Nick Swisher is one of my favorite players in baseball to watch play the game because I appreciate how he works a count and genuinely seems to enjoy playing the game. My favorite part about his game actually comes off the field, because he is comedic gold when you get him talking on a topic he is excited about. Take his recent assessment of teammate Justin Masterson.

Swisher was asked by Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer to describe teammate Justin Masterson in three words, and in the most Swisher response ever, he replied, “Power sinker, bro.” Swisher expanded his bro-view of the hurler by adding, “What’s really impressive is the number of strikeouts he’s had. Look at any great team and it starts with that number-one guy.”

If an embedded player does not show below this line, please refresh your screen

Jason forgot to press the record button on the first pass, and then forgot to time stamp the agenda on the 2nd pass. President Joe Hamrahi has suspended Jason for 2 days for not knowing the podcast rulebook. 

Read the full article...

The Giants saw enough from Ryan Vogelsong in his first season back from oblivion that they gave him a new contract that could keep him in San Francisco through the 2014 season. In 2012, Vogelsong picked up right where he left off in 2011, but that success story has not continued thus far in 2013.

To date, opponents have hit .323 against him with a 939 OPS and a .370 batting average on balls in play. Those numbers are a dramatic spike from the past two seasons, when batters hit .243 against him with just a 680 OPS and a .286 BABIP.

The remainder of this post cannot be viewed at this subscription level. Please click here to subscribe.

If an embedded player does not show below this line, please refresh your screen

Read the full article...

This year’s player profile for Fernando Rodney closed with this note: “The Rays' 2013 option on Rodney pays him $2.5 million. If he's only half as good as he was last year, he'll still be a bargain.”

So far, the Rays, their fans (save your tired jokes), and fantasy owners wish he was even a fourth as good as he was last year. The Archer is struggling to hit his targets in 2013.

The remainder of this post cannot be viewed at this subscription level. Please click here to subscribe.

If an embedded player does not show below this line, please refresh your screen

Read the full article...

The start to Nate McLouth’s 2013 is one of the more surprising stories in the season’s opening month. The 31-year-old outfielder has a .351/.451/.486 triple-slash line and has already amassed eight stolen bases. That is a stark difference from a guy with a .251/.339/.423 career slash line who has never stolen more than 23 bases in any season. McLouth was a productive fantasy player from ages 25 to 27 before falling into a tailspin in 2010 that continued into 2012. Since landing in Baltimore, McLouth has hit .290/.373/.449 in 325 plate appearances, once again becoming a relevant fantasy option in all formats.

How has he gone from a spare part to a vital cog of a major-league offense?

The remainder of this post cannot be viewed at this subscription level. Please click here to subscribe.

If a "play now" button does not show below this line, please refresh your screen

Read the full article...

Over the weekend, I posted a brief blog post showing how many team shutouts baseball had already seen in the 2013 season. 294 baseball games have been played in the month of April and 53 of them have involved one team being shut out. If the rest of April held up at the current pace, we would have 68 shutouts by May 1st and 437 by season's end. 

Read the full article...

Earlier this month, Ben Lindbergh and Jon Shepard wrote an article reviewing the John Dewan rule about how spring training slugging can predict breakouts. Needless to say, the rule did not hold up well to scrutiny—and this should not come as a surprise to most people. Hot and cold performances in spring training are as predictive as Punxsutawney Phil. He did not see a shadow this February, which meant we would have an early spring. Yet, just last night, two more baseball games were snowed out, and many Midwesterners want to turn that groundhog into roadkill.

It has been just under a month since teams left Arizona and Florida to return to their respective home cities. Some players have picked up right where they left off in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, for better or for worse, while others have seen their game take a complete 180. Here are some players that fall into each one of those groups (all stats as of the completion of Sunday’s games).

The remainder of this post cannot be viewed at this subscription level. Please click here to subscribe.

Earlier today, the Mets shut out the Nationals 2-0 marking the 49th time in the young 2013 season that a baseball team has failed to score in a game. If that seems like a high number, it is. Since the league last expanded in 1998, the most amount of shutouts in a season's first full month is 52 which happened in the 2011 season. The fewest amount of shutouts happened in 2000 when there were just 29 shutouts in the first full month of that season.

Read the full article...

If you do not see a "play now" button above this line, please refresh your page

Read the full article...