Twins To Hire Derek Falvey To Oversee Baseball Operations

Rawlings, Minors announce ‘16 Gold Glovers

Birmingham second baseman Joey DeMichele is the only repeat winner from 2015, as he registered a .990 fielding percentage in 122 games for the Barons in 2016. The fifth-year pro out of Arizona State University recorded 579 total chances and was a part of 88 double plays. DeMichele, 25, was selected by the White Sox in the third round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.

Pensacola shortstop Zach Vincej recorded a .991 fielding percentage in 105 games for the Blue Wahoos. Vincej, 25, who had 423 ...

Evan Gattis fixed his ground ball problem - Beyond the Box Score

Early in the season it looked like Evan Gattis might have been finished as a productive hitter. A player who is limited to DH and doesn’t hit the ball in the air enough to maximize his power is simply not an appealing roster option for most teams. Thankfully for both Gattis and the Astros the early season struggles seem to be merely a blip on the radar. As it turns out, a move back behind the plate and an increase in launch angle was all that was needed to re-energize his career.

Sportswriters Love Marriotts More Than You Love Anything

Why do sports writers love Marriott in particular? The answer seems to be the chain’s big-city locations, early rewards program, and inertia. A number of younger writers say that they were counseled into Marriotts by older colleagues. On Friday, Marriott completed its merger with Starwood Hotels — a move that may dilute Marriott brand loyalty and could mark the end of an era — but for now, the adoration remains strong.

Adam Kilgore, a national sports writer for the Washington Post who ...

We’ve got everything you need to see and hear from Vin Scully’s final home game | MLB.com

Some good stuff from Vin Scully’s last game at Dodger Stadium.

OTP 2016 Sep 26: A single for Donald Trump - He doesn’t have to hit a home run to send Hillary to the showers

There’s baseball tonight, and politics, too. Politics, like baseball, is a game of inches. A called strike, two inches within the strike zone, a fly ball that clears the left-field fence by three inches. A tag at third base misses by four inches. An inch here and two inches there, and a late-inning rally ruined.

Baseball is the all-American metaphor for politics, and Donald Trump must keep his eye on the ball if he wants to avoid the missed inches and extend his rally. This is no time for a ...

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: Episode

HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is having a segment on PitchFx tomorrow night.  It might be worth watching.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-26-2016

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 26, 1916:

GIANTS CREATE WORLD’S MARK—WIN 21 STRAIGHT

By winning another double-header from St. Louis [in New York yesterday], 1 to 0 and 6 to 2, the New York Giants won their twenty-first straight victory and created a new record for successive victories, smashing the record of the Providence Nationals who won 20 straight games in 1884.

And they weren’t done yet.

What can the Cardinals learn from the Cubs’ rise? - St Louis Cardinals- ESPN

Complete overhauls aren’t needed in St. Louis.

“Certainly they were looking at a way to arbitrage the draft and international markets,” he said. “They were able to do so without being overly concerned about how they finished for a couple years. I hear of teams doing it—and the Cubs aren’t the first to try this—but for us, I’ve always said St. Louis has been a place that demands winning. [Owner Bill] DeWitt Jr. and myself, we’re not ever looking at a season where we want to take a ...

Why 2016 is the Year of the Home Run

It’s all about the home run.

OMNICHATTER 9-26-16

The No-Words OMNICHATTER

Lee Smith: Farewell to Jose Fernandez, the Kid Who ‘Loved the Baseball’

#RIPJoseFernandez

I watched the game on TV and saw Bonds and Fernandez embrace each other in the dugout and laugh. As the AP reported, Bonds shouted, “I love you.”

“That goes way back, it’s a long story,” Fernandez said with a smile about his connection with Bonds. “It’s impressive. Everybody knows who he is and what he has done in this game. When I was walking in here now he told me, ‘It was the best that I have seen you pitch. I’m impressed.’ To get that from probably one of the best hitters ...

Jose Fernandez’s death is especially heartbreaking for Cubans and Cuban Americans - LA Times

I generally don’t get impacted by the deaths of people I don’t personally know. I could feel Jose Fernandez’s joy for life, though. People with such joy are a treasure. He’ll be missed. The world is a worse place today.

After 67 years of greatness, Vin Scully just wants to be remembered as a good man.

In one week, on the first Sunday of October, Scully will take a short ride along the streets of San Francisco from his hotel to AT&T Park. He will call his final game, between the team for which he rooted as a schoolboy and the team he served with unparalleled distinction.

Neither Los Angeles nor San Francisco had a team when Scully started his remarkable career, describing the feats of Jackie Robinson. When the Dodgers and Giants moved to California, so did Scully.

He courted L.A., on behalf ...

Jose Fernandez Dies In Boating Accident - MLB Trade Rumors

This is horrific news.

Sunday Notes: Dickerson, Anti-Velo Bias, Melancon in DC, more | FanGraphs Baseball

David Laurila’s latest.

Yankees’ half-measure failure forces grand plan into focus | New York Post

The balance of that mission now migrates up to Yankees ownership and the front office. They stockpiled their farm system with their trade-deadline maneuvers while promising they still would contend. They contended for a while. The revamp, however, has to pay off with multiple successful contentions in order for all of their wheeling and dealing to make sense.

New York Mets’ hidden MVP: Their pitch framing - Mets Blog- ESPN

But what’s distinct about the Mets is this: The Giants and Dodgers each have one great pitch-framer (Buster Posey and Yasmani Grandal) and the Cubs have two (Miguel Montero and David Ross). The Mets have three.

What’s the tangible impact?

On a game-by-game basis, take Friday night’s win as an example. Rivera and d’Arnaud had a great game. They got 5.5 more strikes than would have been expected from the pitches that Phillies’ hitters took. It was their sixth-best game of the season in that ...

When Scully is telling a story, it’s only fair that the baseballs head foul - LA Times

I have a friend who doesn’t enjoy listening to Vin Scully. He’s in very, very small company.

Fire Joe Morgan and the Moneyball revolution.

The scouts vs. statheads war is, and was, overblown.

Theo Epstein has Cubs looking like a winner

Of course, Ben Cherington showed patience, which got him booted.

Despite the success, Epstein admits he made mistakes near the end of his Red Sox tenure.

“I got in too much of a rush to build an uber-team and got too aggressive in free agency rather than relying on the things we did well as an organization — scouting, player development, and trying to find undervalued players.’’

Nick Cafardo: Yes, John Farrell belongs in Manager of the Year conversation

I would vote for Francona.

OMNICHATTER 9-25-16

The “Final Stretch begins” OMNICHATTER

WHAT A PLAY! UTLEY GETS ‘PRETTY LUCKY’ WITH NO-LOOK THROW

I know Chase Utley is hated by 98% of Primates, but the man can play a little ball.  This is how you recover from a ####up.

Baseball Prospectus | Pebble Hunting: That’s The Way I Like It And I’ll Never Get Bored

Sam Miller did a great job at BP. Congratulations on his new gig at ESPN. I hope he and Dan Szymborski get on the same sack race team at the company picnics.

Congrats to Aaron Gleeman on his new position at BP. With all the great new Statcast stuff on the horizon, I look forward to seeing BP’s use of the new metrics.

How Have The Mets Stayed In Contention

For all the legitimate criticism for his strategic gaffes, one thing that cannot be denied about manager Terry Collins is that the players have continued to play hard for him and they did not give up on the season when the injuries finally appeared to be taking their toll when the club fell under .500 in late-August.

Texas Rangers: Three takeaways from Rangers’ AL West clinching win  | SportsDay

The Rangers clinch the West!

OMNICHATTER 9/24/16

The Designated OMNICHATTER

Respect mutual between Vin Scully and umpires | dodgers.com

Froemming retired from field duty at the end of 2007 and will retire from his position with MLB as a special umpiring assistant at the end of this season. Just so happens he’s scheduled to be at the Dodgers’ regular-season finale in San Francisco that doubles as Scully’s final series, so the umpire will have one last chance to say hello—and goodbye—to his old friend.

Asked what message he would deliver to Scully, Froemming made a perfect call.

“You were down the middle, and you were fair,” he ...

New Statcast metric barrels has best-hit balls | MLB.com

How well does this correlate to HR/PA?