2016 Gold Glove Award A.L. P - Dallas Keuchel, Astros (3) C - Salvador Perez, Royals (4) 1B - Mitch Moreland, Rangers (1) 2B - Ian Kinsler, Tigers (1) SS - Francisco Lindor, Indians (1) 3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers (5) LF - Brett Gardner, Yankees (1) CF - Kevin Kiermaier, Rays (2) RF - Mookie Betts, Red Sox (1) N.L. P - Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks (3) C - Buster Posey, Giants (1) 1B - Anthony Rizzo, Cubs (1) 2B - Joe Panik, Giants (1) SS - Brandon Crawford, Giants (2) 3B - Nolan Arenado, Rockies (4) LF - Starling Marte, Pirates (2) CF - Ender Inciarte, Braves (1) RF - Jayson Heyward, Cubs (4)
MLB To Destroy, Not Donate, Indians WS Champions Merchandise - ESPN http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...nd-indians-world-series-champions-merchandise
Ralph Branca, purveyor of the most famous gopher ball in history, dies at 90 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/s...-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
Just for the record one last time-- they got Roe, I think it was, and Branca up when it started getting sticky. The idea was that Branca would take over after Thomson. But only Branca could get loose-- so he had to come in and face Thomson. They knew that Thomson would rather face Branca than almost anyone else in the league that year-- but they ran out of options and Branca got this obit as a consequence. Life just isn't fair sometimes...
Speaking of unfair: In his memoir, Branca revealed that there were Giants in a centerfield clubhouse stealing signs. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/sports/sports-of-the-times-branca-knew-51-giants-stole-signs.html FOR nearly half a century since Bobby Thomson hit the home run that won the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants, Ralph Branca, the Brooklyn Dodgers right-hander who threw that fastball, has known that the Giants were using a high-powered telescope and a buzzer system late that season at the Polo Grounds to alert their batters to the next pitch. ''I've known it since 1954, but I never said anything,'' Branca said last night. ''I didn't want to cry over spilled milk. I became friendly with Bobby and I didn't want to demean his home run. I didn't want to cheapen a legendary moment in baseball.'' Yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, which reported the sign stealing, several '51 Giants acknowledged the presence of a telescope that was perched behind a window in Manager Leo Durocher's office in the center-field clubhouse and the buzzer system connected to the Giants' dugout and right-field bullpen. Thomson says he didn't get any sign, FWIW.
MLB, Players' Union Strike New 5-Year Labor Deal - ESPN http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...ion-reach-agreement-new-5-year-labor-contract -The luxury-tax threshold will jump from $189 million to $195 million next year, then to $197 million in 2018, $206 million in 2019, $209 million in 2020 and $210 million in 2021. -Teams that sign a premium free agent would no longer have to give up a first-round draft pick to the team that lost that player. However, teams with payrolls higher than the luxury-tax threshold would still lose a pick later in the draft. And teams losing those players still would receive a pick. -The league that wins baseball's All-Star Game no longer will get home-field advantage in the World Series, which instead will go to the pennant winner with the better regular-season record. -Although owners pushed for months to include international players in the amateur draft, they dropped that demand this week. -The regular season will lengthen from 183 days to 187 starting in 2018, creating four more scheduled off days as a means to give teams more days off during the regular season. -The sides have discussed the possibility of playing games outside of North America during the regular season in future seasons. -Smokeless tobacco will be banned for all new big leaguers.
Selig, Schuerholz Elected To Hall of Fame By Today's Game Era Committee - ESPN http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18204950/bud-selig-john-schuerholz-elected-baseball-hall-fame
2017 Hall of Fame Inductees Jeff Bagwell: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bagweje01.shtml Tim Raines: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raineti01.shtml Ivan Rodriguez: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rodriiv01.shtml Voting percentage: Jeff Bagwell - 86.2% (381 votes) Tim Raines - 86.0% (380) Ivan Rodriguez - 76.0% (336) Trevor Hoffman - 74.0% (327) Vladimir Guerrero - 71.7% (317) Edgar Martinez - 58.6% (259) Roger Clemens - 54.1% (239) Barry Bonds - 53.8% (238) Mike Mussina - 51.8% (229) Curt Schilling - 45.0% (199) Lee Smith - 34.2% (151) Manny Ramirez - 23.8% (105) Larry Walker - 21.9% (97) Fred McGriff - 21.7% (96) Jeff Kent - 16.7% (74) Gary Sheffield - 13.3% (59) Billy Wagner - 10.2% (45) Sammy Sosa - 8.6% (38) All other candidates received less than 5% of the vote and are removed from future BBWAA consideration.
Cleveland Will Host 2019 All-Star Game - ESPN http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18558174/cleveland-indians-host-2019-all-star-game
Minors To Test Out New Extra-Inning Rule - ESPN http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...e-change-minor-leagues-focusing-extra-innings
Edit: Beat me by six minutes. Stupid cut and paste failure. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/...ule=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine In an effort to shorten extra-inning games, baseball plans to experiment this summer with giving teams a runner on second at the start of every inning from the 10th on, Yahoo Sports reported. The trial will take place in two rookie leagues, and the rule will also be used this spring in the World Baseball Classic. Should the new rule prove popular and effective, it could someday move to the major leagues. Putting a runner on second for extra innings has been used in some softball leagues, including in international play. Typically, the runner is whoever made the last out in the previous inning. But the rule would be a sharp departure for baseball, which tends to change only incrementally and slowly.
i'm not for any rule change like that, but if i was, i'd argue that it wouldn't start until the 12th or 13th, and then it'd just be a man on first. if speeding up the game is what they want, having the potential for run production or a double-play will really move the inning along. what i WOULD be in favor of would be to limit pitching changes. you get one change during an inning. you can change a pitcher going into an inning, and then one at any point after the inning has started... so technically, you can have up to two fresh pitchers in an inning. managers, you better make the right call when you pull that trigger, because it's the only one you get. it gets ridiculous when managers make a pitching change per batter. it could take 15 minutes to throw 3 pitches. you also can't go out to the mound more than once. once the playoffs come around, though, i think i'd be in favor of going back to normal rules.
Or better yet don't let pitchers throw warm-up pitchers when they get called-in. That's what the bullpen is for. Then again this would reduce the # of opportunities to run commercials so it'll never fly. Some of the most memorable games I ever watched were ones that went 16, 18, 19 innings. So obviously I'm against the proposal. Besides, its the 7th - 10th innings when the speed of games really bogs down. Once you're beyond that point, a team will often put out a middle reliever and just leave him in the game for multiple innings. Especially in the NL, where you don't have the DH, teams will generally avoid making pitching changes mid-inning in order to save it for a pinch-hitter instead (another reason to get rid of the DH). They're looking at speeding the game but not reducing the amount of commercials, which basically just means ruining the actual game.
The trouble with that is that pitchers do get hurt. And the injuries can actually be use injuries which flare up when one is actually on the mound-- I've probably personally seen that a couple dozen times; it isn't all that uncommon. And you don't want to force the pitcher to stay in. My solution is that you get one free change per inning; after that you cannot change without the departing pitcher issuing an intentional walk to the next batter. (An automatic intentional walk-- an injured pitcher doesn't have to actually throw four balls.) There has to be a penalty for the change or people will learn to fake injuries and teams will develop whole staffs of hypochondriacs; and the penalty has to be bad enough to give pause. I think an extra baserunner will do that; there's no point in trying to get a matchup advantage if it costs a disadvantage-- and everybody hits better with a runner on first...
i'd be on board with that. or maybe say you get 3 warm-up pitches at the most (it seems like they get 10-15 right now). i can see an argument saying that conditions on the mound are different than in the bullpen, so having none at all is too far. yeah, i was primarily thinking about those middle innings with this change, and not extra innings. sorry, i should've clarified. this is basically their biggest obstacle. so many teams have new(ish) contracts with local broadcasters for ridiculous amounts of money, and those networks are banking on all that commercial airtime. telling them that they now get 1 fewer commercial every inning would severely damage their investment... and some of those deals are 5-10 year contracts. i'd be in favor of that. that was actually my first concern with saying you can only go to the bullpen once per inning. i'd also be fine with, instead of an intentional walk, the "injured" pitcher being relieved can't pitch for the next week or next 5 games, whichever happens first. if he's really injured, he wouldn't be pitching then anyway ... and if he's faking it, then not being able to pitch for a week is your penalty.
Thinking about it further, this rule would seem to provide a significant advantage to the home team. Since most teams will score when a guy is on 2nd with nobody out, the visiting team would really have to go for 2 runs in the top half of each inning. The home team, OTOH, will be able to have a strategy depending if the away team was able to score (for e.g. the lead-off batter could just bunt the guy to third base, a luxury that the away team didn't really have).
My concern would be that it raises scoring without actually shortening games much, rather like the overtime process in college football, where 17-17 ties end in 40-37 finals all too often. Everyone's apt to be bewitched by one-run strategies, and 4-4 games go to 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-7...
Yeah, pretty much. Although I do think it would shorten games somewhat since getting a guy home from 2nd with 0 outs is not that easy. This is not to suggest that I agree with introducing such a mickey mouse change to the game.
Article about Hall of Famer Mike Piazza https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/...-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well It has been 10 years since Piazza, 48, retired from baseball as one of the best-hitting catchers in history. It is common for stars of his stature to try out second careers in broadcasting, or simply to luxuriate in endless rounds of golf. Piazza last year decided he would become the majority owner of a third-division Italian soccer club, Reggiana. And so today, one year after his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the focus of Piazza’s professional life is here in Reggio Emilia, a picturesque city 100 miles south of Milan — and about 5,000 miles from his home in Miami. Here, most people view the American pastime, if they know it at all, as a faraway curiosity. The locals understood that Piazza was famous when he arrived, but they needed Google to discover the reason. The level of renown he earns here will depend entirely on his ability to execute an ambitious plan to lift his beleaguered club back to the top flight of Italian soccer.