Good morning!
Here are several go-to links that will make the offseason a bit more bearable:
- Wrigley Field is going to get a 70-foot electric scoreboard. Really, Theo?
- Bud Selig will remain Commissioner through the
20122014 season. - Via Hardball Talk, Clay Davenport of Baseball Prospectus projects how Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes will fare on a MLB team this season.
- I quoted USS Mariner’s Dave Cameron on Saturday’s post about the big Mariners-Yankees trade but neglected to mention wonderful news: Cameron is leukemia-free!
- Hmmm, have you ever seen Rangers pitcher Derek Holland and Kurt Vonnegut in the same room? David Brown of Big League Stew is equally suspicious.
- Bill Petti of Beyond the Boxscore reassures worried Yankee fans:
Even with [Michael] Pineda sporting a GB/FB ratio below one (44.8% FB% in 2011), his stuff should play very well in New York. If you look at ERA estimators that factor in batted-ball profiles, Pineda still comes out looking like a top-of-the-rotation starter. Last year, Pineda posted a tERA of 3.42 and a SIERA of 3.36. Both of those metrics take a pitchers’ batted ball profile into account when estimating their ERA. Those types of numbers easily slot Pineda in as a strong, long-term #2 behind Sabathia.
- Also from Petti: “The More Powerful the Hitter, the Less Clutch They Are. No, Really.”
- This year’s Hall of Fame ballots have been cast and revealed, but Baseball Prospectus’s Jonathan Bernhardt still wants to discuss Jack Morris’s candidacy.
- Meanwhile, Rob Neyer of SB Nation asks if The Mick’s plaque should be removed from Cooperstown. Seriously. Well, sort of. Read the piece.
That’s it, folks. Only 40 days before pitchers and catchers report!
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