Selig the Great

Wow, I think I found one of the few Bud Selig-lovers out there.

You can read the article yourself but it ends with this (emphasis mine):

The problems are many, and answers are hard in coming.      Some are obvious.     Others are obscure.      Bud Selig has been right more than he’s been wrong during his stewardship, and I think history will rank him among the great Commissioners.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Kent no fan of gay marriage

Free agent Jeff Kent has a thing against gay marriage.  So much so, he’s willing to put his money where his mouth his.  

He’s putting up 15 grand of his own money towards the cause of stopping Proposition 8 in California.  Prop 8 would ban same-sex marriages in the state.  Kent, by the way, isn’t a resident of the state (his official residence is in Austin, TX) but did play the bulk of his career with the Giants and the Dodgers.

A hotly contested battle, around $30 million has been spent from both sides.  The latest poll shows Californians oppose the ban 49% to 45%. 

Frank Schubert, who manages the Yes-on-8 campaign, did his best to butter up Kent.

He has had a stellar career and will no doubt one day be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I wish the Giants had kept Kent and traded Barry Bonds.

Come on Frank, don’t alienate your base.

Holy, Holy, Holy… Fielding Bible Award winners announced

A panel of ten experts selected the recipients of the Fielding Bible Awards for 2008 yesterday.  The FBA are awarded to one position for the entire major league and one per outfield position. 

First Base – Albert Pujols, St. Louis
Second Base – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati
Third Base – Adrian Beltre, Seattle
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia
Left Field – Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
Center Field – Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Right Field – Franklin Gutierrez, Cleveland
Catcher – Yadier Molina, St. Louis
Pitcher – Kenny Rogers, Detroit

Albert Pujols has won it for the past three years, the first player to do so. 

The Fielding Bible Awards website

Power and Speed

Recently, David Pinto wrote an article on Sporting News’ web site entitled Fewer HRs, what the trend means.

According to Pinto, the HR numbers in 2008 were the lowest since the expansion in 1993.  Taking that fact, he draws the maybe-not-so-obvious  conclusion of the value of the modern slugger:

As the supply of home runs drops, home run hitters become more valuable. As fewer long balls lead to lower scoring, the base stealing environment should change as well. A tight run environment leads managers to invest in one-run strategies like steals. As base stealers become more plentiful, they become less valuable to fantasy owners.

Are we headed to an era similar to the 70s when we had a balance of power and speed?

Aram and the Hank Aaron Award

When I heard Aramis Ramirez won the Hank Aaron Award, I thought "That’s nice… for what?"  

As a Cub fan as much as it pains me, I’ll link to an article by Justin Gibson of the St Louis Sports Examiner who admittedly makes a good point:

Ramirez winning the award is as big of a joke as Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome’s 2008 All-Star selection. Is Ramirez a great hitter? Absolutely — but not the top, or near it.

Especially when compared to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols.

In one less game, Pujols hit for a .068 higher batting average than Ramirez, as well as 10 more home runs, five more RBI’s, 30 more walks, a higher OBP of .082 and a higher slugging average of .135 — all while striking out 40 fewer times.

Gibson goes on comparing stat by stat how much better Pujols is.  Okay, we get it.  I don’t anyone is going to argue with you.  Except the thousands that voted for Ramirez.

The problem is with the plethora of these corporate awards set up by MLB (the Hank Aaron Award is sponsored by Century 21 Real Estate) that have little meaning other than to bring good PR to the corporations. 

Unless you believe what Bud Selig says, "The Hank Aaron Award is on a par with the Cy Young and the MVP." 

Oh really?

Will Jacobs help the Royals?

The Marlins and the Royals kicked off the Hot Stove League when the Fish traded firstbaseman Mike Jacobs to KC for reliever Leo Nunez.

It didn’t take long for baseball pundits to weigh in on the deal.  Many poo-poo-ed the deal saying that KC could have gotten more.  The knock on Jacobs of course, is that he’s a one-dimensional player.  You couldn’t give Jacobs a free pass if you gift wrapped it and put his name on it.  While that’s probably true, his one dimension is pretty decent.  Jacobs hit 32 dingers in 2008, a career high.  Considering that the Royals hit all of 120 for the whole year and their starting firstbaseman hit 3, it might benefit the team.

Another thing to consider… Jacobs hit 13 points better in the second half of 2008.

There’s no doubt that the Marlins needed to get rid of Mike Jacobs who is arb-eligible in 2009.  They have prospect Gaby Sanchez waiting in wings to over at first base.  With Nunez, they have a young set-up man with good numbers who by the way, isn’t eligible for arbitration till after 2009.

Did the Royals get enough for Nunez?  It’s too early to tell.  But I’d wager Jacobs (who will be only 28 next year) won’t be bust.

From baseball to politics

There’s a rather interesting article in the Seattle Times about Nate Silver.  Readers of Baseball Prospectus should be familiar with Silver… he’s been a partner there since 2004. 

As of late, Mr Silver has taken his obsessiveness with stats to the political realm.  As he did with baseball when he created the PECOTA system, he’s using political numbers to make predictions.

If you have any doubt analogous the two realms can be, take a look at Silver’s web site FiveThirtyEight.com.  I see the similar pattern. 

Baseball… politics… some people see life in stats.

PSU stadium makes the grade

Rivals.com lists their top ten best college stadiums.

When I think big time college baseball, the south comes to mind geographically.  And not surprisingly, the stadiums of teams like Rice, Florida State, Texas and Baylor are representative of this list.  Kudos to University of Arkansas for getting top nod for their Baum Stadium. 

But look at who occupies the # 10 spot… a Big Ten park.  

 
Lubrano Park — Penn State

Penn State is one of several trendsetters in college baseball. The Nittany Lions got a jump-start in the facilities race by constructing a beautiful facility that came with a $31.4 million dollar price tag. Opened in ’06 and first used by the Nittany Lions in ’07, Lubrano Park has a capacity of 6,000. In addition to having a spacious concourse and press/luxury suites area, Lubrano Park also provides a spectacular view of Mount Nittany, which sits in the distance behind the center field wall. It’ll be interesting to see if the ballpark eventually helps PSU become a national player.

via The College Baseball Blog