OMNICHATTER 7-27-2014

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Schoenfield: Why didn’t the Braves win more titles?

This article isn’t meant to be a criticism or detract from the accomplishments of Maddux, Glavine and Cox, but it’s also fair to point out that part of the legacy of those Braves teams is that those 14 playoff appearances led to just one World Series title (1995). Why wasn’t it more? The law of averages—if every playoff team were considered equal—suggests the Braves should have won 2.1 championships in this period, so they really only underperformed by one title by this measure.

But the Braves ...

Gossage on Bonds, McGwire Hall hopes: ‘Are you f–king kidding?’

As The Parliaments sang in “The Goose (That Laid The Golden Egg)”...“Just imagine a monkey with a peanut machine”.

“Two of the greatest records were manipulated by steroids, and I think the [pre-steroid era] records need to be reinstated,” Gossage told The Post. “If Bud Selig wants a legacy, he ought to reinstate those records and recognize the damage these guys did to the game.

“If you really want to make a statement, reinstate the records that McGwire and Bonds broke. That would ...

Tigers Display Focus on 2014; acquire Joakim Soria

The Tigers acquired closer Joakim Soria from the Texas Rangers for two highly regarded right-handed pitching prospects: starter Jake Thompson and reliever Corey Knebel.

You may believe Thompson and Knebel represent a slight overpay for Soria’s services through the end of 2015. A number of executives with other major-league teams would agree. But if you consider the context, you will see the Tigers made an excellent trade, at the right time, in a manner that harmonizes completely with the ...

HoVG: John Rocker Shows Up in Cooperstown… “Survivor” Up Next

Well, guess I can add gutless Ryan Klesko to my mierda list.

This year, however, is a little different.  Probably thinking there’s a way to cash in on the glut of Atlanta Braves fans making the trip north…there’s also John Rocker.  And, sure, it’d be easy to suspect that Rocker is in town to support his former teammates Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and skipper Bobby Cox, but, it’s Rocker…and we know that’s not how dude operates.

Rocker (alongside another former Brave Ryan ...

Roger Angell goes into the Hall of Fame

Skip the syrupy Dowd article and read this one by Richard Sandomir

Angell in The Outfield

NY Times article from Maureen Dowd interviewing Roger Angell about his trip to the Hall of Fame this weekend.  Angell is being given the JG Taylor Spink award.  What the hell took them so long?

Hall of Fame Announces Changes to Voting Process for Recently Retired Players, Effective Immediately

Those Hall of Fame eligible voters will now be required to complete a registration form and sign a code of conduct.

We are so ######.

BBWAA members earn a Hall of Fame vote from its organization, which is independent of the Hall of Fame, by maintaining 10 consecutive years on a baseball beat. Those Hall of Fame eligible voters will now be required to complete a registration form and sign a code of conduct. The names of those BBWAA members casting Hall of Fame ballots will now be made public ...

Full Count » Sources: Red Sox agree to deal sending Jake Peavy to Giants for minor leaguers

Hopefully what the Red Sox received in exchange will help them in the future.

Edit: MLB Trade Rumors reports:

The Giants have acquired Jake Peavy from the Red Sox, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets. The Red Sox will receive pitching prospects Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets.

Not a great haul, but two lottery ticket lefties.

DJ Short: Maximum stay on Hall of Fame ballot changed from 15 to 10 years

Should Jetes be nervous?

Big news coming out of Cooperstown this morning, as the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced their first changes to the voting process since 1991. The most significant change is that recently-retired players will only be able to stay on the ballot for 10 years as opposed to the current 15.

Three candidates in years 10-15 will be grandfathered into this system and remain eligible for the full 15 years. That group includes Don Mattingly (his 15th and final year on the ...

Newsweek: With Big Data, Moneyball Will Be on Steroids

More Statcasting…and the death of the amateur sabermetrician?

Another incentive for the league—particularly in the face of rising salaries—is an improved understanding of player value, particularly on the defensive end, where teams have focused more attention in the past few years. Defensive shifts, once only employed by the wonkiest teams, have become a league-wide staple thanks to advances in batted-ball data. The problem is, shifts or not, evaluating glove work remains difficult, as ...

OMNICHATTER 7-26-2014

The OMNICHATTER forecast for the day: A Sunny Day, for it’s Sonny Gray… day.

Or something.

Giants purchase contract of 2B Uggla

So much to like from this article.  It’s like they are trolling me.

Dan Uggla needed a fresh start. The San Francisco Giants needed a healthy second baseman who could step in and produce.

Well, at least one of them will get what they needed.

Uggla will cost the Giants only $500,000. The Braves are responsible for the $18 million he’s guaranteed over the rest of this season and next season.

You know the sport is flush when a team will plunk down a cool half mil to sign a player after ...

Price, Rays beat Red Sox for 8th straight victory

Price won his sixth start in a row, Evan Longoria hit a three-run double, and the Rays earned their eighth straight victory by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Friday night.

‘‘A little bit of the swagger is back,’’ Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

59 games left, 40-19 gets them to 90 wins.  It could happen.  Hopefully they have some more games with the Red Sox on the schedule.

Cardinals agree to deal with veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis-Post Dispatch, that’s what has brought veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski and the St. Louis Cardinals together. The two sides officially agreed to a deal Friday night, and it’s expected Pierzynski will be available on Saturday in Chicago.

Apparently the Cardinals decided they didn’t have clubhouse tension.  It’s pretty hard to make the Cards less likable, but they’ve gone and done it.

Yankees push home streak over Jays to 17

Toronto’s Yankee Stadium skid, which started in September 2012, is the longest for a team at one opponent since Tampa Bay lost 18 in a row in Cleveland from September 2005 to July 2010, according to STATS.

Yasiel Puig hits three of Dodgers’ five triples, joins elite company

Yasiel Puig returned to the lineup with a bang-bang-bang on Friday night, becoming the first Los Angeles Dodgers player since Jimmy Sheckard in 1901 to hit three triples in a single game.

...he became the 49th player in MLB history with at least three triples.

Jimmy Sheckard!  That’s who Puig reminds me of!  Man, that’s been bugging me.

The first triple was a little sporty.  A drive into left center that was batted down by a fan.  The umps spent four minutes looking at it and then ...

Bespoke Bats Are Must-Have Accessories for Picky Hitters

In his airy new workshop, in a business park less than a mile from the Long Island Sound, Pete Tucci has batting cages, renovated offices, a showroom and a humidor large enough to store more than 13,000 billets of wood.

There is also, tucked in a corner, the rusty, motorized lathe that used to be in his garage.

It was there that Tucci began tinkering as a late-night diversion from the heating and air-conditioning business he co-owned with a relative. Tucci had no woodworking experience. The ...

Buehrle treats Toronto rookies to new suits in NY

“...Buehrle decided to get the rookies fitted for some custom suits. He gathered Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Rob Rasmussen, Ryan Goins and Todd Redmond at the team hotel on Friday morning and then went to one of his favourite spots…”

Wisch: Cooperstown Shouldn’t Close Out Lee Smith

Outside of Hyapatia…I haven’t seen a Lee screwed this badly since “Three’s a Crowd” got cancelled and Lee Ving was out of a gig!

One could argue that their accomplishments have diminished the greatest line on Smith’s Hall of Fame resume, but that makes no sense to me. After all, if only current record holders were considered Hall-worthy, there would be a lot of Hall-worthy guys who should be bumped from Cooperstown.

What matters is that Smith was the saves leader when he retired. That was ...

Hurdles remain in Mets-Rockies deal for Tulowitzki, Gonzalez

The Rockies and Mets would seem to be perfect trade partners.

Colorado has star players at the very two positions the Mets need in shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and left fielder Carlos Gonzalez, and it needs to think about retooling things after another year fighting and losing the altitude/injury battle.

The Mets have a stash of young pitching prospects, just the sort Colorado so badly needs.

And, in fact, Rockies people have identified the Mets as one of the teams—perhaps the perfect team—that ...

Kemp’s agent Stewart on trade talks: ‘Sometimes change is good’

“Eight years is a long time to be in one place,” Kemp’s agent Dave Stewart, the former star pitcher, said by phone. “Sometimes change is good. This might be the time to change.”

Stewart hinted at that a week ago, first expressing an openness for Kemp’s to be dealt to another team, preferably one that would play him in center field, a proclamation that mostly surprised Dodgers folks for its timing; he had played 42 of the past 44 games at the time.

Well, the trade talks are on, and ...

News Center Recently Identified Molecule Could Lead to New Way to Repair Tendons

It’s an all-too familiar scenario for many people. You sprain your ankle or twist your knee. If you’re an adult, the initial pain is followed by a long road of recovery, with no promise that the torn ligament or tendon will ever regain its full strength.

That’s because tendon and ligament cells in adults produce little collagen, the fibrous protein that is used to build new tendon and ligament tissue. Physical therapy and surgery help, but for many people, there may always be a nagging ...

Re/code: Major League Baseball Cries Foul on Net Neutrality Proposal

‘Flixing it the other way.

Last week, the sports league’s digital media arm told the FCC that the controversial fast-lane net neutrality proposal was a bad idea for several reasons, one being that the added costs to content companies to use those fast lanes would likely ultimately be passed along to consumers.

“Fast lanes would serve only one purpose: for Broadband ISPs to receive an economic windfall,” MLB’s Advanced Media unit wrote in a filing. “American consumers would be worse ...

BA Report: MLBPA Files Grievance Against Astros Over Aiken, Nix, Marshall

When the Astros found an irregularity in Aiken’s elbow during a physical, they backed out of their $6.5 million agreement and reduced their offer. The two sides could not complete a deal before Friday’s deadline, which meant the Astros no longer had the money to honor their agreement with Nix (who passed his physical) without forfeiting a pair of future first-round picks.

The MLB players’ union indicated Friday that it was concerned about the way the two players were treated by the ...

SoE: AN IDIOT IN EXILE

Johnny Damon was a major league baseball player for 18 years. He won a World Series with the Red Sox in 2004 and another one with the Yankees in 2009, which is why he once said, “Being a baseball player is so great.” He said the game “was fun,” and winning championships was even more “fun.” He learned how to have “fun” with the A’s and then taught his teammates with the Red Sox and Yankees how to have “fun.” His concept of “fun” was mostly that of a young boy. “I could buy different toys,” he ...

5 for Friday: Leo Mazzone, pitching coach to the HOFers

“the hitters are off the ‘roids and the amphetamines for chrissake!” I’m now going to use this to end every bargument I get into.

5. MALINOWSKI: There’s been a trend this season where we’re seeing more position players pitch in games than ever before, but the Braves haven’t had one do so since 1989, the longest such streak for any team. Was that something that was just never considered, and what do you make of this new acceptance we’re seeing these days?

MAZZONE: Yeah, I know it ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-25-2014

Bennington [Vermont] Evening Banner, July 25, 1914:

The management of the Athletics, the American League baseball club, has forbidden the further operation by newspapers or other news distributing agencies of baseball score boards on which the games in [Philadelphia] are reproduced on the street play by play. The management takes the ground that the boards are responsible for the loss of more than $1,000 a day in attendance at the ball park.
...
[Athletics president Ben Shibe:] “It is just as if ...

La Russa: Asterisk for tainted stars

La sterisk, if you will.

La Russa, who managed the White Sox, Athletics and Cardinals between 1979 and 2011, said that because he’s one of the Hall’s six new inductees, he now feels free to state his opinion on the candidacies of the tainted greats of the modern era.

“Treat them all the same,” La Russa said. “If you were a Hall of Famer during that period as far as your pitching and playing, I would create some kind of asterisk, where everybody understands that, ‘Look, we have some questions, ...

7-25-14 OMNICHATTER

TGIF. It’s OMNICHATTER