Why Davey Johnson Is So Unhappy

One thing about Bryce Harper’s steal of home a few days ago, it brought a smile to the face of his manager Davey Johnson. Johnson has otherwise found too little to smile about during the first month of the 2012 season, despite the overall good performance of his team. Davey was a hitter. That is [...]

Bobby Valentine: Enemy of Progress

The Boston Red Sox started off this season in miserable fashion, dropping 5 of their first 6 games, displaying atrocious pitching, and losing MVP candidate Jacoby Ellsbury to injury. Things didn’t look good heading into last weekend, but the team somehow rallied and put together an impressive 3 game winning streak against the formidable Tampa [...]

Breaking Down the Initial Rumors of Free Agency

The hot stove league is in full effect, with free agents beginning the annual rites of visitation and haggling with prospective suitors. Already a number of interesting rumors have popped up regarding possible interest between players and teams. It is still too early to say if these rumors will turn into reality, but is the [...]

Triple Milestones 2011

Offensive production in the major leagues continued to decline slightly in 2011 but not as much as in 2010. The number of runs per game has declined each year from 9.72 in 2006 to 8.57 in 2011. The home run rate of 1.87 per game was the lowest since 1993. The major league batting average, [...]

Greensboro’s Cardinal Finally at Peace

GOSHEN COMMUNITY – Thomas Edison Alston is buried within sight of first base, resting peacefully after the tumultuous life of a baseball player who never quite lived up to his potential. At least, that’s how the story goes now. The story is a lot more complicated than that. Edison was the first African-American to play [...]

And your 2011 World Series Winner is…

About 30 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at a [...]

Fun With Retrosheet: Come-From-Behind Batting Champions, An Update

John Pastier was wondering (among other things) about the record for the most days leading the league in batting average without winning the title. Here’s the list: Player Year LED DNL DNQ First Last Pete Reiser 1942 131 36 0 5-11 9-24 Lenny Dykstra 1990 125 37 10 5-11 9-14 Larry Walker 1997 124 57 [...]

New Look for the Astros in August

The month of August represents a turning point in the future performance of the Astros. Gone are Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn and Jeff Keppinger to be replaced by several promising rookies this year and some promising prospects in the years to come. So far, it has worked well. Three players promoted from AA Corpus Christi [...]

Who Will Win the American League MVP

As the home stretch to the playoffs approaches, it is time to start thinking about the individual player awards. In particular, the American League MVP race has been tight all year, with no clear-cut candidate having completely separated themselves from the pack. Fortunately, I have evaluated the evidence and determined the current frontrunner for the [...]

Know When to Hold Them, When to Fold Them

Last year at this time the Washington Nationals were patting themselves on the back about reeling in Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps. It was a good trade because everyone was a winner. Fishing for Denard Span off the same pier in July 2011 has proved not as productive. The Twinkies wanted the keys to the [...]

The Illumination of Jose Bautista

I can’t say for certain what it was, but sometime in early September, 2009, something seemed to click for Jose Bautista that hadn’t before. Prior to that time Bautista was at best an average utility man who was rapidly approaching 30 years of age. Drafted in the 20th round of the 2000 draft, he also [...]

All Phillies…All the Time — What’s on Second?

Having previously answered the burning question, “who’s on first?” the time has come to address, “what’s on second?” The answer, unlike that given by Bud Abbott, is simple… an all-time Hall of Famer and the current best second baseman in baseball. Oh sure, there are others worth mentioning; Tony Taylor (backwards, Ynot Rolyat), Juan Samuel, [...]

Clearing The Bases

The baseball season is more than 1/3 completed, the weather is warming up, and pennant races are starting to shape up.  We are in mid-June; no longer can any player state that they are in a slump. Slumps don’t last two plus months.  With that in mind we are going to take a look at [...]

Math v. March Madness

On July 27, 1975, a child was born in Washington Heights, New York. Four years later, his family moved to the Dominican Republic, and soon after to Miami, Florida. He grew up rooting for the New York Mets, and idolized Cal Ripken and Keith Hernandez. Like most children, he dreamed about becoming a professional athlete. [...]

Let’s Play Two

The Sunday doubleheader was a staple of baseball in the Golden Era of the game, you know, when the World Series was played in the first half of October and kids listened to Don Larsen’s perfect game on the radio in Ms. Hill’s sixth grade class.  The Nationals and Brewers played a Sunday doubleheader today. [...]

Coste Adds Phils TV Job While Elbow Heals

     One of Independent Baseball’s favorite sons, so designated because of the dogged determination in which he did not debut in the major leagues until his was 33, has a new job in broadcasting, but at the same time is continuing his comeback from Tommy John elbow surgery with hopes, at 38, of landing a [...]

Trying to Focus on the Positives

At his best Nyjer Morgan is a scrappy, prototypical lead off guy.  Diminutive in size, he plays with grit and determination. He hurt himself sliding head-first into second base one too many times a season ago. But in 2010 he committed a multitude of sins, not the greatest of which was running into the Cardinal [...]

Ten-Man Baseball

I just finished reading Leigh Montville’s biography on the Babe “The Big Bam“. I’m ashamed to say that this was the first Babe Ruth biography that I have read, especially after reading a ton of bio’s about much more obscure players. One of the many factoids that stood out to me was this…. In December [...]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Right Field

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison [...]

Who Were the Most Productive Offensive Players in 2010?

Numerous methods have been devised to measure offensive performance. The most common are batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average. Since none of these averages provides a complete picture by itself, a more comprehensive measure of offensive performance is useful. Such a measure would include the following elements: 1. The ability to get on base. [...]

Tim Raines – Some Stars Get No Respect

Tim Raines appeared on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot for the third time in 2010. In 2008, he got 24.3% of the votes, and in 2009, he got only 22.6% of the vote. In 2010, he increased to 30.4%. This would apparently indicate that he does not have a good chance of being elected [...]

Yankees & Jeter: Where Business Meets Baseball

Pretend for a moment that you are the general manager of a Major League Baseball team. You have a bunch of money coming off the books this offseason, and your job is simple: Get your team to the World Series. As you enter the offseason, you have your priorities. In your particular situation, you need [...]

Bill James’ World Series Predictor Goes With…

More than 25 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at [...]

They Are Two Stepping in Texas

There is dancing in Texas tonight.  The Texas Rangers played the best two teams in the American League and beat them both in convincing fashion to win the first American League Championship for the franchise after fifty years of frustration.  The anticipation of history in the making gave drama to a game that was decided [...]

Astros Begin Reloading in 2010 Season

After a miserable start to the 2010 season, the Houston Astros made a mid-course correction in July.  Astro icons Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman were traded for 6 younger players and the Club made a modest recovery in the second half of the season with rookies manning four positions in most games.  Catcher Jason Castro [...]

Breaking Down The MVP Candidates

While the Cy Young debate in the American League is getting a lot of attention, the Most Valuable Player award is not. Although it is discussed occasionally, people are not giving it the attention that it deserves. The front-runner(s) at this point are Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton. All have had incredible seasons, but [...]

Jurik Enjoying the Journey

From Vestal, New York to Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia and stops in between, Dan Jurik blazed a trail through minor league baseball this summer. The former St. John Fisher Cardinal and Webster Yankee listened to the Major League draft with his parents. When the moment came, and he heard his name called, Jurik embarked [...]

York to Test Brett Jodie’s Latest Work

Since it may boil down to a classic example of hitting vs. pitching when the Atlantic League playoffs begin Wednesday, certain logic has to point to the two-time defending champion Somerset Patriots having the upper hand when they square off with the York Revolution to decide the Freedom Division’s representative in the league’s championship series. [...]

Yankees: Why Losses Today May Mean Wins Tomorrow

Yankee fans were unhappy—to say the least—on Monday night, when the Yankees surrendered first place to the Rays for the first time since August 3. Tuesday night, the Yankees got first place back, and breathed a sigh of relief. Amidst all that anger came an interesting thought: what if, by some chance, the Yankees didn’t win [...]

Derek Jeter: The Curious Downfall

When you glance at Derek Jeter’s .261 batting average in 2010, the first thing you ask yourself is: do I need glasses. Why? Because, barring an extremely unprecedented surge, Jeter is on pace to hit below .300 since 2002. More concerning, it will be his lowest batting average since 1995, his first season, when he [...]

Joe Girardi’s Crucial Mathematical Error Costs Yankees Game

Picture this: a game lasts over four hours, uses 41 players, features 374 pitches, has two blown saves, and ends in a walk-off hit by pitch — by Mariano Rivera. Welcome to Yankees-Rangers, September 11 (and part of 12), 2010 It was a peculiar game to say the least, and it was no surprise that such [...]

Happy Aroldis Chapman Day

Since this past weekend, I started a post that is currently approaching 8,000 words.  I’m not quite sure what to do about it because it takes a rare breed to want to read that much about what I was thinking on Friday night. In the meantime, per friendly reader Osh’s request, let’s take a moment [...]

If the Granderson trade never happened…

As CC Sabathia and the Yankees beat up on Justin Verlander and the Tigers Tuesday night, a very interesting battle occurred within the war. Austin Jackson, an outfielder who was developed in the Yankee system, hit a home run on the first pitch thrown by the Yankees ace CC Sabathia. The inning later, Curtis Granderson, [...]

The Kaline: Establishing a Mendoza Line For Hall of Famers

Introduction The purpose of this study is to establish a Mendoza Line for Hall of Fame hitters. After looking at the lifetime statistics of current Hall of Famers, Al Kaline began to stand out from the crowd. His .297 batting average, 3,007 hits, and 399 home runs seemed to be benchmarks for elite hitters. This [...]

The Yankees’ future is grid-locked

Remember a couple of months ago when Stephen Strasburg was ready to advance to the majors? The anticipation was as high as ever before: Nationals Stadium was sold out within hours of the announced date of his debut. It seemed as though the world of the Washington Nationals was waiting for the future to thrust [...]

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