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By Jimmy, 11/12/2010 10:32 am

I thought it might be interesting to jot up a quick summary of the pros and cons of each of the two premier outfielders on the free agent market, since both of them are likely to draw some interest from the Boston Red Sox.

Carl Crawford

Age: 29
Last Season: .307/.356/.495, 47 steals in 57 attempts, 21.2 UZR/150 in left field

Pros:

• Two years younger than Werth
• Coming off the best season of his career
• A proven commodity in the A.L. East
• One of the league’s two best base stealers (the Red Sox already have the other one)
• Very durable, not injury plagued
• Excellent defender in left field, can play center field in a pinch (but not regularly)
• Hits fly balls to the opposite field (a benefit for lefties hitting at Fenway)

Cons:

• Turns into Jason Tyner against left-handed pitching (.270/.315/.382).
• Will be more expensive than Werth
• Not a lot of power for a corner outfielder
• Has struggled a bit in both Fenway Park (career .301 OBP) and Yankee Stadium (career .361 slugging percentage)
• Has never played right field

Jayson Werth

Age: 31
Last Season: .296/.388/.532, 46 doubles, 13 steals in 16 attempts

Pros:

• Will go for a little less money than Crawford
• Right-handed power hitter who uses the entire field, could be a monster at Fenway
• Can play all three outfield positions (though you wouldn’t want him in CF every day)
• Good, underrated base runner
• Good against the A.L. in interleague games: .277/.356/.562 in 317 plate appearances
• Durable: 156 and 159 games played in each of last two seasons (this would have led the Red Sox in each year)

Cons:

• Flourished in the National League, in a bandbox stadium
• Sizable difference in his platoon split; 91 OPS+ against right-handed pitching in his career
• Represented by Scott Boras, who has gone on record comparing Werth to Dwight Evans
• 31 is not the new 21 (regardless of how many times I tell myself it’s true when I’m out drinking)

To be honest, I’m still not sure who I’d rather see the Sox pursue.  Instinctively, I lean towards Werth, only because I prefer power and plate discipline to speed (which I think tends to be overpriced).  However, I do think there is some allure to recreating the mid-70′s Oakland A’s at Fenway Park.

My general feeling right now? Either one would be nice.

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By Jimmy, 10/26/2010 9:17 am

Tonight is opening night for the Celtics, who will take on the Miami Heat at the Garden.  The Miami Heat?  Boring.  I can’t even name one person on their roster.  Not one.

Anyway, if you were to click on ESPN’s expert predictions for which team would finish atop the Atlantic Division this season, you would see this:

Sounds good to me.

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By Jimmy, 10/25/2010 8:50 am

Seattle Mariners blogger Jeff Sullivan tweeted this photo of prematurely-made (and now factually incorrect) Yankees paraphernalia; something we’ve been seeing quite a bit of over the past 10 years, much to America’s delight.

(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

These banners are probably thrown away, but from what I’ve heard, the t-shirts, caps, and other articles of clothing are “donated” to impoverished third-world nations by MLB.  Chalk up yet another reason why other countries hate the United States.  We donate lies.

Other notes:

• It has been confirmed: the Blue Jays have a new manager, and the Red Sox are now in need of a new pitching coach.
• Just from looking around and taking the pulse of the media, it looks like the baseball world (outside of Texas) is collectively pulling for the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series.  Peter Abraham flat-out instructed his readers to root for the Giants in this puff piece on closer Brian Wilson because “they’re a fun team”.  If you’re unfamiliar with sportswriter-ese, “fun team” translates into “they have unorthodox hair styles and their third baseman is pudgy”.  Go Texas.

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By Jimmy, 10/20/2010 6:30 am

Given the current state of the ALCS, I’d like to briefly turn your attention to a prediction I made in early April:

ALCS: Rangers over Yankees (5 games)

There are a few other things I may have gotten right (I may have correctly guessed both Rookie of the Year winners), but you can go ahead and ignore most of that post.

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By Jimmy, 10/14/2010 8:40 am

Prized pitching prospect Casey Kelly, whose stock dropped a tad this summer after a lackluster season in AA Portland, threw four strong innings in his Arizona Fall League debut.  His fastball reportedly sat at 94 MPH, and he threw mostly strikes during his quick and efficient outing (his first game action since straining a muscle at the end of the regular season).

He managed to snag the ever-rare four inning win (he was awarded the victory via scorekeeper’s discretion).

Random Observation:

Just a quick rant regarding a growing trend.  If there is one thing more annoying than your friends or co-workers telling you about their fantasy team’s performance, it’s the sports fan who makes a point to proclaim how he/she refuses to play fantasy sports.

“I don’t play fantasy football/baseball” is the sports fan version of “I don’t own a TV”.   People seem to take extra joy in announcing this.  Okay, you’re a purist, we get it, bully for you.  Yes, you ride a fixed gear bicycle and hand-grind your coffee every morning, wow, that’s just tremendous.  Yes, everyone should go outside and play more, yes, yes, technology is evil, congratulations, I’ll kindly get off your lawn, thanks for enlightening me, etc.

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By Jimmy, 10/13/2010 5:45 am

A few of the organization’s top prospects, along with some also-rans, will be headed to the Arizona Fall League today.

The first three guys on the list are legitimate prospects (see our Top 25), while the rest are organizational filler for the most part.

Other notes:

• Kudos to the Texas Rangers for sending Tampa Bay home.  TBS flashed a statistic last night that compared Cliff Lee’s postseason ERA to names like Christy Matthewson, Eddie Plank, and Wild Bill Hallahan (i.e., guys who pitched during a time where the league average ERA was probably around 3.00).  TBS’ ignorance towards the  concept of relative value notwithstanding, that’s impressive.
• Looks like the purchase of Liverpool FC is not really a done deal, and the issue will be hashed out in court.   I’m going to be honest, my knowledge of soccer can be summed up in the old FIFA games for Sega Genesis.  This is a subject I don’t know a whole lot about, so I’m going to do a bit of homework here.  If this deal does happen, I’d like to be able to write about the club at least somewhat competently, especially since Liverpool is actually playing games now whilst the Red Sox are not.

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By Jimmy, 10/12/2010 5:14 am

Quite a bit has gone down since I’ve been a way.  After a 2+ week hiatus from American news, turning on the TV and seeing Randy Moss on the Vikings bewildered the shit out of me, and the highlights of Roy Halladay’s no-hitter were fun to watch.  Where I was staying, however, the Red Sox purchase of Liverpool made much more of a splash.  We’ll talk more about that later.  I’m still easing my way into things, and even though I’m a tad late to the game as only 5 teams are still alive at the moment, it’s time to go ahead and “endorse” a team for the 2010 MLB post season.

Let’s go over the alternatives.

Tampa Bay Rays – They are no longer a cindarella story despite the relatively small payroll.  Surprise surprise, year after year top 5 draft picks via 95 loss seasons will eventually improve a lousy team.  I’m not sure how this method of winning is any more noble than the big market mercenary approach.  At least the mercenary squads treat their fans to a modicum of consistency.  The more I think of it, the more I realize that I sort of hate this franchise.  Let’s move on.

San Francisco Giants – An intersting choice.  Tim Lincecum, poster boy for video game junkies and stoners (not mutually exclusive populations) is one of the more likable superstars in the game, and the team has a bunch of other young, exciting players.  Edgar Renteria is a guy I always root for, and it would be nice to see old pal Freddy Sanchez (traded from the Red Sox in 2003) get a ring.  However, I saw the Sox play a game in San Francisco earlier this summer, and I found their fans’ inferiority complex annoying.  Yes, we invaded your ballpark.  Next time, sack up and purchase more tickets. Next.

Philadelphia Phillies – Maybe the least hateable of the “big market” $125+ million payroll teams (aside from the obvious exception).  The average age of their roster is 32, and while that number is skewed upwards by bronze age relic Jamie Moyer, it seems that they don’t have quite the long-term window that squads like Tampa Bay or San Francisco enjoy.  Still, given their purchasing power, staying in contention shouldn’t be a major issue.  Frankly, it’s no fun watching the same team in the World Series every year, so let’s move on.

New York Yankees – It’s amazing how the owners of this club are able to assemble such a disgusting group of people year after year.  It’s an art form, passed down genetically from George Steinbrenner to his two sons, who instill their core values in Cashman and Levine and the like.  They have a profound gift that you can’t teach- the ability to locate and acquire people that just make your skin crawl.   Now that the old guard of vomit inducing personalities (Jeter, A-Rod, Pettitte, etc.) had begun to slow down over the past couple of years, the team had the foresight to find a bunch of new players who are just as despicable (Chamberlain, Swisher, Teixeira, etc.). You see, it’s important to maintain a stable level of douchbaggery in the clubhouse, for team chemistry purposes.  This organization is the Taliban of American pop culture, and I’m pretty sure I’ve developed a few small brain tumors by glancing at their team webpage this morning.

Texas Rangers – This franchise as been around for 50 years (as the Washington Senators from 1961-1971 before moving to the Dallas area in ’72) and they have yet to claim baseball’s ultimate prize.  Their manager parties like a 1970′s rock star,  their star player used to party like a 1970′s rock star, and their top 3 winningest pitchers are guys who seem to have materialized out of thin air this spring.  The likability of this team (in combination with the various reasons to dislike the others) leads me to endorse the Texas Rangers for 2010.

Tonight – Rangers vs Rays in a Game 5 rubber match.  Cliff Lee vs David Price.  If anything, it will be interesting.

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By Jimmy, 9/22/2010 8:47 am

It’s time once again to turn our attention to what likely is the only race the 2010 Red Sox have any stake in: the battle for the American League Cy Young Award.

I’m not going to go into much detail on last night’s “game” against the Orioles, aside from the fact that Clay Buchholz managed to pitch 6 innings without yielding any earned runs.  Buchholz and his teammate Jon Lester are both in the running for the Cy this year.  Let’s take another peek at the candidates as we head into the final two weeks of the 2010 regular season.   In no particular order:

* Soria, the token reliever in this race, has 40 saves.

Keep in mind that I’m using stats that the members of the Baseball Writers Association generally use, so for now, we’ll table VORP and WAR and the like.

At this point, I’d have to say that Felix Hernandez probably deserves to win the award (barring a terrible performance in his final two starts).  However, given the fact that no starter has ever won the award with fewer than 15 wins (a record that was set last year by Tim Lincecum), Felix is a long shot.

My guess is the actual voting would go something like this:

1) Sabathia
2) Lester
3) Price
4) Hernandez
5) Buchholz

If Jon Lester manages to win his last two starts (@ New York and @ Chicago) and reach the all-important 20 win plateau, his high K total gives him a real shot to win this thing.  As of right now, the award unfortunately belongs to the 400-pound cheeseburger assassin in the Bronx.

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By Jimmy, 9/15/2010 10:24 am

The official MLB 2011 schedule was released yesterday, which means it is time to start thinking about weekend vacations for next summer, whether they be with a significant other or a throng of buddies.

First, let’s start out with the weekend interleague away games (always a hit with traveling Sox fans):

Sox @ Pittsburgh: June 24-26
Sox @ Houston: July 1-3

It seems like the Sox haven’t had the benefit of facing too many cupcakes from the National League recently.  Thankfully, that is going to change in 2011,.  The modern day Pittsburgh Pirates are probably the weakest franchise in American sports, and Houston is on the wrong side of mediocrity.  As far as the stadiums/cities go, I’ve been to Pittsburgh but have never been to Houston.  Despite having an extremely shitty team, the Pirates have one of the nicest stadiums in the game, and Pittsburgh is one of the nicest small cities I’ve ever been too.  If I had to describe the area around PNC Park with one word, I’d use “clean”.  Very walkable, nice restaurants and bars, not a whole lot of squalor.

Houston, from what I’ve heard, is one of those places that is difficult to get around without a car, which I’m personally not a fan of.  I’d still be interested in checking it out, since it’s something like the 4th largest city in America and I assume they have decent BBQ and Mexican restaurants down there (both are a rarity in Boston).  The Sox play there on 4th of July weekend, which makes it a good travel option due to the extra day off.

Other interesting travel options:

Sox @ Detroit: May 27-29

Memorial Day Weekend.  The Detroit Tigers play in my favorite MLB stadium (among the 15 or so I’ve been to).  The city of Detroit itself is an interesting place to see, but for entirely different reasons.  Unless you really know the area, bar-hopping isn’t an option.  The must-see places in Detroit are the ruins, i.e. the massive abandoned plants, factories, and neighborhoods.  If you’re at all into American history, there’s a treasure trove of stuff to see there.

Sox @ New York: September 24-26

A late-September matchup at Yankee Stadium would make for a great trip for obvious reasons (assuming both teams are vying for a playoff spot at that time).  The new stadium is about 10 times nicer than the old place, unless you are one of those codgers who thrive on minimalism and discomfort when watching a ballgame.  The area where the stadium is located (South Bronx) is the anus of the east coast, but cab or subway can take you into Manhattan, where there is a ton of stuff to see and do and many residents are transplants who do not care for the local baseball team.  Check it out.

Sox @ Texas: April 1-3

Opening Day Weekend.  I’d like to see Dallas/Arlington for the same reasons I’d be curious to see Houston.  For what I gather, the Texans enjoy their fair share of food and alcohol.  Sounds like a decent weekend to me.  From an on-field standpoint, the Rangers have a pretty good team these days, and the games themselves would be interesting.

Sox @ Baltimore: September 26-28

Note, this is not a weekend; these games take place on Monday through Wednesday.  I’m listing it here because Camden Yards makes for a great low-cost destination for people in the Boston area, and the weather in Charm City will be nice in late September (avoid the mid-July games in Baltimore, when the humidity will be oppressive).  This is the first time I can remember where the Sox are not scheduled to spend a weekend in Baltimore in the unbalanced schedule era.  Whoever created this schedule deserves to be beaten with a wet burlap sac.

Sox @ Toronto: June 10-12

This is high on my list of places to visit, since I’ve never actually been to Toronto.  Every time my friends organize a trip to our northern neighbor, we end up in Montreal for whatever reason.  I think it’s because we enjoy observing the European influenced art and architecture, and visiting their world-renowned museums.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

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By Jimmy, 9/3/2010 9:16 am

As the major league team continues to twitch and convulse like a car-struck deer begging to be put out of its misery, it is becoming increasingly clear that our focus should turn to the future.

Now that the rosters have expanded and the minor league season is winding down, this is as good a time as any to rank our prospects.

My definition of prospect is the generally accepted rookie definition: fewer than 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues.  Under this criteria, most of the younger guys promoted throughout the year (Kalish, Doubront, Reddick, Bowden) still qualify at this point.  Daniel Nava is only 13 at-bats away from reaching non-rookie status, and he’ll probably hit that milestone next week, so I’ll leave him off the list.

Ryan Kalish came into 2010 as a bit of an afterthought after names like Casey Kelly, Lars Anderson, and Josh Reddick, but now he has a foothold in the crowded 2011 outfield picture after hitting .294/.382/.502 between AA and AAA and holding his own in a considerable MLB stint.  His presence may even allow the Sox to consider trade possibilities that would have been unheard of prior to this year.

I’m probably higher on Jose Iglesias than others, but there’s just something I find appealing about the prospect of stellar shortstop defense coupled with decent contact hitting.  Of course, the lack of power and plate discipline is a concern, and while the former will likely never fully develop, the latter could certainly be improved upon with another year of seasoning in the minors.  All in all, 2010 was a decent showing for a guy getting his first taste of professional baseball in America, and it appears as though he’s on track to take over for Marco Scutaro in 2012.

It’s really difficult to compare Anthony Rizzo and Lars Anderson at this point.  Both seem to have All-Star first baseman potential, but Rizzo has been rising quickly, while Anderson’s stock has been stagnant after he was a tad over-hyped in his first pro season.  Both players are young for their current levels, and both will likely repeat in AA and AAA next season, respectively.  While neither player’s overall numbers are eye-popping, it should be noted that Anderson hit .286./376./486 on the road in AAA, while RIzzo has his .268/.356/.497 after the All-Star break.

Casey Kelly came into the year as the consensus top pitching prospect in the organization, but he has been overmatching a bit in Portland this season after being aggressively promoted (like Anderson and Rizzo).  Right now, his fastball sits at around 91-92 MPH, so he’ll need to add some velocity if he is to reach his full potential.  Still, Kelly has shown excellent command of multiple pitches, and was one of the youngest starting pitchers in his league this season.  He has lots of time to develop.

With Iglesias receiving a lot of hype after his impressive debut, Yamaico Navarro is probably the most underrated prospect in the organization.  It appears that a lot of folks are fogetting that Iglesias isn’t the only decent SS prospect in the system.  Navarro, still only 22-years-old, has been very impressive since being promoted to Pawtucket, and even flashed competence during a brief trial in Boston.

Anthony Ranaudo is a 2010 bonus baby with a very high potential, albeit at a high risk.  He was the best pitcher in college baseball before suffering an elbow injury, and has yet to return to form.  Theo Epstein, as he is prone to do, shelled out top dollar for the high-upside arm in hopes that his potential will one day be realized.

Perhaps no other prospect saw his stock fall further (not including injured guys like Ryan Westmoreland and Junichi Tazawa) than Josh Reddick.  However, Reddick has been hitting very well lately, raking at a .363/.385/.643 clip since the All-Star break.  He still has the potential to be a decent starting outfielder at the Major League level, and his recent play has been very encouraging.

My favorite catcher in the system is the big-hitting Yalie, Ryan Lavarnway.  A lot of folks discount him due to his defensive shortcomings, but honestly, I cannot remember the last time the Red Sox employed the services of a strong throwing defensive catcher on a regular basis (as a starter).  The most recent guy I can think of would be Tony Pena, and I’d rather not see a return to those days.  It’s time to accept that a team can win with an all-bat/no-arm catcher.

The left-handed Felix Doubront (along with his RHP counterpart, Michael Bowden) has found a role on the major league staff by lending his arm to a decimated bullpen, and he has performed somewhat impressively there.  However, I think he still may have a career in the back-end of a major league rotation in his future, barring injury.  His potential is similar to the injured Junichi Tazawa.

All in all, it seems like a fairly deep minor league system, with a lot of new talent added via a strong draft and the Manny Delcarmen trade.  We’ll keep an eye on things as the Arizona Fall League and the winter leagues kick into gear.

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By Jimmy, 7/13/2010 2:31 pm

Just one thing to note here; the players I chose at DH were simply the two best hitters after every other spot on the roster had been filled.

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By Jimmy,

For comparison, the actual MLB All-Star rosters can be found here.

Just a couple of notes on how I chose the All-Stars:

• I’m disregarding that idiotic rule requiring every team to send at least one representative.  Oddly enough, I still managed to pick an Oriole for my AL team (and it’s not Ty Wigginton).
• Injured players worthy of selection are not replaced.
• For position players, it’s one starter at every position, one backup at every position, plus a 3rd string catcher, a flex middle infielder, a flex corner infielder, and a flex outfielder.
• For pitchers, it’s 12 starters and 8 relievers.
• Outfielders will be selected at their true position.  No Carl Crawford in right field, etc.

Here are your American League Dewey’s House All-Stars:

Pitchers:

The National League is coming later today.

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By Jimmy, 7/12/2010 9:22 am

When I heard that Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau would be missing the All-Star game due to a concussion he recently sustained, I all but assumed that Kevin Youkilis (currently with the 4^th highest OPS in the league) would be rightfully appointed to take his place.  Sadly, I underestimated the unknown variable: incompetence.

What was Joe Girardi’s logic for selecting White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko over Youkilis?  Read it and weep, or laugh.  Your choice.

It’s a hard choice to make. I could have taken him or Youkilis Konerko’s hitting slightly higher, has a couple more home runs and couple more RBIs.

In other words, Joe Girardi, the manager of the most expensive sports franchise in the United States, evaluates baseball players the same way I did when I was nine-years-old.  Luckily for the Yanks, Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners have given Girardi a quarter-billion dollars of talent to work with (and most of that money has been very wisely-spent), but imagine if this guy were managing the Royals or the Pirates?  Yikes.

For the record:

If both guys were terrible defensively, this would be more of a coin flip.  However, that’s not the case: Youkilis is among the best defensive first basemen in the game while Konerko is on the other side of the spectrum.  There really is no other way to justify this decision other than “more home runs and RBI”.

In the end, this is a good thing for the Red Sox.  Youkilis is playing hurt as it is, and he has shown a tendency to slow down in the second half of the season.  A three day rest is definitely the best thing for him at this point.  However, if this post comes off as bitter, that’s because it is.  The fan in me wanted Youkilis to get the honor he deserves, regardless of the big picture.

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By Jimmy, 7/7/2010 9:29 am

7/6/10: Rays 3, Red Sox 2

The Sox had another massive injury scare last night when Kevin Youkilis, one of the last few regular position players not on the DL, had to leave the game with pain in his right ankle.  The team’s loss to the Rays can be directly attributed to Youkilis’ departure, as Tampa Bay was then able to intentional walk David Ortiz to pitch to Youk’s replacement (the offensively-anemic Niuman Romero).

Fortunately and surprisingly, it appears that Youkilis is fine, and should be ready to play today.

Notes & Takeaways:

• Imagine what the general reaction would be if it were J.D. Drew who left the game and allowed the Rays to ILBB their way to victory, only to shrug off the injury immediately after the game ended.
• It looks like the final AL All-Star roster spot is down to Youkilis and Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher.  Here, let’s be objective: Player A is hitting .296/.375/.509 in 332 plate appearances, and plays mediocre corner-outfield defense.  Player B is hitting .299/.416/.589 in 339 plate appearances, and plays excellent 1B defense.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention: the American league currently only has 2 first basemen on the roster.  Who would you pick?
• David Ortiz will participate in this year’s Home Run Derby.  Not something I would have predicted in April.
• Josh Beckett will make his first rehab start in Pawtucket on Sunday.
• Just a quick note on the insanity that is the Lebron James sweepstakes: I’m predicting that he ends up with the Chicago Bulls.  Assuming that the Bulls and the NY Knicks are the two finalists, Chicago has too many advantages over NY:

1. The obvious reason is that the Bulls are a much better team than the Knicks, and their future is much brighter.
2. In NY, Lebron would have to play second fiddle to Derek Jeter’s rapidly expanding forehead.  The Jets and the Giants also get much more love than the local hoops team.  In Chicago, the Bulls are much more appreciated.  Lebron is revealing himself to be a bit of an egomaniac, so these things will definitely be a factor.
3. Chicago is a nicer city than NY.  NY has the advantage of scale, but that’s about it.
4. Chicago is closer to where he grew up.

Comments (2)

By Jimmy, 6/18/2010 1:51 pm

A lot of the media buzz today is centered around the mystery of what type of reception Manny will receive from the fans, and what type of reception he should receive.

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

Look, I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong answer. Actually, screw that.  That’s exactly what I’m saying.

If you are at the stadium, or in your living room, or in an automobile with the radio on, and you boo Manny during his first at-bat tonight…you are wrong. It really is that simple.  Your opinion is incorrect.  This is what President Obama might call “a teaching moment”.  Grab a chair and pay attention.

You have to ask yourself, as a fan, what brings you more happiness: the events that happen on the field, or those that happen off it?  Now, if for some odd reason, your answer is the latter, then fine, go ahead and throw Duracel batteries at Manny from the bleachers tonight.  However, my guess is that 99.999% of Red Sox fans (even those primed to shower Manny with boos) are more interested in the win-loss column than anything that happens in the clubhouse.  If this is the case, then you would be dishonest to yourself by booing.  Your boos would be nothing more than a cartoon sound effect, something that you don’t really believe, but what the hell, it’s fun to feign outrage at something we know or care very little about.

I know what you’re thinking.  “It’s not black and white”.  Yes, it is black and white.  It’s as black as the ink used to print Manny’s league leading 43 HRs in the 2004 baseball almanac.  It’s as white as the gleam off of two World Series trophies.

The line is drawn.   Are you a fan, or a poseur?  Your actions tonight will determine this.

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By Jimmy, 6/11/2009 8:31 am

The Red Sox, using the same financial muscle utilized in the signing of top prospect Lars Anderson a few years back, have begun their annual tradition of depriving college baseball teams of highly-touted incoming freshman.

Their first victim is Auburn University, who will have one less running back on their football squad next season.  10th round pick Brandon Jacobs, a 5’11″ 245 pound (now that is a low center of gravity) high school slugger has decided to nix his commitment to the football factory and sign a contract with the Red Sox.  Jacobs, as you can probably imagine, is all about pure strength, and has a chance to develop into a powerful slugging corner OF/1B.

A few more “signability” high school draft picks who the Sox will work on over the next two months:

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By Sully, 7/14/2006 7:12 am

I mentioned I have been out of touch of late so this article by Bruce Allen just crossed my radar. It’s one hell of a good look at the media treatment of Manny Ramirez and encompasses many of the points we have laid out here in the past like the difference between how Manny and Trot Nixon are regarded and just how freaking good Ramirez is. Allen takes on the topic in a much more eloquent and organized fashion than anything I have seen before.

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By Sully, 4/20/2006 8:46 am

Steven Goldman takes a look at the Sox through his Pinstriped glasses…

the Red Sox have the best record in the American League, but they have barely outscored their opponents, allowing 51 runs while scoring 55. The offensive problems that had been predicted for them have materialized, and a great deal now depends on Manny Ramírez, who has yet to record his first extra-base hit of the season. The pitching has been good but conceals weaknesses. Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling are pitching over their heads, Matt Clement is a mystery, and David Wells may be finished. The Red Sox are doing it with mirrors and David Ortíz.

Well now the Sox have outscored their opponents by 16 runs. A hat-tip is in order for Goldman’s prediction of Coco Crisp’s and Trot Nixon’s injuries, Jason Varitek’s becoming an offensive cess pool and Manny slugging his weight. All of those have “materialized.” Matt Clement is a “mystery” the same way any other league average-plus pitcher is. Yes, Beckett and Schilling are “pitching over their heads” but not that far over. Both are pretty good, Steve. And yes, David Wells may be finished but there is plenty of organizational depth to cover that loss, either via a call-up or a trade. As for the “mirrors and David Ortiz” quip, whatever. So Goldman’s a little cranky as the Sox get fat while improvement candidates outnumber regression ones.

He’s a Yankee fan. Can you blame him?

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By Mullet, 4/17/2006 6:31 am

I’m a bit of a web dork. Hmm, let me rephrase: I’m a huge web dork. I work for a web hosting company, do most of the day-to-day tech stuff that affects our fair site, dig RSS, AJAX, and all of those other fun internet acronyms. So, for a while now, I’ve been using some of the “meme-tracker” websites — the most notable being tech.memeorandum.com.

A meme-tracker is, basically, a quick way of seeing what the big stories are in the internet world that day. The site does some nifty behind the scenes work of tracking a bunch of big sites, looking to see what stories are being linked to, and as more people link to/talk about a story, it shows up on the site. It’s kind of an easy way of looking at the big stories in a particular space (tech.memeorandum.com being technology, the original memeorandum.com being politics).

The man behind memeorandum created a baseball meme-tracker called ballbug.com. Ballbug is a nifty little site, where you can pop in and see a snapshot of what other folks are writing about. In one quick swoop, you can get a nice high level look into baseball for the day, with the ability to drill down a bit further.

There’s just one problem — baseball is already subdivided into 30 separate interest groups. They’re called teams. That fact tends to mean that the baseball blogosphere is already pretty well divided and insulated. There’s going to be just one or two interesting things for each team, each day (generally, a game or an injury). So, you can scan, see the big news, and drill down further … but because there’s not a lot of cross-pollination (we’re not linking to a whole lot of Bronx Banter posts …. yet), there’s not really any “big” stories. Each story is big only to the people in its area of interest.

Striketwo.net is another baseball meme-tracker. I’ve been using it for the past few weeks to help pick out stories for the “News from Around the League” posts I’ve been doing (which will be back, I promise, since I know how much you all *loved* them). It’s a nice tool, but it’s main page has the same problem that Ballbug has: there’s so little cross-pollination that there’s no convergence around big stories; instead, there’s just a big grouping around a game story or injury. Now, that will probably change if there’s a huge baseball story (Bonds being indicted, or a big steroid suspension), but even on a big day like Jackie Robinson Day, there’s just not a lot of commonality in the baseball blogosphere.

But … that’s not the end of striketwo.net’s talents. The greatest feature on the site is unique to striketwo.net, and the reason that it outshine’s Ballbug. It’s the Player Tag Cloud feature, and it’s fantastic. A tag cloud is used to give you a quick insight into which terms are being used most often. The larger the usage, the bigger the tag in the cloud (take a look, it’s easy to figure out). Striketwo.net has a tag cloud of player names. Each time a player is mentioned in a story, it gets tracked. Right now, Bronson Arroyo and Barry Bonds have both been mentioned a bunch. Val Majewski, well, he’s got sort of a small tag. There’s some team bias here: more folks write about the Red Sox and Yankees, so they get more mentions. But, it’s not so bad that it removes the usefullness of the tool.

This goes a level deeper. The tag cloud isn’t just used to see how often a player is mentioned. When you click on that player name, you’re dropped into a list of items that have referenced the player in recent days. It’s an incredibly useful feature, and something I find myself using often. Oh … did I mention you can get an RSS feed of a player? So, you want to know everytime someone writes something about Nook Logan? Or Kevin Youkilis? Just click on their name and snag the RSS feed into your favorite RSS reader (if you need more info on RSS, maybe start here).

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, our fair site is tracked by striketwo.net. But we pretty much have zero influence. So this wasn’t done in any way to make ourselves appear bigger. The nature of a tool like striketwo.net is that one blog/site/person can’t game the system. Now, if you linked to this article on your site (and they told two friends, and they told two friends … ), then this would pop up on striketwo.net. That’s how it works–the more folks that link to something, or discuss a common issue, the more likely that it’ll vault up to the top of the home page.

We’re a couple of weeks into the season, and that’s given me a few weeks to use striketwo.net. I’ve found it incredibly useful, and useful enough that I thought I would spread the gospel a bit. Head on over and poke around a bit … and drop us a comment to let us know what you think. Or, take advantage of the striketwo technology–write your own review of striketwo, link it here, and watch the discussion get picked up.

Technology is pretty great sometimes.

Comments (1)

By Sully, 4/6/2006 7:38 am

I can vouch for SG here when he writes that Yankee coverage, and in particular the YES Network, has gotten out of hand with respect to whom and how they criticize.

I’m tired of Jeter being above criticism. Like Joe Torre, who blew the game yesterday by saving Mariano Rivera’s arm to pitch with a lead that never came, certain people in the Yankee organization are immune to second-guessing, while others have every little thing they do criticized.

Derek Jeter was awful last night, and as responsible for New York’s loss as any other player, just as Joe Torre was the night before. But you won’t hear that from any mainstream outlet.

Having made my $160 investment in the MLB Extra Innings package, I have taken in bits and pieces of the last couple of Yankee games and it is borderline unwatchable, not so much beause their announcers aren’t the brightest bulbs like some of the other teams’, but more because Michael Kay and company offer a special combination of smugness and willful ignorance that’s just intolerable. We really have been spoiled over the years with Sean and Jerry and, to a lesser extent, Don and Jerry.