OMNICHATTER 9-5-16

The Labor Day OMNICHATTER

You should watch the Women’s Baseball World Cup

The Women’s Baseball World Cup kicked off on September 2, and no, I don’t mean softball. I mean baseball. While it’s not well known that women still play baseball (since young girls are pushed toward softball instead of our nation’s pastime), they do, and they do it well. Sarah Hudek, the trailblazing collegiate baseball player who recently transitioned to softball, pitched in the title game of the 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup. (Sadly, the US team lost.) That should tell you a lot ...

How Joe Maddon’s Cubs experiment is changing baseball | New York Post

This is the most important factor by far.

2. There are more pitchers. Teams now routinely carry 12 and sometimes even 13. That limits positional maneuverability for a manager, unless he has player(s) who can make it feel like he has more than 25 players available by being able to capably move around.

The education of Yoan Moncada

New York wanted Moncada at $25 million. Hastings said another team was over $30 million. The Yankees refused to budge. Hastings said Moncada would go elsewhere. The Yankees pulled their offer. Hastings called Eddie Romero, the Red Sox’s VP of international scouting, and said: “We’ve got a deal.” Just like that, over the course of two minutes, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound, switch-hitting infielder with game-breaking speed, legitimate power and a jeweler’s eye went from being convinced he was ...

Rays debut the first of their new stockpile of knuckleball pitchers

I love knuckleballers.

Friday night’s game between the Blue Jays and Rays was notable for two reasons. One, it marked the return of Alex Cobb, back after missing more than a season and a half due to Tommy John surgery. Second, it represented the debut of the majors’ newest knuckleballer: Eddie Gamboa.

Gamboa, a 31-year-old who converted to knuckling a few years back on a whim, had been recalled last season by the Orioles, but failed to appear in a game. That changed on Friday, obviously, as ...

Mental, physical changes helping Rays’ Longoria rebound | Tampa Bay Times

First, Longoria, for the first time he can remember, wrote out the key statistics for each year of his career to provide a base. Then, his assignment was to jot down specific numerical goals for this season, such as how many home runs he could hit.

Falco’s theory was to give it permanence on paper as a point of reference to look at during the season and, more importantly, to get Longoria to think aggressively and aim high.

“It’s really the first time I’ve ever done it,” Longoria said. “In ...

Minor-leaguer makes history, plays all 9 positions | theScore.com

Melvin “The Machine” Mercedes, playing for the Class-A Stockton Ports, appeared at all nine positions in a game Saturday against the Bakersfield Blaze.

Prior to the game, Mercedes played six different positions during the 2016 season, failing only to appear at first base, center field, and behind the dish. Mercedes finished 1-4 at the plate with a double, a walk and closed out the game pitching a scoreless inning, striking out tw

Trout hammers 427-ft. homer | MLB.com

Rope.

Yankees could deal for Jose Fernandez this offseason — here’s how - NY Daily News

They will also be dealing for Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Corey Saeger, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Christian Yelich, and Jose Altuve.

What a team they will have!!

Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw makes rehab start | MLB.com

With the playoffs fast approaching, Clayton Kershaw (herniated disk) pitched in a baseball game for the first time since June 26 as he began a rehab assignment Saturday at Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga.

Whether the ace is ready to return to the Majors has yet to be decided, though Kershaw did say he thinks he will pitch in the next four or five days as long as his back presents no problems while he cools down.
“We’re still ironing some stuff out,” Kershaw said. “At this point, it’s more of ...

OMNICHATTER Sept 4, 2016

First Sunday of September OMNICHATTER

Japan Times:Ham Fighters Face Ruthian Dilemma with Otani

Until July 10, the Fighters had the best of both worlds. In a season in which he set Nippon Professional Baseball speed record [163 KMH], Otani would bat as the club’s designated hitter during the week, take Fridays and Saturdays off before taking the mound — and batting — on Sunday. But that day in July the right-hander developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand and has pitched just one inning since.

...With pitchers Hirotoshi Takanashi and rookie lefty Takayuki Kato ...

OMNICHATTER 9-3-16

The “First Saturday in September” OMNICHATTER

Is Triple A a critical step for development?

“Creating policies or procedures around that small sample [of players who struggled when reaching the big leagues] can be a mistake, because it will prevent you from calling up the next guy. That’s something you have to be careful of in these situations,” said Hazen. “When you look at it at the micro level, you can pick apart any one decision, any one path, any one player, any one background, and create large-scale theories on that. We need to evaluate each one of these situations in ...

How Managers Were Fooled by the Home-Run Spike | FanGraphs Baseball

Some interesting breakdowns. Read the whole thing.

What’s fascinating about this is that managers are responding to the home-run spike. If you look at earlier seasons, there’s not a clear relationship between scoring and pitches per start or innings per start. And you wouldn’t expect there to be in the aggregate. The decision to pull the starter should be based on his effectiveness relative to the other pitching options, not his un-adjusted in-game performance. But that’s not how it ...

The Decline of Albert Pujols Underscores the Greatness of Frank Thomas

Piling on Phat Albert.

“Frank Thomas was a first-ballot HOFer, but in some respects he might be modestly underrated as a hitter. I suspect it’s because Thomas, like Pujols, endured an extended decline phase that began after his last truly great season (at age 32). But unlike Pujols, Thomas was actually a very good hitter deep into his 30s; Pujols (and the Angels) would kill for this kind of production.”

The Indians and Andrew Miller Are Reshaping How We Think About Elite Reliever Usage

Chapman didn’t enter a game before the ninth inning or stay in any game for more than three outs. Miller, meanwhile, saw action as early as the sixth. He jogged in as often in the eighth as the ninth, and he entered in the seventh most often of all. He also turned in longer outings, throwing more innings than Chapman despite appearing in three fewer games. Chapman pitched in save situations all but three times; Miller pitched in non-save situations all but three times. He’s a closer-quality ...

The 10 best MLB players, for talent, without serious Hall of Fame cases

6. Kerry Wood

The one-time Cubs ace is somehow still only 39. In a more just world, Wood’s 20-strikeout performance as a 20-year-old five games into his MLB career wouldn’t have signaled open season for his managers on his arm. Perhaps Wood would be closing in on 300 wins now.

7. Josh Hamilton

If there’s a Hall of Fame for overcoming cataclysmic life issues before finally achieving MLB stardom, the former No. 1 draft pick might command his own wing. As it stands, a .290 lifetime ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-2-2016

Pittsburgh Press, September 2, 1916:

Tom Seaton has had his last of Pullman drawing rooms and private suites in hotels on the road. Seaton…was one of the Phillies’ pitching stars in 1913. He accepted terms for the following year, and then jumped to the Brooklyn Feds. He held up [Brooklyn’s owners] for a three-year contract at $8,000 per, with the stipulation that his employers should pay the traveling expenses of Mrs. Seaton while the team was on the road. Furthermore, he insisted on having a ...

OMNICHATTER 9-2-16

The OMNICHATTER has not done a stupid Harambe meme

The Comps for Tim Tebow Aren’t Encouraging | FanGraphs Baseball

This is just as silly as ESPN’s comparisons for swing and miss.

Death of baseball hurts heart, soul of black community

Baseball was a weekend respite from the oppression and depression of the waning days of a Jim Crow Deep South.

Baseball was where grown men could spend early afternoons hurling sliders to kids before late afternoon’s final sunlight gave way to darkness.

It was where mentoring black men could mold a battalion of young black boys toward adulthood, teaching respect for your teammates, for your elders, to respect women, to respect your peers and respect for the game itself.

Our strengths and ...

Heyman: White Sox Have Little Interesting in Moving Sale or Quintana

Their 80-year-old owner wants to win now.

Does this mean the Sox will remain “mired in mediocrity” (as Rick Hahn put it) as long as Reinsdorf is around?

Mike Trout Involved in [minor] Car Crash

Trout was uninjured while trying to avoid an accident on the freeway.

Two questions: is he Bruce Willis from “Unbreakable”? And what in the world was he doing in Tustin?

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-1-2016

[Liberty, Mississippi] Southern Herald, September 1, 1916:

According to a report Johnny Evers’ layoff may be somewhat extended. He has in addition to a lame leg and a sore arm a bad case of nerves.

Obviously, this is a result of all those fudge orgies and nicotine sprees.

I find reports like this fascinating; it seems like there may have been less of a stigma about anxiety and depression among athletes 100 years ago than there is today. I know Zack Greinke and Dontrelle Willis had anxiety ...

Sources: Dodgers expressed interest in bringing back Zack Greinke | FOX Sports

How about a story about a team “thinking” about contacting another team about a player?

It’s not going to happen, not yet and maybe not ever. But the Dodgers expressed interest in trading for the Diamondbacks right-hander before Wednesday night’s deadline for players to become eligible for postseason rosters, according to major-league sources.

The discussions were not substantive and did not advance, sources said. The Dodgers, however, could revisit their continuing interest in Greinke this ...

With a Little Help from His Friends: The Story Behind Baseball Announcer Vin Scully’s Stories | VICE Sports

Instead of an on-air partner, Scully relies on two silent men in the booth beside him: stage manager Boyd Robertson, and camera operator Rob Menschel, who also occasionally directs. Robertson and Menschel have worked with Scully on Dodger broadcasts since 1989. When the three of them are together, the booth has the feel of a family business—respect and professionalism underlined with nonverbal communication and easy humor. Facing home plate in the Dodger Stadium press box, Scully sits on the ...

Dodgers come from six down to stun Rockies | MLB.com

With a furious late rally, the Dodgers stormed to a remarkable 10-8 Coors Field win over the Rockies on Wednesday night on Andrew Toles’ grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning of the nightcap, avoiding sweeps of the doubleheader and the three-game series.

After falling behind, 8-2, the Dodgers scored three runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth off Adam Ottavino. Toles’ slam was his third homer of the season and the win left the Dodgers with a 1 1/2-game lead over the Giants in ...

Nothing bugs the Royals like doubters, and they’ve still got plenty left

Bugs or propels?

Red Sox Call Up Top Prospect Yoan Moncada « CBS Boston

It will be interesting to see him play defense at 3B.

Boston announced on Wednesday night that Yoan Moncada, who recently shifted from second base to third base, will be promoted to the majors in time for Friday night’s game in Oakland.