MLB: Major League Baseball

By JinAZ Pitchers, shown in italics, receive a massive position adjustment in recognition that a replacement pitcher is an average hitting pitcher.  Note that these values still don't get you to pitcher WAR, but they will shortly.  The table is sortable if you click in the header.

By JinAZ We all know this, but the last good Reds team was Griffey's first year and Jack McKeon's last.  After that, Bowden's ragtag assemblages stopped working, and the Reds bottomed out in 2003-2004.  A combination of Dan O'Brien, Wayne Krivsky, and Walt Jocketty oversaw the 2004-2009 teams, wh...

By Grant If the Giants somehow repeat their 2009 win total without Posey in 2010, the burning question in 2011 will be, "Gee, can we afford to start a rookie catcher with this pitching staff keeping us in contention?" This would also happen if the pitching staff implodes, mind you. It would probably...

8. Speaking of closers, you just did a four-part series on Mariano Rivera, basically determining (and correct me if I'm wrong) that without him, Derek Jeter has three rings instead of five. So, the question -- Mariano Rivera: Greatest closer of all time, greatest pitcher of all time or grea...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Mark DeRosa: After a career-year in 2008 the Cubs traded DeRosa to the Indians for a trio of mid-level prospects. He had a nice first half as Cleveland collapsed, hitting .270/.342/.457, and was then dealt to St. Louis for two nice relief prospects. Unfortunately for the Cardinals he suffered a...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Stumbling across this stuff is always fun: Six years ago I ranked the top 50 prospects in baseball for The Hardball Times, and Hardy and Delmon Young were back-to-back at 30 and 29. Also of interest to Twins fans from that list? Huber at 44, Jesse Crain at 34, Justin Morneau at 12, and Mauer in t...

By gondeee Atlanta Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami took one month of the regular season to adjust to American baseball. His April starts produced a 7.06 ERA. While it was only four starts, including one really bad start, Kawakami made the adjustments and compiled ERAs of 3.03 and 3.33 the next two months...

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Give Up On Gomez, Get Hardy From BrewersTwo winters ago the Twins got Carlos Gomez from the Mets as the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade and made the 22-year-old Torii Hunter's replacement in center field despite little evidence that he was ready. He predictably struggled, ba...

By Kurt Mensching So the Yankees won the World Series last night, officially closing the curtains on the 2009 Major League Baseball season. Minnesota and Chicago should still be a challenge. Chicago should be considered the favorites. Cleveland is young, but not there yet, and I never expect anything out of...

By DMtShooter Five Tool Tool gt;Phil Coke entered the game in the seventh, and Chase Utley treated him like just about every other pitcher in this series by crushing a home run to right. In five games, he's got five home runs, and is now tied Reggie Jackson for the most home runs in a World Series. It's just crazy to me that an...

By Kurt capitalize off the fame of the ballpark by selling naming rights you will face staunch opposition from the vast majority of the fans.  They apparently don't realize that Wrigley Field was the first ballpark to be named after a brand.

By Michael Fitzpatrick Before there was Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire was the poster boy for steroids in baseball. It’s a good thing that Barry Bonds came along and hit 73 home runs in 2001, otherwise we’d have a steroid user holding one of the most sacred records in a game that is cons...

By larry On this date four years ago, the White Sox won the World Series.  Where were you? JJ continues his player reviews with Jayson Nix.The always entertaining mailbag, this time from Scott Merkin.Continuing the Sprocle bender, there's a White Sox first round draft pick quiz. Other links:

By Flattish Poe Like Joe Torre said, “I’d like to have (Utley’s) problem.” He’s one of the best players in baseball. I think the ghost of former Dodger, Steve Sax, was screwing with him. Sax was a great second baseman who regrettably ended his career unable to throw accurately to anywhere. Matter-of-fact whe...

By Jim McLennan The Diamondbacks led the league for not making contact with the ball: when they swung at a pitch - 23% of the time they came up empty. The absence of Conor Jackson, who had the team's lowest rate in 2008 (14%), hurt team numbers overall. You probably won't be surprised to find out who supplied mu...

By JinAZ 24. Baltimore Orioles.  TQI = 0.439 The power rankings rate the Orioles as the worst team in the American League.  There's good agreement across all of our different win "measures," from reality to cW%.  Breaking them down is simple too: the Orioles were below average in hitting, pitching, an...

By Farid Rushdi 2B: Alberto Gonzalez SS: Cristian Guzman 3B: Ryan Zimmerman Ryan Zimmerman has grown into “the face of the franchise.” This sounds strange to say, but the Nationals need to build their team around Morgan and not Ryan Zimmerman or Adam Dunn. RF: Elijah Dukes

By Evan Brunell The pitching side of things is rosier. John Lackey, Joe Saunders and Scott Kazmir make for an enviable front three.  On the other side, Boston is dealing with nagging injuries to Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and backups Nick Green and Rocco Baldelli. Beckett and John Lester are one of the best st...

By royalsreview Royals: The Royal Tower: Team Review - Wilmington Blue RocksThe Royals' Fear of the Unknown Strikes Again - Royals AuthorityWell, It’s Over. " The Unknown Royals FanIn which I try to explain why Royals fans are devastated today " Getting to First Base Greinke-ganda: Why a vote against Zac...

By KLSnow If Doug Melvin meant what he said about making a serious splash in the pitching market this winter, this might be a trade possibility: The Braves are reportedly looking to deal Derek Lowe, just one season after signing him to a four year, $60 million deal. The Braves would likely have to take...

By theoldgrizzlybear 2 days ago: Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Huston Street, left, talks with Yorvit Torrealba, right, as other members of the team celebrate their 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in their Major League Baseball game, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Adam J. Morris But that was before Josh Hamilton and Chris Davis tanked, before the catchers decided not to hit, and before the weak offense derailed the Rangers 2009 playoffs hopes.  That was before I realized the Rangers need more offense, and aren't really in a position to deal bats away.

By Marc Hulet Prospect ranking season is just around the corner. In anticipation of that, we present an intro series looking at some of the players who deserve mentioning but probably will not be appearing on their teams’ Top 10 lists. The popular series is back for the second year. Previously, we looked a...

The Indians’ pitching staff is second in the league in allowing walks and are second last in the AL in striking out hitters.  That’s a bad combination.  In essence, it says the pitchers don’t miss bats very often, and they compound that problem by falling behind in the count.

By Dave at Nats News Network 5 months ago: Washington Nationals' John Lannan pitches against Atlanta Braves' Chipper Jones during the first inning of a baseball game on Saturday, April 11, 2009, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis) 1)  If the typical fan of the Washington Nationals thinks a #3 starter should win 15 game...

By Silverblood The big test will come after the Padres depart, in the form of a three-game set with the NL Central champions (hopefully by the time they get there) St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies will get to cut their teeth against a legit championship contender, including the chance to face both of the Car...

By James Kannengieser 2009 Mets Anagrams - Omar Minaya = I Many Aroma.  Pedro Feliciano = A Periodic Felon.  Marlon Anderson = Loner Or Sandman. Carlos Delgado: His Legacy And His Future - Eric compares Delgado to past Met first basemen and discusses his future.

This is New York's final season at Giants Stadium before opening up a new facility in 2010. In 1976, the Giants' first home game was against the Cowboys. The stadium was considered enormous at the time, but it definitely began to show its age in recent years.

By Tom Dakers •Jorge Posada? More like Jorge Pissedoffa, amirite? The Yanks' catcher sparks a bench-clearing brawl with the Blue Jays. Pitcher Jesse Carlson suffered a pretty nasty head wound, making this the worst day of casualties in the history of Canadian wars.

By WiHaloFan Poll There's been talk of Kendry Morales for AL MVP, but is he even the Angels' MVP? Yes, he's the Angels MVP. No, Torii Hunter is the Angels MVP. No, Bobby Abreu is the Angels MVP. No, [BLANK] is the Angels MVP (comment below).   17 votes | Results

By Kurt Derrek Lee - D.P.Lee has had a shockingly good season, and in the past week he's hit 3 homeruns, driven in 5 RBI, and is batting .360. He's joined in this surprisingly productive week by Milton Bradley, who also is batting .360 over the past week but with 2 more doubles and 2 fewer homeruns. Also ligh...

By WiHaloFan Angels-White Sox Preview - FOX Sports on MSN While Chicago is heating up, the Angels are in danger of being swept for the first time since May 15-17 against Texas. Los Angeles, which entered this series winner of 17 of 20, has not been swept in Chicago since Aug. 18-20, 2003.

By royalsreview Ethan Skolnick's Season Ticket | Sun-Sentinel Blogs: Florida Marlins: Serious about winning? Get a starting pitcher (like Brian Bannister, he proposes)Royals Fielding Calls For Brian Bannister - MLB Daily DishDFA’d Player Update, Josh Anderson, and Royals Related Rumors | Kings...

By KLSnow Ryan Sadowski is the fourth pitcher in 2009 to lead his team to victory over the Brewers in his major league debut. Not everyone was having a hard time making contact, though: in the California League, Lake Elsinore defeated (former Brewer affiliate) High Desert 33-18.

By Paul SF Daisuke Matsuzaka was not worth $102 million.There's a lot of financial craziness out there in modern professional sport, but we have not yet reached the point where a third or fourth (and in this case, fifth) starter is worth a total investment of $102 million for six years.

He would be chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the fourth pick. Well, he's going to have to start thinking about it now. The 21-year-old Boston College catcher went to the Pirates at No. 4 after finishing his third year as an Eagle. ... USA Today - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Astros' Hampton Beats Pirates Again, 2-1  Texas It was tough Friday in Houston - also against Maholm. ... Glavine's eight-game 25, 1993. ... McLouth is one of only two Pirates players to homer off a left-hander yet this season. He has three, and Craig Monroe has two. ... For only the second time in ...

Florida Marlins' Chris Coghlan, right, follows the flight of his single as Colorado Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta looks on in the fourth inning of the Marlins' 8-3 victory in a baseball game in Denver on Friday, May 8, 2009. Coghlan, who was called up ...

Former Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi and scouting director Bob Fontaine Jr. used the fifth pick of the 2006 draft on Morrow of Cal, where team owner Howard Lincoln graduated. That left Lincecum, the nation's best college pitcher, for the Giants ...

Braves 4, Phillies 2: In Philadelphia, Casey Kotchman had three hits and three RBIs, Kenshin Kawakami pitched six effective innings and Atlanta rallied to get the win. Rockies 3, Marlins 2: In Denver, Aaron Cook pitched six solid innings and Troy ...

With each club trying to avoid a fourth consecutive loss, the Cardinals and Pirates begin a two-game series Wednesday night at Busch Stadium. This is the second time the NL Central foes are meeting at Busch this season. They split a four-game set to ...

By SC IPHRERBBKHRSeason ERA M. Hendrickson (L, 1-2)5.05333613.86D. Sarfate1.04331107.36R. Liz0.136610067.50M. Albers1.23000105.87 Albers finished it out OK, so that was nice. Poll Most Birdland Player (MBP) for today's game was: Mark Hendrickson (5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) Ryan Freel (1-for-1) Cesa...

By Rob(noreply@blogger.com) Of course, the worst thing to happen last night was to see Doug Mientkiewicz separate his shoulder on a slide to second. Never a good idea, that, and he's probably done for months if not the season (given his age). I feel badly for him, but seeing as how the Dodgers traded his most likely replace...

By David Roth And, in a sense, Not-Shea is very much the stadium that everyone else is getting. Yes, there is some appropriating of local baseball history and architectural texture into the place — the ballyhooed rotunda (actually echo-y and municipal when I was there has videos of Jackie Robinson pla...

By grover Plan B was only a slight variation on Plan A. Giambi signs to a 1 year deal plus team option and when Andrew Brown gets hurt Beane quickly went out and traded two guys destined for careers in the minors for Michael Wuertz. Springer gets signed and Beane goes shopping for another DiNardo or Saalo...

By noreply@blogger.com (Screech's Best Friend) After everyone had the opportunity to taste all the foods offered up today by Levy Restaurants at Nationals Park, Team President Stan Kasten answered questions from the assembled media. While talking with Mr. Kasten, we were eventually joined by reporters from The Washington Post, The C...

By Silverblood What's on Tap? JHOULYS CHACIN will start against the D-backs tomorrow, as Aaron Cook will get in his work in a B-game so the Snakes don't start getting familiar with him (yeah, like that's going to make much difference... they've faced him how many times, now?) But Rockies fans will appreciat...

By Kevin Markum With the recent obsession over the Rafael Furcal-Atlanta Braves-Los Angeles Dodgers situation, the question has to be pondered, "Has baseball become a business?"  The answer to that question is an obvious, YES!  What is the answer to this situation?  Major League Baseball needs a sal...

News: The Texas Rangers exercised their $6.2 million option on Hank Blalock for the 2009 season. Rangers pick up first baseman Blalock's $6.2M option for '09 ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers on Friday exercised a $6.2 million option on oft-injured infielder Hank Blalock.

ALBANY ? He's arrogant and pouty; whiny and selfish. He's also brilliant.Ryan Adams brought his band, The Cardinals, to The Egg on Thursday for an epic concert that will live long in the memories of his loyal fans. CARDINALS featuring Ryan Adams When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday