Hertzel: Catching up with Pete Rose

Pete Rose and the Tracer Alert Hall Of Fame.

He certainly knows something about Hall of Fame players, having had 10 as teammates throughout his career and having faced 20 Hall of Fame pitchers.

The first Hall of Famer he played with was Frank Robinson, the last Hall of Famer was Barry Larkin. Then there was Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Gary Carter, Mike Schmidt and Andre Dawson, along with Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson.

“I was hoping Dave Parker ...

Mark Cuban talks about commissioners

Cuban continued, “David is very self-aware. And I don’t think I can emphasize this enough: That’s a huge compliment when you tell someone in a position of authority that they’re self-aware. Look at Major League Baseball. Bud Selig has no self-awareness whatsoever. He goes on rants, he goes on missions, he takes people on. And he’s not self-reflective. I think David is the exact opposite. He will raise the hammer and be forceful, but if something isn’t working, he’ll back down.” ...Read More...

RLYW: Abracadabra: Bonds Vanished

Citizen Abra ~ POOF!

Why was Bonds disposable? He was too damn good, and an inconvenience, pursued by the government, convicted in the public eye by obviousness. He was a magician who had been exposed, but wouldn’t leave the stage. And his sorcery seemed strengthened, not diminished, by the cauldron choking everyone else. Bonds, so good, so great. Bonds was so good that nobody would have been surprised to discover Pujols was just a disguise created by Bonds. Yes, there we would be, at the ...

Baseball Analytics: Big Papi Refuses to Get Old

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington recently said that “the door will be open” for the club to discuss a contract extension with David Ortiz, who will pull down $15 million next season during the last year of his current deal. For most 38-year-olds who don’t contribute in the field and on the bases, the door would have slammed shut years ago. But Ortiz, fresh off a season in which he posted the best park-and-league-adjusted OPS (60 percent above average) among qualified hitters this side of Miguel ...

Engel: It’s started: The Curse of Nolan Ryan to haunt Rangers

Curse of 34.

The Curse of Nolan Ryan has shape-shifted into the form of Holland’s boxer, which may as well have been a billy goat. Time to get real. When the Rangers messed with Nolan, they tempted the baseball gods, a palindrome for dogs.

Holland did not just trip on Wrigley by accident. He could have named his dog “Yankee Stadium,” but he went with the ballpark of a team that made losing chic and profitable long before the Cowboys did.

There was something far greater at play here ...

Wired: Why Quants Don’t Know Everything

Michael Lewis’ Moneyball vividly recounts how the quants took over baseball, as statistical analy­sis trumped traditional scouting and propelled the underfunded Oakland A’s to a division-winning 2002 season.

. . . .

The reason the quants win is that they’re almost always right—at least at first. . . . The more a field is run by a system, the more that system creates incentives for everyone . . . to change their behavior in perverse ways—providing more of whatever the system is ...

Report: Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw nearing record extension

The previous high contract for a pitcher would be Justin Verlander’s seven-year, $180 million extension with the Tigers. According to Rosenthal, that could be dwarfed here. To wit:

Kershaw and the Dodgers discussed a variety of proposals early in the negotiations, including 10 years, $250 million and $12 years, $300 million, sources said.

Kershaw, 25, was 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA (194 ERA+), 0.92 WHIP and 232 strikeouts in 236 innings. He won the Cy Young for the second time in the past three ...

A-Rod’s Routine: A Day in the Life of a Major-League Doper

*Testosterone Lozenges (nicknamed “gummies”)*: “Sublingual” steroids are placed under the tongue. A-Rod was instructed to place a “troche” under his tongue just before game-time.

*Cream in the Morning, Cream at Night (nicknamed “pink food”)*: Two different types of “transdermal” creams, one applied in the morning and one in the evening—or “a combination of the two above creams applied in the evening.” Except on the days when drug tests were imminent! In April 2012, Rodriguez allegedly ...

Frank Thomas calls out Sammy Sosa, Skip Bayless in interview

Chicago, Now & Then!

Newly elected Hall of Famer Frank Thomas joined Jim Rome for an interview that will air in this month’s Jim Rome on Showtime beginning Wednesday night. In it, Thomas touched on multiple aspects of steroids use in baseball, including both his own doubts about the integrity of some of his colleagues and his distaste for media members questioning whether he used.

“I knew it was shady when Sammy Sosa hit 60 home runs,” Thomas said.”Sammy Sosa was my teammate for ...

Thibbs: How Did Last Year’s 5 Blank Ballot Submitters Vote in 2014?

E-bro gets corrected.

This year, one voter submitted a blank ballot according to the BBWAA. Was it the same anonymous voter as last year? Nobody knows except for that voter. It could be Chris Jenkins, who has yet to reveal his ballot this year in the San Diego Union Tribune or to me when asked via email.

The other three 2013 blank ballot submitters have revealed their ballots again this year:

  • Jorge Ebro told me via email that he voted for 6 players this year: Biggio, Glavine, Maddux, ...

Inquirer: Ruben Amaro vows to keep swinging

With a career .235 batting average…I’d advise him to stop.

Locally, there isn’t much optimism that a new bottle or two will be added to the shelf in 2014 and Amaro, the general manager during the team’s recent struggles, gets the brunt of the blame.

“I’m a human being and, yes, it [ticks] me off because I know our players are better than the perception,” Amaro said Tuesday as a misty rain fell on Pattison Avenue outside his office window. “The team we fielded the last third of the season was ...

ESPN: Cubs not surprised by mascot backlash

The Cubs unveiled “Clark”—a Cub bear—on Monday, and the reaction was swift as the mascot was depicted in unflattering terms on several social media outlets.

Half Joe Camel and a third Fonzarelli.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-15-2014

New York Evening World, January 15, 1914:

Something new in baseball. The Browns this spring will dwell in their own boarding house, passing up the hotels. A house with twenty-six rooms is being constructed, two stories high, and having “all the comforts of home,” at their training grounds at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Huh. That’s a very Branch Rickey thing to do. Anyway, their training grounds were just southwest of Coffee Pot Bayou and about two miles northeast of where the Rays play their home ...

Abraham: A-Rod attorney denies attacking Ortiz

UPDATE, 10:45 p.m.: Tacopina, via an email to the Globe, denied he was alluding to Ortiz in his comments. But he would not say who he was referring to.

It is unclear what other Boston athlete fits the description given by Tacopina.

...Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is one of the few major league players to voice support for Alex Rodriguez in recent months.

Ortiz took Rodriguez out for dinner in Boston late last season after the controversial Yankees third baseman was mercilessly booed at Fenway ...

Veteran Michael Young may retire

Seeing that the 3,000 hit club is no longer a sure-fire HOF mark…why hang around for another ten years?

Seven-time All-Star Michael Young is “strongly considering retirement” despite the interest of several teams in signing him, FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal reports .

“Young, 37, wants to spend more time at home with his wife and three sons,” Rosenthal reports. “That would be his reason to retire.”

The 2005 American League batting champion split last season between the Philadelphia ...

Dallas Braden, pitcher of 19th MLB perfect game, retires

Dallas, Goodbye Club

Former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday he is retiring from Major League Baseball after multiple surgeries have rendered his left shoulder a “shredded mess.”

The 30-year-old Braden is best known for authoring the 19th perfect game in Major League history on May 9, 2010—Mother’s Day—in a 4-0 Oakland victory over Tampa Bay.

“There is nothing left in there, it’s just a shredded mess,” Braden told the Chronicle. “I left my arm on the ...

R.B.I. Baseball 2014 coming to Xbox 360, XBox One, iOS, Android

Developed by MLBAM, endorsed by MLB. Don’t get too excited though, its actually developed by 2K studios and the guys who made MLB2K, who recently announced that they canceled that series.

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/423288921590468608

Bad move, Bud

Michael Weiner knew that PEDs were bad for the game, potentially worse for the user and worst for the non-user who’s struggling with the question “to do it” or “not do it.” Instead of squelching debate from within the union like Fehr did, Weiner protected potential users from themselves and allowed the staunch anti-PED player to have a loud voice. Bud Selig didn’t necessarily have the support of the players, Michael Weiner did. Weiner believed he negotiated a fair deal to rid the game of PEDs. ...Read More...

eddieot Posted: January 14, 2014 at 09:47 PM | 25 comment(s)
  Beats: 60 minutes, bud selig, a-rod, mlbpa, michael weiner, peds

ESPN: Jack Clark Wants Pujols Lawsuit Dismissed

A motion filed Monday on behalf of Clark seeks dismissal of the defamation lawsuit filed by Pujols in October. The suit followed comments Clark made on his St. Louis radio show, “The King and the Ripper Show,” in August. Among other things, Clark said he knew “for a fact” that Pujols was “a juicer.”
. . .
Clark and his WGNU-AM show co-host Kevin Slaten were fired within days of the comments, and the station’s owner broadcast a lengthy apology and posted similarly contrite statements on its ...

Mariners agree to one-year deal with catcher John Buck

His name is Buck.

The Mariners have agreed to a one-year contract with catcher John Buck, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The deal is worth $1 million.

Buck, 33, hit .219/.285/.362 (84 OPS+) with 15 home runs in 431 plate appearances for the Mets and Pirates… Buck will be tasked with backing up and mentoring young Mike Zunino with Seattle.

Stark: Bud Selig remains committed to retirement

“Part of his legacy is the establishment of the toughest anti-doping rules in all of American pro sports.”

Though many people in his sport are still skeptical, baseball commissioner Bud Selig told ESPN.com he is “100 percent” committed to retiring in a year and that he hopes to visit all 30 parks in his final season…

“I want to talk to season-ticket holders and fans,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of people to thank.”

That idea came about, he said, in part because several clubs reached out to him ...

Haudricourt: No new inductees for Brewers Walk of Fame

Whatever Happened to the Walk of Fame?  Here’s Gabrielle James’s five-step plan for revamping the process…

The Milwaukee Brewers announced yet another shutout in their annual Walk of Fame balloting on Tuesday…

Since 2007, only two candidates have been voted onto the Brewers Walk of Fame—Lew Burdette in 2010 and Johnny Logan in 2013…

Here are the voting totals:

Schoenfield: The 10 worst mascots ever

1. Crazy Crab (Giants)
2. Chief Noc-a-Homa (Braves)
3. Original Pirate Parrot (Pirates)
4. Twinkie the Loon (Twins)
5. Charlie-O (A’s)
6. Ribbie and Roobarb (White Sox)
7. Bernie Brewer (Brewers)
8. Dandy (Yankees)
9. Junction Jack (Astros)
10. Rootin’ Tootin’ Ranger (Rangers)

Jordany Valdespin quits Dominican team

Adam Rubin: “In fairness, Jordany Valdespin got upset because Ronny Paulino pinch-hit for him.”

Here’s MLB Nation with details of the ex-New York Met’s latest spat with authority:

Infielder Jordany Valdespin has decided to leave his team, Tigres del Licey, of the Dominican Winter League, reportedly infuriated after being pinch-hit for in a playoff game this past weekend. The news was first reported by Dominican radio show Grandes En Los Deportes (Spanish Twitter link), co-hosted by ESPN ...

Brisbee: The five creepiest mascots and the nature of pants

Smitty, your take?

Thurm: Rodriguez Arbitration Decision A Clean Sweep For MLB

And I thought this was fast stacking!

Wait a second. The Players Association argued that the maximum penalty was 50 games as a first violation, but that Section 7.G.2 provided the “governing framework”? And that Section 7.A. — which does contain the 50-100-lifetime penalty scheme — doesn’t apply when there has been “continuous use or possession of multiple substances”? Frankly, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, and it makes me wonder if the Players Association didn’t clearly ...

Verducci: New testing protocols could change game in fight against PEDs

The article goes into some depth about how biological passport testing works and how it’s a vast improvement over the old method.  I’m sure that it is, and I fully support MLB enhances its anti-doping efforts.  It’s a credit to Tom Verducci to research this and write a layman friendly article like this.

...but golly gee damn, sometimes I just wish we were talking about the merits of RBI and W-L.  Hopefully, as testing continues to improve as it seems to, doping will become ever ...

Jay Jaffe: Will Alex Rodriguez last more than one year on Hall of Fame ballot?

Rod Riguez lasted longer on the Billboard charts…

If Rodriguez is done in the majors, he would be eligible for the 2019 ballot. Assuming none of the other notables who announced that they would be hanging up their spikes — or at least considering it — decides to mount a comeback, the field of first-time candidates on that ballot would be headed by all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera and would also include two-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, Yankee-dynasty staple Andy Pettitte, and ...

Passan: Alex Rodriguez flails in his final, desperate swing

Guys, I’m serious, Neifi Perez is going to have a legacy.

When Neifi Perez tested positive three times in a short period for the same drug, it counted as three positive tests, even if it was for the same substance. Shyam Das, the arbitrator at the time, held that each positive test was a violation subject to separate discipline. This, union sources said, infuriated the MLBPA to the point that in the next round of collective bargaining, the joint drug agreement included a provision that a player ...

Rawlings expands its presence in Australia’s growing baseball market

Know Your Product!

“Australia continues to be a robust growth market for Rawlings,” said Kurt Hunzeker, senior director of global brand marketing for St. Louis, Missouri-based Rawlings.  “As a proud partner of the ABL since its inaugural year in 2010, Rawlings is committed to doing everything we can to help grow the game across the continent.  Coupled with Major League Baseball opening the 2014 Championship Season in Australia, Rawlings’ new partnership with Baseball Australia provides us a ...