Author Archive
Hall of Very Good: The 10 Most Overrated MLB Hall of Famers
Posted: 16th March 2010 by Joe Regan in MLB, NBA
The Hall of Fame is a weird place.
Every year, the BBWAA members explain to the reader what their own view of the Hall is. Some like a big one, and would welcome a fringe player like Harold Baines. Some believe in a small hall.
Some believe in WAR and FIP, some prefer major milestones.
Some base their selection from the postseason, some base theirs off just the regular season.
Hence lies the slippery ...
The Blyleven Series Part Two: Bert’s Big Postseason Moment
Posted: 27th February 2010 by Joe Regan in MLB
The playoffs, whether fair or not, determine a lot in terms of historical value for both baseball fans and writers alike. Why should it not? It is obviously the most important games a player can play in, the nation is watching, and a great performance can turn any mediocre player like David Eckstein or Don Larsen into a folk hero. As mentioned in my previous article on this ...
The Blyleven Series Part 1: Blyleven, Morris, and Pitching to The Score
Posted: 22nd February 2010 by Joe Regan in MLB
Just in case anyone missed the month old occurrence, the BBWAA elected their Hall of Fame class for 2010.
Standard for the course, a lot of anger resulted from the public this year over some noteworthy omissions. Robbie Alomar was one, and Bert Blyleven was denied admission to the Hall in his next to last go around.
Blyleven, in a weird way, has become a folk hero to the SABRmetric crowd. ...
The month was January 2009. It was a simpler time, when unemployment was only in the single digits, Michael Jackson was still alive, and baseball awards were still predicated on RBI totals and Wins. We can thank the latter of all that for the mistake that occurred: Jim Rice, in his last Hall of Fame ballot, was elected into the Hall of Fame.
He of magical, feared 128 ...
Jason Bay Will Be Missed, But Boston Red Sox Were Correct in Letting Him Go
Posted: 1st January 2010 by Joe Regan in MLB
So the Bay era is over in Boston. Probably a lot sooner than many Red Sox fans, myself included, had hoped.
Jason Bay, while no Manny Ramirez with the bat, provided the Red Sox with a very solid power stroke in a very walk-happy lineup (second in the AL with 659), hitting 36 home runs, and providing a very nice line of .267/.384/.537. It will be interesting to see ...
So in case you had not heard, the fellow nerds of baseball prospectus, beyond the box score, fangraphs, and the like really lost their ability to complain about their annual insane individual award vote. Greinke won the AL Cy Young over Sabathia (in fact, Sabathia wasn't even No. 2), Mauer won the AL MVP over Teixeira, and all was right in the world. Lincecum, the NL ...
Ask any little leaguer what's the worst result of an at bat, and they will most likely tell you the same thing: "strikeout".
For as long as we have been fans of the game, we have, in some way, thought of the strikeout as a badge of shame. We have used strikeouts to bash players like Adam Dunn and Carlos Pena, and lack of strikeouts to applaud Juan Pierre and Placido ...