Friday, April 8, 2011

SweetSpot Roundup 4/8

Today's roundup features a lot of stuff surrounding the opening of the minor league season, worries over bullpens and leg injuries, at least one pretty-but-foreboding graph, and Tim Lincecum pressing onward in a defense-less world. Enjoy!



Baseballin' on a Budget (A's): 2011 Stockton Ports Roster Preview
As he's done the last couple days with their advanced teams, Dan Henessey breaks down the roster of the A's High-A club.

Ghost Runner on First (Blue Jays): Old Habits Die Hard
Drew breaks down the Jays win over the A's.

ProBall NW (Mariners): Moore heading for knee surgery
The Mariners lose a catcher, but it could have been worse.

Baseball Time in Arlington (Rangers): Reality > Your Wildest Dreams
For now, everything is rosy in Texas...but it's still early.

Royals Authority: Bullpens, Baserunners, Extra Innings, and the Mystery of It All
"The Royals have lived in the realm of comebacks and extra innings thus far in 2011 and the truth is, we don’t have any idea what this team is or will be, other than extremely interesting.   That alone, makes 2011 a season worth watching."

Nick's Twins Blog: Live Chat
Was Tsuyoshi Nishioka's injury simply because he wasn't used to playing American baseball?  Nick's realtime analysis suggests it might be.

It's About the Money, Stupid (Yankees): A Good Way to Make a Living (Part 1)
Larry breaks down the MLB payroll data with far more depth than anyone else I've read so far.

Austin's Astros 290 Blog: Astros show everything wrong with them in one game
"[L]ast night’s game was a microcosm of everything that is wrong with the Astros and the course they’re pursuing. They say that offense wins game, but pitching and defense wins championships. If that’s true, the Astros won’t be winning many games or championships any time soon."


Capitol Avenue Club (Braves): Braves 4, Brewers 5
Observations from prospect Mike Minor's season debut on Wednesday night.


Fungoes (Cardinals): Does Cardinals' slow start portend losing year?
This is probably one o' them correlation-does-not-imply-causation deals, but Pip looks at a list of teams whose offenses have started off as poorly as the Cards have, and sees a lot of very bad things.

View from the Bleachers (Cubs): An Opening Day Look at the Cubs' Minor League System
Nothing like a perfectly descriptive headline, is there?

Dodger Thoughts: Dodger Cogs and Dogs 2011: Edition 1
This season's first iteration of their top-to-bottom ranking of the Dodgers by value. The three or so guys you'd expect are at the top already, and I'd say the bottom chunk isn't all that much of a surprise, either...

Bay City Ball (Giants): Tim Lincecum Finds Workaround for Defensive Problems: Strike Everybody Out
"Lincecum dealt with the problem of his porous defense in the time honored way that we have all dealt with mistake-prone coworkers- by doing his best to make sure that they had as little to do with his success as possible."


Mets Today: Lastings Milledge DFA'd
Catching up with a former team top prospect and future superstar.

Nationals Baseball: Desmond should always leadoff!
See, that's not a perfectly descriptive headline, but a sarcastic one. Harper has thoughts on batting a .310ish OBP guy leadoff and more.

Ducksnorts (Padres): Happy Minor League Opening Day!
Nice little capsules of where to find everything you might want to know about the Padres' various minor league affiliates.

Crashburn Alley (Phillies): A Quick Note On Plate Discipline
Well, a quick note and a graph, one that makes things look kind of bleak for Phils fans. But then Bill asks, "Kind of makes you appreciate Bobby Abreu, doesn't it?" to which the answer is, no, Phillies fans will never appreciate Bobby Abreu, no matter what.

Redleg Nation: Titanic Struggle Recap: It had to happen eventually
The Reds weren't going to go 162-0, and the Astros weren't going to go 0-162. Recap of the Reds' first loss and the Astros' first and possibly only win of 2011.

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