Brady Anderson: Matusz is ‘a different human’

HALF-MAN, HALF-BEAST…BUT ALL ORIOLE!

Orioles Hall of Famer Brady Anderson, making his first appearance since being appointed special assistant to executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette, said today at FanFest that the difference between Brian Matusz a year ago at this time and Brian Matusz today is the difference between night and day.

“He’s like a different human as far as his mentality and his dedication and the raw numbers, what type of athlete he is, he’s not the same,’’ Anderson said of the left-hander.

...Also, if you’re not strong mechanically, you’re going to break down. Think about what they do for a living. Think about what pro athletes do for a living. You can’t do average things and expect to be extraordinary.”
“You’re asking a guy who’s 6-2, 190 pounds who throws the ball 190 miles per hour. You’re talking about very, very elite people and you train like an elite athlete.”

Fergie Jenkins still emotionally invested in Cubs, keeping an eye on Epstein

Clumsy.

Ferguson Jenkins takes a wait-and-see attitude towards Theo Epstein’s appointment as president of baseball operations of the Chicago Cubs.

...The Cubs hired Epstein in October. Jenkins is holding off on giving Epstein his full endorsement.

“I really don’t know what to take of him yet,” Jenkins said Thursday in Calgary. “I tried to get a meeting with him and he was really busy.

“He’s young. He’s never put a jockstrap on though. See that’s the thing. I tell people all the time ‘this guy reads about the game and has seen it on TV or in stadiums,’ but he’s a pretty smart individual. He knows talent and that’s what it’s all about.

“People sit back and say ‘you know he never played’ but he watches and recognizes what individuals can do what and where they can play.”

Geek Out!: Curt Schilling the dragon-slayer

“This is not a vanity project” The Chakram Bullshiit Launcher is fully loaded, sir!

Schilling is, and has been for the past 31 years, a gamer. He honed his controller skills on an Intellivision video game system. His first favorite game was - surprise - “Major League Baseball.”

“I was at the right age for consoles, when ‘Pong’ was the ‘Need For Speed’ of the day,” Schilling said. “(‘Major League Baseball’) was like the greatest baseball game ever. If you had a consistent playing partner like they do in ‘Starcraft’ now, every game was 1-0, and you had to hit a home run down the left field line.”

...Schilling is now the chairman and founder of 38 Studios, a video game company that is getting set to release its first title, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” on February 7.

“Gaming, outside of the Lord, baseball and my family, was always my thing,” he said. “I took this very much as I did my baseball career. I scouted the industry for about five or six years, and I took notes and I went to a lot of lunches and a lot of meetings with people that were in the industry and just get a feel for what I was up against.”

...“I’m a very routine-oriented guy. Deep down inside the game dev process, there is that routine, but the wins and losses are much farther between. And they are different. When you win a game against the Yankees on Monday and it’s on ESPN and all over in the newspapers, there is immediate instant feedback. This is very different. You have to find wins and losses in different ways.”

“I don’t miss anything I did for a living. I was born to do it for a long, long time. The things I got to see and be a part of, I’ll be forever grateful, but I’m looking for the new schedule, the new playing field, the new World Series. That’s been the challenge is to find where and when and how those things happen here.”

Genetti: Lack of black players will open baseball HOF doors to others

This anti-Jeter gunk has got to stop!

Lee Smith, Tim Raines, Fred McGriff, Bernie Williams and Willie McGee aren’t in the Hall of Fame.

But they will be.

...The last thing baseball is going to want is some statistic come out showing a small number of blacks inducted into the Hall of Fame over a certain amount of time, so the next thing — which will more than likely happen — is well-deserving black players will be inducted here and there over time.

Perhaps it’s a stretch to have this thought, but if you look at the great white and Hispanic players that have dominated the game over the last couple of decades, there’s really no outstanding black players to get excited over. That’s why this lack of African-American players in baseball will give those currently on the ballot a bigger opportunity. Even at this moment the only black player who is baseball Hall of Fame-worthy is Prince Fielder.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not going to be done out of sympathy, I just believe the powers that be are going to conserve these players so there’s no absence of African-Americans going into Cooperstown over the next 10 or more years.

All of the players I’ve mentioned are very much worthy of the Hall of Fame, I just hope they’re inducted sooner rather than later.

WSJ: CBS Opens Sports Site to Fantasy App Makers

Want to out that fantasy app you’ve been developing in your mom’s basement out there? Now’s your chance:

CBS Corp., in a move aimed at boosting its share of the nearly billion-dollar fantasy-sports business, is opening up its CBS Sports website so outside developers can create apps geared toward fantasy enthusiasts.

Erardi: HOF voter’s view on cheaters

Here’s how the big-time names that are already before or soon to be before the BBWAA electorate would shake out using my “good-standing” test . . .

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro:. In my opinion, their “off-the-field conduct significantly altered” their performance on it, and “in a transformative way altered the general regard for the game by the custodians of it.”

They are Out. Does it matter to me that Bonds and Clemens would have been Hall of Famers had their careers ended before they ever started using? Yes. Does it matter enough to change my vote? No. They trashed the record books on the way to record earnings and an exalted, fraudulent, place in the game.

And now for the mud-fueled cleansing stand of grubby principled contrition salvo!

Andy Pettitte: Interesting case, isn’t he? If he hadn’t been caught or admitted using steroids, he would probably be just another south-of- the-border Hall candidate. But I would argue that without steroids, and with adequate weight given to postseason performance—Pettitte played the equivalent of 1¼ regular seasons in his 13 postseasons—he should not be automatically ruled out.

Why? He simultaneously stood up to Clemens and for truth, at a time when baseball needed a principled stand. (Cynics say it was just a save-my-own- posterior move. I don’t rule that out, but I still like the way he handled himself.) Pettitte’s cleansing contrition is worth something. To me, it’s worth not writing him off. Still alive as a potential “in” candidate.

Jim Kaat: Dave Concepcion, Jim Bunning, Jack Morris and the Hall of Fame

Hey Meow Mixer…it might help if you stopped using the O’Connell/Madden/Ogle approved Elias ####### Sports Bureau.

I respect what the print media does and how they have helped publicize the game of baseball. I enjoy blogging on occasion, and don’t have the writing skills they possess. I was a player and I understand who was good, great, overrated and underappreciated. Writers can only go by numbers, but players know far beyond the numbers who is deserving to be callled a Hall of Famer.  If you ask Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez (all in the Hall) and Pete Rose (who had a Fall of Fame career) about Concepcion’s value to the Reds, I think they would say he is as much a Hall of Fame shortstop as Larkin.

This is not meant to diminish Barry’s credentials , it’s meant to accentuate and raise awareness to Davey’s. Food for thought to you who are voters. Why do names like Vinny Castilla and Brad Radke and some others get votes? To give them a chance to tell their grandkids that they once received votes for election into the Hall of Fame? If that is true, then the writers that do that are devaluing the importance of gaining entrance to Cooperstown.

Do they really do enough research and homework? Couldn’t they find comparable Hall of Famers and have my friends at the Elias Sports Bureau compare some numbers and get good idea if a player was Hall-worthy and if so elect him on the first ballot? Enough already with jamming this “first-ballot guy” or “may get in some day” down our throats. If one does the proper homework, research and talking to the player’s contemporaries, you shouldn’t have to wait 10 to 15 years to decide.

...Morris won 254 and helped three different teams win World Series titles. His 1-0 complete game extra-inning performance in the 1991 Series was more impressive to me than Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956. With due respect to the Senator from Kentucky — the pitcher we affectionately called “The Lizard” because of his slinky frame and motion — Morris is more worthy of induction than Jim, and Jim obviously is worthy or he wouldn’t be there. It took the veterans committee to finally get him in.

Phillies Top-15 Prospects List

1. Trevor May | RHP | Age – 21 | Grade – B

2. Jesse Biddle | LHP | Age – 20 | Grade – B

3. Phillippe Aumont | RHP | Age – 23 | Grade – B/B-

4. Maikel Franco | 3b | Age – 19 | Grade – B-

5. Justin De Fratus | RHP | Age – 24 | Grade – B-

6. Sebastian Valle | C | Age – 21 | Grade – C+

7. Larry Greene | LF/1b | Age – 19 | Grade – C+

8. Freddy Galvis | SS | Age – 22 | Grade – C+

9. Austin Wright | LHP | Age – 22 | Grade – C+

10. Jon Pettibone | RHP | Age – 21 | Grade – C+

11. Brody Colvin | RHP | Age – 21 | Grade – C+

12. Lisalberto Bonilla | RHP | Age – 21 | Grade – C+

13. Jiwan James | CF | Age – 23 | Grade – C+

14. Tyler Greene | SS | Age – 19 | Grade – C+

15. Adam Morgan | LHP | Age – 22 | Grade – C+

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-10-2012

Pittsburgh Press, January 10, 1912:

Chicago, Jan. 10.—A rumor is going the rounds here that Harry Lord, captain of the White Sox, and peerless third baseman of the American league, is to return to his old love this year and once more cavort around the third cushion for the Boston Red Sox. The consideration is said to be Tris Speaker, the great Boston center fielder.

In related baseball news, I hear the Cardinals are rumored to be trading David Freese and Yadier Molina for Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, and I hear the Giants may trade Ryan Vogelsong and Aubrey Huff for Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera.

Milwaukee Brewers Top-15 Prospects of 2012

1. Wily Peralta | RHP | Age – 22 | Grade – B

2. Taylor Jungmann | RHP | Age – 22 | Grade – B

3. Tyler Thornburg | RHP | Age – 22 | Grade – B/B-

4. Jed Bradley | LHP | Age – 21 | Grade – B-

5. Jorge Lopez | RHP | Age – 19 | Grade – B-

6. Logan Schafer | CF | Age – 25 | Grade – C+

7. Scooter Gennett | 2b | Age – 22 | Grade – C+

8. Cody Scarpetta | RHP | Age – 23 | Grade – C+

9. Taylor Green | INF | Age – 25 | Grade – C+

10. Michael Fiers | RHP | Age – 26 | Grade – C+

11. David Goforth | RHP | Age – 23 | Grade – C+

12. Orlando Arcia | SS | Age – 17 | Grade – C+

13. Caleb Gindl | OF | Age – 23 | Grade – C+

14. Michael Reed | RF | Age – 19 | Grade – C

15. Khris Davis | OF | Age – 24 | Grade – C

Silva: Voting for the Hall of Fame Based on “Feel”

Feel: An exploration of what it means to touch and be touched…in the head. (William Baldwin-Shares used, of course)

Forget any stats – advanced or otherwise- let’s do a fun exercise and vote for the Hall of Fame based on “feel.” This isn’t easy since you would have to see someone play for a majority of their career.

As mentioned before, if I had a Hall of Fame Ballot it would include Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jack Morris, and Tim Raines. These selections were based on a combination of data and watching the participants during most or all of their career. In the case of Morris and Raines, I watched them play in the latter-half of their career so it was more data based. For that reason I will abstain from judging them on the “feel” test.

...The one player that I was staunchly against on my ballot but looks better on the feel test is Don Mattingly. I first started watching baseball in the mid-eighties and he was considered the best player of that time. Again, you can see I am from New York, but throwing stats out the window Mattingly has more of a Hall of Fame candidacy. Who was a better offensive player in the mid to late eighties?

The rest were all very good players. Larkin, Palmeiro, Trammell, Walker, Murphy, Lee Smith, and Bernie Williams. I never remember thinking I was watching a future Hall of Famer when their teams came to town.

Of course, I am not advocating this practice as being the sole method of voting for the Hall of Fame. A combination of stats and “feel” is the best way to come to the final conclusion.

MLB: Marlins’ new home to feature aquatic theme

Weeki Wachee your freakin’ head!

This is part of an MLB.com/Marlins.com exclusive series with team president David Samson, chronicling the progress and developments of the new retractable-roof stadium that is opening in 2012.

...Last Friday, two 450-gallon fish tanks were installed inside the wall behind the home-plate wall. They are positioned on the first- and third-base sides, and currently they are not filled with water.

The fish will be protected by shatter-proof glass, and the team has been ensured the fish will be safe.

“The reason this has never been done before, is not that it can’t be done,” Marlins president David Samson said. “It’s because no one thought to do it.”

...The aquariums will provide the fish with a home at the ballpark that is safe from crowd and stadium sound-system noises. And the glass is shatter-proof if it were to be struck by a baseball.

“As far as the fish are concerned, all I can tell you is we are working with people who work with fish for a living,” Samson said. “If we thought for one minute that the fish were in danger in any way, we wouldn’t have done it.”

...“In other ballparks, behind home plate, there was a lot of brick and limestone, or just green padding,” Samson said. “We just sat down and said, ‘What can we do with this part of the ballpark that’s never been done?’ And we just came up with the idea, ‘How about an aquarium, is that even possible?’”

A Moment to Reflect on North Korea’s Website

Last January, I became moderately obsessed with North Korea, thanks to this book, this graphic novel, and these photos. North Korea is both terrible and completely bizarre—in this day of hyper-connectedness, it’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that a country actually exists where millions of people have no light, not to mention no internet, phones, or non-programmed radios and TVs.

Illustrating North Korea’s strangeness is its official website, which is down today, the day that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has also ceased to exist. Though it’s North Korea’s official website, it’s a very simple page with early-90s cyberspace graphics. It links to a CafePress shop, which is still up and where you can buy such items as an official North Korea baseball tee:
Strange.

WEEI: Adrian Gonzalez says Tim Tebow ‘doing things the right way’

Adrian Gonzalez has picked his team for this Sunday’s showdown between Bill Belichick’s boys and the Broncos.

“I’m actually rooting for the Patriots because the Broncos need to lose three in a row and the Chargers need to win three in a row to get into the playoffs,” said the San Diego native, and Red Sox first baseman. “I’m rooting for [Tim] Tebow to have a great game, but the Chargers need some help.”

Truth be told, it’s rare for Gonzalez to root for the Patriots. But it’s not rare for him to cheer for Tebow.

“I always keep track of how he’s doing,” said Gonzalez via phone. “I think everything that’s going on, if you just turn on TV or sports radio, he’s being talked about, which is great. I followed him in college, also. Personally, I’m the type of person who prefers to watch a Tom Brady-type of game, but Tebow is a guy I’m always going to follow and wish the best for him and pray he continues to do well and stay healthy.”

...Gonzalez has never met Tebow, although the quarterback did visit the Sox’ first baseman’s church in San Diego recently. Still, Gonzalez still feels a kinship to his football-playing counterpart. Both are living what can be a challenging existence—Christians in the middle of a professional sports environment.

Praise be Fadda Barnald.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 12-15-2011

Canaseraga Times, December 15, 1911:

Undoubtedly the players as a class are today the cleanest body of professional athletes in the new world. In the 70’s the fans used to say: “Aw, they threw the game.”  When does one hear a serious charge of that kind now?
...

As baseball is played today it is practically impossible for questionable operations to creep into the maneuvers of the diamond.

In other news: Hal Chase has resigned as manager of the Highlanders, a kid named Risberg is mulling an offer to try out for the Vernon Tigers, and Abe Attell is one of the greatest featherweights in boxing history.

Jeter’s booty hauls

Graceless, rangeless, and soon, memorabilialess.

Yankee star Derek Jeter, one of New York’s most eligible hunks since his split with longtime gal pal Minka Kelly, is bedding a bevy of beauties in his Trump World Tower bachelor pad — and then coldly sending them home alone with gift baskets of autographed memorabilia.

The Yank captain’s wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kiss-offs came to light when he mistakenly pulled the stunt twice on the same woman — forgetting she had been an earlier conquest, a pal told The Post.

“Derek has girls stay with him at his apartment in New York, and then he gets them a car to take them home the next day. Waiting in his car is a gift basket containing signed Jeter memorabilia, usually a signed baseball,” the friend dished.

“This summer, he ended up hooking up with a girl who he had hooked up with once before, but Jeter seemed to have forgotten about the first time and gave her the same identical parting gift, a gift basket with a signed Derek Jeter baseball,” the pal said.

“He basically gave her the same gift twice because he’d forgotten hooking up with her the first time!”

Charles Pierce: The Stupidity (and Sexism) of Baseball’s Media Dress Codes

or…How to Make It in Idiot America (oh…and #### Luis Guzmán ~ I feel bitter/better)

“We just thought it was time to get a little organized, to put it in place before there was an incident,” committee member Phyllis Merhige, an MLB senior vice president, told the AP. “There’s no one who expects reporters to wear a suit and tie. But with the advent of different media, there are now individuals who are not part of a bigger organization that may have a dress code.”

In other words, OMIGOD, BLOGGERS! RUN AND HIDE! THEY COULD BE NAKED!

It is an exercise of control, of course. The baseball press box is an odd beast. It is owned by the team, but regulated by the local BBWAA, which is why you get that announcement before every game to the effect that “This is a working press box. No laughing or cheering, etc.” Which is good as far as it goes, which is occasionally too far. (I was once nearly removed from the press box at Fenway for the capital offense of laughing too loudly at the Cleveland Indians.) Occasionally, MLB feels compelled to yank the leash so the BBWAA knows who’s really in charge. Generally, the BBWAA comes to heel. This is one of those times.

...You know who dressed really well? I mean, they dressed sharp and fine and in as professional a manner as it was possible to dress? All those people who stole the entire world economy between 2000 and 2008, that’s who. Anyone who presumes to judge sportswriters’ character or professionalism based on whatever Vietnamese-sweatshop-produced clothing their shrinking salaries allow them to be wearing that day is a half-wit. Anybody who codifies that thinking into policy really needs a cold shower.

MLB: Enter to be a Part of MLB Fan Cave 2012

As the lone comment sez…“Baseball Wives isn’t embarrassing enough?

Major League Baseball announced today that the MLB Fan Cave in 2012 will start the season with a group of fan contestants, some of whom will be eliminated throughout the season until one winner is crowned before the end of the World Series. Multiple contestants will begin the season in the MLB Fan Cave and watch every single MLB game each day while chronicling their experiences online through videos, blogs and social media. Along the way, they will compete against one another over the course of the baseball season in a series of challenges, with fans online helping decide who gets to stay in the Fan Cave and play host to the baseball stars and celebrities who will visit throughout the season. Entries – which include a series of essay questions and a video submission – are now being accepted at MLBFanCave.com, with a deadline of Friday, January 13.

The MLB Fan Cave will return to the 15,000 square foot location at 4th Street and Broadway in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village that was formerly the home of Tower Records. After hosting a number of holiday-themed events this month, the MLB Fan Cave will shut its doors in January to be redesigned to feature new technology and interactive elements. The MLB Fan Cave is a unique event space and content factory mixing baseball with music, popular culture, media, interactive technology, and art. It also serves as a digital hub for all baseball fans, with a constant flow of online video and conversation via social media.

Thanks to T. Hissey.

Reds Country: Pete Rose - Hits 4256, Steroids 0

I understand that amphetamine is tough to spell…but parlay is pretty damn easy.

I was checking out PeteRose.com and saw this autographed baseball.  Classic.

BASN: Gray: Baseball Does Not Get It

A friend of mine once got wicked bombed, took a header, split his head open, popped up and announced…“I GOT A SPLOSION IN MY HEAD!”

How many more times will Americans read the headlines that tell of another baseball player being suspended for the alleged use of steroids. Somehow the sport of baseball does not get it. That’s just baseball being baseball and losing fans with each passing year.

Black Movie Director Spike Lee stated many times “DO THE RIGHT THING”, which is what baseball should do. Many Americans are beginning to lose interest in this unique sport because it will not control itself. 

...Several recommendations could be considered to improve American attitudes toward baseball.

1) Remove the current baseball commissioner, Bug Selig because there is a conflict of interest.  His daughter owned or now owns the Milwaukee Brewers and he was the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, so in reality Selig is a defacto owner.
The commissioner of baseball should be the Commissioner for the game not the commissioner of baseball owners. This office should serve the fans, players, and owners. If baseball really wants to change then they should have an impartial commissioner.
Former baseball players Frank Robinson, Bill White, and Don Baylor, along with sport announcers/writers, Bob Costas, Peter Gammons, and George Will are fine candidates for this job.

Included in this list should be the intelligent and sports fan Condoleezza Rice she would become the first Black Commissioner and the first female. A baseball historical moment, but with “baseball being baseball”, this will not happen.

7) Have a hard salary cap. This would prevent super power teams from being formed. Many other major league sports have implemented a cap and it has worked. Baseball wants business as usual. They only want the Yankees, Red Sox’s, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, and Braves playing in the playoffs at the end of the each season.

Noble: Change of heart: Kaat deserves Cooperstown

OK, this is the most delusional thing a Noble has come up with since…Dr. Walter Bishop dizzed out: “Excellent! Let’s make some LSD!”

‘Tis the season of “Upon further review,” and high time I use the available mulligan. I should have supported the Hall of Fame candidacy of Jim Kaat.

I regret my decision to withhold a vote from his candidacy, not that one more check next to his name would have made much of a difference. In 15 years on the annual writers’ ballot, Kaat never came remotely close to gaining election. But what’s right is right, and now that first period of eligibility has passed. I believe Kaat is right for Cooperstown.

...I recently came across those quotes scribbled in a notebook. They required extensive deciphering. I read them more than a few times, and the more I read them, the more a Hall of Fame candidate Kaat became. Reliable ... valuable ... effective ... dependable ... always available. And Herzog was characterizing Kaat at ages 41-44, not during his prime, when the foundation of his 283-237 career record was under construction.

...One of the factors I consider when voting is whether a candidate ever was the best at what he did—or close to it—for an extended period. Don Mattingly was a great player, but his performance diminished after six splendid seasons. Not enough. Vada Pinson, my favorite player other than Mickey Mantle when I was a child, had seven terrific seasons. I couldn’t vote for him either.

No such obstacle with Kaat.

Platoon Advantage: The War of Statistical Aggression

It’s..it’s…it’s as if frontotemporal lower-the-bar degeneration never affected Charles Beaumont!

Somewhere in the lung of Texas, the Traditionalists have met in order to subvert the growing power of the Saberists forces. With Bill James’ armies bearing down in their insurrection, Murray Chass has convened his loyal commanders to repel the rebels as his propaganda campaign has largely resulted in failure and has led to the unfortunate nickname “Blogger Chass”. Gathered together for this meeting are Evan Grant of the Texas Professionals, Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Fanatics (so named for their particularly vicious tactics), Jon Heyman of the Borasskissers, and Commodore Buster Olney of the Green Mountain Boys.

(enter Murray Chass and Buster Olney sitting on Chass’ front porch)

Blogger Chass: Hey kids, get off my lawn. We’re trying to have a meeting.

Buster Olney: Heard this: It’s alright, Murray. They’re just kids. What harm can they really do?

Chass: James, Neyer, Law, and all the rest were kids, too! Give them structure and teach obedience now, and they won’t question us later.

Olney: (rolls eyes) Heard this: I guess you’re right. Let’s start the meeting, shall we?

(Olney and Chass move into the parlor room where they start the meeting with Grant, Shaughnessy, and Heyman)

Dan Shaughnessy: Let’s kill all the bastards! NOW! NOW! NOW!

TFT: Mitchell: More Wild Cards, Fewer Pennant Races

Weeeee! And let’s throw even more meaningless playoff stats into a shiit-rimmed Vac-Con® debris tank!

As the number of teams in the big leagues has grown, determining how many teams should be in the playoffs, and what the playoff structure should be has been an evolving challenge. It is apparent that with thirty teams, it is no longer appropriate to simply award a World Series spot to the winner of each league as was done until 1969. It should be equally apparent that making it too easy to secure a post-season spot is not good and that if the post-season drags on too long, only fans of the teams involved will watch the games.

It is in this direction in which MLB is now erring. Since the current playoff system has been implemented, there have been no pennant races that are remembered by fans other than those of the two teams involved. There has been nothing comparable to the Cardinal-Phillies race of 1964, the Giant-Dodger race of 1951, the Yankee-Red Sox race of 1978 or the 1993 race between the Giants and the Braves which has been called “The last Pennant Race.” The pennant race, once the signature characteristic of the baseball season, has largely fallen victim to the wild card system. The 2011 season was an exception demonstrating that exciting wild card races are possible and potentially memorable. Under the new system, all we can look forward to are races for the fifth playoff spot about which it will be very difficult to get excited.

Bud Selig Suddenly, Surprisingly Has Become Best Commissioner of Four Major Pro Sports

This is sorta like saying Coldplay won a Battle of Bands over Nickelback, Creed and U2.

There’s a new reality settling in over the landscape of professional sports this winter. Bud Selig has emerged as the best commissioner of the four major pro sports.

That’s not to say that Selig doesn’t have his faults—an egregious lack of instant replay looms largest—but the painless, almost silent manner in which Major League Baseball re-upped on its labor deal this offseason underscores the value of Selig’s stewardship.

...But results are results. Baseball has stayed clear of the pitfalls that have tripped up the other three leagues in recent years, and Selig has steered the ship carefully through some dangerous negotiating waters.

You may not like that the All-Star game determines home-field advantage and you may not agree with an emphasis on “the human element,” but you have to tip your cap to Bud.

There are no dark clouds looming on the horizon. For now, Bud Selig is in the driver’s seat and it’s full speed ahead.

Rozner: For Cubs’ Sveum, stats are help not law

Didn’t even know Keith was involved. Congrats Klaw…huh? ohhh…

“When you’re talking about the ‘Moneyball’ thing, I’ve never seen (the movie). I’ve never read the book,” Sveum said Friday morning when he was officially introduced as the newest Cubs victim. “There’s times you have to create runs.

“If you have a lineup that just hits home runs and you have great hitters, then of course you don’t want to run into outs and give up outs. But sometimes when you have lineups and you’re trying to create runs then you have to try different things to do that.

“That’s just the bottom line. If you’re not gonna hit home runs then you create runs, so you have to do it by running and pushing the envelope sometimes.”

That’s a blasphemous notion to orthodox sabermetricians who believe in only the objective philosophy of baseball statistics. Just as many don’t and are realistic about the effects of numbers, balanced against scouting.

...“A lot of it’s good and a lot of it you have to be careful with because it’s too much if you try to give too much to the players. It’s way too much to rationalize how good it is and how bad it is. You can’t do that in your brain.

“Sometimes you just have to go out and play baseball.’’