Villani: Red Sox should lock up John Lackey while they can | Boston Herald

Make Lackey play out his contract. If he decides to retire, as has been hinted, the Red Sox still hold his rights.

Every facet delivers as Rays top Cardinals, 6-3 | TBO.com

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

Mark Moore: The Big Lie: Travel Baseball

Mom, we’re coming home…they’re throwing us a $3500 curveball.

In the summer of 2011, my son, Penn, attended a Baseball Factory showcase in Lebanon, Tennessee.  It was attended by around 75 high school players, and their goal was to be chosen for a larger showcase event in Atlanta – one that would be attended by college coaches and professional scouts.

The cost was minimal – $99 – and only involved about 2 hours.  It was the usual stuff – ground balls, fly balls, arm strength, speed in ...

Baseball Helps….Sometimes

Lindsey Adler, a BuzzFeed sports intern, noted that the unpredictability of baseball holds her attention as she has anxiety and depression. The simplicity of the game keeps it stress free for Adler.

“I’ve found baseball to be really effective in curbing my anxiety/depression,” Adler said. “Watching upwards of 150 games over the course of the season serves as a major distraction from my anxieties. It creates a routine for me, in which I spend approximately four hours every night ...

OMNICHATTER 6-12-2014

The “I’m Posting This Early So I Don’t Forget” OMNICHATTER

Why A Great General Manager Might Be Worth More Than Mike Trout

Billy Beane should have never written this Deadspin article.

The random effects model for free agent signings estimates that a single standard deviation of player-investing ability corresponds to a 40-percent difference in a team’s return on free agent investments. I calculate that the average team spent $47 million on players working under contracts they signed as free agents or extensions signed after landing free agent contracts in 2013. Forty percent of $47 million is just under $19 ...

What’s Behind Baseball’s Right-Handed Power Decline?

Although eight of the top 10 home run hitters in 2014 are right-handed, such success comes on the heels of some very fallow years, and it belies the larger trend. Only eight right-handed hitters reached 30 home runs in 2013, and only 36 hit 20 homers, both the fewest in a non-strike-shortened season since 1992. Only 11 righties posted a slugging percentage above .500 last year, also the fewest in any season since 1992. And even though the top of the current leaderboard is righty heavy, ...

The OMNICHATTER for 6-11-2014

The “Oh-Crud-Did-I-Forget-Yesterday” OMNICHATTER

Cole: 45 Years Ago Today: Maury Wills Returns to the Dodgers

Lover Come Back…indeed!

Today’s Dodgers don’t make headlines with trades as early in the season as June 11. Yesterday’s Dodgers did, and General Manager Buzzie Bavasi pulled off one such deal 45 years ago today, correcting the baseball injustice that had Maury Wills wearing something other than Dodger Blue for parts of three seasons: Bavasi acquired Wills and Manny Mota from the Montreal Expos for Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich on June 11, 1969.

Mota would go on to record a then-best-in-history ...

Video: Cespedes’ outstanding throw home | MLB.com

That’s a crazy good throw!

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-11-2014

Pittsburgh Press, June 11, 1914:

President Tener, of the National league, has advised all clubs to employ a megaphone man to announce the batteries and the changes in the line-up. This instruction is due to the practice of hooting at the umpire when making announcements, especially when the judge of play has incurred the displeasure of the bugs by giving a close decision against the home team. It is not a positive order, but clubs are urged to put an official announcer on their payrolls, with a ...

Rockies OF Gonzalez has tumor removed from finger

‘‘It helps explain some of the things that CarGo’s been dealing with and why that finger kept blowing up on him,’’ Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ‘‘It helps answer some of the questions we had about him.

I can only imagine how Michael Douglas thinks you get this type of cancer.

Cherington: Sox ‘going to get better’

I have complete confidence in my own decisions too.

Former cy Young awarrd winner Bob Welch passes away at 57.

Bob Welch, former Cy winner, has passed away at 57, #Athletics announce. Last night in Seal Beach, CA, cause of death unavailable

Baseball Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk charged with DUI

Carlton Fisk, one of the greatest catchers in Major League Baseball history, was charged with driving under the influence after driving into a cornfield in New Lenox, Illinois, police said Tuesday.

Robert Pawlisz of the New Lenox Police Department told CNN that Fisk, who caught in more than 2,200 games for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox, was treated and released from a hospital.

Fisk, 64, was also charged with the illegal transportation of alcohol and a lane use violation for ...

Slate: Baseball Has an Amazing Gay History. It’s Time to Recognize It.

Numbers can’t possibly begin to explain how a tremendously talented athlete would eventually be sidelined by vicious institutional homophobia. After coming out to his teammates and managers in 1978, Burke was reportedly offered $75,000 by Dodgers Vice President Al Campanis to enter into a sham marriage. When turning down the offer—more than $312,000 in today’s money—Burke wittily replied, “I guess you mean to a woman.” Unfortunately, Glenn Burke’s fearlessness would lead to his ...

Young fan struck by ground rule double, loves it - SBNation.com

He got the ball!

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-10-2014

Washington Times, June 10, 1914:

By getting a safety in the game which Philadelphia won from Pittsburgh by 3 to 1, John Henry Wagner, the grand old man of baseball, registered his 3,000th base hit as a major league player. Wagner’s 3,000th bingle was for two bases, and it came in the ninth inning, and resulted in a run for the Pirates.
...
The [Philadelphia] crowd cheered with as much honest vim and delight as if the hit had been a homer made by Cravath, Luderus, or Magee, of the home club. And ...

Gallo delivers walk-off in Double-A debut | MiLB.com

Joey Gallo debuts in AA with a big bang.

Video: Richards’ quality start | MLB.com

Garrett Richards, the best pitcher you don’t know.

Lonnie Baseball hit three home runs on Monday night | MLB.com

Lonnie Baseball has a big day.

How Sean Doolittle switched from first base to star relief pitcher. | SportsonEarth.com : Joe Lemire Article

Sean Doolittle’s odd path to the big leagues.

Gregory Polanco Scouting Report (2014)

Polanco is up.

Edit: Link fixed. Sorry.

Chris Dial appointed to SABR Board of Directors, replacing Fred Worth | SABR

Congrats to BBTF’s own Chris Dial who has stepped up to fill the void on SABR’s Board of Directors. SABR will never be the same.

Chris Dial of Durham, North Carolina, has been appointed to fill Worth’s remaining term, effective June 8, 2014. Dial, a SABR member since 1994, is a frequent contender in recent SABR Board elections. The term expires at the end of the Annual Business Meeting at the 2016 SABR convention.

OMNICHATTER 6-9-14

It’s a MONDAY OMNICHATTER.

Dirk Hayhurst’s Minor League Survival Manual

The GM Game is the prediction of the moves that will be made around the organization if YOU were the man in charge. It can look different depending on where you stand and how much information you have, but the above is how it looks if you’re a player.

Don’t play it.

The reason is, if you start trying to figure out why someone else got promoted and you didn’t, you’ll start to get bitter. Professional baseball, for all the joy associated with playing it, can be a very bitter place. ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-9-2014

Toledo News-Bee, June 9, 1914:

CHICAGO, June 9.—Big league managers looking for scrappy players would do well to investigate the Amateur Managers’ league.

Two fire companies and a squad of police were called early on Tuesday to help the A.M. league directors decide whether the Alamos or High Mountains won last Sunday’s game, in which mounted police suppressed a riot in the seventh inning.

While the league directors were in session on Monday night, volleys of rocks came through the windows. To ...

Jack O’Connell: Don Zimmer, a seat-of-the-pants baseball guy

Zimmer: Dating back to the dawn of baseball time in Hoboken.

In an interview I did with him about 10 years ago after he left the Yankees and began working as a consultant for the Tampa Bay club, Zim told me, “I don’t think I could manage today if it meant relying so much on statistics. Managing is more than just studying stat sheets. I was told that in Boston they had all the managerial candidates play a simulated game on a computer. Can you see me doing that? I would have had to bring my ...

Max Scherzer takes out insurance policy after turning down $144 million extension

It’s interesting to note that Boras’ research found that injuries to pitchers tend to decrease after they have pitched at least four years in the big leagues, and that position players are far more likely to break down due to their workload.

I wonder how far the Tigers could push this.  150 pitch starts?  Regular starts on three days rest?  Pitch him out of the pen between starts?  Obviously diminishing returns, but if he’s so eager to be out the door, let’s see how high we can ...

Kilgore - Did Jordan Zimmermann throw the best start in Nationals history?

Two Ns if you please!

Zimmermann has turned any worry about his performance into a quaint relic. He has thrown 17 scoreless innings in June. Sunday, he fired a 12-strikeout, two-hit shutout at the Padres. How is this for improvement: By one objective measure, it stands as the best start in Nationals history.

The linked article has a tabulation of the 16 best game score outings by Nationals pitchers.