Chris Davis is the real Home Run King

After hitting his 36th home run on Saturday Davis has reached a pace to put him at 61 by the end of the season. This continues to be the number by which baseball fans use to denote a record setting campaign. We brush aside Bonds, McGwire and Sosa because of the steroid allegations (and admittance) […]

Tim Roberson: Proving the Depth of the Boston Red Sox’s Minor League System

The Boston Red Sox have emphasized the cultivation of their farm system over the past two decades, which has led to the maturation of a number of valuable major league players. In recent years, the team increasingly relied more on obtaining veteran players through trades and free agency; causing the value of their player development […]

Tanner Murphy: Trying to Catch on with the Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles may appear to be set at catcher for the foreseeable future with Matt Wieters behind the plate, but in baseball it’s never a good idea to plan too far ahead. Like any smart team, Baltimore continues to cultivate catching prospects, with Tanner Murphy being one of the young players they are most […]

Clearing The Bases

With all of the injuries throughout Major League Baseball and the natural progression of fantasy teams claiming players off the waiver wire, the pickings have become pretty slim in deeper leagues.  With that in mind we are going to talk about minor league players that could help your team in the coming weeks or months.  […]

Clearing The Bases

As Fantasy owners we have been complaining all season about one of three things.  Players who are off to slow starts (Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista), injuries (Jacoby Ellsbury, Chris Carpenter, Carl Crawford), and the weekly merry-go-round that has been the closer situation throughout baseball (half the league).  This week however, we are starting to get […]

Adjusting for Military Service

Many fans have wondered over the years about those players who lost playing time to military service – and how that may have impacted their total careers. One interesting aspect of win shares and the CAWS Career Gauge is that it is fairly easy to reasonably adjust a player’s career numbers to reflect this lost […]

Ben Cherington Needs To Pick It Up

It has barely been two months since Ben Cherington took over as Red Sox GM, but to date his work has been extremely underwhelming. This impression has been in place ever since the prolonged and possibly botched managerial search, which ultimately netted Bobby Valentine. Although Cherington and the team professed that Bobby V. was their […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we discussed the most disappointing players at each position, this week we’ll go with the most surprising, players who are playing well and above what we thought they might in spring training.  Some of the players listed are no longer playing at that position but that is where they qualified at coming into […]

COMMUNITY PLAYING TIME FORECASTS

Tom M. Tango at the The Book Blog is requesting fans to fill out playing time estimates for the team they follow closely.   In the past, these fan generated playing time forecasts have proven to be better than the ‘expert’ forecasts and better than ‘automated’ forecast systems. If you want to participate, the link is: […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Center Field

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

Review: Time in the Minors

If you want a very good representation of the minor league baseball lifestyle and the near impossible road to the Major Leagues most of these players follow, you should check out Tony Okun’s “Time in the Minors.” Coming in at just over 85 minutes in length, the movie tells the tale of two minor leaguers […]

Any Fish’ll Bite If You Got Good Bait

The Nationals continue to make notable progress in building their minor league organization.  Rated consistently in the bottom tier since the move from Montreal in 2005, the system is on the rise, but an acid test awaits. GM Mike Rizzo wants to trade for a starting pitcher. The rumor mill has the Nationals looking at […]

Touring The Bases With…John Castino

John Castino was selected co-rookie of the year (with Toronto’s Alfredo Griffin) in the American League for 1979 after batting .285 with eight triples. Due to the tie, the voting process (and point system) was changed in 1980. Castino hit .302 in 1980 and led the American League in triples in 1981, but back problems […]

Some Stories About John Marzano

John Marzano died two years ago today at his home in Philadelphia. He’d spent his last three years as a player, 1996 through 1998, with the Seattle Mariners. To help remember him, here are some quotes and anecdotes from his time with the Mariners. With his fairly marginal status as a long-term backup catcher, Marzano […]

Closing Arguments in Washington

The Nationals have played their last 2010 spring game in Viera, FL and are headed north.  The jury is still out.  They have won a few more spring games, but benching Cristian Guzman for Ian Desmond will make speed and athleticism a big factor for the 2010 Nationals.  The move is exhibit A in a […]

Those Sweet Words

What did you say? I know what you were singing But my ears won’t stop ringing Long enough to hear Those sweet words And your simple melody I just have to hear Those sweet words Spoken like a melody I just want to hear Those sweet words –Norah Jones, “Those Sweet Words“, Feels Like Home […]