Pitching seasons since 1901 where the hurler threw less than 51 IP and had an ERA+ of 600 or better -

.
For the most part, it’s a pitching “Who’s Who?” of “Where Are They Now?”

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Joel Sherman on the Red Sox hiring Bobby Valentine -

Bobby Valentine, who makes lifelong friends and enduring enemies in near-equal numbers, has reached an agreement to become the Red Sox manager, completing a process that for most of its duration did not include him. That, in itself, speaks to the current condition of the most neurotic team in the majors.

The Red Sox have become the George Steinbrenner Yankees, and now they have their Billy Martin, a combustible manager as likely to throw the organization into further chaos as he is to bring championship glory. Valentine is ingenious and inflammatory, and his greatest detractors would add insincere.

But his supporters — and I fall much more into this subset — recognize Valentine is a brilliant tactician, as good an evaluator of talent as there is in the game, a maestro at deploying the strengths of a full 25-man roster, a tireless worker, an independent thinker and a competition junkie. He also is a riveting personality, a human carnival who doesn’t do boring.

The Red Sox, who are pretty darn interesting, just went off the scale by employing the most polarizing figure in the game. And this hire turns the division into the new Big East.

Me? Valentine has not managed in the majors since 2002. He’s never managed a team that has finished first in the major leagues – ever. And, in 15 years of managing in the big leagues, his teams won 90+ games only twice.

Hey, maybe he will do well in Boston? But, let’s not make him out to be Billy Martin…because he’s not.

Filed under Off The Field News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here’s one list on that -

.
So, the Big Hurt in 2007 was the last “good” old full-time DH in baseball history.  I wonder if we will ever see another?

Filed under Streak Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

I want to say it was around 9 years ago that Baseball Prospectus was huge.  But, does anyone visit that site and/or read their books any more?

Filed under Random Thoughts ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here is the list -

.
The Johnny Bassler story is an interesting one.  Click here to check it out.

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here’s the story.

Filed under Site News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Still Active Picks from all Rays MLB Amateur Drafts:

.
Still Active Picks from all Yankees MLB Amateur Drafts

.
So, which team does a better job in the draft?

Filed under Trap Door Items ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

I justed wanted to take a quick moment to wish all the readers of WasWatching.com (and their loved ones) a happy, and a safe, Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy.

Filed under Special Messages ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Interesting words from Ken Rosenthal on the new baseball CBA -

The deal got done, and that fact overrides every other. As the NBA will learn, labor peace alone carries great value, helps a sport achieve continued growth.

Unfortunately for baseball, low-revenue teams got trampled in its new collective-bargaining agreement, trampled in a way that raises genuine concerns for their future.

“We are headed for massive problems in the next CBA,” one general manager said Tuesday night. “Competitive balance is going to get progressively worse.”

We’ve heard it all before, but the GM isn’t crying wolf, even though the addition of a wild-card team in each league will create greater opportunity for all.

The new restrictions on spending in both the amateur draft and international market are daggers to low-revenue clubs, robbing them of two of the few advantages they had.

Of course, if GMs are upset – and many of them are – they have only their owners to blame. The owners and commissioner Bud Selig wanted meaningful cost controls. Their goal of “hard slotting” for the draft – predetermined signing bonuses – would have been even more restrictive.

As one player agent pointed out, it’s a borderline miracle that a sport with such vast payroll disparity – $200 million at one extreme, $35 million at the other – can pull off a functional deal at all.

That’s the larger point, and it’s important for even the most disgruntled to remember. But if competitive balance is truly the goal, then this agreement is indeed a step backward.

Maybe baseball is OK with that. Maybe the dominance of the big markets – even with revenue sharing – makes the sport healthier overall. But tell that to all the clubs that now will face even more of an uphill fight, particularly as high-revenue teams secure one mammoth local TV deal after another.

I think baseball’s logic here is: The “Amateur Market” carries great risk. So, to protect ourselves from over-spending on that risk, we’re putting these new provisions in place. And, kids who always wanted to play baseball will still sign in order to chase their dream. And, if that means we need to lose some “prospects” to other sports, then, so be it.

I can see the logic in that last part. Name one NBA, NFL or NHL player who would have been a star in baseball if MLB could have locked him up. Michael Jordan was a star in the NBA. He was not MLB level talent. Ditto Danny Ainge. See also: Deion Sanders.

Filed under Off The Field News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Using the data from here and here, I was able to identify some of the baseball players born since 1900 and who were actually born on the Thanksgiving Day holiday.  Here they are:

Tommy McCraw
Denny Riddleberger
Ricky Ledée
Yusmeiro Petit
Billy Rogell
Rafael Santo Domingo
José López
Jarrod Parker
Bob Finley
Randy Veres
Tavo Álvarez
Lefty Gomez
Ed Weiland
Mike Moore
Cal Howe
John Harrell
Mike Scioscia
Tim Laker
Chris Eddy
Lynn King
Russ Meers
Pat Rooney
Walt Weiss
Scott Sheldon
Terry Burrows
Pedro Astacio
Bill Currie

Of course, some of these players were not born in the United States – and, the Thanksgiving Holiday means nothing in their place of birth.

But, in any event, there are your “20th Century Thanksgiving Baby All-Stars.” Gobble, gobble…

Filed under Baseball History ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Mighty season brings Braun NL MVP Award.

How many right-handed batters, since 1901, had 5+ seasons before the age of 28, with an OPS+ of 130 or better?  Here is the list -

.

Filed under Uncategorized ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Verlander turns double play, wins AL MVP.

Is Justin Verlander now the best #2 overall pick in the draft ever? He’s creeping up on that honor -

.

Filed under Trap Door Items ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Greg Halman was killed today. He hit two homeruns for the Mariners this season. That would put him right behind Dernell Stenson, Thurman Munson and Ray Chapman for most homeruns hit by a player in the season where he passed away. Here is the list prior to today -

.

Filed under Off The Field News,Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Since 1901, how many players have 7+ years of 120+ singles in the same season where they had 60+ RBI? Here is the list -

.
Betcha Derek Jeter does tie the Peach on this one.

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Via Forbes –

After watching the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers crash and burn from too much debt, you’d think Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig would be clamping down on excessive leverage and keeping a closer eye on teams abusing baseball’s debt rules.

Apparently not.

According to ESPN.com, the Mets could be increasing their debt, currently well above $400 million, by as much as $140 million. It all depends on whether the new investors want to use their funds to buy equity stakes in the Mets or earn 3% annual interest and cash out in six years. If the investors decide to collect their interest than Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who have yet to pay back MLB for money the Mets secretly borrowed a year ago to meet their revenue-sharing obligations, would have surpassed the Los Angeles Dodgers as the most indebted team in baseball history.

The Mets lost over $50 million this past season as the team won only 77 games and attendance fell 7%. The team is cutting ticket prices for 2012 in an attempt to turn the turnstile tide. But if Wilpon and Katz lose National League batting champion Jose Reyes to the Marlins there will likely even be less supporters at Citi Field in 2012.

If that happens 3% becomes more of a problem than a solution.

A half a billion in debt?

Ah, the joys of mortgaging your future.
– Bart Simpson
Sittng under a tree by a creek during school.

Filed under Off The Field News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

If asked, I would say that the “Lively Ball Era” in baseball was from 1920 through 1941. In this time, a cork-and-rubber-center ball, replacing a rubber-core ball, was now consistently used by both the National and American Leagues. Pitchers, sans a handful of grand-fathered cases, were no longer permitted to alter baseballs or use trick pitches. A fresh ball was used in play at all times. During this period, on average, nearly ten runs were scored per game. Batting average and homerun records were shattered. In 1930, the National League’s batting average was over .300.

So, in this time of offense, who were the best pitchers in baseball?

(more…)

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Great stuff from Jeff Bradley -

The Case for the RBI Single.

While GM Brian Cashman has said his three objectives to improve the Yankees this offseason are pitching, pitching and pitching, we believe the team’s offense, in spite of gawdy production totals, has become too one dimensional to negotiate the postseason with the same consistency as the Yankee teams that won four titles in five years from 1996-2000. With one or two tweaks, possibly with players already on their roster or possibly with an under-the-radar free-agent signing, we believe the Yankees can improve their title hopes.

While the numbers presented here in no way tell the entire story, they do represent an attempt to examine a critical in-game situation and how the Yankees have handled it. In short, the 2011 Yankees were an offensive wrecking ball, capable of blowing teams away, but in close games, both in the regular season and playoffs, when they needed someone to deliver a base hit, a chink in their armor was exposed.

“If you don’t have singles hitters,” said one American League advance scout, who requested anonymity, “you need hitters capable of becoming singles hitters when the situation calls for it. Against great pitching, in tight ball games, in the postseason, you almost always need a ‘short game’ to win.”

According to statistics gathered by the Elias Sports Bureau, in four of their five championship seasons since ’96, the Yankees ranked in the top four in baseball in RBI produced by singles. The only year of recent vintage in which the Yankees won a championship and weren’t among the best at driving in runs with singles was 2000, when they ranked eighth. Ironically, that team won it all over the Mets in Game 5 of the Subway Series on — you guessed it — an RBI single by Luis Sojo with two outs in the top of the ninth.

In 2009, one year after missing the postseason for the first time since 1993, and one year after driving in only 226 runs with singles (ranking ninth in MLB), the Yankees returned to being an elite RBI single team (258 runs on singles, second best in MLB) and won their 27th world championship. In 2010, they reverted, producing only 222 of their MLB-leading total of 859 runs. That total ranked sixth in baseball.

This past season, however, while the Yankees scored the second-most runs in baseball with 867, they drove in only 201 of those runs with singles, which ranked 12th among the 30 teams.

For more on this, click here to see something that I wrote four years ago.

Filed under Trap Door Items ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Via the Times -

Major League Baseball’s owners and players are close to completing a new collective bargaining agreement that for the first time will include blood testing for human growth hormone, according to two people in baseball briefed on the matter. The testing will be a significant step for baseball, allowing it to move ahead of other professional sports leagues, including the N.F.L., in confronting the troublesome issue of a drug that has long evaded detection.

The bargaining agreement, which could be announced early next week, calls for blood testing to begin in February, when players report to spring training. Players who test positive will face a 50-game suspension, which will be the same as the first-time penalty for a positive steroid test, according to the two people.

Baseball will be the first of the major North American professional sports to do any type of blood testing for drugs among their unionized players. In 2010, baseball introduced blood testing for H.G.H. on minor league players because the step could be taken without the consent of the union.

It would have been nice to see this ten years ago. But, better late than never.

Filed under Off The Field News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here they are, ranked by homerun totals -

.
Alex Rododriguez will play at age 36 in 2012.  How many homers do you think he will hit? 

Me?  I’m thinking there’s no way he touches forty. And, there’s a good chance he may not even reach thirty.

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Since 1901, which baseball season had the most batters with 150+ RBI? Here is the list -

.
1930 truly was the “Year of the Rabbit Ball,” wasn’t it?

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

If it seems that I have been talking about Dirk Hayhurst for the last four years, it’s because it’s true.

Well, call me late to the party, but, I’ve just started reading his book The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran. And, while it seems silly in an after-the-fact way to recommend a book that was a New York Times Bestseller, gosh, this one is a must-read…and I say that before I’m finished with it.

Why, oh why, did I wait a year and a half to read this book? That was stupid. Nonetheless, it’s wonderful book and I’m enjoying the heck out of it.

I won’t make the same mistake with his next book, Out of My League, which is due out in three months. Check out the advanced praise for that one.

Filed under Reviews ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

How many players have hit homeruns in 4+ post-season games in a row?  Here is the list -

.
Note that Beltran, Longoria, Gonzalez and Leonard are the only ones to do this in a single post-season.  And, none of them won rings in the year that they did it.

Filed under Streak Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here’s a list since 1901 -

.
It will be interesting to see where Kershaw is ten years from now.

Filed under Season Finders ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

It’s simple: Restack the teams into two conferences of four divisions each.  At season end, within the conference, the first place teams face-off in two-round playoff format (taking the four teams into two, then into one – to represent their conference in the World Series).

Here’s how you could restack the teams:

Conference One -

• Division One:  Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies
• Division Two: Orioles, Nationals and Blue Jays
• Division Three: Rangers, Astros, Royals and Cardinals
• Division Four: Giants, A’s, Rockies and Mariners

Conference Two -

• Division One:  Rays, Marlins and Braves
• Division Two: Tigers, Brewers, Cubs and White Sox
• Division Three: Indians, Twins, Pirates and Reds
• Division Four: Dodgers, Angels, Padres and Diamondbacks

Do this and there’s a great chance you would see some hard fought battles to get into first place within each division.  And, then you can have the same amount of playoff games as we have now to determine who gets to the World Series.

Of course, since there are 15 teams in each conference, there would be “inter-conference” play required each day.  But, baseball is heading down that road now, anyway.  At least this would take away the wildcard and still give teams a good chance to make the post-season.

Filed under Trap Door Items ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Via USA Today -

Two wild card teams will be added to Major League Baseball’s playoffs no later than 2013, the same year the Houston Astros will begin play in the American League.

Commissioner Bud Selig announced Thursday that baseball’s owners unanimously approved Jim Crane as the Houston Astros’ owner. As part of his agreement to buy the club, Crane will shift the Astros to the AL after 2012, creating two 15-team leagues.

“It’s a historical day,” said Selig, whose new format ensures that an interleague game will be contested “from opening day on.”

Selig did not offer specifics on the schedule or playoff format, but said his committee for on-field matters favors the one-game playoff among wild-card teams in each league, saying it would be “dramatic.” The additional wild cards could be added for the 2012 season, but will be in place by 2013 for sure.

While I like the idea of having two wildcards in each league – and then having them fight it out to see who plays in the LDS, assuming that’s the plan here – I hate the idea of playing an interleague game everyday. At this point, why not just do away with the league splits and just have one big “major league” (since that’s what it’s becoming anyway)? Then again, those in favor of this will say that the NFL is working, and the Super Bowl is huge, look at that, etc. And, I see where that has a valid point.

Filed under Off The Field News ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Jack Magruder wrote a great feature on the job that Kirk Gibson did in Arizona this year. Click here to check it out.

I can’t believe that Gibson is now 54-years old.

Hey, that’s not old. (Shoot, I will be forty-nine later this month.) It’s just that I have a different picture of Gibson in my head.

Of course, any baseball fan not living under a rock for the last 23 years knows about Gibson’s homerun in the 1988 World Series. And, that’s one that I will never forget watching on TV.

But, when I think of Gibby, I think of a young football player trying to play baseball. One blessed with tremendous speed and great power – always a sexy baseball tools combo. And, I remember a guy who just wrecked a Sunday for me in the summer where I was 18-years old.

That seems like yesterday. Then again, Mick Kelleher, who was the Yankees first base coach last year, played in that game too – and he’s now 64-years old.

Gosh, where does the time go?

Filed under Trap Door Items ·  Print This Post ·  Email This Post

Here is the leaderboard for Runs Created by non-pitchers in 2011 for guys 35 or older -