[OTP-Dec 2013] Toronto Sun: Politics, baseball and Star Trek 2

When I read Aristotle’s ethics in undergrad it initially struck me as odd that one of the later chapters was on friendship. Why include such a frivolous topic in a book of such gravitas?

But it soon became clear to me the reason we debate, for example, roads and public transit isn’t because there is some inherent value in it. But because it gets us to work, or to the baseball game. Politics has no inherent value. Enjoying baseball and beer with friends on a weekend afternoon does.

This is ...

Tangotiger: Jack Morris will make the Hall of Fame

And probably Lee Smith will as well.

The player with the highest share of ballots to not (eventually) make the Hall of Fame was Gil Hodges, at 63% of votes at his peak.  Jack Morris received 68% last year.  He’d be the new leader.  But he won’t be for long, because the Veteran’s Committee will vote him in eventually.

After Hodges (*), second place is Tony Oliva at 47%.  Do you know what this means?  It means it’s completely ridiculous to make a player need 75% of the votes.  As soon ...

Murray Chass On Baseball: VOTE DELAYED IS STILL A VOTE

Bacne-of-the-envelope miscalculation.

The packet of information for the writers’ vote for the Hall of Fame arrived in the mail, and if it had included an actual ballot, I would have immediately marked an X next to Jack Morris, whose name appears for the last time of his 15-year eligibility.

(Omission of the ballot was to be rectified this week.)

The 254-game winner received 67.7 percent of the vote a year ago, the highest of his 14 years, but he was 42 votes short of the number he needed ...

Gammons: The new generation of shortstops

Now, as we (hopefully) ease out of the so-called Steroid Era into what Bud Selig hopes is simply the return to real baseball era, there are six young shortstops we will likely see arrive this season that could soon make this a golden era at the position.

–One, the Rangers’ Jurickson Profar, will probably play second base and team with Elvis Andrus, who in case you missed it, had the fourth best Wins Above Replacement of any shortstop in 2013. “His instincts and hitting skills should make ...

Balasis: Wilpon’s Brick and Mortar Failure

And here I thought Baseball Bill Denehy had a lot of rage…

In Fred Wilpon’s almost quaint and tragic desire to restore an Ebbets Field to the N.Y. landscape, his dream of building a new stadium resulted in the debt riddled quagmire he’s still mired in. He assumed property would always appreciate, he believed cash would always be at the ready, he predicted everything would work as it had during his real estate heyday, but not only did he assume wrong on every one of those counts, he lost ...

Twins sign Phil Hughes for $24 million over three years

Phil Hughes will join Ricky Nolasco in a rebuilt Twins rotation, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, agreeing to a three-year, $24 million contract on Saturday.

Hughes, the winter’s youngest free agent at age 27, is coming off a rough season in which he went 4-14 with a 5.19 ERA in 29 starts and one relief appearance for the Yankees. Getting out of Yankee Stadium and it’s shallow right field porch should do him a whole lot of good, though it’s not like ...

BtBS: Replacing setup men with “openers”

Starting pitchers aren’t as effective a couple of times through the order, bullpens are getting bigger, and outings are getting a little bit shorter. It’s all part of the continuing shift in baseball away from the rotation, and toward the bullpen.

So let’s stop burying the lede and get it out of the way: I think it couldn’t hurt for teams to experiment with a new bullpen role. We’ve got closers ... I think there’s a good reason at this point to add in the role of the “opener.” ...Read More...

bobm Posted: November 30, 2013 at 05:23 PM | 31 comment(s)
  Beats: bullpen, pitching, rotation

Hall of Stats: The Interactive 2014 Hall of Fame Ballot

This is my fourth year creating the Interactive Hall of Fame ballot—a ballot with “bullseye” visualizations of every player on the ballot. You can drag the visuals around to compare players to each other.

The outer ring represents Wins Above Replacement (WAR, or an approximate measure of the player’s career value) while the inner ring represents Wins Above Average (WAA, or an approximate measure of the player’s peak value).

Mitchell: Jhonny Peralta and PED Inconsistency From Major League Baseball

Or as Hochman rabbled…“There are a lot more Aardsmas than Peraltas.” Gee, not according to my census book.

Peralta’s signing also indicates that the Cardinals believe that Peralta not only has served his time, so to speak, but that he is capable of performing at a high level even without the steroids. After all, Peralta will face a 100 game suspension if he tests positive again. If Peralta can perform as he has in his better years, this will be a good signing for the Cardinals, but if he ...

Newhan: The 2014 Hall Ballot: Another Blessing

Even old hand Newhan is having trouble with his HOF ballot.

Eligible Hall voters can select 10 players from a ballot of 36.

            I have never reached 10, but 2014 could prove an exception.

            Without being totally definitive at this point, there’s Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Kent, Mussina, Biggio and my ongoing support of Mike Piazza, in his second year of eligibility, and Jack Morris, needing to jump from 67.7% in his 15th and last year of eligibility.

          ...

Rodriguez: Hechavarria wrong when it comes to going right

HECH!...“According to Baseball Info Solutions, part of the reason the athletically-gifted Adeiny Hechavarria grades out poorly in some defensive metrics is he doesn’t cheat to the hole enough.”

If numbers don’t lie, anyone who hasn’t seen Adeiny Hechavarria play shortstop might think he uses a milk carton for a glove. The eyes say Hechavarria was worthy of Gold Glove consideration. His defensive metrics suggest otherwise.

“I know zone rating,” President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill ...

MLB, MLBPA joint drug report shows Adderall use rising in baseball

Adderall!

Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association released a joint drug report on Friday, covering the 2012-13 season. Here is the text, courtesy of Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:

  The report covers from the 2012 offseason to the end of the 2013 Major League Baseball post-season. The report is specific to Players who compose forty-man rosters for Major League Baseball Clubs.

  1) The total number of drug tests that were conducted for the presence of ...

Royals, GM Dayton Moore Agree to Two Year Contract Extension

Imaginary World Series- completed. Real World Series…?

Since taking over KC, the Royals have had a total record of 552-685 and have yet to make the playoffs or place higher than third in the AL Central.

Gammons: Marlins looking for third, second and catching help

The Marlins have a wealth of young pitchers, starting with Jose Fernandez and 2012 first pick Andrew Heaney, and are presently looking for third base, second base and catching help, as well as some veterans to fill some leadership voids. They have discussed former Dodger second baseman Mark Ellis, who has also been the radar of the Tigers. Despite the fact they drafted former North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran with the sixth pick in the 2013 draft, they approached the Red Sox about their ...

TSL: MLB’s 2014 Hall Of Fame Ballot Was Announced

You know…the one where Jayson Stark is a “funny style cats who need to get a life”.

Lee Smith : Characters of the game have always been embraced by baseball culture. Smith was that and then some. When Smith retired, he was also the leader in career saves with 478. He since has been passed by Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera but still ranks third. Smith reached that number by flexing supreme durability. His 12 straight seasons with at least 60 appearances is still the longest streak in MLB ...

Connolly: Will Rafael Palmeiro fall off the Hall of Fame ballot?

Rafael: La disputa.

The reason is pretty obvious. His failed drug test in 2005 made him a poster boy for cheaters, though he’ll always contend that a tainted vial of liquid vitamin B-12 was responsible for the steroid stanozolol ending up in his system.

Hall of Fame voters didn’t buy that excuse, or they didn’t care. In his first year of eligibility, Palmeiro received 64 votes and was named on 11 percent of all submitted ballots. In 2012, he got a slight bump, to 72 votes and 12.6 ...

Chass: A DIFFERENT LABOR CHIEF

The children “adored” Michael Weiner, the retired rabbi related. That would be Mr. Weiner the Sunday school teacher. He was also the fellow who headed the baseball players’ union until his death from brain cancer Nov. 21, but it’s highly unlikely that many of his union members knew him as the teacher of fourth and fifth graders at the Jewish Center of Northwest Jersey in Washington, N.J.michael-weiner-225

Rabbi Ellen Lewis, who recently retired after 19 years at the temple, told me ...

Ted Lilly To Retire

Theodore Roosevelt will no longer be the man in the arena.

Also, another Expo down…

Left-hander Ted Lilly’s comeback attempt has stalled due to persistent shoulder and back pain, and the 15-year veteran is set to announce his retirement from professional baseball, he told Andreina Salas Guzman Venezuelan news outlet El Universal (Spanish link)...

Lilly, 37, recently had nerve endings in the right side of his neck cauterized in an attempt to alleviate neck pain that had been hampering his ...

Murray Chass: MISERABLE METS THREATEN CLUBS’ SCHEME

The New York Mets think they are so smart, but they are really so dumb. The Mets, playing a late-season version of the major league service time manipulation game, cheated shortstop Ruben Tejada out of a day on the major league roster when they recalled him from the minors in September.

While other minor leaguers they called up at the same time joined the Mets immediately, the Mets told Tejada to stay in his New York apartment and they would let him know when they wanted him at Citi Field. ...

Ed Sherman: Will scumbag who sold Hall of Fame vote to Deadspin actually reveal identity?

Dunno about that…but Jack O’Connell probably just rushed out and bought a load of Church & Dwight Co. stock!

Oh really? A person actually is going to step forward and explain why he/she took on this noble crusade?

I’d be surprised if that occurs. The criticism already is fairly intense. Labeling this voter a “scumbag” actually is fairly tame considering what is being said elsewhere.

Also, if this voter was so intent on exposing the process, why did he/she have to sell the vote to ...

Baseball free agents interested in Mets inquiring about big Citi Field dimensions, reps say

Curse of dimensionality strikes again!

The Mets may have changed the dimensions of Citi Field, but they have yet to change its reputation. The cavernous park was altered after the 2011 season, the outfield walls brought in closer to home plate, but the perception that it is a park where power hitters go to die at the warning track is seemingly still out there.

Two agents representing players the Mets have talked to this offseason admitted privately that the ballpark’s reputation is ...

Twins Agree To Terms With Ricky Nolasco

Everyone’s so agreeable lately!  ‘Tis the season, I suppose.

The Twins have agreed to terms with right-hander Ricky Nolasco, according to Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (Twitter link)... Nolasco split the 2013 season between the Marlins and Dodgers, totaling a 3.70 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 43 percent ground-ball rate. The soon-to-be 31-year-old was one of the earliest players to be moved this July… terms of the deal haven’t surfaced at this time

Parra re-signs with Reds

Parra jacks.

MLB.com has confirmed that Reds left-handed reliever Manny Parra is back with the Reds after he signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract on Wednesday. Parra will earn $2 million in 2014 and $3.5 million in 2015. He has already passed his physical.

The Reds have yet to make an announcement. (UPDATE: It could be a while until we hear this announced. With the 40-man roster being full, a corresponding move is needed to take someone else off to make room for Parra.)

Jon Heyman of ...

Bill Madden talks about Deadspin buying a HOF vote on Legends of Baseball (audio)

Sweet selector shafts! I haven’t heard Bill Madden this pissed off since It Pays to Be Ignorant got cancelled back in ‘51!

Bill Madden, Hall of Fame voter from the New York Daily News, talks to Chris Russo on Mad Dog’s Legends of Baseball about Deadspin buying a Hall of Fame vote on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.

Thanks to Marchman.

Here’s a Picture of A-Rod’s Accuser With Two Baggies of an Unidentified White Powder

Chi Chi Olivo, get the yeyo!

A-Rod’s legal team is hoping to ding the credibility of Tony Bosch, the main witness accusing their client of using steroids, by showing that the anti-aging clinic proprietor used cocaine.

There’s little doubt that without Bosch, Major League Baseball’s case against Alex Rodriguez falls apart. Bosch claims to have delivered performance-enhancing drugs to A-Rod, the three-time MVP accused by pro baseball of using banned substances and now fighting a 211-game ...

Ryan Braun addresses media about PEDs

Braun answers all the pertinent questions!

Why did you lie?

“Obviously I’ve been through a lot and as I expressed in my statement that I felt was pretty lengthy and specific, I got into a lot of details at that point. I’m not really going to go into any further details….

What was worse in your opinion, using PEDs or lying about it after the fact?

“As I’ve stated, the goal for me is just being able to move forward. I’m not going to get into too many specifics about what happened ...

Lou Brissie, an All-Star and War Hero, Dies at 89

Lou Brissie, who suffered devastating leg wounds in World War II but went on to become an All-Star pitcher with the Philadelphia Athletics and a symbol of perseverance for the disabled, died on Monday in Augusta, Ga. He was 89….

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1944, he was slogging through the Apennines in northern Italy with his platoon when a German shell exploded beside him. Fragments broke his right foot, injured his right shoulder and shattered the shinbone of his left leg into more than 30 ...

Granillo: The slippery slope of the Selig era

At this point, interleague play is no longer a novelty or an experiment. It is an absolute fact of the baseball schedule and will be around for the rest of time. Luckily, I won’t.

Instant Replay

First introduced: September 2008 (though umpire Frank Pulli used it once in 1999)

The slippery-slope argument: “Replay will ruin the game! It’ll slow everything down! They’ll get rid of the human element! Tony Tarasco deserved what happened to him! What’s next? Replay on plays in the field? Robot ...

‘Baseball Wives” Anna Benson speaks to Dr. Phil about guilty plea

Dr. Phil and Anna Benson, now there’s a pair that will beat a full house.

Anna Benson, wife of former Major League Baseball pitcher Kris Benson, has chosen the Dr. Phil talk show as her first venue to discuss her plea deal after she was accused of aggravated assault and weapons charges in a bizarre home attack in July.

Baseball America: 2014 Colorado Rockies Top 10 Prospects

Dahl: Powertrip.

TOP 10 PROSPECTS

1. Jonathan Gray, rhp
2. Eddie Butler, rhp
3. Rosell Herrera, ss
4. Kyle Parker, 1b/of
5. Chad Bettis, rhp
6. David Dahl, of
7. Tom Murphy, c
8. Ryan McMahon, 3b
9. Trevor Story, ss
10. Raimel Tapia, of

The Rockies have continued to develop solid role players around star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and left fielder Carlos Gonzalez. In 2013, Nolan Arenado led the way as he became the first NL rookie third baseman to win a Gold Glove award, and he kept his head ...