Escape from Cuba: Yasiel Puig’s Untold Journey to the Dodgers

Fascinating look into Puig’s journey from Cuba to the Dodgers:

In a no-tell motel on Isla Mujeres, eight miles off the coast of Cancún, Yasiel Puig’s escape had come to a halt. Confined to a corner room at the end of a shabby horseshoe-shaped courtyard, he could only wait and hope, for his value to be appraised, his freedom to be bought. There was nothing personal about it, no loved one vowing to pay any price, only the calculus of a crude business. What was this gladiator-size man, with ...

MLB: Offense’s performance vs. Brewers favors Matheny’s interpretation of stats

Matheny Math: Minimal polynomial (Busch field theory).

Matheny studies the individual splits closely. His interpretation of those numbers might be typical in some cases, but it might also be surprising in others.

What works for Matheny in either case is his essential belief in his players.

“You know, when I see a guy who’s had even just a couple of at-bats against a pitcher, but has had success, there’s usually knowledge on both sides,” the manager said. “I don’t use the opposite side very ...

George Brett, Inspiration for the Song “Royals”, Meets Lorde

Last year [the New Zealand pop singer Lorde] told VHI that she saw a photo in National Geographic “of this dude just signing baseballs. He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals.’ It was just that word. It’s really cool.”

Orioles launch D.C. invasion with billboard near Nationals Park

Hey, at least they’re not the Baltimore Rabbits.

Have you heard?! Have you heard?! There’s a billboard promoting Orioles tickets near the D.C.-Maryland border and it’s rubbing some Nationals fans the wrong way.

...Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier spent a segment discussing the billboard, which is located seven miles from Nationals Park, yesterday on 106.7 The Fan. On the LaVar and Dukes Show, Chad Dukes conceded that the billboard makes good business sense before going on a rant against ...

Hartlaub: For the love of the snot rocket: Why Bumgarner’s Farmer John is good for baseball

Dobbs…get some.

Madison Bumgarner’s grand slam in his last start against the Colorado Rockies was a hell of a statement. But the exclamation point came at the end of his trip around the bases – when the pitcher placed his left index finger on his nose, and emptied the contents of his right nostril near home plate.

As the lefty gets ready to take the mound again tonight, I have a hard time explaining why the Bumgarner snot rocket is pretty much my favorite thing in Bay Area sports right ...

Chris Resop - The Most Interesting Reliever in the World

As some of you may know, I am quite fond of ridiculously lopsided batter-pitcher match-ups. The match-up that everyone’s been freaking out about lately is Paul Goldschmidt vs. Tim Lincecum, and rightfully so. It’s completely ridiculous. Anyway, I was recently checking out Starlin Castro’s most lopsided match-ups. Sure enough, there was Resop. Castro is 6-8 with three home runs, zero walks, zero strikeouts, and one hit-by-pitch against Mr. Resop. Interesting! Sorta. Using our buddy Daren ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-17-2014

Hugh Fullerton via Toledo News-Bee, April 17, 1914:

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the man who soaked Standard Oil $29,000,000 for violating the balk rule, has been named to decide the most important part of the baseball war.

Whether or not they know it, Judge Landis is the most eminently qualified man in the world to decide any question that may arise in the damage suit that has been brought by the Philadelphia National league team against the Federal league leaders.

Fortunately for the ...

OMNICHATTER for April 17, 2014

I will never be mistaken for Cal Ripken, or Lou Gehrig, or even Prince Fielder. Still, here’s the Omnichatter. 12 games, including appearances by SALE, VERLANDER, PRICE, WAINWRIGHT and so on.

Paine: Advanced Stats Love Jackie Robinson

Only four position players in MLB history — Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Lou Gehrig — had more WAR between the ages of 29 and 34. Numbers like that are why, despite Robinson’s short career, James ranked Robinson as the fourth-best second baseman ever in “New Historical Baseball Abstract.”

So much for sabermetrics underappreciating Robinson’s skills.

WAR can measure Robinson’s terrifying impact on the basepaths (he generated 31 more runs than an average player). WAR ...

Gleeman: Mets minor league team is hosting “Seinfeld night”

Commenter: “I hear the Mets are going to have a related promotion at Citi Field where they score about nothing.”

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Seinfeld” starting on NBC the Mets’ Single-A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League, are hosting a “Seinfeld Night” at the ballpark on July 5.

Darren Rovell of ESPN.com reports that the first 2,500 fans will get a Keith Hernandez bobblehead depicting him from the “Magic Loogie” episode of the show. Some other ...

Daniel Bryan’s ‘YES!’ chant has spread to the Pirates’ dugout

I once started an “Unpredictable! Unpredictable! Unpredictable!” Johnny Rodz chant after Clay Bellinger’s first career HR. Just never caught on.

The Pirates and Reds grappled in an absolute homerfest Monday in Cincinnati, launching an absurdly entertaining 10 long balls before rain halted the game after six innings. A half-dozen of those long balls came courtesy of Pittsburgh batters, leading the Bucs to adopt a new team celebration.

After years of the Dude, Where’s My Car-inspired Zoltan, ...

Astros To Promote George Springer

Good couple of weeks for UConn!

(Astros also demote the hapless Lucas Harrell.)

Top outfield prospect George Springer will join the Astros tomorrow, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter)...

Springer climbed up prospect rating boards after a monster 2013 campaign in which he hit a combined .303/.411/.600, and posted 37 home runs and 45 stolen bases, in 589 plate appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A. Entering the 2014 season, analysts rated Springer between 18th ...

Exposition:The Jonah Keri Mega Q&A

INSTREAM: Going back to the 1969 Staub trade, on Page 27 you talk about how Manager Gene Mauch “Went to meet with the Astros, leveraging contacts he had within the organization.” How difficult do you think it is for a GM or president to trade with other ballclubs in the absence of deep relationships? From 1976 to 1991, the Expos and Cincinnati Reds exchanged a total of 32 players. I know it’s 15 years and there’s a few GMs in there, but that’s a lot of trades.

JONAH KERI: That ...

Nightengale: Pujols nears 500 home runs…and no one seems to care

Could always ask Brad Lidge.

It’s sure getting harder and harder to impress us these days.

Here we are, on the brink of one of the most magnificent milestones in all of sports, and it seems nobody cares.

Just 25 men in Major League Baseball history have ever hit 500 homers in their lifetime, and here’s Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols ready to join them after hitting No. 496 on Monday night.

Yet it’s getting all of the acclaim of an NBA triple-double.

What has happened to us? ...Read More...

Repoz Posted: April 16, 2014 at 10:10 AM | 82 comment(s)
  Beats: angels, history

Verducci: Overuse of young pitchers fueling MLB’s Tommy John surgery problem

On MLB Network, Mitch Williams got so worked up arguing with Verducci over this…they’re still scraping Suavecito pomadesplosion residue off the walls.

What’s going on? Just in recent years, American teenage pitchers significantly have increased the intensity of two of the greatest risk factors for injury: Velocity and volume. And because of the growth in the travel/showcase model, the risks are only growing worse.

First, here is a basic understanding of how the arm works. It is “accepted ...

OMNICHATTER: Wednesday April 16, 2014

TBR, Odorizzi 12:35 PM
@BAL, Gonzalez

CHC, 1:05 PM
@NYY,

CHC, Wood 7:05 PM
@NYY, Pineda

CLE, McAlliste 7:08 PM
@DET, Sanchez

SEA, [bold]Hernandez[/bold] 8:05 PM
@TEX, [bold]Darvish[/bold]

BOS, Buchholz 8:10 PM
@CHW, Danks

KCR, Guthrie 8:10 PM
@HOU, Keuchel

TOR, Dickey 8:10 PM
@MIN, Pelfrey

OAK, Milone 10:05 PM
@LAA, Skaggs

PIT, Liriano 12:35 PM
@CIN, Cueto

STL, Kelly 1:10 PM
@MIL, Peralta

NYM, Gee 3:40 PM
@ARI, McCarthy
...Read More...

Minuteman News Center: Giandurco: This means WAR

If we don’t end WAR, WAR will end us! (trips over imported blunderbuss stand)

I have frequently argued how economic statistics do not always give an accurate appraisal of the current climate. The same happens in sports, at times. I’d like to demonstrate why a currently voguish baseball statistic is vastly misleading, in the hopes of engendering healthy skepticism in fields other than sports.

The statistic called “Wins Above Replacement,” or WAR, is considered the best all-around rating ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-16-2014

Toledo News-Bee, April 16, 1914:

One of [Toledo manager] Topsy Hartsel’s recruits, “Walter Clarkson,” almost put something over on the Mud Hen manager, before the boss started to get wise to his scheme.
...
Shortly after Topsy was appointed manager of the team he received a message from a pitcher, who said his name was Walter Clarkson and that he used to captain Harvard and play with the Yankees. Hartsel, who met Clarkson once with the Yanks, immediately signed him.

When he reported, Hartsel ...

Bud Selig calls replay start ‘remarkable’

Then again…Selig said the same thing about the ‘56 Renault Dauphine.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig says the sport’s new replay system is working well despite a few problems during its first two weeks.

While baseball began video review late in the 2008 season, it was limited to potential home runs and boundary calls. The new system that began March 30 vastly expands the types of plays that managers and umpires can ask to be reviewed at a replay center in New York.

Calls by umpires on the ...

Gothamist: Yankee Stadium Is Selling Nachos In A Helmet For $20

As Uncle Junior Kennedy once said…“Go shiit in your helmet!”

We don’t have a $25 cheese-stuffed corn dog but the Yankees are selling something equally expensive, caloric and incredible. Behold the Nacho Helmet, a behemoth portion of chips and florescent “cheese” served inside a plastic bowl shaped like a batter’s helmet. This concoction—which can also be enjoyed with seasoned ground beef, jalapenos, salsa and guacamole—costs $20. God bless America.

As someone with very little regard for ...

Joe Torre: John Farrell Will Be Fined By MLB For His Replay Criticism

Unfair to our rights! The hell with Cask’n Flagon call in Cliven Bundy!

Joe Torre, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations, told the New York Daily News on Monday that the Boston Red Sox manager will be fined for comments he made after Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees.

“I’m not going to suspend him. It will be a fine,” Torre said. “I’m sorry about what he said. What I try to do in whatever I do in this job that the commissioner has imported me to do is ...

NY Post: Davidoff: Why the Yankees are using the shift more than ever

Heading into Monday’s action, according to Baseball Info Solutions, the Yankees were tied with four other clubs — the Astros, Brewers, Cardinals and Athletics — with the major league-leading total of two team shift runs saved. Last year, the Yankees tallied three team shift runs saved for the entire season. [...]

The Yankees used the shift 475 times last year, and they’re already at 88 in 2014, second in the majors behind only Houston (137). If they keep this up, they’ll wind up ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-15-2014

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 15, 1914:

A Brooklyn magistrate paroled “Jake” Daubert of the Brooklyn National League club in the Coney Island Police Court [yesterday], so that his team might not be deprived of the services of its captain and first baseman on the opening day of the championship season.

Daubert was in court on a summons to explain why he violated the Sunday law relating to baseball…The magistrate told Daubert he could play with the Brooklyns against Boston [yesterday], but to ...

Kimbrel given night off with soreness in shoulder | braves.com: News

Oh. No!

Jedd Gyorko signs 5-year extension

What a gyood deal!

he San Diego Padres have signed power-hitting second baseman Jedd Gyorko to a five-year extension with a team option for a sixth season, the team announced Monday.

The deal is worth $35 million and includes a $13 million club option that could increase if an escalator clause in the contract vests, a source told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. It replaces a one-year deal agreed to last month and includes a team option for 2020. San Diego essentially buys out one year of free agency ...

Doug Glanville: I Was Racially Profiled in My Own Driveway

Its unthinkable that we still find instances of discrimination against former Phillies.

A police officer from West Hartford had pulled up across the street, exited his vehicle, and begun walking in my direction. I noted the strangeness of his being in Hartford—an entirely separate town with its own police force—so I thought he needed help. He approached me with purpose, and then, without any introduction or explanation he asked, “So, you trying to make a few extra bucks, shoveling ...

Cameron: Baseball’s New Strategy: Drop the Ball on Purpose

Setting the stage for a Brant Brown comeback?

This year, in an attempt to clarify the difference between a catch and a transfer on plays around the [second] base bag, MLB informed teams that a clean transfer from glove to hand was now going to be a required element in making a legal catch. No longer could a player argue that the ball was dropped on the exchange between glove and hand in order to retire the lead runner in a double play attempt…

However, this rule isn’t just being applied to ...

OMNICHATTER for April 14, 2014

Woah, almost forgot. Sorry, folks.

Calcaterra: “An embarrassing mishmash of fringe ranting and ill-informed, shrill bomb-throwing”

Thank heavens for BBTF/Primer.

My baseball blog has a comments section and always has. When it was small it was really great, but as it has gotten more popular and well-trafficked It’s become about 80-90% garbage. This used to bother me, but I’ve come to accept that, with comments, ######## are a feature, not a bug. A pretty important feature, actually.

I like having a comments section. For all the jerks, there are still people who will point out my errors in respectful fashion and ...

John Farrell: ‘It’s hard to have any faith in the [replay] system’

I sooo look forward to to every team having a Pelekoudas in the announcers booth explaining ####. #DOOM

“We felt that it was clear that the replay was inconclusive,” Farrell told reporters in New York. “The frustrating part is when this was rolled out and explained to us, particularly on the throw received by the first baseman, we were instructed that when the ball enters the glove, not that it has to hit the back of the glove, is where the out is deemed complete. At the same time, any ...