Fancred Sports : Jon Heyman: Mets still plan to go outside for next GM, here are potential candidates being mentioned

Considering their payroll situation Cherington would be a good fit. Of course, he’s probably smart enough to wait for a better situation.

Mets reportedly leaning toward hiring old-school GM, worried about being too ‘analytics driven’

Unfortunately for Mets fans this isn’t a redirect to The Onion.

OMNICHATTER is on time and under budget! for August 10, 2018

Kenley Jansen to be sidelined about a month

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen will miss about a month while being treated for an irregular heartbeat, a source tells MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal. The timeline was first reported by ESPN’s Buster Olney.

Jansen was hospitalized prior to Thursday night’s 8-5 win over the Rockies, and after initial tests, he flew back to Los Angeles to meet with his cardiologist for additional tests on Friday. Jansen felt the irregularity at the team hotel and never made it to Coors Field.

Scary stuff - ...

Some of my favorite Javier Baez statistics

This is a fascinating piece, breaking down Baez’s swing rates by pitch type, and the (mostly favorable) results. 

You may be surprised to learn that the article only underscores Baez’s uniqueness.

Cardinals executive on radar in Mets’ GM search

In the nascent stages of the Mets’ general manager search, Gary LaRocque’s name is among those receiving consideration.
[...]
Multiple individuals connected to the team have indicated Mets patriarch Fred Wilpon, 81, is unlikely to hand the organization’s reins to a young, purely analytics-driven GM with whom he would perhaps have difficulty connecting. The growing belief is Wilpon will look toward a more traditional baseball person.
[...]
There is thought among team officials that ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-10-2018

New York Sun, August 10, 1918:

TENER’S GOOD-BY QUICKLY ACCEPTED

The last chapter in the career of John Kinley Tener as a baseball executive was written yesterday when a group of local club owners, acting as a committee for the National League, formally accepted the former Pennsylvania Governor’s resignation as president of the league.
...
[The letter of acceptance reads, in part,] “In taking this action we feel that we have sustained a heavy loss, and in accepting your resignation we wish to ...

Here are the best Players’ Weekend nicknames from each team

Players’ Weekend is back, which means it is time once again to celebrate the expansive variety of nicknames we have in today’s game—and see them featured on the alternate jerseys worn by the players.

My favorites:

D-backs: Brad Boxberger—BOX HAMBURGER
Marlins: Jarlin Garcia—JARLIN THE MARLIN
Athletics: Sean Manaea—MANAEALATOR
Indians: Shane Bieber—NOT JUSTIN

OMNICHATTER isn’t late, games are just early, for August 9, 2018

15 ex-major leaguers who are kicking ass in a different country

Carlos Zambrano has made six starts for the Leones de Yucatan of the Mexican League this year. There are a lot of words below this, but none of them are as important as the ones in that sentence. Somewhere, on this continent, Zambrano is living the alternate reality we deserve, the one where pitchers don’t float away when they’re 31 because the human body hates baseball. He could have been another CC Sabathia, dang it.

Also, Zambrano’s six starts haven’t been very good, but it’s ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-9-2018

Celina (Ohio) Democrat, August 9, 1918:

Perhaps before the present season ends all records in the major league for lengthy games will be broken. Already there have been two 19-inning draws.

The law which saves an hour of daylight is mainly responsible, for it permits a game to go along until decided. The Phils and Cardinals started their 19-inning game at 3:30 o’clock and played until eight o’clock.
...
As it is the four hours and thirty minutes of desperate play went for naught.

A baseball ...

Documentary on A-Rod’s Biogenesis Steroid Scandal Debuts Next Month

For his latest project, Corben and his Rakontur studio have turned to an only-in-Miami story first broken by Miami New Times: The Biogenesis steroid scandal, which rocked Major League Baseball in 2013 and eventually led to the most drug suspensions in pro sports history, including a record season-long ban for the 305’s own Alex Rodriguez.

The Toronto Film Festival announced this morning that it will hold the world premiere next month for Corben’s feature-length project on the scandal, ...

Your 2018 local MLB broadcaster rankings

This is from Monday, but seeing the results of the voting every year is always a good read.

Hawk Harrelson goes out at the bottom, as he deserves.

OMNICHATTER isn’t late for today, but early for tomorrow, for August 8, 2018

Next round of possible MLB managers include Chase Utley, Eric Chavez

The job he’s currently doing seems like the perfect fit for him. Keep giving me boatloads of money to keep doing it.

Brian Bannister
After pitching five seasons in the major leagues for the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets, Bannister, 37, joined the Boston Red Sox as a scout and analyst before moving to the coaching staff. He possesses one of the brightest pitching minds in the game. His title: Vice President, pitching development and assistant pitching coach.

Can’t Catch a Break: Hall of Fame Catchers | The Hardball Times

Assessing catcher defense is still, ah, problematic. Historically it’s a mess.

Simmons should be in. Munson’s supporters have been making a solid case. I got to see a lot of him in his prime and, at the time, I thought he was comparable to Fisk. I’m still on the border with him, but I’m leaning more toward a yes. The rest of the guys are short for me.

Your thoughts?

Indianapolis Indians teammates Kevin Newman and Jacob Stallings both hit for the cycle in the same game

Newman and Stallings hit for the cycle in the same game. That has never been done by teammates in MLB history, though by remarkable coincidence, it also happened earlier this year for two San Jose Giants players (Gio Brusa and Jalen Miller) on April 12.

Amed Rosario could be answer to Mets’ outfield problem

There is also an opening at 1B, 2B, 3B, C, in the bullpen, the starting rotation, and, if they move Rosario to CF, at SS.

Jayson Werth called every team but Mets for job last winter – HardballTalk

Werth hit .206/.297/.389 in 145 PA for Tacoma.

Werth went on to decry analytics and Ivy League-educated front offices. Those sorts are worthy of criticism, but he did not exactly cover new ground here, nor did he explain how the analytical bent of front offices did him, personally, and injustice. I wouldn’t expect a player in Werth’s position to say so, but there is not a reason to believe that there’s a place for him on the field at this point of his career.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-8-2018

Pittsburgh Press, August 8, 1918:

Harold (Hal) Chase, captain and first baseman of the Cincinnati club, has been indefinitely suspended because of indifferent playing, it was announced last night by Manager Mathewson. Chase was under a similar charge in 1913 while playing on the New York Americans and was traded by Manager Frank Chance to the Chicago Americans.

Air quotes weren’t a thing yet in 1918, so I guess peering between the lines was left to the readers. Hal Chase wasn’t indifferent at ...

Must C: Soto out on wild play | 08/07/2018 | MLB.com

Crazy play.

Tampa’s minor-league team lost without giving up a walk or hit. Blame a new baseball rule.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Class A affiliate had no hits and no walks against the Tampa Tarpons, yet it beat the New York Yankees’ Florida State League club 1-0.

Clearwater took advantage of a rule introduced this year that places a runner at second base at the start of each extra inning to cut down on marathon games. The rule has been criticized by baseball traditionalists. On Monday, it made it possible for Tampa to lose despite a nearly perfect game.

Memo to White Sox fans: Root for the prospects, not their service time – The Athletic $$

Well, this is silly. When the CBA is changed so teams don’t get an extra year of control for managing a player’s service clock, Fegan can make the argument again. In the meantime, somebody might also want to explain to him that he can watch Jiménez on MiLB.TV or at the AAA park.

But mostly it’s a bummer that the fetishization of optimal human asset management has trumped the interest in seeing great players do their thing. It’s one thing when general managers and teams do it because it ...

MLB myth-buster—The shift isn’t curbing runs, it’s creating them

After we figure out whether to shift or not, can we figure out whether eating eggs for breakfast is healthy or not?

Big League Bullying: The Conspiracy To Humiliate MLB Umpire Steve Fields

Baseball consensus holds that umpires only get noticed when they make a bad call. Steve Fields’ career as a major league ump was bookended by two calls that put him in the spotlight. But he went to his grave insisting both were right.

His first momentous call came during the umpires strike of 1979. National League officials, Fields said, told him that crossing a picket line was the only way he’d ever achieve his boyhood dream of making it to the big leagues. He was the oldest minor-league ...

Lou Trivino thriving in loaded A’s bullpen

Yes, you read that right.

Just three years ago, when Trivino was a starter for Class A Advanced Stockton, he says his fastball sat in the low 90s on a good day. Mike Connors, who Trivino enlisted at the Tri-State Elite Baseball Academy in Quakerstown, Pa., emphasized urgency and discipline to a revamped conditioning regimen that slowly led to an uptick of nearly 10 mph.

How Not to Call Up a Position Player Prospect

Despite their third-place finish, there were plenty of reasons to be excited about the Rockies’ future in 2016. That year, Baseball America ranked David Dahl (22), Ryan McMahon (43), and Tom Murphy (97) among the Top 100 Prospects in the game, and Raimel Tapia (49) joined them in 2017. All four had advanced at least to Double-A by 2016—Tom Murphy was in Triple-A and had already made his major-league debut—and Rockies fans believed that well-regarded, young reinforcements were on their way ...

After a pep talk from Pedro Strop, Javier Baez hits his 25th HR in the Cubs’ 3-1 win - Chicago Tribune

It’s a building narrative.

Strop pitched a perfect ninth inning to preserve the Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Royals, and he also gave Javier Baez a pep talk during a 22-minute rain delay after the slugger was upset about his two early strikeouts.

“I was screaming to him,” Strop said. “ ‘Wake up! You got a game to play. You’re the man. The next two at-bats, watch. You’re going to get two hits.’ ”

Baez responded with a tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning against reliever Kevin ...

It’ll take more than blind optimism for Aaron Boone to resurrect Yankees

The whole Chicken Little baseball coverage irks me. The Yankees have injuries. Some of their better healthy players aren’t playing at their peaks. It happens. It’s a long season, though. The Yankees can pull things together in September, win the Wild Card game, and crush everyone in the playoffs. If it happens, their current stretch won’t matter. A Red Sox historic season would be tarnished. And all that is assume the Red Sox don’t get crushed by injuries and the Yankees don’t quickly rebound, ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-7-2018

New York Tribune, August 7, 1918:

The resignation of John K. Tener as president of the National Baseball League was received here yesterday at National League headquarters.

In a letter, addressed to all the club presidents in the National League, President Tener said:

“Having declined to serve further on the National Commission for the good reason familiar to each of you, I must ask that my resignation as your president, tendered last December, be now accepted.”

The “good reason” was that ...