Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman. OK, not nearly as great an age difference, only 9 years. But their careers made it seem like more. Glenn had been retired for 4 years, after a 10 year career, before Trevor debuted. And Glenn became a manager the year Trevor was at his peak. Altogether the brothers Hoffman were active (with a short gap) from 1980-2010, while the brother's Roof (with a small gap) from 1961-1983 (hey, just like Yaz!)

Joey Cora and Alex Cora too. Ten year age difference. Alex's rookie year was Joey's last year in the bigs.

Phil Roof, in 1970, hit 13 home runs - and had eight other extra base hits.

-- MWE

High Point-Thomasville should have gotten the expansion team that went to Houston.

There was some talk about the Triad -- Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem -- as a possible expansion/relocation spot for MLB. The theory was that it was close enough to the Triangle and Charlotte to pull in fans from both.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

Phil Roof, in 1970, hit 13 home runs - and had eight other extra base hits.

The best season in this vein is McGwire's 2001: 23 singles, 4 doubles, 29 homeruns.

Dice-K has accepted assignment to Columbus, OH.

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman.

This I never knew!

i, for one, rolled my eyes at you edmundo.

And the pun (obviously) zipped right over my pointed head.

Relatively brief Birthday League update:

March 2              58  32  .644 ----  
March 14             54  31  .635  1.5  
March 5              52  35  .598  4.5  
March 9              50  37  .575  6.5

News and Notes:
* Gene McAuliffe (February 28) continues to make a mockery of the Birthday League. He's hitting .529. McAuliffe was 1-for-2 in his real-life MLB career. His backup was 0-for-1 in his career.
* Mel Ott (March 2) leads the league in runs scored (71), home runs (21), RBI (70), and walks (72).
* Willie Stargell (March 6) is tied with Ott atop the home run leaderboard. Pops leads the league in slugging (.626) and total bases (194) and is fourth in OBP (.420). He leads the league in RC/27 among guys who aren't freakazoid low-PA catchers, at 10.5.
* March 7 shortstop The Other Keith Miller has committed 40 errors.
* Mort Cooper (March 2) leads the league with 13 wins. Kevin Brown (March 14) and John Smiley (March 17) are tied for second with 12 wins.
* Tim Lollar (March 17) leads the league with a 1.62 ERA.
* Saves leaderboard: Kent Tekulve (March 5) 19, Steve Howe (March 10) 17, Scott Sullivan (March 13) 17, Jose Valverde (March 24) 17.

Stats, standings, box scores and leaders here.

Oakland A's sticking with Coco Crisp as center fielder

Melvin's decision goes opposite of the prime defensive metric of the 21st century -- UZR (ultimate zone rating), which assesses how many runs a defender takes away. It gives a clear edge to Young, but Melvin and general manager Billy Beane have no problem turning a blind eye to the UZR.

"We have our own proprietary defensive ratings metrics," Melvin said. "It's the best I've ever seen, better than any of the others. And it tells us that we have two elite center fielders."

Said Beane, "There's a reason it's proprietary. It's an ongoing process to improve our analysis. More than that, I'm not willing to say."

Beane and Melvin believe there isn't as much difference in the two outfielders as systems such as UZR show.

There's a reason it's proprietary.

We don't want to embarrass ourselves.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

It makes sense then that this regional market has teams in 3 of the 4 major sports, and with the long drives, that the only sport they don't have is the one with games practically every day of the week.

I'm dense, Delorians - what regional market has three major sports?

Oakland A's sticking with Coco Crisp as center fielder

So Young is pretty much a 4th OF? The A's are going to have a pretty amazing bench. I guess they are pretty much planning on a rash of injuries at this point?

I'm dense, Delorians - what regional market has three major sports?

The one that encompasses Charlotte and Raleigh.

Cards release IF Ronny Cedeno

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.
Also, saying that Charlotte has two major sports teams is iffy, if you've ever watched the Bobcats.

So Young is pretty much a 4th OF? The A's are going to have a pretty amazing bench. I guess they are pretty much planning on a rash of injuries at this point?

Cespedes / Crisp / Reddick missed 81 games amongst 'em last year... between situational matchups, DHing, actual injuries, & planned rest days, I'd guess Young will get PLENTY of playing time.

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.

Hey, that means the Pittsburgh-Cleveland regional market has six major sports.

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.

But that is the market Walt and Delorians were referring to. Whether it should be considered that is a separate matter.

Yeah, but I pretty much said it's not a regional market (for the reasons Der K mentioned). The idea behind the Triad was that it was about halfway in-between Charlotte and Raleigh and so people might be willing to drive that far. I don't think you'd see even that.

I don't think there are many folks driving from Raleigh to Charlotte for NBA games (football maybe) nor the other way for Hurricanes games.

Who's the A's DH? Chris Young on the bench is nuts.

Good time for a Vernon Wells spring update: 423/452/923. His OppQual is a 9 (look it up!)

I don't think there are many folks driving from Raleigh to Charlotte for NBA games (football maybe) nor the other way for Hurricanes games.

Think that's right - happens a bit for football, but that's about it.

I confess to not being well versed in North Carolina geography or hockey (I didn't know the NHL team was actually in Raleigh). My main point was that this doesn't work for baseball. Yes for football, maybe for the other two.

Who's the A's DH? Chris Young on the bench is nuts.

Seth Smith. They have in their outfield - Yoenes Cespedes, Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Chris Young, and Smith.

Their infield has Scott Sizemore, Hiro Nakajima, Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss, Daric Barton, Josh Donaldson, and Jemile Weeks.

In AAA they have Adam Rosales, Eric Sogard, Andy Parrino, Michael Taylor, and Grant Green.

That's pretty awesome depth.