Other Baseball

Rogers Hornsby has the top 5 OPSs and eight of the top ten OPSs ever recorded by a 2B. (minimum 400 ABs) Who are the only two other 2B to crack the top 10? (Answers below) Nap Lajoie in 1901 (Philadelphia A's) and Jeff Kent in 2000. (San Francisco Giants)

James Shields & Wade Davis got to KC for Will Myers, Jake Orodozzi & Mike Montgomery. Gotta be good to have a GM willing to take a chance & believe in their moves

Wow. Trout, Pujols and Hamilton. Could score a few runs if they stay healthy. Angels To Sign Josh Hamilton: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Anyone else been following this? ESPN's Hall of 100 -- Ranking the all-time greatest MLB players - ESPN I'm still working my way through it. I'm disagreeing less than I thought I might be. So far the only egregious error is Reggie Jackson at #55. May be the most overrated player in baseball history, criminally silly to have him that high.

The Cleveland Indians have traded outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to the Cincinnati Reds and acquired pitcher Trevor Bauer from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-team deal involving nine players.Center fielder Drew Stubbs was sent from Cincinnati to Cleveland as part of the trade announced Tuesday night. In addition to Stubbs, the Indians received Bauer, the No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft, and right-handers Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw from the Diamondbacks. Cleveland shipped Choo, infielder-outfielder Jason Donald and cash to the Reds, while sending left-handed reliever Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Anderson to Arizona. The Diamondbacks also received minor league shortstop Did…

Got this letter today in case some of you are interested.... Hey John, Wanted to bring something to your attention that might be of interest to your readers. We’re trying to spread the word that applications for the 2013 MLB Fan Cave are currently being accepted at MLBFanCave.com, and I’m wondering if you’d be able to post information about it. Fans would be entering for a chance to be a part of this year’s Fan Cave experience, which will give them the opportunity to watch every game and meet former and current players, like Joe Mauer who visited the Cave in 2012. Video of his appearance can be found here. Below is some general info on the Fan Cave. Let me know…

[h=1]Angels Close To Signing Joe Blanton[/h] By Tim Dierkes [December 5 at 6:30pm CST] The Angels are close to signing starter Joe Blanton to a one-year deal, according to tweets from Joe McDonnell of FOX Sports and Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. Blanton, 31, posted a 4.71 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 1.37 HR/9, and 44.6% groundball rate in 191 innings for the Phillies and Dodgers this year. The near-signing raises the question as to whether the Angels' rotation is set, with Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Tommy Hanson, Blanton, and Garrett Richards, and without Zack Greinke. Happy about this. I did not want him in a Twins Uni.

1yr 3m .....lives in PHO & sounds like that was the main reasoning as well as he's now the starter

By Luke Adams [December 5 at 12:23pm CST] Keppingir will sign a three-year deal with the White Sox, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter). Nice move by the sox, I just wonder how much money he is getting over 3 years.

My curiosity over something else caused me to look up the Elizabethton roster, and when doing so I noticed that Rory Rhodes is listed as a 6'7" outfielder. Which immediately made me go, "Outfielder? Really?" Now I have no idea if he will ever play at the Major League level, but I started wondering who the tallest outfielders ever might have been. I really don't have a great feel for all the players from all different teams over the years. My first thought was Shawn Green, but he was 6'4". Barry Bonds popped to mind, but his steroids physique obviously tricked my brain into thinking he was taller than his 6'2". I finally remembered Dave Winfield, who was 6'6". …

The Rays have acquired a new shortstop, getting Yunel Escobar from the Marlins for middle infield prospect Derek Dietrech

Joakim Soria just sign a 2 year 8 million dollar deal with the Rangers with an option for 2015. If Soria can return to anything close to what he was with the Royals thats a steal. Joakim setting up for Nathan....wow.

Red Sox Signed Shane Victorino to a 3 year 39 million dollar deal. Obviously CFs are highly valued this year and I honestly think Span is better than Victorino and they only reason the Twins only got Meyers for Span was due to his injuries. If he would have been 100% healthy last year im absolutely positive the Twins could have got much more for him.

Just saw it on MLB network. Now, maybe, pretty please, can people stop freaking about what Scott Feldman means to the market? Also, the Nationals are going to dominate for years.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Jon Heyman is reporting that the Angels have acquired RHP Tommy Hanson. The Braves have a ton of pitching. No word on what the Angels are giving up, but they have no more prospects. Could it be a left-fielder? Maybe Bourjous? Hanson is about to get spendy in arbitration? He's been hurt at times in the last year or two as well.

Seems as if Buerhle's Pit Bull problem has followed him across the border, this time however the ban on the dog covers the entire province of Ontario, making it very unlikely his family will be able to join him in TO this year. Considering he's under contract for 3 more years, seems to me he'll be on the move again, since It's hard to imagine he'll be a happy camper living apart from his family for 3 seasons.

He's basically a do-it-all type player statistically and very versatile in the field.

I know there's another thread discussion how the Marlins may be employing an unorthodox strategy that could still result in economic profit, but I'm wondering if this unorthodox strategy could be part of a long-term plan for winning in cycles. Isn't this a reasonable plan?(it's a cycle, so step 1 = step 5): 1. Win the World Series (or at least be really good) 2. Trade anyone making any money for top prospects 3. Wait a couple years for the top propects (and other drafted prospects) to form a solid core 4. Supplement the solid core by signing some top dollar free agents 5. Win the World Series (or at least be really good) It seems to me that what I've outlined is real…

CSN Chicago's White Sox Insider Dan Hayes gives Five Reasons that former Twins catcher AJ Pierzynski will not resign with the White Sox this offseason. http://www.csnchicago.com/baseball-chicago-whitesox/whitesox-talk/Five-reasons-why-Pierzynski-wont-return-?blockID=800945&feedID=10338

We are going to see a lot of him now, but not back in a Twins uniform.

It appears that the Miami Marlins will do their best to make life difficult in the NL East for Mike Redmond. Sources are indicating that the Marlins have traded RHP Josh Johnson, LHP Mark Buehrle, SS Jose Reyes, C John Buck and IF/OF Emilio Bonafacio to the Blue Jays for Yunel Escobar and several prospects. Holy ridiculousness!!! Embarrassing for baseball are the Marlins!

I got a qustion about WAR. Baseball-Reference has Mike Trout at a WAR of 10.7 and Fangraphs and 10.0. Why are the numbers different? There has been a lot of mockery of baseball writers for not accepting the new way of number crunching and voting Miggy because he won a Triple Crown and using 'traditional' stats. Well, how are the old guard supposed to come into the new way of thinking if no one can get the numbers right? Im not against the new way of thinking about baseball (although there are so many stats out there, its a bits overwhelming).

Time for good old Bud to go away if he continues to let the Marlins pull this crap and trade away all their talent 1 season after the taxpayers paid for that ugly stadium. This is like a fantasy baseball trade that would be shot down in an instant. Time for Bud Selig to resign and let someone fix this league and move the Marlins some place where people care about baseball.

So, we're just past the first meetings of the year, with the major meetings coming the first week of December. Let's use a common thread (so as to not overly confuddle everyone involved, including those who browse into the site) to review the non-Twins signings and deals. What's happened so far: Boston traded IF Mike Aviles to Toronto for P David Carpenter and rights to sign manager John Farrell Arizona, Florida, and Oakland completed a three way trade with Oakland receiving OF Chris Young and cash, Arizona receiving SS Cliff Pennington, RP Heath Bell, and cash, and Florida receiving IF Yordy Cabrera Kansas City claimed SP Chris Volstad off waivers Oakland resi…

According to MLB trade rumors, the South Korean starting pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu will be posted this offseaso http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/10/hanwha-eagles-to-post-hyun-jin-ryu.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29 Do you think the Twins should be interested? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryu_Hyun-Jin

Haren has a $15.5M option for 2013. Allegedly the Angels are pitching in $3.5 M, which makes the cost to the Cubs $12M. Marmol's guaranteed salary for 2013 is $9.8M, which makes the net cost for Haren to the Cubs $2.2 M. Still don't get why Mr Ryan could not work a deal like this, by sending someone like Burton to the Angels (who is about as good at Marmol these days) and having the Angels eat more $.

According to the MLBTR article below, Hamilton is looking for 7 years and $175 million. Personally, I have no doubt in my mind that there is no way any sane GM gives him that kind of deal with the history he has. Anybody think otherwise? If you were to be a GM, what would you be willing to give Hamilton as a contract? I wouldn't give him more than 4 years and $100 million, and that is my generous side talking. Here's the article: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/josh-hamiltons-asking-price-is-seven-years-175mm.html

Which happens first: Someone from the MLBTR 50 best FA signs (or resigned, or resigned then traded), or we learn who the new president is?

I was reading about the murder of 80's pitcher Pascual Perez. It referenced that he had received his MLB pension the previous day. I had no idea that MLB had such a generous pension plan. A player only needs to be on a MLB roster for 43 days to receive a pension of $34,000 and typically a 10 year veteran can expect to receive around $185,000 a year for his pension. Also, if any player is on a MLB for 1 day, he receives lifetime health benefits. http://hypersapien.hubpages.com/hub/Americas-Best-Retirement-Plan-Athletes-Pensions-in-Professional-Sports