Our off-season rundowns identified several teams giving 500+ plate appearances to awful players, and with the Boston Red Sox seemingly cutting bait with Pablo Sandoval rather than letting his salary dictate playing time, we wondered: Who is the worst player ever to ever get 10,000 plate appearances? The answer is a player best known (infamously rather than famously) as a Red Sox (Red Sock?): Bill Buckner Read more
Last night Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Ross Stripling was five outs away from throwing a no-hitter in his very first MLB game. To protect Stripling’s arm (and his team’s lead), manager Dave Roberts pulled Stripling from the game. The Dodger bullpen then proceeded to lose the no-hitter, the lead, and then the game. Roberts had several reasons to make the move, but it does raise the question: Has anyone ever thrown a no-hitter in their MLB debut? Yes. Once. 124 years ago. Read more
Giancarlo Stanton is a monster. Over the past five years he’s been one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, one of the most valuable players overall, and one of the best young hitters that the game has ever seen. He’s also missed more than 20% of his team’s games and has been injured in four of his five full seasons in the major leagues (and that’s not counting his gut-wrenching, freak facial injury). His injury history calls to mind another recent superstar, the Rockies-come-Blue Jays’ shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki – is there a common pattern, and just how much value does a team lose when their superstar only suits up for 75% of their games? Read more
The two biggest free agent contracts in this off-season were handed out to a pair of aces: David Price ($217m/7yrs.) and Zack Greinke ($206.5/6yr.). All throughout the off-season, Price and Greinke were discussed as essentially equal properties and, in the end, Price got more total dollars, but Greinke got the higher per year salary. However, once we dig a bit into the numbers, these two aren’t actually as close as they might initially seem. Read more
Spring has sprung and Spring Training has begun – we’re back for a new season of baseball with nine predictions for the coming MLB season. Who’s going to break out? Who’s going to regress? What teams will be celebrating at the end of the season, and which will be wishing they spent their money better? We’ll break out the dartboard and the crystal ball and let you know (not by throwing the darts at the crystal ball though – that would make a mess) Read more
The Baseball off season is by far the most active and interesting of the four major North American sports. Superstars are routinely traded, prospects dealt for established players, and gigantic contracts handed out (all with guaranteed money – in MLB, that signature means something).
Because of that, the MLB off season is often as interesting as the games itself. Below we outline what we think is the best possible move – as well as a plan B – for each team. We’re not suggesting these are the most likely things to happen, nor are we suggesting that they all can happen, just that these are the optimal moves for each club. Read more
The Baseball off season is by far the most active and interesting of the four major North American sports. Superstars are routinely traded, prospects dealt for established players, and gigantic contracts handed out (all with guaranteed money – in MLB, that signature means something).
Because of that, the MLB off season is often as interesting as the games itself. Below we outline what we think is the best possible move – as well as a plan B – for each team. We’re not suggesting these are the most likely things to happen, nor are we suggesting that they all can happen, just that these are the optimal moves for each club. Read more