Weekly Cup Of Joe

I prefer to think of this as more of a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan than a blatant ripoff. But who are we really kidding here?

I keep forgetting to check in with Joe Morgan on Tuesdays. This World Cup fever is really getting to me. I might have to go to the free clinic. I gave my grandpa a yellow card the other day for taking too long at the refrigerator. Usually, I like to just grab a nugget of wisdom from every Joe Chat over at the Four Letter but today's Weekly Cup of Joe is going to be a grande. Let's get going kids...

Brian (New York)

Joe, has Robinson Cano finally reached his potential or is there more to come?

Joe Morgan (11:04 AM)

I don't know if there is more to come, but he's a great player, and you can't always measure a great player by numbers, so I don't know what you mean by "potential". To ask, is there more to come? I don't know.

I love how Joe's standard reply has become, "To answer your question, I don't know." That's the hard hitting analysis I deliver here for free. Somebody needs to start sending me money. I could have sworn I copyrighted that. And I thought all we did was measure great players by their numbers. Why do you think people spent so much time on WAR or wOBA? Why do you hate metrics SO MUCH? Then this happened...

Joseph (St. Louis)

Who's will be the NL Central Champs?

Congrats Joseph in St. Louis, you failed English. After I wiped the blood from my eyes, I moved on to this question...

Tito (Brooklyn)

Joe, with the emergence of Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez, is Ryan Howard now only the 4th best hitting first baseman in the NL?

Joe Morgan (11:25 AM)

Are you kidding? Ryan Howard's the only guy besides Pujols that does what a first baseman is supposed to do -- he hits home runs, drives in runs, and leads his team to the World Series. Everyone took a shot at his contract -- he's been Rookie of the Year, MVP, and led his team to a World Championship and two consecutive World Series appearances. Has anybody done that other than Pujols? None of those guys have done that. I wonder why no one questions Matt Holliday's similar contract -- he's never won an MVP award or won a World Series. His numbers were put up in Colorado, where everyone puts up big hitting numbers. He's the second-best first baseman in the league, not fourth-best.

Uhh, *head explodes* Yeah, Howard jacks home runs and has a surprisingly high OBP for the amount of strikeouts he accrues. He's a three-true-outcome player. He's Adam Dunn in a better lineup. Just, let's just look at the last three years of OPS+. Does that sound reasonable?

Howard: 2010 - 124 OPS+, 2009 - 140 OPS+, 2008 - 124 OPS+

Gonzalez: 2010 - 173 OPS+ (best in the NL), 2009 - 166 OPS+, 2008 - 139 OPS+

Votto: 2010 - 154 OPS+, 2009 - 155 OPS+, 2008 - 125 OPS+

Recap: Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez have been better hitters than Ryan Howard over the past three years.

Weekly Cup Of Joe

I prefer to think of this as more of a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan than a blatant ripoff. But who are we really kidding here?

Joe was conspicuously absent from the chat page over at the Four Letter on Tuesday so I almost missed his Joe Chat today. Surely he had a good excuse for pushing it back a day. Perhaps he was studying film of freshly drafted super prospects. Let's grab a nugget of wisdom...

Woody (C-Ville)

With everyone increasing the hype about Bryce Harper, do you see him becoming a star, average player or a bust?

Joe Morgan (11:17 AM)

I've never seen him play but Strasburg has proven himself. We have to give Harper that same chance. It's harder to become a refined hitter than a pitcher. Hitting is just tougher to do, period. It's harder to find a super hitter in my opinion. That said, because I've never seen him, I'll have to see what he does. He may be the new Ted Williams, you never know.

I even have a problem with this question. Obviously, it's way too early to project what 17-year-old is going do in ten years. The hype is about his tools. He has monster power and a plus-plus arm but nobody is writing him into the Hall of Fame yet. Strasburg was a different case entirely. He destroyed college hitters and was ready to take the mound on opening day this year.

Now on to Joe's response. Why would he even take this question if he hasn't seen Bryce Harper? I'll tell you why. He just wanted to point out that it's so much harder to be a hitter rather than a pitcher. Just ignore that throwing a pitch is an unnatural motion for the human arm. Forget that pitchers blow out their elbows every year and the surgery to repair them is named after a pitcher. But yeah, hitting a baseball is hard. Really hard. I just find it strange that good pitching is always in such demand.

Since Joe hasn't seen Bryce Harper, he'll have to wait to see what he does. That's not an answer, sir. Just start making stuff up at this point. How much damage could your credibility really take? I'd respect you more if you told this guy that Bryce Harper is the greatest baseball player since Joe Morgan. No, I'm just kidding, I'd rip you more. See ya next week, Joe.

Weekly Cup Of Joe

I prefer to think of this as more of a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan than a blatant ripoff. But who are we really kidding here?

Tuesday means there's a new Joe chat at the Four Letter. Let's grab us a nugget of wisdom...

Matt (NM)

Joe, you and Orel talked about "quality strikes" on Sunday. What's a quality strike?

Joe Morgan (11:13 AM)

That's a great question. I feel badly if we didn't explain it properly. I take pride in explaining myself on the air. There are three parts to the plate, outside corner, inside corner and middle. You want to stay out of the middle. Most hitters can handle the ball on the middle of the plate. Some players have trouble with the inside corner or outside corner. A quality strike is one that stays low and is middle in or middle out. Just stay out of the middle of the plate. Good question.

Okay, just to recap... Three parts of the plate; outside corner, inside corner and middle. Gotcha. Stay out of the middle. Good, fine. Stay middle in or middle out, just not middle. Of course, wait, what? Is middle in part of the middle or inside corner or left side right? Are there now five parts to the plate? How many parts of the plate does Vlad Guerrero have? Because I've seen him hit one out that was upside topsy-turvy.

All I think I learned is don't throw it straight down the middle of the plate. That's not a quality strike. You know, unless it's a strike.

Thank god they put Rob Neyer on directly after Joe. It helps stop my brain from melting.