Baseball merchandise is flying off the shelves:
Gross retail sales of licensed products are up by almost 100 percent in the first part of the year compared to the same period last season, according to Tim Brosnan, executive vice president of business for Major League Baseball.
“It’s in part due to the fact that we had fans [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:23 pm | Mechandising | Permalink | 6 Comments
March 31, 2005
LA Hot Corner
While the Angels appear to have options at third to replace their departed hot corner slugger, Jon Weisman isn’t happy with the other LA team’s choices to replace the north bound Beltre. He’s also not happy with the changes to Choi.
Henson also passed along a third item, which is that the Dodgers have convinced [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:44 pm | Spring Training | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 31, 2005
I Said Disk!
Dallas McPherson will not start the season with the LA Angels.
The Angels thought enough of McPherson to allow power-hitting Troy Glaus to sign a free-agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks during the offseason. But McPherson has been limited this spring by a protruding disk in his lower back.
Robb Quinlan will get the starting job [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:29 am | Injuries | Permalink | No Comments
March 31, 2005
TV Deal
The Orioles and Nationals (MLB) have reached a deal for co-ownership of a regional sports network. The Orioles ownership will be guaranteed $365 million if they sell the team as part of the settlement. At the moment, no Nationals games are scheduled for local cable broadcast. I assume that can change. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:09 am | Management | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 31, 2005
On the Table
Wil Leitch has published his annual predictions for the baseball season at Black Table. Always a fun read.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:36 am | Predictions | Permalink | No Comments
March 31, 2005
Where’s the Fire?
Firebrand of the American League has moved. Please adjust your bookmarks.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:23 am | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 31, 2005
Pledge Drive, Last Day
Today marks the end of the March Pledge Drive. So far 165 readers have donated over $2400. I want to thank every one of you from the bottom of my heart.
It’s been a great month working on this site. While I’ve always had interesting jobs, I’ve never had more fun working on [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:32 am | Blogs | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 30, 2005
Baseball Idol
My daughter is an American idol fan, and I just found out Ozzie Smith’s son is in the competition.
Idol does have a problem that was very obvious tonight. I caught the end when they announced the singer being voted off the island. The judges agreed neither of these singers should be at the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:44 pm | Other | Permalink | 6 Comments
March 30, 2005
Brooks Runs Dry
Rock’em Schnockem reports on the release of Brooks Kieschnick. He thinks San Francisco could use a player who could go both ways.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:19 pm | Transactions | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 30, 2005
Pachyderm Purchase
Baseball approved Lewis Wolff as the new owner of the Athletics today. I can’t believe how little the franchise is worth:
The A’s, who planned a news conference back in Oakland in the next couple of days to formally introduce Wolff as the new owner, hoped to have everything complete by Monday’s season opener in [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:53 pm | Uncategorized | Permalink | 5 Comments
March 30, 2005
Spitting Distance
Somehow, this doesn’t seem to be the right year for honoring Gaylord Perry.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 4:32 pm | All-Time Greats | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 30, 2005
Don’t Grieve for Me Alleghney
Ben Grieve was demoted by the Pittsburgh Pirates today. It’s amazing to me that the Pirates can’t find a place for a hitter who’s never had an OBA under .353. Maybe the Nationals will pick him up and use him to lead off.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:14 pm | Transactions | Permalink | 4 Comments
March 30, 2005
The End of Endy
Endy Chavez will start the season in AAA. Frank Robinson and the Nationals tried to get Endy to get on base more so he could serve as the team’s leadoff hitter. It didn’t happen, so Chavez has lost his spot on the big league club.
Ryan Church will take over the centerfield duties for [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:18 pm | Players | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 30, 2005
Honor On
It looks like the Amazon Honor System is working again. There’s a four week maximum allowed, but I just received one donation, so there’s some room to donate. PayPal still works also.
Once again, thanks to every who has donated so far. I’ll sum up the drive once March is over, so get [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:08 pm | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2005
Mile High Kim
It looks like the Boston Red Sox have found a place to dump Byung-Hyun Kim. The Rockies will take him in a trade for cash and an unnamed minor leaguer. This fills the Rockies need for a closer and the Red Sox need to open up a roster spot and rid themselves of [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:38 am | Trades | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 30, 2005
Doctor Discrepancies
The New York Times has found errors and exaggerations in Dr. Elliot Pellman’s resume. Dr. Pellman is the medical adviser for Major League Baseball and testified before the house committee two weeks ago. I found him one of the more interesting witnesses.
It’s another case of baseball not being careful with what it sent to [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:44 am | Cheating | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 29, 2005
Tax Break Dancing
The Marlins had a legislative committee approve a $60 million tax break to help them build a new stadium. It’s a kick-back on new revenue the stadium will supposedly generate. It’s not clear from the article what happens if the new revenue doesn’t come in.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:20 pm | Stadiums | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2005
New Life for the Cat
Andres Galarraga has retired. He ends his career with 399 home runs. Interestingly, not reaching 400 home runs might turn out to be good for his memory. People still talk about Al Kaline coming up one short; in 30 years they’ll still be talking about Andres quitting with class rather than hanging [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:09 pm | Players | Permalink | 5 Comments
March 29, 2005
North Side Lineup
The Cubdom has an excellent post analyzing the Cubs lineup. I especially like his color-coded batting slots for each hitter.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:32 pm | Strategy | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2005
Sabernomic Projections
Sabernomics has developed a new system to predict batting statistics. The interesting thing is that it’s simply based on the players’ previous season stats. For what he’s tried so far, it does a pretty good job.
Unfortunately, Sabernomics hasn’t posted the formulas, so the system is difficult to evaluate. Still it’s more that [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 5:18 pm | Predictions | Permalink | No Comments
March 29, 2005
Minor Tragic Poet
The Brewers sent down three today, including the tragic poet of MTV, Corey Hart. More importantly, however; what does Prince Fielder have to do to make a major league roster? He had a fine spring and he’s hit well everywhere in the minor leagues. If you have both Overbay and Fielder clogging [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:44 pm | Spring Training | Permalink | 5 Comments
March 29, 2005
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation
A nice analysis of the Yankees rotation over at Bronx Banter. It looks like the Yankees are another team that starting to think about four man rotations. The Yankees are using days off in April to not start Jaret Wright until April 15th. In general, I believe more teams should take advantage [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:55 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 29, 2005
The Wright Order
The writers of Faith and Fear in Flushing were looking for a reason to be upset with the Mets lineup that has David Wright batting 8th. They found one.
“Experience-wise, too. It will be his first full season…”
Ah. Here’s the outrage.
I mean, is this a baseball team or a frat initiation? Wright is straight outta [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:35 pm | Management | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 29, 2005
Western Win Shares
The Baseball Crank uses Established Win Share Levels to look at the NL West race. He has the Giants coming out on top with Bonds, 2nd to the Padres with Bonds gone for 1/2 a season or more. I like San Diego and the Dodgers this season; I think Bonds’ injury is only [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:19 pm | Predictions | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 29, 2005
Competitive Balance
New research shows that Cuban baseball has less competitive balance than the major leagues:
“The organization of baseball in Cuba offers a stark contrast to that of baseball in the U.S.,” said Katie Baird, an economist at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and author of the new study on Cuban baseball. “Cuba’s system makes a great [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 12:57 pm | Management | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2005
How Old are You Now?
The Boston Herald continues its series on the state of baseball with a look at the aging of players:
Take a guess how many of today’s major leaguers are under 21?
Zero, that’s how many.
The 40-year-old baseball player was once a genuine oddity. It’s still not as if the majors are teeming with geezers today, it’s just [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:43 am | Statistics | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 29, 2005
History Lesson
The New York Times has a very interesting article about a ticket found in an auctioned book that led to the discovery Jim Thorpe having a basketball career. Thorpe was the model for the multi-sport athlete, having success in baseball, football, track and field and now basketball. Don’t miss the slideshow that’s connected [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:03 am | All-Time Greats | Permalink | No Comments
March 29, 2005
Tony Time
NPR’s Morning edition had an interview with Tony La Russa and Buzz Bissinger, the author of the new book Three Nights. Three Nights explores the managing style of La Russa. At the web page for the story you can hear the interview as well as listen to excerpts that didn’t make air. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:46 am | Books, Interviews | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 29, 2005
Fresh Batteries
Bob Melvin has decided to go with his two younger catchers, Hill and Snyder. This leaves Kelly Stinnett with to decide if he wants to play at AAA or try to catch on with another club.
Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:36 am | Spring Training | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2005
Like Father, Like Son
Tony Armas Jr. has gone on the 15 Day DL with a groin pull.
The injury, suffered during the first inning of Sunday’s game against the New York Mets, is described as a grade 1 pull, the least severe of three levels. Still, the injury is extremely disappointing for Armas, who has now spent time on [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:27 am | Injuries | Permalink | 2 Comments
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