Video: Cespedes’ outstanding throw home | MLB.com

That’s a crazy good throw!

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-11-2014

Pittsburgh Press, June 11, 1914:

President Tener, of the National league, has advised all clubs to employ a megaphone man to announce the batteries and the changes in the line-up. This instruction is due to the practice of hooting at the umpire when making announcements, especially when the judge of play has incurred the displeasure of the bugs by giving a close decision against the home team. It is not a positive order, but clubs are urged to put an official announcer on their payrolls, with a ...

Rockies OF Gonzalez has tumor removed from finger

‘‘It helps explain some of the things that CarGo’s been dealing with and why that finger kept blowing up on him,’’ Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ‘‘It helps answer some of the questions we had about him.

I can only imagine how Michael Douglas thinks you get this type of cancer.

Cherington: Sox ‘going to get better’

I have complete confidence in my own decisions too.

Former cy Young awarrd winner Bob Welch passes away at 57.

Bob Welch, former Cy winner, has passed away at 57, #Athletics announce. Last night in Seal Beach, CA, cause of death unavailable

Baseball Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk charged with DUI

Carlton Fisk, one of the greatest catchers in Major League Baseball history, was charged with driving under the influence after driving into a cornfield in New Lenox, Illinois, police said Tuesday.

Robert Pawlisz of the New Lenox Police Department told CNN that Fisk, who caught in more than 2,200 games for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox, was treated and released from a hospital.

Fisk, 64, was also charged with the illegal transportation of alcohol and a lane use violation for ...

Slate: Baseball Has an Amazing Gay History. It’s Time to Recognize It.

Numbers can’t possibly begin to explain how a tremendously talented athlete would eventually be sidelined by vicious institutional homophobia. After coming out to his teammates and managers in 1978, Burke was reportedly offered $75,000 by Dodgers Vice President Al Campanis to enter into a sham marriage. When turning down the offer—more than $312,000 in today’s money—Burke wittily replied, “I guess you mean to a woman.” Unfortunately, Glenn Burke’s fearlessness would lead to his ...

Young fan struck by ground rule double, loves it - SBNation.com

He got the ball!

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-10-2014

Washington Times, June 10, 1914:

By getting a safety in the game which Philadelphia won from Pittsburgh by 3 to 1, John Henry Wagner, the grand old man of baseball, registered his 3,000th base hit as a major league player. Wagner’s 3,000th bingle was for two bases, and it came in the ninth inning, and resulted in a run for the Pirates.
...
The [Philadelphia] crowd cheered with as much honest vim and delight as if the hit had been a homer made by Cravath, Luderus, or Magee, of the home club. And ...

Gallo delivers walk-off in Double-A debut | MiLB.com

Joey Gallo debuts in AA with a big bang.

Video: Richards’ quality start | MLB.com

Garrett Richards, the best pitcher you don’t know.

Lonnie Baseball hit three home runs on Monday night | MLB.com

Lonnie Baseball has a big day.

How Sean Doolittle switched from first base to star relief pitcher. | SportsonEarth.com : Joe Lemire Article

Sean Doolittle’s odd path to the big leagues.

Gregory Polanco Scouting Report (2014)

Polanco is up.

Edit: Link fixed. Sorry.

Chris Dial appointed to SABR Board of Directors, replacing Fred Worth | SABR

Congrats to BBTF’s own Chris Dial who has stepped up to fill the void on SABR’s Board of Directors. SABR will never be the same.

Chris Dial of Durham, North Carolina, has been appointed to fill Worth’s remaining term, effective June 8, 2014. Dial, a SABR member since 1994, is a frequent contender in recent SABR Board elections. The term expires at the end of the Annual Business Meeting at the 2016 SABR convention.

OMNICHATTER 6-9-14

It’s a MONDAY OMNICHATTER.

Dirk Hayhurst’s Minor League Survival Manual

The GM Game is the prediction of the moves that will be made around the organization if YOU were the man in charge. It can look different depending on where you stand and how much information you have, but the above is how it looks if you’re a player.

Don’t play it.

The reason is, if you start trying to figure out why someone else got promoted and you didn’t, you’ll start to get bitter. Professional baseball, for all the joy associated with playing it, can be a very bitter place. ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-9-2014

Toledo News-Bee, June 9, 1914:

CHICAGO, June 9.—Big league managers looking for scrappy players would do well to investigate the Amateur Managers’ league.

Two fire companies and a squad of police were called early on Tuesday to help the A.M. league directors decide whether the Alamos or High Mountains won last Sunday’s game, in which mounted police suppressed a riot in the seventh inning.

While the league directors were in session on Monday night, volleys of rocks came through the windows. To ...

Jack O’Connell: Don Zimmer, a seat-of-the-pants baseball guy

Zimmer: Dating back to the dawn of baseball time in Hoboken.

In an interview I did with him about 10 years ago after he left the Yankees and began working as a consultant for the Tampa Bay club, Zim told me, “I don’t think I could manage today if it meant relying so much on statistics. Managing is more than just studying stat sheets. I was told that in Boston they had all the managerial candidates play a simulated game on a computer. Can you see me doing that? I would have had to bring my ...

Max Scherzer takes out insurance policy after turning down $144 million extension

It’s interesting to note that Boras’ research found that injuries to pitchers tend to decrease after they have pitched at least four years in the big leagues, and that position players are far more likely to break down due to their workload.

I wonder how far the Tigers could push this.  150 pitch starts?  Regular starts on three days rest?  Pitch him out of the pen between starts?  Obviously diminishing returns, but if he’s so eager to be out the door, let’s see how high we can ...

Kilgore - Did Jordan Zimmermann throw the best start in Nationals history?

Two Ns if you please!

Zimmermann has turned any worry about his performance into a quaint relic. He has thrown 17 scoreless innings in June. Sunday, he fired a 12-strikeout, two-hit shutout at the Padres. How is this for improvement: By one objective measure, it stands as the best start in Nationals history.

The linked article has a tabulation of the 16 best game score outings by Nationals pitchers.

Perry: Manny Machado appears to throw bat at A’s, needs to grow up

Let’s just say that Orioles third baseman Manny Machado hasn’t covered himself in glory this weekend. What happened Sunday traces back at least to Friday night, when Machado—for reasons sufficient unto himself—took robust exception to what looked like a fairly routine tag from Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson. In the interim, both Donaldson and Machado have been buzzed a couple of times (which, let it be said, is also stupid given how silly the initial casus belli was).

So during ...

Mike Schmidt: Rollins having HOF career

Rollins: “And it infuriates you to watch yourself with your apparent skill at finding every way possible to screw it up.”

As Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins closes in on the franchise’s record for career hits, the man he’s about to pass says Rollins is building a progressively stronger case for Hall of Fame consideration.

Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who holds the Phillies’ career record with 2,234 hits, said he expects Rollins to continue playing at a productive level for three ...

Bryce Harper plans to use Playstation as part of his thumb rehab

Harper has a legitimate medical reason for including Playstation as part of his rehab. Presumably, using his left thumb to aim firearms, operate motor vehicles, and shimmy past linebackers will strengthen it after a dormant period following the surgery.

If this is a thing, then I feel like the new Mario Kart has me in the best shape of my career.

OMNICHATTER 6-8-2014

Sunday Omnichatter!

ESPN: Pete Rose to manage for 1 day

Pete Rose is back in professional baseball—for one game anyway. Rose, who still is serving a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball, will return to the dugout to manage the independent league Bridgeport Bluefish for one day. The Bluefish, who play in the Atlantic League, announced Saturday that Rose will serve as their manager on June 16 against the Lancaster Barnstormers.

the line just changed

Bluefish general manager Ken Shepard referred to Rose’s one-game managerial return as “one of the ...

Kendrys Morales agrees with Twins

They agree that the draft compensation rules are annoying.

Morales’ deal is less than “but in the ballpark” of the $10 million contract that Stephen Drew signed with the Boston Red Sox in May, the source said.

Paul Lo Duca on Mets catchers: I can hit better lefty than those ‘schmucks’

Lo Duca-Durabol strikes again!

“I could hit better left-handed than the schmucks they’ve got there now,” said the righty-swinging Lo Duca, who is also a horse racing analyst and was booked on the show to preview the Belmont Stakes.

D’Arnaud, a top prospect acquired in the R.A. Dickey deal, is hitting .184 and Recker is right on the Mendoza Line at .200. That does make Lo Duca’s two years at Shea — he hit .318 in 2006 and .272 in 2007 – look Ruth-ian.

But Lo Duca, who was named ...

Bump: The time Bill Clinton made the New York Yankees a front in the war on drugs

Drugging: How Each of Us Can Change the Baseball World.

In 1995, the New York Yankees owner decided to sign Darryl Strawberry to a short-term contract, despite Strawberry’s suspension for testing positive for cocaine a few months earlier. Then the Bill Clinton White House got involved.

In the latest of the ongoing release of previously classified documents from the Clinton Presidential Library is a memo sent from then-chief-of-staff Rahm Emmanuel covering a number of important topics: ...

Stereogum: Merge Records Took Over Last Night’s Durham Bulls Game

Mikie Mahtook having Superchunk’s “Me & You & Jackie Mittoo” (spelled as Mitoo. oof!) as his walk-up song might be the greatest thing ever.

The indie giant Merge Records is a hometown institution in Durham, North Carolina, and it’s maintained ties with another hometown institution: The Durham Bulls, the local Triple-A baseball team. When SPIN’s David Bevan wrote his great profile of the label last year, much of it took place at a Merge-themed night at the local stadium. And last night, as ...