Old Time Family Baseball

Have no fear for we will never run out of new pieces of the game to appreciate and study and examine and educate ourselves on. Forget about the fear that statistics or robots or FieldFX will destroy the game, turning it all into a computer simulation, because all new information does is reveal new facets of the game that are more important than we had ever considered. Case in point, pitch framing, a skill that we’re just now realizing might make a player like Jose Molina (career .237/.285/.343) incredibly valuable to a ballclub.

Today, Ben Lindbergh, editor in chief of Baseball Prospectus and probably the biggest pitch framing fan out there, talks to Pirates catcher Russell Martin about the skills he puts to work when framing pitches. It’s an incredibly fascinating interview and when Martin talks about his skill being an ‘art’ it really doesn’t seem that different than a filmmaker or writer’s ‘process.’ 

One of the more fascinating elements is Martin’s relationship with umpires and how they both rely on each other for a fair, well-called game. Says Martin: 

“If it’s a ball, I just catch it, throw it back. Or if it’s right down the middle, I just catch it and throw it back. When it’s a borderline pitch and I need it in a situation, I’ll try and catch and stick it, and hold it for a little extra time. But for the most part, I’m just trying to catch the ball and kind of help the rhythm of the umpire as well. You don’t even mess with him, because if you hold it too long and it’s a borderline pitch and you do it all the time, the fans will start screaming and everybody, the benches, start talking and stuff, and umpires don’t really appreciate that.”

If the little things that add up to big things are of interest to you, and they should be, click through and read the whole article. I mean, it’s Friday afternoon, what else are you doing? 

Now, now, settle down. Before you get all excited, just remember that the A’s have been looking for a place to move to since roughly Bill Clinton came to office, but this is still good news. 

The new czars of replay recommendations are now Joe Torre, Tony La Russa, and John Schuerholz and, in addition to looking at the kinds of systems employed by tennis and the NFL, are investigating the possiblity of having a fifth umpire in the booth and giving umpires headsets to wear.

The fifth umpire and not a challenge system has been the one I’ve long championed as the point of expanding replay is not to create another layer of strategy, with managers trying to mete out their challenges, but to get the calls right. Having a fifth ump who is only watching video footage can only aid in that regard.

To top it all off, if umpires are given headsets, perhaps finally fans will know what’s going on during bizarre stoppages on the field. Too often I’ve been at games where a play is called off, runners are re-arranged on the bases, and it’s up to a search of my Twitter feed to find out what has happened on the field. 

I understand how difficult the umpire’s job is and I think they do a good job 95% of the time. Utilizing the technology we now have, we can make that number inch that much closer to 100. 

From Jerry Crasnick’s Twitter comes an amazing photograph of Michael Young posing with Australian super children’s music group The Wiggles (not to be confused with The Woggles).

The chosen stance in this picture is interesting and can be described as mildly aggressive and happily awkward. I presume he group is actually pointing at a recently punk’d Cole Hamels.

But seriously, I get the feeling that this was a genuine honor for Young. He’s batting 303/.387/.386 on the year.

(Photo via D. Jackson)

Today, the Phillies announced that the team signed Carlos Zambrano to a minor league deal. This, despite the fact that scouts probably describe his performance last season as “pretty bad.”

He spent the entire year with the Marlins. In 132.1 innings across 20 starts and 15 relief appearances, Zambrano posted a 4.49 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and atrocious 95/75 K/BB ratio. The Phillies need the rotation help, and what better a move to make than signing Big Z, who will surely bring the fiery temper that the team needs to make things uncomfortable.

A minor league deal carries little risk for Philadelphia, obviously, and I’m sure there are a few Cub fans out there who read the news and reflexively think about Zambrano’s run from 2003 - 2006, and of the good seasons he had after that.  I’m glad someone has those memories, too.

If Carlos makes it to the Majors this year, imagine being a fly in the wall in a clubhouse with both Zambrano and Michael Young. There’s a sitcom in there, somewhere, and truth be told, he might help the team with his bat. The dude is a career .238/.248/.388 hitter with 24 home runs.