Category Archives: Uncategorized

Some quick blog dealings

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Just a few quick blog dealings for today:

-First off, a big thanks to everyone who has visited the Continuum this month so far. Already, January is the most successful month in the site’s history, and this has been the most successful week in the site’s history, and Thursday was the most successful day in the site’s history. So thank you for helping make these recent days so successful, but remember that this success is only because of you, the readers. So don’t forget to check back regularly and tell your friends about the site.

-Don’t forget that the Old Time Family Baseball blogathon that I mentioned yesterday is going on now, and my contribution will be up sometime tomorrow.

-The Glossary has been updated with a few more terms.

-Just another reminder that Joe Connor’s WBC guide remains for sale here at the Continuum, and can be found on this page.

-If you like what you see and would like to donate to the Continuum, you can now do so using the “Tip Jar” on the right side of the front page of the blog. All proceeds will go towards the Baseball Continuum and related expenses such as hosting, domain names and the like*.

*Well, that isn’t entirely truthful. If somebody drops thousands of dollars into it, I might use at least some of it to pay off some loans. But then again, if somebody drops thousands of dollars into the tip jar, I’ll personally do something for you on this blog.

WBC Roster Analysis: The Netherlands

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What, did you expect me to do the Dominican Republic first after I did Team USA? Well, sorry to disappoint, as I’m focusing on the Dutch today.

The Netherlands may seem, on the surface, to be a country unlikely to be a baseball power, but that is only when one assumes that “The Netherlands” is just the country in Europe. In reality, “The Netherlands” in baseball competition (and certain other forums) is the “Kingdom of the Netherlands“, a sovereign state  that includes not only the Netherlands but also it’s Caribbean holdings, most notably Curacao and Aruba.

You can find the roster for the Netherlands here, although there is a slightly different- and possibly more up-to-date version- here, go after the jump for my analysis of it.

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The Lone Man to play in MLB and the NHL (and other MLB/NHL connections)

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Hockey is back!

(Crickets)

Well, anyway, there have been far fewer two-sport athletes in baseball involving hockey than there are basketball or football. In fact, there has been a grand total of one player who has spent time in the Major Leagues and the NHL. That player is Jim Riley, who spent some brief time with the St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators in the 1920s and spent a brief time with the Chicago Black Hawks (note the space) and Detroit Cougars (not yet the Red Wings) in the 1926-1927 season. Here’s what his top league statistics looked like:

In MLB:

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1921 26 SLB AL 4 12 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .083 .000 .083 -78 0 0 0 /4
1923 28 WSH AL 2 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .400 .000 .400 13 0 0 0 /3
1931 Did not play in major leagues (Did Not Play)
2 Yrs 6 17 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 .000 .176 .000 .176 -52 0 0 0
162 Game Avg. 162 459 378 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 81 81 .000 .176 .000 .176 -52 0 0 0
WSH (1 yr) 2 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 .400 .000 .400 13 0 0 0
SLB (1 yr) 4 12 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .083 .000 .083 -78 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/14/2013.

In the NHL:

Season Age Tm Lg GP G A PTS GC +/- PIM EV PP SH GW S S% TOI ATOI
1926-27 31 TOT NHL 9 0 2 2 1 14
1926-27 31 CBH NHL 3 0 0 0 0 0
1926-27 31 DTC NHL 6 0 2 2 1 14
Career NHL 9 0 2 2 1 14
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/14/2013.

Of course, Riley also played in the minor leagues in both sports. You can find his baseball minor league stats over at Baseball Reference, and you can find his hockey stats over at hockeydb.com.

Now, although Riley is the lone man to have played in both MLB and the NHL, he is not the only player who played both sports. Not even close. Take a look after the jump for other connections between America’s pastime and Canada’s pastime:

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WBC Simulation: USA vs. Canada

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On Sunday, March 30, 2013, Team USA and Canada will play the final Pool D game at Chase Field in Phoenix. Canada will technically be the home team. It’s entirely possible that who has advanced in the WBC would already be decided, but the sometimes erratic tie-breaking procedures of the round robin first round make it unlikely that both would be decided, and it is entirely likely that this game would decide the fates of at least one of the teams playing.

So, how might it go down? Well, using Out of the Park Baseball, I am simulating it! Go after the jump for the rest.

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Quick Impressions of the other 15 WBC rosters (and a link to the US)

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More rosters were revealed at 4 PM, go below the jump for my quick run-down of them. It will be updated as the rosters are revealed on television. Also, note that the rosters (which I will link to when I find a good link) are NOT FINAL and could change.

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WBC Roster Analysis: Team USA

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So, Team USA’s roster has been released, here’s how it looks (they’ve released 27 names, the 28th will be named later):

Jeremy Affeldt – San Francisco Giants – LHP
J.P. Arencibia – Toronto Blue Jays – C
Heath Bell – Arizona Diamondbacks – RHP
Willie Bloomquist – Arizona Diamondbacks – UTL
Mitchell Boggs – St. Louis Cardinals – RHP
Ryan Braun – Milwaukee Brewers – OF
Steve Cishek – Miami Marlins – RHP
Tim Collins – Kansas City Royals – LHP
R.A. Dickey – Toronto Blue Jays – RHP
Luke Gregerson – San Diego Padres – RHP
Derek Holland – Texas Rangers – LHP
Adam Jones – Baltimore Orioles – OF
Craig Kimbrel – Atlanta Braves – RHP
Jonathan Lucroy – Milwaukee Brewers – C
Joe Mauer – Minnesota Twins – C
Kris Medlen – Atlanta Braves – RHP
Glen Perkins – Minnesota Twins – LHP
Chris Perez – Cleveland Indians – RHP
Vinnie Pestano – Cleveland Indians – RHP
Brandon Phillips – Cincinnati Reds – IF
Jimmy Rollins – Philadelphia Phillies – IF
Giancarlo Stanton – Miami Marlins – OF
Mark Teixeira – New York Yankees – IF
Shane Victorino – Boston Red Sox – OF
Ryan Vogelsong – San Francisco Giants – RHP
David Wright – New York Mets – IF
Ben Zobrist – Tampa Bay Rays – UTL

Now, go after the jump for my analysis:

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Quick Hits: Baseball Hoaxes

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To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a hoax in baseball quite like the one that is going on with Manti Te’o, but there have been a few “good” hoaxes:

Tim Johnson was the manager of the Blue Jays in 1998, guiding them to a surprising 3rd place finish that left them only four games out of the Wild Card. Throughout the year, he motivated his players with tales of his time in Vietnam. Only thing is, he’d never been to Vietnam. He’d been a reserve during the war and the most he ever did was train troops at Camp Pendleton. He was let go before the 1999 season and has never managed in the big leagues since.

Sidd Finch was a more good-natured hoax, a pitcher who was reported in the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated to be able to throw a fastball up to 168 MPH. It was never meant to be taken seriously, an April Fools joke by George Plimpton. Still, some people apparently fell for it, despite the fact that I’m reasonably sure that a 168 MPH fastball is physically impossible for a human being to throw.

As part of his defense against his doping scandal this season, Melky Cabrera‘s handlers allegedly created a fake website that they claimed was for a supplement that Cabrera took that unknowingly contained banned substances.

There have also been phantom ballplayers, players who were reported to have played in the big leagues but who didn’t because the games weren’t official or, in some cases, were inventions of wisecracking telegraph operators. Wikipedia (which admittedly, shouldn’t be taken as a definitive source by any means) has an article on it.

Late WBC News for Jan. 16, 2013 (Part 2 of ?): Cuba’s roster

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Cuba has released their roster through their state-run Latina Prensa. 

Here’s how it looks:

Catchers: Yulexis La Rosa, Frank Camilo Morejon and Eriel Sanchez.

Infielders: José Dariel Abreu, Luis Felipe Rivera, José Miguel Fernández, Andy Ibañez, Yulieski Gourriel and Barbaro Arrebarruena.

Outfielders: Frederich Cepeda, Alfredo Despaigne, Rusney Castillo, Alexei Bell, Guillermo Hernandez Heredia and Yadiel Hernandez.

Pitchers: Freddy Asiel Alvarez, Ismel Jimenez, Raciel Iglesias, Odrisamer Despaigne, Norberto Gonzalez, Darien Nuñez, Wilber Perez, Yulieski Gonzalez, Vladimir Garcia, Alexander Rodriguez, Danny Betancourt, Vichyoandri Odelín and Yander Guevara.

Manager: Victor Mesa

Head Coach: Jorge Fuentes

Now, you might not recognize many of those names, since they are all part of the state-run Cuban league (where everyone is technically an amateur), so here are some you should know about:

Yulieski Gourriel is probably the best known of this group, an infielder (primarily 3B) who, especially when he was younger, would have MLB teams fighting for the rights to sign him if they could. He hit .273 in the 2006 WBC and .333 in the 2009 edition, where he also hit two home runs.

Alfredo Despaigne is another veteran of past WBCs, an outfielder who played for Cuba in 2009. He holds the Cuban National Series (the aforementioned “amateur” league) record for home runs, which he set when he hit 36 in the 2011-2012 season.

Amongst the pitchers, a name to watch is Ismel Jimenez, a right-handed veteran of the ’09 Classic who currently leads the Cuban National Series in strikeouts this season.

More WBC news as it comes out.

So, here’s how Team USA looks right now (and how it may look on Thursday)

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World Baseball Classic rosters are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them must be catchers. So far, these are the players who have been confirmed or all-but-confirmed to be playing for the United States in the 2013 Classic:

  1. Joe Mauer, C (Minnesota)
  2. David Wright, 3B (NY Mets)
  3. Ryan Braun, OF (Milwaukee)
  4. Giancarlo Stanton, OF (Miami)
  5. R.A. Dickey, SP (Toronto)
  6. Adam Jones, OF (Baltimore)
  7. Shane Victorino, OF (Boston)
  8. Andy Pettitte, SP (NY Yankees)
  9. Craig Kimbrel, RP (Atlanta)
  10. Chris Perez, RP (Cleveland)
  11. Luke Gregerson, RP (San Diego)
  12. Brandon Phillips, 2B (Cincinnati)
  13. Vinnie Pestano, RP (Cleveland)
  14. Ryan Vogelsong, SP (San Francisco)
  15. Jonathan Lucroy, C (Milwaukee)
  16. Mark Teixeira, 1B (NY Yankees)
  17. Glen Perkins, RP (Minnesota)
  18. Jimmy Rollins, SS (Philadelphia)
  19. Jeremy Affeldt, RP (San Francisco)

That’s 19 players: three starting pitchers, six relievers, two catchers, a first-baseman, a second-baseman, a shortstop, a third-baseman and four outfielders. Put it another way, there are 9 spots still unrevealed, and at least four of them are pitchers (with at least one of them probably a starter). So, it also follows that at most five of the remaining players are position players. Team USA still needs some more infielders, maybe a utility guy, and perhaps another catcher (reports say that Team USA will have three catchers).

Here’s my predictions of how the rest of the roster will shape up (not that I assume that Troy Tulowitzki and Dustin Pedroia are held out due to injury concerns):

20. Either Justin Verlander or Kris Medlen

Justin Verlander isn’t on the provisional roster right now, but apparently that more has to do with the fact he hasn’t said yes or no yet. He’ll apparently be making that decision by early March. Meanwhile, Kris Medlen had been mentioned as a possibility for the team, but hasn’t been mentioned in the past few days. I’m going to guess that this basically means that the fourth spot in the rotation will either be Verlander or Medlen. So either the best pitcher on the planet or the pitcher who’s team won 22 consecutive games that he started. Not a bad set of options.

21. Matt Wieters, C (Baltimore Orioles)

The third catcher isn’t Buster Posey, so it’s likely either Wieters or another American catcher like A.J. Ellis or Alex Avila or somebody like that. After pitchers, catchers are the hardest players to get to commit to the WBC.

22. Joe Nathan, RP (Texas Rangers)
23. Tyler Clippard, RP (Washington Nationals)
24. James Russell, RP (Chicago Cubs)

Okay, so now they bullpen is filled up. Nathan definitely has received an invitation and was considering, the other two are just guesses based on guys who’d fit well. One thing to note is that it’s possible (but unlikely) that Medlen could remain on the roster as a long reliever if Verlander were to pitch

25. Paul Konerko, 1B (Chicago White Sox)

It was reported that Konerko was on at the very least an early list for Team USA, so I’ll put him down for now.

26. Jay Bruce, OF (Cincinnati)

Was reportedly on a early roster but hadn’t heard yet. Would make a great bat-off-the-bench and outfielder for those days where one of the other OFs are DHing.

27. Ben Zobrist, Utility (Tampa)
28. Ian Desmond, Shortstop (Washington)

Finishing the roster by adding in a guy who can play anywhere and another shortstop.

It’ll be interesting to see how well my predictions turn out.

Late World Baseball Classic news for January 14, 2013 (Part 2 of ?)

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More WBC news that has come out (or that I just found) since earlier:

More World Baseball Classic news later (if there is any).