Chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said Monday that the sale of small blocks of the team to minority investors is “going very well,” but he declined to offer any specifics about the progress.
The Wilpons are seeking multiple small shareholders to offset the loss of the planned $200 million minority investment from David Einhorn, which fell through Sept. 1.
Team sources previously told ESPNNewYork.com the Mets were looking to sell shares in varying amounts in the neighborhood of $15 ...
“It’s hard to be in baseball for 30-plus years and not have clashed with people,’’ says Lucchino. “But it’s one thing to be a forceful advocate for your franchise and it’s another to be a guy who accumulates enemies while doing that. I’m sure there are people with whom I disagree on a variety of issues, but I can’t think of too many personal enemies.’’
Lucchino clashes with many but CHB, longtime Globe hatchet man, is not one of them. The way he fawns over Lucchino is ...
After a two-year battle to keep the Dodgers through a bruising divorce and a bankruptcy filing, owner Frank McCourt appears close to agreement with Major League Baseball on a bankruptcy settlement in which he would agree to sell the team.
McCourt would get some control over the sale, people familiar with the negotiations said Monday. The purchase probably would include Dodger Stadium and the surrounding parking lots in a package that could command a record price of $1 billion or more.
JAMES THORPE, OF CARLISLE, GREAT ALL-ROUND ATHLETE
Football this season has brought into the public eye a young Indian student at the Carlisle school, who promises to become the greatest athlete the world has ever seen.
...
James Thorpe has broken all traditions by approaching world records in so many lines of activity that physical trainers are at a loss to account for his skillful feats of strength and endurance.
We predict the induction of Major League Baseball hitters and pitchers into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. We employ a Random Forest algorithm for binary classification, improving upon past models with a simplistic input approach. Our results suggest that the random forest technique is a fruitful line of research with prediction in the sports world. We find an error rate as low as 0.91% in ...
Buzz La Bissinger returns! (checks Sequel-Buzz for further info)
Whether you loved Tony La Russa, as many millions of fans did, or hated him, as far too many millions of fans did, the verdict on him is simple. In the aftermath of Monday’s surprising announcement, three days after his St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, that he was retiring after a 33-year managerial career, we might as well get the boilerplate of his legacy out of the way so there is no confusion:
Haven’t heard Jose Oquendo spoken about this eloquently since Bob Murphy used to sweetly caramelize it.
David Eckstein, the World Series MVP when the St. Louis Cardinals won it all in 2006, says the club should promote third-base coach Jose Oquendo to succeed retired manager Tony La Russa.
One big reason: An Oquendo hiring would improve the odds of Albert Pujols re-signing with the team.
“Albert would stay if Oquendo got the job,” Eckstein told FOXSports.com on Monday.
CC Sabathia isn’t going anywhere after all, not even to test the free-agent waters.
The Yankees ace announced personally Monday that he has agreed to a contract extension with the Yankees, and he will remain in New York. The terms of the deal are unknown at this point.
Many thought that Sabathia would at least excercise the opt-out clause he had in his contract that would let the big left-hander become a free agent this winter. Sabathia was set to make $92 million over the ...
A panel of ten analysts, listed below—including John Dewan, Peter Gammons, and Bill James—examined the 2011 seasons of every defensive player in Major League Baseball and then used the same voting technique as the Major League Baseball MVP voting. First place votes received 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, etc. A perfect score was 100.
SECOND BASE—DUSTIN PEDROIA, BOSTON RED SOX (97 POINTS)
Despite already having a ...
ESPN2 will televise the first-ever Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show – emanating from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight studio in Bristol – Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 10 p.m. ET. The one-hour telecast, hosted by Baseball Tonight’s Karl Ravech with analysts John Kruk and Barry Larkin (a three-time Gold Glove winner – 1994, 1995, 1996), will include the announcement of the 2011 Gold Glove Award winners and extensive highlights and analysis of the best defensive performers and plays during the MLB regular ...
Yes, Van Riper, but how do you propose to stuff a wild extra-large pinstriped bikini bottom?
But really, does it make sense to overpay for a 31-year-old with a weight problem when the money could be invested better elsewhere? The pickings for pitchers are a bit slim on this year’s free agent market, with the Rangers’ C.J. Wilson and the White Sox Mark Buehrle, a pair of borderline aces, the best available.
By next winter, though, things get more interesting. Scheduled to hit the free ...
The walls will be uniformly lowered to eight feet, with a new wall of that height being placed in front of the current 15-foot wall in left field, which some people have come to call the Great Wall of Flushing. About 100 seats will be placed in the gap between the walls in a design that would seem to mimic the several rows of seats that now sit atop the Green Monster in left field in Fenway Park.
In right-center field, the fences will be moved in so the distance from home plate will be 398 ...
Once the regular season ended, the Elias Sports Bureau took all players over the 2010-11 period, divided them into five groups for each league, and ranked them based on various statistics. Each player was labeled a Type A, B, or none. Those designations and the possible accompanying arbitration offers determine draft pick compensation. If a Type A free agent turns down an arbitration offer and signs a Major League deal elsewhere the losing team gets two draft picks, one of them coming from ...
The Hall officials somehow tracked down pieces of the jersey that was torn by Freese’s teammates as he crossed home plate and, thanks to a generous donation by the Cardinal hero, its next destination is a display case in Cooperstown.
But just as one artifact is added to the Hall’s impressive collection, another is apparently hitting the auction block in the Texas Rangers’ own backyard, at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas. Slated for sale in its November auction is yet another rare ...
“I’m the punk in the gutter
I’m the new president”
Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein met with manager Mike Quade in a lengthy meeting at the end of last week to discuss his status with the team, according to sources familiar with the situation.
In a get-to-know-you meeting, Epstein flew to Bradenton, Fla., along with general manager Jed Hoyer to talk to Quade.
The Cubs manager has one year and $1 million remaining on his two-year deal that he signed November, 2010.
As carsdfanboy just said…“Best manager in my lifetime and probably the past fifty years.”
The Cardinals announced this morning that manager Tony La Russa has retired after 16 seasons with the Cardinals.
“Tony leaves behind a legacy of success that will always be rememered as one of the most successful eras in Cardinals history,” chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said at the announcement. “I knew this day would come. I just hoped that it wouldn’t.”
A “world famous” Budweiser Clydesdale has a new name: Tony La Russa.
Anheuser-Busch announced on Sunday the naming of one of its famous horses after La Russa, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals manager who led his team through an epic playoff run this fall.
“Tony is one of the great managers in the long and rich history of Major League Baseball,” said Dave Peacock, president, Anheuser-Busch. “He’s delivered two championships and countless memories to an entire generation ...
and remember, my friends, past events such as these will effect YOU in the past!
Larry Lucchino joined WEEI in Boston with Dennis & Callahan to discuss why he personally believes the media is at fault for over-publicizing the Red Sox’s clubhouse problems…
Did he just say it was the media’s fault for publicizing the Red Sox clubhouse discord?
“Yeah, Callahan, I think for example it led you into a pathetically petulant and misleading article about John Henry. [Callahan: What was ...
The Chicago Cubs have picked up the one-year, $16 million option on Aramis Ramirez’s contract, but Ramirez will turn down the option and declare for free agency, according to his agent Paul Kinzer.
“We are very sorry that this era is coming to the end for Aramis and the Cubs,” Kinzer said. “He loves Chicago and the fans. They’ve been great to him, but at this point it’s better that we check out the market and address free agency.
12. 2000: 259.8 points. 61.3 World Series points, 66 LCS points, 132.5 LDS points.
Forty times, a best-of-seven postseason series has lasted exactly five games. Of those, the 2000 Fall Classic scores as the second-best, trailing only the 1988 World Series. Each game in the 2000 World Series was decided by two runs or fewer. It even had a ninth-inning comeback leading to a walk-off win in extra innings.
The LCS were 2000’s weak points. They weren’t bad, ...
Richard Justice, who covers the Astros for the Houston Chronicle, understands the dismay of fans like Mickey Marvins.
“Houston fans are comfortable with the National League,” says Justice. “They see the Reds and the Cubs and the Cardinals as their rivals, and they don’t want that to change.”
Those sound like sentimental objections, but in part – as Marvins suggests – they are based on a love of the game as it’s only played in the National League, without the designated hitter. ...
1) Jacob Turner, RHP, Grade A-: I think he could use some additional Triple-A exposure, but the Tigers may have different ideas. I don’t see him as a number one Verlander-like ace, but more like a durable workhorse number two.
2) Nick Castellanos, 3B, Grade B+: I’d like to see his strikeout rate come down, but overall he had a successful season after the rough first month. Will he develop more home run power at the expense of batting average?
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30.—At a meeting of the board of directors of the Washington American League Baseball Club today Clark Griffith, manager of the Cincinnati National League team, was unanimously selected as manager of the Washington team to succeed James McAleer, now part owner of the Boston Americans.
...
There was a slight possibility of Griffith also becoming president of the Washington baseball organization. It is well known that he had sought to ...
Left-hander CC Sabathia plans to opt out of his long-term contract with the Yankees by the Monday night deadline and become a free agent, SI.com has learned.
Sabathia, 31, has four years worth $92 million left on his current seven-year, $161 million deal but has the option—until midnight Monday—of voiding the final four years.
The Yankees have already made a new contract offer to Sabathia and remain the favorites to keep him, although the Cubs, Rangers, Tigers, Blue Jays and Cubs are also ...
Hey, that’s more than Javy Lopez got for 57 homers and two All-Star games!
The Giants have agreed to a two-year, $8.5 million contract with reliever Javier Lopez, who will receive $4.25 million per in 2012 and ‘13.
The deal, first reported by The Associated Press on Sunday afternoon, has yet to be officially announced by the team.
Since coming to San Francisco via a trade from the Pirates during the Giants’ 2010 World Series championship run, Lopez has posted a 7-2 record and a 2.38 ERA in 97 ...
The sprawling eastern Iowa cornfields made famous by the movie “Field of Dreams” are being sold to a company that will preserve the site’s baseball legacy, the owners announced Sunday.
Don and Becky Lansing said they have accepted an offer from Mike and Denise Stillman and their company, Go the Distance Baseball LLC, which will develop the site near Dyersville as a baseball and softball complex. A purchase price was not disclosed.
“We worked hard to maintain its wholesome allure, and our ...
Hey, unlike Bill Madden…at least Bob Schieffer still loves baseball.
I love college football (especially TCU football), and I like golf. But when people start talking about golf as if it were some religious experience I say, not quite: That’s why we have baseball.
And the just-ended World Series is the latest proof that baseball is the greatest game of all.
...One game like a picture painted by an old Master, all beauty, skill and perfection. The next like an old Abbott and Costello movie - ...
Asked by a reporter to name the top home run hitting team of the 2010s, I offered the Padres. Granting that it was a capricious choice, it has as good a chance of being right as anybody else I can think of.
Here are the top batting averages on bunt hits for players with 10 or more successful bunt hits:
2011 Bunt Hit Leaders
Player Bunt Hit Results Batting Average
Brett Gardner, NYY 11 for 18 .611
Emilio Bonifacio, Fla 16 for 27 .593
Peter Bourjos, LAA 17 for 29 .586
Corey Patterson, Tor/StL 10 for 19 .526
Alexi Casilla, Min 10 for ...
