SABR conference explores new frontiers - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN

A lot of interesting tidbits in this one too.

But the most sobering realization? While the rate of successful outcomes on Tommy John surgeries is down around 75 percent, Fleisig said that he’s found nearly 40 percent of parents and coaches think it might help their baseball-playing kids in high school and college to have elective Tommy John surgery, thinking that it might reliably add a couple ticks to their fastball. He suggested that the phenomenon of added velocity in big-league pitchers ...

Moneyball … But With Money «

A lot of good stuff here, including this tidbit.

The similarly revenue-challenged Rays have ranked among the American League’s elite teams for most of the past six seasons, thanks in part to using even more nuanced platoons than simple lefty-righty splits. Manager Joe Maddon won’t hesitate to start certain players based on the ground ball–to–fly ball tendencies of an opposing pitcher. One of Tampa Bay’s most contrarian moves has been its occasional use of a nearly all-righty lineup ...

Peter Gammons: Nominees for the future front of the rotation - GammonsDaily.com

Latest from Gammons.

A’s starters Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin likely out to start season - Oakland Athletics : The Drumbeat

Pitchers getting hurt.

Major news, and not good, for the A’s today: projected Opening Day starter Jarrod Parker is likely to miss the start of the season because of a forearm injury; Parker will visit orthopedist Dr. James Andrews in Alabama on Monday. And A.J. Griffin, the team’s No. 4 starter, will see Dr. Doug Freedberg in Scottsdale today because of elbow discomfort.

Think the Yankees have infield problems this season? Just wait | New York Post

Are the Yankees in danger of getting locked into a cycle of mediocrity?

Agent Scott Boras says Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew willing to wait for long-term deals - ESPN

Until the CBA expires Boras has to deal with things as they are, not how he wants them to be. Drew *might* be able to get a decent contract in June. I can’t see how Morales can make up for the $14.1 million he passed up this year.

In the two years under the current landscape, all 22 players who have received qualifying offers have declined and decided to take their chances on the open market. Boras, an outspoken critic of the system, said that’s no surprise.

“I started preparing these guys in ...

Belligerent Red Sox Prospect Arrested While “Looking To Get Some Pussy”

Not just another cat lover.

Seattle Mariners option Jesus Montero to Triple-A Tacoma

Jesus Wash.ed.

Designated hitter/first baseman Jesus Montero, the one-time cornerstone for the rebuilding project that is the Seattle Mariners, will not be with the big-league club when the 2014 season begins in April after he was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on Friday.

Montero put up decent numbers during the exhibition season, batting .310 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 29 at-bats, which helped to partially salvage a spring training that started in disastrous fashion.

In Febrary, Montero ...

Bill James Mailbag - 3/14/14

I’ll read my annuals with the pork and beans…

Assume MLB never expanded but it continued to recruit players as it has, roughly halving the size of the MLB pool: are there players we now consider to be at the star/solid regular level who would be sitting on the bench? IOW, which position is so full of stars/solid regulars now that the 17th best player would surprise people?

There are no such players. Expansion put pressure on the organizations to find more players, leading to larger minors, much ...

Terry Collins to Ruben Tejada: Shortstop job is all yours

Ruben Tejada went 0-for-3 Thursday and is 1-for-15 in spring training. He made an error on a routine play, his third such miscue in his last five games.

Still, after his day was over, Tejada was told by Mets manager Terry Collins that he will be the team’s shortstop this season.

“I talked to him today about trying to relax a little bit,” Collins said after the Mets’ 7-5 win over the Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. “Quit worrying about things.

“I said, ‘Listen, you’re the shortstop here. ...

AZ Republic: Mesa Riverview center bends on parking for Cubs games

At least three times already this year, crowds at the new Chicago Cubs stadium have smashed all-time Cactus League attendance records. But not everyone seemed eager at the outset to cash in on those fans and their money.

Kimco Realty, which owns the tax-subsidized Riverview shopping center across from the stadium on Dobson Road, created some bad vibes among baseball fans and Riverview Park patrons by initially banning non-customer parking at the center. At the same time, a competing center in ...

Braves’ Beachy might need another Tommy John surgery

Pitcher Brandon Beachy’s arm injury appears to be far worse than he and the Braves initially believed, and he could find out Monday that he needs a second Tommy John elbow surgery and another year-long rehabilitation.

The Braves face the almost unimaginable, but quite real, possibility that starting pitchers Kris Medlen and Beachy could both be told Monday when they visit Dr. James Andrews that each needs to have a second ligament-transplant surgery, aka “Tommy John” surgery. Andrews did ...

The 8 most loyal fanbases in major league baseball

Fans like teams with winning records; that is a shock. What would the Yankees (or Giants, or Red Sox, or….) be if they went 62-100? Those seem like the loyal fans to me.

Ryan Zimmerman will sit out Nationals’ next two games

Pain isn’t good.

“At first you’re concerned, because you don’t want anything to hurt,” Zimmerman said. “Once every day it starts to feel better, you realize it’s just soreness and not anything structural. At first, you’re always nervous, especially when you had something repaired. It’s okay.
“It feels good enough to play now. Because we’re afforded with the time we have now, we should just give it one or two more days to make sure it’s completely out of there. You can do ...

Nothing to Rollins’ benching, Sandberg claims | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia

Who cares?

However, Sandberg’s there’s-nothing-to-see-here story became a little tough to believe when it became clear he was bothered by a recent comment that Rollins made in the Philadelphia Daily News.

On Monday, with the losses and the 0-fers piling up, Rollins said something to the effect that he wasn’t concerned about the way things were going because it was just spring training.

“Who cares?” he said.

The comment hit the paper Tuesday morning, the same day that Rollins was ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-14-2014

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, March 14, 1914:

Joe Oeschger, pitcher for St. Mary’s College team of [Oakland], signed a three-year contract [yesterday] to play with the Philadelphia Nationals and will report to that club next week. He is a right hander who has been successful in college baseball for two years.

Coincidentally, Oeschger’s most famous appearance in the big leagues was successful and lasted about two years.

Actually, it lasted 3:50, which is mindblowingly short for the longest game in ...

Renck: In plunking Troy Tulowitzki, Diamondbacks way off base

Makes about as much sense as Plunkblog.

Mediocrity has made the Diamondbacks angry.

Their rattle is louder. After consecutive .500 records, they overhauled their roster and have conducted Camp Tougher Meaner. Their new edge, while understandable, took a forked tongue in the road Wednesday night at Salt River Fields when Diamondbacks pitcher Wade Miley hit Rockies shortstop Troy Tulo- witzki with a fastball in the left calf near his fibula.

...The Rockies’ season could have been over before ...

Brad Ziegler tweets his mind, and then some

He wants baseball’s drug testing program strengthened and says it’s impossible to believe the game is totally clean without it. He wants Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun to once and for all divulge the details that led to his drug suspension instead of vague apologies. He wants the Hall of Fame to be off limits to any player linked to performance-enhancing drugs. And, if it’s not asking too much, he wants every player to hustle to first base.
When the St.Louis Cardinals signed Jhonny Peralta ...

Hardball Times: Learning the Language of the Clubhouse

What I’d been looking for was some insight into the ideal ground-ball rate for a hitter. The Royals were hitting the most ground balls in the league, and I thought it might be affecting their power. Since I knew Eric Hosmer was the one behind me laughing at me, I thought I’d be the adult. I asked Butler about ground balls, but I motioned at Hosmer (I see you there): “I was asking Eric about this, but are ground balls and fly balls something you think about when you get up to the plate?” ...Read More...

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 13, 2014 at 10:52 PM | 6 comment(s)
  Beats: anthony rizzo, billy butler, clubhouse, cubs, darwin barney, eric hosmer, jeff samardijza, media, mike moustakas, royals, ryan vogelsong

Levin: Why Rick Reilly couldn’t survive in the era of Bill Simmons and Nate Silver.

Rick Reilly checked out years ago. Now, he’s finally leaving. Reilly had it first on Twitter: The columnist will write his last story for ESPN.com on June 30 and will then transition to crafting soft-focus features for various Bristol TV properties. As Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch points out, the mothballing of Reilly’s word processor will allow ESPN.com to reshape its home page, giving Nate Silver and the new FiveThirtyEight.com a prime promotional slot alongside Bill Simmons and ...

Phils’ Rollins, Sandberg yet to talk

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins isn’t sure why he’s been benched by the Philadelphia Phillies and says manager Ryne Sandberg still hasn’t given him an explanation.

Rollins, 35, who has played all 14 of his major league seasons with Philadelphia, was left out of the lineup for Grapefruit League games Tuesday and Wednesday and again is missing from Thursday’s lineup versus the New York Yankees.

Rollins said former manager Charlie Manuel would always talk to him when he wasn’t in the lineup, ...

Dee Gordon reminds some of Maury Wills and that’s good for Dodgers - latimes.com

Maury Wills or Lenny Faedo?

Baseball-Reference’s Similar Batters through 25:
1. Lenny Faedo (976)
2. Angel Sanchez (974)
3. Jim Brideweser (970)
4. Doc Marshall (968)
5. Roxey Roach (965)
6. Ed Montague (962)
7. Harry Decker (961)
8. Ed Rowen (961)
9. Wilson Delgado (958)
10. Ed Busch (958)

Edit: Link fixed. Sorry. JF

The Curved Coin is Coming

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the U.S. Mint has produced the nation’s first-ever curved coin. It’s a commemorative coin, which means it’s not intended for circulation.

Per the U.S. Mint, 750,000 50 cent pieces, 400,000 dollar coins, and 50,000 gold five dollar coins will be made (1.2 million coins in all). Starting March 27, they’ll sell for a good deal more than their face value, with some of that money going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Renck: Larry Walker believes chances for Hall of Fame take pair of hits

Dead body counting stats not included.

Walker’s candidacy nosedived this year, his fourth on a crowded Hall of Fame ballot. He received 10.2 percent of the vote, a reflection of the controversy surrounding several former players who used — or are suspected of using — performance-enhancing drugs. Walker said his goal is to remain on the ballot for 15 years. He needs 5 percent to prevent falling off. Playing at Coors Field, where he hit .381 with 154 home runs in 597 games, isn’t helping his ...

In the Mets Locker Room, an Old Slur Resurfaces

In the New York Mets locker room Monday morning, I was talking with Jeff Cutler, a 30-year old Japanese American from suburban Boston who serves as the interpreter for Japanese-born pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

We were talking casually about Asian communities in America when we heard a voice behind us.

“Jeff!”

Cutler and I turned around. It was Dan Warthen, the Mets pitching coach.

“I’m sorry I called you a ‘Chinaman’ yesterday,” Warthen told Cutler.

Long: Ervin Santana: The forgotten free agent

It seems reasonable that Santana’s new team can expect him to continue his ground ball tendencies, assuming he keep using his sinker. This is especially important against right-handed batters, as it gives him just enough of a different tool to compliment his fastball and slider. One could even argue that his performance has room for improvement if he mixed in an even greater percentage of sinkers. If Santana mixed in more sinkers, and maybe even matched his fastball usage, the results could ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 3-13-2014

New York Tribune, March 13, 1914:

The Chinese baseball team of Hawaii, which arrived [in San Francisco]...on the steamer Honolulan, owes its escape from spending the night in the detention station on Angel Island principally to the prowess of En Suey, an outfielder.

The immigration officials were deaf to protest that the players were native born American citizens, that eight were voters and six members of the Hawaiian National Guard. “We’re sorry,” said the officials, “but these men are ...

Are Managers Getting Smarter About Intentional Walks? | FanGraphs Baseball

Without getting incredibly granular, it’s hard to make a mountaintop-worthy announcement that teams are figuring out how to use the intentional walk properly. There’s more research to be done here.We do know that the overall frequency of the IBB is down, which is good. We also know that when they do happen, they are happening in higher-leverage situations than five, ten, or 15 years ago. This is almost certainly good.

Livan to make retirement official | nationals.com: News

We all knew those Dusty Baker pitch counts would eventually take their toll.

Blue Jays drafting in the Anthopoulos era

Given the talk about the state of the franchise after the Santana nonsense, here’s another article pointing out some recent failures by the Blue Jays, this time in the draft.

The Blue Jays need to draft and develop talent successfully to drive winning at the major league level.  Alex Anthopoulos adopted this as a core belief and when he was hired as general manager he focused on improving the Jays drafting and player development.  How successful has this new approach been? AA has been on ...