Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-26-2014

Washington Times, March 26, 1914:

“Lefty” Ruth’s wicked shoots proved too much for Connie Mack’s world’s champions [in Wilmington, NC] yesterday, especially when allied with some timely clouting by Ezra Midkiff and Neal Ball.

Big deal. Some teenager pitched well in March. He’ll never amount to anything.

Baseball Researcher: Babe Ruth: Some Very Fortunate Footage

A few months ago, I learned of the stunning archival holdings at the University of South Carolina’s Moving Image Research Collections. Thanks to the invaluable help of Production Manager Ben Singleton, I had the chance to review some amazing baseball footage, part of the Fox Movietone News outtakes that were donated to USC back in the early 1980s.

When you think about it, this collection of footage is doubly rare. Certainly, very few people have seen the film today. But, since this footage ...

A’s to use Callaspo in first base platoon

Barton is kind of a Grady Sizemore writ small.

The first base puzzle is officially coming together for the Oakland A’s.

Manager Bob Melvin told reporters Tuesday morning that switch-hitting Alberto Callaspo will play first base against left-handed starting pitchers. With signs pointing toward the A’s keeping just two catchers, John Jaso and Derek Norris, it means Daric Barton is likely to make the Opening Night roster and split first base with Brandon Moss against right-handed pitchers. ...

Rothbard: Baseball’s Steroid Era Is Over. Now We Have to Figure Out Its Legacy

Ding Ding Ding! Hall of Shame used!

At an event co-presented by Arizona State University at Scottsdale’s Clayton on the Park, a panel of baseball insiders offered their observations and opinions.

USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale, the evening’s moderator, asked the panelists whether they qualify statistics based on whether or not the numbers were posted in the era of drugs.

Retrosheet founder David W. Smith, who collects extensive play-by-play data, said he’s not nearly as ...

Shane Victorino dislikes new MLB rule: Only 15 seconds of intro music allowed

Damn…this will chop off the last second of The Descendents’ “I Like Food”!

The loudspeakers at Fenway Park play a little Bob Marley music to introduce Shane Victorino whenever he comes to bat for the Boston Red Sox. For a lot of major leaguers these days, intro music has become a routine part of the aesthetic experience at the ballpark. A famous example would be Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” played for Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, until he retired. Mute the music and it’s still baseball — ...

Baseball Is Coming Back to Montreal, for a Weekend

It’s been a decade since the Expos played their last game at Olympic Stadium and packed up for Washington, D.C. But now, the much-maligned stadium will host the Toronto Blue Jays (Canada’s remaining MLB team) and the New York Mets (who the Expos played their first and last games ever against).

The wounds of the Expos’s dysfunctional final years are healing, replaced by nostalgia. So far, 75,000 tickets have been sold, with event programming catered to people strictly there to remember ...

Jonah Keri: 2014 AL West Preview

This article is pretty much what it sounds like. Keri goes over each team, additions and subtractions, and projections. It makes me fondly remember the days of team season previews on baseball primer.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-25-2014

Pittsburgh Press, March 25, 1914:

Brooklyn Federal league players are to have a share in the profits of the club, President Robert Ward announced today.
...
The plan is unique in baseball annals, and seems to indicate that the Brooklyn Federals have a wealth of financial backing. Ward probably figures that by sharing profits with the players he will get better and more earnest work from the athletes, and will have less difficulty in holding the players now on his payroll.

Either that or it ...

Contract works well for Red Sox and David Ortiz - Sports - The Boston Globe

This isn’t as bad as I feared.

Ortiz, 38, will earn $15 million this season and $16 million in 2015, and there are club options for 2016 and 2017. The option for ’16 vests based on plate appearances, and there are different levels. He makes $11 million for 425 plate appearances, $12 million for 475, $13 million for 525, $14 million for 550, $15 million for 575, and $16 million for 600. The 2017 option would vest at whatever level Ortiz achieves in 2016.

This means Ortiz has to remain healthy, ...

Miller’s so-so spring continues : Sports

What’s up with Shelby Miller?

Miles: Sabermetrics changing baseball’s numbers game

The ribbie rhubarb:

Back when Dusty Baker was manager of the Cubs, he’d go up and down the lineup and say things like Aramis Ramirez was “my RBI guy” and Moises Alou was “my clutch man.”

The whole “clutch hitter” debate is one for another day, but the RBI debate is a fun one to watch today.

Years ago, voters for the Most Valuable Player often tended favor the leader in runs batted in.

Today, thanks again to advanced analytics, the RBI has taken a back seat to stats such as ...

Kernan: Jeter knows time running out for him to get ‘comfortable’

Fetch…the Comfy Chair! Pronto!

Welcome to the final spring training week of Derek Jeter’s career.

He’s hitting .114 this spring. He’s coming back from a lost season.

Where does he go from here?

Jeter knew it was going to be a difficult process coming back from a season in which he played only 17 games because of leg injuries, which followed a fractured ankle. At the age of 39 he knew this was not going to be a walk in the park.

Jeter has extreme confidence in himself, but understands ...

True Blue LA: Stop stat abuse

As much as people try to tell you otherwise, stats don’t lie. “Jack Morris would have one of the highest ERAs in the Hall of Fame” is not something up for debate as much as some would like to think otherwise. However, translating those numbers into something that predicts human behavior is damn near impossible. ESPN’s 2014 MLB preview brings us their new chemistry score. Through some simple inputs ESPN’s crack team is able to determine how much people like each other4. Not only that they’ve ...

Chipper Jones Loses Big in Atlanta

March 18 - Chipper Jones won 11 division titles, a handful of pennants and a World Series championship over the course of 19 Major League Baseball seasons. However, the former Atlanta Braves star has found himself on the losing end of a recent real estate deal.

Jones has sold his mansion-estate in Roswell, GA, for a loss. Measuring 23,504 square feet in size, the rough equivalent of three baseball diamonds, the mansion originally hit the market in May 2013 for $3.195 million. It ultimately ...

Rangers’ Geovany Soto out 10-12 weeks with torn meniscus

0-162 is one step closer to reality.

More bad injury news for the Rangers: starting catcher Geovany Soto will miss 10-12 weeks with a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee. He missed time with a foot problem earlier in camp.

Geovany Soto, 31, hit .245/.328/.466 (114 OPS+) with nine doubles and nine home runs in 54 games as A.J. Pierznyski’s backup last season. Texas re-signed him to a one-year, $3.05 million contract over the winter and intended to use him as their starter behind the plate. ...Read More...

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 24, 2014 at 09:38 PM | 4 comment(s)
  Beats: geovany soto, injuries, rangers

Braves Sign Aaron Harang

Sure, Terry Forster would listen if the Braves called.

The Braves have agreed to sign pitcher Aaron Harang, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Atlanta had been rumored to be interested in adding another arm after parting with veteran Freddy Garcia earlier today (per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, on Twitter).

Of course, Harang himself was let go by the Indians just hours ago after requesting his release. The soon-to-be-36-year-old had strong results in the spring, though he threw just ...

Alex Colome suspended 50 games

Like pitch counts, PEDs aren’t going away.

Ostergaard: More reasons to hate the Yankees: It’s history, and much worse than A-Rod

There’s a unique spirit you’ll experience in a Del Webb community. You ain’t shittin’.

“Excerpted from “The Devil’s Snake Curve: A Fan’s Notes from Left Field” by Josh Ostergaard.”

Roosevelt’s order created an urgent need for housing. Del Webb’s company won the contract to build camps near Parker, Ariz., named Poston. Most Americans at the time didn’t know what happened to Japanese Americans during the war. The massive construction projects near Parker brought jobs, workers and ...

Baltimore Sun: Orioles trade IF Alex Gonzales to Tigers for Steve Lombardozzi

Okay, so NOW that whole “Doug Fister for Lombardozzi and a pitching prospect” deal suddenly makes a lot more sens—wait, what?

SARASOTA, Fla.—The Orioles added another player to their infield mix Monday, acquiring switch-hitting local product Steve Lombardozzi Jr. in a trade that sent veteran infielder Alex Gonzalez to the Detroit Tigers.

Lombardozzi, 25, who is from Fulton in Howard County and graduated from Atholton High School in Columbia, immediately becomes an option at second and third ...

Braves Release Freddy Garcia Despite Pitching Injuries

So, apparently the Braves starting rotation will be:

Julio Teheran
Alex Wood
David Hale
Gus Schlosser*

Mike Minor and Ervin Santana slot in around April 12th.

*You’ll need to search B-REF’s Minor League stats for that one.

On ‘Late Night’: Talk of Warhol’s Pete Rose image

Dial A Charlie Hustler!

Seth Meyers spent some time discussing the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Andy Warhol painting on his show, “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Friday.

Kostya Kennedy, author of the new book “Pete Rose: An American Dilemma” was promoting the book on Meyers’ show. Meyers asks Kennedy to tell the story of the Warhol painting.

Kennedy says that at the time, Rose hadn’t heard of Warhol and Warhol hadn’t known of Rose. In 1985, Rose was on his way to breaking baseball’s all-time his ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-24-2014

Milwaukee Journal, March 24, 1914:

After a heated debate, during which baseball in general and the prowess of noted players in particular were discussed, the Mississippi house of representatives yesterday voted, 50 to 44, to take a recess Thursday afternoon to see the Detroit baseball team play a local team [in Jackson].

Your (great grandparents’) tax dollars at work.

Bradford: The reality of David Ortiz: Why it made sense to execute this extension

The argument is a convenient one for those believing Sunday’s news of David Ortiz’s extension should have never come: Just let the designated hitter play out another season and worry about re-signing him after that.

They will say, “He is 38 years old, so you need all the cost certainty you can get. Also, he will never sign with another team other than the Red Sox, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

The line of thinking certainly is easy to reach, but still so misguided.

First ...

Matinale: Mitch Williams has solution to pitchers being hit in the face: let them do it to batters

Nerve of the Death Twitch!

According to Mitch Williams pitchers get hit in the face because they are not allowed to throw inside.  Really, that’s what he said.

...Williams insisted repeatedly and vociferously that pitchers should be allowed to pitch inside, a euphemism for hitting batters.  Williams never actually stated that pitchers should be allowed to hit batters.  But he complained that batters now wear armor and are not afraid because pitchers are warned my umpires about throwing at ...

Heyman: Yankees said willing to pay part of Ichiro’s salary if trade makes sense

The Yankees are said willing to offset a part of Ichiro Suzuki’s $6.5-million salary in the right deal, sources said.

The Yankees would seek to receive a good prospect back but are said by rival executives amendable to paying down a portion of his $6.5 million salary under those circumstances.

Ichiro, 40, only fits as a backup outfielder with the Yankees, as their starting outfield is stacked with younger stars Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner. The Yankees also have Alfonso ...

Mejia hanging around in Amazin’ battle for 5th spot

For most of spring training, the race for the fifth spot in the team’s rotation has been Daisuke Matsuzaka’s to lose, but with six exhibition games remaining, the 24-year-old Mejia is still under consideration for the job.

Mejia did nothing to harm his chances Sunday, when he allowed one run on two hits over five innings in the Mets’ 3-1 exhibition victory over the Nationals.

The Mets have to inform Matsuzaka by Tuesday whether they intend to carry him on the 25-man roster. Otherwise, ...

Rangers’ Jurickson Profar out up to 3 months with torn shoulder muscle

More bad news on the injury front for the Texas Rangers: Second baseman Jurickson Profar will miss the next 10 to 12 weeks after an MRI revealed a torn right shoulder muscle. The team announced that surgery will not be required.

As T.R. Sullivan notes, Josh Wilson and Brent Lillibridge are two internal candidates to replace Profar at second.

The 21-year-old Profar is coming off a 2013 season in which he batted .234/.308/.336 in 324 plate appearances at the MLB level. Coming up through the ...

Opening Series leaves a lasting impression

Mainly a puff piece, but I figure we should have some sort of place to discuss it in retrospect and discuss future possibilities for non-WBC MLB international ventures.

...
This trip is over now, but MLB’s international adventures will continue. The details and itineraries of the next excursions have yet to be mapped out. There’s a whole world out there, and much of it is as intrigued by baseball as it is in Taiwan or China or Japan or, as it turns out, Down Under.

So cheers, Australia, ...

Ringolsby: Is it time to lower the mound again?

Don’t lower the mound, raise the batter’s box.  LAAYYYDEEE!

With an increasing number of serious arm injuries—particularly those requiring Tommy John surgeries—the suggestion has been made that Major League Baseball consider lowering the pitcher’s mound again.

...Some in the medical field contend that the raised elevation creates an extra stress on the pitcher’s arm. Supporters of lowering the mound point out that the longevity of a pitching career has extended since dropping the mound from ...

Survey of insiders reveals who’s at top of their game | New York Post

Mike Trout is the best player. Who knew?