After winning the NL Central three straight years, the Houston Astros limped into the All-Star break with a 30-57 record, the worst in baseball by five games. Only three teams in history have gone from first to last in one season: Year Team Year 1 Year 2 1914 Philadelphia (AL) 99-53 43-109 1986 California 92-70…
ANAHEIM ANGELS Placed RHP Tim Belcher on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 7/3 (sore elbow); recalled RHPs Ramon Ortiz and Lou Pote from Edmonton; activated SS Kevin Stocker from the DL; optioned 2B/SS Justin Baughman and RHP Brian Cooper to Edmonton. [7/6] Optioned RHP Ramon Ortiz to Edmonton; recalled RHP Seth Etherton from Edmonton. [7/7]…
Just an idle thought before we get back to our look at some notable first-half performances…is it possible that interleague play has made it easier for players to skip or be held out of the All-Star Game? The midsummer classic isn’t the only chance to see some of those special matchups anymore, and perhaps the…
It has now been more than two years since we created Pitcher Abuse Points to standardize the measurement of pitcher workloads. By and large, we have been more successful at that goal than we had any reason to expect. Some people in baseball now agree with the notion that limiting pitch counts in an attempt…
Mondays are pretty lousy, but a Monday with no baseball games? Yick…stop the day, I want to get off. Then again, this Wednesday will be worse; no games, and no sports page/Internet site full of Sunday boxscores to pore over, reliving the previous day’s ballgames. Sure, there will be lots of All-Star coverage, but how…
I currently have three catchers on my team and need to drop one. They are Javy Lopez, Ben Molina and Darrin Fletcher. Who do you recommend dropping? –PG Always drop the guy with no hitting talent–in this case, Molina. –Keith Law What are your thoughts on Julio Lugo, the Astros’ new shortstop? Does his potential…
This is the first in a series of rankings of major-league defenders, highlighting the top ten and bottom five at each position. The ratings are a combination of Zone Rating, Range Factor and my best (and admittedly grossly flawed) assessment of the job they’re doing. The Top 1. Bret Boone, Padres. Boone has a very…
Orthodoxy I enjoyed your idea about a weekly schedule for pitchers, although I’m not convinced. I just don’t see it becoming a norm because it would be hard to groom youngsters in this fashion and I think limiting pitch counts would just be an effective way of keeping your starters healthy, though the all-closer staff…
Questions to Ponder As we make our way to the All-Star break, there’s a heck of a dogfight at the top of the AL East. The perennial division champion Yankees lead the Red Sox by a single game…and both teams are looking up at the Blue Jays. Overall, just 1 1/2 games separate these teams,…
The toothache I gently alluded to yesterday is still with me, so consider yourselves warned: I’m medicated. A number of people have legitimate beefs over their being handed a three-day vacation next week rather than an all-expenses-paid trip to Atlanta. Keith Foulke, Frank Thomas and Danny Graves come to mind immediately. But the player with…
On Tuesday, the 16 position-player starters for next Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta were announced. The results of the fan balloting were, as usual, difficult to argue with. Even Craig Biggio lost his spot down the stretch, as Jeff Kent beat him out for the NL’s second-base job. So, rather than wait for the leagues…
Before I left Baseball Prospectus to go to KPMG Consulting in 1998, I would occasionally write a piece on defense. Now, I would always get a bunch of mail about articles, but none, including those in which I would personally insult huge segments of the population, drew as much mail–both really angry and effusively gushing–as…
You hear a lot of talk today about how we are possibly entering the Era of the Third Basemen. Whereas at the beginning of the 1990s there were only a few truly great third basemen (Matt Williams, Robin Ventura, Jim Thome before he switched corners, Wade Boggs before he faded), today it seems that half…
Is This Really Happening? Chicago White Sox 53-29 — Cleveland Indians 41-39 11 Are you kidding me? The Indians, the only champion the American League Central has ever known, are closer to the cellar in the division than to its peak. The Chicago White Sox, who haven’t been in a divisional race since the strike…
(Ed. note: Chris Kahrl is still getting set up in his new D.C. digs, so Keith and Joe share pinch-hitting duties.) ANAHEIM ANGELS Optioned RHP Seth Etherton to Edmonton of the Pacific Coast League (AAA); activated RHP Kent Bottenfield from the 15-day disabled list; placed SS Kevin Stocker on the 15-day disabled list tendinitis in…
STREAKS “That was big. Hopefully, this gets him going.” — Joe Torre, Yankees manager, on Tino Martinez breaking his 0-15 slump “We’ve been looking to put something together. Hopefully, this will start us into a good streak.” — Torre, on the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Devil Rays “That’s why Cleveland got him, to stop…