Taking Back the Ballparks - San Francisco Giants

Welcome to the initial nominating thread of Taking Back the Ballparks, where today’s palatial, taxpayer-funded ballyards will be reclaimed from Fortune 500 companies, in-pocket politicians and onerous owners, and returned to the fans who fill them. Over the course of however long this takes, we’re going to select new, distinct and appropriate names for each of the 30 major league ballparks instead of the corporate-sponsored monstrosities they currently call themselves. And, in some cases, ...

Adrian Beltre ejected for hilarious antics in on-deck circle

Click through to see the video.

BAR: Hoarding prospects a proven strategy

The Dodgers are the model big-market team right now. They need to win the World Series to be fully appreciated, however.

The top farm system in 2015? The Cubs, the 2016 World Series champs. Not counting the Cubs since it’s been too recent — of all the teams with the top farm system, all but three have been in the playoffs at least three times within five years of being named the top farm system. Those three were the 2006 Diamondbacks, National League West winners in 2007 and 2011, the 2014 ...

Dansby Swanson is demoted to Gwinnett, and it needed to happen | Mark Bradley blog

Player development is not linear.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-27-2017

Pittsburgh Press, July 27, 1917:

A new use for baseball slang has been found. The story is told by a writer describing the experiences of Americans inside the German lines…It was necessary that one American having knowledge of [the news] should acquaint another with what was going on, but the Germans were on watch, listening for every word.
...
[An American said to another:] “Nix on any of these spangled delicatessens (German officers) getting wise, but the umpire-in-chief has chased Heinie out ...

Yankees have a new ace — and reason for Sonny Gray restraint | New York Post

Talk about holding velocity. He was still hitting 99-100 MPH late in his appearance. Watching him throw 100 MPH on one pitch, then drop an 83 MPH sinking change on the corner was very impressive.

“That term gets thrown around loosely these days,” longtime former ace CC Sabathia said when I asked him whether Severino had earned that moniker. “But yeah, for what that term is, yeah, he is.”

“He’s thrown the best all year for us,” Girardi, who fielded the same question before ...

The Architecture of Sports

Baseball through a spatial lens.

Not all sports require absolute uniformity in their playing fields. Some allow and even celebrate degrees of variation. All baseball parks consist of the diamond (a square, technically) in which the locations and dimensions of the bases, pitcher’s mound, batter’s boxes, and other features are strictly standardized, and the outfield, for which Major League Baseball specifies only minimum dimensions (325 feet along the first base and third base lines and 400 ...

Ex-Yankee Tartabull finally caught by cops… after calling them - NY Daily News

Tartabull, 54, called police to report that his car was broken into, according to TMZ Sports. When cops arrived and ran Tartabull’s name and saw there was a warrant out for his arrest, they promptly collared him.

Ken Rosenthal - Rumblings from Clubs

The rumblings persist, mostly from rival clubs.

Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto is going to make another trade, perhaps his biggest yet.

Jerry Dipoto is going to get Sonny Gray.

At the moment, there appears to be little basis to the rumblings — the Mariners and Athletics have not spoken in about a week, according to one major-league source.

In addition, there also is significant doubt whether the Mariners possess enough young talent to land Gray, with one rival exec saying, “I ...

Hall-Of-Fame Careers That Cooperstown Never Gave The Time Of Day | FiveThirtyEight

It’s a JAWS Fest!

Tim Tebow’s no circus act: He’s a real Mets prospect

There are plenty of sound business reasons why it would have been wise anyway to keep Tebow away from Citi Field as some kind of marketing ploy, beginning with the very credibility of the franchise, which is supposed to be in the business of developing baseball players, not carnival barkers.

But now the Mets have the best reason of all to forget about that.

What if Tebow really is what these last 27 games and 87 at-bats have hinted at? In the Florida State League, the most advanced level of ...

Ketel Marte Inside the Park HR,  JD Martinez 2 homer day for D Backs

Red Sox Rafael Devers homers for first MLB hit | MLB.com

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Twins-Dodgers game delayed over double switch | MLB.com

Strategery!

“It was just one of those things where there was a little confusion in where initially the pitcher spot in the double switch was at,” Roberts said. “A player that was supposed to be out of the game was still in the game, and I just wanted to get clarity and make sure that the pitcher was in the right spot.”

The Cooperstown Casebook: The Hall of Fame’s Origins, And How Third Base Got Put In A Corner | SI

Another excerpt from Cooperstown Casebook.

Winners? Losers? At baseball’s bonkers trade deadline, nobody really knows

2. One trading partner might be more motivated to make a deal than the other.

In the offseason, even a rebuilding team can justify keeping its players, knowing that they’ll have another chance to cash in at the trade deadline (and that they might sell some season tickets in the meantime). But the Tigers, pretty much out of contention and about to see Martinez hit free agency, had almost no choice but to move him.

They could have tried waiting to see if another buyer emerged—either because ...

Olney: Trade Sonny Gray to Yankees, as time is right for big markets to get their ace

When the Yankees made their big trade last week for Tommy Kahnle, David Robertson and Todd Frazier, the rationale was to acquire pitchers who can help them beyond 2017. This is true for Gray, as well. He would help their chances of making the playoffs this year and of winning in the postseason, as Gray is known as a big-stage performer after his strong October showing against the Tigers as a rookie. And he would also help the Yankees’ chances in 2018 and 2019, before he finally reaches free ...

Danny Tartabull Detained by Police 5 Years After Warrant Was Issued for Arrest

Former Major League Baseball outfielder Danny Tartabull was arrested by police on a 2012 warrant for unpaid child support.

Per TMZ Sports, police caught Tartabull on July 24 after “he called police himself to report that his car had been broken into near his apartment in Agoura, CA.”

Jacob Glucksman, Tartabull’s attorney, told TMZ he was working to secure his client’s release from custody.

Tartabull pleaded no contest and received probation in 2011 for charges of failing to pay child ...

Run, hit, catch: Bradley Zimmer showing Cleveland Indians he has the tools do it all | cleveland.com

A true five-tool player.

OMNICHATTER da vida, honey, don’t you know that I still love you, for July 26, 2017

Verdugo hits wacky homer, plates four | MiLB.com News

Zach Borenstein’s baseball legacy.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-26-2017

Pittsburgh Press, July 26, 1917:

As far as is known, Pitcher John Miljus of the Brooklyn club is the first major leaguer to be called to the colors via the draft route. Miljus…was ordered yesterday to present himself for examination tomorrow morning.

Strange that the first big leaguer to be drafted to serve in WWI would be known as “The Big Serb”.

In other news on the same page of the Pittsburgh Press, White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil has filed bankruptcy. I think I know a way Gandil can ...

The Man Who Brought Sabermetrics to Japanese Baseball

An interesting look at Japan’s version of Bill James.

Versatile Asdrubal Cabrera’s trade value rising; Yoenis Cespedes homers in win | Newsday

They both want him out of town?

“We’re on the same page,” Cabrera said after making his third career start at third base in Tuesday’s 6-5 win against the Padres.

Red Sox reach deal on trade for Eduardo Nunez | MLB.com

The Red Sox added a right-handed bat with defensive versatility on Tuesday night, acquiring Eduardo Nunez from the San Francisco Giants for two Minor League pitchers.

The Red Sox are sending Minor League right-handers Shaun Anderson (their 18th-ranked prospect) and Gregory Santos to the Giants for Nunez, who could fill a few roles for Boston given his ability to play third, short and the corner outfield.

Heyman | Mets Likely To Promote Shortstop Amed Rosario Soon

With the Mets luck this year…

Two weeks later he gets DL’d “with a minor leg injury”. Two months later his leg gets amputated.

Top prospect Amed Rosario may be called up soon by the New York Mets, with a source telling FanRag Sports that the team may call him up from Triple-A Las Vegas in a week or so.

Ken Rosenthal - Cubs and Verlander

Here’s something interesting you might know about the Cubs: Their luxury-tax number for 2018 is $74.6 million, leaving them more than under $120 million under the threshold, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
So, if the Cubs want to pursue Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander – one of perhaps 20 trade options they are considering, according to major-league sources – they’ve got the financial flexibility to pull off such a move.

If we nibble around the edges, we can make this OMNICHATTER last, for July 25, 2017

Olney: Some GMs like to deal with each other—and some don’t - Buster Olney Blog- ESPN

No Jerry Dipoto mention?

The Cooperstown Casebook Is a Crowning Compendium – The Hardball Times

He likes it! I’m behind my reading but whenever I get caught up, I’ll be buying this book. Here’s an excerpt in you need more incentive to dig into your pocket.

I love to have books like this that I can refer back to. My copies of The New Bill James Historical Abstract and The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers are never far from reach. The Cooperstown Casebook is in league with these books. You could draw parallels also to yearly books like the Baseball Prospectus Annual, The Hardball Times Baseball ...