All Entries in the "MLB Perspectives" Category
David Freese Coming Back to Reality, or Change in Approach?
During the offseason there was a lot of discussion about David Freese after his highly productive playoff run. 2011 was a magical year for Freese and the Cardinals. David posted career numbers both in the regular season and carried that success into the playoffs, leading St. Louis to a World Series title. However lately he [...]
Why Adrian Gonzalez Isn’t Hitting for Power
A midst the massive failure that is the Boston Red Sox from the Fall of 2011 and though this point in the 2012 season, there have been a lot of fingers pointed and opinions formed. One point I heard being discussed on a Boston sports talk radio show over the weekend was asking why Adrian [...]
The Daniel Bard Dilemma… Sort of.
Lets forget about the disastrous start by the Boston Red Sox for a moment, shall we? .. Well, never mind, but lets try for the sake of making a sound baseball decision for just this article. Lets face it, Sweet Caroline isn’t going to get the Red Sox out of this slide to start the [...]
Mark Melancon’s Struggles with Red Sox
During the 2011-’12 offseason the Red Sox and Astro‘s made a trade that brought the Red Sox their next set-up man, and the Astro’s an injury plagued, yet talented middle infielder who was looking for an opportunity in Jed Lowrie. There wasn’t a ton of reaction to this trade, but it’s proving rather significant through only [...]
My ECFBL 12-team Dynasty H2H Category League Draft Plus Analysis
Last night I participated in the first draft for my new dynasty keeper league. The league is filled with some smart baseball minds (including one not-so-smart) so I was excited to see how it would go. Based on the scoring categories and layout, I had devised my strategy before the draft and stuck with [...]
The Future of Baseball Analytics – Cognitive Intelligence
I am a naturally inquisitive guy. In fact, the statistical side of baseball really appeals to me because it’s a direction to the path of knowledge. With more information and data, we can more appropriately get closer to a conclusion or at least a very sound hypothesis. Sometimes we sit and wait until the data [...]
The Burnett Acquisition Offers Optimism in Pittsburgh
The Yankees and Pirates completed a trade yesterday that sent veteran right hander A.J. Burnett to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for two warm bodies and some salary relief. Pittsburgh is expected to pick up $13MM of the $31.1MM left on his contract, and immediately be placed atop the rotation for a team severely lacking [...]
Aramis Is The Wrong Direction For Brewers
The Brewers signed Aramis Ramirez to a 3-year deal today to play 3rd and fill in the gap in offense that the departed Prince Fielder left via free agency. Although Fielder has yet to sign with another team, it’s all but a guarantee that the slugger will land somewhere other than Milwaukee for the next decade. [...]
Braun Tests Positive, Could Mean Big Changes in Milwaukee
It was just made public that NL MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and will serve a 50-game suspension barring an appeal. This is extremely significant for Milwaukee going forward and all but surely takes them out of the bidding for Prince Fielder as Braun will miss 1/3 of the season [...]
Arizona nabs Cahill and Breslow, send Jarrod Parker and others to Oakland
Billy Beane decided to essentially toss any hope for A’s fans out the window yesterday when he dealt young ace in the making Trevor Cahill and effective RP Craig Breslow to the Diamondbacks for SP prospect Jarrod Parker and two “prospects”. This move is significant for the D’backs as their outlook on 2012 takes a [...]
Dipoto and Moreno bet Angels future on Pujols/Wilson
It was reported two days ago within the course of two hours that the LA Angels had signed both Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson. By doing so, they simultaneously declared themselves favorites to win the AL West and pronounce them the “winners” of the 2011-’12 off-season. The buzz on Twitter the moment of the announced [...]
The Party Is In Miami
Looks like Will Smith had it right all along when he wrote the hit song some time ago “Welcome to Miami”. The Miami Marlins have made the biggest splashes of the offseason thus far by inking Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle to long term deals. Reyes’ deal is a backloaded contract to ease the transition [...]
Verlander wins AL MLP
Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander was named the 2011 American League MVP today and there has been much discussion surrounding the topic. Finishing in a close second was Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury who posted career highs in batting average, home runs and RBI’s. A close third came Jose Bautista sporting his over 1k [...]
2011 World Series Wrapup, Look Ahead to Post-Pujols Cardinals
The 2011 World Series is over, but it’s one I know I will certainly remember. The product on the field was excellent, with many games being close until the final innings and some going into extra’s. No team had a particularly oustanding advantage on either side of the field. Although Texas’ lineup is substantially better, [...]
For true baseball fans, the 2011 World Series offers a breath of fresh air
I have to admit that this World Series offers a bit of optimism for those fans who realize the talent disparity between the American and National Leagues. If you were to take an overall view of the talent level, the American League has been significantly more “stacked” with talent for many years now. Sometimes you’ll [...]
Game Theory Application in Pitching Sequences
game theory -? noun: a mathematical theory that deals with strategies for maximizinggains and minimizing losses within prescribed constraints, as therules of a card game: widely applied in the solution of variousdecision-making problems, as those of military strategy andbusiness policy. Through my time as a professional poker player in college, I dabbled and experimented and [...]
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