Schilling: Lack of player discipline not on Tito

So… they need some advanced squad leaders?

ESPN Boston baseball analyst Curt Schilling was on ESPN Boston Radio with Adam Jones on Friday afternoon…

[Schilling said,] “The days of the manager running through the clubhouse and turning stuff over and fearing guys into performing is gone in baseball. It’s been gone for a long time. The smarter managers understood it before a lot of the other managers did: You need players that will police themselves and police each other. We always had that ...

MLB.com: Shopp talk: Batterymates overpower Rangers

Kelly Shoppach homered twice and Matt Moore continued to live up to all the hype as the Rays posted a 9-0 win in the first game of their American League Division Series with the Rangers on Friday.

Shoppach had five RBIs and three hits off Rangers starter C.J. Wilson that put the game on ice early.
...
Moore allowed no runs on two hits, while striking out six to pick up the win.

ESPN: DS Umpiring Assignments

Joe West, Dale Scott, Gerry Davis and Jerry Layne will be the umpire crew chiefs for the first round of the playoffs.

I swear, MLB must throw darts at a dartboard when making these assignments.

Powers: Twins need to run a tighter ship next season

Currently, the players and their agents are in charge. They decide when to play, when to train, when to seek medical advice and how to rehab an injury. The inmates are running the asylum. And it flat-out didn’t work in 2011.

Hey, if you mean Joe Mauer, say Joe Mauer!!

Megdal: The future just happened: Jose Reyes and the season Mets fans have been waiting for

Cold hearted white orb that rules the night…

It simply never occurred to anyone that a player as spectacular as Jose Reyes would end up leaving New York for a bigger paycheck elsewhere. New York teams aren’t supposed to let popular, homegrown stars go.

Which is why the Mets’ season finale at Citi Field on Wednesday—and quite likely Reyes’ final game in a Mets uniform—was so shocking.

...Finally, in 2011, Reyes became the star everyone expected him to be. He won a batting title, ...

Reagins quits as Angels general manager

The Reagins Recovery Plan…starts now!

Tony Reagins has resigned as general manager of the Los Angeles Angels after the team failed to make the playoffs for the second straight season.

Reagins took over for Bill Stoneman after the 2007 season. The Angels won the AL West in his first two seasons, losing to Boston in the 2008 division series and the New York Yankees in the 2009 AL championship series.

Despite starting this season with baseball’s fourth-highest payroll at $139 million, Los ...

San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson dresses like Larry Bird (Video)

Brian Wilson, still climbing my personal Bobby Richardsonuva rankings!

San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson is well known by now for what he does off the baseball diamond, but the latest appearance in a commercial is especially interesting.

Scroll down to see the video of the commercial.

Wilson was in his own short film to debut a baseball video game, but now the pitcher has crossed sports lines and appeared in a commercial for a basketball video game.

The best part of the commercial ...

MiLB.com: SWB Yankees announce home sites for 2012

After the Mets vetoed Newark as a temporary home, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees are going to be barnstorming in 2012:

While the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees permanent home at PNC Field undergoes a $40 million dollar rebuilding project during 2012, the organization has announced the team will play its home games in the upcoming International League season in a combination of six venues: Frontier Field in Rochester, New York, Dwyer Stadium in Batavia, New York, Alliance Bank Stadium in ...

McCourt vs. MLB: Judge could decide winner in November

Frank McCourt could know by mid-November whether he can retain ownership of the Dodgers, according to a schedule set forth Friday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

In his order, Judge Kevin Gross set a four-day hearing—Oct. 31, Nov. 1, Nov. 2 and Nov. 4—and wrote that McCourt and Commissioner Bud Selig would be expected “to testify in person.”

Gross also struck a huge blow against McCourt by ruling that the Dodgers’ owner cannot put Commissioner Bud Selig or the other owners on trial. McCourt and ...

Where collapses by Red Sox and Braves rank among worst ever

Whats your worst part of a relationship ending?
1. That feeling you get first thing when u wake up in the morning, remembering it really is over
2. Seeing things/places that remind u of them
3. Seeing them
4. Feeling like you wasn’t good enough
5. Thinking of things u shouldn’t or should have said or done
6. Thinking of the good memories?

On the morning of Aug. 26, the Braves were up 9 ½ games in the National League wild card race and 10 ½ games on the Cardinals, who were a game behind the ...

Hauls of Shame: The Curious Case of Babe Ruth’s Hair

Babe Ruth’s own granddaughter, Linda Ruth Tosetti, has perhaps the most interesting perspective on the mystery of the Bambino’s hair.  Says Tosetti. “I’d heard Halper had a lock of my Granddad’s hair, so whenever I saw him I asked if he wanted a sample of my DNA to test it, so he’d know for sure if his was real.  He never took me up on the offer. I guess we now know why.”

DDC DNA Diagnostics Center of Fairfield, Ohio, bills itself as the “Most Trusted Name in DNA Testing” ...

Bloomberg Sports to Provide Tools for MLB Postseason Broadcasts

Why? They already have Buck and McCarver…

Bloomberg Sports today announced that it has reached a new licensing agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason broadcasters FOX Sports and TBS to provide custom-designed enhanced statistical analysis, professional analytical tools and a data feed of in-depth pitch analysis for each game of the 2011 playoffs and World Series. TBS is the exclusive television home of all four Division Series and the National League Championship Series, with ...

Tribune: Zambrano puts River Forest home on market

Cub pitchers continue to rack up losses this season even after the season is over.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, whose future with the team is in doubt after the Cubs suspended him in August for the rest of the season, has placed one of his two Chicago-area homes on the market for $969,000.

Zambrano, 30, owns homes in River Forest and Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. He recently listed the River Forest house, which was built in 1999. He bought the six-bedroom, nearly 4,000-square-foot ...

Cards broadcaster McLaughlin cited for drunk driving

It’s a madclubhouse! A madclubhouse!

Cardinals broadcaster Dan McLaughlin has been cited for drunken driving for the second time after a stop by Chesterfield police on Sunday. Police said McLaughlin, 37, was stopped at 10:13 p.m. on Baxter Road and Isleview Drive after he crashed his vehicle.

No other vehicle was involved, police say, but declined to elaborate.

Police also accused McLaughlin of leaving the scene of an accident and negligent driving. He was released on $750 bond.

McLaughlin ...

ALDS Game 1s CHATTER THREAD

Plunkett: Angels frustrated, say it’s time to get creative

Holy Hockenberies! Angels to get creative? (stubs toe on Albie Pearson hat rack)

Since the Angels set a club record with 883 runs scored in 2009 (and finished second in the majors), 216 runs have drained away. The devastating ankle injury to their most dangerous hitter, Kendrys Morales, in 2010 started the leak. But the Angels clearly have learned from last winter’s mistake and are looking at Morales’ comeback in 2012 as a possible bonus, not a given.

“Our template last year definitely had ...

Reusse: Final score in the Twins blame game: 99 losses means many had a role

Blame to Reusse: Countless losses of Star Tribune subscribers.

The Twins went into the 2011 season as the two-time defending champions of the American League Central and talking up the strength of a lineup 1 through 9. On Wednesday night, they finished with the second-most losses (99) in the 51-year history of the franchise.

Who gets the blame for this mess? Glad you asked.

Francisco Liriano: He won 14 games in 2010. It was his best season since undergoing Tommy John surgery. The Twins chose ...

Fitzpatrick: Phillies can rely on their defense ... or maybe not

Fitzpatrick like a glove…

Suddenly, though, that wisdom has come under attack from a sect of Lehigh County fanatics armed with video cameras and the zeal of true believers.

Researchers at Baseball Info Solutions in Coplay, Pa., insist that, far from possessing one of baseball’s two best defenses, the 2011 Phillies are, in fact, one of the worst.

“You look at their low error total, which is the No. 1 thing I’ve seen people cite in defense of their defense,” said Ben Jedlovec, a BIS research ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-30-2011

Milwaukee Sentinel, September 30, 1911:

President Fogel says the absence of his stars cost the Phillies at least eighteen games this year.  Yet almost any club would rather lose them than to have a man like Magee, who always pulls for his teammates to blunder and strike out.

I’d rather win, but maybe that’s just me.

RoboThal: Francona expected to leave Red Sox

THAT was quick.

Terry Francona will meet with Red Sox management on Friday morning, and the expected resolution is that he no longer will be the team’s manager, major league sources say.

While Francona’s departure is not certain, it is the likely outcome, in part because he is pressing for a resolution, sources say. He would not be fired; the Red Sox would simply decline their club options on him for 2012 and ’13.

Plaschke: Dodgers need to swing for the fences on new deal with Kemp

Actually, a decent read - because Bill got out of his own way and let Kemp’s agent, Dave Stewart, talk.

It was max effort that will result in mad prices. I was looking for comparables for a potential Kemp contract — Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano? — when I finally phoned Stewart and told him I couldn’t find a neighborhood for what will be a 28-year-old MVP type with historic offensive numbers who plays a solid center field and steals crazy bases.

“There is no neighborhood,” said Stewart ...

Terry Francona wants out of Beantown

If the White Sox have designs on making Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona their successor to Ozzie Guillen, one important door has been opened.

Francona has had enough of his eroding Boston experience, a ­major-league source said, and will ask the club not to exercise the option on his contract.

“He has had his fill of the whole thing,’’ the source told the Sun-Times.

Francona, who guided the Red Sox to two World Series championships, decided it was time to cut ties before the Red ...

Parker: Reyes proves once again, he’s no Jeter

Bah! And Jeter was pulled after six to protect his .297 (cue unhinged Jack O’Conniption fit) batting average.

No wonder some fans booed when they realized what was happening. They were being cheated out of watching Reyes play, potentially for the final time in a Mets uniform. He is about to become a free agent, and there’s no guarantee the team will re-sign him.

For sure, it was a selfish move. Forget about helping the Mets win a game—it was about Reyes trying to win a batting crown. Fair or ...

Deadspin: The Pictures of GM Brian Cashman that broke up a marriage

Seriously, Deadspin? This isn’t even in the top five of NY Yankee sex scandals.

No, there are no photos of Cashman’s actual dong to show you—not that we know of—but now the story of Cash’s dong’s wayward habits is news. The Yankees general manager’s relationship with the woman in these photos has been known or suspected among New York reporters for years, but has been just too darn shady, complicated, and expensive to pursue, especially at the risk of antagonizing the Yankees.

But now ...

TBO: Moore to Start Game 1

Rookie Matt Moore’s second big league start will be a big one – Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Friday afternoon against the defending American League champion Rangers in their ballpark

Ballsy and totally correct. Only other starter announced is Shields in game 2 but I expect this is the plan for the series:

1 - Moore
2 - Shields
3 - Price
4 - Hellickson
5 - Shields

Yahoo: A’s could hear soon on possible move to San Jose

Athletics general manager Billy Beane expects to hear “very soon” from Commissioner Bud Selig about whether the club will be allowed to move south to San Jose and build a new ballpark.
...
“We’ve been told a number of times a decision was near,” Beane said Thursday. “Over 2 1/2 years we’ve been told it a number of times. This time I’m going to believe it. … We expect some resolution of the situation very soon. That certainly would be helpful from my standpoint and everybody ...

ESPN: Offense drops to two-decade low

Be it better pitchers, more stringent steroid testing, changes in ballparks or lots of wet weather, batters haven’t had it this tough since the Bush administration—the first Bush administration—an era when multipurpose stadiums were common, the Internet wasn’t well-known and cell phones were just starting to spread.

Teams averaged 4.28 runs per game this season, the lowest since 1992’s 4.12 and down from a Steroids Era peak of 5.14 in 2000. And the home run average was down to 0.94 each team ...

Sabean: Don’t count on big-ticket additions

Salary Cap Peterson ($8,500), would be proud!

The Giants payroll was $124 million this year and it won’t go down, Sabean said. But with Tim Lincecum heading a list of 13 arbitration-eligible players, not all of whom will be offered contracts, plus raises built in to others such as Matt Cain, the math becomes elementary.

“Our pitching’s going to get expensive,” Sabean said. “That’s the punch line and we have to take care of that first.”

Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged glaring ...

Goldstein: Why Moneyball Is Off Base

Thanks for the hardcore plugging! Huh…oh, Aaron Goldstein.

Well, Bill James’ work begat a generation of “sabermetrician” organizations like Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Think Factory and The Hardball Times.

On base percentage (OBP) statistics are to sabermetricians what images of 38 DDs are to adolescent boys. As it was put in the movie by Peter Brand (a fictional character based on then Athletics assistant general manager Paul DePodesta, played by Jonah Hill), “Your goal shouldn’t be to ...

Sickels: Player Profile: Dan Johnson, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays

The scouting guru looks back on yesterday’s Moneyball hero, who apparently didn’t look good in jeans.

Dan Johnson was a successful slugger at the University of Nebraska, hitting .368/.482/.849 with 21 homers in 55 games for the Cornhuskers in 2000, then .361/.507/.752 with 25 homers in 2001. Although his left-handed power bat was attractive, his other physical tools were mediocre, he looked too fat, and scouts felt his swing was too long to guarantee success in pro ball. Still, his college ...