GOTCHA. CAN’T WIN, DON’T TRY "I don’t think you can teach a guy to get walks. I really don’t. He’s going to have his batting style and you’re not going to change him." —Larry Bowa, Phillies manager "It’s like people who say we need to walk more. Sure, that’s great to say. But then you…
It appears we’re supposed to take the Dodgers seriously as contenders, since they lead the division in early August, have played excellent baseball since the All-Star break, and are doing all this with $427 billion worth of pitchers on the disabled list. Watching their game last night, though, one thing nagged at me, a sign…
The frenzy surrounding the July 31 trade deadline is a relatively new phenomenon. I don’t know–and am too lazy to check–whether there are more deals around deadline time now than there were, say, 10 years ago, but to my untrained eye, it sure appears as if there’s a lot more attention paid to "Deal Week"…
This week’s question comes from T.W., who asks: Does anyone track errors against for a hitter? It would seem to me that this might be a consistent skill (due to speed, an ability to consistently hit hard ground balls, and continued hustle). If it is a consistent skill shouldn’t this be tracked and shouldn’t certain…
…that Derek Jeter‘s "off year" has him ninth in the AL in Runs Above Position? For some perspective, note that he’s 11 spots above Ichiro, with essentially the same EqA. …that Lou Piniella has done a great job managing the running game? The Mariners have stolen 111 bases and been caught just 24 times, an…
All of the coverage over the past 48 hours has focused on the teams that made moves, either to win this year or in years to come. What I find interesting is the teams that stood pat. Of the 30 major-league teams, just five sat idle over the past week. Of those, one is the…
Many of you are aware of a column that I write in conjunction with ESPN.com columnist Rob Neyer. While "Rob & Rany on the Royals" is, at its heart, a discussion of the affairs of that fallen franchise, our comments frequently touch upon all major-league teams. I recently made the following point about the Royals’…
Chris Kahrl will have more to say about yesterday’s big trades, but I want to share with you a great point made by Rany Jazayerli in e-mail, about the Mets/Twins deal: Can you imagine how pissed off Matt Lawton is right now? He came up with the Twins in 1995, he’s suffered through six awful…
Brett Tomko was the Cincinnati Reds’ first selection (second round, 54th pick overall) in the 1995 draft, out of Florida Southern College. A quick climb up the minor-league ladder landed him in the Reds rotation by late spring of 1997, where he fashioned an 11-7, 3.83 rookie season. After that auspicious debut, his situation deteriorated…
I always hated the Rally Monkey. For those of you who haven’t been to an Angels game lately, the Rally Monkey is the Angels’ device for getting the crowd excited when the team is behind. It started about a year ago, and now every time the Angels need runs, they show a clip of this…
NO BLOCKBUSTER DEALS THIS YEAR, THEY SAID "I think anyone would agree that this makes us a better team." —Billy Beane, Athletics general manager, on the three-way trade that brought outfielder Jermaine Dye to the A’s "We’re trying to create a deep, 40-man roster. We have a lot of holes to fill. It’s going to…
Last week’s column about pitch counts, game lengths and run scoring got quite a lot of response, most of it taking me to task for not answering the question properly. Though MLB has backed down after the directive to “hunt for strikes” caused an uproar, it still remains an interesting topic for analysis. Here’s a…
There’s a rather extended thread–actually a series of threads–on the Usenet newsgroup rec.sport.baseball concerning the value of Barry Bonds, and whether he or Luis Gonzalez is the more valuable player this year. Some people are rather staunch in their believe that Bonds isn’t a "clutch" player, pointing to his lackluster postseason performances for the Pirates…