Eric Mirlis notes that there will be only one theme song used for closers in New York this year.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:39 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 10 Comments
January 31, 2006
Probabilistic Model of Range, 2005, Leftfielders
Here are the results for the left fielders. Probabilistic Model of Range, Leftfielders, 2005, Original Model Player InPlay Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted DER Difference Reed Johnson 1838 134 112.67 0.073 0.061 0.01160 B.J. Surhoff 1132 76 64.82 0.067 0.057 0.00987 Chris A Burke 1861 120 101.65 0.064 0.055 0.00986 Eric Byrnes 2450 209 […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:22 pm | Probabilistic Model of Range | Permalink | 11 Comments
January 31, 2006
Racetrack Ballpark
Without local funding, Fishstripes doesn’t think the idea of a stadium in Hialeah will fly for the Marlins. He does, however, like the idea of building it next to the racetrack: Having to incorporate the old with the new would make for a very appealing look. Unfortunately I can’t see it happening.
Posted by David Pinto at 4:16 pm | Stadiums | Permalink | No Comments
January 31, 2006
Young Birds?
Cardinals Diaspora looks at the age of the Cardinals’ hitters. He finds them young overall, but old in the wrong places: Looking at the list, it’s clear that age for the overall team isn’t the problem. The problem is the age of several key cogs in the team, and the lack of young talent to […]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:00 pm | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 1 Comment
January 31, 2006
Old Enough to be Your Padre
Tim Sullivan of Union-Tribune makes a good point about the age and skill of the 2006 Padres: ?The team’s kind of built for this year,? Towers said. ?There are some young players who are in the lineup, but it’s not much different than San Francisco. It’s a veteran ballclub. Once this year’s over, hopefully we’ll […]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:27 pm | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 8 Comments
January 31, 2006
Probabilistic Model of Range, 2005, Rightfielders
Time to look at the range of the rightfielders. Probabilistic Model of Range, Rightfielders, 2005, Original Model Player InPlay Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted DER Difference Dustan Mohr 1216 103 80.81 0.085 0.066 0.01825 Jose Cruz 1296 110 90.55 0.085 0.070 0.01501 Mike Cameron 1846 137 122.46 0.074 0.066 0.00788 Jeff B Francoeur 1837 […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:50 am | Probabilistic Model of Range | Permalink | 11 Comments
January 31, 2006
Gonzalez Needs a Physical
The Red Sox are just a physical away from signing Alex Gonzalez to a one year, $3 million deal. Compared to Renteria last season, Gonzalez neither helps nor hurts the Red Sox. He just moves the wins from the offensive side of the ledger to the defensive side. In 2005, The Hardball Times calculates that […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:07 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 30 Comments
January 31, 2006
Batting Practice Pitcher
Roger Clemens showed up at the Astros mini-camp yesterday, and threw batting practice to his son, Koby. He also talked about returning for another season. Following the 20-minute workout, Clemens said he’s still not sure if he wants to pitch again. “One week I get up and feel like I can do it again, and […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:56 am | Free Agents | Permalink | 3 Comments
January 31, 2006
Blogspot Trackbacks
I’ve been getting a huge amount of trackback spam from Blogspot lately. If you have a blogspot e-mail address, or want to post a link to a blogspot blog in the comments, it will no longer be accepted. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.
Posted by David Pinto at 7:18 am | Blogs | Permalink | 2 Comments
January 30, 2006
Finished Testimony
Arte Moreno finished his testimony today. Moreno also testified that he was unaware of the ?emotional curtain? that divides Orange County and Los Angeles when he thought about the name change. Arte just continues to endear himself to the people of Anaheim. It’s too bad, because in regards to trying to win, he’s a very […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:50 pm | Management | Permalink | No Comments
January 30, 2006
I Hope The Broadcast in HD
ESPN is broadcasting the World Baseball Classic. That’s good news. The worldwide leader in sports is great at covering multi-game tournaments like this.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:44 pm | World Cup | Permalink | 5 Comments
January 30, 2006
Fantasy Fight Roundup
Maury Brown at The Hardball Times provides a nice summary of the fight so far over the fair use of player names and statistics by fantasy baseball operators.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:16 pm | Fantasy Baseball | Permalink | 11 Comments
January 30, 2006
Better On Top
I wonder if the Oakland Athletics considered this when closing the upper deck of the Coliseum: Paul Miller, 51, of Berkeley, is a season-ticket holder with seats in the lower level, section 123. “Bad idea,” he said. “Sometimes my kids use the tickets. But they don’t sit in my seats. They go to the upper […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:42 am | Stadiums | Permalink | 4 Comments
January 30, 2006
Marketing Ploy
The Pirates announced a new way to increase attendance: more mascots! The Pittsburgh Pirates will introduce a new staff member April 16. Joining the Pirate Parrot will be another team mascot. “He will not replace the big green chicken because everyone loves him,” said Tim Schuldt, vice president of marketing, sales and broadcasting for the […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:35 am | Management | Permalink | 7 Comments
January 30, 2006
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Brian McTaggart chronicles the departure of some star Houston atheltes as Bagwell and the Astros head for a showdown over whether the first baseman is healthy enough to play.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:31 am | All-Time Greats | Permalink | 1 Comment
January 30, 2006
McCarthy to Relieve
Brandon McCarthy of the Chicago White Sox is working to be a 200 inning starter, but he’s most likely to start in the bullpen come April. Though McCarthy, 22, is preparing this off-season as if he’s going to start, he said at SoxFest over the weekend that he would adjust if relegated to relief duty. […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:38 am | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
January 30, 2006
All They Do is Give Out Awards
MVPs and other awards were presented last night at the 83rd annual New York baseball dinner. Ripken, Gibson and Cepeda were among the Hall of Fame talent handing out the hardware. One thing I didn’t know was that Bill Buckner and Mookie Wilson became friends: Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd took home the “Good Guy” award, […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:22 am | Awards | Permalink | 5 Comments
January 29, 2006
Piazza a Padre
Mike Piazza heads back to California, and it looks like he’ll be the Padres first string catcher: “The Padres told Mike that he could pretty much catch as much as he wanted to,” said Piazza’s agent, Dan Lozano. Piazza is hoping to catch about 90-100 games this season, along with playing some first base and […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:45 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | 46 Comments
January 29, 2006
Death in the Family
My aunt, Sister Philomena Pinto passed away on Friday. We were down in the New Haven area for the wake today. At one point in her career she was stationed in St. Louis in the neighborhood where Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola Sr. grew up. She met both men at various times, making me very […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:31 pm | Deaths | Permalink | 6 Comments
January 29, 2006
Probabilistic Model of Range, 2005, Third Basemen and Grounders
Here’s the followup to yesterday’s overall numbers for third basemen. This is just how they did on ground balls. Probabilistic Model of Range, Third Basemen, 2005, Original Model, Groundballs Only Player InPlay Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted DER Difference Pedro Feliz 804 140 113.01 0.174 0.141 0.03357 Chone Figgins 584 93 74.12 0.159 0.127 […]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:25 pm | Probabilistic Model of Range | Permalink | 2 Comments
January 29, 2006
The Times of Will Leitch
Congratulations to Will Leitch and Deadspin. The New York Times profiled the blogger and his site today.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:30 am | Blogs | Permalink | 2 Comments
January 29, 2006
Beach Bum
Eric Gagne is throwing again: Having been warned about strange creatures in the water, Hawaiian tourists were stunned Thursday when they spotted one on the beach. Baseball glove on one hand. Fastball coming out of the other hand. Goatee dripping on his shirt. “People would walk past, staring,” Eric Gagne said. “I’d have to stop […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:14 am | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
January 29, 2006
Ten Minutes with Manuel
Beer Leaguer sat down to speak with Charlie Manuel recently. You can hear the 10 minute interview here. (Hat tip to Balls, Sticks and Stuff.)
Posted by David Pinto at 7:43 am | Interviews | Permalink | No Comments
January 28, 2006
Flipping Shoppach
The blog Rotisserie Baseball Musings makes an interesting point about the Indians interest in Kelly Shoppach, especially since they have a fine offensive catcher in Victor Martinez: With Victor Martinez cemented as one of the best offensive catchers, why did the Indians get a catching prospect who looks ready for his major-league chance? Shoppach will […]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:04 pm | Trades | Permalink | No Comments
January 28, 2006
Probabilistic Model of Range, 2005,Third Basemen
It was a very good year for third basemen according to both models. Almost all performed above expectation: Probabilistic Model of Range, Third Basemen, 2005, Original Model Player InPlay Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted DER Difference Edwin Encarnacion 1538 159 128.09 0.103 0.083 0.02010 Chone Figgins 1334 121 97.95 0.091 0.073 0.01728 Pedro Feliz […]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:44 am | Probabilistic Model of Range | Permalink | 13 Comments
January 28, 2006
Iron Man
Adam Dunn broke his hand twice in 2005. Reds manager Jerry Narron let it slip this week at a Dayton Agonis Club meeting when somebody criticized Dunn. “He broke his hand twice last year and wouldn’t let us X-ray it because he wanted to play,” said Narron. When Dunn was asked about it, he uttered […]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:18 am | Injuries | Permalink | 1 Comment
January 28, 2006
Moreno Stumbles
Arte Moreno testified in the Angels name case, and I’m not sure he won over a lot of Anaheim residents with this: He compared Anaheim’s relationship with Los Angeles to Queens or the Bronx and New York City. Anaheim is about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles in Orange County. My guess is that […]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:13 am | Management | Permalink | 4 Comments
January 28, 2006
New Lease Agreement
The Mayor of Washington, D.C. and MLB reached a new agreement yesterday, but it’s not clear if it’s enough. Details on cost overruns are yet to come. That seems to be the big sticking point with the D.C. Council.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:09 am | Stadiums | Permalink | No Comments
January 28, 2006
Crisp Day in Boston
The Red Sox and Indians completed the long rumored (and oft rumored to be dead) trade that sends Coco Crisp to the Red Sox and Andy Marte to the Indians. The Red Sox did sweeten the deal, although the actual players involved didn’t change much. Mota?s physical Tuesday concerned the Indians enough that the Red […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:26 am | Trades | Permalink | 11 Comments
January 27, 2006
Rhodes Show
According to Jayson Stark’s sources, Arthur Rhodes is taking a physical in Philadelphia, raising the likelihood of a Crisp for Marte deal between the Indians and the Red Sox. As always, stay tuned. It could just be the Indians are dumping Rhodes.
Posted by David Pinto at 7:17 pm | Trades | Permalink | 7 Comments