Prosecutors in the Barry Bonds case are appealing the decision to not allow evidence in the case because Greg Anderson won’t testify. It may be another year before the trial begins:
Unlike California state judges who must rule within 90 days on most matters before them or risk missing their paychecks, federal judges move at [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:46 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 1 Comment
February 28, 2009
Nothing to do with Baseball
Lone Star Ball examines how the cell phone has destroyed the sitcom. He uses as examples a number of Senfeld episodes that could never happen today, because a cell phone call solves the delimma of the half hour.
On the other hand, The Office uses the cell phone to great comic effect. Of course, [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:36 pm | Other | Permalink | No Comments
February 28, 2009
Not Dunn Yet
Nationals Journal gives us an early look at Sunday’s Boswell column, focusing on Adam Dunn:
Baseball has Dunn backward. On the outside, he may have no image. “I wish I had one,” he said. He’s just jeans and semi-combed hair, a guy lying on the clubhouse floor because the stools are too small, joking with new [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:29 pm | Players | Permalink | No Comments
February 28, 2009
Cruz a Royal
Juan Cruz finds a job, landing a two-year deal with the Kansas City Royals. He’s posted high strikeouts and low ERAs the last two seasons with the Diamondbacks. His walks are a bit high, but they haven’t hurt him much in terms of allowing runs. I’m surprised he stayed on the market [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:54 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 28, 2009
Shoulder Watch
The Yankees are being careful with Jorge Posada, who suffered some shoulder soreness:
Accounts of the injury differed slightly between the manager and the player. Girardi said Posada woke up Saturday morning with a little soreness. Posada said he hurt it Thursday in the on-deck circle while stretching before his first at-bat in his first exhibition [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:48 pm | Injuries | Permalink | 1 Comment
February 28, 2009
Top Scout
The New York Times profiles Billy Eppler, the Yankees top scout for professional talent. Billy likes to stay in the background, so you may not have heard of him. There seems to be some confusion as to his stance on stats:
Yet Eppler emerged as a supporting player in “The Yankee Years,” the book [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:37 pm | Management | Permalink | No Comments
February 28, 2009
Bye to Boli
Alex Rodriguez’s drug of choice is disappearing from the Dominican Republic:
“Primobolan is not imported by Dominican pharmaceutical agencies, but you can get it without problem in the underworld of steroids,” said Milton Pinedo, head of the anti-doping program for the Dominican Olympic Committee.
Local bodybuilder Manuel Feliz said the steroid has been getting harder to find [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:28 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 1 Comment
February 28, 2009
Probabilistic Strike Zone Model
The last few days I’ve been working with the pitch f/x data, with the idea of applying some kind of probabilistic model to the strike zone. I started with a very simple model to learn how to get around the data and to prove the concept.
My initial model looks at the chance of [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:11 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 6 Comments
February 28, 2009
Santana Get Worse
Johan Santana’s elbow isn’t getting any better, and now there’s a report he might miss opening day. I’m waiting to hear about the trip to Doctor Andrews.
I suppose the Yankees and Red Sox not trading for Johan might end up looking pretty good.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:18 am | Injuries | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 27, 2009
The Cleaner
The Nationals sent Mike Rizzo to fix things in the Dominican Republic, and he put their players in a new facility in three days:
While in the Dominican, Rizzo visited that facility – which the team had rented from recently fired employee José Rijo. After scouting eight new locations, he settled on a complex in Boca [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:34 pm | Management | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 27, 2009
The Saga Continues
Manny Ramirez noon deadline was for a counter offer by Boras. The two sides now seem to be squabbling not over contract size or length, but deferred money. That’s a small difference and now I believe a deal will get done, but who knows when. There’s a great Colletti quote at the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:14 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 27, 2009
A Different Kind of ‘Roid
John Bale returned to Kansas City to have hit thyroid examined:
“There were irregularities in his blood work,” manager Trey Hillman said. “It’s a problem dealing with his thyroid.”
Bale was limited earlier in camp by soreness in his left shoulder blade. He resumed throwing this week and appeared to be on track to resume a regular [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:58 pm | Illnesses | Permalink | No Comments
February 27, 2009
Sore Ace
Brandon Webb was scratched from his start with a sore forearm. That’s Johan Santana and Webb scratched this week with minor injuries. That’s a pair of aces causing their fans a bit of worry.
Posted by David Pinto at 4:36 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
February 27, 2009
Sticking to his Guns
Greg Anderson refuses to testify.
Posted by David Pinto at 3:25 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 1 Comment
February 27, 2009
Noon Deadline
Dodger Thoughts rounds up the latest Manny Ramirez news as dawn breaks on the west coast. It appears there is a noon deadline for Manny and the team to reach an agreement. That seems to be a bit of a backtrack from the “starting from scratch” statement made last night:
Twelve hours ago, it [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 12:35 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
February 27, 2009
Eaton Out
The Phillies released Adam Eaton. Tim Malcolm believes Eaton’s failure taught the Phillies a lesson about signing marginal pitchers.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:41 am | Transactions | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 27, 2009
Bounce Back?
Richard Durrett predicts a good year for Kevin Millwood. The Bill James projections are close on ERA, while Chone and Marcel are not that forgiving. With the offense in Texas, an ERA in the low fours should win Kevin more than he loses.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:18 am | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
February 27, 2009
Downward Spiral?
In the wake of Manny Ramirez’s rejection of the latest Dodgers offer, I wonder if Manny might get himself in a downward spiral of offers. Los Angeles withdrew a $45 million offer, and as far as we know, there are no other firm offers on the table. Why would a team bid more [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:53 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 7 Comments
February 27, 2009
Lean and Mean
Joe Brescia runs down the players who lost significant weight this off-season.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:42 am | Players | Permalink | 4 Comments
February 27, 2009
Dodgers Rejected
Jon Weisman posts the Dodgers statement that Scott Boras rejected their offer for Manny Ramirez:
“We love Manny Ramirez,” said Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, “And we want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves. When his agent finds those ’serious offers’ from other clubs, we’ll be happy to re-start the negotiations.
“Even with [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 12:20 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 3 Comments
February 26, 2009
Pain
Jim Bowden still has his job, but, “They’re Just Making Bowden Endure As Much Pain As Possible.” The Washington Post summary of the Nationals scandal notes Jose Rijo owned the diamonds used by the club in the DR and rented them for $40,000 a month. There seems to be just a bit of [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:58 pm | Management | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 26, 2009
Shoulder Test
Micah Owings says he feels fine after pitching Thursday:
The Arizona Diamondbacks shut down Owings the last two months due to a shoulder injury, and when he was acquired in the Adam Dunn trade, he did nothing but pinch-hit for the Reds.
“Everything felt good for the first time — my arm felt good, which is the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:14 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
February 26, 2009
Yankees Take a Hit
Bank of America decides not to sign a big advertising deal with the Yankees, as the economy even hurts the big teams. The money they would have made from the deal likely would have paid the yearly salary of one of their superstar players.
Update: It looks like the deal was worth more like $10 [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:03 pm | Advertising | Permalink | 1 Comment
February 26, 2009
News hits the Rocks
The Rocky Mountain News is closing its doors. I’ll make Tracy Ringolsby the same offer I made Murry Chass; he can come write for Baseball Musings. The pay will be lousy, but I suspect he’ll add a lot of readers to the site.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:54 pm | News Media | Permalink | No Comments
February 26, 2009
Smaller Papi
Center Field posts a photo in which David Ortiz looks downright slender. He’s not skinny, but fit and trim. That should scare the opposition a bit.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:42 pm | Players | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 26, 2009
Prying into the Trial
The media wants access to the jury questioners filled out in the Bonds perjury case. I’ve never heard of the press getting those before. Does someone know if that’s a usual request in big cases? If I were a potential juror, I’d decline to fill it out for fear my name would [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:39 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 2 Comments
February 26, 2009
Naked Novitsky
Playboy’s Jonathan Littman once again takes on Jeff Novitsky and his prosecution of Barry Bonds. Littman once again paints Novitsky as the evil person in this drama:
A hearing was scheduled. Novitzky’s credibility was on the line. In October 2004 he filed a sworn declaration in Judge Illston’s court stating that my Playboy article “falsely [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:25 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 5 Comments
February 26, 2009
Home Field Advantage
BABIP for pitchers as a group over the years is always lower at home than on the road.
Posted by David Pinto at 1:40 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
February 26, 2009
Handling Alex
Brian Cashman speaks to the NY Times on A-Rod’s PED smuggling cousin picking up Rodriguez yesterday:
“It’s been handled,” he said.
I get the feeling that if some club were to offer the Yankees a bag of balls and be willing to take over the contract, Cashman just might trade A-Rod to lose the headache.
Posted by David Pinto at 1:26 pm | Cheating | Permalink | 6 Comments
February 26, 2009
Time for Mets Fans to Shudder
Johan Santana has a sore elbow, but Jerry Manuel says it’s no big deal:
Manager Jerry Manuel told the website that the problem is “nothing abnormal” for Santana, and that Santana instead would throw a side session Friday. Santana had offseason knee surgery, which might have affected his throwing program and contributed to the elbow discomfort.
I’m [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:21 pm | Injuries | Permalink | No Comments
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