and there over the years, but he really just comes after guys with the two big guns. Marmol's control problems are often more evident in his fastball than the slider, so catchers will often call for the slider when he's unable to locate the heat. He also tends to pitch backwards, with fastballs in pitcher's counts and sliders in hitter's counts. The odd pitches hanging low below the fastballs are PITCHf/x calibration issues, not the sinker.

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John Grabow:



A guy who really isn't too tough on lefties, Grabow throws four-seam fastballs along with a few two-seam sinkers. Then you've got the slider and change-up and not a whole lot to be excited about.

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Matt Garza:



Garza's chart is messed-up a bit by some calibration issues in Tropicana, but you can still make out his four- and two-seam fastball groups, a change-up, a slider and a big curve. Stuff isn't the issue, it's control and focus on the mound.

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Jeff Samardzija:



Shark has run through pretty much every pitch in the book, but seems settled now on a two-seam fastball, cutter and curve. He's also gone through a slider phase, a baby curve phase, and I've lost track of whether he's using a change-up or a splitter. I think it's the splitter, or a circle change that tumbles. Samardzija no longer shows the 95-97 mph speed he once possessed. Remains the best third down option until Matt Szczur makes the team.

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James Russell:



Second-generation big league pitcher. The Cubs third lefty in the pen. Russell relies on a four-seam fastball along with a change-up, curveball and slider. His stuff is not remarkable, and his over the high 3/4 delivery and pitch selection yield a lot of fly balls.

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Marcos Mateo:



Wait, this guy throws harder than Marmol. Mateo doesn't have a change-up, but he has a good slider and throws some sinkers along with the four-seam heater. Sleeper in the pen, if his control is consistent he could be a 7th inning killer.

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Sean Marshall:



The lanky lefty is no longer a starter option. His arm slot has changed, yielding more two-plane movement on his curve than in the past. Marshall can throw in the low 90s, but is usually in the upper 80s with a lot of cutters. He'll throw four- and two-seam fastballs as well as a slider. He's good at this whole relief pitching thing, as it turns out.

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Kerry Wood:



Kid K is no longer a kid, but still has electric stuff. Long a cutter thrower, he may have benefited from time spent hanging around Mariano Rivera (one can hope). Kerry throws that mid 90s four-seam fastball and power curve. The slider is a thing of the past.

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Randy Wells:



Randy is a lot like Dempster, similar stuff but a circle-change instead of a splitter. Wells has also added a cutter to his arsenal. The similarity to Dempster has always given me hope. Hopefully he'll have a strong 2011.

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Carlos Zambrano:



Big Z throws it all. He'll throw his two-seam fastball two ways, one with a little more sink. He loves his splitter, has a back-and-forth relationship with the cutter, and can always fall back on the four-seam fastball. His slider sweeps, and his curve loops slowly. Zambrano will take speed on and off all of his harder pitches, and may mix in a straight change-up independently of that.

Shark Getting Teeth?

Jeff Samardzjia has yet to live up to his billing as a big league pitcher. The former Notre Dame football standout is in his final guaranteed season with the Cubs, and is out of minor league options.

This is Shark's sink-or-swim moment. If he falls flat in Mesa, it's the waiver wire and uncertainty. If he makes the club (or clears waivers), he'll have a chance at impressing the Cubs enough to pick-up his 2012 option.

The Cubs actually hold a second option year, so a swimming Shark could be a Cub fixture though at least 2013. The sinking version would be a bad memory. One that would be hung like an albatross on General Manager Jim Hendry's neck, who recently signed his own contract extension through 2012.

The path Samardzija has taken to this point—from record-setting receiver to struggling reliever—has been had numerous twists and turns. From starter to reliever (at least once), two (or more) major changes to his repertoire, at least one mechanical overhaul, and wanting nothing to do with Iowa to preferring to stay in Iowa to develop his craft.

Role. Approach. Mechanics. Attitude.

Each has changed or morphed over the course of his professional career. All fine and good, as long as they manifest properly.

Results.

Results going forward. Not in the past. While his past is all we have to go on, Samardzija can be cut some slack. First, he wasn't a full-time baseball player. That's one thing for an outfielder, but another thing altogether for a pitcher. Second, the Cubs share some of the burden for flip-flopping Samardzija's role from time-to-time. Third, even when settled into the I-Cubs rotation in 2010, it was still a development effort more than anything.

Here's a Shark timeline, culled from the ever useful KFFL

02/22/07 in football shape, not pitching shape at his first camp
06/12/07 moved to bullpen to work on mechanics
09/14/07 asked to rest his arm and not play winter ball
02/06/08 slated for Double-A from the time he arrived in Mesa for his second camp
03/11/08 made enough of an impression to be considered for a call-up later in the season
05/06/08 having control problems in the Tennesse rotation
05/26/08 Hendry attributes Samardzija's struggles too 'trying to hard'
06/23/08 promoted to the Iowa rotation
07/03/08 after 10 days, the Cubs think he's pitching better in Triple-A than Double-A
07/25/08 Major League debut in relief
08/14/08 considered for a start, but kept in the bullpen
11/06/08 in the mix for a 2009 rotation spot
02/26/09 targeted for the bullpen or Iowa
03/19/09 officially removed from the rotation race
03/25/09 slid out of consideration for a roster spot
04/23/09 called-up from Iowa to join the bullpen
06/30/09 back-up for another stint, with an improved "slider"
08/12/09 knocked around in first big league start
09/02/09 given consideration for a 2010 rotation spot
09/22/09 called-up from Iowa, into the late-season rotation
10/02/09 heads to winter ball with a modified delivery; more "on top of the ball"
02/15/10 at camp early, happy with the curveball improvements made while in Mexico
02/24/10 making a good impression early in camp
04/12/10 made the team, but was spending most of his time on the bench
09/13/10 after spending most of the year in Iowa, called-up to take Carlos Silva's spot
03/05/11 another training camp, this time settled as a reliever

The improved slider mentioned in 2009 was really the beginnings of his curveball. Samardzija also added a cutter in 2010. What we've seen of him since his late-2010 call-up has been a different pitcher than the one we saw back in 2008. For the PITCHf/x inclined, this animation shows the change in mix from the slider days, to the baby curveball days, to the full curve and cutter of today.



Being focused on relieving with what I would call a more solid arsenal of pitches should benefit Samardzija going into 2011. His delivery is more compact and he is more on top of the ball. But will his control be sufficient to make him a useful reliever?

Given the amount of money he's made, the Cubs ought to expect quite a lot more. Alternatively, it's all a sunk cost and they'll take what they can get. If anything, the amount of money he's due to make this season may make him easier to pass through waivers, if it comes down to that.

PITCHf/x data from MLBAM and Sportvision.
Batted ball data from MLBAM.
Pitch classifications by the author.
Contract information from Cot's Baseball Contracts