Red Sox part ways with A.J. Pierzynski

Cold Pierogi?

The Red Sox decided to move on from A.J. Pierzynski on Wednesday when they designated the catcher for assignment. The team called up prospect Christian Vazquez from Pawtucket to take his place.

Tom Veryzer, shortstop for Tigers and Indians, dies at 61

Former Tigers and Indians shortstop Tom Veryzer, who played in the big leages for 12 years, died Thursday at the age of 61, according to The Oakland Press.

Veryzer was drafted by the Tigers with the No. 11 overall pick in the 1971 MLB Draft and was the team’s starting shortstop from 1975 to 1977. Detroit traded him to the Indians that offseason to make room for Alan Trammell. He played for Cleveland until 1981 before ending his career with stints with the Mets (1982) and Cubs (1983-84).

He ...

San Francisco Giants considering ban on culturally insensitive attire

The proposed policy, which is still in the working stages, could potentially say that fans who wear culturally insensitive attire to games or use culturally insensitive language could be asked to stop by Giants security or potentially be asked to leave the stadium.

Staci Slaughter, Giants senior vice president, communications, and senior advisor to the CEO, said the Giants have policies about obscene language and offensive signs.

“We are considering expanding the policy to be more explicit ...

Jake Peavy could be traded, but Red Sox aren’t giving up on season yet

Boston wouldn’t mind using talented rookie Rubby De La Rosa in the rotation, and Peavy is currently blocking his path. Additionally, Peavy, a loser of seven straight (though much of that is due to a lack of support) may frankly be better suited to go back to the NL at this stage of his career.

Give up?  When were they ever trying?

Rockies owner Dick Monfort to angry Rockies fan: “don’t come!”

  “I pretty much just filled out the survey and kinda wrote a little bit about how it’s frustrating to spend the money and go see [Rockies] teams that are constantly struggling all the time,” said Ferguson.

  Two days later, he found out his comments did not go unnoticed. Ferguson received a reply in his inbox simply stating, “If product and experience that bad don’t come!”… signed owner, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies Dick Monfort.

The customer is always… ...Read More...

Taiwan Provides What Might Be The Most Awkward First Pitch In Baseball History

Possibly NSFW?

Yoga “goddess” Yan shows off her flexible talents before the game between the Lamigo Monkeys and Brother Elephants and quickly devolves it into one big strip tease. I feel it deserves recognition as the oddest because you never really know what’s coming or where she is going with her routine. At first I thought she was going to throw the ball backwards, but by the end I was expecting it to shoot out of her like a cannon. The worst part is how she totally woofs the pitch ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-9-2014

Pittsburgh Press, July 9, 1914:

Ossie E. Schreckengost, aged 39, better known as “Schreck,” former battery mate of “Rube” Waddell, died here today of a complication of diseases. Although ill for the past two years, his condition was not considered serious until yesterday, when he collapsed in a cafe.
...
He caught for the Mackmen 10 years.

Waddell passed away in April 1914, just three months before his batterymate. Seems odd that a pitcher and catcher who worked together so frequently would die ...

OMNICHATTER 7-9-2014

The Omnichatter will not give you a final vote hashtag. Because it’s the OMNICHATTER!

OT: Monthly NBA Thread- July 2014

I estimate only 10-12 Primates care about the NBA, but with our own thread, we won’t detract from what this site is really about: German aggression and Israeli aggression of entirely different types.

McCann’s old hitting coach: ‘He’ll never be comfortable’ on Yankees

“New York is not Brian,” Pendleton said before the Braves fell to the Mets 4-3 in 11 innings. “That’s my opinion. I knew if he chose New York, there would be more than he expected or knew about. He’ll never be comfortable with that.”

TP is always making friends.  McCann hit .230/.300/.399 in ‘12 and is hitting .230/.289/.379 now.  He’s fat, has a lot of miles on him, and is on the wrong side of 30.  What did you expect.  Enjoy the part of the contract where he is still able to ...

MLB Network Just Finished Most Watched Quarter Ever

It’s funny – despite all of our lamenting about MLB’s decline in casual fan viewership, the diehards are still tuning in at levels we haven’t seen before. Maybe that’s the best course of action for the major networks – don’t worry about appealing to the casual fan. Just try to make the diehard fans happy, and the rest will eventually start to come. Isn’t that what NBC did with the Premier League? Isn’t that what ESPN is doing with the World Cup? There aren’t any stupid ...

Billy Beane on the Future of Sports: A Tech-Driven Revolution

Having advanced performance data at even the most junior levels will make it less likely that players get filtered out based on 60-yard-dash times or radar-gun readings, and more likely that they advance on the merits of practiced skills. The ability to “paint the corners” of the strike zone, to swing only at pitches within that zone, and to manage the subtle footwork required of a difficult fielding play is accessible to any player willing to commit to the “10,000 Hour Rule” (the ...

Robothal - Ian Desmond: Should He Stay or Should He Go

The Nats are actively seeking to add a young shortstop, one who could inherit the position if Ian Desmond departs as a free agent after 2015, major league sources say.

Desmond, 28, rejected the Nationals’ offer of a lengthy extension last offseason, settling instead for a two-year, $17.5 million contract that will expire after next season.

Drama after Billy Butler’s drop in Royals lineup isn’t what anyone wanted

The last thing this eight-years-in-the-Processing Royals season needs is drama, but here it is anyway. One of the team’s highest-paid and longest-tenured players feels singled out and is going passive-aggressive to make his point and subtly call out a teammate.

Ego and self-interest are on both sides of this, team and player each having legitimate beef. Billy Butler justifiably sees himself as the club’s most established hitter, and wonders why he’s been occasionally benched and now ...

David Ortiz is furious about his failed PED test coming up again.

For whatever reason, David Ortiz hates it when you bring up the fact that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The latest target of his ire: MLB Network hosts who declared he has received a “free pass” for his transgression.

ESPN: Prince Fielder in the Body Issue

You don’t have to look like an Under Armour mannequin to be an athlete. A lot of people probably think I’m not athletic or don’t even try to work out or whatever, but I do. Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you can’t be an athlete. And just because you work out doesn’t mean you’re going to have a 12-pack. I work out to make sure I can do my job to the best of my ability. Other than that, I’m not going up there trying to be a fitness model.

Prince is looking pretty good.

Doc Daugherty: Joey Votto DL - Adam Dunn ?

Wrong for Each Other! Doc Pompous strikes again!

As The Club preps for a doubleheader that could set longevity records, The Morning Man says J. Votto will go on the DL today. The wonder is how much he will be missed.

The last time I suggested, “Not as much as you’d think,’’ I took the predictable bashing from the OBP crowd and the Walk Freaks. So be it. The fact is, losing Votto is not the blow it used to be, because Votto isn’t the hitter he used to be. That likely owes to the chronic ...

HardballTalk: The Angels are now the only expansion team to have a .500 record

...but despite all of that expansion history, no expansion team sat at .500 or above as play began last night. With their win over the Blue Jays last night, the Angels are now even at 4,272 wins and 4,272 losses.

Now, they aren’t the first expansion team to break .500. As Dbacks’ Vice President Josh Rawitch noted on Twitter last night, Arizona was 652-644 between 1998 and 2005, getting over the .500 hump and staying there for a time after their first couple of seasons. Such early success ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-8-2014

Washington Times, July 8, 1914:

While [Baltimore owner] Jack Dunn will not admit it, deals have been practically consummated by which Shortstop Claude [sic] Derrick and Outfielder George Twombley [sic], of the Orioles, will soon be wearing Cincinnati uniforms, while Birdie Cree, the highest priced fielder in the International League, will go to the New York Americans.
...
With the information concerning the probable sale of Derrick and Twombley also come several other rumors. One is to the ...

Ball? Strike? It Depends: Is the Pitcher an All-Star?

They would rather not talk about it, but umpires may be just as star-struck as the average baseball fan.

Two researchers looked at the photographic evidence and found that umpires make more errors in favor of All-Star pitchers than pitchers who have never been selected for an All-Star Game — about 17 percent more.

This is a subject umpires are naturally hesitant to discuss….

But the science exists, for anyone who wants to look at it. Every major league stadium is equipped with the Pitch ...

OMNICHATTER 7-8

O-M-N-I-C-H-A-T-T-E-R

Yankees Fan Caught Sleeping In Stands Sues Everyone For Defamation

What a dope.

Daniel Nava’s playoff beard… on a baseball card!

One person recently opened a pack of 2014 Allen & Ginter from Topps baseball and pulled a card of Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava that includes real strands of hair from the playoff beard he grew during Boston’s 2013 World Series championship run.

The card pulled is serial numbered 8/25, which means 25 of these Nava beard cards can be found in this year’s Allen & Ginter set.

Dear Topps,

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Sincerely,

Sports Card Collectors ...Read More...

ESPN: All Star Game To Feature Self-Service Beer Stations

Self-serve beer stations are up and running in Target Field, so Minnesota Twins fans and those who attend the Major League Baseball All-Star festivities next week can decide what they want and even how much they want of it.
.  .  .
Fans attending Twins games can go to a cash register, show their ID and preload a $10 or $20 card. For the All-Star Game, a $50 card will be available. Fans then scan the card at the machine and can choose between four beers and regulate how much they want to have ...

Former minor leaguer preparing to sue MLB for minimum wage

He was drafted in the 5th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft, early enough in the then-50 rounds that it came with a $160,000 signing bonus.

Broshuis is now a lawyer compiling data and evidence for a class action suit against Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig. He started with three players in February, suing the Miami Marlins, the San Francisco Giants, and the Kansas City Royals, along with MLB and Commissioner Selig.

Slowly over the course of the next two months, ...

LAT: Angels’ Mike Trout to start All-Star game; Garrett Richards snubbed

The excitement of a 6-1 victory that capped a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros on Sunday was tempered when the Angels learned that only one player from their club, which has the third-best record in baseball, was named to the American League All-Star team.

...

Snubbed were pitcher Garrett Richards, who got the win over the Astros on Sunday to improve to 10-2 with a 2.71 earned-run average and 119 strikeouts in 116 1/3 innings, and slick-fielding shortstop Erick Aybar, who is hitting .278 ...

BA Midseason Top 50: Injury Can’t Knock Buxton From No. 1

It has been a dangerous year to be a top prospect. Injuries happen every year, but the 2014 season has been worse than usual. The top prospect in baseball, Twins outfielder Byron Buxton, has missed all but five games with a wrist injury. Another preseason top 10 prospect, Twins third baseman Miguel Sano, had Tommy John surgery this spring. Injuries are a recurring theme, but the Joey Gallo-Kris Bryant home run race has given fans something more enjoyable to watch.

Note: 2014 draftees, players ...

Keith Hernandez: Starlin Castro ‘too unreliable’

You know I am only teasing. I love you slackers out there—always have!

With the Chicago Cubs now flush with shortstops, count Keith Hernandez among those not in favor of the Mets attempting to acquire incumbent Starlin Castro.

Castro, 24, is hitting .287 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs in 342 at-bats for Chicago this season.

...“We’ve seen enough of Castro to know that he’s just too unreliable, too loose,” Hernandez said during Sunday’s Mets-Rangers telecast on SNY.

When partner Gary Cohen ...

Gleeman: Rays sign No. 1 rated international prospect Adrian Rondon for $3 million on his 16th birthday

I think I got a turtleneck for my 16th birthday.

Today is the first day Adrian Rondon is eligible to sign because it’s his 16th birthday and the Rays moved quickly to add the right-handed-hitting shortstop from the Dominican Republic.

Tampa Bay must believe that Rondon is destined for stardom because Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that by going so far beyond their designated spending limits the Rays will be forced to pay a 100 percent tax on all international spending above $2 million ...

Maury Brown: The Biggest Media Company You’ve Never Heard Of

YR is not amused.

But what if I told you there was a company nestled in New York’s Chelsea Market near the Apple Store and across the street from Google’s offices that will see revenues of $800 million in 2014; with targeted revenues of $1 billion by 2016. That this company engaged in streaming live video of 18,000 hours in 2009 and is expected to hit 400,000 this year. That not only are they providing that, they’re a key company for online ticket sales, but isn’t StubHub. That key ...