Archives › 2010 › February

This week’s “Twittergate” is just another exhibit of Ozzie Guillen’s burning desire to be the center of attention . . . One wonders, however, when Sox fans will reach their tipping point on Guillen’s antics. – Dan McNeil of the Chicago Tribune, sounding not unlike Principal Vernon from “The Breakfast Club” and likely unaware that…

Zoinks! It’s not me saying it. It’s Bill at Crashburn Alley. There’s math and caveats and stuff so you should probably read the whole thing rather than expect me to blockquote it, but the argument boils down to this: trading Howard would clear payroll space, allow the team to retain Jayson Werth, would help replenish…

Athletics’ prospect Michael Taylor spent the winter playing in Mexico. Sounds fun: “Animals on the field. Like chickens and stuff like that. People having barbecues in the stands. Just piling up firewood. The passion. They had bands, a lot of live music,” he said yesterday at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. “It was just a different environment.…

I’m a gigantic fanboy, but even I’m getting a little tired of the Jason Heyward hype. The latest: When manager Bobby Cox said that the Braves will probably install nets to protect cars from Jason Heyward’s prodigious batting-practice home runs, reporters thought he was kidding. He was not kidding. “I’m serious,” Cox said Thursday at…

The doctor who performed the meatball surgery on Curt Schilling’s ankle in 2004 which led to the bloody sock has had his license suspended and is under investigation for . . . something. Unauthorized possession of stage blood?  Complicity to overacting? Accessory to second degree myth-making?

But I’m not touching it with a ten foot pole. You can go read about it at FanHouse, which in this instance will serve as the mitts between this site and the oven that is the website for the product Manny Ramirez is now apparently endorsing. 

At least that’s the story I’m going with after reading this piece about Kevin Kouzmanoff: And when he was in the Indians’ system, at Triple-A Buffalo, someone told him he was a bad fielder. Well, he wasn’t told, exactly. “I read an article that said how poor my defense was,” he said. “I sort of…

The last couple of days have seen hitters starting to take live batting practice from honest-to-goodness pitchers.  A lot of this kind of thing is happening: John Bowker took one in the back Wednesday from Jeremy Affeldt, who naturally blamed the hitter for the whole ugly incident. “It was a curveball. I told him it…

Youkilis, a guy many people first heard about by virtue of him being prominently mentioned in “Moneyball” — and a guy who plays for arguably the most stat-savvy team in baseball — don’t need no stinkin’ sabermetrics: “I don’t go off all those UZRs . . . is it UZR?” Youkilis said. “I don’t even…

Really, they are.  LaVelle Neal of the Star Tribune tweets from Twins spring training: A box of baseball cards is in the clubhouse, and players are ripping packs open to find their card. All Alexi Casilla wanted was the Joe Mauer with the big sideburns!

From MLB.com: Rodriguez, speaking publicly Thursday for the first time this spring, said he reached out to Damon this offseason to offer advice on free agency. “Johnny and I are very good friends, and we’ve always had a lot of dialogue, both in the offseason and the season,” Rodriguez said. “I was just trying to…

Interesting story about Red Sox owner John Henry’s approach to insurance on player contracts. Seems that back when he owned the Marlins Henry had a really bad experience dealing with an insurance company while trying to make a claim on an Alex Fernandez.  So he’s now eschewing insurance on player contracts and is doing two…

People say you can’t trust the accuracy of Wikipedia, but I think its occasional lapses are more than compensated for by its often piercing insight: (Thanks to reader Trevor who pointed this out in yesterday’s Silva thread)

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be looking at a few of the questions facing each team this spring. 1. Can Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer hold up at the top of the rotation? Sheets would seem to have the better chance of the two. He hasn’t put in a full season since 2004,…

When the Rangers moved Michael Young from shortstop to third base after his Gold Glove campaign in 2008, it was clear there was no going back. The Rangers knew Elvis Andrus had more range and they wanted Young to be able to settle into his new position, so they signed Omar Vizquel to serve as…

Alex Rodriguez sat for a press conference today. He didn’t say anything too terribly interesting.  Winning the World Series wasn’t getting a monkey off his back, “it was a humongous gorilla that came off my back.”  He’s happy. He wants to win more. He knows he’s come a long way since last winter.  Pretty conventional…

Former Rocky Mountain News writer Jack Etkin has this unusual headline for us today on the InsideTheRockies blog: Cousin’s death gives Tulowitzki added incentive for 2010 I’m going to assume this is Etkin’s own doing. Newspaper writers are rarely responsible for the headlines to their articles, but we bloggers tend to have to deal with…

The Tribune has a story about Carlos Silva and his weight. This is classic: “That was one of the (bad) things with Seattle. Here, they want to get me back on track in my pitching. They don’t worry about my size or my weight. In Seattle, they were worried more about my weight than anything…

With no agreement in sight, the Rays and Carl Crawford have chosen to halt extension talks until the end of the season, agent Brian Peters told the St. Petersburg Times. “We had an opportunity to exchange ideas with the club about a contract extension for Carl and it was clear to all of us that…

2009 saw the highest rate of men selling apples on street corners and people eating ketchup and sawdust for dinner since the the Great Depression — maybe; that’s the sense I got from reading recession-porn all year, anyway — but baseball didn’t feel the pinch one bit.  Take it away Maury Brown: The league reports…

Things Mark McGwire said about his brother’s new book while looking meaningfully at Al Neri: “I took care of him for a number of years. I guess this is what I get for payback. It’s sort of sad. It’s a sad day for my family. I don’t know how a family member can do that…

Makes my unhealthy fanboy stalking of him much, much easier.

That thing I said earlier about being encouraged by Francouer saying he’s going to work on his walk rate?  Ted Berg brings to my attention the fact that Frenchie blew this jazz in 2006, 2007 2008 and 2009 (the sleuth work was done by Kyle S at Work over at BTF). So never mind. You…

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be looking at a few of the questions facing each team this spring. 1. Will the Astros get anything at all out of the catcher position while waiting for Jason Castro? GM Ed Wade opted against spending any cash to upgrade at catcher over the winter, leaving him…

Ever dreamed of being a ballboy or ballgirl for a major league club?  No?  Oh.  Um, well, you can, if you want.  From the Baltimore Sun’s Peter Schmuck: The Orioles just announced this year’s ballboy and ballgirl tryouts. The club will hold interviews on March 6 at noon at the Warehouse for anyone 18 or…