Connolly: Will Rafael Palmeiro fall off the Hall of Fame ballot?

Rafael: La disputa.

The reason is pretty obvious. His failed drug test in 2005 made him a poster boy for cheaters, though he’ll always contend that a tainted vial of liquid vitamin B-12 was responsible for the steroid stanozolol ending up in his system.

Hall of Fame voters didn’t buy that excuse, or they didn’t care. In his first year of eligibility, Palmeiro received 64 votes and was named on 11 percent of all submitted ballots. In 2012, he got a slight bump, to 72 votes and 12.6 ...

Chass: A DIFFERENT LABOR CHIEF

The children “adored” Michael Weiner, the retired rabbi related. That would be Mr. Weiner the Sunday school teacher. He was also the fellow who headed the baseball players’ union until his death from brain cancer Nov. 21, but it’s highly unlikely that many of his union members knew him as the teacher of fourth and fifth graders at the Jewish Center of Northwest Jersey in Washington, N.J.michael-weiner-225

Rabbi Ellen Lewis, who recently retired after 19 years at the temple, told me ...

Ted Lilly To Retire

Theodore Roosevelt will no longer be the man in the arena.

Also, another Expo down…

Left-hander Ted Lilly’s comeback attempt has stalled due to persistent shoulder and back pain, and the 15-year veteran is set to announce his retirement from professional baseball, he told Andreina Salas Guzman Venezuelan news outlet El Universal (Spanish link)...

Lilly, 37, recently had nerve endings in the right side of his neck cauterized in an attempt to alleviate neck pain that had been hampering his ...

Murray Chass: MISERABLE METS THREATEN CLUBS’ SCHEME

The New York Mets think they are so smart, but they are really so dumb. The Mets, playing a late-season version of the major league service time manipulation game, cheated shortstop Ruben Tejada out of a day on the major league roster when they recalled him from the minors in September.

While other minor leaguers they called up at the same time joined the Mets immediately, the Mets told Tejada to stay in his New York apartment and they would let him know when they wanted him at Citi Field. ...

Ed Sherman: Will scumbag who sold Hall of Fame vote to Deadspin actually reveal identity?

Dunno about that…but Jack O’Connell probably just rushed out and bought a load of Church & Dwight Co. stock!

Oh really? A person actually is going to step forward and explain why he/she took on this noble crusade?

I’d be surprised if that occurs. The criticism already is fairly intense. Labeling this voter a “scumbag” actually is fairly tame considering what is being said elsewhere.

Also, if this voter was so intent on exposing the process, why did he/she have to sell the vote to ...

Baseball free agents interested in Mets inquiring about big Citi Field dimensions, reps say

Curse of dimensionality strikes again!

The Mets may have changed the dimensions of Citi Field, but they have yet to change its reputation. The cavernous park was altered after the 2011 season, the outfield walls brought in closer to home plate, but the perception that it is a park where power hitters go to die at the warning track is seemingly still out there.

Two agents representing players the Mets have talked to this offseason admitted privately that the ballpark’s reputation is ...

Twins Agree To Terms With Ricky Nolasco

Everyone’s so agreeable lately!  ‘Tis the season, I suppose.

The Twins have agreed to terms with right-hander Ricky Nolasco, according to Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (Twitter link)... Nolasco split the 2013 season between the Marlins and Dodgers, totaling a 3.70 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 43 percent ground-ball rate. The soon-to-be 31-year-old was one of the earliest players to be moved this July… terms of the deal haven’t surfaced at this time

Parra re-signs with Reds

Parra jacks.

MLB.com has confirmed that Reds left-handed reliever Manny Parra is back with the Reds after he signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract on Wednesday. Parra will earn $2 million in 2014 and $3.5 million in 2015. He has already passed his physical.

The Reds have yet to make an announcement. (UPDATE: It could be a while until we hear this announced. With the 40-man roster being full, a corresponding move is needed to take someone else off to make room for Parra.)

Jon Heyman of ...

Bill Madden talks about Deadspin buying a HOF vote on Legends of Baseball (audio)

Sweet selector shafts! I haven’t heard Bill Madden this pissed off since It Pays to Be Ignorant got cancelled back in ‘51!

Bill Madden, Hall of Fame voter from the New York Daily News, talks to Chris Russo on Mad Dog’s Legends of Baseball about Deadspin buying a Hall of Fame vote on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.

Thanks to Marchman.

Here’s a Picture of A-Rod’s Accuser With Two Baggies of an Unidentified White Powder

Chi Chi Olivo, get the yeyo!

A-Rod’s legal team is hoping to ding the credibility of Tony Bosch, the main witness accusing their client of using steroids, by showing that the anti-aging clinic proprietor used cocaine.

There’s little doubt that without Bosch, Major League Baseball’s case against Alex Rodriguez falls apart. Bosch claims to have delivered performance-enhancing drugs to A-Rod, the three-time MVP accused by pro baseball of using banned substances and now fighting a 211-game ...

Ryan Braun addresses media about PEDs

Braun answers all the pertinent questions!

Why did you lie?

“Obviously I’ve been through a lot and as I expressed in my statement that I felt was pretty lengthy and specific, I got into a lot of details at that point. I’m not really going to go into any further details….

What was worse in your opinion, using PEDs or lying about it after the fact?

“As I’ve stated, the goal for me is just being able to move forward. I’m not going to get into too many specifics about what happened ...

Lou Brissie, an All-Star and War Hero, Dies at 89

Lou Brissie, who suffered devastating leg wounds in World War II but went on to become an All-Star pitcher with the Philadelphia Athletics and a symbol of perseverance for the disabled, died on Monday in Augusta, Ga. He was 89….

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1944, he was slogging through the Apennines in northern Italy with his platoon when a German shell exploded beside him. Fragments broke his right foot, injured his right shoulder and shattered the shinbone of his left leg into more than 30 ...

Granillo: The slippery slope of the Selig era

At this point, interleague play is no longer a novelty or an experiment. It is an absolute fact of the baseball schedule and will be around for the rest of time. Luckily, I won’t.

Instant Replay

First introduced: September 2008 (though umpire Frank Pulli used it once in 1999)

The slippery-slope argument: “Replay will ruin the game! It’ll slow everything down! They’ll get rid of the human element! Tony Tarasco deserved what happened to him! What’s next? Replay on plays in the field? Robot ...

‘Baseball Wives” Anna Benson speaks to Dr. Phil about guilty plea

Dr. Phil and Anna Benson, now there’s a pair that will beat a full house.

Anna Benson, wife of former Major League Baseball pitcher Kris Benson, has chosen the Dr. Phil talk show as her first venue to discuss her plea deal after she was accused of aggravated assault and weapons charges in a bizarre home attack in July.

Baseball America: 2014 Colorado Rockies Top 10 Prospects

Dahl: Powertrip.

TOP 10 PROSPECTS

1. Jonathan Gray, rhp
2. Eddie Butler, rhp
3. Rosell Herrera, ss
4. Kyle Parker, 1b/of
5. Chad Bettis, rhp
6. David Dahl, of
7. Tom Murphy, c
8. Ryan McMahon, 3b
9. Trevor Story, ss
10. Raimel Tapia, of

The Rockies have continued to develop solid role players around star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and left fielder Carlos Gonzalez. In 2013, Nolan Arenado led the way as he became the first NL rookie third baseman to win a Gold Glove award, and he kept his head ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-27-2013

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, November 27, 1913:

Pitcher Joseph Leslie Bush of the Athletics, driving his new car, donated by admirers in Philadelphia, accidentally ran down and killed Louis T. Miller, aged 75, [yesterday].

Miller’s skull was fractured and his neck broken. Bush blew his horn when he turned the corner and at a point 50 feet or more from the corner.

Eye witnesses state Miller was struck as he walked across, paying no heed to the signals. The whole car passed over the old man, who ...

Jack Morris looking for final-ballot bounce into Hall of Fame

Gather here all ye…“sabermetricians, who don’t really have knowledgeable eyes”.

Morris wonders if the results of this vote—the last with his name on the ballot submitted each year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America—is going to be the same as all the others.

“In my mind, the Hall of Fame is supposed to be a snapshot of every generation,” Morris recently told MLB.com. “In my generation, I only won 40 more games than anybody else. I don’t know what that means, but apparently it ...

Deadspin Buys Hall Of Fame Vote, Will Turn It Over To Deadspin Readers

Hey, I know of a couple of BBWAA members who have thrown pizza-gigs and allowed fans to pick the ballot. Then there was the live arm-twisting of Hal Bodley’s ballot by Murray Chass over Jack Morris. So this is no biggie.

Well, with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America having released its official ballot today, we can happily announce that we have a vote. A member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America thought our plan sounded like a pretty damn good idea and sold us his/her ...

The R.A. Dickey Effect - 2013 Edition

It is widely talked about by announcers and baseball fans alike, that knuckleball pitchers can throw hitters off their game and leave them in funks for days… I decided to analyze to determine if
there really is an effect and what its value is…

Most people that try to analyze this [R.A.] Dickey effect tend to group all the pitchers that follow in to one grouping with one ERA and compare to the total ERA of the bullpen or rotation. This is a simplistic and non-descriptive way of analyzing the ...

Nelson Cruz seeks $75M for 4 years; will ‘Biogenesis uptick’ help? - CBSSports.com

He can ask for anything. It doesn’t mean he’ll get it.

Free-agent outfielder Nelson Cruz had to be heartened by Jhonny Peralta’s $53 million deal, as Cruz is the better of these two Biogenesis-connected players.

It shouldn’t come as a shock that, according to sources, Cruz is said to seek about $75 million over four years. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise, either, that there are plenty of interested teams, among them the Mariners, Athletics, Mets and his old Rangers team. The Phillies are ...

Sources: Nationals Want Tax Dollars To Put Roof On Nats Park

The Washington Nationals want to put a roof over the team’s stadium and they want taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Multiple sources tell WNEW Senior Correspondent Mark Segraves that team executives have approached several District officials, including some inside mayor Vincent Gray’s office, to propose the addition to Nationals Park.

While the discussions are in very preliminary stages, diagrams of the proposed roof have been presented to the mayor’s office.

The project would cost ...

The Art of the Sports Hoax

One large omission is how Jeffrey Loria ended up getting the Marlins.

“The trouble with scouts is that they seldom believe what they see,” Richard Pohle once said. The remark was true long before Moneyball. So Pohle, a 36-year-old baseball washout, decided to transform his aging body into the one thing scouts couldn’t resist. Pohle became a 21-year-old phenom. He was Rocky Perone … from Australia. To complete the hoax, Pohle wore a shaggy, Pete Rose hairpiece. A Dutch Boy painter’s ...

Maddux, Glavine headline stacked Hall of Fame ballot

Hall of Fame? Is that still a thing?

Frank Thomas, Jeff Kent and Mike Mussina join Maddux and Glavine as other noteworthy first timers, making this one of the deepest BBWAA ballots in Hall of Fame history. Jack Morris, with 254 victories during his 18-year big league career and World Series titles with the Tigers, Twins and Blue Jays, is on the writers ballot for the 15th and final time. Former Astros second baseman Craig Biggio, who led last year’s voting by being named on 68.2 percent of ...

Mozeliak on Peralta signing: Cardinals aren’t ‘moral police’

The Cardinals have been met with some criticism from players, fans and media after inking shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a four-year, $52 million contract this past season. The problem in the minds of the dissenters is that Peralta was seemingly “rewarded” for a season in which he served a 50-game suspension for his ties to PED via the Biogenesis clinic.

As for his side of the story, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak replied with the following in a press conference Monday morning: “I don’t ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-26-2013

Milwaukee Sentinel, November 26, 1913:

It was officially announced by the board of directors of the Cincinnati baseball club late on Tuesday that Joe Tinker, manager of the team last season, would not manage it during the season of 1914. Inability to come to terms with Tinker is given as the reason for reaching this conclusion.
...
[From the Reds’ official statement:] The question involved did not pertain to salary. Mr. Tinker seemed to believe that he was entitled, if he again assumed the ...

Major league baseball auctions

No news but just thought it was funny that they were auctioning some of these items.

Youtube: 1988 World Series, Game One

I know this isn’t news, but did you guys know that there are whole games from the past on Youtube?

On Jacoby Ellsbury’s Power

Some great analysis by Fangraph’s Dan Farnsworth.

We wanted to see what evidence there was for or against another power outburst from Ellsbury going forward.  My impression of his 2013 season is that he was never 100% healthy, and that was what disabled his power from showing up earlier and more frequently.  Not even necessarily because of one specific physical problem, I don’t think he ever was able to get comfortable this year because of the nagging injuries.  These mechanical issues were ...

Bucs acquire Decker, Mikolas from Padres

The Pirates on Monday traded outfield prospect Alex Dickerson to the Padres in exchange for outfielder Jaff Decker and right-hander Miles Mikolas. In a corresponding move to make room for the pair on the club’s 40-man roster, the Pirates designated Garrett Jones and righty Kyle McPherson for assignment.

Short-term Coliseum deals for A’s, Raiders

The stadium is so bad, fans are jumping from the upper deck to get out of it!

The A’s would remain at O.co Coliseum for at least two more years - and not get shoe-horned into AT&T Park with the Giants as baseball had threatened - under a proposed lease extension on which stadium officials are scheduled to vote Monday.

The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority also will consider a one-year lease extension for the Raiders. The deal leaves the door ajar for the team to move out of Alameda ...