Friday, February 4, 2011

SweetSpot Roundup 2/4

Austin's Astros 290 Blog: What would you do with the Vader Throne?
Austin answers Joe Aiello's challenge and discusses what he would do if commissioner for a day.

Capitol Avenue Club (Braves): Rodrigo Lopez's loss is Atlanta's gain
"Signing Rodrigo Lopez to a minor-league deal is the type of move I’d pray my team’s GM made if I were a fan of a rebuilding team with an opening in the rotation. Lopez is a major-league pitcher. Granted, not a very good one, but a major-league pitcher nonetheless. Getting a major-league pitcher on a minor-league deal is a win, always."

Disciples of Uecker (Brewers): Brewers Add Kotsay to List of Veteran Signings
"he casualty will probably be somebody negligible – think Roque Mercedes or Martin Maldonado – but the idea of having to expose MLB talent to other teams just for the right to invite Mark Kotsay to camp and either realize he’s terrible or, worse, give his seemingly dead bat MLB plate appearances just rubs me the wrong way."

Fungoes (Cardinals): Is A-Rod's Contract a Wise Comparable For Pujols?
Given that Albert Pujols is way, way, way more valuable, and much, much younger than A-Rod, perhaps Pujols shouldn't be looking to A-Rod to set his price.

The View From the Bleachers (Cubs): Month in Transactions, January
Joe looks at the moves the Cubbies made last month.

Dodger Thoughts: Postseason pitching punishment
Will the Dodgers be the beneficieries of the Giants' hurlers having to pitch deep into October last year?

Bay City Ball (Giants): Labwork, Brian Wilson FB location vs. LHB
Heat maps are awesome.

Mets Today: 12 DUPACR, John Stearns
With 12 days left before the start of Spring Training, Joe looks at a good, but forgotten old catcher.

Nationals Baseball: Are the O's now better than the Nats?
"It is true. The Orioles have so far had a more successful offseason, but it's also true that they needed to. While their records were similar, 66 wins for the Os to 69 for the Nats, most indications were that the Orioles were lucky to win that many and the Nats were a bit unlucky not to win more."

Ducksnorts (Padres): One Hit Wonders
This installment in Geoff's look at guys who got just a single hit for San Diego includes one of the biggest draft busts of all time.

Crashburn Alley (Phillies): Potential July Departures
What would the Phillies do if everything goes to hell and they're in firesale mode come July?

Redleg Nation: Will Reds attendance increase as much as the front office expects?
"With something like 145 games on TV, a tough economy, minor league / non affiliated teams (thus cheaper tickets, etc) in Dayton, Lexington, Indianapolis, Florence, etc, plus other factors that I hadn’t thought of….is [two to three million fans] a reasonable expectation by the Reds front office?"  And if not, will they be able to pay for the extensions they just doled out?

Weaver's Tantrum (Orioles): Buying the Gloves?
Hey, Dave's back! The Orioles' offseason additions have improved the defense (at least a little), which is promising for the pitching staff.

Fire Brand of the AL (Red Sox): Is the Sox' Offense Too Left-Handed Heavy?
Charlie tries to set up a balanced batting order from this awe-inspiring lineup, which features five lefties out of nine slots.

The Daily Fungo (Tigers): The Detroit Tigers Podcast #127: Catching Up on a Busy Winter
Kill ninety minutes of your doomed-to-be-unproductive-anyway Friday by listening to some great Tigers talk covering the whole winter, including Sparky Anderson and the Tigers' ambitious offseason moves.

Royals Authority: Year of the Pitcher or Year of the Smaller Bat?
Nick uncovers something that, when I saw it earlier yesterday, I was shocked I hadn't heard a single thing about before: MLB reduced the maximum bat diameter in 2010, which could have helped explain the fairly drastic reduction in offense. It remains to be confirmed whether (a) MLBers were using the max size bats to begin with and (b) if so, whether this rule was actually enforced, but if so, this is actually pretty huge news and great ammo for people like me who aren't quite satisfied with the blatantly inadequate "steroids are the explanation for everything" thing.

Nick's Twins Blog: Joe Nathan and History
Musing about Nathan's chances for a comeback from his injury...not just this year, but to go well into his 40s and finish off a Hall of Fame career. Also: I have it on good authority that Nick has the reins over on the mothership, so check it out every now and then today.

It's About the Money, Stupid (Yankees): Guest Post: One of Andy's Biggest Fans Reflects
IIATMS has a ton of great Pettitte stuff up, but this one is by one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter, Becca (rebexarama), who is not merely one of Andy's biggest fans, but appears to me to be a bigger fan of Andy than anyone else I know is of anything (while remaining healthy about the whole thing, anyway). She's put together a really nice, heart-felt, emotional yet startlingly rational piece reflecting on and celebrating what Pettitte has meant to her as a fan. Go read it.

Baseballin' on a Budget (A's): Top Fives: Best Designated Hitters in Team History
I really am a sucker for these lists posts, but it's just like I've always said: "any list with Dave Kingman at the top is going to have some rotting garbage at the bottom."

Pro Ball NW (Mariners): Top 20 Seattle Mariners Prospects for 2011
Nice stuff here. With a pretty table and everything, Jon and Connor both give you their own top 20 list, both with a nice discussion afterward.

The Ray Area: Nothing left but a nickname
On the aftermath of the Damon/Manny double signing: "The top item on the list is a nickname. What do you think? RJ Anderson suggested DaManny back when the story first broke. Michael Webber has been using MannysBay in his Twitter feed. I am lukewarm on both. We need something better. What do you got?"

Baseball Time in Arlington (Rangers): The One Where I Announce a New Gig
Maybe this is too meta for the roundup, but I like it: you may have noticed that Baseball Prospectus added approximately a million great new (to them) writers a couple days ago. Two of them are Joey Matschulat and Jason Parks, both of BBTiA (which isn't going anywhere). Pretty exciting stuff. Congrats to them!

Ghostrunner on First (Blue Jays): Inevitable Heat Maps Post
Taking a look at how Fangraphs' very cool heat maps work, with a look at the Jays' starting rotation.

And on The Platoon Advantage: Bill's take on Andy Pettitte is up, with TCM's likely to follow in a bit.

No comments: