NY Post: Davidoff: Why the Yankees are using the shift more than ever

Heading into Monday’s action, according to Baseball Info Solutions, the Yankees were tied with four other clubs — the Astros, Brewers, Cardinals and Athletics — with the major league-leading total of two team shift runs saved. Last year, the Yankees tallied three team shift runs saved for the entire season. [...]

The Yankees used the shift 475 times last year, and they’re already at 88 in 2014, second in the majors behind only Houston (137). If they keep this up, they’ll wind up ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-15-2014

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 15, 1914:

A Brooklyn magistrate paroled “Jake” Daubert of the Brooklyn National League club in the Coney Island Police Court [yesterday], so that his team might not be deprived of the services of its captain and first baseman on the opening day of the championship season.

Daubert was in court on a summons to explain why he violated the Sunday law relating to baseball…The magistrate told Daubert he could play with the Brooklyns against Boston [yesterday], but to ...

Kimbrel given night off with soreness in shoulder | braves.com: News

Oh. No!

Jedd Gyorko signs 5-year extension

What a gyood deal!

he San Diego Padres have signed power-hitting second baseman Jedd Gyorko to a five-year extension with a team option for a sixth season, the team announced Monday.

The deal is worth $35 million and includes a $13 million club option that could increase if an escalator clause in the contract vests, a source told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark. It replaces a one-year deal agreed to last month and includes a team option for 2020. San Diego essentially buys out one year of free agency ...

Doug Glanville: I Was Racially Profiled in My Own Driveway

Its unthinkable that we still find instances of discrimination against former Phillies.

A police officer from West Hartford had pulled up across the street, exited his vehicle, and begun walking in my direction. I noted the strangeness of his being in Hartford—an entirely separate town with its own police force—so I thought he needed help. He approached me with purpose, and then, without any introduction or explanation he asked, “So, you trying to make a few extra bucks, shoveling ...

Cameron: Baseball’s New Strategy: Drop the Ball on Purpose

Setting the stage for a Brant Brown comeback?

This year, in an attempt to clarify the difference between a catch and a transfer on plays around the [second] base bag, MLB informed teams that a clean transfer from glove to hand was now going to be a required element in making a legal catch. No longer could a player argue that the ball was dropped on the exchange between glove and hand in order to retire the lead runner in a double play attempt…

However, this rule isn’t just being applied to ...

OMNICHATTER for April 14, 2014

Woah, almost forgot. Sorry, folks.

Calcaterra: “An embarrassing mishmash of fringe ranting and ill-informed, shrill bomb-throwing”

Thank heavens for BBTF/Primer.

My baseball blog has a comments section and always has. When it was small it was really great, but as it has gotten more popular and well-trafficked It’s become about 80-90% garbage. This used to bother me, but I’ve come to accept that, with comments, ######## are a feature, not a bug. A pretty important feature, actually.

I like having a comments section. For all the jerks, there are still people who will point out my errors in respectful fashion and ...

John Farrell: ‘It’s hard to have any faith in the [replay] system’

I sooo look forward to to every team having a Pelekoudas in the announcers booth explaining ####. #DOOM

“We felt that it was clear that the replay was inconclusive,” Farrell told reporters in New York. “The frustrating part is when this was rolled out and explained to us, particularly on the throw received by the first baseman, we were instructed that when the ball enters the glove, not that it has to hit the back of the glove, is where the out is deemed complete. At the same time, any ...

Brewers win ninth straight game behind dominant Lohse

from the article:  Lohse allowed one run on four singles and no walks, throwing 76 pitches for strikes and leading his team to a 10-2 record (best in baseball) in just two hours and 11 minutes.

really strong defensive work from the brewers this past weekend.  multiple nice plays all over the field both infield and outfield.  Reynolds started a nifty 3-6-3 double play on Friday night and logan Schafer made a beauty of a catch in left on sunday on an alvarez fly ball where logan crashed into ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-14-2014

100 years ago yesterday, the Federal League held its first game as a “major league”.

Washington Times, April 14, 1914:

That the Federal League is going to make good in Baltimore and awaken those old feverish days of the Hanlon era was distinctly shown when the invaders got down to business yesterday. The opening game of the Feds drew 27,692 fans to the new park, and, to make everybody happy, Baltimore defeated Buffalo 3 to 2.
...
“Baltimore has done itself proud,” said [Federal League] ...

Right-hander Joe Blanton retires

Never quite Cy Blanton…

Veteran right-hander Joe Blanton has retired, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Because he was released before retiring, the Angels still owe him the $7.5 million left on his contract.

Blanton, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Athletics after being released by the Halos. He made two starts for their Triple-A affiliate, allowing seven runs in 10 2/3 innings.

In 20 starts and eight relief appearances for the Angels last year, Blanton went ...

Fine for Yankees being considered in tampering case with Mike Trout

Commissioner Bud Selig is considering whether to fine the New York Yankees for tampering, the result of an investigation triggered by Yankees President Randy Levine’s comment last winter that he would offer Angels outfielder Mike Trout a 10-year contract.

The potential fine was disclosed by two people with knowledge of the matter but not authorized to comment about it. The amount of the possible fine was not disclosed.

The Angels were furious Levine dropped Trout’s name into a December ...

Derek Jeter sitting out a second straight game

Tight quad my ass! They’re just trying to protect Jeter’s .3123 career BA and keep him ahead of Manny Ramirez’s .3122!

Jeter is 39 years old and played in only 17 games last season. Girardi’s thinking is pretty understandable.

Also there’s this, from MLB.com Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch …

Girardi: Jeter’s quad got tight on Friday. Had yesterday off. He’s getting today off because of it too. No tests scheduled.

Boras (via Heyman): Drew, Kendrys ‘damaged;’ MLB disagrees but will investigate

Scott Boras, the agent for top remaining free agents Kendrys Morales and Stephen Drew, came out swinging against the half dozen or so anonymous team executives and officials who negatively speculated in a recent article on the value of those two players. Boras says those unnamed executives and officials are breaking league rules in a recent article by suggesting low player values, issuing critical comments and ultimately hurting their markets.

Boras… said he intends to pursue a grievance, ...

Murray Chass on Baseball: IT’S BACK — MAYBE

Murray sez: Glory! “Wrong Hole, Buster”

[The use of anonymous quotes is a] highly questionable journalistic practice and is frowned on by reputable news organizations.

This type of article is what has angered Clark and the union. One such example ran on the [ESPN] web site last week with the heading “Execs put a price on Drew, Morales.”

Written by Buster Olney, the site’s lead baseball writer, the piece offers no names of people he quotes but quotes an assortment of people identified ...

Deadspin: Hayhurst: A Major League Pitcher’s Guide To Doctoring A Baseball

When someone like Pineda cheats so obviously that it has to be acknowledged, it’s discussed in terms of a ludicrously weak explanation that all players seem to accept: Loading the ball is not about cheating; it’s about getting a grip.

Since it seems like everyone could stand to get a grip on this form of cheating in the majors, let’s talk some of the ways pitchers go about getting one. This is a strange thing, existing in a sort of no-man’s land. It’s not really illegal, since no one gets ...

Le Batard: It’s difficult for us to understand Puig’s lack of understanding.

I found the anecdotes about the other players particularly interesting.

NY Times: Kepner: A Rapidly Shifting Philosophy of Infield Play

Teams shifted about 2,400 times in 2010 and 2011, said Ben Jedlovec, a vice president for the company, and about 4,500 times in 2012. Last season, the total jumped to about 8,100, and teams are on pace for 13,000 shifts in 2014.

“Clint Hurdle said nine of 10 balls up the middle used to be hits — and now, two of 10 are,” said Detroit Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski, referring to the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. “It just shows how different it is.”

Dombrowski’s Tigers ...

Neyer: Kissing the Rolaids Relief Award goodbye

In 2006…. the Rolaids brand was acquired… Johnson & Johnson drastically reduced its distribution of Rolaids-brand products, and the attendant promotion of those products… [Heath] Bell and Rafael Soriano, the winners in 2010, didn’t get their trophies. José Valverde and John Axford, the winners in 2011, didn’t get theirs, either…

The way the Players Association saw it, the Rolaids Relief Man Award was still being promoted on a corporate website in 2010 and ’11, so somebody owed four ...

Zuckerman - Character test for battered, beaten Nationals

Span, Zimmerman, Fister, Ramos, Hairston out. Werth day-to-day. Who knew that Adam LaRoche would be the poster boy for the Nationals Institutes of Health???

Robothal: Red Sox’s lowball offer might cost them Lester

This is is looking more and more like left-hander Jon Lester’s last season with the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox’s most recent offer to Lester was far below market value—four years for between $70 million and $80 million, according to sources within the team’€™s clubhouse.

Lester, who is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, rejected the offer and will not resume negotiations with the club until the offseason, the sources said.

The Red Sox will have an exclusive negotiating ...

On Jeff [Francoeur] Ears

Frenchy’s minor league teammates convinced him that one of the pitchers on his team was deaf. For a month.

Bill Madden: Ooh, my arm! Yankees and Mets caught up in thick of injury epidemic in baseball

Woo-eee! Bill Madden hasn’t been this worked up since Richard Crooks’ Hollywood Walk of Fame Star went missing!

Aaaarrrghhhh!

Such is the resounding cry again being heard throughout baseball as pitcher after pitcher comes walking off the mound grabbing his elbow and position player after position player suddenly comes up lame with a hamstring, groin, calf, wrist, oblique, lat or quad injury. It’s an epidemic, like all the strikeouts, that’s getting worse and worse in baseball.

After the ...

Scott DeSmit: Just give me a kid who can play the game

The Daily News: Serving Genesee…and by the looks of it, even harder shiit!

Mike Trout deserved the MVP because of Pythagorean expectations, speed scores, ultimate zone ratings, VORP, wOBA and PECOTA, or Player Empiracal Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm.

Think baseball was boring before?

Grrrrr.

Yes, baseball has always been stat-driven. That’s why I love reading box scores.

But it’s also driven by gut instinct.

Taking David Ortiz out of the World Series lineup based on ...

OMNICHATTER for April 13, 2014

Hey, guys, guess what this week’s ESPN game is?

Beyond the Box Score: Is the infield shift ruining baseball?

If the shift is really transforming baseball [...] by rendering pull-heavy hitters less valuable, we would want to know just who these hitters are. To identify them, I create a simple “balance factor” to judge how frequently these hitters pull the ball as opposed to going up the middle and to the opposite field. I used FanGraphs’ batted ball data for the location of balls put in play and calculated the “balance factor” with the following equation:

(((Center Rate + Opposite Field Rate) ÷ 2) - ...

The Beyond the Box Score guide to looking beyond the box score

TOOTBLAN

Perhaps baserunning errors are your thing. There is a wonderful site dedicated to tracking all extra base outs, which are outs on would-be sacrifice flies, pickoffs, double offs, fielder’s choice outs with an open base, batter’s interference, runner interference, or any other method for which a baserunner makes an out on the base paths (excluding stolen bases).

Closer Koji Uehara of Boston Red Sox held out with stiff shoulder - ESPN Boston

He isn’t an ironman.

Uehara said after the game he could have pitched, but didn’t want to risk aggravating the condition. He said he felt the stiffness in the same area he did while playing catch on June 10, 2012, when he was with the Texas Rangers. That injury was described as a strained latissimus dorsi, a muscle in his upper back, and he missed 66 games. After his return on Aug. 26, he made 17 appearances for the Rangers and posted a 1.23 ERA, striking out 21 and walking 1 in 14 2/3 innings.

...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: April 12, 2014 at 08:36 AM | 8 comment(s)
  Beats: koji uehara, red sox

Fixing MLB’s qualifying offer system - ESPN

The best way to cut down on the number of players getting qualifying offers is, players need to not overestimate their market and accept the offer.