The Orioles reached a verbal agreement with Derrek Lee: The signing will become official once Lee passes a physical. Various reports have placed the Orioles’ offer at one year for around $8 million. Lee was willing to accept a one-year deal, while Adam LaRoche continued to seek three guaranteed years. The Orioles decided recently to […]
Posted by David Pinto at 5:58 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2010
Bye to Bradbury
J.C. Bradbury will cease blogging with the new year. He will be missed.
Posted by David Pinto at 12:34 pm | Blogs | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 31, 2010
Brush with Greatness
A Halos Heaven author runs into Adam Kennedy.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:07 am | Players | Permalink | No Comments
December 31, 2010
Fearing Edgar
Chad Dotson fears that the Cincinnati Reds will sign Edgar Renteria: Signing Renteria wouldn’t be a very big deal if, as Jocketty stated, he were just a backup infielder. Those aren’t the signings I get worked up about (even if I’m not certain he’d be any better than Zack Cozart at this point in his […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:49 am | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
December 30, 2010
Bud and Bud Buds
Anheuser-Busch and Major League Baseball settled their advertising contract dispute: The two sides agreed to drop their pending litigation in federal court, where M.L.B. contended that the two sides had signed only a nonbinding letter of intent in April to renew their sponsorship deal. Anheuser-Busch claimed that M.L.B. tried to renegotiate a deal that was […]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:38 pm | Advertising | Permalink | No Comments
December 30, 2010
Hip to the Injury
David Aardsma‘s season ending injury turned out to be a torn labrum in his hip: Seattle’s closer will undergo surgery Monday to repair a torn labrum in his left hip, the real cause of the pain in Aardsma’s side that shut him down in September. Aardsma is expected to be throwing again a month later […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:23 pm | Injuries, Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
December 30, 2010
Two Deaths
Tom Vandergriff passed away. He brought the Washington Senators to Texas where the team became the Rangers. The former Arlington mayor’s son, Victor Vandergriff, said his father died of natural causes at a Fort Worth hospital Thursday. Tom Vandergriff had Alzheimer’s disease in recent years. Vandergriff brought the Rangers to the city halfway between Dallas […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:54 pm | Deaths | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 30, 2010
Honest Man
Murray Chass remembers the late Tigers GM Bill Lajoie. For Lynn to be eligible to play in the post-season should the Tigers make it, he had to be in Detroit by midnight that night. The Players Association later challenged the rule, but in the end the matter became moot because the Tigers finished a game […]
Posted by David Pinto at 11:28 am | Deaths | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 30, 2010
Killer Battle
Harmon Killebrew announced he is suffering from cancer: Killebrew released a statement through the Minnesota Twins on Thursday saying that he is receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He calls his condition “very serious,” but says he expects to make a full recovery. Here’s wishing the great slugger a speedy recovery.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:23 am | All-Time Greats, Illnesses | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 30, 2010
The Markakis Path
Beyond the Boxscore looks at the disappointing career path of Nick Markakis. I wonder how much this has to do with the Orioles poor showing as an organization. Nick is pulling in a nice salary. I suppose it’s frustrating to play with little talent around you. He finished strong, so we’ll see how he responds […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:57 am | Players | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2010
The Breakup
Dodger Thoughts has the final word on the Matt Kemp romantic breakup.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:55 pm | Players | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2010
Bats and Guitars
Peter Gammons sponsors Hot Stove and Cool Music once again this year, Jan. 14th and 15th. It’s a great event for a very worthy cause. If you’re in the Boston area and love music or baseball, think about attending.
Posted by David Pinto at 7:18 pm | Charity | Permalink | No Comments
December 29, 2010
Denials
Via Hardball Talk, Jeff Bagwell once again denies steroid use. “I never used [steroids], and I’ll tell you exactly why: If I could hit between 30 and 40 home runs every year and drive in 120 runs, why did I need to do anything else? I was pretty happy with what I was doing, and […]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:09 pm | All-Time Greats, Cheating | Permalink | 5 Comments
December 29, 2010
Collusion and the Hall
Larry Granillo makes the case that Jack Morris‘s reputation as the pitcher of the 1980s comes more from the owners colluding to hold down free agents than from Jack’s performance during the decade. Morris’ reputation as a winning pitcher – “the winningest pitcher” – was really set in that 1987 season, not four or five […]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:39 am | All-Time Greats | Permalink | 3 Comments
December 28, 2010
Andy Still Leaning
Mark Teixeira reports that Andy Pettitte is still leaning toward retirement.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:45 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
December 28, 2010
To Bet or Not to Bet?
Steve Landsburg posted an ambiguous question at his blog, and people disagree on the answer. That has led to betting on the right answer to the question. Here is the question: There’s a certain country where everybody wants to have a son. Therefore each couple keeps having children until they have a boy; then they […]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:29 am | Statistics | Permalink | 10 Comments
December 28, 2010
Snow Job
Mac Thomason read The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven: How a Ragtag Group of Fans Took the Fall for Major League Baseball and shares some thoughts on the book: The baseball lifestyle was made for a cocaine epidemic. Lots of travel, irregular hours with many “night shifts”, disposable income, right in the cocaine target demographic of 20-35. […]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:50 am | Cheating | Permalink | No Comments
December 27, 2010
WAR on the Hall
Beyond the Boxscore extends WAR in two ways to account for peak performance and MVP caliber seasons, and comes up with an interesting ranking of the current Hall of Fame members and the players on this season’s ballot. Meanwhile, Peter Gammons makes the case for Jeff Bagwell’s election to the Hall of Fame. Peter and […]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:47 pm | All-Time Greats | Permalink | No Comments
December 27, 2010
Players A to Z, Jeremy Hermida
Jeremy Hermida played outfield for the Red Sox and Athletics in 2010, and currently seeks work via free agency. Hermida showed a great deal of promise young, posting a .296/.369/.501 slash line at the age of 23. His two full season following that, however, were a major disappointment. In 2010, his ability to draw a […]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:21 am | Players, Players A to Z | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 26, 2010
Webb Spinner
ESPN reports that Brandon Webb agreed to a one-year contract with the Rangers. No terms are available yet, but it’s likely an incentive laden contract. The Rangers tried this with Rich Harden last season, and that didn’t work out too well. Still, if Webb can get back to 80% of his Cy Young form, he’ll […]
Posted by David Pinto at 6:29 pm | Free Agents, Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
December 26, 2010
Prior Experience
The New York Daily News talks to Mark Prior and the Yankees about turning the oft-injured pitcher into a reliever: The Yankees were watching the whole time. They have followed his rehab for years, says Billy Eppler, the Yanks’ director of pro personnel. Last summer, their scouts saw Prior’s velocity and arm speed tick upward. […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:13 am | Injuries, Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas
I wish you and your loved one all the joys of season. Hope Santa brought you lots of presents!
Posted by David Pinto at 8:37 am | Other | Permalink | 4 Comments
December 24, 2010
Crunching by the Bay
Giants Win notes there is some sabermetric number-crunching happening on the San Francisco side of the bay.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:04 pm | Management, Statistics | Permalink | No Comments
December 24, 2010
Tampa Tax Opposition
Tampa Bay residents don’t want to pay to build a new stadium for the Rays: A recent St. Petersburg Times/Bay News 9 telephone survey showed that two-thirds of Tampa Bay area residents oppose paying taxes for a new stadium — even if that means the team would leave the area. Only a quarter of residents […]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:48 pm | Stadiums | Permalink | No Comments
December 24, 2010
Hawpe to Pops
The New York Times reports the Padres signed Brad Hawpe to a one-year deal to replace Adrian Gonzalez. Hawpe’s offense fell off a cliff in 2010 at the age of 31. He injured his left quadriceps early in the season, and I wonder how much that contributed to his trouble. He was always a pretty […]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:35 pm | Free Agents | Permalink | No Comments
December 24, 2010
Charlie Brown Rotation
David Golebiewski doesn’t see much good coming out of the current Kansas City starting rotation.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:50 am | Pitchers, Team Evaluation | Permalink | 2 Comments
December 24, 2010
Weight Line
Flip Flop Fly Ballin’ presents a graphical representation of CC Sabathia’s weight loss. If you haven’t included the site in your RSS feed, you really should.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:39 am | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
December 24, 2010
Broadcasters to Return
The Giants plan to bring back their broadcasting duo: The Giants are close to bringing back two of their most prized free agents: television broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. The club has reached tentative agreements on six-year extensions for the well-regarded duo. Both ended their playing careers with the Giants and have called their […]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:58 am | Broadcasts | Permalink | No Comments
December 23, 2010
Christmas Bats
Andre Ethier gave out bats for Christmas: Andre Ethier from Easton Dream Crazy on Vimeo.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:51 pm | Players | Permalink | 1 Comment
December 23, 2010
Gaphic Post Season
Flip Flop Fly Ballin’ presents the schedule for the MLB post season from 1903 to the present.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:58 pm | Post Season | Permalink | No Comments