Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-15-2018

[Mount Vernon, Ohio] Democratic Banner, February 15, 1918:

There is one prominent hoarder in Detroit, who doesn’t care who knows it. His name is Charles Navin and his father, Frank, owns the Detroit baseball club. Charles is the secretary of the team and he is vigorously on the scent of the cent. He is collecting pennies by the quart.

Secretary Navin has a good reason for his activity. There will be a war tax of eight cents on baseball passes this season and a tax of ten percent on paid ...

Tito Francona, a Former Baseball All-Star, Dies at 84

Tito Francona, a former All-Star who played for 15 seasons in the major leagues and was the father of Terry Francona, the Cleveland Indians’ manager, died on Tuesday night at his home in New Brighton, Pa. He was 84.

Phillies 3B Maikel Franco eyes bounce-back year in 2018

It started with getting in better shape. Team officials told him he needed to do so, “but I knew it, too,” he said. He has reported to camp early. His midsection is noticeably trimmer and his upper body looks strong. His weight, he said, is between 218 and 220 pounds. He ended last season at 232.

Brandon McCarthy seeks to re-establish himself in Braves rotation

“If I’m on the training table today, nobody’s going to come talk to you. Nobody cares how long you’ve been around; you have to be out there, you have to be with them, you have to be pitching. They have to know that you’re going through the same things that they’re going through. Being available, being healthy is a big part of it, and I don’t have enough of a person to come out the other way, where you can just lead through any situation.

“I’ve got to be functional, I’ve got ...

Jeter lieutenant confident Marlins can be ‘great’ again | New York Post

Captain’s Camp has been instituted with the Marlins just like the Yankees, with Denbo pointing to the all-around success of young players like Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, saying of the catcher, “He developed not only his baseball skills, his mental skills, his personal skills so that he learned how to compete and all of a sudden he showed up in New York, going from a guy who had a lot to learn about the game to a guy that was dominating the game. Greg Bird is the same kind of guy he was ...

Joplin-based professional baseball team taking name submissions

President of Ventura Sports Group, Wayne Schuster, says they are looking for a team name that is unique, represents Joplin’s history, and that will create a mascot who local children can embrace. Schuster says they’ve already received more than 200 name submissions and will continue to receive them until March 15th.

This is apparently a team in the Southwest League, a new league planning to start play in 2019. Joplin has had pro teams before: the Miners and the Blasters, as well as a college ...

DII baseball: Former Cy Young winner Jack McDowell begins a new era at Queens (NC)

So, how did the Stanford graduate and former west coast guy wind up on the small Charlotte, N.C. campus at Queens?

“I married a Wilmington [N.C.] girl,” McDowell said. “We moved here about six years ago. I found out through a friend of mine that Queens was starting up a baseball program. I live a half a mile from the campus, so I contacted them. Our Athletic Director, Cherie Swarthout, told me, ‘thanks for your interest, but we’re not looking to add baseball at this time.’ I was ...

Ex-A’s right-hander Jarrod Parker retires after career derailed by injuries

At just 29, Jarrod Parker is officially retiring from the game in which he fought so hard to stay after two hideous elbow injuries. He told The Chronicle this week that all that remains is the paperwork.

“I’m not entertaining any offers, let’s put it that way,” Parker said. “I’m just working through the logistical stuff.”

Not surprising, but still kind of a shame. He was a hell of a pitcher before his elbow fell apart.

Padres pitcher Jose Torres facing domestic violence charges

Padres reliever Jose Torres was arrested in December after a dispute in which he allegedly brandished a semiautomatic handgun.

The incident occurred in the home Torres shares with his wife in Phoenix and is being handled as a domestic violence case, according to court documents.

According to the probable cause statement contained in the court report, Torres knocked a door off its hinges and punched a hole in another door. He also pointed the gun at the victim, according to the report.

Torres ...

Rays pitchers Chris Archer, Brent Honeywell to each other: Put up and shut up

I heard Honeywell interview on MLB Radio this winter. He definitely sounds like he’s going to be a tough clubhouse presence. If he pitches as well as he’s capable, though, his teammates will deal with him.

This, eventually, may be a love story.

But even in expressing affection for the other on a Wednesday celebrating the two-in-one holiday of spring training opening and Valentine’s Day, current Rays top starter Chris Archer and potential future ace Brent Honeywell tossed more than verbal ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-14-2018

Bridgeport Times, February 14, 1918:

Before moving New York’s big baseball show from the Waldorf to the Walcott the National League went on record yesterday as condemning the practice of certain club owners in announcing that they have intentions of buying certain star players from certain other clubs.

This, of course, was aimed at Charles F. Weeghman, president of the Chicago club, for his alleged announcement in the case of Rogers Hornsby, the star shortstop of the St. Louis Cardinals.
... ...

Matt Kemp excited to be back with Dodgers

It’s all made up! Will he make it to the Opening Day roster?

“People make up things,” Kemp said. “If you ask the guys in this clubhouse I played with, I’ve never been a troublemaker. I don’t know where that came from. I don’t think the guys I played with have ever had a problem with me. People can make up what they want to think.

“If I have one regret from my first time here, it’s that I resisted moving to left field. You live and learn. It’s good to be back here. I got a whole new outlook on ...

Diamondbacks on track to unveil humidor in 2018

University of Illinois physics professor emeritus Alan Nathan estimated last year in a study published online by The Hardball Times that the Diamondbacks’ humidor could make an even bigger impact than at Coors Field, in part because the average relative humidity in Phoenix is far lower than in Denver.“I am very comfortable saying that, with the humidor running at 50 percent and 70 degrees, there will a reduction in home run production at Chase by 25 to 50 percent,”

So I’m guessing JD ...

Rosenthal: Welcome to our expanded coverage of major league baseball – The Athletic

I have occasionally posted stuff from The Athletic over the last few months. Sorry to tell the people who haven’t jumped on-board yet but I’ll probably be posting more stuff going forward. They just have too much talent to ignore.

I see local sportswriters lamenting the loss of newspaper jobs due to the Internet. Although I feel for them, the classic newspaper model is dying. The old classified ad cash cow is pretty much dead and it’s not coming back. People also just don’t buy newspapers ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-13-2018

New York Tribune, February 13, 1918:

John H. Farrell, secretary of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, is quite sanguine over the future of minor league baseball, despite the difficulties in which the International League finds itself.
...
It appeared even more doubtful than ever yesterday that the International League would make any attempt to build up its ruined fences. As a matter of fact, only Baltimore and Toronto were determined to carry on, and both these clubs have ...

Heyman | Bombshell Lawsuit Filed Against Levinson Brothers

The lawsuit, which claims ACES has been providing MLB players with PEDs for decades, purports to have a signed affidavit from Kirk Radomski, who pleaded guilty to two such charges and was a major player in MLB’s Mitchell Report on PED usage a decade ago, and also goes into minute detail about the Levinsons’ alleged involvement with convicted drug dealer Anthony Bosch of Biogenesis, and how Sam Levinson introduced Cabrera, Nelson Cruz and other MLB players to Bosch and was aware that ...

The Opening Bell | FanGraphs Baseball

I want them contending as often as possible. To that end I want to see them make smart decisions. Going “for broke” every year is not a sustainable model.

You may be reading this and thinking, “Well, yes. But so what?” (You might also think I’m an idiot, but I hope not.) The “so what” is this: I’ve spent too much of the last three years valorizing losing in order to win and praising teams for making marginal improvements when wholesale advances were appropriate. Some of it has been ...

Were the Mets (Fred Wilpon) Right to Get Todd Frazier Instead of Jason Kipnis?

It was a business decision, but it might have been a good baseball decision, surprisingly enough.

Rosenthal: Ideas on improving baseball’s competitiveness (draft lottery? tank tax?); potential pace-of-play compromise – The Athletic

This is an overreaction. If the players want to reopen the agreement they’d better be prepared to extend the agreement a few years past the current one. They’d also better be prepared to make big concessions in other areas. The owners have an agreement they like, to think they will make big concessions for the “good of the game” is unrealistic.

Going forward there are different ways the players can push for a bigger piece of the pie. One idea that I don’t like is minimum payrolls. Such a ...

Goose Gossage: Brian Cashman has no balls, ‘disgrace to Yankees’

The Goose has not bought in.

“If Cashman had any balls, and he doesn’t, he would have an analytical guy manage,” Gossage said. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed his mind. But he doesn’t have the balls to do it.”

Former MLB pitcher Esteban Loaiza arrested with 44 pounds of heroin and cocaine

And here is a coincidence:  He made 44 million in his career.  What an idiot.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-12-2018

Bridgeport Times, February 12, 1918:

Edward Grant Barrow, former president of the International League, was appointed manager of the Boston Red Sox yesterday. He will succeed Jack Barry, who relinquished the job to enlist in the Naval Reserves as a yoeman [sic].
...
Barrow already has several deals in the air. He says he will immediately strengthen his team through the purchase of the best talent he can purchase from the International League.

Washington Times, February 12, 1918:

When Barrow ...

OTP 12 February 2018: Jeff Samardzija explains why politics and baseball rarely mix

However, there were several curveballs that forced Giants’ players to think outside the box, including one from a fan who asked a trio that included catcher Buster Posey, reliever Cory Gearrin and starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija whether they think baseball players should have a role in voicing their political opinions like football and basketball players have in recent years.

The question temporarily stumped Gearrin and Posey, so as his teammates waited, Samardzija decided to jump in and ...

Will Shohei Ohtani’s success in Japan continue with Angels? Former teammates, Japanese baseball officials think so – Orange County Register

When Brandon Laird took his baseball career across the Pacific Ocean, he had never heard the name Shohei Ohtani, just some unbelievable stories about “the Babe Ruth of Japan.”

“I was like, he can’t be that good,” said Laird, an infielder who had previously spent parts of three seasons in the majors.

“I heard so much about him, but I just wanted to see it. Right from the get-go, I saw him throw in an intrasquad game. It was effortless. High 90s (fastball) and breaking balls. … He ...

Bearing the Glory: The Tragedy of Jackie Robinson’s 1949 MVP Award

Here’s a story about Jackie Robinson that you may not have heard. It seems a small thing, a footnote in this man’s monumental life and legacy. But it’s telling, so it’s worth telling.

Medium: The System was a Steroid: Race, Performance Enhancement and the Baseball Hall of Fame

Confronted with the argument that maybe Williams, DiMaggio, and especially Babe Ruth wouldn’t have been as good had they been required to play against black players, most fall back on the argument that Bonds, Clemens and their steroid-enhanced contemporaries broke the rules, while Ruth and company merely played within the boundaries of the rules as they existed at the time.

In other words, while shameful, segregation was “just the way it was.” The implicit argument here is that we ...

Yankees’ biggest challenge isn’t going to be on field | New York Post

It’s nice seeing the words “Spring Training” appearing all over.

Rockies’ rotation, led by ace Jon Gray, could be best in franchise history

Hope in Colorado.

How did Erik Neander end up running the Rays? Well, it’s interesting …

“I describe Erik’s approach to baseball as obsessively curious, and he’s helped many of us look at the game through a more complete lens. His passion and creativity touch every branch of the department, and he possesses a constant need to seek new and more information.  He’s essentially self-taught, and has a detailed understanding of every role, from scout to analyst.’‘

Sunday Notes: Taylor Hearn and the Tale of the Black Rodeo Cowboys | FanGraphs Baseball

David Laurila’s latest includes the following curious comparison:

Eric Hosmer has been a bit of a lightning rod this winter. The free agent first baseman is coming off a strong season, yet plenty of pundits are less than enamored with his offensive profile. Couple the launch angle revolution with an increased acceptance of strikeouts, and Hosmer has become, in the eyes of his detractors, somewhat of a square peg in a round hole.

Would the former (and perhaps future) Kansas City Royal be looked ...