Good morning.
Here are several links from the past week that will make your Monday at the office a bit more bearable:
- In the wake of the Jose Fernandez injury requiring Tommy John surgery, FiveThirtyEight’s Neil Paine admits that not even sabermetricians have been able to ascertain how to make pitchers less injury-prone.
- As crazy as it seems, Andrelton Simmons is not infallible fielding his position. Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs presents the evidence.
- Watch an excited Diamondbacks fan — no, no, no, not John McCain — show how to ably balance the responsibilities of fatherhood with the joy of catching a souvenir.
- Meanwhile, the franchise just hired Tony LaRussa to serve as its “chief baseball officer.” Nick Bond of SB Nation has the details.
- Over at High Heat Stats, Doug looks at Johnny Cueto’s amazing six weeks to start the season and how he compares to date with other top hurlers in their age-28 seasons.
- Is the National League deck stacked against the Rockies? Purple Row’s “RhodeIslandRoxFan” runs the numbers and comes away dispirited.
- According to Marc Carig of Newsday, one of Sandy Alderson’s assistants inadvertently forwarded the American Express card information of the Mets’ general manager to reporters via e-mail. One Baseball Think Factory commenter, “Never Give an Inge,” helpfully drafted a note for the GM to send to AMEX:
Dear American Express,
I am writing to dispute an incorrect charge on my statement of April 2014. The charge I am disputing is labelled “C. Granderson” and is also circled on the attached copy of my statement. I dispute this charge because the Curtis Granderson I received was defective and the seller has refused to refund the purchase price.
I am providing the following evidence in support of my dispute:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grandcu01.shtml
Please investigate this dispute and provide me with a written statement of the outcome. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sandy Alderson
- Joe Posnanski of NBC Hardball Talk takes another long look at the 1989 film Field of Dreams. Spoiler alert: “Field of Dreams is Dad’s favorite baseball movie.”
- Ten years ago last week, Alex Cora had one of the more memorable plate appearances we will ever see. Jon Weisman of MLB.com’s Dodger Insider has the details.
That’s it. Have a walk-off week!