Improving Billy Hamilton | FanGraphs Baseball

Jeff Sullivan puts Billy Hamilton under the microscope.

How do you make Billy Hamilton better at the plate? It’s easy to notice the strikeouts being a little high. It’s easy to notice the bunts that didn’t go for hits. But Price touches on something pretty basic. Hamilton is a burner, and he’s not known for his strength. Never will be. Your classic leadoff-hitting burner slaps the ball onto the ground. Hamilton hit too many into the air, and no mathematical gymnastics are required to ...

Well-reinforced Cuban team loses Caribbean Series opener

Nonetheless, a scout for a major league team who has long followed Cuban baseball believes there is still plenty of talent left. He points to Gourriel as a player who would make an impact in the majors right now, and accomplished hitters like Cepeda and Despaigne as possible big-league DHs. Gourriel’s brother, infielder Lourdes Gourriel, is among a group of youngsters who would be high-level major-league prospects, among them pitchers Hector Mendoza and Norge Luis Ruiz.

Hochman: Jim Bunning’s not-so-perfect day

But I draw the line on voting for the COBRA!

Jim Bunning spent the first weekend in December in San Diego, a member of a 16-man committee voting on Golden Era players to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Dick Allen needed 12 votes. He got 11.

“I felt useless,” Bunning seethed the other day, his voice crackling with anger. “It was the most disappointing 3 days I’ve ever spent in my life!”

...Let’s back up. The voters, who included baseball writers, gathered in San Diego. Did they meet ...

Hamilton to have right shoulder surgery; out 6-8 weeks

ANAHEIM—The Angels announced Tuesday that Josh Hamilton will undergo surgery to repair the AC joint in his right shoulder, a procedure that is expected to keep him out for six to eight weeks and makes him doubtful for Opening Day.

Hamilton’s AC joint was considered the main culprit of a slew of ailments that plagued his right side throughout September, a month in which he played in just one of the Angels’ last 23 regular-season games before going 0-for-13 in the American League Division ...

Cole Hamels will still cost the Red Sox Blake Swihart - Over the Monster

The Red Sox should not trade Swihart for Hamels.

SABR announces 2015 Henry Chadwick Award recipients

Another great class of recipients.

David Block: In 2005, his early research was published as Baseball Before We Knew It, the 2006 Seymour Medal winner. It was a study of references to games called some variant of Base Ball which were published long before Cartwright and the Knickerbocker rules. His research continued, using dictionaries, novels and diaries that contained references to the game from 18th- and early 19th-century England

Dick Cramer: Cramer has been doing sabermetrics for just ...

WaPo: Nationals & Astros Take Another Step Toward West Palm Beach Spring Training Site

The Nationals and Astros made incremental progress toward a joint spring training home Monday night when the West Palm Beach City Commission approved a non-binding agreement with West Palm Beach County to swap the land to be used for the site. Progress continued Tuesday morning when the Palm Beach County Commission voted 6 to 1 to approve the term sheet, according to the Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.

The terms of the agreement include the environmental provisions required for the project ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #9 — Dave Dombrowski

I have been told, Dombrowski is the last of the current GMs on the list.

Just say no to caps in other teams’ colors | HardballTalk

I’m lucky enough to have a full head of hair, so I don’t need to wear a cap all the time. Nevertheless, I agree 100% with Craig on this issue.

On the Epstein/Rosenthal idea of making relievers face more than one batter - GammonsDaily.com

LOOGYs and ROOGYs, oh my!

Whither James Shields? | FanGraphs Baseball

Tony Blengino gets into James Shields’ numbers.

The Year Ron Hunt Got Hit By 50 Pitches | FiveThirtyEight

No, it’s not a typo.

If Shields’ price has dropped, Yankees should open wallet | MLB.com

It looks like someone misjudged the market.

Dan Duquette puts Toronto in past, focuses on Orioles

He insisted that Toronto’s advances did not distract him from seeking to put a better club on the field in 2015.

“It’s important for the Orioles fans to know that my focus — and my singular focus — is on improving the team,” he said. “We do that day by day, trade by trade, addition by addition. We did that this year in the offseason like we’ve done it in the past.”

Phillies have begun looking at Cody Asche in the outfield | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia

Maikel Franco might think Asche will be an outfielder.

He’s still our third baseman,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told CSNPhilly.com on Monday. “We view him as our opening day third baseman.

“But we have introduced him to some outfield. He’s doing some light drills out there, getting acclimated to outfield drills, rudimentary stuff.”

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-3-2015

Pittsburgh Press, February 3, 1915:

The president of the Phillies [William Baker] was closeted with [Braves owner] James E. Gaffney and George Whitted for several hours. Whitted refused to tolerate a transfer to the Quakers.
...
“I appreciate,” said [Whitted], “that I am not a star. I have worked hard to advance in my chosen profession. In Boston finally I was able to establish myself in the esteem of fandom as a regular. I am not sure that I would earn kindred distinction in Philadelphia.
... ...

Bergman, Member of 1984 world champion Tigers, Dies at 61

Who says good-fielding, light-hitting first basemen can’t help you win? Dave Bergman, who died earlier today, helped the Tigers do just that in 1984.

Explaining Phil Hughes’ 2014 success - Beyond the Box Score

2014 was undoubtedly a breakout season for Hughes, and it doesn’t appear to be an anomaly. While sometimes a better-than-expected season can be explained by a fluky BABIP, that can’t be said about Hughes. Last season, his BABIP was an above-average .324, tied for the highest of his MLB career. The primary reason to believe in his future success is because of what changed in 2014. Things like movement and speed can inexplicably disappear during the course of an offseason, but pitch selection ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #11 — Billy Beane

Michael Lewis’s 2003 book Moneyball depicted Billy Beane as the leading figure in the spread of analytics (more broadly: the use of data and evidence) in baseball management.  Twelve years later all front offices combine analytics and scouting, and the dwindling number of people who decry this revolution have tended to blame Beane and like-minded GMs, while those who applaud it have treated Beane like their heroic surrogate.  His ranking here would indicate that we believe the introduction of ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #12 — Sandy Alderson

Sandy Alderson’s three pennants and one World Series championship, while a first-rate achievement, may not be quite enough to justify his ranking at number twelve.  But Alderson’s place in history is enhanced by two considerations: he was the first modern GM to actively introduce analytics, though rudimentary by current standards, into a team’s decision making, and he was the first young executive of the modern era hired to run a major league team’s baseball operations without coming ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #13 — Al Campanis

Were we to give Al Campanis credit for all his accomplishments in baseball operations, he would rank much higher than this, perhaps in the top five.  Among other things, he was a legendary scout, a brilliant scouting director, and one of baseball’s most influential instructors.  He did this over a two decade career with the Dodgers before assuming control of the baseball team in late 1968.  For this exercise, we will ignore all of that and consider his years as GM (1969-1987) when he won four ...

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #10 — Frank Cashen

Frank Cashen had two stints running a big league baseball operation.  In his first job he oversaw a budding great team as president and later kept it contending in the GM role as well. At his second stop he took over a long struggling franchise that needed a complete transformation.  He succeeded at these two opposite challenges masterfully, meriting his status as one baseball’s best baseball ops executives.

Vote now for 2015 SABR Analytics Conference Research Award winners | SABR

Make your vote!

Alex Gordon plans to take things slow as he returns to Royals from wrist surgery | The KC Star

An update about Alex Gordon’s wrist.

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

Pittsburgh Press, February 2, 1915:

Today is the thirty-ninth birthday anniversary of the National league. There will be no unusual activity about league headquarters here. Secretary Heydler was not even aware today was the league’s birthday until reminded of it.

Can I put an entire league on the Birthday Team?

Sunday Notes: Sappington’s R.O.I., Marlins Mania, R.I.P. Monbo, more | FanGraphs Baseball

More good stuff from David Lauria.

It’s time to make designated hitter universal in baseball - Sports - The Boston Globe

A discussion of the DH rule. Also, this tidbit.

Andruw Jones, OF/DH, free agent — After two seasons with Rakuten in Japan, where he hit 26 home runs with 94 RBIs (.845 OPS) and 24 homers with 71 RBIs (.820 OPS), with OBPs of .391 and .394, Jones will be returning to major league baseball. Agent Scott Boras claims there are at least two teams interested in Jones as a DH and/or righthanded platoon player. A 10-time Gold Glove outfielder, Jones would return with 434 homers and 1,289 RBIs.

OT: Monthly NBA Thread - February 2015

I estimate only 10-12 Primates care about the NBA, but with our own thread, we won’t detract from what this site is really about: the never-ending thrill of ranking Major League Baseball executives.

Some people will never forget DeAndre Jordan’s posterizing dunk over Brandon Knight.

For devoted Clippers fan Darrell Camara, it’ll physically stay with him forever after getting a tattoo on his hip of the dunk face Jordan made afterward.

OT - Politics - February 2015:  At This Party, You’d Better Keep It Down.  Arizona Sheriff Known for Toughness Is Allowing Inmates to Watch the Super Bowl

PHOENIX — When the Super Bowl begins Sunday, 70,000 fans will ease into their seats and suites at University of Phoenix Stadium, munch on hot dogs and pizza, and wash them down with soda and beer.

About 15 miles to the south, a few hundred other fans will make do with pink-hued popcorn and sit on metal stools in an enormous room to watch the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks on a flat-panel television mounted to a cinder-block wall.

And according to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who ...

Should Kevin Gausman and James Paxton Throw More High Fastballs? | FanGraphs Baseball

More good stuff from Jeff Sullivan.