My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at the chance of the Giants competing for the division title due to the efforts of their starting pitchers.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:12 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 31, 2008
What About the Twins?
La Velle Neal can’t believe the Twins couldn’t come up with a better package for Mark DeRosa than the Cubs.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:48 pm | Trades | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2008
Replacing K-Rod
Brian FuentesPhoto: Icon SMI
The Angels sign Brian Fuentes to a two-year deal. He’ll take over the closer role vacated by Francisco Rodriguez.
Since the start of the 2005 season, when Fuentes became a closer, K-Rod leads the majors in saves. Fuentes ranks 14th, but his strikeout rate and home run rate compare well with [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:09 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2008
Mark Joins Kerry
Mark DeRosaPhoto: Icon SMI
The Cubs sent Mark DeRosa to the Indians today, teaming him one again with Kerry Wood:
The Cubs acquired three pitching prospects from the Indians for DeRosa — left-hander John Stevens, who was added to the 40-man roster, lefty John Gaub and right-hander Chris Archer.
The addition of three prospects could signal the rekindling [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:36 pm | Trades | Permalink | 3 Comments
December 31, 2008
Sick Prospect
The Astros first round pick from 2006 is fighting meningitis.
Max Sapp, the Astros’ first-round draft pick in 2006, has been hospitalized for more than two weeks in Orlando, Fla., with a case of meningitis, assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said Tuesday.
Bennett said Sapp, 20, has been breathing with the help of a respirator after undergoing [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:39 am | Illnesses | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2008
New Data
The Lahman Database update for 2008 is now available.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:32 am | Statistics | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2008
Seat of Power
Beyond the Boxscore looks at the best pitch locations to hit for power looking at the axis perpendicular to the direction of the ball (inside/outside). As you might imagine, players hit for more power on inside pitches than outside pitches, but balls over the heart of the plate deliver the most damage.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:14 am | Offense | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 31, 2008
Estimating the Reds
Red Reporter uses the Lineup Analysis Tool to estimate the number of runs the Reds will score in 2009. The results aren’t pretty.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:01 am | Offense | Permalink | No Comments
December 30, 2008
Lowe Balling
The Mets off Derek Lowe $12 million a year for three years. He wants $18 million a year for five years. I wonder how close they’ll end up to $15 million a year for four years?
Posted by David Pinto at 11:07 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 30, 2008
Marquis to the Rockies
The Cubs shipped Jason Marquis to the Rockies for setup man Luis Vizcaino:
The deal, first reported by ESPN, likely won’t become official until next week. The Rockies made the math work to get a starter they have coveted for a month, while removing a setupman who asked to be dealt at season’s end after expressing [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:45 pm | Trades | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 30, 2008
Selling Weight Loss
I just saw a Nutri-System ad starring Chris Berman. It’s by far the best Nutri-System ad ever.
Update: Here it is:
Posted by David Pinto at 5:59 pm | News Media | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 30, 2008
New Values
Value Wins appear to be the new rage around the baseball blogosphere. Right now, they are just for batters, but it looks like the Yankees got a good deal on Teixeira, the Red Sox got an even better deal on Pedroia, and A-Rod earned his salary in 2008.
Posted by David Pinto at 4:56 pm | Statistics | Permalink | 4 Comments
December 30, 2008
Shifting Power
Buster Olney wonders if the power struggle between MLB and the MLBPA is shifting in favor of the owners.
Wealth might have eroded the determination to enforce Miller’s core principles, however. The sport is generating billions; the players are making millions. The respectful and cooperative relationship that has developed between Michael Weiner, players’ counsel, and Rob [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 12:06 pm | Union | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 30, 2008
Feared
Wezen-Ball looks at news reports of the day to see just how much Jim Rice was feared:
However, as great as Rice was for his relatively short career, the argument his supporters make today – that he was the “most feared hitter” of his time – is hard to substantiate when you look at the press [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:52 am | All-Time Greats | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 30, 2008
Thinking About Collusion
SportsAgentBlog notes that there are a few possible collusion cases available to the MLBPA, but no grievances have been filed:
Why is the MLBPA not taking action against the MLB based on these potential claims? Is there not enough evidence? Has the association felt that labor peace is more important than filing a grievance [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:52 am | Union | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 30, 2008
Leaning to the Left
Sox Machine notes A.J. Pierzynski’s better hitting against lefties the last two years, and wonders if that would allow the White Sox to carry another left-handed hitting catcher.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:26 am | Players | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2008
More Dodger Interest
It seems the Dodgers are also interested in Bobby Abreu, which makes perfect sense. Torre knows Bobby from his last year in New York, and Bobby’s a better defensive outfielder than Dunn. I disagree, however, with this on Manny Ramirez:
Having already turned down $45M over two years and the $25M he likely would [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:26 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 6 Comments
December 29, 2008
Cubans on the Way
Yadel Marti pitches in the 2006 WCBPhoto: Icon SMI
Two Cuban players defected, and should generate much interest in the major leagues:
Right-hander Yadel Marti, Cuba’s best pitcher in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, and outfielder Yasser Gomez left the island and are in an unknown location before attempting to reach the Dominican Republic to [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:35 pm | International | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2008
Manny Dunn?
Jayson Stark reports the Dodgers are now looking at Adam Dunn instead of Manny Ramirez. One of the nice things for teams who need a corner outfielder is that they have three good ones available in Dunn, Burrell and Ramirez. If one is asking too much money or too many years, just go [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:50 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 29, 2008
More Defense
Another Red Sox fan defends the Yankees.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:59 am | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 29, 2008
Coast to Coast Deal
Bleeding Blue and Teal analyzes a potential Hideki Matsui for Erik Bedard trade.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:05 am | Trades | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 29, 2008
Another Bad Pitcher
The Orioles are on the verge of signing Mark Hendrickson. I hope they are paying him very little money. Mark is a low strikeout pitcher who is easy to hit. He doesn’t give up many walks because batters don’t need to wait around for a pitch to smack. As you can [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:31 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 29, 2008
Video Vault
MLB is opening up its video vault for the premier of MLB TV. The new channel is supposed to be on DirecTV 213, but is not up yet. Some cable subscribers, however, are seeing some things on their MLB channel, however. The 2-teens on DTV now have channels for the NFL, NHL [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:23 am | Broadcasts | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2008
Measuring Drama
Studes looks at the drama of games to show why we believe late season games are more important than early season games. His Washington Nationals graph shows great evidence why no one was watching in 2008.
Posted by David Pinto at 7:47 am | Statistics | Permalink | 7 Comments
December 28, 2008
Return of the Bard
The Red Sox made an offer to Josh Bard.
His physical will seal the deal at last.
His catching tasks will not be made too hard,
Since Wakefield’s balls too often ended passed.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:40 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 28, 2008
Losing to Win
Squawking Baseball looks at the how the Pirates are usings losing to win in the future.
Posted by David Pinto at 6:17 pm | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 28, 2008
Penny for your Rotation
Brad PennyPhoto: Icon SMI
Ken Rosenthal reports the Red Sox are about to sign Brad Penny to a one year deal:
The move would give the Red Sox the ability to keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen and be patient with Clay Buchholz.
Or, trade one of those pitchers to Texas for a catcher.
Brad is great when he’s [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 5:38 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 28, 2008
The Market for Manny
Buster Olney looks at the teams interested in Manny Ramirez and comes out with one:
The Nationals apparently have money to spend, and in theory, if they were to sign Ramirez, it could be an interesting play. He would be a lure for fans and would give a reason for folks to tune in to watch [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:27 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 3 Comments
December 28, 2008
You Can Buy Championships
Alex Belth dispels the idea that you can’t buy championships:
But facts are facts: since the start of free agency in 1977, no team has spent more money on players than the Yankees have; no team has won more pennants or more championships. So while no team can ever fool themselves that they can pre-arrange success [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:59 am | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 8 Comments
December 27, 2008
Getting the Willys
The Reds sign Willy Taveras to lead off. Taveras is a pretty poor offensive players, never posting as OPS+ over 89. He’s not even much of an improvement over combined players used by the Reds in the leadoff slot in 2008. They combined for a .266/.326/.423 line. Willy’s career line is [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:11 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
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