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Weekend Open Thread

January 7, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Only six more weekends until pitchers and catchers report, and only seven more weekends until Grapefruit League play begins. It seems so close and yet it feels so far given how damn cold it’s been in New York the last week. Hurry up, Spring Training. Here are two links to check out this weekend.

  • David Laurila posted his annual best quotes of the year piece. Always a must read. I enjoyed Joe Biagini’s quote on what it feels like to be a big leaguer.
  • Jayson Stark posted his annual strange but true feature. Apparently Matt Chapman got his first career hit twice in the same game, and it was against the Yankees. Huh. Forgot about that.

Friday: Here is an open thread for the night. The Knicks and the Islanders are playing, and that’s about it for local sports. Good night to fire up Netflix, I guess. I’m working my way through the new season of Black Mirror myself. You know how these open threads work by now, so have at it.

Saturday: This is the open thread again. The NFL playoffs start today with the Chiefs vs. Titans and Rams vs. Falcons. The Rangers and Nets are both playing, and you’ve got a full slate of college hoops as well.

Sunday: For the final time, this is the open thread. The NFL playoffs continue today with the Bills vs. Jaguars (1pm ET on CBS) and Panthers vs. Saints (4:30pm ET on FOX). The Knicks and the three local hockey teams are also playing, and there’s a bunch of college basketball as well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Filed Under: Links, Open Thread

Saturday Links: Postseason Odds, Pace-of-Play, 2018 Draft Prospects

January 6, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Stanton’s a Yankee. (Presswire)

The cripplingly slow offseason continues to move at a cripplingly slow pace. Imagine if the Giancarlo Stanton trade hadn’t fallen into the Yankees’ lap? This would be the most boring offseason ever. Anyway, here are some boring links on a boring Saturday during this boring offseason.

Yankees among biggest postseason odds increases

Thanks to their activity to date (i.e. the Stanton trade), the Yankees have the fourth largest postseason odds increase so far this offseason, according to Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS system. The Yankees have upped their postseason odds 7.9% this winter, behind the Angels (32.3%), Cardinals (20.3%), and Cubs (8.2%). That 7.9% increase seems low, but here’s the explanation:

Why so low? In this case, ZiPS already projected the Yankees as having an 86 percent chance of making the playoffs in 2018 based on current rosters, so there was only so far for them to improve. Stanton is, of course, a gigantic addition to the outfield. The Yankees do give a little back though with the salary dump of Chase Headley, who while underperforming in New York, was at least a plausible starter and better than their current on-roster options. Starlin Castro is a better player than Headley, but more likely to be replaced by Gleyber Torres at some point this season.

Here are the 2018 Yankees ZiPS projections, if you haven’t seen them. We’ll have more on them next week. As things stand, the Yankees are plenty good enough to get into the postseason as is, even with those questions at second and third bases. Does that mean they should go with the kids because they’re projected to be so good already? Eh, maybe. There is always room for improvement, and I am pro getting as many good players as possible.

MLB, MLBPA will discuss pace-of-play measures

According to Jerry Crasnick, MLB and the MLBPA will meet next week to discuss new pace-of-play measures that would take effect this coming season. This had been rumored for a while, but now we know for sure the two sides are meeting. MLB can unilaterally implement any rule changes, though they’d rather work out an agreement with the players. A pitch clock and a limit on mound visits are expected to be among the major items discussed.

I am all for pace-of-play changes. Pitch clock, limiting mound visits, whatever. I don’t care how long it takes to play a nine-inning game. The downtime within the game is what I find most off-putting. Players standing around is not good for any sport, and the mound visits — especially in the postseason — can really disrupt the flow of the game and break the tension. I say go with a 22-second pitch clock and limit mound visits to one per inning, per pitcher. (Now get off my lawn.)

MLB.com releases top 50 draft prospects list

It’s getting to be that time of year. The crew at MLB.com released their top 50 prospects list for the 2018 draft a few weeks ago. As always, the scouting grades and reports are completely free. It’s a great resource. The Yankees hold the 23rd pick in the draft next year and they’re locked into that pick. First round picks are no longer tied to draft pick compensation, so there’s no possibility of moving up or forfeiting that pick.

It is only December, so the top prospects list will change dramatically between now and the draft. If you’re trying to figure out who the Yankees could target, start with the Southern California guys. For real. Scouting director Damon Oppenheimer loves his SoCal kids. I guess that means high schoolers SS Brice Turang (No. 7), RHP Ethan Reed (No. 30), and RHP Cole Winn (No. 42) are the best place to start. Huh, only three SoCal kids in the top 50? Down year, I guess. That’ll probably change before the draft.

Filed Under: Draft, Links, News Tagged With: 2018 Draft

Weekend Open Thread

December 10, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

The Shohei Ohtani saga is already over. After being posted last Friday, Ohtani agreed to sign with the Angels earlier today. GM Billy Eppler, formerly Brian Cashman’s right-hand man, reeled in the biggest fish of the offseason. If nothing else, adding Ohtani to Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons will make the Angels extremely watchable next season. Anyway, I have some links to check out this weekend:

  • Ben Lindbergh examined the durability of pitchers who came over from Japan. The general perception is that they break down after two or three years, but it turns out they’ve been much more durable than pitchers who started their careers in MLB.
  • Joe Lemire wrote about a new virtual reality program teams are using to develop prospects. They use it to help pitch recognition. One team saw a 13 percentage point increase in pitch recognition after only two months of training. Pretty neat stuff.
  • A non-baseball link to close it out. Some dude managed to turn his shed into the No. 1 ranked restaurant in London on Trip Advisor. It is a completely ridiculous (and hilarious) story.

Friday: Here is tonight’s open thread. The (hockey) Rangers and Devils are both playing, plus there’s some college basketball on as well. Talk about those games, Ohtani signing with the Angels, or anything else here. Just not religion or politics, please.

Saturday: So, that was quite a day, huh? Giancarlo Stanton is a Yankee. Or will be once the trade is made official. Pretty cool. Anyway, this is the open thread again. All the local hockey and basketball teams are in action, plus there is plenty of college basketball on the schedule as well. You know how these things work now, so have at it.

Sunday: This is the open thread for the final time. The Knicks are playing tonight, plus there’s all the day’s NFL and college basketball action as well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Filed Under: Links, Open Thread

Weekend Open Thread

October 29, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

Welcome to the first weekend without Yankees baseball since February. Bit of a bummer, isn’t it? We’ve got 16 more weekends to go before Spring Training gets underway. A lot figures to happen between now and then, starting with the Yankees finding a new manager. Anyway, here some links to check out this weekend:

  • Tom Verducci on Joe Girardi’s dismissal is a must read. The role of the manager has changed so much these last few years that Girardi, who was the right man for the job in 2008, is no longer the right man in 2018.
  • Katie Baker on Alex Rodriguez’s image rehab is also a must read. A-Rod is so good as a television analyst, isn’t he? He is also apparently a big goofball behind the scenes. Alex should manage the Yankees. That’d be fun. Chaotic, but fun.
  • Sam Miller explains why you should root for the underdog Dodgers. Yes, they have a massive payroll and are the best team in baseball, but several players on the roster have overcome long odds to get where they are right now.

Friday: Here is an open thread for the night. The Dodgers and Astros will resume the World Series with Game Three (8:20pm ET on FOX), plus the Knicks, Nets, and Devils are all playing as well. Talk about anything and everything here, just not religion or politics. Gets that outta here.

Saturday: Once again, here is the open thread. The Dodgers and Astros will play Game Four of the World Series tonight (8:20pm ET on FOX), and you’ve also got all three local hockey teams in action and gobs of college football. You know how these open threads work by now, so have at it.

Sunday: Here is the open thread for the final time. Game Five of the World Series will be played tonight (8:20pm ET on FOX), plus there’s all the day’s NFL action as well as the Knicks and Nets. Go nuts.

Filed Under: Links, Open Thread

Saturday Links: Otani, Denbo, Judge, Sanchez, YES Network

October 7, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Atsushi Tomura/Getty)
(Atsushi Tomura/Getty)

The Yankees and Indians have an off-day today as the ALDS shifts from Cleveland to New York. The best-of-five series will resume with Game Three tomorrow night. Here are some links to check out in the meantime.

Otani dazzles in possible final start in Japan

Shohei Otani, who may or may not come to MLB this offseason, made what could be his final start for the Nippon Ham Fighters earlier this week. He struck out ten in a two-hit shutout of the Orix Buffaloes, and Jason Coskrey says dozens of MLB scouts attended the game. Otani finished the season with a 3.20 ERA in 25.1 innings and a .340/.413/.557 batting line in 63 games. He missed time with quad and ankle problems, hence the limited time on the mound.

Joel Sherman says the Yankees are “known to be extremely interested” in Otani, who, if he does come over this year, will come over under the old posting rules. That means the (Ham) Fighters will set a $20M release fee. MLB and NPB are currently renegotiating the posting agreement for other players going forward. The Yankees have roughly $2M in international bonus money to offer Otani based on my estimates, though if he comes over this year, it won’t be for top dollar. Basically no team has much international money to offer. Otani will go wherever he thinks is the best fit based on his own personal preferences. Good luck predicting that.

Denbo expected to join Marlins

Folks in baseball expect Yankees vice president of player development Gary Denbo to join Derek Jeter and the Marlins this offseason, reports Jon Heyman. Marlins general manager Mike Hill is expected to remain on, with Denbo coming over to head up their player development department, the same department he runs for the Yankees now. Denbo’s contract is up after the season, so he’s free to come and go as he chooses.

Jeter and Denbo are very close and go back a long away, and I figured Jeter would try to poach him once we found out he was buying the Marlins. Denbo has done a phenomenal job turning around the farm system and the Yankees will miss him, assuming they can’t convince him to stay. Who will take over the farm system? I have no idea. The Yankees will find someone. I’m curious to see which Yankees farmhands the Marlins try to acquire going forward. You know Denbo has some personal favorites in the system.

(Al Bello/Getty)
(Al Bello/Getty)

Judge had most popular jersey in 2017

The most popular player jersey this season, according to sales on MLB.com, belongs to Aaron Judge. Here is the press release. The average age of the top 20 players in jersey sales is 27, so that’s fun. Here’s the top five:

  1. Aaron Judge, Yankees
  2. Kris Bryant, Cubs
  3. Anthony Rizzo, Cubs
  4. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
  5. Bryce Harper, Nationals

Also in the top 20 jersey sales: Gary Sanchez. He ranked 15th in jersey sales overall and sixth among AL players, behind Judge, Mike Trout, Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, and Jose Altuve. Only two pitchers in the top 20, which is kinda weird. Kershaw is fourth and Noah Syndergaard is 19th. The people love dingers, I guess.

YES Network ratings up 57%

Not surprisingly, the YES Network’s rating were up a whopping 57% this season, the network announced yesterday. This season’s ratings were the best in five years. Primetime game broadcasts on YES had higher ratings than the primetime schedules of all other cable networks in New York, plus ratings for non-game broadcasts (pregame and postgame shows, etc.) were up as well. Ratings outside the city also increased substantially. Turns out if you put a very good and very fun team on the field, people will watch. Who woulda thunk it?

Filed Under: Front Office, International Free Agents, Links, News Tagged With: Aaron Judge, Gary Denbo, Gary Sanchez, Miami Marlins, Shohei Ohtani, YES Network

Saturday Links: Top 50 Prospects, Cabrera, Forbes, Uniforms

April 22, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

Gleyber. (Presswire)
Gleyber. (Presswire)

The Yankees and Pirates will resume their three-game series with the middle game later this afternoon. Until then, here are a few bits of news and notes to check out.

Three Yankees on Law’s updated top 50 prospects list

I missed this last week, but Keith Law (subs. req’d) posted an updated list of the top 50 prospects in baseball. This isn’t a re-ranking. It’s more of an update to Law’s preseason top 100 to reflect prospects who have either graduated to MLB or will soon. Here are the Yankees in the updated top 50 list:

2. SS Gleyber Torres (No. 4 preseason)
16. OF Blake Rutherford (No. 22 preseason)
20. OF Clint Frazier (No. 27 preseason)

Torres is behind only Mets SS Amed Rosario. He was also behind Red Sox OF Andrew Benintendi and Braves SS Dansby Swanson on the preseason list, but those two have since graduated to the big leagues, which is why Gleyber has moved up two spots.

OF Aaron Judge ranked 44th preseason but recently graduated to MLB, so he’s no longer a prospect. RHP James Kaprielian went from 28th before the season to out of the top 50 in the update, presumably due to his continued elbow problems. LHP Justus Sheffield was 88th preseason and did not jump into the top 50. So, in the eyes of at least one prospect ranker, the Yankees currently have three of baseball’s 20 best prospects in their farm system. And Judge and Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird and Luis Severino at the MLB level. Hooray.

Cabrera among top DSL prospects

Ben Badler (subs. req’d) recently put together a list of the top 20 prospects who spent time in the Dominican Summer League last year. The players are listed alphabetically. Not ranked. The Yankees had one player in the top 20: SS Oswaldo Cabrera. He tore up the DSL in 26 games last year before the Yankees brought him stateside. Here’s a piece of Badler’s scouting report:

He’s a true all-fields hitter with a sound swing and natural hitter’s actions in the box. When he swings, he doesn’t miss much, with innate feel for the barrel and good plate coverage with a chance to develop into a plus hitter. Cabrera isn’t that big and will probably always have a hit-over-power profile … He should be able to stick at shortstop.

Badler also notes Cabrera, who signed for $100,000 in 2015, made a slight adjustment after signing that has paid big dividends. He backed up a bit in the batter’s box, giving him more time to react and allowing him to use his hands more efficiently. The just turned 18-year-old Cabrera is off a slow start with Low-A Charleston — he’s the youngest player in the South Atlantic League by several months — but he hit .345/.396/.523 (193 wRC+) in 52 rookie balls games last year. A spot in the organizational top 30 prospects list awaits.

MLB unveils 2017 special event uniforms

Earlier this month MLB unveiled their special event uniforms for the 2017 season. These cover Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and the All-Star Game. Rather than wear the special uniforms only on the day of the event, this year players will wear them the entire holiday weekend. Everything will then be auctioned off for charity. Here are the Yankees special event hats and jerseys, via Chris Creamer:

2017-special-event-uniforms

That stars and stripes hat for the Fourth of July is pretty awesome. These special event caps usually don’t do anything for me, but I dig that one. Also, during the All-Star Game this year, each player will wear a patch on their sleeve that includes the number of All-Star Games they’ve been selected to in their careers. That’s pretty cool.

Yankees are still the most valuable franchise in MLB

Surprise surprise, the Yankees remain the most valuable franchise in baseball, according to Forbes. By a lot, too. The Yankees are worth an estimated $3.7 billion. The Dodgers are a distant second at $2.75 billion. Yeah. This is the 20th consecutive year the Yankees have ranked as baseball’s most valuable franchise. They generated an MLB best $526M in revenue in 2016 despite a 10% drop in attendance the last few years.

Amazingly, the average MLB franchise is now worth $1.54 billion, up a whopping 19% from last year. Incredible. The league can thank new television contracts and the rapid growth of the MLB Advanced Media juggernaut for that. The Yankees were worth an estimated $3.4 billion last year. Back in 2010 they were worth a comparatively tiny $1.6 billion. The franchise could very well triple in value before the decade is over. Owning an MLB team is good work if you can get it.

Filed Under: Links, Minors Tagged With: Blake Rutherford, Business of Baseball, Clint Frazier, Gleyber Torres, James Kaprielian, Oswaldo Cabrera, Prospect Lists

Saturday Links: Betances, Tanaka, Proposed Rule Changes

February 11, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Presswire)
(Presswire)

This is the penultimate weekend without baseball games until November. Pretty great, isn’t it? The Yankees will play their first Grapefruit League game two weeks from yesterday. Thank goodness. Anyway, here’s some news and notes to check out this weekend.

Yankees, Betances set for arbitration hearing Friday

According to George King, the Yankees and Dellin Betances are scheduled to have their arbitration hearing this coming Friday, February 17th, in St. Petersburg. “Nothing has changed, we haven’t talked. We have no intention of talking. It’s not close. Somebody else will make the decision,” said Brian Cashman. Betances is seeking $5M while the Yankees countered with $3M, which, as far as I can tell, would still be a record salary for a first year arbitration-eligible setup man.

Since the arbitration hearing is Friday, chances are the three-person panel will announce their ruling Saturday morning. That’s usually how it goes. The hearing is one day and the ruling is announced the next. Maybe they’ll wait until Monday because it’s the next business day. Eh, whatever. Each side will state their case at the hearing and the panel will pick either the $5M or $3M for Dellin’s salary in 2017. Nothing in-between. My guess is the Yankees win. (There have been six arbitration hearings around the league so far and each side has won three, for what it’s worth.)

Tanaka not thinking about opt-out

Earlier this week, Masahiro Tanaka told Dan Martin he hasn’t put much thought into whether he will use his opt-out clause after the season. “Obviously, I’m aware of what my contract says, but it’s something I put aside going into the season,” he said. “You can’t really be thinking about that while you go through the season. I’m really focused on this season. When the time comes after the season, then I’ll probably have a chance to think about that more.”

Back in 2012, we heard CC Sabathia say pretty much the exact same thing when his opt-out was looming. It’s the best possible answer, right? “I’m only focused on trying to win, not my contract.” That’s what everyone wants to hear. These guys are human beings though. Of course Tanaka is aware a big season would mean a shot at a(nother) monster contract. We’ve been through this before with Sabathia. The opt-out is going to be a thing all year.

MLB considering new extra innings rules

According to Jeff Passan, MLB will test new and impossibly stupid extra innings rules in rookie ball this season, assuming Joe Torre, the league’s chief baseball officer, signs off. Under the new rule, a runner would be placed at second base at the start of every inning after the ninth. The goal is, obviously, to cut down on extra innings and eliminate games that last long into the night.

“Let’s see what it looks like,” said Torre. “It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time. It’s baseball. I’m just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn’t mean you’re going to score. You’re just trying to play baseball.”

One, position players pitching is fun! Two, it doesn’t happen all that often anyway. And three, they have this rule in many amateur leagues and international tournaments. Every inning plays out the same: they start with a runner at second, the first batter bunts him to third, and the second batter is intentionally walked to set up the double play. Every single time. It’s terrible and horrible and I hope this rule change never ever ever comes to MLB.

Now, that said, I could understand implementing this in the minors as a way to avoid overusing pitchers. Maybe make them play 12 innings, allowing each team to go through the lineup one more time, then put a runner at second? This should never come to MLB though. Forget that. I like that commissioner Rob Manfred is open to new ideas. That’s great. This one though? Bad. No thanks.

MLB proposed changes to intentional walks, strike zone

In addition to the stupid extra innings rule, MLB has formally proposed changes to intentional walks and the strike zone, reports Jayson Stark. The ball is now in the MLBPA’s court. Neither side can implement a rule change unilaterally. Both MLB and the MLBPA have to sign off. For what it’s worth, Passan hears there’s no chance the players will approve any changes to the strike zone.

MLB proposed raising the bottom of the zone approximately two inches, which would undoubtedly increase offense. Jon Roegele’s research has shown the strike zone has increased downward in recent years. So not only are more low pitches being called strikes, but now hitters have to protect against them too, and pitches down below the knees are hard to hit with authority. Raising the zone would mean more hitter’s counts and more pitches in hittable locations.

The intentional walk rule change is simple: rather than making the pitcher throw four pitches, they issue a signal and the runner is sent to first automatically. I hate it. Intentional walks are a competitive play. Make the pitcher and catcher complete it. Pitchers are prone to losing the zone after intentional walks, plus we see a handful of wild pitches each year. Gary Sanchez did this last year:

There were 932 intentional walks in 2,428 games last season. It works out to one every 46.1 innings or so. I get MLB is looking to improve the pace of play, but this won’t help much. Intentional walks are too infrequent to make a meaningful change to the time of game. Want to improve pace of play? Cut down on mound visits. The catcher gets one per inning, per pitcher. That’s my proposed solution.

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: Dellin Betances, Horrendously Stupid, Masahiro Tanaka

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