It looks like the Cubs and Carlos Zambrano are close to a long term deal:
The parameters of the deal have been discussed, with both sides agreeing to five years. How far apart they are on the total package is unknown, though the Cubs’ offer is expected to be under Barry Zito’s $18 million-per-season range.
At this [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:10 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 31, 2007
All the Boys Think She’s a Spy
The players may not know it, but big brother is watching:
Major league teams are monitoring players during the period between when they are notified they must take a drug test and when they provide a urine sample, according to The New York Times.
The procedure was instituted in July 2005 and covers a period that can [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:51 pm | Cheating | Permalink | No Comments
March 31, 2007
Dice Vid
Balls, Sticks and Stuff posts video of Matsuzaka pitching to the Phillies.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:48 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 31, 2007
AL Central Preview, 2007
The AL Central became a little more muddled on Friday when we found out that surgery sidelined Kenny Rogers for half a season. Originally, the Tigers came out on top of my prediction for the division, but I need to rethink that.
The Indians are the trendy pick to win the division in 2007. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:11 pm | Predictions | Permalink | 11 Comments
March 31, 2007
Extra Innings Update
Does this mean Comcast threw in the towel on Extra Innings negotiations?
Due to a decision by Major League Baseball, Comcast, as well as many other cable operators will not be able to distribute the 2007 MLB Extra Innings out-of-market package.
If you are a current Comcast customer and subscribed to Comcast 2006 MLB Extra Innings, you [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:19 am | Broadcasts | Permalink | 8 Comments
March 31, 2007
Extending Guillen
The Tigers sealed a deal that keeps Carlos Guillen a cat through 2011.
Guillen is making $5 million this season, the last of a $14 million, three-year deal. He gets $12 million in 2008, $10 million in 2009 and $13 million in each of the final two seasons.
“I’d like to finish my career in Detroit,” Guillen [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:08 am | Transactions | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 31, 2007
No Women Allowed?
Joe Christensen touts Twins pitching prospect Jeff Manship.
The Twins stole Manship in the 14th round of last year’s draft and convinced him to sign out of Notre Dame. Some scouts think he’ll be an even better pitcher than former Notre Dame pitcher (and wide receiver) Jeff Samardzija, whom the Cubs signed for something like a [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:57 am | Players | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 31, 2007
Civil Rights Game
It’s been sixty years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and baseball kicks off the celebration with the first Civil Rights Game. The one place Bud Selig deserves unlimited praise is in his efforts to make the game more diverse. Once again, however, among American blacks, those efforts aren’t paying off:
Major League [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:50 am | Demographics | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 30, 2007
More Than Just Tired
Another blood clot rears its ugly head:
Tigers left-handed starter Kenny Rogers is expected to miss the first half of the season after he underwent surgery on his pitching shoulder today to remove a blood clot and repair arteries.
Rogers underwent the surgery in Dallas. The surgery was performed by the same doctor who did a similar [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:31 pm | Illnesses | Permalink | 4 Comments
March 30, 2007
More Defensive Calculations
On Baseball and the Reds is doing nice work with The Hardball Times defensive numbers, coming up with a way to convert THT’s zone ratings to a +/- system. The Probabilistic Model of Range lends a hand. What’s nice about this is that it looks like something that can be calculated during the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:08 pm | Defense | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 30, 2007
April Showers
Home Run Derby takes a close look at offense at Wrigley in April.
Posted by David Pinto at 6:56 pm | Stadiums | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 30, 2007
NL East Preview, 2007
Studes donated $100 to the Baseball Musings Pledge Drive and receives the following dedication:
I think that The Hardball Times is the greatest. Yay, Hardball Times!!!!!!!!!!
Signed,
David Pinto (at the request of donor Dave Studeman)
The NL East in 2007 looks like it will come down to a battle between a great offensive team and two top [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:41 pm | Predictions | Permalink | 16 Comments
March 30, 2007
Call for Predictions
Matthew Swarner writes:
This year, I’m starting a fun analysis that your readers could be a great help on. I’m compiling the division rankings from team previews–ex. your AL West preview: LAA 1st, SEA 2nd, OAK 3rd, TEX 4th. I’m keen on looking at how individual teams do, which divisions’ ranking are most variable, [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:19 pm | Predictions | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2007
Pavano’s #1
My Baseball Bias writes about Torre naming Carl Pavano his opening day starter.
The way I see it, Pavano has a few things going for him…adrenaline and the Devil Rays. The D-Rays are a very impatient hitting ball club. When you combine that with Pavano’s fastball, which will no doubt have a little extra zip on [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 12:50 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 4 Comments
March 30, 2007
Over-Under Predictions
MetsBlog.com polls writers and bloggers to get a sense of some 2007 numbers for the Mets. The most important one is that everyone polled (including me) thinks the Mets will win more than 88 games this year.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:13 pm | Predictions | Permalink | 2 Comments
March 30, 2007
Edes on the East
Gordon Edes talks with Masanori Murakami, Don Nomura and others about the continuing growth of Japanese players in Major League Baseball. It sounds to me like there is going to be changes coming in the next few years to the Asian game:
But no one ever envisioned the posting system resulting in a bid as [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:13 am | International | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 30, 2007
Fish Fans
Via FishStripes, Fish or Cut Bait uses his advertising database to present a series on the demographics of Marlins fans. The series starts here with part 1.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:26 am | Fans | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2007
Home Stretch
The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is coming to an end. Why not join all your friends who supported the site this month and make a donation? Any amount is welcome. Thanks to everyone who donated so far, and I’ll have a wrap up Sunday morning.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:09 am | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2007
Grand Blogging
Curtis Granderson joins the ranks of blogging ballplayers and The Big Lead gets the interview.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:07 am | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2007
AL West Preview
The AL West, the smallest division in baseball provides the best probability for any particular team to win. This season, the division is shaping up for a very different finish than last year.
The Oakland Athletics won the AL West in 2006, but enter 2007 with the loss of two big guns, Frank Thomas and [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:56 am | Predictions | Permalink | 11 Comments
March 30, 2007
Three Backstops
The Minnesota Twins decided to take three catchers north. That used to be pretty common, when teams carried nine pitchers and catchers would often be pulled for pinch hitters. This probably has more to do with Mauer’s stress reaction.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:36 am | Spring Training | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 30, 2007
Walker Grievence
The MLBPA will file a grievence on behalf of Todd Walker. I wish one of these stories on the subject would explain why the union thinks this was wrongful termination.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:24 am | Union | Permalink | 3 Comments
March 30, 2007
Unit Alert
This is very good news for the Arizona Diamondbacks:
Johnson, making his second start of spring training in his return from back surgery, struck out five San Diego batters in three shutout innings on Thursday night at Chase Field, the same ballpark (albeit with a different name) in which he did the bulk of his work [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:14 am | Injuries, Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
March 30, 2007
Young is a Relative Thing
Tyler Kepner points out that the Yankees are likely to go with the younger, cheaper player at the three positions up for grabs. Of course, when two of those younger players are 29, I’m not sure how much of an organizational shift that is. Still, at least the Yankees are moving in the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:06 am | Spring Training | Permalink | No Comments
March 29, 2007
NL Central Preview, 2007
Earlier today I mentioned the Astros were my pick to win the NL Central. Since that elicited a number of responses, I thought it was time to start previewing the divisions in detail. So let’s start with the NL Central.
The NL Central produced both an exciting regular season
finish and the World Champion Cardinals [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:06 pm | Predictions | Permalink | 8 Comments
March 29, 2007
Spanning the Minors
Most Valuable Network announces minor league baseball coverage at MVN MiLB.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:05 pm | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 29, 2007
Guru Goodies
The Baseball Guru is a new website with tons of links to lots of baseball sites plus original information. Stop by and check out their lists.
Posted by David Pinto at 2:51 pm | Blogs | Permalink | No Comments
March 29, 2007
Positive Attitude
Now that the Nationals set their roster and named Cristian Guzman their starting shortstop, Harper Gordek makes a pledge to hold off on criticism for a while. It’s a pretty complicated pledge, and includes this:
If I read an article that I feel misrepresnts Cristian Guzman’s current or past performance, and he is currently meeting [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:36 am | Players | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2007
Old and Tired
Kenny Rogers starts the season on the disabled list with a tired arm. That’s one of the dangers carrying old pitchers on your team, you never know when they are going to break down. The Tigers take two days off in April, so it’s not that easy to go with just four starters. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:16 am | Injuries | Permalink | 1 Comment
March 29, 2007
Cubs vs. Cardinals
A Cubs fan and a Cardinals fan debate the 2007 season over at Three Man Lift. I like the Cubs fan take on the Cardinals health:
So, let me make sure I’m reading this correctly. You are hoping the third baseman, a key starting pitcher, an entire outfield and the closer are all going to [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:15 am | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 8 Comments
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