AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Second Base

During the course of the next two weeks, I’ll examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the American League East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position will be ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: First Base

Over the next two weeks, I’ll examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position will be ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison to the […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Catcher

Over the next two weeks, I’ll examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position will be ranked in relation to their peers withing the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison to the […]

Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Top Five OF Prospects For 2011

  In articles such as this, many websites give readers a list of the best overall prospects at a given position, but the intention here is to focus on those prospects who are most likely to provide a significant fantasy impact during the 2011 season; therefore, a guy like Mike Trout – who is blocked […]

Red Sox Top 30 Prospects, According To Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook

It is the best day of the Hot Stove season… the day when you slog out to the mailbox, brush the snow of the top, open the front door and discover a highly-anticipated package from Baseball America. It is the day BA’s annual “Prospect Handbook” arrives at your home. It’s the day joy and wonder […]

2011 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Top Ten Sleepers (Part V)

Different editors/writers have differing definitions of the term, “sleeper”. The concept has been watered down in the current fantasy baseball lexicon, probably because there are writers who can’t be bothered to do the analysis required to uncover real “sleepers”. In my opinion, rookies have no place on a sleeper list. They aren’t sleepers. They are […]

2011 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Top Ten Sleepers (Part IV)

Different editors/writers have differing definitions of the term, “sleeper”. The concept has been watered down in the current fantasy baseball lexicon, probably because there are writers who can’t be bothered to do the analysis required to uncover real “sleepers”. In my opinion, rookies have no place on a sleeper list. They aren’t sleepers. They are […]

2011 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Top Ten Sleepers (Part III)

Different editors/writers have differing definitions of the term, “sleeper”. The concept has been watered down in the current fantasy baseball lexicon, probably because there are writers who can’t be bothered to do the analysis required to uncover real “sleepers”. In my opinion, rookies have no place on a sleeper list. They aren’t sleepers. They are […]

2011 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Top Ten Sleepers (Part II)

Different editors/writers have differing definitions of the term, “sleeper”. The concept has been watered down in the current fantasy baseball lexicon, probably because there are writers who can’t be bothered to do the analysis required to uncover real “sleepers”. In my opinion, rookies have no place on a sleeper list. They aren’t sleepers. They are […]

2011 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Top Ten Sleepers (Part I)

Different editors/writers have differing definitions of the term, “sleeper”. The concept has been watered down in the current fantasy baseball lexicon, probably because there are writers who can’t be bothered to do the analysis required to uncover real “sleepers”. In my opinion, rookies have no place on a sleeper list. They aren’t sleepers. They are […]

Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Top Five SS Prospects For 2011

In articles such as this, many websites give readers a list of the best overall prospects at a given position, but the intention here is to focus on those prospects who are most likely to provide a significant fantasy impact during the 2011 season; thus, a guy like Red Sox SS prospect Jose Iglesias – […]

Is Andy Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

As things currently stand, the New York Yankees will go into the 2011 season without Andy Pettitte as part of their starting rotation. We’ve known for some time now that this could be a real possibility as he had stated at the end of the 2010 season the same sentiment he’s made at the end […]

Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Top Five 3B Prospects For 2011

In articles like this, many websites give readers a list of the best overall prospects at any given position, but the intention here is to focus on those prospects that are most likely to provide a significant fantasy impact in the 2011 season; thus, a guy like White Sox prospect Dayan Viciedo – who should […]

Speaker Spoke Plenty Loud

Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle. All four men bring to mind ideals you want in an outfielder. How about Tris Speaker? Speaker joined Cobb and Ruth on the membership roll when the Hall of Fame opened in 1939, yet not much is said or written about him. Speaker didn’t have Ruth’s power […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part III, #1 – #10)

With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of the […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part II, #11-#20)

  With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part I, #21-#30)

  With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season pespective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of […]

Change We Can Believe In

Turn back your clocks a little over a year to the 2009 American League Divisional Series between the Yankees and the Twins. The Yankees had home field advantage, and were heavily favored. They swept the series three games to none, but largely thanks to a disturbing phenomenon down the left field line at Yankee Stadium. […]

In Celebration of the Plantation Owners

Back in the good ol’ days, when the working scum knew their places, the great barons of industry were legend. Carnegie, Ford – they made America, not the bohunks, Micks, Sheenys and coloreds who toiled in the factory. Right? That’s how it was written in all the textbooks. Baseball was like that too. The great […]

The Favorite Toy and…Babe Ruth

With the 2011 season still a few months away, I thought it was too early to bust out The Favorite Toy to determine what milestones we might see next year, so I thought I’d go retro and look at some of the game’s greats, not-so-greats and what-might-have-beens to see what odds The Favorite Toy gave […]

The Day the World Met the Ryan Express

Nolan Ryan was far from the perfect pitcher. He walked the most batters in baseball history (2,795), 52% more than the next highest total belonging to Steve Carlton (1,833). He lost the most games of any pitcher (292) except for Cy Young (316) and Pud Galvin (310), two players who peaked in the 1800s. He […]

The Song Doesn’t Always Remain The Same

Baseball history, as far as I’m concerned, was made during Tuesday night’s 10-3 victory for the Texas Rangers over the New York Yankees in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.  In the bottom of the 7th inning actor Patrick Wilson came out to perform “God Bless America,” the singing of which has become […]

Pete Rose: Justice Delivered, But Only Temporarily And Only In Theory

Twenty five years ago today one of the most hallowed records in baseball history was broken when Pete Rose singled to left field against San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show (who’s tumultuous life and death were chronicled by ESPN’s Outside the Lines) for career hit number 4,192, passing the legendary Ty Cobb. Fireworks instantly went off […]

Remember the Northwest League Seattle Rainiers, 1972-1976?

A couple months ago I saw a comment on a post I’d done about the infamous Portland Mavericks. I came to learn that the commenter, Bruce Baskin, remembered the Mavs because he’d grown up cheering on the Seattle Rainiers, the Mavs’ counterpart in the Northwest League, playing from 1972 through 1976. Bruce acknowledged that “people didn’t […]

Seamheads at SABR 40

This is KJOK at your Seamheads anchor desk, reporting “almost live” from the SABR 40 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.   SABR 40 is the 40th annual convention of the Society for American Baseball Research, which brings together authors, teachers, researchers and baseball fans for four days of baseball presentations, baseball history, baseball games, baseball road trips, […]

LETTERS FROM QUEBEC Induction Day at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame: Part One

It was a month ago, on a sweltering June 19, that the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum introduced four new members to its ranks. Joining such former inductees as Gary Carter; Joe Carter; Andre Dawson; Tony Fernandez; Ferguson Jenkins; Jim McKean; Tip O’Neil; Jackie Robinson; and Larry Walker were two recently retired ball […]

Just How Good is Mariano Rivera?

“Mariano Rivera is the best reliever in baseball history.”  If I were to make such a claim, there would surely be some fans who would agree with me and many who would not.  And, of course, all would want to know on what basis I made such a claim. Bill James’ Win Shares system is […]

2010 midseason awards

MVP: Robinson Cano It’s hard to deny Cano’s talent the most valuable player award for the first half. Despite his numbers — his batting average is fifth in all of baseball — Cano has been the center piece of a Yankee team that holds the best record in baseball. With Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and […]

They Belong to the Ages: The 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates

Sometimes we notice incompetence only when it assumes its most spectacular forms.  The chemist who blows up her lab.   The surgeon who amputates the wrong leg.  The mechanic who fills your radiator with wiper fluid. But often we overlook the grinding, day-to-day manifestations of ineptitude, the kind you live with and suffer through until one […]

Babe Ruth Talking About His Called Shot

Some time ago I picked up an early ’90 vhs of classic baseball plays, and partway through, there was Babe Ruth, hitting and then talking about his called shot in the 1932 World Series vs. the Cubs. The less-than-perfect audio (with music in the background) is on Archive.org. I’ve written out the most relevant part of what […]

Chasing Down Dutch (Hub) Leonard

What do Ubaldo Jimenez and Dutch (Hub) Leonard have in common?  Nothing and everything. Jimenez is a big, strong, “black”, right-handed power pitcher who features a 95-97 MPH fastball that sometimes reaches triple digits and has sick movement, a slider, curveball, and change-up, the last of which tops out at 88, faster than some hurlers’ […]

The Game That Changed Baseball History

I don’t have to tell you what happened last night. Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game–according to the rules of baseball–but umpire Jim Joyce’s failure to apply Rule 6.05(j) [a batter is out if “after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base”] on the 27th out […]

Dousing the Flames

My, have the one-time accessories known as pitchers evolved. You see, when baseball began, pitchers served as a launching pad for batters’ rockets. Standing 50 feet from their counterpart, only a few moments snuck by before their rockets went up, up and away on contact. As recently as 1980, relievers milled around in the shadows. […]

Hall of Fame Killers

Any Seamheads reader should know by now that there’s a lot of good information at baseball-reference.com. In particular, in the Play Index. For instance: in the last decade, Miguel Tejada led the majors with 223 groundball double play, 28 more than runner-up Paul Konerko. That is only one ground ball short of Jim Rice’s 224 […]

It Ain’t Easy Raising the Dead: The Labors of Pirates’ GM Neal Huntington

In the 1980s, Pirate general manager Syd Thrift, an old Southern gentleman with a dry wit, looked at the rebuilding task in front of him and moaned, “It ain’t easy raising the dead.” Relatively speaking, Thrift’s task was a breeze.  He took over a team that had a winning record two seasons earlier, and was […]

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