To summarize, if Baseball either thinks or at one time thought you have the potential to raise major league attendance numbers, then Baseball will give you the better chances to succeed.

Mtn Jam is correct: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120117&content_id=26367464&vkey=news_bos&c_id=bos

I'm betting he can't play second base, so not counting injuries, September.

Kyle Gaedele is a great-nephew of Eddie Gaedele. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/07/eddie-gaedels-great-nephew-drafted-padres/

Big fish was last seen Swimming in the fishing hole Labeled twenty-one

Thank you very much! One other suggestion. If you search for someone that isn't in the Transactions, like Babe Ruth, you get a blank page. Is there a way to put up a search result that says what was queried for is outside of the current scope?

Plus 1 for the trade grouping. I'm not sure if you can do this right away as it would make this page work differently than the others, but it would be interesting and helpful if you could make the links interactive within the Transactions feature. Using Cliff Lee as an example, clicking on Lee would bring up the transactions with Lee while choosing the Mariners would display a slice of the Mariners transactions, focusing on before and after the Lee trade. I appreciate all of BP's data but I want the ability to wander aimlessly in it, to randomly explore and find connections on my own. It's what I like best about the internet. Perhaps there is a way to show both, to explore as well as BP's current method of linking to Lee's stats page? Hopefully someone can design methods for multiple ways of presenting BP's data -- and in an intuitive way. Thanks again!

Beaten by the quicker draw of Jason.

"But during that time I’ve been exposed to quality teenaged talent, mostly on the Rangers’ side of the coin, starting with players like Cristian Santana and Fabio Castillo (when I first started), to Martin Perez and Wilmer Font, to Luis Sardinas and Jurickson Profar, and to #TheLegend."

Colin Wyers has an article on replacement level, Manufactured Runs, from November 2010.

If you're having trouble digesting this, there's always Similac.

That partially explains it, sure. We also need to look at the strength of their opponents. You may have noticed the Yankees and Rays won both of their games against Cleveland and Baltimore, respectively. In BP's simulation, there would be many, many cases where their competitors lost at least one of those four games. So (essentially) we have a simulation based on Friday's standings, then we removed those cases where any of those six games result in a loss. What you're left with is a smaller subset of possibilities, one that on balance has Boston's opponents a wee bit more likely to catch up.

I believe that's Scott McCaughey, he of the Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5 (also with Buck) as well as some touring and track work with REM.

Ortiz's homer on Friday was his 300th as a Red Sock.

Thank you very much, David. I'm not sure why, but your articles consistently bring out strong insights of the player, the game and the games inside the game. I guess it has to be due to talent.

Hope springs eternal But without payroll and youth? Wait until next year

Thank you for the Jackie Robinson plug. It's long overdue and if done intelligently, it's a lock for an Oscar nomination.

Another solid, enjoyable interview. Thank you very much for your consistency. As a side note, has anyone thought about a manager section for the PECOTA cards? I know that's not the pages were intended for but having to go outside of this site to refresh myself on the coaching career of Jimy Williams makes me wonder if BP could put something together. (In case you're wondering, it's managing Toronto 1986-1989, then Boston from 1997-2001, before wrapping up in Houston 2002-2004. Plus there were other opportunities, including the third base coach in Atlanta from 1991-1996 and the Philadelphia bench coach from 2007-2008.)

Thank you for years of insight, delivered with humor and patience -- especially while educating the newest readers. Blue skies, Will.

I wonder how much the quality of visitors bullpen mounds varies and if clubs tend to take better care of the home team's hill.

Matt, how did your study define option years? In other words, if a team pulls the trigger on a one year with an option, do you count this as a two year deal?

Are there better methods for identifying and recovering from brain injuries? Could a brain become fully healed so successive injuries are not amplified by previous "scars", either theoretically or practically?

I stand corrected. Thanks, spsalsbery.

I thought the eagle eyed alternative music crowd would have picked up the Smiths reference sooner than now.

Your brain generates a thought about moving after it begins to instruct the body to move. Granted, the radio show below is discussing this around the concept of free will -- but if you want to hear about this, download the "No Special Now" segment in http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2005/03/04 Applying this to baseball, if PMPM designed a way for an athlete to shut down their frontal cortex, then the brain will be free to act and react without interference. Please note I'm way out of my element here and am just making an educated guess as this applies to sport. Comments are encouraged.

John Farrell remains as Boston's pitching coach for the foreseeable future as he declined the Indians offer over the weekend. Cleveland now turns towards Bobby Valentine, among others. Multiple sources (though definitely not Farrell) confirm he has one more year of exclusivity on his contract with the Red Sox.

At the time (~1944) there were eight newspapers in Boston and they all needed the best headline to attract readers. So, in an effort to survive, sportswriters who were once gracious and gentlemanly became, well, attack dogs. The opening salvo was from Harold Kaese from the Boston Transcript, who wrote that Williams was jealous of his batterymate Jimmy Foxx (for batting fourth while Williams swapped to third), he didn't like Fenway Park, and, possibly worst of all, insinuated that he had questionable moral character as he did not visit his parents back in San Diego over the winter. From there things became much worse.

Since no throws includes catcher throws, I presume we are unable to determine what percentage of outs of the other categories are affected by catchers? It's a shame we cannot track the effectiveness of catcher throws. That play can be exciting.

You do know Weiters throws 101 mph to second base. From his knees, of course.

From the MLBPlayers FAQ: Q: When does a player become eligible for salary arbitration? A: A player with three or more years of service, but less than six years, may file for salary arbitration. In addition, a player can be classified as a "Super Two" and be eligible for arbitration with less than three years of service. A player with at least two but less than three years of Major League service shall be eligible for salary arbitration if he has accumulated at least 86 days of service during the immediately preceding season and he ranks in the top 17 percent in total service in the class of Players who have at least two but less than three years of Major League service, however accumulated, but with at least 86 days of service accumulated during the immediately preceding season. Looks like you have until just a tiny bit over the halfway mark at Baltimore. Not counting rainouts, of course.

Perhaps because at home plate the runner generally attempts to dislodge the ball, so holding onto the ball becomes part of deciding the play. There was no attempt to dislodge the ball at third, so there was no reason for the play to carry forward. I guess this is baseball\'s version of the tuck rule.