Sherman - Statistical Revolution Is Killing The Next Generation Of MLB Fans

Joel Sherman remarked on Twitter:

I realize the pond I am swimming in on Twitter, where columns are so often misstated. For the record, in this piece I point out several times that modern stats are more revelatory and if I ran a team I would use them over the old stats in decision making.

The point is old stats were ligaments that connected generations and were easily digested, thus, tracked thru the course of a season/career. We changed to a better language, but the old language had great ...

Umpire Laz Diaz Picks A Fight With Bryce Harper Out Of Sheer Ego

This was dumb. The article has video.

Braves organist continues trolling Bryce Harper over impending free agency

Atlanta Braves organist Matthew Kaminski is famous for having fun at the expense of opposing players through is his walkup song selections.

Friday night was no different as the veteran jazz musician and ballpark entertainer continued picking on one of his favorite targets — Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper.

The source of Kaminski’s motivation this season has been Harper’s impending free agency. The six-time All-Star will enter the open market following his age 25 season, and ...

Buehler, Dodgers blank Cards to draw even in wild-card race

In a pivotal series for the Dodgers, rookie Walker Buehler came through with a masterful performance.

Buehler allowed two hits in eight innings, Yasiel Puig homered twice and Los Angeles drew even with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL wild-card race with a 3-0 victory on Friday night. The Dodgers also moved within one-half game of first-place Colorado in the NL West.

Buehler (7-5) pitched beyond the seventh inning for the first time and earned his first victory since Aug. 17. He retired the ...

Pete Rose: I can ‘barely walk or travel’ but he’s appearing tonight in Albany, NY, theater

Former Big Red Machine great and Hit King Pete Rose says in new divorce court filings that he is “in poor health and disabled.” The filing is the latest salvo in a bitter divorce struggle between Rose and his estranged wife, Carol.

TMZ Sports reported Friday that the 77-year-old Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer says in the documents it obtained that he “is currently disabled and can barely walk or travel.”

Yet Rose is scheduled to appear tonight at an Albany, New York theater where fans can hear ...

Weekend OMNICHATTER for September 15-16, 2018

Report: MLB looking into umpire’s bizarre interference in Mets celebration

Veteran umpire Tom Hallion has some explaining to do after seemingly attempting to block the New York Mets walk-off celebration on Thursday.

According to the New York Post, Major League Baseball officials are expected to question the veteran umpire for what writer Mike Puma termed an “apparent attempt to show up Todd Frazier” after Frazier launched the game-winning home run in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins.

The Mets obviously haven’t had much to celebrate in 2018. ...

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s gonna OMNICHATTER! for September 14, 2018

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-14-2018

Sid Mercer of the New York Globe, quoted in the El Paso Herald, September 14, 1918:

The greatest outfielder and the greatest first baseman have played their last games on the Polo Grounds. But how different are the circumstances of their exit! Tyrus Cobb passed out [of baseball] standing on the roof of the Detroit dug out as he made a plea for the sale of War Savings Stamps…Hal Chase is passing out under a cloud. The charges [of match fixing] against him may never be fully proved, but Chase has ...

Prospects who had big seasons in 2018

Someone for everyone.

As another season ends in frustration, Mariners are stuck in worst kind of limbo | The Seattle Times

Pessimism for the Mariners.

They have $122.5 million tied up in just seven players – Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Mike Leake, Dee Gordon, Jean Segura and Juan Nicasio – most of whom underachieved badly in 2018 for a variety of reasons.

They have few minor-league prospects on the horizon coming out of a farm system that continues to rank last in MLB in virtually every poll. And they play in a division with the Astros, who look to be elite for a few more years, and the A’s, ...

Red Sox, Nationals only teams on track to pay MLB’s luxury tax

NEW YORK—The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals are the only teams on track to pay baseball’s luxury tax this year, according to opening-day payroll totals compiled by Major League Baseball and obtained by The Associated Press.

Boston’s payroll at the start of the season for purposes of the tax was $233.9 million, which would cause the Red Sox to pay a $9.4 million tax. Washington’s payroll was $201 million, which would result in a tax of $1.2 million.

San Francisco was just below the ...

David Wright to suit up for Mets one last time

Fighting back tears at an emotional news conference Thursday, Wright announced he will return from a 2 1/2-year absence to start at third base on Sept. 29. He does not expect to play again after this month.

I bet he’ll get a pretty good ovation, and he deserves it.

Granderson triple bounces twice on HR marker

Curtis Granderson missed a home run by… a millimeter? It bounced on top of the stretchy nylon rope that separates the field from the basket where home runs can land. Then it bounced on top of the rope AGAIN and landed in play. Truly amazing.

Also, the Brewers look like the team to watch in the playoffs. We don’t get excited about these teams that suddenly add multiple short-term veterans who are hungry for a championship, because it might fall apart in the off-season, but the team and its fans ...

Baseball Video Game Directory - Arcade, Personal Computer

I haven’t gone through the whole list but I’m sure I’ve played a bunch of them. I’m currently down the OOTP rabbit hole.

Give OMNICHATTER some shelter, or it’ll fade away, for Sept. 13, 2018

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-13-2018

Washington Times, September 13, 1918:

When Leslie Mann, leader of the Chicago branch of the World’s Series Union of Professional Baseball Non-Workers and Non-Fighters, was hit on the leg with a pitched ball by Carl Mays, and fell to the ground, a fan in the stand at Fenway Park roared in stentorian tones:

“Cut it off!”

That’s how much sympathy there was in the crowd.

IMO, the “non-workers and non-fighters” thing was the better jab at the players. Maybe it really was a good idea to end the ...

A-Rod on Hall of Fame hopes: ‘I want to get in, I hope I get in, I pray I get in’

Alex Rodriguez has Baseball Hall of Fame numbers, but he’s no lock. Turns out, voters care about how those numbers were accumulated, and A-Rod is one of the few Hall of Fame hopefuls who served a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez, who has transitioned seamlessly into the broadcast booth, is aware that he has an uphill battle, but he still hopes and prays he gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A-Rod revealed that during an interview with Marvin R. Shanken of Cigar ...

Joe Maddon is angry with MLB over Cubs weather-impacted schedule

A stretch of bad weather has put the Chicago Cubs in a difficult position schedule wise, and manager Joe Maddon is not pleased with how Major League Baseball is handling the situation.

After taking on the Milwaukee Brewers in a critical division game Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, Maddon’s Cubs will grab their packed overnight bags for a quick trip to Washington D.C. for a makeup game against the Nationals.

The rescheduled game means the Cubs will have a stretch of 30 consecutive days in ...

Twins’ Joe Mauer To Consider Retiring After Season

What could lead Mauer to retire? His slip in production at the plate is one. The plight of the Twins — a roster makeover began at the trade deadline and will continue into the offseason — is another. So is family. He and his wife, Maddie, are expecting their third child around Thanksgiving. Mauer spoke of how busy he has been helping get his twin daughters ready for another school year. The events of May 11 also will be considered. That’s when Mauer, during a game in Anaheim, dived ...

J.D. Martinez has an Excellent Chance at the Triple Crown?—?but he’s not the AL MVP

Thought this was all settled in 2012? Think again.

Sometimes OMNICHATTER forgets about day games, for Sept. 12, 2018

WaPo: Tom Boswell: Juan Soto Has Been The Best Teenage Hitter Ever

Juan Soto’s superlative age-19 season finally getting some attention:

But right now, Soto has generated more offense than any teenager ever, according to FanGraphs, which puts his value at 29.2 runs. And Soto has done it in just 421 plate appearances. To compare, Harper was worth 16.8 runs in 597 plate appearances.

Ott holds many marks for 19-year-olds, but perhaps the most impressive is his on-base-plus-slugging percentage, the most widely-used catch-all offensive stat in baseball. Ott’s ...

Could Acuna win NL MVP Award as rookie?

For a while, I was riding the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter NL MVP Award bandwagon (if only because it serves great homemade salsa). Lately, it feels like Christian Yelich’s late-season push for the Brew Crew might be enough to propel him to the honor. But we’ve still got 2 1/2 weeks left, and that’s plenty of time for a hot hitter to leave a lasting impression. The assumption all along is that the NL MVP Award is going to be won with the benefit of a home-stretch surge.

Which brings us back to ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-12-2018

New York Sun, September 12, 1918:

It is over! The last signal has been given, the last strike called, the last ball thrown in professional combat until Uncle Sam slams an iron pill against the Kaiser’s rib for the greatest putout in the history of the world. The Boston Americans wound up the world’s series and league competition for the rest of the war as well [yesterday] afternoon at Fenway Park when they defeated the Chicago Nationals by 2 to 1.
...
And upon Max Flack—poor unfortunate Flack—is ...

Mets’ Jacob deGrom Sets Record With 26th Straight Start Allowing Three Runs or Fewer

There’s something of a weird everyman appeal to this story, though I’m reasonably sure deGrom wishes it wasn’t so.

If the Mets were searching for a silver lining this season, look no further than the play of ace righthander Jacob deGrom.

On Tuesday, deGrom registered his 26th straight start allowing three runs or fewer, surrendering just two runs across seven innings against the Marlins. The previous record was set by Leslie “King” Cole in 1908. It took 108 years for his mark to be topped. ...

A’s lose Sean Manaea to shoulder surgery at worst possible time

With just weeks to go before the postseason starts, the Oakland Athletics have lost their best pitcher. Sean Manaea will undergo surgery on his pitching shoulder Sept. 19. A’s manager Bob Melvin doesn’t expect to have Manaea back until after the 2019 season.

Prior to the injury, the 26-year-old Manaea posted a 3.59 ERA over 160 2/3 innings. Manaea initially went on the disabled list in late August due to a shoulder issue. After being examined, doctors determined he would need to have ...

Bruce Bochy meets with free-falling Giants ahead of 10th straight loss

I was expecting that the Giants doing as well as they were in relative terms wasn’t particularly sustainable- I just wasn’t expecting things to fall apart so completely so suddenly…..

SAN FRANCISCO — Bruce Bochy doesn’t like admitting that his team is out of the race no matter how many consecutive losses might pile up. He doesn’t like admitting that they’re playing poorly, and on three consecutive days he has talked about how many of the last 10 losses could have easily flipped the ...

Josh Donaldson hitless in Cleveland Indians debut, 2-0 win over Tampa Bay Rays

Looks like he made it after all.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Josh Donaldson went hitless in his Cleveland debut, Edwin Encarnacion reached 30 homers for the seventh straight season and the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 on Tuesday night.

Cleveland lowered its magic number to three for a third straight AL Central title. Second-place Minnesota was hosting the New York Yankees.

Acquired from Toronto on Aug. 31, Donaldson went 0 for 4 in his first big league game since May 28, a layoff ...

The Memorial OMNICHATTER! for September 11, 2018