This Week in Baseball: 5/18-5/23

70 Percent: That's the percentage of people who can't watch the Los Angeles Dodgers on Time Warner in the Los Angeles area. Jeff Passan has the details of the story. The Dodgers signed a huge contract in the billiions and now their own fans can't watch them play because Time Warner and DirecTV are playing hardball with each other. And if you think this is a mess google "Houston Astros" and "CSN Houston" for more gory details about home team fans not being able to watch their team.

Miguel Olivo Gone Mike Tyson: Word came on Tuesday that during a minor league game, veteran catcher Miguel Olivo bit off a piece of his teammate Alex Guerrero's ear. Seriously he went full Mike Tyson on the poor Cuban prospect.

Will Stephen Drew Help the Red Sox?: Stephen Drew finally signed a contract and it was with the Boston Red Sox. Sweet Spot asks will this help the Red Sox who are mediocre as it gets this season (it's their pitching that stinks)? And no he wont help. There are too many problems on the Red Sox right now like their outfielders not hitting, Dustin Pedroia with career lows in OBP and OPS, and some guys not hitting like they did last year like Mike Napoli.

This Week in Baseball: 5/11-5/16

LOL METS: The Mets are terrible again and people are pointing fingers at manager Terry Collins. Adam Rubin believes the finger should be pointed at general manager Sandy Alderson. Alderson was the original sabermetric general manager and it quite frankly hasn't worked with the Mets. He's swung and miss on low cost signings and the Mets lineup is still pathetic. The Mets should look at Alderson when elevating the mess this season is becoming instead of just Collins.

Tracy McGrady and Baseball: Tracy McGrady made his debut for the Sugarland Skeeters last week and TrueHoop had the rundown. McGrady looked okay for someone who hasn't pitched in a while. The writer of the piece truly believes that McGrady isn't doing this for publicity but for his love of the game. I hope he succeeds.



Kershaw Actually Gave Up a HR with his Curve: No one and I mean no one hits Clayton Kershaw's curveball. Well that changed on Sunday afternoon when Brandon Hicks of the Giants hit a 0-2 curveball from Kershaw for a home run. How rare is this feat? Kershaw has never given up a home run off his curveball in a 0-2 count before. So slap yourself on the back and congratulate yourself Brandon Hicks for doing something that has never been done before.

This Week in the MLB: 5/4-5/9

George Springer Struggles: Remember three weeks ago when the Astros George Springer was compared to Mike Trout? Well things haven't exactly gone Springer's way since his debut. Baseball Prospectus writer RJ Anderson doesn't exactly give up on Springer, but this article isn't exactly a ringing endorsement either. The gist of it is, Springer swings at way too many pitches, induces way too much weak contact, and hasn't shown any power. And to top it all off, Anderson reminds everyone that Springer is older than Jose Altuve and just a month younger than Matt Dominguez. Good news for the Astros is that they have like another 100 uber prospects in their system.......

The Surprising Marlins?: Beyond the Boxscore looks at the surprisingly not crappy Miami Marlins. No they're not great but they're not a bad team either. One of Miami's reasons for winning is their very high BABIP on the season. Now the question here is will their BABIP regress or not? That's the thing with BABIP is that you have no idea if someone or a team can maintain such high luck all year.

Gritty Ball Boy: Kirk Gibson and Matt Williams saw this kid make this pay and they immediately asked their GMs to sign him.



The Rise of Charlie Blackmon: Fangraphs takes a look at the rise of Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon. The Rockies have been one of the more surprising teams in the league so far and Blackmon has been a big part of that. Blackmon has walked more this year and cut down on his swing-and-miss rate creating more good contact and better plate appearances.

This Week in Baseball: 4/27-5/2

Free Out Leaderboard: "Free outs" in baseball are strikeouts and popups. I would argue they should also include some groundballs but you're getting into a whole other debate there. Beyond the Boxscore had a leaderboard with who produces the most and least "free outs". This leaderboard is pretty easy to figure out. Just look at who has the highest K% and you have your leaderboard. Not surprisingly the batters who produce the least "free outs" create the most runs.

Position Player Pitching!: Is there anything better than a position player pitching? It happened on Wednesday afternoon when the Brewers called upon Martin Maldonado to give their relievers a break. He did pretty well for the Brew Crew.



Rating Local Announcers: I have my own personal list of announcers that enjoy and dislike. Awful Announcing though polled readers and came up with their own results. I can't really argue with any of their results except I would have had the Cincinnati Reds much lower than 15.

This Week in Baseball: 4/20-4/25

The RA Dickey Decline: RA Dickey won the NL Cy Young in 2012. He was traded to Toronto and just the Blue Jays luck he's declined badly north of the border. Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at Dickey and found out that he's not getting as many groundballs or swing-and-misses as he did in 2012 leading to his current lackluster results.

The Worst Swing Ever?: I've never seen a guy swing at a pitch that is intended to be a pitch out. I know the hit-and-run was called but my God Elvis Andrus put that bat away and let the A's catcher sail the throw to centerfield before you hurt someone.

Prospect Watch: Fangraphs is a underrated site when it comes to prospect watching in the minor leagues. This week's prospect watch takes a look at Bubba Starling in the Royals minors. Starling was a high draft choice in the 2011 draft, signed a huge bonus, and hasn't done squat in their system. Fangraphs broke down his mechanical issues that keep him in the bust category last year and according to them those issues haven't improved this season. The poor Royals can't catch a break with their prospects.

This Week in Baseball: 4/13-4/18

TV Blackouts: Jeff Passan has a great article this week on MLB TV blackouts. Basically there are blackouts for one simple reason, these regional networks pay millions of dollars to broadcast these games and they don't want you losers to bypass buying cable and watching games on MLB.tv. What's interesting is that baseball is being sued over the blackouts and they're waving their anti-trust exemption in every one's face as their defense. I hope baseball loses this lawsuit and loses big.

Whoops: Eventually I'm going to need glasses. Bad eyes runs in my family. So when I'm picking out glasses one day I'm going to make sure I never pick out the glasses Al Leiter wore the other night at Yankee Stadium.



Ben Sheets!?!: Beyond the Boxscore wants you to know that Ben Sheets was really awesome when he was actually healthy. Sheets had a 7 WAR season in 2004 where he only had a 3.4 BB% which is incredible. He also induced that year 43% groundball rate making him one of the best worm burners in baseball.

This Week in Baseball: 4/6-4/11

Don't Forget about Jose Abreu: Easy to forget in all this Puig mess that there's another Cuban super prospect named Jose Abreu with the Chicago White Sox. His first week in the season was a mixed bag as Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs points out. Basically pitchers are trying to find his weakness and so far Abreu has shown he isn't pull happy but has some problems around his hands. Abreu might not be a shooting star like Puig, but he'll be a really good hitter.

Mountie Votto: Votto did an interview with Intentional Talk on Tuesday dressed like this.



An Appreciation of Joey Votto: Wait I'm not done with Votto. Is their a more polarizing player in terms of numbers in baseball than Joey Votto? The nerds love Votto because he knows advance stats and gets on base. Harold Reynolds and his ilk don't appreciate him because he's a first baseman that doesn't put up big home run or RBI numbers. Hardball Times appreciates Votto for another reason, he doesn't hit infield flies. Seriously Votto has only hit 3 infield flies in 4 years. That's incredible.

This Week in Baseball: 3/31-4/4

The Return of the Splitter?: Dave Cameron posted 5 things he believes will happen this season. The most interesting belief is that Cameron thinks you'll start seeing the split-finger fastball more this season. His reasons are that almost all the Japanese pitchers throw it and it's a better out pitch to throw at opposite handed hitters than a slider.

69 Expos: Big Expos week. With the release of Jonah Keri's book and the two game series that was played in Montreal now would probably be a good time to show a video featuring the very first Montreal Expos team. Check out Rusty Staub!



Now This Is a #HotTake: Bill Plaschke opened up the Yasiel Puig-#HotTake can of worms last week. This week he's already claiming the Dodgers are "vulnerable". NOW THAT'S A #HOTTAKE. The Dodgers have played 3 out of 162 games left, have a 2-1 record, and 1 blown save and Plaschke is claiming the Dodgers are vulnerable. That Puig #HotTake has nothing on this one.

The Week in Baseball: 9/22-9/27

More Unwritten Rules Bullshit: I'll say this about the Atlanta Braves. If the Arizona Diamondbacks have the biggest collection of red-asses west of the Mississippi then the Braves have the biggest collection eat of the Mississippi and those red-asses were pissed at Carlos Gomez last night. Watch:



Grant Brisbee grades the unwritten rules in baseball and he gives Gomez a 9 and Brian McCann a 10 for blocking the plate preventing Gomez from crossing. Grant also created a great card at what Freddie Freeman yells at.

If the Braves are pissed at Carlos Gomez, what happens if they face Hanley Ramirez and Puig in the playoffs?

Hipster Pirates Fans Advice: Larry Granillo a long time Pirates fan and he has advice for fellow Hipster Pirates fans, don't chase away the bandwagon fans. Don't yell at new fans because they weren't around to root for Jason Bay during 100 loss seasons. Just sit back and enjoy the Pirates in the playoffs, please.

The Week in Baseball: 9/15-9/20

The Todfather Says Goodbye: Everyone is in a furor over Mariano Rivera's retirement, but there's another great player retiring after the end of the season, Colorado's long time first baseman Todd Helton. Helton's career will be dissected about whether or not he's a hall of fame player. Jack Moore says don't bring that argument to him because Helton is definitely not a hall of fame player.  Jonah Keri is on the fence. For me personally looking at Helton's numbers and the ballpark he played in, he's a fringe hall of fame player.

To Planet Hoagie!: Mike Stanton crushes home runs. I mean he flat out crushes them. He crushed one on Wednesday night in Philadelphia to a eating stand called "Planet Hoagie". So Stanton's home runs really do leave the Earth.



Worst Final Seasons: Paul Swydan of Fangraphs takes a look at the worst final seasons in the history of baseball. And yep good ole Todd Helton's name is on that list. Read the whole post though because I'm sure you'll be surprised at some of the other names on the list including Carlton Fisk.

The Wild Card Is Making Baseball Exciting: Wednesday night was one of those special nights. Three teams (Tampa Bay, Texas, Baltimore) fighting for a wild card spot needed extra innings to keep their season alive. The Sweet Spot argues that this is making baseball better and I attend to agree. There are six teams within 2.5 games of each other fighting for two spots in the playoff. It's baseball's version of Thunderdome.

The Week in Baseball: 9/8-9/13

The Pirates Are Winners: It's over. The Pirates finally have a winning season and will most likely make the playoffs as either the division winner or wild card. Beyond the Boxscore looks at how the Pirates were built. In short the Pirates were built by making smart draft choices, shrewd trades, and smart free agent moves. One of the Pirates smart draft choices was Gerrit Cole who pitched brilliantly on Monday in Texas to give the Pirates their first winning season since 1992.

Don't Mess With Buck Or His Guys: On Monday night Joe Girardi picked the wrong manager to fight. Girardi thought the Orioles third base coach was stealing the Yankees signs and yelled at him. Well Buck Showalter will never put up with that kind of crap and gave Girardi a throat slash gesture proving once and for all that you don't mess with Buck or his guys.



Yu Darvish and Hard Luck Loses: I talked about the Pirates winning their 82nd game with Gerrit Cole as the winning pitcher. Well the losing pitcher of that game was Yu Darvish and the final score was 1-0. That is Darvish's third 1-0 loss on the year putting him on a list that you don't want to be on, the hard luck loses list. Roger Craig leads the list with 5 1-0 loses in 1963, but he was on those dreadful early 60's Mets teams that lost to everyone.

The Week in Baseball: 9/1-9/6

WAR in Context: Dave Cameron at Fangraphs has a long post on the context and evaluation of hitters and pitchers based on WAR. wOBA is used for hitters while FIP is used for pitchers when compiling WAR at Fangraphs. Read the entire article and everything will make sense to you.

Panda Goes Deep 3 Times Again: In game 1 of last year's world series Pablo Sandoval went deep three times. Twice against Verlander out of all people. Well Sandoval again hit three home runs in game this time against the San Diego Padres. Oddly Sandoval is the last person to hit 3 home runs in a single game.



Is It Time For Mauer To Move To First: The Twins traded Justin Morneau last week to the Pirates and now have an open spot at first base for next season. Beyond the Boxscore asks if it's time to move Maeur to first base? They believe Mauer would still be a productive player if moved to first and possible the Twins could get more value out of Mauer to a move to first.

A Look At Umpiring School: Beyond the Boxscore also has a detailed look at what people are taught at umpiring school. I do suggest reading this long post for a behind the scenes look at how umpires train for every situation.

The Week in Baseball: 8/25-8/30

Matt Harvey's Elbow: The big news on Monday was that Matt Harvey has a torn UCL. The Mets say they're going to try to rehab the injury but most likely Harvey will need Tommy John surgery. As always in today's environment people went looking for someone to blame for Harvey's injury. I agree with Jonah Keri in that these things just happen. There's no one to blame and there's hopeful reason to expect Harvey to be back to normal once everything is fixed. The sad thing is that baseball fans won't be able to watch one of the most exciting pitchers in today's game.

DatDude Loses DatMind: Brandon Phillips is known to be a pretty cool guy. Well unless you question him hitting 2nd in the lineup because of his OBP. Then he's not a cool dude. Love Dusty's smirk in this video.



Detroit's Best Starter Isn't Verlander or Scherzer?: The Tigers are so stacked with talent that their 3rd starter is actually the best pitcher on the team. It's true! Anibal Sanchez is in fact the Tigers best starter on the team if you dig deep into his stats like Beyond the Boxscore has done. People love talking about how talented the Dodgers are, but have you seen the Tigers?

The Week in Baseball: 8/18-8/23

ARod vs. The Yankees: This past weekend Alex Rodriguez filed a grievance against the New York Yankees over medical mistreatment dating back to last October. This has made Brian Cashman so "uncomfortable" that he's willing to admit to the public he doesn't even like talking to ARod anymore. In other ARod news, it looks like ARod really did interfere with the Biogenesis case and his lawyer made an ass out of himself on the 'Today Show'. The drama never ends with ARod.

Max Stassi's Embarrassing Debut: I don't personally know Max Stassi, but I know of him before he was even drafted by the Oakland A's. Stassi went to high school near where I grew up in Yuba City, California. His father was the manager of the team and he himself was once a prospect in the Giants system. Stassi was drafted by the Oakland A's, got injured, struggled, and then was traded to the Houston Astros. Stassi on Tuesday night made his MLB debut and immediately made the highlight reels for all the wrong reasons.



AL West Battle: As of right now the A's and Rangers are separated by a half of a game with the A's as the 2nd wild card team. Beyond the Boxscore looks at how both teams stack up for the rest of the season. They both have about the same schedule so we should see an exciting race right up into the final week of the season.

The Week in Baseball: 8/11-8/16

Where To Draw The Line?: Beyond the Boxscore asks an interesting question that I'm sure every team has had to face, where do you draw the line when a player is all glove and no bat? Especially when that player plays at a power position like third base? BtB uses Matt Dominguez as an example. Dominguez is really good defensively for the Astros but he has the 2nd worst OBP in the majors. He can hit home runs but are 20 home runs and good defense worth it for him to play 150 games a year?

HAHAHAHA: I won't pussyfoot around this topic, I don't like A's announcer Ray Fosse. He's smug and arrogant and he's the biggest stoker of the flames for A's fans hate of all things San Francisco Giants. He's the guy who says that when only 10,000 fans show up at the Coliseum they are "true A's fans". Gag me with a fucking spoon. Oh and he can't go a game without mentioning the early 70's A's dynasty. So I take great pleasure in the fact that he's whining in this clip when the umpires make the correct call and say that Chris Young did indeed hit a foul ball and hot a home run.



HBP vs BB: Doug Fister is approaching a weird record. While Fister rarely walks anyone (26BB so far) he's damn near hit as many batters as he's walked (15 HBP). That's incredible just to think about. What Beyond the Baseball found is that Fister's sinker ball is great by staying in the strike zone, it's also leading to a lot of hitters being hit by the pitch.

The Week in Baseball: 8/4-8/9

Biogenesis: Baseball finally got around to suspending the rest of the players connected to Biogenesis. Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peraltra, and Evereth Cabrera are all suspended for 50 games along with other nondescript players. The biggest name is obviously Alex Rodriguez who was suspended for an astounding 211 games. The union obviously feels like that suspension is too harsh and others agree. I didn't realize this was the first time ARod has been officially suspended by baseball so yeah 211 games is a little too long*. Of course ARod held a press conference and it was weird/awkward/sad/strange.

*For those of you arguing that it's ridiculous that MLB is suspending players for drug use but aren't suspending players for crimes like DUI's, just stop. It takes two sides to sign an CBA and suspending players for DUI arrests isn't in the CBA because of the union. I'd also argue this is an area where baseball just can't win because if Selig becomes Goodell and just starts suspending players, you'd be outraged that Selig is using power to suspend players.

Raul Ibanez Struggles Fielding: Raul Ibanez has had a pretty good season. Even though he's a million years old he's hit 24 home runs. Oh sure his OBP is bad and he doesn't field good but that just ruins the narrative. And when I mean Ibanez can't play the outfield anymore, I REALLY MEAN HE CAN'T PLAY IN THE OUTFIELD ANYMORE!



A New Strike Zone Formula?: Fangraphs has a section in their stats corner dedicated to a players approach at the plate. You can see where a player makes or doesn't make contact. Well Beyond the Boxscore came up with a formula that basically added all of those percentages into one big category. The result? Well the result was the same as the Fangraphs formula so it needs a little work. I do suggest reading this long, but good post.

The Week in Baseball: 7/29-8/2

Trades: The Tigers started the week off by improving their terrible bullpen with the acquisition of Jose Veras from the Astros. The Braves improved their bullpen by picking up Scott Downs from the Angels. Jake Peavy was sent to Boston in a three-team trade involving Detroit. Oakland traded Grant Green for Alberto Callaspo to fill in at 2nd. Little known fact: the A's scouted and liked Mike Trout, they selected Grant Green instead. The Diamondbacks got bullpen help by sending Ian Kennedy to San Diego for Joe Thatcher. The funniest moment and turned out the last moment of the deadline was the Astros sending Bud Norris to Baltimore for Hoes. What a lame deadline.

Fear the Blue: Not a trade but former Giants closer Brian Wilson signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers to help with their bullpen. I have to say I'm not bitter about this move. When a former Giants becomes a Dodger it usually doesn't work out (Jeff Kent and Jason Schmidt anyone?). Also I'm looking forward to the Dodgers trying to score 10 runs every night because their back end of the bullpen features Wilson and Brandon League and the front end has Carlos Marmol! They're definitely blowing a save in the playoffs.

PIRATES: This hit gave the Pirates their first lead this late in the season in the NL Central since the last time they made the playoffs in 1992. FEEL THE EXCITEMENT IN PITTSBURGH!



Biogenesis: You know the people of Biogenesis are bad when the feds are looking into them. As of right now in this case no one has been suspended yet that isn't named Ryan Braun. ARod has tried to negotiate a settlement for the punishment and he can't even pull that off. Buck Showalter spoke up about MLB possibly suspending ARod for life and is angry about it because suspending ARod for life would wipe his contract off the books for the Yankees giving them an advantage. As always, Buck is correct.

The Week in Baseball: 7/21-7/27

(Note: Because I usually begin writing this post on Thursday so a lot can happen between now and when it's posted on Friday. I'll try to update between then and when it's posted so if the links I post are old because of the trade deadline you now know why.)

Biogenesis: While there are many players listed that are connected to the Biogenesis case the first domino fell on Monday when the Brewers Ryan Braun received a suspension for the rest of the season. Braun's relationship with biogenesis began a few months before he was suspended the first time for testing positive for PED's. While a lot of people might want to see Braun leave Milwaukee, owner Mark Attanasio is showing full support for Braun. Jeff Passan says it ridiculous that there's even a notion that Braun's or ARod's contract could be voided. The other big domino in the case is Alex Rodriguez. He's hasn't been suspended yet but if he is, he could possibly face a lifetime ban from baseball. In the least shocking news ever to come out of this story, ARod isn't handling the PR well. Also needless to say teammates are tired of ARod. ARod finally accepted the Yankees rehab assignment.

Speaking of ARod: Not only could ARod face a lifetime ban from baseball but apparently he's taken a page out of Clippers owner Donald Sterling's playbook and is an slumlord. Harball Talk found a story this week where ARod's management company just sold some apartment complex in Maryland that featured apartments with leaky faucets, broken pipes, and rusting bathtubs. What a swell guy.

The Camera Needs a Hug: The hug king Freddie Freeman destroyed a camera in New York. A hug should cheer up the camera.



Trade Rumors: Matt Garza has already been traded but more trade rumors are flying. Cee Angi makes the case for why the White Sox should part ways with young left-hander Chris Sale. Jeff Sullivan points out that Ervin Santana should also be traded away from Kansas City. Sullivan also points out that Jake Peavy is another great trade piece. With Nelson Cruz possibly being suspended because of his link to biogenesis, the Rangers are looking at White Sox outfielder Alex Rios. ESPN has their own trade market page that looks at who possibly could be traded. The Orioles are interested in Astros pitching for some bizarre reasons. The Mariners might hold onto their players for some odd reason. Jon Heyman has posted a bunch of trade rumors but trust his reporting at your own will. Grant Brisbee looks at the bad teams that are refusing to sell off assets. And finally Beyond the Boxscore asks if the Yankees will ever sacrifice the present for the future and does this even apply to them? The Yankees didn't listen and traded for Alfonso Soriano last night.

The Week in Baseball: 7/7-7/12

The All-Collapse All-Stars: Chris Jaffe of Hardball Talk looks at the players who've collapse but haven't been injured. For some unexplained reason a player just starting sucking for some reason. The only issue I have with this list is that Jaffe says the criteria is that a player should be in his early 30's but most of these players are still in their late 20's. Anyways here's some of the players: Miguel Montero, Starlin Castro, Jeff Keppinger, and Chase Headley.

Carlos Gomez, Wow!: Carlos Gomez literally made a game-winning catch against the Cincinnati Reds robbing Joey Votto out of all people of a home run. The best part of this video is Votto's reaction like Gomez never caught the ball. Also I agree with kt1000, too bad Thom Brennaman wasn't calling this game for the Reds.



Plate Discipline: Since Jeff Francoeur was released by the Royals and rise of Yasiel Puig there's been a lot of discussions on plate discipline. Is plate discipline something that can be learned? Is it just hardwired into a player from an early age? John Sickles of Minor League Ball argues that there are five different category's of plate discipline. His last two category's fascinate me the most. The 4th category is that a player with incredible bat speed can make up for bad plate discipline, think Adam Jones and Brandon Phillips (Josh Hamilton is the biggest example of this category and the biggest example of what happens to a player once they lose bat speed). The fifth category is the Jeff Francouer section where a player is neither disciplined nor has the bat speed to catch up to balls.

The Week in Baseball: 7/1-7/5

Frenchy Is Homeless: Over the weekend the Royals did something I did not expcet, they released Jeff Francoeur. I'm mean you shouldn't be surprised Frenchy got cut because he sucks, I'm just surprised the Royals had the balls to do it. Joe Po said his goodbyes to Frenchy and explained why he's gotten so many chances. Beyond the Boxscore compares Frenchy to Yasiel Puig's and comes to the conclusion that despite the fact they're both having the same type of career start, Puig should last longer because he can hit strikes and cover the plate better. I personally hope Puig becomes the next Francoeur because I'm a bitter Giants fan.

Homer Gives Up Nothing: Homer Bailey of the Reds no-hit the Giants on Tuesday night. As a Giants fan I was surprised this hasn't happened yet to the Giants in the past 5 years with how the lineup has been constructed. As for Bailey, this is only his 2nd no-hitter in little less than a year. Not too shabby.



The Rise and Fall of the Brewers: Jonah Keri takes a look at the rise and fall of the Brewers for Grantland and comes to one conclusion: they rose with a great scouting department and fell once those scouts started taking new jobs. The question now is what do the Brewers do now? Do they fall out completely like the Astros and rebuild? Or do they just write off this year and try again next season while Braun is in his prime?