Today's Birthday Team doesn't have a lot of talent, but it's got a Corky, an Elbie, a Geronimo, and a Tomokazu. So that's something.

C: Corky Miller
1B: Elbie Fletcher
2B: Fred Hatfield
3B: Russ Wrightstone
SS: Eddie Lake
LF: Scott Podsednik
CF: Dwayne Murphy
RF: Geronimo Berroa

SP: Al Benton
SP: Pat Jarvis
SP: Tomo Ohka
SP/Manager: Jimmy Callahan
SP: Johnny Cooney
RP: Chad Cordero
RP: Fernando Rodney

Up at THT: Top 10 upcoming player/team milestones in 2013.

Also, today marks 5,000 days since Randy Johnson was in hell. Or left hell, maybe that's a better way of putting it.

so, just a few thoughts on TV:

-i've given up on the americans. i didn't enjoy it, so it's off my watchlist.
-shameless is a trainwreck, and it's more awful than not, but for some reason i'm still watching it.
-the walking dead is shifting into high gear after slogging through most of its first three seasons. the only reason i didn't stop watching after season 2 was because i never reset my DVR to stop recording it, but it has been (almost) excellent this season.
-i can see why chevy chase walked off of community after watching the first few episodes this season. his character is awful and it has nothing to do with him.
-i'm still watching the shield and i still think it's pretty great.
-archer is still outstanding. when it's at its best (like when they got anthony bourdain to guest star a few weeks ago), it's better than any other show on TV, and when it's at its worst (like when it had a whole episode dedicated to ron cadillac), it's still hilarious.
-legit is one of the best shows to premiere this year. it does lean a little too heavily on jim jeffries' standup, but that's not a huge issue this early in the series.
-justified: i'm not sure where the plot is going to end the season, but since the show has been consistently great since the pilot, i have no doubt that they'll finish strong.

-doctor who starts up again in a few weeks. can't wait.


-oh, and i don't watch many new shows until i can watch the whole first season or two on netflix/amazon/hulu, but cult, on the cw, is watchable and it might actually be really good if it doesn't start to take itself too seriously (like 24) or get bogged down in trying to create its own mythology (like lost) or go overboard with excessive gore (like the walking dead). i haven't watched the cw since 7th heaven back when i was in high school, but this show has caught my eye.

Since STEAGLES broke the thread, I enjoyed the Vikings last night, FWIW.

I like the show "Cheers". Its pretty funny.

Turning a Dugout into a TV thread? Have you people no shame at all?

This thread is specifically about baseball. Go away.

I enjoyed the Vikings last night, FWIW.

"This thread is specifically about baseball. Go away."

I'm pretty sure most of the Vikings were on STEROIDS, so it is OK for discussion here.

Cheers was about a former baseball player, named Sam Malone.

Trivia: Which of the actors on Cheers...

Just kidding. Name the three players who played for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.

After watching the work of the veterans and recruits of the St. Louis Browns, in training in the South, three sport writers to-day confidently predict that the Browns would finish eighth in the American League race.

Wow, way to go out on a limb. You could have made that prediction just about every year and been right.

Not as easily as you could have between 1922 and 1930, when the Red Sox played the role of the Washington Generals for the entire rest of the American League.

1922 - Red Sox last
1923 - Red Sox last
1924 - Red Sox 7th, 1/2 game ahead of last place White Sox
1925 - Red Sox last
1926 - Red Sox last
1927 - Red Sox last
1928 - Red Sox last
1929 - Red Sox last
1930 - Red Sox last

Even the current Astros or Yankees will be hard pressed to match that, especially now that they're in the same league.

Name the three players who played for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.

Eddie Mathews, Billy Bruton, and Jack Dittmer. Duh.

Now name the Braves who played for Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta.

Just kidding. Name the three players who played for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.

Hank Aaron is the easy one.

Can't think of any others.

Hank Aaron is the easy one.

Indeed.

Eddie Mathews, Billy Bruton, and Jack Dittmer. Duh.

All three were retired by the time the Seattle Pilots played their first game... but this sounds like sarcasm in some way that I'm not recognizing.

Felipe Alou

Just kidding. Name the three players who played for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.

Eddie Mathews, Billy Bruton, and Jack Dittmer. Duh.

All three were retired by the time the Seattle Pilots played their first game... but this sounds like sarcasm in some way that I'm not recognizing.

No, it just means that you should get off BB-Reference and invest in a few Baseball Registers. Or maybe you've never heard of the Milwaukee Brewers AAA team.

Felipe Alou

Ooh, very nice.

No, it just means that you should get off BB-Reference and invest in a few Baseball Registers. Or maybe you've never heard of the Milwaukee Brewers AAA team.

They have minor league stats on B-R these days, you know.

Weird to see Alou in a Brewers uniform. TRADED!

They have minor league stats on B-R these days, you know.

Then why did you think I was being sarcastic in my correct answer to your question? Mathews, Bruton and Dittmer all played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves.

Then why did you think I was being sarcastic in my correct answer to your question? Mathews, Bruton and Dittmer all played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves.

Eddie Mathews career is a palindrome. He played for Atlanta, Milwaukee, Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta all in that order.

Then why did you think I was being sarcastic in my correct answer to your question? Mathews, Bruton and Dittmer all played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Braves.

I was referring to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League, later and currently known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League, which everyone else seems to have figured out without too much trouble. And since the minor league Brewers were owned by the Braves the year before they moved to Milwaukee, there were (as it turns out) more than three players to play for both teams (just eyeballing the 1952 Brewers' team page, Johnny Logan jumps out), so the initial question makes no sense if the minor league Brewers are also being considered.

In a more direct answer to your question, I do not know everything on B-R; I was not aware of the existence of the minor league Brewers until you brought it up.

I was referring to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League, later and currently known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League, which everyone else seems to have figured out without too much trouble. And since the minor league Brewers were owned by the Braves the year before they moved to Milwaukee, there were (as it turns out) more than three players to play for both teams (just eyeballing the 1952 Brewers' team page, Johnny Logan jumps out), so the initial question makes no sense if the minor league Brewers are also being considered.

Sure, but that's one take out of two possibilities. I chose the other one. And since you asked for three names, that's what I gave you. Since I was answering off the top of my head, I wasn't looking at the AAA Brewers' roster, and hadn't realized that there were likely more than three who made the jump.

In a more direct answer to your question, I do not know everything on B-R; I was not aware of the existence of the minor league Brewers until you brought it up.

So now we've both learned something. Can't complain about that, can we?

So now we've both learned something. Can't complain about that, can we?

Sure, OK. Anyone have a guess as to the third answer?

Of course the fabulous St. Louis Browns were once the Milwaukee Brewers so then you get the awesome Dick Littlefield.

(There was once a St. Louis Brown Bar near downtown Chicago(Illinois and State) dingiest bar I ever went to.)

Eddie Mathews career is a palindrome. He played for Atlanta, Milwaukee, Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta all in that order.

My variant on that is the question, "When did Eddie Mathews first play for Boston? For Milwaukee? For Atlanta?" I've never had a single person get that one right on the first try.

(There was once a St. Louis Brown Bar near downtown Chicago(Illinois and State) dingiest bar I ever went to.)

And as late as the mid-70's there was still a "Phillies Bar", or at least the sign and the storefront, in the vicinity of the old Baker Bowl.

My variant on that is the question, "When did Eddie Mathews first play for Boston? For Milwaukee? For Atlanta?" I've never had a single person get that one right on the first try.

And I'll be once they find out the real answer is based on some ridiculous technicality, they're just as annoyed as everyone in this thread is now!

And I'll be once they find out the real answer is based on some ridiculous technicality, they're just as annoyed as everyone in this thread is now!

Okay, Crispix, this one's for you: Rounded to the nearest three figures, what was the batting average of Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox in 1941?** Everyone's a winner!

**HINT: The Boston Red Sox are a baseball team that played in the American League of the United States of America.

**HINT: The Boston Red Sox are a baseball team that played in the American League of the United States of America.

<thick Eurotrash accent>
"What ees thees think you call BASE-BAWL...?!"
</thick Eurotrash accent>

Eddie Mathews career is a palindrome. He played for Atlanta, Milwaukee, Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta all in that order.

Only if you count the years from 1950-1966. On the front end of that string he played for High Point-Thomasville; on the back end he played for Houston and Detroit.

-- MWE

Could the 1913 St.Louis Browns beat the 2013 Miami Marlins?

Could the 1913 St.Louis Browns beat the 2013 Miami Marlins?

Well, the Browns are all dead, so I'll take the Marlins in 6.

Could the 1913 St.Louis Browns beat the 2013 Miami Marlins?

Might have been a toss-up game in the mid-late 1970s. A few living octogenarians against a few pre-schoolers.

Cuban defector Armando Rivero agreed to sign with the Cubs last month - today, mlbtr listed his bonus - $3.1m (not subject to int'l pool restrictions). Reliever hits the mid 90s, works in the low 90s, solid splitter, iffy breaking stuff. Projects as a middle reliever, though I'd like to see the Cubs give him a rotation look in the minors. Command is eh. #s in Cuba are reasonably solid.
I think this was a good risk.

mlbtr also has a bit up suggesting that MLB and the MLBPA are working on an international draft, maybe as soon as this year. This would be, iirc, a bad thing for the Rays, who exceeded their pool - the penalty for doing so is stronger in a world with a draft.

Chris Snyder now an Angel.

Minor league middle reliever Mike Cisco also became an Angel, traded by Philly over the weekend for no compensation. Peripherals don't entice, but has posted an ERA below 2 each of the last two years in the high minors (mostly AA).

Could the 1913 St.Louis Browns beat the 2013 Miami Marlins?

Might have been a toss-up game in the mid-late 1970s. A few living octogenarians against a few pre-schoolers.

That wiffle ball game might out draw a September afternoon game in Miami this year.

in the mid-late 1970s. A few living octogenarians

I'm imagining Del Pratt spiking a tee-baller on his way into first base.

mlbtr also has a bit up suggesting that MLB and the MLBPA are working on an international draft, maybe as soon as this year. This would be, iirc, a bad thing for the Rays, who exceeded their pool - the penalty for doing so is stronger in a world with a draft.

Ian Gordon of "Mother Jones" was on "Hang Up and Listen" last week about his article on Yewri Guillen and the exploitation of Latin American players and said there would be a draft soon. He discussed some of the complications that have been raised here - does this "kill" baseball in the DR like it supposedly did in Puerto Rico? Does this discourage the "scouts", shady as they are, who find these kids? Won't this kill all the team academies, and if it does, does MLB create its own centralized academy?

Matsuzaka, Capps told they won't make Indians' 25-man roster.

Tito Francona

Other Diamond Notes from camp:

Ryan Theriot is mulling becoming an agent.

Chris Carpenter visited Cardinals camp and indicated he is unlikely to ever pitch again.

Since no other guesses have come in for a while now, the third player to play for both the Milwaukee Braves and (major league) Milwaukee Brewers is...

Phil Roof.

So Aaron was the only player to reach base for both the Milwaukee Braves and (major league) Brewers.

Phil Roof was your prototypical low ceiling catcher, wasn't he?

37: talk has been soon for awhile - the question is how soon is soon, now?

anyway, if i'm reading the cba right - they're negotiating for a draft for '14 (which would make more sense - you need advance notice to have the framework in place).
Link to the CBA, attachment 46, page 265.

Phil Roof was your prototypical low ceiling catcher, wasn't he?

But not so low that he didn't get 15 years in the majors. When I think of Phil Roof, I think of the big age disparity between him and his brother (17 years), such that one was just starting a pro career when the other was finishing up.

Of course, the Roofs don't hold the record. That might belong to the Fowler brothers, one who pitched in the '20s and the other in the '60s.

i, for one, rolled my eyes at you edmundo.

High Point-Thomasville should have gotten the expansion team that went to Houston.

Thanks, Der K, that was my target response! Occasionally, the low-hanging fruit just needs to be picked.

My only recollection of Phil Roof was reading in a Blue Jays program that he won a cow-milking contest before a game.

When I think of Phil Roof, I think of the big age disparity between him and his brother (17 years), such that one was just starting a pro career when the other was finishing up.

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman. OK, not nearly as great an age difference, only 9 years. But their careers made it seem like more. Glenn had been retired for 4 years, after a 10 year career, before Trevor debuted. And Glenn became a manager the year Trevor was at his peak. Altogether the brothers Hoffman were active (with a short gap) from 1980-2010, while the brother's Roof (with a small gap) from 1961-1983 (hey, just like Yaz!)

Phil Roof cow milking contest photo, of course it is the Finley A's involved.

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman. OK, not nearly as great an age difference, only 9 years. But their careers made it seem like more. Glenn had been retired for 4 years, after a 10 year career, before Trevor debuted. And Glenn became a manager the year Trevor was at his peak. Altogether the brothers Hoffman were active (with a short gap) from 1980-2010, while the brother's Roof (with a small gap) from 1961-1983 (hey, just like Yaz!)

Joey Cora and Alex Cora too. Ten year age difference. Alex's rookie year was Joey's last year in the bigs.

Phil Roof, in 1970, hit 13 home runs - and had eight other extra base hits.

-- MWE

High Point-Thomasville should have gotten the expansion team that went to Houston.

There was some talk about the Triad -- Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem -- as a possible expansion/relocation spot for MLB. The theory was that it was close enough to the Triangle and Charlotte to pull in fans from both.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

Phil Roof, in 1970, hit 13 home runs - and had eight other extra base hits.

The best season in this vein is McGwire's 2001: 23 singles, 4 doubles, 29 homeruns.

Dice-K has accepted assignment to Columbus, OH.

Same with Trevor and Glenn Hoffman.

This I never knew!

i, for one, rolled my eyes at you edmundo.

And the pun (obviously) zipped right over my pointed head.

Relatively brief Birthday League update:

March 2              58  32  .644 ----  
March 14             54  31  .635  1.5  
March 5              52  35  .598  4.5  
March 9              50  37  .575  6.5

News and Notes:
* Gene McAuliffe (February 28) continues to make a mockery of the Birthday League. He's hitting .529. McAuliffe was 1-for-2 in his real-life MLB career. His backup was 0-for-1 in his career.
* Mel Ott (March 2) leads the league in runs scored (71), home runs (21), RBI (70), and walks (72).
* Willie Stargell (March 6) is tied with Ott atop the home run leaderboard. Pops leads the league in slugging (.626) and total bases (194) and is fourth in OBP (.420). He leads the league in RC/27 among guys who aren't freakazoid low-PA catchers, at 10.5.
* March 7 shortstop The Other Keith Miller has committed 40 errors.
* Mort Cooper (March 2) leads the league with 13 wins. Kevin Brown (March 14) and John Smiley (March 17) are tied for second with 12 wins.
* Tim Lollar (March 17) leads the league with a 1.62 ERA.
* Saves leaderboard: Kent Tekulve (March 5) 19, Steve Howe (March 10) 17, Scott Sullivan (March 13) 17, Jose Valverde (March 24) 17.

Stats, standings, box scores and leaders here.

Oakland A's sticking with Coco Crisp as center fielder

Melvin's decision goes opposite of the prime defensive metric of the 21st century -- UZR (ultimate zone rating), which assesses how many runs a defender takes away. It gives a clear edge to Young, but Melvin and general manager Billy Beane have no problem turning a blind eye to the UZR.

"We have our own proprietary defensive ratings metrics," Melvin said. "It's the best I've ever seen, better than any of the others. And it tells us that we have two elite center fielders."

Said Beane, "There's a reason it's proprietary. It's an ongoing process to improve our analysis. More than that, I'm not willing to say."

Beane and Melvin believe there isn't as much difference in the two outfielders as systems such as UZR show.

There's a reason it's proprietary.

We don't want to embarrass ourselves.

The Triad is about 1.6 M people these days (#33) so High Point ain't exactly Central Bumfuck. The Charlotte CSA (#22) is about the same size as Pittsburgh, the Triangle CSA (#30) is about the same size as Milwaukee or Cincy. If the "regional team" concept was actually workable (I don't think it is), it would be a rather large market.

It makes sense then that this regional market has teams in 3 of the 4 major sports, and with the long drives, that the only sport they don't have is the one with games practically every day of the week.

I'm dense, Delorians - what regional market has three major sports?

Oakland A's sticking with Coco Crisp as center fielder

So Young is pretty much a 4th OF? The A's are going to have a pretty amazing bench. I guess they are pretty much planning on a rash of injuries at this point?

I'm dense, Delorians - what regional market has three major sports?

The one that encompasses Charlotte and Raleigh.

Cards release IF Ronny Cedeno

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.
Also, saying that Charlotte has two major sports teams is iffy, if you've ever watched the Bobcats.

So Young is pretty much a 4th OF? The A's are going to have a pretty amazing bench. I guess they are pretty much planning on a rash of injuries at this point?

Cespedes / Crisp / Reddick missed 81 games amongst 'em last year... between situational matchups, DHing, actual injuries, & planned rest days, I'd guess Young will get PLENTY of playing time.

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.

Hey, that means the Pittsburgh-Cleveland regional market has six major sports.

As a resident of the latter area, calling it a regional market is streeeeetching things. Charlotte is 2.5 hours away, if you avoid traffic.

But that is the market Walt and Delorians were referring to. Whether it should be considered that is a separate matter.

Yeah, but I pretty much said it's not a regional market (for the reasons Der K mentioned). The idea behind the Triad was that it was about halfway in-between Charlotte and Raleigh and so people might be willing to drive that far. I don't think you'd see even that.

I don't think there are many folks driving from Raleigh to Charlotte for NBA games (football maybe) nor the other way for Hurricanes games.

Who's the A's DH? Chris Young on the bench is nuts.

Good time for a Vernon Wells spring update: 423/452/923. His OppQual is a 9 (look it up!)

I don't think there are many folks driving from Raleigh to Charlotte for NBA games (football maybe) nor the other way for Hurricanes games.

Think that's right - happens a bit for football, but that's about it.

I confess to not being well versed in North Carolina geography or hockey (I didn't know the NHL team was actually in Raleigh). My main point was that this doesn't work for baseball. Yes for football, maybe for the other two.

Who's the A's DH? Chris Young on the bench is nuts.

Seth Smith. They have in their outfield - Yoenes Cespedes, Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Chris Young, and Smith.

Their infield has Scott Sizemore, Hiro Nakajima, Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss, Daric Barton, Josh Donaldson, and Jemile Weeks.

In AAA they have Adam Rosales, Eric Sogard, Andy Parrino, Michael Taylor, and Grant Green.

That's pretty awesome depth.