The Quartet: Four Great Yankees Sluggers

Quite the thunderous ensemble.

“In a September 1972 issue of The Sporting News this picture appeared with the headline “Quartet of Spare Parts Give Yanks New Zip.”  I confess to looking upon this photo with great hilarity.  It features Johnny Callison, Bernie Allen, Ron Swoboda and Hal Lanier.  Ever was there a more fearsome quartet of sluggers, I think not.  They all appear grinning and happy.  Their team unity is quite evident as they throw their arms about each other. Confidence leaps ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-12-2015

Washington Times, February 12, 1915:

President Joseph A. Lannin, of the Boston Red Sox, predicted two-dollar baseball in the near future unless the controversy between [organized baseball] and the Federals comes to an early termination, at the “Home Night” annual dinner of Boston College last night.
...
“I know personally that the Federal League has already lost more than $1,000,000, one backer alone dropping $650,000.” This cannot continue if the sport of baseball is to live, he said.

According ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #3 — Ed Barrow

Catching up on the GM series today with the Ed Barrow, Bob Howsam, George Weiss, and John Schuerholz. The work of GMs is a topic that fascinates me. Since Mark Armour and Dan Levitt are excellent baseball researchers I am counting the days to the book’s release.

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #4 — Bob Howsam

Architect of the late 60’s Cardinals World Series teams and the Big Red Machine.

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #5 — George Weiss

Long-time GM of the Yankees.

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #6 — John Schuerholz

GM of the Royals and Braves.

How much are taxes affecting James Shields’ payday with the Pads? | FOX Sports

Ken Rosenthal covers the impact of state taxes on offers to James Shields.

Philadelphia Phillies’ Jonathan Papelbon woes continue | FOX Sports

Ruben Amaro is what I call a “deal winner”. A “deal winner” doesn’t try to make a fair trade. He only makes deal when it is 100% clear that he won the exchange.

Plenty of interest in Cole Hamels, but no trade yet | SportsNet Philadelphia

Ruben sounds like the guy in your fantasy league who everybody only deals with when they have to.

“If there was an offer commensurate to what we believe is [Hamels’] value we would strongly consider it,” was all Amaro would say.

How Moncada compares to top middle-infield prospects | MLB.com

Jim Callis grades out the next big thing from Cuba.

Massarotti: How The 2015 Red Sox Have Become Most Expensive Club In Team History « CBS Boston

Tony Massarotti finally writes something somewhat interesting.

Jackie Robinson West stripped of Little League World Series wins | FOX Sports

Little League International has stripped Jackie Robinson West of the national title that the Chicago team won last summer after an investigation revealed it had falsified boundaries to field ineligible players.

The 2015 Mets: 40-WAR scenario - Mets Blog - ESPN New York

What do the Mets need to do to win next year?

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #7 — Buzzie Bavasi

Former GM of the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels.

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #8 — Harry Dalton

GM of the Orioles, Angels and Brewers.

Baseball’s All-Star Game coming to Marlins Park in 2017

The 2017 All-Star Game will be played at Marlins Park.

Officials are expected to announce within the week that Miami has been awarded the Midsummer Classic for the first time, multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement confirmed Tuesday to the Miami Herald.

Marlins and Major League Baseball officials refused to comment.

The awarding of the 2017 event will mark the end of a long and bumpy road to bring the All-Star Game to South Florida.
The Marlins tried — and failed — in their bid ...

Baseball Prospectus | The Lineup Card: Nine Predictions for Alex Rodriguez’ 2015 Season

A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod! It’s always about A-Rod!

Rangers continue to get good health news | FOX Sports

Reports on the Rangers walking wounded.

ESPN: Barkley rips Rockets GM, use of stats

Barkley, of course, has long experience in not winning championships.

The Naismith Hall of Famer and TNT analyst then disavowed the widespread use of [advanced stats] in sports, saying its proponents were “a bunch of guys who have never played the game, and they never got the girls in high school.” [...] “They say that same crap in baseball, and they put these little lightweight teams together and they never win,” Barkley said. “They’re always competitive to a certain degree and they don’t ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-11-2015

Harrisburg Star-Independent, February 11, 1915:

Manager Bill Donovan, of the New York American League baseball team, was unsuccessful yesterday in his attempt to sign Hugh High and Walter Pipp, members of the Detroit club. Each player asked Donovan for a higher salary than he was willing to offer.
...
President Navin, of the Detroit club, said he is willing to release the two players to New York provided they and Donovan agree on terms.

So I guess they’re saying Wally Pipp was being…a headache. ...Read More...

Sickels: New York Yankees Top 20 Prospects for 2015

1) Luis Severino, RHP, Grade B+/Borderline A-
2) Aaron Judge, OF, Grade B+/Borderline A-
3) Greg Bird, 1B, Grade B+/Borderline B
4) Rob Refsnyder, 2B, Grade B
5) Gary Sanchez, C, Grade B
6) Jacob Lindgren, LHP, Grade B
7) Ian Clarkin, LHP, Grade B/Borderline B-
8) Luis Torrens, C, Grade B-/Borderline B
9) Miguel Andujar, 3B, Grade B-
10) Jorge Mateo, SS, Grade B-

Schoenfield: Ranking the teams: 24 through 19

Can the Yankees compete with the large market teams?

Due for a better year: Rodriguez? CC Sabathia? Carlos Beltran? Take your old, injured veteran and project better numbers. And then go buy a lottery ticket.

Due for a worse year: Did Miller turn the corner in 2014? After averaging 5.3 walks per nine innings over his career, he lowered that to 2.5 while striking out a dominant 14.9 per nine. The Yankees forked over a lot of money to get the big lefty and now he and Betances could make for ...

A-Rod To Home-Run King Barry Bonds: ‘I Want To Take Your Record’

Alex Rodriguez, in preparation for the upcoming season, worked out with legendary slugger Barry Bonds in January at the Future Prospects Baseball facility in San Rafael, California.

“He was funny,” Bonds told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He said, ‘I want to take your record.’ I said, ‘That’s OK. If that’s what you want to do, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’ I was excited he wanted to do it.”

Baseball executives don’t like Max Scherzer’s deferred money deal

I wonder what Bobby Bonilla thinks.

The contract is for seven-years and $210 million. But as Buster notes, a huge amount of deferred money in involved. It stretches over the next 14 years and includes a $50 million signing bonus. For luxury tax purposes the contract is considered to be a $191.4 million deal based on present value, with an annual salary for such purposes determined to be $28.69 million.

Why this bugs other teams is a mystery. In response to other folks on Twitter, Olney cites ...

Baseball Prospectus: Top 101 Prospects of 2015

Their top ten:

1. Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins
2. Addison Russell, SS, Chicago Cubs
3. Carlos Correa, SS, Houston Astros
4. Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians
5. Kris Bryant, 3B, Chicago Cubs
6. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Washington Nationals
7. Corey Seager, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
8. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
9. Noah Syndergaard, RHP, New York Mets
10. Julio Urias, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

IS JAPAN’S PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE UNFAIR?

Maybe its time to say Domi Arigato and bring in Umpire Roboto.

Last Friday, Giants Ryan Vogelsong and Casey McGehee—while highly appreciative of their time in Japan and the things they learned while playing there—both independently referenced preferential treatment for homegrown stars in Nippon Professional Baseball.

From the other side of the plate, McGehee said that “you end up striking out looking a lot because there were a lot of times that if the catcher caught it, you were sitting ...

Washington Post: Appeal To Reverse Antitrust Rule Is A Desperate Swing For The Fences

A look at San Jose’s appeal to the Supreme Court, touching on the history of MLB’s anti-trust exemption, as well as the baseball background of some of the current Justices:

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is famously a Yankees fan — “You can’t grow up in the South Bronx without knowing about baseball,” she once said — who has thrown out the first pitch at a game and had the team bring the World Series trophy to her Supreme Court chambers. For her Christmas present this past year, Sotomayor’s ...

Rare Shoeless Joe Jackson autograph photo may bring $100,000

Sharon Bowen thought her late husband was a bit crazy for buying a scrapbook filled with black and white photos of Cleveland ballplayers from the early 1900s — but not anymore. It turns out that book held what may be the only autographed photo of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Holy Grail of baseball signatures.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-10-2015

Harrisburg Telegraph, February 10, 1915:

Curtis Guild, former ambassador to Russia, declared in a recent address that America was vitally dependent upon Russia, as the hides of Siberian ponies were used in the manufacture of baseballs.

The makers of the Spalding, Reach and Victor balls, which are used, respectively, in the National, the American and the Federal League, assert vehemently that they use nothing but American horsehide. They state further that all the materials used in the ...

Next move may be as important as last ones for Padres, Preller | FOX Sports

“If one of these (trades) doesn’t work, we’ll make another one because that’s what we do,” Beane said at the Athletics’ FanFest. “We’re not going to wait around.”
Those should be words to live by for Preller, the Padres’ frenzied first-year GM. Because as much as I love what Preller has done – the sheer energy and audacity of it – his extreme roster makeover still could flop.