BDD OFFERS
New Article: Under the Radar: Morgan Ensberg and the Yankees First Base Situation, by Brandon Heikoop
New Series: The Baseball Research Project - Baseball Historians and HRs, by Dave Rouleau
What Did We Learn Today? Not a Whole Lot..., by Eric SanInocencio
"Harry Frazee, Ban Johnson and the Feud That Nearly Destroyed the American League" - Excerpt #2, by Michael Lynch
Foundation of Solid Rock(ies), by Rob McQuown
Beyond the Diamond: February 10, 2008, by Pete Toms
Family Trees, by Geoff Young
The Return of Facts...Johan-Style, by Craig Brown
Detailed Pitch Analysis: Part II - The Curve Ball, by Jonathan Hale
Round 2: The Roger Clemens Saga Continues, by Gordon Berger
Out of the Spolight, by Dave Rouleau
The Bloggers Roundtable - Cincinnati Reds (the Cleveland Indians are the next in line)
- John Brattain has done the unthinkable: he has moved his blog to BDD permanently! Come back often to witness his daily struggles with reality.
- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine. You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.
- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's player journals this season!
- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with Eric Walker, where he talks about PEDs and the effect they have on stats.
Join the Baseball Digest Daily Facebook and Ballhype groups
All Baseball Transactions Friday
- Moneyball star, catcher Jeremy Brown, announced yesterday that he had retired from baseball.
The 28-year-old had 10 at-bats in the majors, with three hits (including two doubles), a walk and a strikeout. He posted unspectacular career averages in the minors of .266/.367/.439 and found a way to steal 7 bases in 539 games.
To quote Athletics Nation: "Thus, his retirement is symbolic. Jeremy Brown is perhaps one of the most famous players in history to have absolutely zero impact as a player in the Major Leagues - he's probably on a short list with Michael Jordan of the Birmingham Barons."
- The Yogi Berra Museum removed a Roger Clemens jersey from its display last week....ouch!
"We're trying to project the positive virtues of baseball," said David Kaplan, the director of the museum, which has an educational mission. "And we have a lot of kids coming through here who are asking questions we're not prepared to answer."
He added that Clemens's "jersey was raising too many issues" because of his "notoriety."
Clemens is defending himself against accusations by his former personal trainer Brian McNamee that McNamee injected him with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens and McNamee testified Wednesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Kaplan said that he and Art Berke, the chief operating officer of the museum, which is on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J., decided to remove the jersey.
Berra, the living embodiment of Yankees success starting in the late 1940s, was later made aware of the decision.
- Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun says his name found his way into the report because of a check he gave to Jason Grimsley for a bet, when they both were members of the Kansas City Royals.
What happened, according to Zaun, was a bizarre chain of events that carried a US$500 cheque from Zaun to then-teammate Jason Grimsley, then to Radomski, and finally into the Mitchell Report.
Zaun played for the Kansas City Royals in 2001. He says he owed Grimsley US$500 and wrote him a cheque without filling in the name of the recipient. Grimsley then made the cheque payable to Radomski and used it to purchase steroids for himself, Zaun says.
Radomski eventually gave a copy of the cheque to Mitchell Report investigators, thereby linking Zaun to a steroids purchase.
"I can say, with 100% certainty, that the cheque was not to buy performance-enhancing drugs," Zaun said. "It's obvious to me what parts of the cheque are my writing."
- Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy avoided arbitration when he signed a one-year, $2.65 M contract with Milwaukee.
- RHP Rick Porcello, in high school just a year ago, was fielding ground balls behind Kenny Rogers and it made an impression.
"He's a fantastic fielder," Porcello marveled afterwards. "He may be 43, but he moves like he's in his 20s. [He's] extremely quick off the mound. Every ball, he fields like it's no problem. He makes it look easy, too."
Actually, Porcello held his own against the Gold Glove winner, who is 24 years his elder. He didn't make the diving stops or goaltender-like saves that have made Rogers' fielding work a Spring Training spectator sport for teammates over the past few years, but he showed the instincts. Rogers helped out by providing some pointers.
Like Rogers, Porcello was a high school shortstop. But Porcello only played short on days when he didn't pitch; Rogers, who didn't pitch in school, played short just about every day.
- SI's Heyman grades each team's offseason.
At 26-year-old, Phillips has proven a lot of people wrong after being given for a PTBNL (RHP Jeff Stevens) in 2005 by the Cleveland Indians. Since then, 1186 AB later, he has hit 47 bombs, 7 triples and 54 doubles and he has also stolen 57 bases (78% success rate in major league career). His batting line last season was .288/.331/.485.
As a right-handed hitter, he performs very well against lefties (.984 OPS), but still struggles against righties (.737 OPS). Even though his OBP rose seven points to .331 in 2007, he was seeing less pitches per plate appearance (3.56) and 91 of his 109 strikeouts were made swinging.
On defense, he posted a +11 rating (according to data from the Fielding Bible) and was ranked 7th in the majors at the second bag. That was a striking improvement from his 20th position in 2006.
You can deny the pop in his bat, but I'm worried his strikeouts total will rise constantly in the future. Granted, 30 home runs for a third baseman is good production, but he didn't improve his overall plate discipline last season and 2008 will be interesting, if only for how pitchers approached him.
- You can follow the arbitration cases and look up some interesting stats on the process here.
- The one and only Lisa Winston (from MiLB) make a pinch-hitting appearance at The Baseball Analysts. I love her passion and baseball knowledge. Her writing shows how much she loves the game and I'll say it again...I miss the Around the Minors daily show!!!
I first met Jeter when he was a Yankees minor league prospect. Over the course of his breakthrough 1994 season, when he fast-tracked from Class A Tampa to Double-A Albany to Triple-A Columbus, and his 1995 campaign at Columbus before he made it to the big leagues, I got to know not only Jeter but his family as well, his parents and sister and grandmother and aunt.
There was no doubt in my mind he was going to be a mega-superstar. He had all the tools but beyond that he had poise, he was smart, he was sweet and to top it all off he looked like one of those statues of a Greek or Roman god you see in the first chapters of the Art History 101 books.
I was the minor league editor at USA Today's Baseball Weekly at the time and at the end of 1994, we (okay I) named him our Minor League Player of the Year.
We'd never had a minor league player on the cover of the paper, and though I left prior to the 2006 season I don't believe that with the exception of Michael Jordan there has ever been a minor leaguer on the cover of the publication to this day, in its 17 years of its existence. But it looked for awhile like that might change.
- Baseball Crank writes about the Mets outfield options.
- Curt Schilling and the Red Sox are apparently in the middle 'of a Cold War'.
He would opt for surgery. No way, say the Red Sox, who believe a date with the surgeon's blade would keep Schilling out the entire season, meaning the $8 million they signed him for would be flushed down the drain.
Publicly, Schilling has remained silent. As for the Red Sox, general manager Theo Epstein on Thursday euphemistically said, "There have been some bumps along the road because both parties care so much about the team and his career and doing what's right."
- Bengie Molina, SF Giants catcher, thinks the team doesn't need home runs to win games.
Anyone who spends five minutes with Molina knows he is as serious as a tax audit. He does not muse. He speaks from conviction. He was not smiling or winking when he said, "We need to get to 95 wins this year. That's what's going to get us to the playoffs."
Best Regards,
Dave (wait, that's not my line.....)
- Moneyball star, catcher Jeremy Brown, announced yesterday that he had retired from baseball.
The 28-year-old had 10 at-bats in the majors, with three hits (including two doubles), a walk and a strikeout. He posted unspectacular career averages in the minors of .266/.367/.439 and found a way to steal 7 bases in 539 games.
To quote Athletics Nation: "Thus, his retirement is symbolic. Jeremy Brown is perhaps one of the most famous players in history to have absolutely zero impact as a player in the Major Leagues - he's probably on a short list with Michael Jordan of the Birmingham Barons."
- The Yogi Berra Museum removed a Roger Clemens jersey from its display last week....ouch!
"We're trying to project the positive virtues of baseball," said David Kaplan, the director of the museum, which has an educational mission. "And we have a lot of kids coming through here who are asking questions we're not prepared to answer."
He added that Clemens's "jersey was raising too many issues" because of his "notoriety."
Clemens is defending himself against accusations by his former personal trainer Brian McNamee that McNamee injected him with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens and McNamee testified Wednesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Kaplan said that he and Art Berke, the chief operating officer of the museum, which is on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J., decided to remove the jersey.
Berra, the living embodiment of Yankees success starting in the late 1940s, was later made aware of the decision.
- Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun says his name found his way into the report because of a check he gave to Jason Grimsley for a bet, when they both were members of the Kansas City Royals.
What happened, according to Zaun, was a bizarre chain of events that carried a US$500 cheque from Zaun to then-teammate Jason Grimsley, then to Radomski, and finally into the Mitchell Report.
Zaun played for the Kansas City Royals in 2001. He says he owed Grimsley US$500 and wrote him a cheque without filling in the name of the recipient. Grimsley then made the cheque payable to Radomski and used it to purchase steroids for himself, Zaun says.
Radomski eventually gave a copy of the cheque to Mitchell Report investigators, thereby linking Zaun to a steroids purchase.
"I can say, with 100% certainty, that the cheque was not to buy performance-enhancing drugs," Zaun said. "It's obvious to me what parts of the cheque are my writing."
- Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy avoided arbitration when he signed a one-year, $2.65 M contract with Milwaukee.
- RHP Rick Porcello, in high school just a year ago, was fielding ground balls behind Kenny Rogers and it made an impression.
"He's a fantastic fielder," Porcello marveled afterwards. "He may be 43, but he moves like he's in his 20s. [He's] extremely quick off the mound. Every ball, he fields like it's no problem. He makes it look easy, too."
Actually, Porcello held his own against the Gold Glove winner, who is 24 years his elder. He didn't make the diving stops or goaltender-like saves that have made Rogers' fielding work a Spring Training spectator sport for teammates over the past few years, but he showed the instincts. Rogers helped out by providing some pointers.
Like Rogers, Porcello was a high school shortstop. But Porcello only played short on days when he didn't pitch; Rogers, who didn't pitch in school, played short just about every day.
- SI's Heyman grades each team's offseason.
Brandon Phillips takes a cut during ST action (Bill Richardson/BDD)
- Cincinnati and second baseman Brandon Phillips agreed to a 4-year, $27 M contract yesterday.At 26-year-old, Phillips has proven a lot of people wrong after being given for a PTBNL (RHP Jeff Stevens) in 2005 by the Cleveland Indians. Since then, 1186 AB later, he has hit 47 bombs, 7 triples and 54 doubles and he has also stolen 57 bases (78% success rate in major league career). His batting line last season was .288/.331/.485.
As a right-handed hitter, he performs very well against lefties (.984 OPS), but still struggles against righties (.737 OPS). Even though his OBP rose seven points to .331 in 2007, he was seeing less pitches per plate appearance (3.56) and 91 of his 109 strikeouts were made swinging.
On defense, he posted a +11 rating (according to data from the Fielding Bible) and was ranked 7th in the majors at the second bag. That was a striking improvement from his 20th position in 2006.
You can deny the pop in his bat, but I'm worried his strikeouts total will rise constantly in the future. Granted, 30 home runs for a third baseman is good production, but he didn't improve his overall plate discipline last season and 2008 will be interesting, if only for how pitchers approached him.
- You can follow the arbitration cases and look up some interesting stats on the process here.
- The one and only Lisa Winston (from MiLB) make a pinch-hitting appearance at The Baseball Analysts. I love her passion and baseball knowledge. Her writing shows how much she loves the game and I'll say it again...I miss the Around the Minors daily show!!!
I first met Jeter when he was a Yankees minor league prospect. Over the course of his breakthrough 1994 season, when he fast-tracked from Class A Tampa to Double-A Albany to Triple-A Columbus, and his 1995 campaign at Columbus before he made it to the big leagues, I got to know not only Jeter but his family as well, his parents and sister and grandmother and aunt.
There was no doubt in my mind he was going to be a mega-superstar. He had all the tools but beyond that he had poise, he was smart, he was sweet and to top it all off he looked like one of those statues of a Greek or Roman god you see in the first chapters of the Art History 101 books.
I was the minor league editor at USA Today's Baseball Weekly at the time and at the end of 1994, we (okay I) named him our Minor League Player of the Year.
We'd never had a minor league player on the cover of the paper, and though I left prior to the 2006 season I don't believe that with the exception of Michael Jordan there has ever been a minor leaguer on the cover of the publication to this day, in its 17 years of its existence. But it looked for awhile like that might change.
- Baseball Crank writes about the Mets outfield options.
- Curt Schilling and the Red Sox are apparently in the middle 'of a Cold War'.
He would opt for surgery. No way, say the Red Sox, who believe a date with the surgeon's blade would keep Schilling out the entire season, meaning the $8 million they signed him for would be flushed down the drain.
Publicly, Schilling has remained silent. As for the Red Sox, general manager Theo Epstein on Thursday euphemistically said, "There have been some bumps along the road because both parties care so much about the team and his career and doing what's right."
- Bengie Molina, SF Giants catcher, thinks the team doesn't need home runs to win games.
Anyone who spends five minutes with Molina knows he is as serious as a tax audit. He does not muse. He speaks from conviction. He was not smiling or winking when he said, "We need to get to 95 wins this year. That's what's going to get us to the playoffs."
Ninety-five wins? For a team that lost 91 games last year and has not had a winning season since 2004? A team that jettisoned one of the greatest hitters of all time, Barry Bonds, and did not acquire a replacement cleanup hitter?
Did you read that? 95 wins? lolololololololololBest Regards,
Dave (wait, that's not my line.....)