Jack Wilson, Personal Shortstop

post from Capitol Avenue ClubCapitol Avenue Club on 10 May 2012 01:56:43 PM. © Capitol Avenue ClubCapitol Avenue Club

Fredi Gonzalez gets a lot of grief for many decisions he makes. Some are rightful criticisms and some are wrongful, but there are certain decisions he makes that are worthy of praise that often go relatively unnoticed. While he is not the most consistent with it, he does tend to set his lineup to avoid [...]

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Kirby Puckett 1995 Topps All-Star With Dante
Bichette

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 10 May 2012 01:28:09 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Kirby Puckett 1995 Topps All-Star With Dante Bichette Far from the spectacular multi-player All-Star cards that Topps issued in the 1970′s, this card is fair at best. I like the thought of showcasing similar positioned players from each season’s All-Star game, but … Continue reading →

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-dante-bichette/

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Early-Season Shutdowns And Meltdowns Leaderboard

post from Beyond the Box Score on 10 May 2012 01:02:26 PM. © Beyond the Box Score

On Tuesday, I posted a little something about the closer carousel that's already swept the first couple months of this spring. Today, I'd like to review which relievers are having the best seasons by a couple of win probability-based measures:[...]

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Astros Minor League Recap May 10th, 2012

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 10 May 2012 01:01:33 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

What a bad day overall. Astros: Lose...RedHawks: Lose...JetHawks: Lose...

The rest of the teams were off. But, there was good news to celebrate about. Fernando Martinez and George Springer both homered and Dallas Keuchel pitched his best game of the season. Martinez is up to six on the season and Springer is up to four. Keuchel's game score was 75, which is one better than his previous season best of 74.

But, Martinez is the man of the day. His triple slash currently stands at .317/.380/.537 which results in a pretty OPS of .916. In his 134 plate appearances this season, he's hitting very well and showing good plate discipline with is strikeout rate standing about 17% and his walk rate is around 8%. Looks great overall.

The only red flag is a BABIP that stands at .351 which is supported by a LD% of 22%. Will he maintain both of those? Probably not. Expect both of those to come down some, but it's nice to see that he's seeing the ball well and making good contact.

This will probably spark some, "Let's bring him up to help out an offense that seems to be struggling." Let's not and say we did. And here's why. First reason is that he has struggled for much of his career and hasn't really had an extended stay in AAA, so let him sustain some success for his confidence and ensure that this guy is ready before he's called up. The second reason, who do you send down? Mr. Clutch Bogusevic? Nope! Maxwell? Nope, too versatile. Schafer? Yeah, ok! J.D. Martinez? He's struggling, but c'mon! Buck? The only real veteran presence in the OF, I really doubt it.

Oklahoma City RedHawks lost 2-1

Dallas Keuchel-7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO, 10/3 GO/AO, 93 pitches
Xavier Cedeno-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO
Fernando Martinez RF-1-3, HR (6), BB, SO, OF Assist
Jimmy Paredes 2B-0-3, 3 SO

Corpus Christi: Off

Lancaster JetHawks lost 7-4

David Martinez-6 2/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 7/5 GO/AO
Jorge De Leon-2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2/1 GO/AO
Ben Orloff SS-2-4, BB
Rafael Valenzuela 1B-2-4, 2B, SO, CS
George Springer CF-3-4, HR, BB, SO
Telvin Nash LF-2-5, 2B, 2 SO
Erik Castro DH-1-3, 2 BB, SO

Lexington Legends: Off

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Joba has boot taken off and is playing catch

post from Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog on 10 May 2012 01:00:03 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

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MLB poised to pick off 1st-and-3rd trick move
(Yahoo! Sports)

post from MLB News Blog on 10 May 2012 12:10:13 PM. © MLB News Blog

NEW YORK (AP) Yankees reliever Rafael Soriano stepped toward third base and bluffed a pickoff throw, then twirled and made a soft toss to first. No dice, the Tampa Bay runners didn’t fall for that ol’ trick – they’d seen it too often.

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Royal Rumblings - 5/10/12

post from Royals Review on 10 May 2012 12:01:41 PM. © Royals Review

DETROIT, MI - MAY 01: Mike Moustakas #8 of the Kansas City Royals talks with teammate Luke Hochevar #44 during the first inning of the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on May 1, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the Royals 9-3. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

I am hurting for topics today. Is there any data you would like to see looked at? Preferably Royals related. If not Royals, try to make it baseball. If not not baseball, I might still give it a shot.

Hochevar in the Zone

I have heard too many ramblings over the last couple of days from fans and radio hosts on Luke Hochevar leaving the ball up in the zone. As usual, I will have to put some facts to the statements. Here is how Luke has done with fastballs only in the top half of the strike zone and the lower half since coming into the league:

Bottom HalfTop HalfSwing and Miss%8.6%8.3%AVG on All Batted Balls0.3750.300SLG on Batted Balls0.5010.531HR/Batted Ball2.8%4.3%

It is kind of a mixed bag of results with Hochevar's placement of his fastball in the strike zone. His Swing and Miss % are about the same. In the bottom of the zone, more balls turn into hits and in the top half the hits are like to lead to more bases. He is not necessarily good either way.

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Surviving the American League 5: The Seattle
Mariners

SEATTLE, WA - MAY 5: Ichiro Suzuki #51 hits into a double play during a game against the Minnesota Twins at Safeco Field on May 5, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

In light of the pending switch to the American League, each week TCB is helping you adjust to the trauma, breaking down a particular topic each week...Next up we look at a future division opponent, the Seattle Mariners.

Seattle who?
TCB: The Seattle Mariners.
Seattle Slew?
TCB: The place where Frasier Crane's from.
Oh.
TCB: You're obviously still in Kentucky Derby mode from last week.
You mean the team that was the sixth best organisation two years ago?
TCB: Precisely. David Cameron's never going to live this article down, even though FanGraphs organisational rankings are based on a set of criteria. Still, the Mariners bottomed out at 101 losses, barely fewer than the Pirates. Last year they managed 95 losses.
Where did it all go wrong?
TCB: They scored 556 runs last year and 513 the year before. During July 2011 they racked up an incredible 17 game losing streak, scoring at 2.6 runs per game. In a four-game series against the Rangers during that streak, they scored just two runs.
And they're fixing that?
TCB: The Mariners now have a very young core in their lineup, with Kyle Seager, Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak, Michael Saunders and Dustin Ackley 25 or younger. Some or all of that group could pan out, or then again, maybe not.
Any bad contracts?
TCB: Ichiro at 38 is not Ichiro at 28 when he started with the Mariners, but he's eligable for free agency after 2012, and apart from the bagillions its keeping Felix Hernandez in Seattle, the rest of the books are pretty healthy.

More after the jump

Felix can't be that good, he's only got 88-68.
TCB: Blank stare. He's only 26 and he's compiled some ridiculous numbers already. He holds a 3.19 ERA. Greg Maddux retired with a 3.16 ERA, Roger Clemens at 3.12. Two recent contemporaries Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay stand at 3.21 and 3.23. He's in elite territory and he may even get better if he can stay healthy.
Is there more to come?
TCB: Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, and Nick Franklin are all bright prospects and FanGraphs has their minor league system at a healthy 14th place coming into 2012.
Will we be making our way in hoardes to Safeco Field?
TCB: Errr...probably not. Those park factors really are a killer. If you were travelling by car, you would travel 2,479 miles to get from one city to another. 1,891 as the crow flies. And we're in the same division. And its 3,464 miles from New York to London. Clap clap Bud Selig. Yet it has a modern stadium with a retractable roof.
Does it have a hilarious mascot?
TCB: The Mariner Moose?
Seriously?
TCB: Seriously. He once broke his ankle crashing into a wall, attempting some skating high jinks during a playoff game with the Yankees.
Oh now I remember, he was Ken Griffey Jr's running mate when he ran for President.
TCB: I'm pretty sure I don't remember that....

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Pineda: Doctor said Ill be ready by spring
training

post from Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog on 10 May 2012 12:00:01 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

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Becketts golf outing hot topic as Red Sox return
(Yahoo! Sports)

BOSTON (AP) Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett will take the mound Thursday night at Fenway Park, as controversy swirls around the struggling starter.

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