Tigers pitcher Evan Reed investigated for sexual assault in Detroit

My Fox Detroit reports that Detroit Tigers right-hander Evan Reed is being investigated by police for involvement in a sexual assault March 30, the day before the team opened the 2014 season at Comerica Park. Detroit police confirmed that a complaint has been made and they’re in the process of interviewing the alleged victim. A full investigation is expected to take perhaps two weeks.

The Tigers released a statement calling the allegation “very serious” and “concerning,” but would not add a ...

Steinberg: Braves announcers on Bryce Harper

Announcers think Harper is kicky!

If my math is correct, the Braves and Nats have played three times this season. And in all three of the Atlanta broadcasts on Fox Sports South, the Braves announcers managed to take cracks at Bryce Harper.

I didn’t watch the entire Atlanta broadcasts — just segments, after fans highlighted individual cracks. I can’t promise this is a comprehensive cataloging.

...First, Caray and Joe Simpson discussed Harper’s offseason during an early-game at-bat, ...

Bill James Mailbag - 4/4/14 - 4/7/14

But Eckstein was a clubhouse lawyer...

The issue with the fielding is mostly tied to the spread that the system will estimate. For example, the 114 fielders in 2013 with at least 1000 innings, and including the “positional adjustment”, Fangraphs has those players with one standard deviation = 10.7 runs. http://tinyurl.com/fangraphsFLD2013 I presume that Win Shares is going to be less, probably half of that. So, if Fangraphs has [Manny] Machado at +34 runs, [Andrelton] Simmons at +32 and [Carlos] ...

Team exec thinks shortening games to seven innings is what baseball needs

Better idea: How about we actually enforce the rule where it’s automatically a ball if the pitcher hasn’t thrown it in whatever-amount-of-time-it-is?

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-7-2014

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 7, 1914:

Armando Marsans, the Cuban outfielder, who was ordered out of a game with Louisville last week by Manager Herzog, of the Cincinnati team, and who refused to play in games since then, had a long conference with Herzog [yesterday] and will rejoin the team [today] if a game can be played.

Marsans had been quoted as saying that he would jump to the Federal League or return to Havana.

As I mentioned last week, Marsans was a second-tier star at this point. In ...

Weisman: Where are the Matt Kemp doubters tonight?

The Ghost of Matt Kemp…no more. He looks lively!

The tweets and comments you would see ridiculing Matt Kemp over the past year and a half were predictable, given the wave of negativity that can flourish online, but still plenty vexing.

Kemp would get torched for not being productive enough, regardless of how healthy he was. He would get torched for struggling to stay healthy at all.

His track record, seemingly, was worth nothing. The “What have you done for me lately?” gang never had it ...

Jeffrey Maier: How Catching a Derek Jeter ‘Home Run’ Changed My Life Forever

NOTE: Insert GIF of Jeffrey Maier, 2.0 dude.

As I write this, Derek Jeter is about to embark on his 18th season in the big leagues.  He has won five world championships, amassed over 3,300 hits and has created a legacy that all young players strive towards.  In addition, his attention to raising money and awareness through his Turn2 Foundation has impacted the lives of thousands of children.

While the shortstop position will be filled and someone new will stand between second and third base ...

Perrotto: Taillon to undergo Tommy John surgery

One of the ball-of-fire Pirate announcers said that…“30% of pitchers today get Tommy John surgery and in the future all pitchers will have it done.”

Jameson Taillon won’t be joining the Pirates as a midseason reinforcement to their starting rotation.

In fact, the organization’s top pitching prospect won’t even be in the Pirates’ rotation at the start of next season.

The 22-year-old right-hander will undergo Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery that will force him to miss the ...

OMNICHATTER for APRIL 7, 2014

Today’s games are….

Orioles (Jimenez) at Yankees (Kuroda)
Angels (CJ Wilson) at Astros (Cosart)
A’s (Kazmir) at Twins (Correia)
Reds (Cingrani) at Cardinals (Wacha)
Padres (Erlin) at Indians (Kluber)
Rangers (Scheppers) at Red Sox (Lackey)
Rays (Moore) at Royals (Vargas)
White Sox (Paulino) at Rockies (Lyles)

Reagan Library Opens Baseball Exhibit

You have 5 months to enjoy exceptionally rare baseball artifacts in Unseemly Valley, California. The article makes it sound enticing.

First Reviews Confirm Replay as a Strategy, Not a Cure-All - NYTimes.com

Watching a manager come out and just stand around with an umpire is very irritating. Baseball already had a problem with pace. This just makes it worse.

On close plays, managers have gone out to talk to the umpires, essentially stalling as team video technicians studied the play. Coaches have then signaled to the manager about whether to formally challenge. Yet of the first 20 reviews, only eight were overturned.

40% of challenged plays have been overturned? I’d say La Russa’s comments are ...

Gregg Zaun isn’t afraid of ruffling a few feathers - The Globe and Mail

Ouch!

As far as the team not always playing the game the way it should be played, can you give an example of the Jays playing the wrong way?
The fact that a guy like Anthony Gose can’t [use his speed to hit] .300 speaks volumes to me about what’s going on in the minor leagues. The fact that he doesn’t spend an hour a day in the batting cage with a coach, whether it’s by his design or whether they have to grab him by his shirt collar. The Jays don’t draft well and they don’t develop ...

ESPN: Jeter Passes Molitor For 8th On All-Time Hit List

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter gained sole possession of eighth place on baseball’s all-time hit list with two hits in the first four innings Sunday against the Blue Jays, giving him 3,320 career hits and moving him one ahead of Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.

That also makes Jeter the leader for career hits by a right-handed American League hitter.

FiveThirtyEight: The Historic Rarity of a Double Bracket-Buster NCAA Championship Game

“Connecticut and Kentucky entered the NCAA tournament as No. 7 and No. 8 seeds. Participants in the ESPN Tournament Challenge weren’t wild about the Wildcats or the Huskies. Just 2.1 percent of them picked Kentucky to make it to the finals and just 0.4 percent had Connecticut. Tomorrow, these two teams will compete for the national championship. Just how unlikely is this bracket-busting matchup?

The question is a little trickier to answer than you might think….”

Newsday: Ike Davis could be answer for Yankees

Commenter: “they should have drafted a lot more mat harvey’s”

The Yankees and Mets haven’t made a trade since 2004 (Mike Stanton to the Yankees, Felix Heredia to the Mets).

But this is one that would make sense for both teams: Ike Davis to the Yankees. Dellin Betances to the Mets.

That’s just an idea for starters. It doesn’t have to be Betances. But he’s the hard-throwing young bullpen arm the Mets desperately need. The Yankees need a first baseman after the increasingly brittle Mark Teixeira ...

TBT: Rays sign Yunel Escobar to two-year extension

Though Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman said a driving force of the offseason plans was keeping the infield intact, extending SS Yunel Escobar wasn’t on his radar.

As much as the Rays love Escobar, he was under contract through 2015 (a favorable $5 million club option). But Escobar, 31, approached Friedman a few weeks into spring training and made clear his “strong desire” to stay longer.

...

Friedman said the team took a “calculated risk” on Escobar, who was suspended for three games in ...

Bill Madden: Unprecedented rise in strikeouts is sapping power and fun out of game

Bill Madden probably hasn’t been this upset since the untimely death of Oscar Randolph Fladmark Jr.!

If you’re among the ever-dwindling Mets fan base grown weary of watching your Flushing lads striking out in record numbers while killing rally after rally in what has too often been unwatchable baseball, there is this consolation: You are not entirely alone.

In fact, what we are seeing in baseball — the huge spike in strikeouts accompanied by an alarming, steady decline in runs and homers ...

OMNICHATTER for April 6, 2014

Today’s games:

Minnesota (Nolasco) at Indians (Masterson)
Yankees (Sabathia) at Toronto (Hutchison)
Baltimore (Tillman) at Detroit (Verlander)
Cincy (Simon) at Mets (Niese)
SD (Kennedy) at Miami (Eovaldi)
Atlanta (Alex Wood) at Washington (Jordan)
Milwaukee (Gallardo) at Boston (Lester)
St. Louis (Wainwright) at Pittsburgh (Volquez)
Texas (Darvish) at TB (Cobb)
White Sox (Sale) at KC (Shields)
LA of Anaheim (Jered Weaver) at Houston (Feldman)
Philly (Burnett) at Cubs (Villanueva)
Seattle ...

Fighting Over the Field of Dreams

Its this heaven? No, its a zoning board hearing.

Filming ended in early August. Renamed Field of Dreams, the movie opened 25 years ago this month, in just 22 theaters nationwide. Mary Ungs-Sogaard, the publisher and general manager of the Dyersville Commercial, attended the premiere in Dubuque, as did others from the area. “Oh gosh, no, we didn’t think it would become big,” she says now, sheepishly. The “love letter to Iowa,” as Jarvis describes it, quickly reached the box-office top ...

Barry Tompkins: When did opening day at the ballpark get so pricey?

And we have a new era in get off my lawning!

SO, ARE YOU going to the Giants’ home opener on Tuesday? If so, make sure you bring your suntan lotion, panda hat, scorecard and — if you must — that big sponge rubber orange finger declaring that the home team is No. 1. Oh, and one more thing: A bucket full of cash that numbers somewhere around the national debt.

This is not your father’s opening day, kids. This is baseball circa 2014, where the leaguewide average price for a family of four to ...

NY Post: Davidoff: High cost of Citi visits helping to keep Mets fans away

the Mets — whose attendance has dropped each of the past five years — own the 19th-largest payroll in the game ($91,849,508) and they charge the seventh-highest price for a family experience at the ballpark. [...] At No. 19 on payroll and No. 7 on FCI, let’s call that a minus-12 rating, right? That ranks as the fourth-worst in baseball. Lower than the Mets are the Marlins (29 and 9, for minus-20), the Cubs (22 and 3, minus-19) and the Astros (13 and 30, for a minus-17). It’s no ...

Braun: ‘Counterproductive’ to play right now

A nicer guy, etc.

Here’s a transcript of what Ryan Braun had to say about his absence from the Brewers’ lineup today because of a mixture of pain and numbness in his right thumb…

Is the trouble the pain? That he can’t grip the bat? Can’t feel it?

“All of the above,” Braun said. “The analogy is like, if you touch a hot stove, no matter how badly you want to keep your hand there, the natural reaction will be to take your hand off of it. That’s kind of what happens every time I ...

Fred Claire: New Zealand could be field of dreams

“Weird Culture Weird Custom”

New Zealand needs to get a team operating in the Australian Baseball League, says an American World Series-winning executive tasked with developing the Kiwi game.

Fred Claire, who has been involved in baseball in the United States for over 30 years, hopes to bring an upward swing in the growth of the game in New Zealand.

His passion, knowledge and energy for baseball is surpassed by few others. He wants baseball to succeed, here and internationally.

Claire will ...

Thorn & Palmer: The Hidden Game of Baseball: A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and Its Statistics

From John Thorn: “Thirty years ago this month Pete Palmer and I put out “The Hidden Game of Baseball.” A fine publisher has proposed a reissue for next spring, with a new intro and guest foreword.”

“I wonder whether BBTF readers might comment upon their reactions to the book way back when, or their view of it all these years later. I’ll have to write an intro to the reissue touching upon these themes and, of course, the rise of sabermetrics generally.”

...Read More...

Yankees place Mark Teixeira on DL

Time to trot out…Mike Francesa: “The day the Yankees signed Mark Teixiera is the day the Yankees distanced themselves from the Red Sox for the next decade.”

The New York Yankees placed first baseman Mark Teixeira on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring.

The Yankees made the move prior to Saturday afternoon’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Catcher Austin Romine was recalled from Triple-A Scranton to replace Teixeira on the roster.

Teixeira suffered the injury during ...

OMNICHATTER for 4/5/14

Well, after fixing some technical difficulties of my own, I’m back. Thanks to Eso!

Match-ups today:
Minnesota (Gibson) at Cleveland (Carrasco)
NY Yankees (Pineda) at Toronto (Dickey)
Baltimore (Bud Norris) at Detroit (Porcello)
Cincy (Cueto) at NY Mets (Gee)
White Sox (Danks) at Royals (Chen)
Phillies (Lee) at Cubs (Samardzija)
Seattle (King Felix) at Oakland (Straily)
SF (Bumgarner) at LA Dodgers (Maholm)
Atlanta (Teheran) at Washington (Strasburg)
STL (Kelly) at Pittsburgh (Liriano)
LA ...

A’s-Mariners game postponed — tarp was left off infield

It just became official. Tonight’s A’s-Mariners game was called off because the field at the Coliseum is unplayable.

It’s an embarrassing situation all around, and the fans who showed up booed — and had every right to do so — when the PA man announced the cancelation at about 15 minutes after the 7:05 p.m. scheduled first pitch.

Apparently, the tarp was left off the field overnight, and the rain soaked the field. The grounds crew has worked on the dirt for hours, especially where ...

Duda’s power surge lifts Mets to first victory

Officially named the Mets’ starting first baseman Friday despite his .000 average and skittish plate approach through three games, Duda launched two-run homers off Mike Leake in the fourth and sixth innings, giving the Mets an early lead and later extending it. The result was the fifth multi-homer game of Duda’s career.

Still, the scattered thousands who stayed until the end on a cold, rainy night at Citi Field could not be assured of victory until the final out. New York’s bullpen absorbed ...

Tardy Yasiel Puig scratched from Dodgers’ home opener

He doesn’t feel tardy…

Yasiel Puig was scratched from the starting lineup after arriving late for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ home opener on Friday.

The rest of the team was already on the field stretching before batting practice while Puig was getting dressed in the clubhouse. He had been slated to start in right field for the afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants.

Instead, Matt Kemp replaced Puig after manager Don Mattingly had earlier said Kemp wouldn’t start. Kemp came off the ...

Indians Extend Jason Kipnis

Can’t wait to see him on the Mets (after this contract is up, of course.)

The Indians announced that they have signed second baseman Jason Kipnis to a six-year extension that runs through the 2019 season and contains a club option for the 2020 campaign. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (via Twitter) that Kipnis is guaranteed $52.5MM over the life of the deal… The option… is worth $16.5MM and contains a $2.5MM buyout…

The new contract buys his final pre-arbitration season, all ...