Good afternoon HDWEB'ers, it's February 28th and Ervin Santana still doesn't have a job. Here's everything you need to know.
HDWEB: Carl Crawford is the Michael Jordan of baseball
In this weekend’s edition of HOW DARE WE ENJOY BASEBALL, we enjoy Carl Crawford’s beautiful slide technique, we remember what might have been, we discuss wild future stadium ideas, and we enjoy the hell out of some baseball. YES!
If you have ideas or suggestions, send 'em my way at @justinbopp.
Baseball is the fucking best:
What we noticed when we saw this picture of Joba Chamberlain pitching today. #Tigers14 pic.twitter.com/ixHNwQdCp4
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) February 27, 2014 - Joba Chamberlain made his Tommy John surgery scar into a smiley face via tattoo
Carl Crawford starts spring with a mouthful of dirt -- The good news is that Carl has plenty of time to remember how to slide. The bad news is this slide:
**boop**
Taijuan Walker injury: Mariners shut down SP for seven days -- The Mariners have decided to shut down Taijuan Walker for seven days after an exam in Los Angeles revealed shoulder inflammation, according to the News Tribune's Bob Dutton. He'll resume throwing bullpens sessions soon, but for now the team is playing it safe with their top prospect.
Cliff Lee trade rumors: Phillies could trade ace if team struggles -- If the Phillies are good, the rumors will go away. If they struggle ... the Royals should trade for him. At any cost!
Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci to join FOX World Series broadcast team, per report -- Tim McCarver left behind large shoes to fill, large enough that FOX went ahead and procured two people for the job. Now Reynolds and Verducci will be joining Joe Buck in the booth. Am I the only person that thinks Buck is not the worst person ever? I'll admit I hear him covering NFL more than MLB, but there is something charming about his obvious affection for Troy Aikman. (and who can blame him?)
Zack Greinke leaves game after 4 pitches -- Greinke appeared to land awkwardly on his third pitch and came out of the game after throwing another to Cliff Pennington. For now the team is calling it a calf strain and have said that removing him from the game was merely a precaution.
MLBPA 'remarkably concerned' with new home plate collision rules --
”We obviously don’t want to put something in place that’s going to get more guys hurt. But we don’t want to go so far down the road that you’ve got a runner standing and staring at the catcher, and the catcher’s standing there looking at his feet, and it changes everything. So we want to be very careful here about what we do.“This is why we can’t have nice things, folks. Because the universe will implode if the runner can’t plow over the catcher, or any runner can’t plow over any fielder. I mean, imagine what really WOULD happen if a player just stood there! ANARCHY!
Extension talks "ongoing" between Indians, Justin Masterson - MLB Daily Dish -- The Indians continue to talk about a long-term extension with Justin Masterson.
What we'll learn during spring training -- Spring training is usually just about staying healthy and getting your timing back, but there are also a few decisions left for teams to make.
Is Jackie Bradley Jr. ready for the majors? - Over the Monster -- He'll need to be, if he wants to win the spring training battle for center field.
Rick Porcello emphasizing the curveball - Bless You Boys -- Porcello mostly crisp in first spring training start.
Nick Castellanos fine tuning his work at third base - Bless You Boys -- Castellanos is not taking for granted the opportunity granted to him, but he's also not putting added pressure on himself.
- Jose Bautista hits two doubles, Jays win again - Bluebird Banter
A spring training chat with T.J. Barra, Mets data guru - Amazin' Avenue -- Barra turns raw data into numbers that the front office, coaches, and players can use to improve.
What comes first, payroll or wins? - Beyond the Box Score -- There is a correlation between higher payrolls and more wins, but which is the cause and which the effect?
Phillies Early Strength of Schedule Key To Success - The Good Phight -- If the Phillies have any hope of contending in 2014, breaking quickly out of the gate could be a necessity.
Cardinals Behind the Times on Defensive Shifts - Viva El Birdos -- The Cardinals are viewed as a model organization in baseball, but have yet to take advantage of defensive positioning by using shifts. The Cardinals have the knowledge and players to use defensive shifts, but are slow to use that information.
2014 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference preview - Beyond the Box Score -- Bryan Cole looks ahead to the 8th annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, and runs through the events he's most excited for.
New data shows baseball managers when to replace the starting pitcher -- Phys.org -- It's your worst nightmare, folks. ROBOTS.
Guttag developed the model with Ganeshapillai Gartheeban, one of his PhD students in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Their paper, “A Data-driven Method for In-game Decision Making in MLB,” is one of eight finalists in the research paper competition at this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC), being held today and tomorrow at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.
To conduct the study, Guttag and Gartheeban took data from the 2006 through 2010 major-league baseball seasons. They used the first 80 percent of the games in those seasons to build a model of how pitchers fare over the course of a game, concentrating on Pitcher’s Total Bases (PTB)—an aggregate measure of hits and unintentional walks allowed—as the leading indicator of future performance. PTB, they note, is a more granular measure of pitcher performance than runs allowed.
Instant reaction: It’s a good idea and I hope it works. I question whether something as simple as total bases (if I understand this correctly) would really work. All of this would exist in a vacuum where it doesn’t matter who’s in the bullpen or the number of runs your offense scored, too. This is one I’ll be watching.
Eugene Garcia -- AFP/Getty Images
Michael Jordan was at Chicago White Sox spring training 20 years ago this year (h/t Imgur) -- Depending on how hold you are, you might actually remember this strange and wonderful dabbling that Jordan attempted. FWIW, I'm pretty sure 1994 was one of the best years ever, if only for "Pulp Fiction." Jordan playing baseball though? That's gold.
A look back at the 1954 Cleveland Indians - Let's Go Tribe -- LGT is looking back at the club that reached the World Series back in '54, only to lose it at the hands of the Giants. Fun read.
San Diego floating stadium proposed in 1964. Home plate section was stationary while 1st & 3rd sections on water. pic.twitter.com/5Hn16GmocF
— Baseball Photos (@Baseball_Photos) February 26, 2014 A floating stadium for San Diego - Gaslamp Ball -- So this is freaking amazing, and I think in a hundred or a thousand years or whatever we should have all sorts of wild stadiums. Ideas:
Rainforest stadium, housed and completely encased within a somewhat manicured South American jungle (sponsored by Amazon, of course).
Coral reef stadium, which would sit completely underwater and would be like watching baseball and Finding Nemo at the same time. Could double for cricket or splendyball or whatever they play in Australia.
- Arabian Nights stadium, yes Finding Nemo made me think of Aladdin, big deal. The key here would be creating a magical place without relying on unfortunate racial stereotypes. Maybe just make this one the Cave of Wonders [WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER] ballpark.
- Floating Castle stadium, ok now we're on a roll. I'm thinking of a giant steampunk Final Fantasy-ish airship and that would be just so bad ass. Everyone gets a sword and a flintlock gun. And goggles!
- Glacier Island stadium, which is just a big chunk of floating ice converted into a temporary ballpark. We'll tow it to Hawaii for some nice contrast.
Top 40 Orioles of All Time: #14, Dave McNally - Camden Chat -- Dave McNally was part of the quartet of 20-game winners for the 1971 Orioles during a distinguished O's career in which he helped the team to two World Series titles. He is our #14 greatest Oriole of all time.
George Brett helped Royals hitters by channeling Caddyshack - ESPN -- I made up that headline, but this is too awesome to ignore:
Garth Brooks is No More and Other Royal Rumblings - Royals Review -- If you're a KC local then you know the 7th-inning tradition at the K is to get up and sing along to Garth belting Friends in Low Places. Now, I don't know what they'll replace it with, but considering the club went all out with its first decent yearly slogan in recent memory ("Be Royal"), I could make a pretty good guess. Some people would hate it, but not me. Just fix up the lyrics to say "We'll always be Royals" and then flash some sappy photos of fans and George Brett and suddenly we're as annoying as Red Sox fans. Yes!
Pedro Martinez is the best, with photographic evidence - Over the Monster -- New photographic evidence, I mean. There are lots of photos of Pedro being awesome.
One of Brett's favorite motivational tactics was to approach each player with a little exercise in self-awareness. "I would ask Mike Moustakas, 'What's your name?'" Brett said. "He would say Mike Moustakas. And I would say, 'Then be Mike Moustakas. You're not Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire.'
Then I'd do the same thing with Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler and the other guys. In the end, I think they learned a little bit last year that they can only do what they're capable of doing.
Once you try to do more than that, you're not going to succeed."
Legopiece Theater: Dugout Abbey -- Carlos Martinez's Filthy Stuff - Viva El Birdos -- Carlos Martinez has a slider which can easily be described as filthy, though others have called it pornographic. Both terms can also describe his internet habits. But maybe he's just working on strengthening his grip? Team first, that Carlos!
NL West starting lineups and rotations, as described by Google autocomplete -- In part four of the six-part series, we explore which sensical and nonsensical things come up in Google's autocomplete for every starter in the NL West.
- Have a beautiful day:
Have suggestions or want to be featured in HDWEB? Send links to Justin at @justinbopp and hashtag #HDWEB.
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