Orioles Scouts Banned from Korea

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap)—The South Korean governing body of baseball has banned scouts from the Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball (MLB) from attending local games, after the Orioles signed a teenage pitcher in a controversial move.

  The Korea Baseball Association (KBA) announced Thursday it has informed the MLB commissioner’s office and the Orioles of its decision, saying scouts from all major league teams in the future signing Korean student athletes not in the final years of their schools will be banned from KBA-sanctioned games. That will include all national high school and university tournaments, often frequented by major league scouts.

  The Orioles in January acquired pitcher Kim Seong-min, a 17-year-old left-hander about to enter his final year in high school and reportedly signed him for US$550,000.

  The Orioles’ signing also stirred a controversy about major league clubs’ poaching of young South Korean players. While major league clubs are free to sign any Korean player they wish within the rules, including undrafted high school students or graduates, baseball officials here have long complained MLB clubs’ signing of players can make it difficult for South Korea to develop youth baseball programs.

Korean baseball’s governing body bans Orioles scouts in wake of Kim signing

The backlash from the Orioles’ signing of a 17-year-old South Korean pitching prospect continues.

The Korean Baseball Association, the governing body of South Korean baseball, has banned Orioles scouts from all KBA-sanctioned events, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency. This includes national high school and college tournaments that are often frequented by major league scouts.

The ban will extend to major league teams that sign Korean players before their final year of school in the future, Yonhap reported.

This all started last month, when the Orioles signed Kim Seong-min, regarded as the top left-handed pitching prospect in Korea, to a contract reportedly worth $550,000.

The move raised the ire of the Korean Baseball Association (KBO), which filed a formal complaint to the MLB commissioner’s office that the Orioles violated protocol in signing Kim. The KBO contends that the Orioles should have first inquired with the KBO about Kim’s availability before attempting to sign him.

North Korean media has spun this story into saying that the fiendish imperialist-dog south now forbids young people from being watched by birds, in fear that they may fall under righteous praise of Kim Jong Un that they sing with their every song.

Red Sox Sign (Australian) Daniel McGrath

Later that year [2010], McGrath made history when at just sixteen, he was named to the Melbourne Aces roster mid-way through the inaugural Australian Baseball League.

In his League debut in late December, McGrath was called on to close out the game and he proceeded to retire six of the seven hitters that he faced in an impressive outing. He still holds the record for the youngest player to have played in the newly formed ABL.

Most recently, McGrath returned just this week from representing Australia in the recent Oceania AAA Championships held in Guam where Australia won gold and secured their berth in the 2012 IBAF U18 World Championships.

McGrath was superb in his two outings, striking out nine over five innings in the gold medal game against New Zealand, while collecting eight strikouts across four innings in game one versus Guam.

But can he throw a gyroball? No? How about a Geelongball? Whatever, sign him up!

Viva el Birdos:the 2012-16 CBA: the more you know

Nice summary of the new CBA, presented by e.e. cummings.

rule 4 draft

every team will now get a slot-based “pool” for how much they can spend in the top 10 rounds, calculated relative to how many picks they have and how high those picks are. the cardinals, with 6 picks in the top 100 will have a relatively generous cap. the cardinals can spend up to the cap on all their picks through the 10th round. it doesn’t matter how it is distributed within that group; they can spend $100,000 on a first round pick and $1m on a 10th round pick. as long as they don’t spend more in total in the top 10 rounds than is in their pool, there will be no penalty. the ideal is that teams will pay slot for everybody. whether teams obey that kind of logic is yet to be seen.

there are huge penalties for paying more than is in your “pool.” a 5% overage is not a huge deal. let’s say the cardinals got $5m to spend in the top 10 rounds. if they go over by $200,000 (4%), they’d be taxed a further 75% of that $200,000, which would be $150,000. However, if they go over by more than 5%, they get the 75% tax AND they lose next year’s first round draft pick. go over by 10% and the penalty is a 100% tax and loss of next year’s first and second round picks. go over by 15% and you lose your first round pick next year and the year to follow. i read the graduated penalties as giving teams room for small errors or oversights, but imposing very stiff penalties for anything beyond minor discrepancies.

beyond the top ten rounds, you can give anybody a bonus of up to $100,000. anything beyond that counts against your pool fund.

what will be interesting to see is if teams game the system or, if they do, how they do so. as i said, the concept is that teams will pay slot in an orderly way. since there’s a finite pool, any extra money you pay to one prospect must come out of the slot money dedicated to another. but that leaves room to shift salary from one slot to another or even not to sign a player in a given slot, in favor of giving money which should’ve gone to him to another draftee. (ed: this is incorrect. although it does not appear in the summary cited above, baseball america states that when a player fails to sign, the money for that slot comes out of the pool. this woud seem to make a ground-up negotiating process, starting with the 10th round player and moving up to ninth, etc. almost mandatory.)

will teams take a chance in later rounds on signability players and just fail to sign some other players? (ed: as noted above, they’d lose the slot money if a player failed to sign; however the team could draft 30th round talent in early rounds and offer them far below slot talent - or as one commenter at bucsdugout suggested, offer pittances to college seniors, to keep money for above-slot signings elsewhere). if next year’s austin wilson falls to round 8 or even round 12, will some team get creative with their pool funds? i suspect most teams will follow the designed plan, since the risk of not doing so seems pretty high. however, some team may find an irresistable prospect falling in the draft and shift money around to sign him.

the signing deadline has moved up substantially (mid-july) to ensure that players sign fairly quickly—which should be easy to accomplish, there being less room to negotiate as most teams will hew closely to slot offerings….

Lake and Seguira:SI:Under Siege: the Kidnapping and Rescue of Wilson Ramos

...When Wilson Ramos emerged from the jungle barely 48 hours after he was taken, the government’s account of his rescue failed to convince everyone. In one private conversation after another, well-known members of Venezuela’s baseball community cast doubt on the official version of events. The story described federal agents going bravely into the wilderness to rescue Ramos in a hail of bullets that apparently hit no one. The skeptics considered this a play by the Chávez regime to remix the truth for its own benefit—to show the world that Venezuela wouldn’t let the malandros snatch a baseball player and get away with it.

Well, something happened to bring Ramos home. The skeptics had their theories. And in a country where real life can imitate an overwrought spy novel, nothing was too strange to consider.

A follow-up story on the Ramos kidnapping and aftermath.

Brad Penny signs with Softbank Hawks

The Softbank Hawks of Japan’s Pacific League have signed former major league pitcher Brad Penny to a one-year contract.

Softbank announced the signing of free agent Penny on its website Sunday

The 33-year-old right-hander is expected to arrive in Japan on Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Thanks to Val.

Arrest order issued then revoked for Vincente Padilla

I have made a huge mistake…

According to La Prensa newspaper in Nicaragua, pitcher Vicente Padilla—who signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox earlier this month—had an arrest warrant issued for his failure to show up in court for a child support hearing, only to have the arrest order revoked later. That second article suggests that Padilla is facing an order not to leave Nicaragua for spring training until the matter is resolved. According to the reports, Padilla owes approximately US$4,200 in child support.

The Red Sox signed Padilla to a minor league deal that includes a $1.5 million salary if he is added to the major league roster. The 13-year veteran has a career record of 104-90 with a 4.31 ERA.

Twins’ Joe Benson on dangers of playing in Venezuela

Joe Benson went to Venezuela this winter with the intent of playing baseball for Tigres de Aragua in the offseason. He ended up getting much more than he bargained for.

Benson, a 23-year-old Minnesota Twins outfielder, was robbed at gunpoint when the taxicab he was in hit a boulder and crashed. As the Spanish-speaking cab driver was making a call from his cell phone, three gunmen approached Benson. They took everything he had except for a bag that contained some baseball spikes and a few T-shirts.

“When you don’t speak the language, there’s not much you can do,” Benson said. “You can’t really beg for your life. You can’t ask them not to pull the trigger. You can’t beg for mercy. I kind of sat there in silence, let everything happen.”

The cab driver was also robbed. It could have been much worse for both men, however.

“It wasn’t a setup. He wasn’t in on it,” Benson said of the cab driver. “He lost everything he had. The National Guard, thankfully, showed up about 10 minutes later and took me to a local police station, where I was picked up by some of the front-office guys from the Tigres.”

Heyman: Magic Johnson, with secret weapon, may be Dodger favorite

The Magic Our?

At least eight groups advanced to the second round of the big Frank McCourt Dodgers sweepstakes. Several of them look like powerhouses. But one of them looks like a winner of the Dodgers from here.

That would be the Magic Johnson-Stan Kasten group.

For one, that group has Magic Johnson. For another, that group very likely will have Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Soon-Shiong isn’t Magic in terms of jump shots, fame or even local cache. But in terms of moolah, Soon-Shiong blows everyone in L.A. away.

Soon-Shiong is reported to have $7.2 billion, and sources suggest to me he will very likely join the Magic-Kasten group. I mentioned this on twitter recently, and the Los Angeles Times, which has been all over this story, wrote soon after that Soon-Shoing is mulling over which group to join. That’s very likely the way Soon-Shiong or someone close to him wants it played. But he is a close friend of Magic’s, bought Magic’s 4.5 percent stake in the Lakers (and is believed pleased with that purchase) and is a basketball junkie. It’s possible he’s holding out like Bill Clinton’s buddy Ron Burkle, who appears to be waiting to see who’s leading before committing. But if the Magic-Kasten group is in it to the end, and they should be, expect Soon-Shiong to join them.

The Korea Times: High school sophomore joins Orioles, drawing ire of KBO

A Korean high school sophomore has signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles in Major League Baseball (MLB), a transaction that had local baseball officials concerned about further departure of young talent.

The Orioles announced on their Web site that they have signed Kim Seong-min, a 17-year-old who pitched for Daegu Sangwon High School, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Dan Duquette, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations, was quoted as saying Kim is “one of the top amateur left-handed pitchers in South Korea” who has “an excellent curveball and very good control.”

While several high school graduates have been signed by major league teams before entering college in the past, Kim is only the second sophomore to ink a deal. In 1997, Bong Jung-keun, formerly with the Atlanta Braves and now with the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), was the first to sign with a U.S. club before entering his final year in high school.

In light of Kim’s signing, the KBO plans to file an official complaint with the MLB over the exodus of young baseball talent, officials said.

“In the name of KBO Commissioner Koo Bon-neung, we will soon send a letter to the MLB, telling them to refrain from indiscriminately signing players,” said Yang Hae-young, the KBO’s secretary general. “If things do not change, we will either visit the MLB commissioner’s office in person, or team up with leagues in Japan and Taiwan to confront major league teams’ hegemonic rookie signings.”

Will inform band tonight that we are now “The Hegemonic Rookies”.

Dirk Hayhurst to play ball in Italy this year

The Non-Prospect will stay in Europe for another year to work out their fiscal crisis.

Dirk Hayhurst, author of “The Bullpen Gospels” and the upcoming “Out of my League,” is a personal favorite of mine. Yes, because of the books, but also because he lives in Ohio and I got to meet him last fall and I found that he is just as neat a guy in person as he is in print and on Twitter and stuff.

Anyone who has paid attention to his career since his first book came out knows that, after 25 major league games in 2008-09, he was first beset with injury and then, last year, was beset with being part of the Tampa Bay Rays organization which, unfortunately for Hayhurst, had way damn too many good pitchers.

It might be easy to get discouraged if you’re a guy like Hayhurst, but he’s not doing that.  No, rather than get upset at a system that is, by design, almost impossible to crack, he has decided to view his baseball career as an opportunity to experience neat stuff.  He just announced on Twitter that he’ll be playing baseball in Italy in 2012.

JIS: Baseball Could Be Major Hit in Jamaica

Now only if they’d name it Tenement Yards.

Jamaicans are big on sports and are known across the globe for their prowess in a number of disciplines, including track and field, cricket, football and netball.

And, with the construction of the country’s first internationally standardised baseball diamond at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sports, in St. Catherine, underway, the government is hoping to add baseball to this list.

...In the meantime, Minister Neita-Headley says the construction of the diamond is significant, “as not only are we undertaking to invest in the development of another new sport, but we are also expanding the possibilities that sport can offer to our country as an income earner.”

“Baseball is the most popular sport in the United States, with star player Alex Rodriquez of the New York Yankees earning an annual salary of US$32,000,000, to be the richest player in the league,” she notes.

...The Minister expresses her hope that not too long from now, Jamaica will be reaping the success of the programme, by producing the first homegrown baseball player to be drafted to play major league baseball in the United States.

“In a few years, the college should be known for producing world class coaches in this region and Jamaica must be known as the ‘go-to’ country for exporting coaches,” she says. “We have produced many world stars in athletics, cricket, boxing and football, it is therefore not beyond us to produce baseball icons, like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, C.Y. Young and most recently, Andre Dawson, who in 2010 joined the list of great black players to be inducted in the American baseball Hall of Fame,” she says.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-31-2012

El Paso Herald, January 31, 1912:

Since the recent visit of the New York Giants to Cuba there has been some revision of opinion on the island concerning the overpowering greatness of one Jose Mendez...A record of three straight defeats at the hands of the Giants changed things.
...

A recent issue of La Lucha of Havana says: “Especially will the resident Americans in Cuba be grateful to Mr. Mathewson for the operation that he has performed, greatly assisted by his teammates. He has perceptibly reduced the swelling from the upper headpiece of one Senor Mendez, which ailment was about to ruin a really good pitcher.
...

A big black bear in white uniform strode majestically to the center of the diamond. Cuban fans bared their heads in the tropic sun—‘twas the great Mendez…[McGraw] cocked his head to one side, glanced over the kneeling multitude, his eye caught the black figure standing in silent majesty, and he broke the stillness of the Havana park by blurting out in his best Broadway English: “Who’s that guy?”

He’s just amazin’!

NY Times:“Baseball’s Identity Fraud Problem May Be More Prevalent”

When Sandy Alderson traveled to the Dominican Republic in 2010 to investigate identity fraud for the commissioner’s office, he went armed with a message. Alderson had previously served as the chief executive of the San Diego Padres, and related his experiences.

“I had personally been burned on a number of occasions by identity fraud,” said Alderson, now the general manager of the Mets. “One has to ask if one is prepared to make the same investment again. If you get burned too often, you may decide to go elsewhere. I think that hit home with them.”

Since Ozzie Virgil made his debut for the New York Giants in 1956, the Dominican Republic, with a population of less than 10 million, has produced 542 major leaguers, according to Baseball-Reference.com. That figure includes 68 All-Stars, including Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Jose Reyes and Robinson Cano. ...

The Indians placed [Fausto Carmona] on the restricted list Thursday, so they do not have to pay his $7 million salary or use a 40-man roster spot for him until he reports. Carmona is free on bail but cannot leave the country until his case is settled. ...

[T]he Miami Marlins’ reliever formerly known as Leo Nunez… stands to make $6 million this season, but like Carmona, he is on the restricted list and unable to leave the country.

Few in baseball were surprised that two well-established players had misrepresented themselves. The fear is that the problem could be much more widespread. One agent said more than a dozen players could soon lose their contracts because of age and identity issues.

“These are like time bombs,” Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president for baseball operations, said by telephone from the Dominican Republic while scouting there last week. “But people are absolutely getting the message. Major League Baseball, the consulate and the major league clubs are all committed to this, and it will get better.”

Phillies’ all-star Rollins tells kids to play without fear

Hell, the Red Sox started doing this in 1990…and have won two WS because of it!

Rollins was touched by an ESPN documentary about the plight of the Ugandan team and tweeted about it. He later was contacted by a humanitarian group called “Right to Play,” which organized a trip by that same Canadian LL World Series team to Uganda.

Rollins was joined on the trip by, among others, free-agent first baseman Derrek Lee and former major leaguer Gregg Zaun. He described the experience as, “Awesome.”

“If this facility was over there,” Rollins said, referring to Gomes’ academy, “those kids, the way they learn, the fearlessness with which they play, I think they’d be better than (American) kids at this age, because their mentality is, ‘I’m going to make a mistake and it’s OK to be wrong.’ We grow up with, you have to be perfect before you do it.

“With the way (Ugandan youngsters) think and that learning curve, they’ll actually end up better faster. Now, the talent level is equal. It’s just the way that they go about learning, with the fearlessness that will give them an edge, from what I saw. They don’t get a chance to practice. It’s just strap up, play catch and then go play a scrimmage game. That’s what they do.”

Stuart MacGill: Hollywood makeover can’t disguise the myopia of statistics boffins

Modern leg-spin bowlers unite! (stumped)

In the plane on the way to Perth for the Big Bash final, I watched Moneyball, a movie about an American baseball manager who puts together a team capable of mixing it with the big boys on a shoestring budget. The core principle of the movie is computer analysis and statistics. Baseball games are broken down into component parts and players are selected based on their statistical suitability to each of those parts

...Unfortunately, he then pulled out the printouts. One of them was a map of where my deliveries had pitched and the other was a corresponding document showing how many runs had been scored from each of those deliveries.

John (Buchanan) excitedly told me that whenever I pitched the ball on off stump, the batsman wasn’t scoring. He generally took half an hour to make a point and, considering the tea break at a Test match is only 20 minutes, we were already walking back onto the field at the time. I turned to him and replied that the reason they weren’t scoring when I bowled that particular delivery was because the ball had been turning half a metre and they couldn’t actually reach it.

I thanked him kindly for his input and asked him whether or not he thought I should concentrate instead on getting them out. His blank face indicated that he would have to go back to the laptop before he could respond.

Incidentally, I did start putting them in the right place occasionally, picked up my only five-wicket haul at the MCG and we went on to win the Test. Computers have a huge role to play in cricket, all sport for that matter, but remember the basic principles of the game will always be of paramount importance.

Moneyball is a great film but the stats that matter in cricket are simple. Make more runs than the opposition and bowl them out twice.

Cespedes comes alive in Dominican League

Cuban slugger Yoenis Cespedes lived up to the hype last week in the Dominican League as it was his game-winning RBI double that allowed Aguilas Cibaenas to a win over the favored Licey Tigres and earn a berth in the finals against Escogido Leones…

Aguilas, written off by many after falling four games behind in the semifinal round robin series, won their final six games anchored by an offense led by Cespedes, Brandon Moss, Miguel Tejada, Joaquin Arias and Hector Luna along with strong late-inning relief work from Miguel Batista, who saved the last five games…

Led by Andy Dirks, Julio Lugo, Pablo Ozuna and Mauro Gomez, Escogido had clinched its final series berth earlier in the round robin and will rely on its rotation of Francisco Liriano, Nelson Figueroa, Jordan Norberto and Kris Johnson in the finals… Escogido, the 2009-10 Dominican League champions, will continue to count on Jose Cabrera and Fernando Rodney to shore up the bullpen in the finals.

Zettel: Yu Darvish vs. Lefty Grove

Even Sigafoos thinks this is fos!

Like Grove, Darvish enters the Major Leagues at age 25, after a five year professional career in another league. Unlike Grove, Darvish kept his walk totals low, but struck out 1,083 batters in just over 1,020 innings in Japan’s Pacific League. Darvish’s ERAs are extremely low on a year-by-year basis, and not surprisingly, Darvish won approximately 73% of his decisions while playing in Japan. One of the interesting differences between Grove and Darvish is that Grove was also used as a reliever for approximately 10-15 games per season; Darvish, on the other hand, mostly served as a starter during his early professional career.

I know a lot of this is just happenstance, vague suggestions made across eras. But, I thought it would be fun to use the Darvish signing as an opportunity to remember the career of Lefty Grove, one of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball. Both pitchers were so talented that they drew remarkable monetary transactions between their previous club and their future MLB team. Both pitchers were extreme winners in their early professional career, winning between 73% and 74% of their decisions before reaching the majors. And of course, they were both strike out machines, fanning more than 1,000 batters in more than 1,000 innings prior to reaching the majors.

It’s also exciting to think of the potential of Darvish dominating the American League. Frankly , I think he can be a valuable contributor to the Rangers, and I think he’ll be a worthwhile acquisition even if he’s an average or slightly above average pitcher. Maybe, just maybe, like another grand purchase, he’ll come to dominate major league batters; in another 50 years, maybe we’ll remember Darvish the way we remember Grove.

Jim Kaat: Will we finally get The Real Deal?

Kaat Said: Orientalism.

A couple of short stories about Asian pitchers and Irabu: I was announcing Yankee games in the mid-90s when I said over the air, “I wonder if we’ll ever see an Oriental position player in the Major Leagues?” Dion James was playing for the Yankees at the time, and told me about an exciting 19-year old named Ichiro Suzuki who had a chance to be the first. We all know that story. Big fan of Bernie Williams from watching Yankee games in Japan. Wears number 51 because of that.

So, I get a letter about a week later from an Asian baseball fan. Not a malicious letter but scolding me gently for referring to Asian players as “Oriental.” He said, “Noodles and rugs are Oriental, not people. We are Asians.” Fortunately for me, he put his phone number in the letter, so I called him.

We had a pleasant conversation and I told him I certainly didn’t intentionally say “Oriental’ as a slur or condescending remark. It was said innocently out of ignorance. He understood. I asked him if he would be watching the next game we televised. He said he would. He was a huge baseball fan and was complimentary of our telecasts on the MSG Network. I asked if he would please watch and listen in the top of the 4th inning. He said he would.  I took the opportunity to clear up the Oriental/Asian situation.

...So, I’lll be keeping a close eye on Yu Darvish and see if he is finally the one to be able to challenge and dominate our bigger, more powerful big league hitters. For his and the Rangers’ sake, I hope he does. It will be good for the game and the Rangers profit and loss statement!

SI.com: Economic considerations at heart of Carmona’s decision

An interesting analysis of signing ages, signing bonuses, and success rates in the Dominican Republic, by Melissa Segura of Sports Illustrated ...

Teams pay premiums for 16-year-olds for two primary reasons: One, because teams often want to be the first to sign a promising player and, thus, avoid bidding wars with other teams; and two, clubs prefer to develop their players’ skills under the watchful eyes of their own club personnel rather than under those of unqualified and unaffiliated coaches or trainers.

But are 18-year-old Latin American players really worth 70 percent less than their 16-year-old counterparts? Here’s another data analysis that calls into question the industry practice of placing a premium on youth. Let’s assume the most basic marker of a successful signing is making it to the majors. We’ll make it simple and look at the 79 players who have made their major league debuts from 2008-2011 from Carmona’s Dominican Republic. Of those 79, only six were signed as 16-year-olds. The debuts suggest older players were more likely to advance to the majors. ...

[...]

What’s more, SI tracked down the bonus data for 60 of the 79 players. Fernando Martinez, signed by the Mets in 2005 for $1.3 million, was the only one to receive a seven-figure bonus. Only nine others signed for six figures and one — the Rockies’ Juan Nicasio — received nada to sign, according to the data obtained by SI. The median signing bonus among them tallied a paltry $35,000.

Fausto Carmona arrested in Dominican Republic for using false identity

Sure, when Newton McPherson uses a different name, its okay, but when Roberto Hernandez Heredia does it, its a criminal matter!

Jorge Arangure of ESPN.com passes along word from reporter Yancen Pujols that Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic and is being charged with using a false identity.

According to Pujols, Dominican police arrested Carmona–whose real name is apparently Roberto Hernandez Heredia–while he was leaving the American consulate after renewing his visa.

Jimmy Rollins Travels to Uganda to Play with Kids, Freestyle Raps Along the Way

Shortstopyo: Game Beginning.

ESPN The Magazine’s Steve Wulf wrote about Rollins’ experience with the kids. Not surprisingly, the trip seems to have meant as much to Rollins as it did for the kids, who will hopefully get a nicer ball field due in part to Jimmy’s efforts.

The whole story is worth your time, for sure, but we thoroughly enjoyed one nugget in particular. Jimmy was pulled onto a stage during a lunchtime gathering on Martin Luther King Day and busted out a freestyle rap that went something like this, according to ESPN:

“One two one two, in Uganda baseball comes through

Big D Lee in the house and so is me doing it everyday casually

Because we like to play and get down, Uganda, Nsambya, the big towns

I’m not done, we get it down, we get it too, I stand up and push, it’s on you

And when the ball leave the field I’m gonna clown

Walk down the baseline, throw a pound

To the sky, up high, to my fans, we got a plan

Everybody just say baseball … baseball

Everybody say baseball … baseball”

NYT: Puerto Rico Traces Decline in Prospects to Baseball Draft

The league’s struggles are merely the most vivid manifestation of a more profound, and surprising, phenomenon playing out here: the general decline of baseball in a place where it was long considered the national pastime, if not a religion. After decades of populating major league rosters with All-Star players at every position, Puerto Rico had only 20 players on Major League Baseball rosters on opening day last season. Only two of them made the All-Star team. (By contrast, the 1997 All-Star Game included eight Puerto Ricans.)

and

“From a socioeconomic standpoint, things have changed quite a bit in Puerto Rico,” Alderson said. “There are lots of other ways to spend your time. In the Dominican Republic, on the other hand, unfortunately, poor kids who are playing ball and who are from the lowest economic strata in that country, baseball is a way to escape, so there’s a greater concentration of players and effort. I think they’re just very different dynamics than Puerto Rico.”

Obvious solution: expansion of poverty! Why are you guys making this so hard?

Oakland manager Melvin excited about Japan series

The Athletics and Seattle Mariners open the regular season with a two-game series at Tokyo Dome on March 28-29. Many hoped the series would feature a showdown between Matsui and countryman Ichiro Suzuki, but Melvin said the A’s likely wont be re-signing the 37-year-old free agent Matsui.

“Matsui was a great fit for us last year and we all loved having him on our team,’’ Melvin said at a press conference on Monday to promote the series. “But this year it doesn’t look like a fit for us based on the personnel we have going forward.’‘

...Suzuki also had a down season in 2011. For the first time in his career, He failed to reach 200 hits - finishing with 184 - and hit a career-worst .272. Other numbers were lower too, including on-base percentage, infield hits and home runs, while he struck out a career-high 69 times.

Former Seattle star Ken Griffey Jr., who now serves as a special consultant to the Mariners, said he expects Suzuki to bounce back this season.

“Ichiro is going to be fine, you can ask these two guys (Melvin, Wedge) if a guy had 184 hits they wouldn’t be complaining,’’ Griffey said. “But you are looking at a guy who is a special athlete. He had one hiccup in his career and come this time next year we won’t even be talking about this. He is going to come into this season determined and with a little fire.’‘

Hiccup?...That was a freakin’ Dave McNally tally if ever!

Fangraphs: Can Yoenis Cespedes Showcase Talents In MLB?

Os as shape-shifter deluxe, Mitch Williams said the other day…“All Yoenis Cespedes does is hit ground balls!”

So although Cespedes was definitely one of the top power hitters in the Cuban League, his exploits are hardly all-world or necessarily the best in his own country. The Cuban parks seem to be very difficult to pitch in. According to Davenport’s translations — which probably have to be taken with a pound of salt given how few players make the transition from Cuban baseball to American professional baseball — Cespedes’s numbers still work out to above-average major league power. I don’t think this is a terribly surprising conclusion — it’s difficult to hit 33 home runs in 350 at-bats in any league. It just doesn’t necessarily mean a 60-homer season is coming in the states.

The next question relates to plate discipline.

...Cespedes has shown remarkable improvement from a hack-tastic first season, all the way to the point where he walked more times than he struck out in 2011. However, there is the question of how many of those walks were intentional — he was in the process of setting a new home run record, after all. Either way, Cespedes made excellent contact in each of the past four seasons and although his strikeouts will undoubtedly rise against the higher talent in the MLB, we shouldn’t expect him to be the next Austin Jackson.

...Just looking at the statistics Cespedes compiled in Cuba, there isn’t a glaring weakness which looks to tank his game upon landing with an American (or Torontonian) squad. He was as complete as a player can be in any league. Much of his value depends on his ability to play center field, of which there seems to be optimism around scouts. His Cuban numbers seem to suggest above-average power for the position already, and with any sort of plate discipline he has the ability to push an All-Star level in MLB. With his power and his superior athleticism and strength, the risk factor for Cespedes seems lower than with other relative unknown players, and the reward if he reaches his potential could be incredible.

[Australian] Baseball attendances a numbers game

Melbourne Aces, who call the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds home, have attracted one crowd of more than 1500 in 10 openings this season.
...

[ABL chief executive Peter Wermuth] said the ABL needed crowds of at least 2500 to be sustainable, but he added there wasn’t an expectation that mark would be reached in the second year.

“We knew it would be a long haul. We’re looking for slow growth rather than take steps that we couldn’t afford or sustain. Our biggest challenge ... is a lack of decent venues. We knew this going in, but we didn’t realise how bad the situation was. It affects us on all kinds of fronts - it makes it tough to get people in the stands, to get corporates involved and, almost in every case, they’re not set up for TV.

You want sponsors?  Put a team in Toowoomba.

Vene: My vote for Cooperstown will be for a single candidate

Every year I come across one special ballot (among other beauties)...this year it’s Juan Vene’s. Let there be luck, Juan!

Something very serious. The six hundred members of the Association know. We got our hands the ability to immortalize them or not. So we have to be so honored as to be beyond the sentimienrtos by race, nationality, religion, friends, enemies and other prejudices.

Do not vote for Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire nor, Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin, Alan Trammell, Dave Parker, Lee Smith, Jeff Bagwell, and Tim Raines.

I check the names of 27 candidates, and conclude that one vote for Jack (The Jack) Morris, because without steroids, was a tremendous horse in the playoffs and World Series in addition to its record of 254-186 with two thousand 478 strikeouts in three thousand 824 innngs, among other beauties.

If the sole purpose of spectator sport is to win enough who help their teams to reach the ball in October, and then excel in that particular activity, they deserve the vote to go to Cooperstown.

...Now, if you believe in predictions, only this time achieved a minimum of 75% votes. Dawn and see, as they say ... I say, right?

Among the candidates this year, honestamete, I find it difficult to find sufficient reasons, after Morris, to deserve the honor of Cooperstown. So vote for him only. Let there be luck, Jack!

Doctor who treated A-Rod: I can cure arthritis

This better have nothing to do with me waiting on my “Phlegm-scented Invisible Cement” patent!

The doctor that New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez traveled to Germany to see for his aching knee and shoulder is a former physician for Pope John Paul II who claims to be a miracle worker when it comes to reversing arthritis.

A long list of Hollywood stars and pro athletes have travelled to Dusseldorf to seek treatment from Peter Wehling, a brash molecular scientist with a taste for celebrity. His website shows him arm and arm with patient Nick Nolte. Golfer Fred Couples wrote an introduction to Wehling’s recent book, The End of Pain. But it took the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, who sought help for his ailing right knee this summer, to get A-Rod interested in Wehling’s pioneering treatments.

...In an interview with ESPN The Magazine, Wehling claimed to have a 90 percent success rate by genetically screening his patients to personalize their serums.

“I am the only one to have found a way to cure arthritis,” he said.

...But MLB’s medical director, Gary Green, told ESPN New York that the league did not give the Yankees any green light.

“We don’t have a mechanism for a medical approval process,” he said. “We just tell the teams to make sure their players follow state and local laws.”

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 12-23-2011

New York Times, December 23, 1911:

“These Cubans,” said Mr. McGraw last night, “are only fair ball players. They are as fast as lightning on the bases and they can throw to beat the band. They have picked up all the knacks of fielding, but they cannot bat.

“Not only that, but they do not play what we call brainy baseball. Very little attention is given to brainwork on the diamond. They perform the manual part of the game very well, but the keen, crafty headwork we see in the game here is missing.”

Hey Reggie White, what about Japanese players?

Author W.P. Kinsella selected as Jack Graney Award winner for his book ‘Shoeless Joe’

Author W.P. Kinsella has won the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award for his 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe.”
....

The Jack Graney Award is given for significant contribution to baseball in Canada through a life’s work or a singular outstanding achievement.