Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Oh What the Heck

If you're here, that means you never removed TBOTB from your RSS feeder even though I haven't posted since Rudy Giuliani was still relevant. Oh what's that? Nobody ever put this site on their RSS feeder? Essentially no one is reading this right now? I can say whatever I want without fear of repercussion?

I THINK THE GIRL WHO PLAYS JULIE TAYLOR ON FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS IS REALLY HOT EVEN THOUGH SHE'S NOT 18 YET! HOLLA HOLLA I STEAL OFFICE SUPPLIES! I HAVE MULTIPLE PAULA COLE SONGS IN MY ITUNES LIBRARY.

Um...jk. Trevin Wagener basically tore my heart out of my chest when he discontinued This Is Not Sports Journalism, an experimental first blog of his. I wrote there when I worked at the shittiest job in America, and now I need something to fill the void. Oddly enough, the tentative resurgence of the Burn of the Bat was all brought on by the need to syndicate the following passage from an ESPN.com article by Will Harris, bearded lesser-known:
Edwin Jackson has thrown 272 major league innings that span parts of five different seasons, and to say that he hasn't experienced much success would be an understatement. His career ERA is a lofty 5.64 and his career WHIP is an ugly 1.72. With the exception of his 22-inning debut season back in 2003, Jackson has never even posted single-season numbers in those categories better than 5.45 and 1.67. There are, however, signs of progress. Jackson's primary issue has been poor control, but his walk ratio is on a three-year upswing. Jackson, a sixth-round pick in 2001, was rushed to the majors by the Dodgers, then continued his baptism by fire in the Tampa organization, traditionally one of the worst franchises in the majors at developing pitchers. His numbers have been artificially inflated by low strand rates for four years running, and last year he showed enough progress in his strikeout and walk rates to remain in the rotation for the entire year. Still only 24, Jackson and his live arm have a high ceiling as he slowly learns his craft. The breakout might not yet be imminent -- he's a sleeper only in deep or keeper leagues to start the 2008 season -- but it's coming.
That's from a Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays fantasy baseball preview. I know, weird. But this little nugget is tailor-made for a blog repost - it's simultaneously relevant and likely to be overlooked by 90 percent of the population to whom it matters.

Edwin Jackson is a formerly elite prospect; Baseball America (<3) ranked him the #4 prospect in all of baseball as recently as 2004. My boy John Sickels wrote that he was "one of the best right-handed prospects in the game" in 2003.

Then, as William the Bearded notes above, the wheels fell off after the Dodgers rushed him to the show. And it was one of those "we can't make up our minds" rush jobs, as he pitched in 4, 8 and 7 MLB games in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively, including a smattering of relief appearances. He has been comically bad since, with a K/BB of 128/88 in 161 IP last year that frankly makes me nauseous.

But the stuff has still got to be there somewhere, doesn't it? Will the Thrill Harris makes some pretty good points, at least.