RICKEY ON RICKEY "Let’s see, for breakfast Rickey will have bacon and eggs, and grits if I can get ’em." —Rickey Henderson, Padres outfielder, on the Rickey Henderson Diet "Then I’ll have a good meal after the game, either the clubhouse buffet or at a restaurant someplace. I’ll eat a steak sometimes, sure. But not…
About the time Jimmy Carter left office and Brett Myers was born, the Philadelphia Phillies were a proud organization. They had the sharpest scouts, a huge staff of men trained in Branch Rickey’s maxims. Even their executives had a scouting mindset. The Phillies wrote the book on scouting: the Philadelphia Scouting Manual. Philadelphia’s scouts were…
Ryan Ludwick is an outfielder in the Oakland Athletics system. The A’s selected him in the second round in 1999 out of UNLV, and he’s been working his way up the system by hitting for power and playing notable defense since then. Ludwick is currently in the Texas League at Midland, where he’s hitting .269…
This week’s question comes from. uh. well, BP’s Joe Sheehan, who wrote in last Monday’s Daily Prospectus: There’s also something that reader Jim Cox mentioned to me that I have to say is very impressive to observe, if an unknown (or even a tautology) from an analytical standpoint. The Mariners score in a ridiculous percentage…
I think we all owe Oscar Acosta an apology. You might recall that back in spring training, Acosta created a huge stir in the Cubs’ spring training camp by questioning the manhood of some of the Cubs’ young pitchers, particularly Will Ohman and Carlos Zambrano. At the time, we all thought Acosta was nuts. It…
John Sickels is my favorite baseball writer. He writes a regular column for ESPN.com, pens the annual STATS Minor League Scouting Notebook, and produces an outstanding semi-weekly e-mail newsletter focusing on the minor leagues. Sickels’s newsletter, launched this season, is insightful, entertaining, and packed with interesting and relevant information. It’s a great read for all…
I was ready to write a 6-4-3 this week that gave Cam Bonifay as fond a farewell as possible, focusing on his tremendous deal that brought Brian Giles to the Pirates in exchange for Ricardo Rincon. It was an absolutely masterful deal, one that could have been the cornerstone for a very successful franchise. Mr….
BYE BYE BONIFAY "When we are ready to make the announcement, we’ll announce it." — Cam Bonifay, Pirates GM, on Derek Bell’s return from the DL "To Derek’s credit, he’s given us every effort. He works hard. He does everything he’s asked to do. He just needs to get healthy. People will say the Derek…
One of the more unlikely record-holders in baseball history is Bobby Thigpen, whose single-season mark of 57 saves, set in 1990, has never been seriously challenged. The record has the scent of a accident all over it; the White Sox closer shattered the previous record of 46 saves, set by the Yankees‘ Dave Righetti in…