ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Activated 3B Matt Williams and 1B Erubiel Durazo from the DL; placed IF Danny Klassen on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 7/8 (toe); optioned OF Rob Ryan to Tucson. [7/13] Recalled RHP Nelson Figueroa from Tucson; optioned 1B/OF Travis Lee to Tucson. [7/16] Perhaps nothing reflects the immediate needs of the Snakes more…
As teams separate themselves into contenders and Cubs, organizations with little hope for 2000 and quality minor leaguers will have the opportunity to showcase their cheap, young talent. Between now and the middle of September, a number of players are going to arrive in–or in some cases, return to–the major leagues, many of them to…
This is the second in a series of rankings of major-league defenders, highlighting the top ten and bottom five at each position. The ratings are a combination of Zone Rating, Range Factor and my best (and admittedly grossly flawed) assessment of the job they’re doing. The Top 1. Troy Glaus, Anaheim. Glaus is ridiculously athletic…
We’re in Year Eight of major-league baseball in Denver, which means we’re approaching a point when we should have enough data to start determining what type of baseball, and what type of player, is best-suited to winning at altitude. We’ve seen a few different ideas implemented so far, as the Rockies have moved through flyball…
On Friday, Major League Baseball’s Blue Ribbon Panel of Certified Outside Experts released its report on competitive balance in baseball, issuing a list of recommendations on how to prevent the gap between extremely-rich teams and less-extremely-rich teams from getting bigger. The four-man group, which had access to all of the sport’s financial data, didn’t say…
As we did with the NL second-half preview, we’ll start in the Central division. I’ll reiterate what I said in the most recent AL Central Notebook: the Indians are not going to catch the White Sox, but they are going to narrow the gap. Each team played to an extreme in the first half, the…
When we looked back at the first-half performances, we led with the American League, so we’ll start this segment with the National. I’ll start with the easiest call: the Cardinals are going to win the NL Central. Even if Mark McGwire‘s knee injury restricts his playing time, there is no team in the division capable…
ATLANTA BRAVES Acquired RHP Andy Ashby from the Phillies for LHPs Bruce Chen and Jimmy Osting. [7/12] Laugh if you’re a disinterested bystander or a Mets fan, and cry if you care about the Braves. I don’t know who deserves more venom: John Schuerholz for doing something this stupid, or the talking heads who are…
"Stop the presses," has such a quaint sound these days, what with newspapers and magazines mostly produced digitally and Web publishing allowing changes up to the second of–and even after–publication of an article. But yesterday’s big trades made today’s column–a look at the NL in the second half–obsolete before it ever made it off my…
BRUISINGS "I wasn’t nervous at all. I just couldn’t locate my fastball or make adjustments on it." — Ed Yarnall, Reds pitcher, on retiring just two of the ten batters he faced July 6 "It was a rough start coming back. I couldn’t keep the ball down and threw a few pitches I shouldn’t have….
At the midway point of the season, BP’s staff sees four awards as runaways and two as crapshoots. Here’s a look at our panel’s voting for the big six honors. AL MVP (5-3-1, first place in parentheses) Alex Rodriguez 46 (8) Pedro Martinez 15 (2) Jason Giambi 9 Ivan Rodriguez 9 Carlos Delgado 5 Edgar…
Well, I suppose the bright side is that I know people are reading: "It was my understanding that Girardi is an All-Star replacing Piazza b/c 1) Hundley turned them down due to family concerns & 2) Javy Lopez had already skipped the country on his vacation plans. Girardi was just the best of a bad…
After winning the NL Central three straight years, the Houston Astros limped into the All-Star break with a 30-57 record, the worst in baseball by five games. Only three teams in history have gone from first to last in one season: Year Team Year 1 Year 2 1914 Philadelphia (AL) 99-53 43-109 1986 California 92-70…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed RHP Tim Belcher on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 7/3 (sore elbow); recalled RHPs Ramon Ortiz and Lou Pote from Edmonton; activated SS Kevin Stocker from the DL; optioned 2B/SS Justin Baughman and RHP Brian Cooper to Edmonton. [7/6] Optioned RHP Ramon Ortiz to Edmonton; recalled RHP Seth Etherton from Edmonton. [7/7]…
Just an idle thought before we get back to our look at some notable first-half performances…is it possible that interleague play has made it easier for players to skip or be held out of the All-Star Game? The midsummer classic isn’t the only chance to see some of those special matchups anymore, and perhaps the…
It has now been more than two years since we created Pitcher Abuse Points to standardize the measurement of pitcher workloads. By and large, we have been more successful at that goal than we had any reason to expect. Some people in baseball now agree with the notion that limiting pitch counts in an attempt…