Archive for June, 2011
“Circle Change” by Gabriel Busch: A Book Review
In “Circle Change”, author Gabriel Busch attempts to fuse a love story with a profound tale of reflection and redemption. Luckily for the reader, he succeeds by connecting on several levels. Set against the backdrop of major league baseball dreams and aspirations, the novel has something to offer for just about any reader. Make [...]
Fan or Fantasy?
I really love playing fantasy baseball. However, there is one little thing that always seems to complicate my enjoyment: being a baseball fan. Allow me to explain. I am a baseball fan, no doubt about it. In addition, I am also a huge Toronto Blue Jays fan. I live less than an hour from the city, followed [...]
Bautista Returns to Hot Corner
Thursday night, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos announced that the team’s star right fielder, Jose Bautista, will be moving to third base until top prospect Brett Lawrie fully recovers from a broken left hand, sustained on a HBP just days before the Jays were planning to give him the starting job at third. Lawrie was expected [...]
Fantasy Baseball’s Second Half Stars
One of the more interesting statistics fantasy baseball owners need to evaluate on a regular basis is split stats. Whether determining fantasy baseball split stats in regard to lefty-righty matchups or home-road splits, figuring out baseball players’ tendencies can make or break a fantasy baseball season. Much like there are “morning people” and there are “nighthawks”, it’s a known fact [...]
Dodgers Fans Show No Love For Their Team
I’m finally back from my trip to Los Angeles for a Muscular Dystrophy study. Sorry for the lag in articles, but no laptop and no home = no articles. But all was not lost, my friends. My trip to sunny California gave me a chance to compare Phillies fans and Dodgers fans. I [...]
Not so Obvious Baseball Tips – Teaching the Game
Since retiring from major league baseball many years ago, I have studied and taught the game to many. I wish I had a few extra bucks for every time I thought to myself, “If I only knew then what I know now.” The good news is that what I know now, I pass on to [...]
Bobby V Lends a Helping Hand to Japan
Bobby Valentine may have left Japan at the end of the 2009 baseball season, but it’s obvious that the former Chiba Lotte Marines manager’s heart is still with the country. The ESPN baseball analyst has been involved in relief and fundraising efforts to aid in the recovery of the decimated Tohoku region. His collaboration with [...]
Mets’ Pitching Looks Bright
Many have said that the immediate future of the Mets appears bleak. While the team has many critical decisions to make this summer, the future is not as dark as it seems to be. The reason for such optimism? The starting pitching, the most critical part of any any major league team, has given Mets [...]
Call to the Pen: Relief Pitchers Who Can Help Your Fantasy Baseball Team
Previously I had mentioned the benefits of using relief pitchers in fantasy baseball. Baseball managers often use their relief pitchers in situations (including spot starts) that exploit the advantages of those pitchers. For example, if a particular reliever has a great deal of success against right-handed batters, the manager may only use him in those situations. [...]
Taking a Look at Pitch Efficiency
Last time we looked at runs scored, hitting categories, and managerial efficiency. Today, we are doing the same with runs scored, pitching categories, and managerial efficiency. Naturally, we are first looking to see how teams did in the various categories. Instead of boring you with numbers, we will go with their rankings in the different [...]
Top Prospect Dustin Ackley (2B) Debuts for the Mariners Tonight
Dustin Ackley will be making the most highly anticipated Seattle Mariner debut on June 17th 2011 since the debut of one King Felix Hernandez in 2005. Ackley got off to an abysmal start in April, but he then hit .355/.443/.605 in May and .346/.500/.538 in June. Yes, he’s due for regression away from those numbers, [...]
A Review of…Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN
If you are a baseball fan, chances are, you spend countless hours every year following the game you love in some capacity on ESPN. While most currently see ESPN as a sports entertainment giant who is almost too large, just as many probably forget the perilous times when ESPN was first getting [...]
Detroit Tigers Following the Same Path Again
The Detroit Tigers seem to find themselves in the same position every year. For four of the past five seasons they’ve entered June with an above .500 record and a few games up or behind in the AL Central. Halfway through the month they now find themselves tied with the Cleveland Indians in first. In [...]
Forget the Cold Starts, These Players Are Just Getting Warm
One of the keys to success in fantasy baseball is being able to spot the trends and then acting upon them. Obviously, it makes a lot of sense to watch out for players who are starting to heat up so that they may possibly be added to your line up through either a trade or the waiver wire. [...]
One Fan’s Take on Posey & the Giants
Injuries are just part of baseball. They are part of what makes it so difficult for a good team to repeat the success of their prior year. I do think that most ballplayers expect to either play hurt or be injured at some point in their professional career. I do think that this is an [...]
2011 Fantasy Baseball Prospect Report: Kansas City Royals’ Mike Moustakas
In one of the most anticipated roster moves of the 2011 season, the Kansas City Royals promoted third base prospect Mike Moustakas from Triple-A on Friday. He has exactly one hit (including his first major league HR on Saturday) and one run in each of his first three games. Moustakas ranked as the No. 9 prospect according [...]
DRSEA Fundraiser To Be Co-Chaired By Reds Legends Perez & Rose
NEW YORK, NY – Cincinnati Reds legends Tony Perez and Pete Rose have been tabbed as honorary co-chairs of a fundraiser for the Dominican Republic Sports & Education (DRSEA), June 21 at 7 p.m. at the 809 Lounge, 112 Dyckman St., New York, NY. The event will include a panel discussion on Dominican baseball and [...]
Oh No Don’t Hit My Catcher: GM’s Changing Their Tune on Blocking the Plate
My, oh my, how times have changed. Twenty years ago if the baseball world could have heard the conversations over the past week about whether or not catchers should block the plate, many would have thought the baseball people just got soft. That being said, probably the worst reason not to change [...]
Don’t Count Your Chickens, Cleveland
Much to the delight of Cleveland fans, the Cavs season is over. In all seriousness, Tribe fans, young and old, have not experienced this success since their pennant run in 2007, when they were one game away from the Fall Classic. In the month of April, Cleveland went 18-8 and was clearly [...]
Follow the Batted Ball
One of the things those of us in stats all want to do is to go from step A to step F without explaining the steps in between. The main goal in this section is to avoid skipping steps. In the introductory article I mentioned batted ball statistics. Before I move onto those statistics I [...]
Ten Hitting Tips that Guarantee Success
Never accept mediocrity. When hitters have good hand, eye coordination there is no reason for inconsistent contact – work harder on the fundamentals. Hitters do not need to know what they are doing wrong but they need to know how to adjust. I often tell my students that no one forces them to [...]
“K” it Forward or Put it in Play?
When analyzing fantasy baseball pitchers, there is often the tendency to highly value those who strike out a lot of batters. But is it possible to over-value this stat? Probably not, but it got me to thinking. Since part of the fun of playing this game is trying to pick out the fantasy baseball [...]
The 2011 Mets Have Contracted the Injury Bug; Quick, Call an Exterminator!
At some point this summer, if the Mets ever get everyone on the field, they would actually field a pretty formidable team. A lineup of Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Josh Thole and Justin Turner, with Daniel Murphy in reserve, would excite many Mets [...]
A Review of BB&T Ballpark Home of the Winston-Salem Dash
If one thing is for sure in Winston Salem, it’s that the people in that area love their baseball team. Attending a Saturday night game for the Winston Salem Dash, the Class A Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, is akin to being present at a very popular regular season series in the Major Leagues. [...]
2011 Fantasy Baseball Projections: Why You Should Buy Low on Chicago White Sox’s Alex Rios
Ubaldo Jimenez isn’t the only star of 2010 that has struggled this season. After a year in which Alex Rios hit 21 HRs, swiped 34 bases and hit .284 in the middle of a potent White Sox lineup, the 30-year-old center fielder has slumped through the first two months of 2011, posting a pathetic .201/.253/.306 slash with four HRs [...]
Tribe Fans Feeling Like It’s 1995
No one, including the most optimistic fans in Cleveland, thought with the season headed into June, the Indians would be in the discussion of the best teams in baseball. In fact, even employees of the team were saying before the season that they were realistically two years out of contending. To fans, this felt like [...]
Harper Changes Hagerstown on His Way to Washington
Superstars change everything, no matter where they go. This is true in business, personal life and, of course, sports and is on display, at least for the time being, in Hagerstown, MD. Hagerstown is the home of the Hagerstown Suns, the Class A Affiliate of the Washington Nationals and is home to [...]
Pirates Enter June Respectably
What has only happened a handful of times in the past 20 years seems to be breathing again. It is now June and the Pittsburgh Pirates are flirting with .500. The Pirates have one of the worst streaks in all of sports, in fact it is the worst. Eighteen consecutive seasons with [...]
Knowing Your Platoon Splits
Platoons. Baseball Managers are well-known for using them all the time to play the odds and help ensure a better success rate. Knowing players’ tendencies and acting on them has long been a strategy employed by baseball Managers (early notables include Earl Weaver and Casey Stengel)and coaches alike. Not content to simply utilize lefty-righty matchups in their [...]
Can Baltimore Win Without Roberts?
After suffering through an injury-riddled season in 2010, it looks like Brian Roberts will be spending a significant stretch on the sidelines again in 2011 following a serious concussion suffered in mid-May. Though the Orioles’ table-setter isn’t the All-Star he used to be, he is still a crucial part of the Baltimore offense and replacing [...]
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