Monthly Archives: February 2010

Rounding the Bases: American League review

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MlbHlSqThere are three main countdowns to the MLB season.  The first is the date that pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, which has already passed.  The second is the date on which Spring Training games begin and that will turn to zero on Tuesday.  That just leaves us with the countdown to opening night, when the Yankees and Red Sox get the 2010 season underway on Sunday 4 April.  The end to this long winter (and it’s certainly seemed like a long winter) is in sight.

Teams are still trying to improve their rosters and Johnny Damon (Tigers), Jonny Gomes (Reds), Rod Barajas (Mets), Russell Branyan (Indians) and Felipe Lopez (Cardinals) all finally found jobs this week.  A couple of those moves will be taken into account as we follow up last week’s review of National League moves by looking at the key addition and key departure for each team in the American League.  Continue reading →

Out of Left Field: Carlos Silva is a hard eater

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MlbHlSqIn just a matter of days we’ll actually have some baseball to watch. Rejoice! Admittedly, the games won’t matter, but it’s a start, right? It will certainly make a nice change from feeding on scraps of non-news, or trying to predict the future, via the medium of numbers, in a bid to win a fantasy league.

In the meantime, here’s the latest instalment of the baseball news that really doesn’t matter. Just think, a week from now, this column may even have some proper baseball content! I wouldn’t count on it though.

In the comments section of last week’s missive, BaseballGB’s scoring stalwart, Joe Gray, had evidence of one player not in the “best shape of his life”. Chicago Cubs’ Carlos Silva is a little portly, it seems. With my addiction to curry and cake (rarely eaten together I hasten to add), I can relate.

Silva’s manager, Lou Piniella, is now in on the act, getting on our rotund hero’s back with this choice quote:

“Silva is a hard worker, there’s no question about it. He might be a hard eater (too).”

Poor Carlos, don’t get upset. It just means there is more of you to love, that’s all.  Continue reading →

Web pick of the week: Jon Sciambi on Baseball Prospectus

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Web-PickOur web pick this week is an interesting guest article by Jon Sciambi published at Baseball Prospectus on Tuesday.  Sciambi, known as ‘Boog’ to many, is a commentator for ESPN and he previously did the play-by-play for the Atlanta Braves.  He was one of my favourite ‘local’ commentators that we get to enjoy via MLB.TV so it’s a bit of a shame that he will not be covering Chipper and co this season, but I can hardly begrudge him his well-deserved new job (he previously worked ESPN games part-time).

Anyway, Jon is known for being open to new ideas and in particular for bringing some advanced statistical thoughts to the masses.  Will Carroll, one of the Baseball Prospectus staff writers, posted a blog recently about getting the advance-stat message out to more people (the blog post and resulting comments are worth reading as well) and Sciambi’s article provides a professional broadcaster’s response to some of the issues, ideas and preconceptions raised.

I’m a lot like Jon in the sense that while I do take a keen interest in stats and how they can help you to understand more about the game, I’m not really a ‘maths’ person. When stat-based articles go too far down the route of explaining regression methods and suchlike, they go over my head because it’s not the sort of thing I know much about and more importantly it’s not the sort of thing I’m greatly interested in learning either.  There are lots of things in this world that do pique my inquisitive nature, but grappling with long equations and calculations is not one of them.

However, taking an interest in advanced stats does not mean you have to get neck-deep into spreadsheets and databases.  Some people do, of course, but the majority of us can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labour.  What we need are people who can interpret the numbers and relay genuinely insightful information about the game in a simple and enjoyable way.

Sciambi provides some interesting thoughts on how TV broadcasts can be part of this, whilst also recognising that a lot of people simply want to sit down and while away an afternoon or evening by enjoying a ballgame.  Bringing more advanced stats into baseball coverage is a good idea, but those involved need to understand that it’s not what everyone is after.  That’s not because they are dumb or have an unshakeable belief in the sanctity of RBI’s and batting average, it’s because they just want to enjoy the game with their friends and aren’t fussed either way about which stats are cited. 

Educating people is always a worthy goal, so explaining the limitations of some of the traditional stats and introducing new ideas is an endeavour that should be encouraged.  However it needs to be done in an enjoyable way. In other words, not in a ‘I’m telling you this to show that you are dumb and I am smart’ kind of way, which some of the advanced stat stuff (like any advanced or academic movement) is prone to suffer from at times.

Renewing MLB.TV subscribers to pay 2009 prices

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CovHlSqMLB.com has been sending out e-mails regarding 2010 MLB.TV subscriptions this week, passing on the excellent news that 2009 subscribers renewing for 2010 will be charged at last year’s lower prices.

This means that renewing subscribers to the standard MLB.TV service get a $20 discount on the advertised price: $79.95 (£52.22) instead of $99.95 (£65.28).  That makes for a £13 saving for British customers.  It looks like renewing MLB.TV Premium subscribers will get a $10 discount so that the current $119.95 (£78.67) price goes back down to $109.95 (£72.11). I’m not a renewing subscriber to that service so I cannot categorically confirm this, but the reduced price is quoted in the e-mail where it explains how a standard MLB.TV subscription can be upgraded to a Premium one.

This news comes prior to Spring Training games beginning next week.  Coverage on MLB.TV is dependent on TV networks broadcasting the games, so a lot of them are only available via the local radio feeds on Gameday Audio, which is included in the MLB.TV subscription.  MLB.com states that they will be showing over 150 Spring Training games on MLB.TV, starting at 18.05 GMT on Tuesday 2 with a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees.

2010 subscription details for Gameday Audio and Gameday Premium are still not available.

Further thoughts on the Great Britain national team programme

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GbHlSqThe potential future direction of the Great Britain national team programme is continuing to be discussed as the British Baseball Federation (BBF) Annual General Meeting approaches this Sunday.

As clarified in my recent article, the proposed funding contribution from BBF membership monies to the overall national team budget is less than £5,000.  That’s a small amount in terms of international baseball funding, but it’s a tidy sum in the real world and the people who pay their fees toward it have a right to see that the money is being spent for the benefit of British baseball as a whole.

If the programme should continue in a similar vein to the one at present, what are benefits of the existing set-up and does it have a wider impact above and beyond the impressive recent tournament performances of the senior team?

In particular, what is its impact on the most important part of the development of British baseball: the junior players?  Has there been a noticeable improvement in the coaching on offer? Can having a national team programme of a higher standard act as a competitive catalyst to youngsters, setting the bar that bit higher, driving them on and helping them to ‘be the best they can be’  so that they make a strong GB team on merit; a GB team that we can all be proud of?

To answer some of these questions, I thought it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of some people who have been involved in the Team GB programme, or have seen it from close quarters, from both a senior level and a junior level.

Continue reading →

Baseball Banger hits century in cricket on full England debut

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GbHlSqThose of us who survived  miserable Somerset weather conditions back in October 2008 to watch the Great Britain national team take on a team of cricketers led by Marcus Trescothick may have been slightly disappointed when some big-name players dropped off the billing. It could have proved either a humbling or a revelatory experience for Kevin Pietersen – for instance – to switch his flat blade for a round bat, if he had made it from the original press release all the way onto the diamond.

The Bangers – as Tresco’s testimonial team was named – did, however, hold a star in the making in its line-up. That man was Craig Kieswetter, and he today smashed 143 in cricket on his full debut for England, with the South African-born basher helping himself to six 6s along the way.

This caused me to return to my scoresheet from the game. I remember that he had scattered fire for a little while on the mound and I seemed to recall hearing that he had some experience of baseball going into the exhibition match. One glance confirmed that he knew what he was doing. Batting clean-up he successfully executed a sacrifice bunt, something that would be pretty odd and highly dangerous to effect (I’m thinking broken fingers) without some training.

Good luck to him and the England cricket team.

Rounding the Bases: National League review

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MlbHlSqShout it from the rooftops: ‘Spring Training is here! Spring Training is here!’.   

We’ve been living on scraps for months, devouring transactions, both rumoured and consumated.  Hopes have been realized and dashed.  Some teams have acquired a Roy Halladay or a Matt Holliday.  Others have somehow ended up with a Carlos Silva. 

It’s time to review what each organization has done over the offseason to improve their team for 2010 by picking out the key addition and the key departure for every team.  I’ll look at the American League teams next Sunday, but I’ll start today with the Senior circuit.  Continue reading →

Out of Left Field: This column is in the best shape of its life

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MlbHlSqPitchers and catchers. Spring training. This column is limbering up, ready for the new season, and feeling good. Leaner, fitter and happier. Welcome, good people, and observe this column preparing itself for Opening Day.

Just sit back and enjoy the following training montage. I imagine that awful Journey song will accompany it. It gets everywhere.

While the great and the good of the MLB are being put through their paces, your correspondent is in training himself. He’s reading Hemingway’s collected advice to writers, he’s thumbing through Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors, he’s perusing ’10 rules for writers’ in today’s Guardian and he’s scribbling furiously in various notebooks. He’s even thinking about baseball itself (who’d have thunk it?), scanning the Hardball Times Annual, SABR’s free Emerald Guide to Baseball (you need this, people!) and mock drafting like crazy.

And most importantly, your correspondent is honing his eye. Pitchers across the southern states are getting their eye in this week, and so am I. But it’s not easy. Now is time for fluff and bluster in MLB. Nothing of note is happening. This column isn’t looking so promising now, eh?

An aside: how good is life as a baseball professional? You get over four months off (if you’re lucky enough to miss those pesky play-offs), and then on your first few days back you just play catch and wander around in the sunshine. Those lucky things.

No such easy life for this columnist. I’ve had my nose to the proverbial grindstone, and have come up with the following. Bear with me, and be kind, dear reader.  Continue reading →

Web pick of the week: MLB.com’s Team guides

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Web-PickThe MLB Spring Training camps have opened and that’s enough to make any baseball fan dance with joy.  Players are getting to know their new teammates and managers are formulating plans for who will be on their 25-man roster for opening day.  Us fans are looking on, lapping up the photos and interviews, thinking about possible batting lineups and starting rotations while trying to work out how player ‘X’ ended up with team ‘Y’ without you realising it.

Thankfully, MLB.com has put together a series of features designed to prepare fans for the season ahead. 

In previous years they have published an ‘Around the Horn’ feature in which each team’s MLB.com beat writer has written about a different position each week.  That was useful but it didn’t provide a great overall preview of each team once Spring Training came around because rosters were liable to have changed as the series progressed.  They’ve abandoned the Around the Horn feature this year, although they’ve stuck with the overall concept of devising standard column formats and then asking each beat writer to submit pieces for their team.  The three features published so far are: ‘A look ahead’, ‘Previews’ and ‘Quick Hits’.

My favourite is the ‘Quick hits’ feature.  This poses and answers three key questions about the respective team, lists their projected starting line-up, rotation and main bullpen pitchers, and then provides a decent amount of detail on the team’s main prospects and the players who have joined, left, or are rebounding from injury or poor performances in 2009.  If you want a quick and easy way to catch up on all of the thirty MLB teams, or if you are new to the sport, they are an excellent resource.

There isn’t a decent ‘home page’ to link to (as far as I can tell), so instead I’ll direct you to the Baltimore Orioles’ ‘Quick Hits’ page from which you can then look at all of the rest using the drop-down list.

Book Review: Minnesota Twins by Dennis Brackin and Patrick Reusse

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Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History by Dennis Brackin and Patrick Reusse (MVP Books, 2010), 192 pages

TwinsHistoryAfter some dark days, fans of the Minnesota Twins are finally seeing their loyalty rewarded.  They’ve got a beautiful new open-air ballpark to get acquainted with this season and their team should be well worth watching.  Their payroll is set to nudge $100m and they will be in the thick of a competitive battle in the AL Central once again.  It looks like good times are ahead and that makes it a decent moment to reflect on how the organization has got to this point.

‘Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History’ is the latest ‘coffee table’ style offering from MVP Books in their ever-growing series of books focusing on the history of a specific franchise. And it’s the best one yet.  The book is scheduled to be published at the beginning of March.

The authors Dennis Brackin and Patrick Reusse are from the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper and their knowledge of, and passion for, the Twins really shines through.  They have a concise writing style that still provides plenty of colour and a dash of humour in places.  The Star Tribune link also means that the book benefits from the deep resources of their photo library.  The expert use of photos is a defining feature of the MVP Books series and the Minnesota Twins instalment is no exception.  They even manage to include an atmospheric photo of the much-maligned Metrodome, taken from outside during a night game with the bright lights of the city tower blocks set against the glowing stadium.  Continue reading →