Jones, Ethier, and Hill Out of Lineup

A few days into the regular season and we already have our first few major injuries, though none looks like a DL-stint yet. Chipper Jones, Andre Ethier, and Aaron Hill will be out of the lineup on Friday, after missing time yesterday due to various ailments. Chipper Jones left Thursday’s game against Chicago in the [...]

Brandon Wood gets the call

Let’s take a look at his resume up to the age of 24: – 4 straight 20+ home runs seasons. – 2 30+ home run seasons. – A 2005 season where he hit well over .300, with 43 homers, and a .667 SLG at the age of 20. With all the Angels injuries this season [...]

Minor League Watch

Warning: All these stats are in extremely small sample sizes. The reason we are bringing these up is that these players have already displayed solid skills. If a player is displaying an uncharacteristic skill in 20-50 AB sample sizes, you should probably discount it.  International League (AAA) Wilkin Ramirez is off to a fantastic start. [...]

News and Notes from Tuesday

Jese Litsch has been placed on the 15 day disabled list with forearm tightness. Not too much information out there about this, but it appears to be somewhat serious. There are numerous reports about who will take his place. Brian Tallet is already with the big league club and might get a shot. My money [...]

Hot Starts: Pitchers

Most of these guys aren’t deep sleepers, but they are starting off well. Do you want to pick them up? Sell high on them? Spend to grab them at their best? Let’s start off easy with some obvious ones: Johan Santana – Listen I was very critical of Johan Santana coming into this season. Not [...]

The Cutter: Magic Pitch

With the recent success of Andy Sonnanstine and John Danks throwing the cutter, I thought it would be interesting to research what effect the cutter has on a pitchers career. Everyone knows the story of Mariano Rivera learning the cutter and going on to be the most successful closer in major league history, but still [...]

The relationship between balls and walks

One thing baseball announcers like to look at a lot is pitch counts, and the number of balls versus the number of strikes a pitcher has thrown during a game. Obviously the best pitchers throw less pitches, throw many more balls than strikes, and of course miss a lot of bats while keeping the ball [...]

Hot Starts: Hitters

Brandon Inge - Inge has 3 home runs in his first 5 games, a carry over from spring in which Inge hit 5 homers in 25 games. Inge has always had power, however he has struggled the last 2 years. 2006 shows his upside. At 28 years old, Inge hit 27 homers with a .436 SLG. [...]

Unsettled Bullpens – American League Edition

Every season between 30 and 50 percent of closers lose their job, whether it is due to injury, ineffectiveness, or trade. For fantasy owners, this can be deadly. But it can also save a season. If you know who is likely to lose their job – and the pitcher that’s next in line for saves [...]