2010 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball

post from Rangerfans.com on 09 February 2010 11:58:00 PM. © Rangerfans.com

I've opened up the Rangerfans Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Leagues (as they just opened for business tonight). I've found these leagues have better and nicer drafts than the public ones where you get a lot of asshats making nuisances out of themselves in drafts. I've opened up more than one at a time this time around.

Signup URL: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/register/joinprivateleague_league_select

League #1 ID: 152957
Password: greenberg
Live Online Draft: Sat Feb 27 @ 6:30pm CST
Unique URL: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/rangerfans (After you've signed up).

League #2 ID: 153002
Password: nolanryan
Live Online Draft: Sat Mar 20 @ 6:30pm CST
Unique URL: http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/rangerfans2 (After you've signed up).

On another note, I will say what I always say. PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP IF YOU DO NOT INTEND ON PLAYING THE ENTIRE YEAR OUT! If there's one thing I hate, it's people who sign up and then never play. I just care about having people that don't quit.

Hope to see the regulars back out there again.

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Yankee Minor League System

post from The Chuck Knoblog on 09 February 2010 11:23:00 PM. © The Chuck Knoblog

One of the good things, for me, about being a big baseball and Yankee fan has always been being able to go through the Yankee Minor League teams and looking at stats of some "future" Yankees.But I learned long ago that just because a player in "A" ball hit .320 doesn't mean we will ever see him in a Yankee uniform. This is especially true of the Yankee system. For years the Yankees have used their Minor League system for trades and not so much for the calling up of players to help the big team. There have been exceptions, we all know Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano, Bernie and Jorge since 1996, but for the most part not so many. I see a different pattern emerging now! The Yankees have more than a few young players in the lower system, both pitchers and every dayers. Especially, it seems, catchers. Among the names you might be seeing in the near future are Montero, Romine, Sanchez, Murphy and Higashioka. That is more than normal the amount of catching prospects for an organization and should alleviate any concerns about what the Yanks will do when Jorge is gone. In fact, in Jesus Montero the Yankees have the third highest rated prospect in baseball according to many of the magazines that do this type pf player rating. He is prospected out as a back-up catcher but a big tome power hitter at DH or possibly some OF. Romine and Sanchez are considered the future starters. Someone better tell Francisco Cervelli this. It's pretty exciting to know that, beside putting a World Series winner on the field at the major League level the Yanks are doing their due diligence on the minor league level. Bodes well for the future!

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-system.html

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Hal McRae, Racism, and the Disputed 1976 Batting
Title

post from Royals Review on 09 February 2010 11:04:45 PM. © Royals Review

I'm teaching a course on the 1970s and the first assignment of the semester asked my students to analyze a magazine advertisement from the period. To make things a little easier, I picked up a box full of old magazines from a few Goodwills and a used bookstore. Probably ten yellowed copies of The Sporting News made it into the collection, and as such, I've been looking through them when I get bored.

Thumbing through the 10/16/76 edition, I stumbled across a stunning story that I'd never heard before: the imbroglio surrounding the 1976 Batting Title.

The '76 batting average race was already noteworthy because two teammates, George Brett and Hal McRae were chasing one another for the title. Brett was 23, and was enjoying his second season as an elite player in the Big Leagues (he'd been ok, but not super in 1973-74). McRae was 30, and was in the middle of his peak. He'd post the best OBP of his career in 1976 (.406) and the next year he added power to his game, hitting 21 homers.

On September 26, McRae led Brett, .337 to .333. Brett was remarkably steady down the stretch however, and when the season ended, he was still at .333, thanks to a, you guessed it, .333 final week (8-24). McRae lagged however, going 5-23 (.217). McRae ended up officially at .332, decimal points (in many sense of the phrase) behind Brett.

But that's just the wide angle version.

As it happened, the title came down to Brett's final AB of the season. When Brett stepped to the plate in the 9th (McRae was on deck) if he got a hit he'd move ahead of McRae, if not, he'd stay in second. Brett flyed to leftfield, and when the ball couldn't be caught by Steve Brye, Brett ended up recording an inside-the-park HR. Next up, McRae, who grounded out. Brett is the batting champion.

Now remember, this was 1976, so having the highest batting average was an incredibly big deal.

According to Joe McGuff's story in The Sporting News, titled, "Misplayed Fly Ball Clouds Brett's Title" (page 31)after McRae grounded out he "made two obscene gestures at the Twins' dugout and had to be restrained when Manager Gene Mauch came on the field".

After the game, McRae claimed that the Twins conspired to give Brett the title. Racism, McRae said, was the motivation.

"Things have been like this a long time. They're changing gradually. They shouldn't be this way, but I can accept it." [...] "I know what happened. It's been too good a season for me to say too much, but I know they let that ball fall on purpose."

McRae's claim centered on the argument that Byre was playing too deep (at Mauch's instruction) and that Byre likely hesitated on Brett's flyball, letting it fall.

Mauch called the accusations the "worst thing that's happened to me in 35 years in baseball" and the story includes a number of quotes from other players denying McRae's assertion. Cookie Rojas defended Mauch citing previous experience, but also said he "prays to God" that McRae's statement isn't true, which is somewhat ambiguous. According to the story, there was no enmity between Brett and McRae after the game. In fact, Brett also is quoted as saying, "I think maybe the Twins made me a present of the batting championship, and if they did, I feel just as bad about it as Hal does".

The story was further complicated by the fact that Rod Carew of the Twins finished third that year, finishing .331. Carew said after the game, "that's a bunch of crap when they talk about racial stuff."

I'm ashamed to admit I'd never heard this story and it appears that after a few years it went away. While researching this post, I noticed a few mentions of the game in late 1970s editions of Baseball Digest, but they touched only on the teammates and last game angles.

Here's what amazes me most: this story is buried on page 31 of The Sporting News. Just one more story in the stream of basic pieces that appeared in page after page. No cover tease. No editorial on page two. Nothing.

Can you imagine if this happened today? We'd be viewing replays of the flyball round the clock, with every baseball writer in America essentially required to weigh in on the issue. There'd be a pro-McRae party, to be sure, along with a vociferous party against him. There'd also be those simply arguing that the play might instead just be changed to an error. There'd be a really cool post someone analyzing the physics of the play, and comparing the fielder's position on that play as compared to similar situations. And, we'd also have quite a lot of "if McRae wanted to do something about, he woulda gotten a hit! Scoreboard!" And on and on and on. (For about three days.)

That crazy five minutes ended up being historically important, as it allowed Brett to win a batting title in three different decades (1976, 1980, 1990). Hal McRae, of course, would continue to burnish his reputation as one to fly off the handle. In 1993 a question involving George Brett produced one of the greatest meltdowns of all time.

So what really happened in 1976? Test on Monday.

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Team Pitching - September

post from Baseball In-Depth on 09 February 2010 10:02:00 PM. © Baseball In-Depth

Team ERA (Full Season Rank)

1. Angels: 2.96 (21st)
2. Reds: 3.04 (9th)
3. Dodgers: 3.08 (1st)
4. Cubs: 3.11 (5th)
5. Padres: 3.13 (17th)

26. Rays: 5.06 (15th)
27. Rangers: 5.07 (18th)
28. D-Backs: 5.24 (19th)
29. Nationals: 5.42 (28th)
30. Orioles: 6.22 (30th)

One of the biggest reasons that the Angels had such a good team ERA in September was that Scott Kazmir, who they acquired on August 28th from Tampa Bay, pitched really well after struggling for most of the year, going 1-2 with a 2.01 ERA. When they acquired him from Tampa Bay, he was 8-7 with an ERA of 5.92. This offseason, the Angels lost John Lackey to the Red Sox, but they should be fine if Kazmir continues to pitch well.

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http://www.baseballindepth.com/2010/02/team-pitching-september.html

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The Price for 2006

post from TigerBlog on 09 February 2010 09:53:38 PM. © TigerBlog

With pitchers and catchers reporting in close to a week, I have a few more optimistic pieces planned but I wanted to write one more downer article. Back in 2006, Tigers fans were sky high. While the Tigers fell short of winning the World Series, they put themselves back on the map. Now with that [...]

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The Outfield Chronicles Part 2: The Platoon
Matrix.

post from Capitol Avenue Club on 09 February 2010 09:10:50 PM. © Capitol Avenue Club

This has to be the most complicated outfield platoon matrix in the history of whatever. Maybe not, but there’s a lot at play here. The potential arrival of Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward, as well as (basically) five outfielders that hit righties better than lefties and one that does the opposite, to a [...]

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Injuries, The Astros Have Injuries...

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 09 February 2010 09:03:28 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

From the AP wire:

Astros RHP Lyon recovering from shoulder surgery
HOUSTON (AP) ? Astros reliever Brandon Lyon had surgery to drain a small cyst in his pitching shoulder but is expected to be ready for spring training.
The team said in a statement Tuesday that Lyon had the cyst drained two weeks ago and has been throwing without discomfort since. The right-hander is expected to begin workouts with his new club Feb. 20, when pitchers and catchers report for spring training in Kissimmee, Fla.
He might be about 10 days behind in his throwing program, the Astros said.Houston signed Lyon as a free agent in December to a $15 million, three-year contract.
"Brandon was experiencing some weakness and discomfort in his shoulder, and we brought him in a couple of weeks ago to be seen," general manager Ed Wade said. "At the time of his pre-signing physical, his right shoulder MRI showed a very small cyst, and when the MRI was repeated recently, it showed that the cyst had enlarged and was pressing on some nerves.
"Since having it drained, Brandon reports no problems, but he will be making up for a little bit of lost time when he gets to Kissimmee."
Lyon was 6-5 with a 2.86 ERA and three saves in 65 relief appearances for Detroit last year.
In other news, minor league second baseman Jose Vallejo will undergo right hand surgery Wednesday and miss most of the 2010 season.
The 23-year-old Vallejo cut tendons in two fingers while preparing a meal at his home in the Dominican Republic during the Christmas holidays. His hand slid over the blade of a knife that he was using to cut meat, the team said.
Houston acquired Vallejo last August from Texas as part of the Ivan Rodriguez trade.

I'm going to try and be positive about this. My dad always told me I was too negative about the team. That I should be more positive, especially at the start of the season. I'm sure this is really a small procedure and not foretelling something worse for Lyon. Why the team waited two weeks to break the news shouldn't be disturbing to me. Surely, they weren't waiting to see if the injury was more severe than the initial surgery indicated. No, I'm going to let this story roll off my back and forget about it. Lyon will be healthy for spring training and ready to earn that closer's role.

Of course, the story about Vallejo is worse. I had hopes for him solidifying the top tier of minor league second basemen this season and providing a little depth in case there were injuries in Houston. Now, he'll probably come back in July or August and the team will need to find someone to fill his spot until then. I wouldn't be surprised if they went and got a veteran to play there, maybe even someone like Drew Meyer, who they are already familiar with.

In case you missed Farmstros post yesterday, another Astros minor leaguer will be missing the 2010 season. Right-hander Juri Perez hurt his arm this winter and is having surgery on it. Perez was an up-and-coming prospect who did well in limited time at short-season Tri-City in 2009. John Sickels had him as a Grade C guy with a chance to improve with a good showing at Lexington.

That's really all I have. I mean, I could make this post sadder by putting a picture of a puppy getting kicked or something, but I'm all out of bad news (besides the Taveras thing).

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http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2010/2/9/1303452/injuries-the-astros-have-injuries

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Astros Express Interest in Willy Taveras

Uh, oh. I think the Astros didn't read Dave's arguments here at TCB. After Taveras clears waivers, he will only cost the league minimum, with the A's paying the rest of his salary. Wade says that Taveras would be considered if he is willing to accept a non-roster invite. If you want to review our previous discussion of this issue, you can look at the comments on David's article.

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Interest In Wang On The Rise

From Ken Rosenthal:

If the Dodgers or Mets intend to sign free-agent right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, they will need to accelerate their pursuits.

Wang, 30, has received offers from two other, unidentified clubs, according to a major-league source. He likely will make a decision within 7 to 10 days, the source said.

Various teams are at different points in the process with Wang. The Dodgers are lagging, the source said, and the Mets are further behind.

Wang, recovering from arthroscopic shoulder surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder capsule last July 29, is eager to reunite with former Yankees manager Joe Torre in Los Angeles, according to a second source.

The Mets have yet to add a starting pitcher this offseason; Wang, who is likely to open the season on the disabled list, could represent insurance for their questionable rotation.

The Orioles, searching for another starter, have discussed Wang; they also pursued free-agent left-hander Erik Bedard, who is coming off surgery to repair a torn labrum, before he signed with the Mariners.

Wang?s past success in the AL East also could make him attractive to the Rays and Blue Jays; the Jays, too, pursued Bedard. The Nationals continue to explore every available remaining free-agent starter, and are considering Wang, a source said.

Several clubs have sent their trainers and/or pitching coaches to watch Wang, who is throwing three times a week. Some teams already have given Wang physicals; once he agrees to a deal, that part of the process will be complete.

This should make the Yankees at least think twice before letting him go. Hopefully they're still open to matching any reasonable offers he receives. If Wang does turn out to regain his old form he would be a valuable asset to any pitching staff. Imagine a staff of CC, AJ, Pettitte, Vazquez and a healthy Wang?

Maybe the Yanks are one of those unidentified teams.

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-rise.html