Raising Aces: Four of a Kind, Part 2

Despite a negotiation window that whittled down to the final 72 hours, Monday’s signing deadline passed with all but one of the draft’s 33 first rounders inking a deal. The Big Four at the top signed predictably massive deals (combined sig…

Blog Eat Blog: The Beard Most Feared

The face of the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants was closer Brian Wilson, and that face came replete with a ginormous beard that would qualify him to sing backup vocals for ZZ Top. While the coloring is bad enough to make Keith Hernandez consi…

Blog Eat Blog: Changing Pastures

The last weeks of July are marked by packed bags and plane tickets, as a multitude of ballplayers experience a sudden change of address during the period between the All Star Game and the trade deadline. The guys grabbing the headlines are either vete…

Blog Eat Blog: Electrocuted

 
It is often said that the Pacific Coast League is a “hitter’s league,” where the guys at the plate enjoy an advantage over their counterparts on the mound. The implication is that stats posted in the PCL need to be judged in context, espec…

Blog Eat Blog: Back in the Swing

I love to travel, but leaving the country in the middle of summer can be bittersweet. The first couple days are fine, but then a sense of anxiety begins to build. By the third or fourth day of a trip I’m waking up in the middle of the night, not …

Raising Aces: Da Pitching Code

 
BP’s Jason Parks wrapped up his excellent scouting series last week, and one of the final takeaways addressed the mystery of “scout speak.”
“…observations are usually documented or expressed in “scout speak,” which is a langua…

Raising Aces: Four of a Kind

 
The 2011 Draft was absolutely loaded with pitching, and for the first time in the history of the event, each of the top four selections were moundsmen. As a group, the 2011 draftees had unparalleled depth with regard to upside, stuff, and mechanics….

Raising Aces: Four of a Kind

 
The 2011 Draft was absolutely loaded with pitching, and for the first time in the history of the event, each of the top four selections were moundsmen. As a group, the 2011 draftees had unparalleled depth with regard to upside, stuff, and mechanics….

Raising Aces: Da Pitching Code

 
BP’s Jason Parks wrapped up his excellent scouting series last week, and one of the final takeaways addressed the mystery of “scout speak.”
“…observations are usually documented or expressed in “scout speak,” which is a langua…

Blog Eat Blog: Batmen Return

 
With a list of disabled players that is growing by the day, it is refreshing to hear about the injured stars who are making their way back onto the field. There are a couple of contenders that have been severely limited thus far due to rosters thin…

Fantasy Island: Change for a Quarter, NL

 
The first quarter of the season has set the stage for plenty of drama in the National League, and like the AL, the names near the top of the fantasy leaderboards are likely to change between now and the end of the season. Many of the top players fr…

Fantasy Island: Change for a Quarter, AL

Teams are reaching the quarter-lap mark on their schedules, and today we offer an early look at the fantasy baseball studs of 2011. With about 40 games in the books, we can start to appreciate the sample size and to recognize those players who have mad…

Blog Eat Blog: Cutting Edge

 
The cut fastball was the feature item up for bid on the front page of ESPN.com’s baseball page yesterday. Buster Olney got things started with the theories of philosopher Chipper Jones, as the veteran postulated that the increasing popularity…

Tools of Enlightenment

Catchers have a different way of looking at things – a viewpoint shaped by countless hours of squatting in the dirt behind home plate, looking out at the field and taking everything in. Tools of Enlightenment is a running series of random observation…

Raising Aces: Brandon Morrow vs. David Price

 
Welcome to the second installment of our scouting series on pitching duels. The first edition broke down veteran Dan Haren versus the young Jeremy Hellickson, and this article features yet another young Tampa hurler. I did not intend to have two ??…

Tools of Enlightenment

Catchers have a different way of looking at things – a viewpoint shaped by countless hours of squatting in the dirt behind home plate, looking out at the field and taking everything in. Tools of Enlightenment is a running series of random observat…

Blog Eat Blog: A Hughes Decision

 
It’s no secret that the Yankees fell short of their primary off-season goal, as the Phillies swooped in at the last minute to swipe Cliff Lee right out from under the Steinbrenners’ clutches. With a non-existent middle tier of free agent…

Tools of Enlightenment

Catchers have a different way of looking at things – a viewpoint shaped by countless hours of squatting in the dirt behind home plate, looking out at the field and taking everything in. Tools of Enlightenment is a running series of random observa…

Tools of Enlightenment:

Catchers have a different way of looking at things – a viewpoint shaped through countless hours of squatting in the dirt behind home plate, looking out to the field and taking everything in. Tools of Enlightenment is a running series of random ob…

Battery Power: Daniel Hudson vs. Pablo Sandoval

Battery Power is a column devoted to the heart of the game: The dynamic that exists between the pitcher, catcher, and the opposing batter. At its root, baseball is a strategic battle fought on the ground between the pitcher’s mound and home plate, an…

Raising Aces: Jeremy Hellickson vs. Dan Haren

 
With the start of the baseball season comes the return of my favorite aspect of our national past time: pitching duels. When two aces clash in a game of war, the ensuing battle provides a window through which to compare and contrast mechanical trend…

Raising Aces: Jeremy Hellickson vs. Dan Haren

 
With the start of the baseball season comes the return of my favorite aspect of our national past time: pitching duels. When two aces clash in a game of war, the ensuing battle provides a window through which to compare and contrast mechanical trend…

BDD 2011 Division Previews: NL East

 
We wrap up our 2011 Preview series with the NL East, where injuries have derailed the Phillies from their fast track to the division title. BDD team captain Doug Thorburn tackles the last batch of teams, while the rest of the troops get some much-ne…

BDD 2011 Division Previews: AL East

The calendar may have turned to April, but the 2011 BDD Previews march on as baseball fans across the nation celebrate Opening Day. Next up are the financial heavyweights of the American League East, a division that is a virtual lock to  produce the …

BDD 2011 Division Previews: NL Central

Half of the BDD Previews are in the bag, and today is Paul Dylan’s turn as he tackles baseball’s largest division. There is very little separating the top four teams, and the fate of the National League Central could come down to the perfor…

BDD 2011 Division Previews: AL Central

The American League Central has been the personal stomping grounds of the Minnesota Twins for the last couple years, and BDD’s Jeff Lubbers tells us whether that trend will continue in 2011 …
 

 
For the first time in three years the A…

BDD 2011 Division Previews: AL Central

The American League Central has been the personal stomping grounds of the Minnesota Twins for the last couple years, and BDD’s Jeff Lubbers tells us whether that trend will continue in 2011 …
 

 
For the first time in three years the A…

BDD 2011 Division Previews: NL West

Welcome as we continue our BDD 2011 Division Previews with the National League West, home of the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.  Our own Sammy Reid takes on a division that has been won by four different teams in the last five years, …

BDD 2011 Division Previews: AL West

Welcome to the BDD 2011 Division Previews! We are taking a different approach this season, choosing to tackle the baseball universe division-by-division to better understand the competitive context of every team. We have also added a couple of new feat…

2011 Promotional Events and Giveaways – Final Tally

Now that we have looked at both the Promotions for all teams in the American League and National League in 2011, exactly how many promotional days and giveaway items are the teams collectively offering this year?
All totals do not include the Boston Re…

2011 Promotional Events and Giveaways – Final Tally

Now that we have looked at both the Promotions for all teams in the American League and National League in 2011, exactly how many promotional days and giveaway items are the teams collectively offering this year?
All totals do not include the Boston Re…

2011 Promotional Events and Giveaways – National League

Following a look at the American League Promotional Events and Giveaways in the 2011 season, we now take a look at all the free stuff the National League has to offer in 2011:
 
Atlanta Braves
Total Promotions: 50
Fireworks Games: 14
Bobblehead Giveaw…

2011 Promotional Events and Giveaways – American League

The marketing machine that is Major League Baseball never takes a break, and of course the 2011 season is no exception.  Looking at the American League teams, an average of 56 games will include at least one promotion or giveaway in 2011 (including Bo…

Fantasy Island: At the Corners

 
Now that the stats-scarce middle infielders are out of the way, we get to move on to the big guns. Power is the featured category on both corners, as there are at least 13 players that are projected to hit 30 or more homers at first base or third b…

Fantasy Island: At the Corners

 
Now that the stats-scarce middle infielders out of the way, we get to move on to the big guns. Power is the featured category on both corners, as there are at least 13 players that are projected to hit 30 or more homers at first base or third base….

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