The Morning Edition (August 4, 2013)
From Last Night:
- A fine start by Haren leads the Brewers to victory
- Price goes 9 again, but the Rays need a hit from Myers in the 10th to win
- The Sox back Peavy in his Fenway debut
- Liriano walks 5, but doesn’t allow a run as the Pirates beat the Rockies
- Oakland beats Garza and the Rangers, 4-2
- Braves beat the Phillies in 12
- Maxwell’s 12th inning HR lifts the Royals
What I’m Watching Today:
- Santana goes against Wheeler at Citi (1p Eastern)
- McCarthy returns to the mound at Fenway (130p Eastern)
- Holland and Griffin face off in Oakland (4p Eastern)
- Alex Wood and Cliff Lee do it on Sunday Night (8p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Who is baseball’s worst baserunner?
There were some conversations on MLB Tonight on Saturday about bad baserunning and it made me curious. I often look at the top of the leaderboard, but rarely at the bottom. You can find more about some of the stats below right here, but they are all pretty clear. Entering Saturday….
Worst overall BsR (overall baserunning value): Allen Craig
Worst Basestealer (wSB, combines value of SB and cost of CS): Gerardo Parra
Worst Baserunner, not counting wSB (UBR = BsR – wSB): Allen Craig
Most Outs on the Bases (count of outs made when the player is not forced to the base): Allen Craig/Howie Kendrick
Extra Bases Taken (measures how often a player takes an extra base): Paul Konerko
The Morning Edition (August 2, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Felix goes 7 innings, allowed 1 run and leaves with a 7-1 lead. The Mariners gave up 1 in the 8th and 6 in the 9th to fall to the Red Sox.
- Darvish strikes out 14 batters, walks none, in 7 shutout innings
- The Cardinals pummel the Pirates to salvage one of five in Pittsburgh
- Hamels throws 8 shutout innings, Papelbon blows it
- Norris is solid against his old club
- Indians and Royals keep their winning streaks going as Raburn hits 2 HR
- 11 K for Teheran as the Braves beat the Rockies
What I’m Watching Today:
- Jose Fernandez looks to slow the Tribe (7p Eastern)
- Bumgarner faces Archer (7p Eastern)
- Shelby Miller leads the Cards into Cinci (7p Eastern)
- Zimmermann tries to get back on track against the Crew (8p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Who do you like in the NL Central?
The Pirates, Cardinals, and Reds are all 60+ win teams and have clear paths to the playoffs. The Cardinals have the lowest floor, the Pirates are playing well, and the Reds are probably the most talented. But Cards don’t have Yadi, the Pirates are playing above their heads, and the Reds have Dusty holding them back. They’re all good teams and will likely all make it at least until the play-in game. My money is on the Cardinals, but it’s going to be fun.
The Morning Edition (July 27, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Tribe blows a big lead, but Ryan Raburn walks off to save them in the 11th
- Minor out pitches Wainwright in a 4-1 win for the Braves
- Rays shell CC, move into first place
- The Royals finally cash in on a great start for Shields, beat the Sox
- Huge 7th inning bails out Dickey in Toronto
- Mets dominate the Nats in game one, but waster Harvey’s gem in game two as Zimmerman walks off
- Chatwood strikes out 11 Brewers
What I’m Watching Today:
- Darvish faces Masterson in Cleveland (7p Eastern)
- Chris Sale faces the Royals (7p Eastern)
- Bumgarner welcomes the Cubs to AT&T (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- How do you feel about Ryan Raburn?
Raburn hit a big 3 run walk off homerun on Friday, improving his season numbers to .273/.371/.533, good for a 153 wRC+ in 186 PA. He is now the Indians second best position player with 2.0 WAR which ties his career high for an entire season. I’ve always loved Raburn because he has the biggest range of possible outcomes of any human being I’ve ever seen. It’s equally likely that he hits 3 HR in a game as it is that he falls down the dugout steps and injures Jason Kipnis. He hits huge homeruns and makes the more untimely mistakes. There’s something quite compelling about that in my book. He’s also playing above average defense and walking 11.8% of the time. This guy.
The Morning Edition (July 23, 2013)
From Last Night:
- MLB suspends Ryan Braun for the remainder of the season
- Rangers acquire Garza from the Cubs
- Matt Moore gets the CGSO as the Rays beat the Sox, move to 18-2 in their last 20
- Feldman’s solid start lifts the O’s over the Royals
- Gee flirts with a no-no, but the Braves take the game in the 9th
- Grilli hurt in win over the Nats
What I’m Watching Today:
- Jarrod Parker and Jarred Cosart pitch in Houston (8p Eastern)
- Miller pitches against the Phils (8p Eastern)
- Jose Fernandez heads to Coors (830p Eastern)
- Corbin gets the Cubs (930p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Thoughts on the Braun suspension?
Obviously the Braun news populated the headlines on Monday, and I have a lot of disjointed reactions I’d like to share. Recognize that these don’t all go together or in order:
- I want MLB or MLBPA to lay out the evidence they have against him. I understand Braun accepted the punishment, which is a partial admission of wrongdoing, but the info that has been made public is not grounds for punishment. I want to know what it is they have on him before I make my final judgments about a person’s character. I see no reason to rush to judgment.
- Braun broke the rules, it appears, and lied about it boldly. That was wrong, but let’s not act like this is such a terrible thing. He should be punished, but this is a sport that has no punishment for dangerous felonies like DUIs. Braun behaved badly, but this isn’t the worst thing an MLB player has done in the last two seasons. Perspective would be nice.
- Also, most people break rules to get advantages in life. Braun is to blame and deserves punishment, but you’re not perfect either.
- Braun being linked to BioGen doesn’t mean the failed test in 2011 was legitimate. The two may not be related. Again, I want to see some evidence. If they are related, my reaction will be different. Evidence is important, speculation is not.
- People are going to town on Braun for tearing down the “sample transporter” person from 2011 and think he should apologize. That person didn’t do his job correctly, even if Braun was dirty. Braun’s guilt doesn’t make up for that guy’s failure. Braun might not have been nice to him, but Braun’s career was at stake. You might have done the same.
- Finally, imagine how you would feel if it was you or a close family member. I’m not asking you to feel sorry for him, but I am asking you to temper your reaction accordingly. He’s a public figure and there are no consequences for anything you say behind a keyboard, so you probably feel okay spewing vitriol. But seriously, this is a person who made a bad choice. He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t endanger others. The reaction to Braun is not properly weighted to the severity of the offense.
- If he’s guilty, he should be punished. But that’s it. The focus should be on the field, not on the people who made choices to take themselves off of it. Instead of vilifying Braun, why don’t you celebrate the ones left in the game.
The Morning Edition (July 22, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Harvey dominates the Phils over 7 innings, allows 3 H and 10 K as Lee struggles
- Masterson flirts with a no-hitter in a 7-1 win over the Twins
- Giants waste a great start from Bumgarner
- Colon drops a CGSO on the Angels
- Wainwright’s 8 strong innings lead the Cards over the Padres
- Felix turns in 6 solid inning as the Mariners thrash the Astros
- Peralta and Alvarez throw gems, but it takes a Gindl walk off in the 13th to finalize the Crew and Fish
- Kershaw throws well, Zimmermann gets rocked in Dodgers win at Nats
- Bailey K’s 12 but the Reds fall to the Bucs
- Rays win…again
What I’m Watching Today:
- Darvish comes to Yankee Stadium (7p Eastern)
- Scherzer and Sale (8p Eastern)
- Garza showcase continues against Skaggs in AZ (930p Eastern)
- Lincecum returns to the mound for the first time since his no-hitter (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Should the Rays scare you?
The answer is yes under certain conditions. First, if you cheer for the Rays, no the Rays should not scare you. Also, if you’re team is wildly out of the race, then you should just enjoy baseball and not sweat the standings. But everyone else should be worried because the Rays are dangerous. They probably won’t sustain a 17-2 pace for the rest of the season but they are putting the East on notice. On May 7th, the Rays were 14-18 and looked like they weren’t going to be able to provide their usually excellent starting pitching. Since then, they are 44-23, which is a 106 win pace. This is a good team that just had their rough stretch early, which is often a nice way to lull your opponents into a false sense of security. I picked the Rays to win the East and haven’t wavered. They are baseball’s 3rd best offense and 11th best pitching staff and have one of baseball’s best managers and easily the best GM. This is a team that should scare you. They have one of the game’s best in Longoria, an excellent super utility guy in Zobrist, the underrated Jennings, the young Myers, and the lightning in a bottle Loney. Not to mention the pitching is back. They Rays are hot and are only going to cool off a little.
The Morning Edition (July 19, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Sadness. There wasn’t baseball.
What I’m Watching Today:
- Strasburg faces the Dodgers (7p Eastern)
- Price looks to stay hot against the Jays (7p Eastern)
- Chen and Holland in Arlington (8p Eastern)
- Turner tries to keep it up in Milwaukee (8p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Which team who’s out can make a run?
My own personal rule, and the rule of this site, is not to make anything about the standings until after the All-Star Break. You can discuss how individual teams have played, but you shouldn’t care about how they stack up until now. Every team is trying to win until now. At this point, teams take stock and think about buying and selling and whatnot. Now it’s okay to decide if you need some help or if it’s time to pack it in. There are currently 16 teams within 6 games of first place in their divisions, all of whom are at least in it for two more weeks. Some of those teams should sell because they’re not that good, but most of them are reasonably in it for now. Among those teams, the Nationals and Dodgers should be most on the radar as far as comebacks are concerned because the Dodgers are in a terrible division and the Nats have under performed. I bought the Nats in March and I’ll go down with the ship. This is a good team.
The Morning Edition (July 12, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Salazar impresses and helps beat the Jays in his debut with the Indians
- Reds lose to the Braves with Votto waiting on deck…again
- Kendrick squeaks past Zimmermann and the Nationals
- Both starters stumble, Red Sox beat the Mariners in 10
- Jeter returns to the Yanks, national media doesn’t spend much time talking about it
- Moore K’s 10 in 7.1 innings as he’s named to the ASG
- Tulo’s back!
What I’m Watching Today:
- Cosart makes his MLB debut against Price (7p Eastern)
- Strasburg heads to Miami (7p Eastern)
- Corbin goes against the Crew (930p Eastern)
- Kershaw welcomes the Rockies to LA (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Does the media see the irony?
So recently there have been a number of things written about MLB’s problem getting good national TV ratings and some people have suggested more playoff teams and other stuff I don’t think will be a good idea, but today was the perfect example of how the media is responsible for the problem. Two shortstops came back from injuries today to help their clubs who are on the edge of the postseason race. 99% of the coverage was about Jeter and almost none was about Tulowitzki, who is one of the most dynamic players in the game. I don’t have anything against Jeter, and he’s had a wonderful career, but if you’re wondering why national ratings are down, it’s because the national media recycles the same tired stories about the same 3 or 4 teams. It’s time for Fox, ESPN, and MLB to plug players on smaller market clubs. Tulowitzki could easily be the face of MLB, but you don’t see many Rockies games on national TV.
The Morning Edition (July 9, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Lannan sharp before Papelbon tries to give it away to the Nats
- 6 run 6th inning helps the Rangers and Holland top Feldman and the O’s
- Colon out duels Locke
- Gomez robs a Votto homerun to end the game in Milwaukee
- Braves score 6 in the 14th to beat the Fish
- Good starts on the west coast
What I’m Watching Today:
- Shields and CC hook up in NY (7p Eastern)
- Norris faces Wainwright in St. Louis (8p Eastern)
- Nolasco makes his first start with LA (930p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Do you care about the homerun derby?
The HR Derby picks came out yesterday and NL features Wright, Cuddyer, Harper, and CarGo while the AL offers Cano, Fielder, Davis, and TBA (because apparently Cano can’t even get that right). A lot of people were upset with some of the picks because their hometown guy didn’t get picked or because someone strange (Cuddyer) or someone who was hurt (Harper) got picked. I don’t really care too much about the Derby, but someone people really seem to. It’s always seemed like a really weird publicity stunt that didn’t quite make sense. I’d like to see a reformatting. Thoughts?
Picking the National League All-Stars
With the All-Star rosters looming ahead this weekend, New English D weighs into the fray with these picks. We covered the AL yesterday. A few notes up front. First, I’ve conformed the roster size to the official requirements and have selected starters I feel are most deserving based on their 2013 seasons and have given no deference to the voting up through this point. My view is that the All-Star Game should showcase the game’s standout performers from the first half of 2013, not the best players over the last year or the best players by talent even if they haven’t performed. I think the game should highlight the players who play well, not the players MLB thinks are “marketable.” Every team is represented and I’ve given a list of players who are the first replacements for injuries and such. As you know, this site appreciates advanced statistics, so should you choose to comment on these selections, please do so without using “RBI” or “Wins.” Finally, I watch a ton of baseball, but I watch fewer NL games by function of being a Tigers fan, so some of the down ballot selections are a bit less sure footed.
And I just couldn’t leave Puig out. He has to play in this game.
| PLAYER | TEAM | POSITION |
| Yadier Molina | Cardinals | C |
| Joey Votto | Reds | 1B |
| Matt Carpenter | Cardinals | 2B |
| Jean Segura | Brewers | SS |
| David Wright | Mets | 3B |
| Carlos Gomez | Brewers | OF |
| Andrew McCutchen | Pirates | OF |
| Carlos Gonzalez | Rockies | OF |
| Buster Posey | Giants | DH |
| Matt Harvey | Mets | SP |
| Russell Martin | Pirates | C |
| Paul Goldschmidt | Dbacks | 1B |
| Allen Craig | Cardinals | 1B |
| Chase Utley | Phillies | 2B |
| Ian Desmond | Nationals | SS |
| Pedro Alvarez | Pirates | 3B |
| Starling Marte | Pirates | OF |
| Bryce Harper | Nationals | OF |
| Shin Soo Choo | Reds | OF |
| Yasiel Puig | Dodgers | OF |
| Michael Cuddyer | Rockies | OF |
| Todd Frazier | Reds | 3B |
| Adam Wainwright | Cardinals | SP |
| Cliff Lee | Phillies | SP |
| Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | SP |
| Homer Bailey | Reds | SP |
| Mat Latos | Reds | SP |
| Jeff Samardzija | Cubs | SP |
| Jordan Zimmermann | Nationals | SP |
| Jose Fernandez | Marlins | SP |
| Craig Kimbrel | Braves | RP |
| Sergio Romo | Giants | RP |
| Mark Melancon | Pirates | RP |
| Jason Grilli | Pirates | RP |
| Ryan Braun* | Brewers | OF |
| Troy Tulowitzki* | Rockies | SS |
| Evereth Cabrera* | Padres | SS |
| FIRST REPLACEMENTS | ||
| Jhoulys Chacin | Rockies | SP |
| Patrick Corbin | Dbacks | SP |
| Shelby Miller | Cardinals | SP |
| Stephen Strasburg | Nationals | SP |
| Chris Johnson | Braves | 3B |
| Carlos Beltran | Cardinals | OF |
| Dominic Brown | Phillies | OF |
| * INJURED |
The Morning Edition (July 5, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Mets and Dbacks each score once in the 13th and 14th before the Snakes win it in 15
- Hamels looks great as he beats Cole and the Bucs
- The A’s takes the Cubs in a 1-0 pitchers’ duel
- Tampa beats the Astros in 11
- Shields struggles, but the Royals storm the Indians with 10 in the final 3 innings to win
- Quintana dominates, but Jones coughs it up for the Sox, only to walk off in the 9th
What I’m Watching Today:
- Lee takes on the Braves (7p Eastern)
- Zack Wheeler heads to Miller Park (8p Eastern)
- Jacob Turner gets the Cards (8p Eastern)
- Ryu and Cain out west (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Who will be named All-Stars as the voting closes last night at midnight?
The interesting one is going to be the AL 3B spot. Obviously, Cabrera is going in as the starter, but between the players and Leyland it’s hard to imagine more than 2 others getting in, three at most. Here are the candidates though:
| Name | PA | HR | R | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR |
| Miguel Cabrera | 383 | 26 | 65 | 85 | 0.364 | 0.454 | 0.670 | 0.470 | 202 | 5.4 |
| Evan Longoria | 356 | 17 | 52 | 48 | 0.294 | 0.365 | 0.537 | 0.382 | 149 | 4.4 |
| Manny Machado | 392 | 6 | 53 | 42 | 0.319 | 0.349 | 0.481 | 0.359 | 125 | 4.2 |
| Josh Donaldson | 353 | 14 | 46 | 55 | 0.314 | 0.382 | 0.526 | 0.389 | 151 | 3.8 |
| Kyle Seager | 361 | 12 | 43 | 38 | 0.280 | 0.338 | 0.465 | 0.348 | 127 | 2.9 |
| Adrian Beltre | 354 | 15 | 47 | 43 | 0.299 | 0.339 | 0.494 | 0.358 | 121 | 2.2 |
Longoria and Machado are the most deserving overall, but Donaldson is the best overall hitter and no one really cares about defense when it comes to picking All-Stars. Plus Beltre has the name recognition and Seager should get some credit for being a great hitter on a terrible club. Third base in the AL is a deep spot. We’ll have more on the All-Star Selections as the happen.
New English D 