With his options nearly exhausted and the chance that he would forever remain three walks shy of the all-time record growing larger by the day, Rickey Henderson accepted an offer from the Padres for $300,000, payable if he makes the team. What’s unusual is that the deal contains none of the playing-time-driven incentives you typically…
Part One Part Two Now that we’ve released this season’s Top 40 Prospects list, it is time to return to a tradition we started last season, to objectively evaluate our list from a year ago and see what we can learn. As we did last season, we will compare our ranking of each player with…
(Ed. note: On the heels of Derek Zumsteg’s jaunt through Arizona, Jeff Hildebrand is making his way around Florida. He’ll be filing periodic reports during his trip.) The Tampa/St. Petersburg area is home to four Grapefruit League sites. The Yankees play in Tampa proper. On the other side of the bay, the Rays play their…
PITCH THROUGH THE PAIN "If you’re a young guy trying to make the ball club and you go ahead and see a doctor, that’s not a good sign. You either want to play or you don’t. —Oscar Acosta, Cubs pitching coach, on reliever Will Ohman‘s complaints of shoulder stiffness returning from his injury "I think…
Third base might be the most interesting position on the field this spring. Last year it was Kevin Elster. This year, the Dodgers dusted Mark Lewis off and handed him a contract and a shot at a position where they’re way short on contributing talent. Of course, that’s where the similarities end. The Dodgers have…
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have done a lot of things right this winter, from not spending millions on additional veteran mediocrities to turning nominal closer Roberto Hernandez into a great young hitter who has already been locked up into his arbitration years (Ben Grieve). But they could be on the verge of making a…
What follows is not, in any way, shape or form, demonstrative evidence of anything. It’s just interesting, worth sharing and discussing, and doesn’t really mean diddlysquat. Yet. The big story this spring on the field is the effort to reestablish the strike zone as it was originally designed. The short, elongated rectangle of recent years…
Part One Part Two Part Three On my last day in Arizona, my brother and I decided to see a game in Tempe, which would let me catch a fourth game and still make my flight out of town from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport ("The Airport With the Needlessly Long Name"). Phoenix is about…
Some columns go in a slightly different direction than you intended. I sat down to write a piece about the potential impacts of the unbalanced schedule on the very best players in the game. I was going to base it on last year’s winning percentage, and see what stars might have an opportunity to post…
Part One Part Two The sky in Tucson was filled with choppy clouds with dark grey undersides, an appropriate a reflection of my mood, when I walked outside to gauge what we’d need to pack for the day’s Diamondbacks-Cubs game. It was the only game in town today, the best advance tickets I could get…
Last week, I received a note from one of our readers, Peter Simon: Is there any chance this year’s Orioles will be the worst offensive team ever, compared to league averages? I haven’t done any statistical research of my own on it, but just looking at their lineup, things look bleak for them. The Orioles…
Part One Last night I was in a bar in Tucson that my brother works at called the French Quarter, which is a nice place with a bunch of cool people. One guy stuck out to me. He was drinking a water at the bar, taking up two stools in turning sideways, and looking around…
Tucson is a sprawling city with wide streets built on a grid, featuring the University of Arizona. It has a crime problem and a ton of those annoying street kids who panhandle all day to buy high-end hiking shoes, skateboards, and nice second-hand clothes they can wear in hip bars as they nurse premium beers…