Archive for the ‘Link Dump’ Category

They call it a language “barrier” for a reason. It seems very easy for words and thoughts to be twisted, misconstrued or even misrepresented when passed through the many channels and filters required to turn one set of words into another.

Last night in Toronto, Melky Cabrera faced his former team for the first time since he was suspended 50 games for failing a drug test. Melky’s departure from San Francisco was an odd one, as he simply vanished from the clubhouse, failing to wish his teammates good luck or bid them fair well. Nothing, Melky was gone, told by someone that he was to leave immediately after his suspension was announced.

The Giants did quite well without Melky’s contributions, winning the 2012 World Series with Melky watching from home. He was not added to their post-season roster when he became available after the Division series, the Giants preferring to stick with the postseason group they had.

Last night was Melky’s chance to receive his World Series ring from the Giants, a thank you for his contributions during the first 110 games of the season. After some discussion between PR camps, it was decided — at Melky’s behest — to perform the ceremony quietly and away from the public eye.

Thus began an odd night of he said, she said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this week, there was great outrage directed towards baseball umpires and their inability to properly overturn a difficult but incorrect call made on the field. They had the advantage of video replay but, for whatever reason, did not change their call from “wrong” to “correct.” It was an odd, ugly chapter that even the league office acknowledged was handled incorrectly.

They had the tools at their disposal, we believed. They have high-definition video feeds from both the home and away trucks, according to MLB executive vice president Joe Torre. As you see below, they aren’t exactly staring at a tiny monitor or camera viewfinder to make their call, yet they still got it wrong.

Read the rest of this entry »

To say the above video constitutes an “ump show” — where the umpires insert themselves into the action, making their actions and decisions the story rather than the performance of the players — does it no justice. If anything, Angel Hernandez wanted no part of any attention from this call, the first of many head-scratching decisions made over the course of the night by Hernandez.

The ball, it appears clear on the myriad replays, left the ballpark. Adam Rosales‘ drive looked to strike a railing above the high wall in left at Progressive Field, making it a homer. The call on the field was “double” and that is what the umpires stuck with, even after watching the video replay.

Video replay, the great panacea. If you don’t want to get the call right, what does it matter how many tools you have at your disposal?

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a somewhat recent school of baseball nerd thought which suggests that relievers are all, basically, the same. Replacing relievers is easy and the life of a relief pitcher is volatile, so why bother paying top dollar? The Rays are a team which (ordinarily) employ this method of bullpen construction to great effect – they often turn over their ‘pen greatly from season to season without missing a beat.

As with most good ideas, the belief that “replacing relievers is easy” gave rise to a perversion of the original vision: the flippant attitude that relievers are essentially worthless gained traction among “analysts” and the like. Any old chump off the scrap heap can fill-in, heaven forbid a team sign a reliever in free agency!

That relievers are abundant and can all provide reasonable approximations of each other is obviously not true. Building a good bullpen isn’t easy as it often requires a crystal ball as much as scouting acumen. The one thing there can be replacement for in the bullpen is depth. Be it injury or ineffectiveness, having plenty of good pitchers ready to step in and accept an increased role is crucial over the 162 game season.

The Boston Red Sox are putting this idea to the test and it is only May, as members of their vaunted bullpen are suddenly dropping like flies.

Read the rest of this entry »

HE’S DESTROYING EVIDENCE! CALL THE CRIME LAB, CALL BATMAN!

The Toronto Blue Jays season thus far has been, to put it mildly, crushingly disappointing. Everything that could go wrong for the title-aspirant Jays absolutely has, from ineffectiveness to injury.

As the wheels come off the 2013 season, the Jays refuse to go quietly. Not on the field, mind you, as the Blue Jays lay down for the Red Sox en route to a three game sweep losing two of three at the hands of their divisional rivals. Some media members around the Blue Jays are bound and determined to raise a big stink off the field – accusing Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz and Junichi Tazawa of doctoring baseballs.

Read the rest of this entry »