Category Archives: Baseball

My five best position players, pitchers, and managers- just in time for the “End of the World”

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Well, here it is. One day until the end of the world, according to the Mayans. Never mind that the Mayans actually didn’t predict that 12-21-2012 was the end of the world, or that the Mayan culture didn’t see history as a straight line but rather as a series of cycles, or that they found another Mayan calendar that extends past 2012, or that the Mayans didn’t see the collapse of their own empire coming… a bunch of crazies on the internet say the world ends tomorrow, so who am I to argue?

Humanity had a good run. We mastered fire, created the wheel, spoken and written language, and invented pre-sliced bread. And remember that time we landed a man on the moon? Or when we drove smallpox into functional extinction? And we created the Internet, allowing us to watch video of a Corgi getting cleaned using a vacuum cleaner!  Good times. Good times. Heck, it’s a shame that those stupid Mayans didn’t give us time to fix that whole Global Warming thing sometime before it turned us into a wetter version of Tatooine, because that probably would have ended up there on the list of accomplishments.

Stupid Mayans.

But, hey, the end of the world gives me the perfect excuse to finally say who I think are the greatest ballplayers of all time. After all, if history ends tomorrow, I can say with certainty that this list will never have to change again!

So here we go (after the jump- because the Mayans would have wanted it that way):

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Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 5:00 PM of Dec. 19, 2012

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Today’s news on World Baseball Classic participation:

  • Alessandro Maestri, AKA Alex Mestri, an Italian who spent some time in the Cubs system and now pitches for Orix in the NPB, has received an invite from Team Italy, according to Yakyu Baka. Therefore, I’m putting him in the possibly/likely category.
  • In an article about his trade to Arizona, Grand Slam Stats & News, a site on Dutch baseball, mentioned that Didi Gregorius is eligible for Team Netherlands next March. Therefore, I guess it’s safe to say he probably is under consideration.
  • Although it happened a few days ago, Ryu Hyun-Jin (Hyun-Jin Ryu?) has opted out of the WBC.
  • In addition, an article in Mexico from a few days ago mentions Yovani Gallardo and Miguel Gonzalez as possible pitchers. So I’m putting them as under consideration.

Go below the jump for the entire list of statuses for players in the WBC.

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Cool Baseball Link: MyKBO.net (@MyKBO)

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I’ve featured Yakyu Baka on the side of the Continuum for awhile, so now is perhaps a good time to link to perhaps it’s Korean equivalent: MyKBO.net.

MyKBO.net, as the name suggests, is about the Korean Baseball Organization and Korean baseball in general. It has links to news and blogs, has the occasional interview with a westerner playing in Korea, and also keeps standings and statistics. In addition, it’s founder, Dan Kurtz, is active on Twitter at @MyKBO and is a pretty good source of news and links on Korean baseball.

So, MyKBO.net has been added to the links part of the Continuum.

If I Were Commissioner: The Return of Barnstorming

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In “If I Were Commissioner”, I pretend that I am in charge of all of baseball…

For years, back when ballplayers needed some extra money to hold them over during the off-season and the owners also were looking for ways to leverage some more money, there was barnstorming. Teams of ballplayers would travel the country (sometimes even the world!), playing local teams and each other, spreading the gospel of major league baseball to the cities that didn’t have it- and making a good buck while doing it (usually).

But, alas, as time went on, salaries got higher and baseball expanded west, the barnstorming traditionally slowly disappeared. Nowadays, it is almost non-existent. Beyond the occasional trip to Asia (such as the one in Taiwan in 2011), ballplayers don’t go on tours anymore.

But if I was commissioner, that would change. Because, you see, baseball is a game best seen in person (as opposed to football, which is a sport that is better on television). It would thus make sense to let as many people as possible in as many areas as possible see it in person. Since obviously it wouldn’t make sense to require, say, every MLB team to play one regular-season series in their AAA stadium, the answer is barnstorming.

It could work like this: every November, there could be a team formed from any interested players who’s teams either missed the playoffs or who were eliminated early on. They would then play a series of five to ten games in various cities, the location of which would differ by year. One year it could be in Japan or Korea playing against local teams there, the next it could be in areas of the warmer-weather part of the USA that don’t have MLB teams (New Orleans, San Antonio,  Albuquerque, etc.) against a “Washington Generals” team made up of C-list free agents, minor leaguers that need more seasoning, and interested retired players.

So you are probably wondering: what about colder cities? Well, maybe that could be done during the season, using a team of old-timers and free-agents similar to the one mentioned above. They could play a few games against minor league teams, or something. Not a perfect solution, but, hey, what can you do?

Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 7:30 PM of Dec. 18, 2012

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Today’s changes:

  • According to a Venezuelan news article that I translated with Google, 1B/DH Luis Jimenez would like to play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. Jimenez had a cup of coffee with Seattle last season. Therefore, I am putting Luis Jimenez in the probably/likely category.

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Headlines from around the Continuum: Dickey-Officially-Traded Edition

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Baseball-related headlines from the front pages of major newspaper, as seen from the the Newseum website.

R.A. Dickey deal is finished

Globe and Mail (Toronto): The $24,000,000 Knuckles

Toronto Metro: Dickey’s All In

National Post (Toronto): DICKEY- Can these $25M knuckles put Jays over the top?

Toronto Star: TAKING JAYS TO THE TOP (alongside an image of Dickey on top of Mount Kilimanjaro last off-season)

Toronto Sun: DICKEY DEAL DONE!

Metro New York: CY YA LATER- METS TRADE R.A. DICKEY

Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 8:48 PM of Dec. 17, 2012

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The latest ins and outs for the WBC:

  • As expected of a player with a new team, a history of injury and a love of routine, Josh Hamilton does not expect to play in the World Baseball Classic. Perhaps not an official “no”, but basically everything but an official “no”.
  • Minor League journeyman Gabriel Suarez, of Spanish descent, is “looking forward” to the World Baseball Classic. I’m putting him in the possibly/likely category.
  • According to an article a few days ago in a Venezuelan website, Melvin Mora wants to participate in the WBC for Venezuela, at least if the Google Translation means what I think it does. Mora last played in 2011, and I don’t know if he’d make the team, but for now I’ll place him in the possibly/likely category.

Go below the jump for the full look at who’s in, out and somewhere in-between for the World Baseball Classic.

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Ye Olde Base Ball Continuum: December, 1912

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The LA84 Foundation offers archives of old periodicals and magazines from sports history, many of them dealing with baseball. So, in the spirit of good humor and retrospective, I’ve looked at what was being written about baseball in December 1912, and now will write what I may have written back in December 1912. In 1912 style, of course.

Tinkers-Evers-Chance No More! Tinker to Cincy, Chance doomed to skipper Highlanders

Boy, oh boy! Imagine my surprise this morning when I read the news that the Chicago trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and the “Peerless Leader” of Frank Chance are to be broken up! The three, who so famously pricked the Giants’ gonfalon bubble in 1910 and won the World’s Series in ’07 and ’08, will no doubt live forever in the hearts of the people of the West Side of Chicago, but now they turn their heads to other endeavors. Only Evers will remain. Tinker, now the player/manager of Cincinnati, will have to face his old base ball brothers- including Evers- next season.

The same cannot be said of the Peerless Leader. He will be managing and perhaps playing for the New York Highlanders in the American League, an unenviable task given the low interest that is given to that club- indeed, I think this may well be a ruse to make what few fans the Highlanders have be hopeful after the dreadful 50-102 record in 1912. It will likely be a fool’s errand. The Highlanders’ lone star, “Prince” Hal Chase, has long been allegedly in the pocket of the gamblers, and could be crooked himself, allegedly. They have never been able to outdo clubs like Boston, Philadelphia and the American League’s Chicago. They are likely to always be afterthoughts, no matter what Chance does.

The (AL) East is Wild

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The American League East is in a interesting situation. For years, after all, there were some things that were for certain: The Yankees and Red Sox could be expected to come in first and second (sometimes flipping the order), the Blue Jays and sometimes Orioles would be a distant third, then the Orioles and Tampa would be taking the bottom two spots.
Then, suddenly, the Rays rose, becoming a factor. And so for the past few years, there were three teams in the AL East who could be expected to make a run at the playoffs.

And then came this past season, 2012, when everything went crazy. The Yankees still won, sure, but the Red Sox plummeted and the Orioles, despite the fact they were, on paper, maybe the fourth-best team in the division, ended up snagging a wild card spot. The Rays also were pretty good and made a good run at a playoff spot, and may well have gotten one if not for injuries.

But now, with the Red Sox again opening their checkbooks, and the Blue Jays having traded for basically every good player on the Marlins and now closing in on a deal for NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, the question is… where is the weakness of the AL East?

None of the teams have gotten particularly worse- although the Yankees may not have signed anybody of note (save for Kevin Youkilis) and they have Alex Rodriguez out for the first half of the season, they can hardly be considered to have suddenly plunged into irrelevance.  The Orioles haven’t really added anybody, but they’ve only lost Mark Reynolds, and most of last season’s historic bullpen will remain. The Rays have lost James Shields, but any rotation that has David Price and a lineup that has Evan Longoria is going to cause plenty of havoc in the standings.

The two teams that have added the most people- the Red Sox and Blue Jays- still have plenty of question marks. In Boston, for example, John Farrell will have to prove that his less-than-stellar performance as skipper in Toronto wasn’t just a result of the players he had available and the tough schedule he had to play. Toronto will have to avoid the injuries that devastated their pitching staff last season and integrate a bunch of new players into the team, all while also having the return of John Gibbons as manager. Gibbons had a sometimes tumultuous stint as Blue Jays’ manager from 2004 to 2008, and his hiring was something of a head-scratcher.

What does it all mean? It means that the AL East is a wild division, one with no clear favorite or clear unfavorite. It should be an interesting season in 2013.

Headlines from around the Continuum, Josh Hamilton to the Angels edition

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Headlines about the biggest baseball news from the Newseum web site:

Story: Josh Hamilton signed by the Angels, spurns Rangers

Orange County Register: No Joshin’! Hamilton completes Angels’ lineup

Long Beach Press-Telegram: Angels Raid Rival

Los Angeles Daily News: Rounding Up A Ranger

Los Angeles Times: Angels sign star oufielder

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Going? Going? Gone

Dallas Morning News: Out Of Left Field