http://ken.arneson.name/2017/08/sonny-gray-and-the-collective-bargaining-agreement/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 6 August 2017 09:30 (six years ago) link
Very enlightening and funny interview with Fernando Perez, who you may remember scored the winning walk-off run for Tampa Bay in 2008 ALCS Game 2. (also the first Latino Ivy Leaguer in MLB) Topics include the utility of batting practice.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/effectively-wild-episode-1093-live-at-the-bell-house-with-fernando-perez/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 August 2017 16:36 (six years ago) link
he is awesome
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 8 August 2017 18:26 (six years ago) link
He is! Needs a regular TV job.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 August 2017 19:26 (six years ago) link
there's a great Grantland joke in that podcast pace Ben Lindbergh
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 9 August 2017 02:13 (six years ago) link
Feel bad for traveling beat writers who have to record post-game videos from hotel rooms.
― Andy K, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:47 (six years ago) link
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20294816/skunk-outfield-how-most-epic-trick-play-history-broke-baseball
― mookieproof, Thursday, 17 August 2017 14:32 (six years ago) link
I like this piece a lot as an illustration of the idea that a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. Not everyone will.
http://www.billjamesonline.com/of_war_walhalla_and_the_right_to_think/
1. Lou Whitaker was a better player than Lou Brock.2. Lou Brock is a better Hall of Famer than Lou Whitaker.
― clemenza, Friday, 1 September 2017 15:38 (six years ago) link
1. those are not opposed ideas2. if, after that tweet, you call james a first-rate intelligence about anything other than baseball i am going fly to toronto and put a dead mouse in your two-four
― mookieproof, Friday, 1 September 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
James didn't write that. (And yes, I exclude politics--and music--from James's domain of first-rate intelligence.)
― clemenza, Friday, 1 September 2017 16:22 (six years ago) link
(I do think many people would see those two statements as incompatible.)
― clemenza, Friday, 1 September 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
spoonerized names2, via brisbee
― mookieproof, Saturday, 2 September 2017 01:16 (six years ago) link
having all this data is neat
it's also taylorism on a level i wouldn't likely support anywhere else
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/protecting-players-against-big-data
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 01:45 (six years ago) link
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=32646
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 23:31 (six years ago) link
Alex Wood and the evolving starter/reliever dynamic
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20604315/why-every-starting-pitcher-turning-alex-wood
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 10 September 2017 16:08 (six years ago) link
Royals star Amos Otis to reunite with boys (now men) he aided during ’77 Plaza flood
Forty years to the day that Amos Otis came to the aid of eight boys stranded by the historic Sept. 12, 1977 “Plaza flood,” the former Royals Gold Glove outfielder will for the first time meet some of those boys again face-to-face.Those boys, of course, are now men in their 50s and include now 54-year-old Missouri state Rep. Richard Brown. At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday Brown is set to hand Otis a framed proclamation that honors him as a Good Samaritan for an act of kindness that deeply affected Brown.Prior to becoming a state legislator, Brown had been a teacher in the Kansas City public schools for 24 years. He said that Otis’ assistance on the day that 25 people in the Kansas City area lost their lives set a pattern for him to help children as if they were his own.
Those boys, of course, are now men in their 50s and include now 54-year-old Missouri state Rep. Richard Brown. At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday Brown is set to hand Otis a framed proclamation that honors him as a Good Samaritan for an act of kindness that deeply affected Brown.
Prior to becoming a state legislator, Brown had been a teacher in the Kansas City public schools for 24 years. He said that Otis’ assistance on the day that 25 people in the Kansas City area lost their lives set a pattern for him to help children as if they were his own.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article172635626.html
― Andy K, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 01:41 (six years ago) link
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/253726830/byron-buxton-leads-statcast-outs-above-average/
new metric: outs above average. leaderboard here: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/outs_above_average?type=player&year=2017&min=50
― k3vin k., Thursday, 14 September 2017 23:51 (six years ago) link
Jays fans--this one included--will flinch at Kevin Pillar ranked #102.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 September 2017 00:11 (six years ago) link
that's cool. they have 2016 in there, too (billy hamilton led the league)
― Karl Malone, Friday, 15 September 2017 00:28 (six years ago) link
xpost
jays ranked last in MLB, too, if you do it by team
― Karl Malone, Friday, 15 September 2017 00:29 (six years ago) link
Dave Fleming again, not James; looks at Ozzie Smith's MVP case in '87 vs. Andrelton Simmons' this year (specifically, a disconnect between the two).
http://www.billjamesonline.com/ozzie_and_the_mvp/
― clemenza, Sunday, 17 September 2017 14:21 (six years ago) link
the plot holes of this season
Why is the best player so short?
Why is the other best player so tall?
Why does Robert Gsellman, a pitcher, have the league's best contact rate at the plate?
Pujols has been the least-valuable player in baseball, by WAR. And he has also been the third most clutch hitter in baseball? Cute conceit, but life doesn't really work that way.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20838192/mlb-season-115-recap-counted-27-head-scratching-plot-holes
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
One flap down: Remembering Jeffrey Leonard's incredible, unusual 1987 NLCS
http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/jeffrey-leonard-1987-nlcs-mvp-one-flap-down-home-runs-video-giants-cardinals/t4ecro50b1e81aq9apfvv8egg
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 18 October 2017 19:57 (six years ago) link
Michael Baumann on why liking the "plucky" Yankees is "an existential threat" to baseball and America. (30:45-37:00) (NSFW)
https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/19/16504990/the-yankees-comeback-the-dodgers-dominance-and-problems-with-playoff-managing
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 October 2017 11:41 (six years ago) link
Daniel Marks' All-Coulda-Been Team:
C – Jason Kendall1B – Hal Trosky2B – Carlos Baerga3B – Eric Chavez (but probably just keeping the spot warm for David Wright)SS – Nomar GarciaparraLF – Charlie KellerCF – Pete ReiserRF – Darryl StrawberryP – Dwight Gooden
http://www.billjamesonline.com/rising_stars_falling_stars/
― clemenza, Friday, 10 November 2017 21:51 (six years ago) link
ESPN's Sam Miller writes about one of the more serious moral issues facing the game today:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21587602/to-fist-bump-not-fist-bump-do-players-deserve-reward-intentional-walk
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 1 December 2017 06:07 (six years ago) link
ICYMI, great interview with '50s Pirates infielder-pitcher Johnny O'Brien (age 87, remembers everything)
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/effectively-wild-episode-1153-johnny-on-the-spot/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 26 December 2017 15:20 (six years ago) link
https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/tht-annual-2018
― mookieproof, Thursday, 25 January 2018 20:36 (six years ago) link
wow
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 25 January 2018 20:58 (six years ago) link
fields are shrinkin'
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/ballpark-playing-surfaces-are-shrinking-in-a-surprising-way/
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 30 January 2018 17:10 (six years ago) link
dr k
red = curveblue = fastball white = perfect alignment (410 in outfield for reference)look at those release points, incredible pic.twitter.com/1q1opI2pN6— cardinalsgifs (@cardinalsgifs) February 6, 2018
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 21:20 (six years ago) link
Love that kind of stuff. that Rivera NYMAG video where it had 1000 pitches all synced up was amazing
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 7 February 2018 06:06 (six years ago) link
http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-zaidi-fantasy-football-20180223-story.html
― mookieproof, Friday, 23 February 2018 20:14 (six years ago) link
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/did-lenny-dykstra-extort-umpires/
― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Saturday, 24 February 2018 01:00 (six years ago) link
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/
― omar little, Thursday, 1 March 2018 17:58 (six years ago) link
I saw that Dykstra story and didn't know where to put it. I was sure there was a "player police blotter" but I couldn't find it.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 March 2018 19:23 (six years ago) link