February 2012
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A-Rod's Special Diet
Because he’s a finely tuned physical specimen who requires only the highest quality ingredients, Alex Rodriguez will no longer accept the food served up at restaurants. And we’re not talking about PF Chang’s here, but places that serve real food.
From Page Six:
“The Yankee slugger was spotted at the Mondrian Hotel pool in South Beach on Saturday afternoon having lunch...
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Ichiro Changes His Stance, The Assault on...
Nothing beautiful can last forever. It’s why James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are still so popular—their looks will never see the damage of time and being out in the sun without sunscreen. For a while, Ichiro Suzuki seemed to be the one person immune to all of that. He’s still tall and thin, avoiding the middle aged expansion that happens to even the best of us. (Some say that by...
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Bryce Harper, Not the Devil Incarnate?
Sure, you may not like his eye black, his weaselly little mustache, or his habit of showboating, but you have to admit that he takes his on-field work very seriously. Harper recently told Adam Kilgore:
“I’m going work as hard as I can, keep my mouth shut and play. I’m going to make their decision hard as much as I can. I want to be up here. I want to play, and I want to play in...
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Things You May Have Missed While You Were Living...
While I try to detox from my own President’s Day weekend (I can feel the casino smoke still trapped inside my pores), here’s a little catch up post of things you may have missed during your own celebrations.
Better than that, every team has now reported to spring training. The long winter is nearly over.
Baseball in the Dominican Republic. I don’t even have a joke for this one,...
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Charitable Contributions to the City of Las Vegas'...
This weekend, I’ll be visiting Las Vegas, the city of romance, for the first time ever. I’m not the Vegas-type, even with Celine Dion there, but I do plan on taking advantage of the variety of 51s gear that’s available. I assume that’s the reason most people go?
I’ll also be every bookie’s wet dream. My plan is to walk into the nearest sports book and, with...
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Tim Wakefield Retires, the Sun is Less Bright, the...
In 2012, there will be one less knuckleballer in the Major Leagues; one less weirdo who doesn’t even need a full wind-up and relies on tricks and witches brews to get outs; one less pitcher whose fastball is that in name only. The mighty Tim Wakefield has retired.
I like to imagine that Wakefield will hole up somewhere in northern Iowa and pitchers, young and old alike, will flock to him...
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The Utility Giveaway of 2012
Get ready, utility nuts (and I know there are at least fifteen others out there because they filled the Old Time Family Baseball Utility fantasy league), for the greatest giveaway of the 2012 season. I’ll let Alyson Footer ruin the surprise, emphasis mine.
“Great Moments bobbleheads: most Astros fans remember Mike Scott’s no-hitter, Jeff Kent’s walkoff homer in Game 5 of the 2004...
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Transactions of Note and Import
Rays sign Chris Gimenez. Gimenez earned some ill repute in Seattle last year when he tried to bunt with two outs. Turns out, the Mariners were lucky he was even at the plate.
Reds sign Brett Tomko. He’s been stuck on 100 wins since 2009. That’s some dedication.
Ross Ohlendorf signs with Red Sox. If he’s finally healthy again, he could be of great help to the Sox. If...
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My God. We've Gone Back in Time.
Jon Heyman on February 13th:
Jon Heyman on February 16th:
The biggest question isn’t when the AJ Burnett trade will go down, but how we will set the time stream back to normal. Dear god, when are we?
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Brandon Inge to Try Out Second Base This Spring
The pros? He wears a uniform well and works really hard. The cons? Jim Leyland has the cons:
“Don’t know how he will handle the pivot, plus he has to hit.”
Oh. Then I don’t think this is going to work out.
(h/t Bless You Boys)
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The Costs of WAR
Thanks to WAR, that fancy stat that tries to boil all on-field activity down to a single number, we have a general idea of how much it costs for one win. Sure, the number is not perfect and WAR will probably be replaced by another number in the future as we continue to zero in on mathematic perfection, it allows us to know that the general purchasing value for a victory comes between $5-$6...
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The Annotated Cosby Show: 'There's Still No Joy in...
Besides showing the American family how to love, laugh, and put up with each other in the same house, Bill Cosby sought to educate the viewer. With the show in its seventh season, Cosby brought Frank Robinson and former Negro League player Joe Black on board to play fictional Negro League players.
Because the episode features many stories and legends about the Negro Leagues, ones I had never...
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“We’re all motivated by different things. My motivation isn’t the...”
– Joe Maddon, the Mayor of Tropicana Field on Foursquare, on signing the extension that will keep him at head of the Rays’ bench through 2015. I’ve heard people say that Maddon looks better simply because of the glut of young talent on Tampa Bay’s roster, which is a pretty...
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The 10 best things about being a Royals fan →
Big League Stew:
The request we’re sending to bloggers of all 30 teams this spring is a simple one: What are the 10 best things about being a fan of your favorite team? What features of the franchise have you excited for opening day and what keeps you coming back year after year?
Over the next few weeks, we’ll give each of the 30 teams a day in the spotlight, showcasing the icons and...
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Ozzie Guillen Keeps a Tight Ship
From the Sun-Sentinel:
“Is Carlos going to hit one of my players? No. I managed another team for eight years and you never saw anything with players. That’s going to be a no-no. If you’re going to talk about your teammates, be ready for the biggest fight because I will fight you. You will kick my butt because I’m old and out of shape, but I will give you a good...
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Fox to Air More Primetime Saturday Games
From The Sporting News:
“Fox plans to make five or six games available in prime time, instead of the three it usually has in its afternoon slot, USA Today reports. Last season, Fox broadcasted three times on Saturday night during the regular season and saw a big jump in ratings from its Saturday afternoon games.”
And this creates a great inner conflict in me. On the one hand,...
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Cespedes the Demigod
With the A’s all stocked up in the outfield and Yoenis Cespedes not being paid $9 million to make personal appearances at local car dealerships, the second highest-paid Athletic looks like he’ll have to be moved to left. Said Monsieur Crisp:
“I’m going to make all the plays. If someone feels there’s someone better than me, it’s hard for me to believe. Unless...
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The Baseball Salaries are Too Damn High: 1912...
In 1912 the United States Baseball League did its best to muscle in on the turf of Major League Baseball, even instituting an early form of free agency by abolishing the reserve clause and letting players sign single year contracts if they so chose. It was like Wild Bill Haywood put together his own baseball league. Naturally, such a thing could not stand in the face of the big boys of Major...
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Transactions of Note and Import
Rays sign Jeff Salazar. There was a time when Salazar seemed to be the trendy choice for aging player who may one day put it all together. He’s now 31, hasn’t seen the Majors since 2009, and has fallen behind Oscar Salazar for best Major League Salazar. The Rays also picked up Brad Coon.
Milo Hamilton to retire. I won’t pretend to enjoy Hamilton’s broadcasts, but...
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Apathy on This, The Day of Love: Nationals Edition
While hunting around Google for “Apathy + Baseball,” since apathy is the opposite of love and today is Valentine’s Day, I stumbled upon this great article from the February 21, 1974 Star-News titled, “Washington Apathetic About Return of Baseball.”
Says one man in his 50s:
“Look, if they’re going to bring in another loser, like most of those...
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Tony Gwynn Has Tumor Removed
(image via Wikipedia)
18 months after Gwynn first had part of a malignant tumor removed from his mouth, he has had to go back under the knife to remove the entire thing. Doctors are hopeful that the cancer has not spread from his mouth, but the surgery is a dangerous one since the tumor is connected to Gwynn’s facial nerves.
Said Gwynn’s wife, Alicia, in an interview with...
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The Ten Worst Swings of 2011 →
Jeff Sullivan’s been having a blast using MLB.tv and PITCHfx to make gif magic. Because nothing is funnier to the casual observer than failure, this may be one of his best yet. Click through to check it out and no, don’t be surprised that Vlad Guerrero is the only one taking a full swing at the ball.
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Great Moments In Cluttered Thought
I get it, writing can be hard sometimes. Either your brain is empty of ideas or the brilliant ideas it has one day can look terrible the next. It happens. But the fact that at no point did Patrick Rishe’s brain wake up and say “Whoa. Slow down one second. You want to write an article about Josh Hamilton and Whitney Houston? Whooaaaa nelly” should be alarming. Because that is a...
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Payphone Time Machine
Gather round children, gather round. Did you know that there was once a time before the Internet, a time before each team had a TV deal and all their games were televised, a time before “Two Princes” was released. This time was the early 90s. One man, other than the band members in The Spin Doctors that is, sought to change all that.
His name was Pepper Hastings and he worked for...
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Pablo Sandoval is Cultivating Mass
Pablo Sandoval is a big guy. Even when he’s fit and trim, he’s still a big guy. But ever since Sandoval seemed to struggle because of the weight at the end of the 2010 season, people are especially focused on the issue and Bruce Bochy is a little concerned that Sandoval didn’t add just muscle over his offseason.
In a very non-cuddly way, Sandoval responded to the accusations. As...
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A's To Sign Yoenis Cespedes
Proving that the A’s are half-baseball team, half Hollywood powerhouse, the Athletics have surprised the baseball world by reportedly signing Yoenis Cespedes to a 4-year, $36 million dollar contract and exclusive first-look deal on all future film projects. Cespedes, as you’ll recall, first came to National relevance by releasing a 20+ minute “scouting” video that included...