Other Baseball

On Tuesday evening, I was able to take in the Twins-Blue Jays game from Rogers Centre. This was my first visit to Rogers Centre, but more importantly it was my final stop on my journey to visit the ballpark of each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams. Here is my ranking of the 30 ballparks (plus a few extras). I'd love to hear feedback from those that have taken a similar journey. Before I get to my rankings, below was my very non-analytical criteria. I have been to some of these stadiums more than once, but for many of them I made only one trip so may have them ranked higher or lower based on where the team was in the standings, how the weather cooperated, or oth…

DeGrom and Syndergaard are on the trade block. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-sports-ricco-mets-deadline-pitchers-ackert-20180627-story.html Where do you think they land?

Had to have a little fun with the headline on this one Cleveland is acquiring Brad Hand from San Diego, per The Athletic. Here's a link to the MLB Trade Rumors post, which will be updated as details emerge. Hand, a product of Chaska High School, has made it to the All-Star Game back-to-back seasons. In three years with the Padres, the lefty has a 2.66 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 3.94 K:BB ratio. This should be a huge boost to a Cleveland bullpen that has the second-worst ERA in baseball at 5.28. UPDATE: Cleveland is also getting Adam Cimber a right-handed reliever who has a 3.17 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 5.10 K:BB ratio in this, his rookie season. The sliver lining for Twins fans …

The Strib is running a 3 part series on MLB and how it is changing. http://www.startribune.com/are-baseball-analytics-stealing-the-show/488204101/

Harper is on pace for 1 bWAR this year. (WAR doesn't like his defense). Going into the season, he and Machado were going to be the darlings of this huge free agency class. Machado is on pace for 3-4 WAR this season. (WAR doesn't like his defense either). I still think they both get paid a ton and Harper ends up in NY but I'm not sure either of them tops Stanton's contract, although it'll be close.

When the Twins signed Anibal Sanchez this winter everyone thought it was a complete waste of money and time for a washed up pitcher. Maybe Atlanta found something and corrected him. You also can't complain about the numbers he has put up this season. 4-2 with a 2.60 ERA, 62 K's in 65 2/3 innings would have looked nice in the rotation this year.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/15/st-paul-saints-seek-minimum-wage-exemption-salary-cap-threatens-operations/ We've had a lot of discussion about how the minor leaguers often do not earn a livable wage. Wouldn't it be great if a minimum wage law by Minnesota forces the issue? I wouldn't want and wouldn't expect the Saints to fold, but they're the marquee team in the AA, make the league pay these players more. Get the ball rolling and hopefully the bad press baseball gets for dragging it's feet carries over to the affiliated leagues which are bankrolled by actual billionaires.

Good read. It suggests that a Latin draft is likely not too far away. https://www.yahoo.com/newsroom/vibes/latin-america-news/v-05ae9487-19b4-3fea-821f-924171900ac4_c-57e7c186-cf3f-320b-8369-954e25e12944_a-57e7c186-cf3f-320b-8369-954e25e12944?soc_src=newsroom&soc_trk=com.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard&.tsrc=newsroom

Rafael Palmiero hasn't played in the big leagues since 2005, but he's playing for Cleburne of the independent American Association. This week, they are playing the St. Paul Saints in St. Paul. Coming into the day, he was hitting .296/.406/.506 (.912) with five home runs in 25 games... as a 53 year old. Pioneer Press's Brian Murphy chatted with him about the return. https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/10/brian-murphy-rafael-palmeiro-chasing-a-big-league-encore-at-53/

Join Rob Pannier and Kevin Luckow as they talk all things American Association Baseball.http://minorleaguesportsreport.com/index.php/this-week-in-the-association-with-kevin-luckow-rob-pannier-season-2/

I found this to be a good read. And it made me sad.....

Oregon State was down to their last out, down 3-2 with a runner at third, when I turned the TV on. That seemed like a short-term viewing commitment before bedtime, so I watched. It looked like it was going to be over when the batter hit a foul pop-up down the RF line. The second baseman called for it and overran it, so it fell between the first baseman and right fielder. (Sorry, I only know one name involved in the game, and that's coming up.) Given new life, the batter tied the game with a solid single to left, scoring the runner from third. Trevor Larnach was up next, and he hit a home run to right to give Oregon State the lead, 5-3. Arkansas got the lead-off man …

This comment interested me in another thread but my response had nothing to do with topic so I started one here. Want a faster game? More pitch to contact? Three balls equal a walk will eventually accomplish both. It might start with a bunch more walks but then the command pitchers will start being more successful than the wilder hard throwers. Want to give value to positional bench players and shrink pens? Allow one re-entry per position player. I am guessing having bats on the bench gain much more value than that LOOGY in the pen. I think I would enjoy the conversation around when to use that hitter once for Wilson and also how to construct the roster to best utili…

https://nypost.com/2018/06/27/tigers-fire-pitching-coach-over-racist-rant/

Thought this article was interesting. His ideas include mandating relief pitchers face at least three batters, centering the pitching rubber, best team chooses their playoff opponent, among others.

"Inside the wide-ranging search—led by economists and psychologists—for the elixir that turns good squads into great ones." Interesting article from a non-baseball publication on attempts to quantify team chemistry (veteranness?) in baseball.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-managers-perspective-ron-gardenhire-on-players-from-his-past/ Great read.

Without looking it up, can anyone name the top 5 all time stolen base leaders in MLB history (1901 onward only)?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2018/06/11/now-campaigning-against-tommy-john-surgery-tommy-john/6Ua1oABxkXq4KibVK3cS9J/story.html

This made me feel good. https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/06/12/minnesota-high-school-baseball-pitcher-consoles-friend-orig.cnn

http://10thinningstretch.blogspot.com/2018/06/st-paul-saints-week-in-review-american.html?m=1 The St. Paul Saints kept their foothold on 1st place in the American Association this week going 5-1. Read all about along with news and notes from the league.

Regardless of where you stand, it’s a good read: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/6/7/17437016/national-league-pitcher-hitting-dh#

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23650696/carlos-gomez-tampa-bay-rays-says-players-targeted-drug-testing Interesting article. Gomez says he's been "randomly" picked 7 or 8 times early in the season for testing. He thinks testing is done to target Dominican and older players. Obviously, he has no evidence but Dominican players have been caught more than US players - which could be testing or could be better masking agents or just random luck. In any event, I suspect his views are shared by many other players in the game.

I'll be in DC in about a month, and going to a few Nats games while I'm there. Wondering if anyone else has been there, and has any insights on the best food at the ballpark or things to see/do at the park. Thanks

http://10thinningstretch.blogspot.com/2018/06/saints-paul-saints-week-in-review-texas.html

I don't just blog about American Association and Saints Baseball, I do a podcast with Rob Pannier. http://minorleaguesportsreport.com/index.php/this-week-in-the-association-with-kevin-luckow-rob-pannier-season-2/

He joins Rosenthal, Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark, among others. The Athletic is sure adding some great writers/reporters. I'm pretty sure their baseball coverage is better than ESPN. http://awfulannouncing.com/athletic/joe-posnanski-becomes-latest-big-name-writer-to-join-the-athletic-but-will-keep-writing-for-mlb-com-as-well.html

http://10thinningstretch.blogspot.com/2018/05/st-paul-saints-week-in-review-and.html

This article seems to confirm that something has changed in the reaction of a MLB baseball to being struck by a wooden bat. While they admit it seems a fact, they don't know exactly why just yet. Also interesting is the third last paragraph which indicates that the change in the way the hitters approach their craft appears to have had no effect on the increase in HR's. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2018/05/24/mlb-finally-admits-changes-to-ball-itself-fueled-home-run-spike-but-doesnt-say-how-or-why/?utm_term=.443d196303c7

totaling 2.1 innings. If you need two consecutive bullpen games both the manager and the GM should be fired.