Good morning!
Here are several go-to links to make your Monday a bit more bearable:
- Okay, the Cubs did not tell Bill Murray to **** off. The Marlins did not try to lure fans to the ballpark with the promise of a free pit bull. From this vantage point Derek Jeter does not appear to have had a sex-change operation. The Nationals did not announce their intention to return to Montreal. So what gives? According to Deadspin’s Timothy Burke, a “rogue” MLB Advanced Media employee manipulated several team Facebook pages last week.
- The Red Sox continue to experience clubhouse difficulties. According to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, manager Bobby Valentine is unhappy that a “snitch” continues to chat with the media about dissension within the ranks.
- Two waiver trades took place on Friday: A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki was dealt to the Nats, and Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton went to join Shane Victorino on the Dodgers. Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball and Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley each offer an analysis of the respective transactions.
- Sayonara, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu? Via and the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes and True Blue LA’s Eric Stephen: The veteran outfielders were designated for assignment on Friday and may have played their final MLB games.
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- Congratulations to the Upton brothers, Justin and B.J., for clocking their 100th home runs in the big leagues on the same evening.
- Tom Tango of Inside the Book tries to answer the question “Do some teams have better scouts than others?“
I need to emphasize here that I am NOT saying there is no talent to scouting. Indeed, I believe that starting sometime in 1985, there was some huge shift in scouting, as the top-level talent discovered in the first round since then is far higher than in the twenty years prior. I have no doubt that there is great talent to scouting.
What I am saying is that there doesn’t seem to be much differentiation or variation team-to-team. It doesn’t look like one team acquires more talented scouts than another. They seem to be pretty well spread-out. That scouts move around alot would seem to indicate that as well. Basically, no team is really trying to corner the market on a bunch of scouts, even though they are the lifeblood to finding that top-level talent.
Through to 2002 anyway. Maybe things have changed.
- Via Mark Townsend of Big League Stew, Reds play-by-play announcer Marty Brennaman made good on a promise to shave his head if the club won 10 consecutive games, a feat accomplished after a road win against the Rockies a week ago Sunday.
- Here are good, bad, and exceedingly ugly efforts by fans in recent days to get noticed by the cameras.
- Coming off of his complete-game one-hitter at Wrigley Field, A. J. Burnett threw 8 2/3 effective innings yesterday afternoon in a win against the Reds in Cincinnati yesterday. In a piece filed before Burnett’s most recent start, Full Spectrum Baseball’s Patrick Hayes explains what is accounting for the success of the Pirates’ ace this season.
That’s it. Have a walk-off week!
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