Does McGwire News Change Roger Maris HoF Chances

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 15 January 2010 09:00:16 AM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

In 1974 Mickey Mantle was elected into the Hall of Fame. It was the first year Roger Maris was on[...]

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The Mets are Just Ineffective

post from Love My Team on 15 January 2010 08:58:57 AM. © Love My Team

OK- I think the New York Times’ David Waldstein and Michael S. Schmidt have given me a[...]

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http://blog.lovemyteam.com/2010/01/15/the-mets-are-just-ineffective/

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Rangers, RHP McCarthy agree on 1 year (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 15 January 2010 08:54:54 AM. © MLB News Blog

Brandon McCarthy and the Texas Rangers have agreed on a one-year, $1.3 million contract, avoiding arbitration for the injury-plagued pitcher. McCarthy was 7-4 with a 4.62 ERA last season, when he was limited to 17 starts because of a stress fracture in his right, throwing shoulder. He was on the disabled list for almost three [...]

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Rangers, McCarthy agree to 1 yr., $1.3M (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 15 January 2010 08:54:54 AM. © MLB News Blog

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The Florida Marlins Lock Up Josh Johnson!!!!

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 15 January 2010 08:45:42 AM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

News broke last night that the Florida Marlins signed pitcher Josh Johnson to a 4-year contract extension.I’m not going to get into all the negative publicity that the Marlins have got over the course of the last week involving this whole revenue sharing thing… But I will celebrate the fact that we’re keeping one of the [...]

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Indians Twidder: @TheReal Pronk 1/15

post from The Tribe Daily on 15 January 2010 08:37:00 AM. © The Tribe Daily

Well I think it's time to get one of these older Twidder's I completed out the way. They need to be burned off before the season starts so we can start doing some current ones.

As I mentioned here, some of these were completed months ago. So you'll see dates from last year. This one is the first one I actually did and I'm real proud of it.

Travis is a rugged individual who now has both a wife and a kid. When he arrived in Cleveland, he was a big lug that played video games and watched wrestling. Now he's the same guy with a family. He's also a big player of fantasy football and his best friend is in Los Angeles. Without further explanation, here is Hafner's Twidder Page.. What he would really say if he was on Twitter.

Followers

Casey Blake
Amy Hafner
Cliff Lee
Grady Sizemore
Kelly Shoppach
Manny Acta
XBox 360
Rammstein
WWE
Tom Selleck
WWEShop
Javier Bardem
Affliction T-Shirts
Shaq
Jerry "The King" Lawler
CC Sabathia
Amy Nelson
Steve Smith the Coach
Indians Insider
IGN.com
Bill Selby
Ryan Ludwick
T-Shirt Hell
Ken Rosenthal
The Fink
Raw/Smackdown Video Game
Ryan Garko
David Dellucci
ESPN Fantasy Football
Jensen Lewis
Malley's Chocolate
Kenny FN Powers
PS3
Cleveland Indians
Matthew Berry
CJ Wilson

As you can tell, Hafner is very active on the tweet scene. Following his wrestling friends, fantasy football news, video game stuff and his best friends and worst enemies (CJ Wilson). He tweets to Lawler about hosting RAW (I'd watch if he was on), his fantasy team and at this particular time, about his new baby boy.

As always, make sure you follow the site on twitter and if you want a feed of the latest Indians news, follow this list. Also give @FakeShap some more love.

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al-pronk-115.html

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Who You Calling Crazy

post from Nick's Twins Blog on 15 January 2010 08:34:00 AM. © Nick's Twins Blog

Earlier today, La Velle E. Neal III had a post on his blog detailing the current status of the Glen Perkins situation. This is a hot topic, because Perkins entered the offseason as one of the Twins' most viable trade candidates given his repeated run-ins with the front office during the past season, but there hasn't been much indication that the left-hander is drawing a lot of interest.

In his post, Neal references trade talks that the Twins had with the Padres earlier this winter involving Perkins and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Neal notes that the Padres were looking for more than Perkins as a return, and credits the Twins for backing off. He then goes on to make a couple of rather befuddling statements.

First: "Perkins and Kouzmanoff are similar players in that they are still looking for their breakthrough season."

I guess that's technically true. Neither Perkins nor Kouzmanoff has had a truly great season as of yet, despite the fact that both were highly regarded as prospects. However, when looking at the total body of work from both players it's easy to see that Kouz is far more accomplished. In three seasons since becoming a full-time player, he has posted a .263/.309/.436 hitting line; while that doesn't seem particularly impressive at first glance, one must note that he's doing his hitting in the league's most pitcher-friendly ballpark in San Diego. OPS+, which accounts for park effects, puts Kouzmanoff at 103 over that span -- and he's been consistent, with marks of 103, 100 and 100 over the past three years, respectively. Since an OPS+ of 100 is considered average, that puts Kouz as an average to above-average hitter in each of the past three seasons. Once his quality defense is factored in, we find that Kouzmanoff has been a pretty darn good player during his three years as a starter with the Padres.

Conversely, Perkins has a had a rather mucky major-league career thus far. After compiling a handful of relief appearances during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Perkins joined the Twins rotation in 2008. In two seasons as a starter with the Twins, he has amassed a 4.99 ERA and 1.48 WHIP over 247 1/3 innings. Using ERA+, which is essentially the pitcher's version of the OPS+ metric we used for Kouzmanoff above, Perkins comes in with an 85 mark over those two years, putting him well below average. Whereas Kouzmanoff, at his worst, has essentially been an average hitter, Perkins topped out with a 95 ERA+ in 2008.

Once you add in the fact that Perkins has a long history of injuries -- some of which remain causes for concern -- and had well publicized spats with his team's front office throughout the past season, there's little question which of the two players currently holds more value. The idea that the Padres were out of line for requesting more than Perkins in return for Kouzmanoff is pretty specious, and it's a shame that Neal is perpetuating it.

In that same vein, Neal goes on to make the following comment: "Suggestions that the Twins should have added Alexi Casilla to the deal are crazy."

You can make the argument that Perkins and Casilla is too much to give up for Kouzmanoff, but crazy?? While he's still young, Casilla holds a .244/.301/.314 hitting line over nearly 1,000 major-league plate appearances. With the exception of a strong stretch in the middle months of the 2008 season, he has not shown any ability to produce at the big-league level, and he has consistently garnered poor ratings on the defensive side. Casilla maintains some upside thanks to his quality minor-league track record, but at this point it's tough to view him as anything other than a potential utility infielder, and the Twins have plenty of those lined up. On top of everything, I'm fairly certain he's out of options, and given that there may very well be no room for him on the Twins' roster come April, unloading him for a player that can help the team this year could be something of a coup.

I'm not all that keen on Kouzmanoff. He's a low-OBP guy and the Twins are currently in need of players who can get on base. But when beat writers are indicating to fans that opposing general managers are trying to scam the Twins by asking for Perkins and Casilla in a trade, they're planting the wrong types of ideas in people's heads. From an objective standpoint, neither of those players has very much trade value at one point.

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http://www.nickstwinsblog.com/2010/01/who-you-calling-crazy.html

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Braves Want Damon For $2 Million

post from First2Third on 15 January 2010 08:30:00 AM. © First2Third

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Friday Links (15 Jan 10)

New year? What the heck, let’s bring back the Friday Links. Can’t say they’ll be here every week, but they’re here now:Alomar, McGriff and a Blockbuster Trade (New York Times). Tyler Kepner remembers an old Padres/Blue Jays trade.[...]

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http://ducksnorts.com/blog/2010/01/friday-links-15-jan-10.html

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The Numbers Like Paulino

We have linked to several articles at Fangraphs which provide statistical support for Felipe Paulino. The articles by Carson Cistulli have looked at expected strike out percentages. He recently corrected his expected strike out formula in this article, and Paulino moves up to No. 2, behind Rich Harden, in expected K's. Bud Norris, however, drops out of the Top 10, after the correction (see original article here). He also has a leaderboard for pitchers: "who (a) throw a pitch out of the zone, (b) induce a swing with said out-of-zone pitch, and (c) receive a whiff on said swing." Paulino again ranks No. 2 behind Harden.

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http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2010/1/15/1252651/tne-numbers-like-paulino

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