Tag Archives: baseball

Did you know…

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Four quick factoids that you may find interesting.

Did you know…..

…that “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades” was first coined by Frank Robinson? He did it in 1973 in Time.

…that Michael Vick, Tom Brady, Jake Locker, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, and Brandon Weeden all were drafted by MLB teams? Wilson and Weeden played minor league baseball.

…that Marty Bergen, notable for having ax-murdered his family and then killing himself, received 1% of the HoF vote in 1937? He wasn’t even that good of a player!

…that Ed Porray of the 1914 Buffalo Buffeds of the Federal League was born on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean?

Blog Note: Now receiving from Baseball-Reference Newsfeeds

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This is just a quick note: starting today the Continuum will be featured in Baseball-Reference.com’s “player news” sections, so as you are browsing B-Ref you might come across a link to this site. These links will be to articles where the player’s name was linked to their B-Ref page.

This probably won’t affect any of you whatsoever, but I thought it a good idea to let you all know.

Who’s In/Out/In-Between as of 7:22 PM of Dec. 9, 2012

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Today’s movers and shakers:

Alfredo Aceves has apparently volunteered to play for Team Mexico… as a catcher. He’s a pitcher usually. So either there was some sort of joke he made that got lost in translation in Nick Cafardo’s baseball column at the Boston Globe, or he’s considering a position change. What the heck, I’ll put him in as possibly/likely.

Go below the jump for the whole list:

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Bo Jackson: Faster than Hamilton?

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Early on in the life of this blog, I declared Reds’ farmhand BIlly Hamilton as the fastest man in baseball. Possibly ever. Using some rudimentary math that admittedly had plenty of caveats, I found that they he would be running roughly 17.79 MPH while rounding the bases.

But then, last night, I saw the 30 for 30 documentary, You Don’t Know Bo, about Bo Jackson, the MLB/NFL great who may have gotten into the HoF of both sports if not for a freakish hip injury ended his football career and turned his baseball career into that of a more Dave Kingman-like slugger who could hit well for power but who’s lack of speed (he had a artificial hip, after all) and poor plate discipline cut it severely short of what it could have been.

What is the connection between these two? Well, it was mentioned in the documentary that Bo Jackson, during his NFL combine, ran a 40-yard dash in 4.12 seconds. It’s never been matched in the history of the NFL. By anyone. He would have to be averaging about 19.86 MPH during that dash. As mentioned, Billy Hamilton’s run around the bases (albeit a longer distance and thus likely bringing more fatigue as the run happened) was a “mere” 17.79 MPH. If Jackson could run 100 meters at about a 19.86 MPH pace (again, he probably wouldn’t have, given the differences in distance and the surface being run on, etc.), he’d run it in 11.26 seconds.

And, of course, that doesn’t take into account this.

So was Bo Jackson even faster that Billy Hamilton? Hard to tell, since the examples given about their speed are just so different and they came into being during different time periods (the training today is superior even to 20 years ago, after all). So the world will never know.

I think it’s safe to say that they are both faster than either of us, though. Heck, Bo Jackson now is probably faster than us.

Michael Young leaves the Rangers, removing another career-with-one-team man

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Michael Young wasn’t drafted by the Texas Rangers- he came as a Minor Leaguer in a trade with the Blue Jays- but he has for years been Mr. Ranger. But now, he is headed to Philadelphia, waiving his no-trade clause in order to be traded to the Phillies. He has, barring a possible mostly-ceremonial return at the end of his career, hit his final hit and played his final game as a Ranger- he held the record in both categories for the team.

But what it also does is eliminate the chance that Young would join the list of players- increasingly endangered- who have played their entire career with one team.

In fact, as far as I can tell, these are the only active players left who have spent their entire career of 10+ seasons with the same club:

Derek Jeter

Mariano Rivera

Todd Helton

Jimmy Rollins

Brian Roberts

Now, admittedly, there are a bunch of players who are only a season or two away from joining this list: Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, David Wright, Cole Hamels, etc. But as “Mr. Ranger” leaves Texas, it’s interesting to know this in order to truly appreciate just how rare it is now for a player to spend their entire career with one team… and how Michael Young won’t be one of those players.

The Yankees are just sleeping

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When I was younger, I had a thing for Godzilla movies. But I sort of realized that, at the end of each movie, there probably should have been a scene where the Japanese government realized that Godzilla was going to come back, and that he wasn’t dead, he was just sleeping.

The same could be said of the Yankees this offseason. So tight have their pockets been that Brian Cashman apparently went to the Winter Meetings without authority to sign free agents. Names like Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez went elsewhere, and the big names like Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke have been almost entirely unconnected to them. They haven’t been in for any trades. The only player they seem to have officially been in pursuit of so far is Kevin Youkilis.

But, rest assured, they have a plan. A horrible plan. Much like Godzilla no doubt dreamed of stomping Tokyo or Osaka as he slept between B-movies, the Yankees have dreams as well, and it involves a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement.

You see, there is a threshold of about $189 million dollars. If a team is above it, they have to pay luxury taxes, and a lot of them, and the penalties accrue based on how much and how long the team is over it. The Yankees, as they have been going, would have been paying up to a 50% luxury tax.

But if a team goes under it, the formula for luxury tax resets. They could then proceed to go over the tax threshold and not have to pay close to the luxury tax amount they  would be paying if they didn’t reset the clock.

If what I’m reading is correct, this would mean that they’d be relatively unencumbered in the 2014-2015 off-season in their quest to stomp Tokyo, or at least the American League, free to spend, spend, spend without much worry about all the taxes they’d be inflicted upon.

And here comes the part that is terrifying for the people of Tokyo, or at least the American League: Justin Verlander could be a free agent after 2014. So could Clayton Kershaw. And Felix Hernandez. And Chase Headley, Johnny Cueto and Elvis Andrus.

In other words… they Yankees could spend and attempt to buy a pennant in a way even George would find crazy.

And that is why they are sleeping.

In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 8:39 PM on December 6, 2012

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Who’s playing in the WBC? Who’s dropped out? Who is still being considered or might be taking part? Well, go below the jump for it:

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Winter Meetings Actions and Reactions: Part 4

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Action:

Reaction: It is true. The Yankees apparently were in on Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez, looking to get them to fill the black hole that has now emerged at 3B now that Alex Rodriguez is hurt. Neither of them signed: Keppinger went to the White Sox, and Chavez went to the Diamondbacks. And, let’s face it, even if you are a true seamhead, you may have trouble remembered who Jeff Keppinger even is.

So, the third choice (assuming that they even went after Keppinger and Chavez, as some say they never even made an offer to them) is… Kevin Youkilis.

How the mighty have fallen. How the mighty have fallen.

Action:

Reaction: Jason Bay isn’t what he used to be back during his days as the Pirates’ designated All-Star, having been worn down by age and injury, but really, the Mariners need all the help they can get and it’s just a one-year deal. Maybe if he shows flashes of his old self the Mariners will be able to flip him at the deadline for some prospects.

Action:

 

Reaction: In other words, if you are breathing and can throw a baseball with anything resembling Major League ability, the Twins might offer you a contract. And can you blame them? The Twins had a 4.77 ERA last season, only two starters had winning records, and that was in a cavernous pitcher’s park. They need one or two starters to eat innings, protect the young arms, and possibly act as trade-bait if the Twins are out of it mid-year.

 

Winter Meetings Action and Reaction: Part 2

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Part of a feature in which I react to the news coming from the Winter Meetings.

Action:

Reaction: An umpire, an owner and a player. The biggest surprise though is that more than one person was elected by the Veterans Committee- previously they haven’t put in this many.

Action:

Reaction: Well, I guess the Red Sox are back to their old ways. The large amounts of salary they dumped on the Dodgers earlier this year means that they they once again will be able to spend. Mike Napoli has long been a good hitter, and although he likely is now on the downward part of his career, he should be a good fit in Fenway.

 

More actions and reactions will come semi-regularly throughout the Winter Meetings.

Action and Reaction, Winter Meetings, Part 1

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Throughout the Winter Meetings, I’ll react to the acts that are going on in Baseball.

Action:

Reaction: I saw Lidge pitch once when he was with Houston. It was the year after he’d had his soul eaten by Albert Pujols, who sent a go-ahead home run in the NLCS so far into the night that I believe one of the Mars rovers recently discovered it. He got the save, if memory serves, but it was during one of the down points of his career. You see, Lidge was a player who was either lights-out or a heart attack waiting to happen, great one year but not-so-great the next, and injury-prone often (he mentioned on MLB Network this morning that he’s had 9 surgeries over his career). Overall, however, he had a good career, and as he retires he goes out with 225 saves, two All-Star Games, he played a role in a combined no-hitter against the Yankees,  a World Series ring and appearances in two other World Series.

Action:

Reaction: Oh, Alex Rodriguez. It never seems to end for him. With every successive year, his contract with the Yankees becomes even more of a albatross, and as his body breaks down and production decreases, it’s also becoming clear that the one saving grace the Yankees might have had- the attention that would come when Rodriguez could break Bonds’ HR record- is highly unlikely.

Action:

Reaction: And so it begins for the Tampa Rays, who many- including me- think will be a big mover-and-shaker at the Winter Meetings.They have an excess amount of good pitchers. Everybody wants good pitchers. And the Rays aren’t the market where they are able to sign lots of guys to long-term deals once they get expensive (with the exception of Evan Longoria, of course). To flip a pitcher could be a prudent move, for the right prospects. James Shields is the most likely to be dealt, but there have been on-and-off rumblings about David Price for about a year and a half. James Loney, meanwhile, seems like the type of guy who could turn out to be a shrewd move for the Rays. He had an off-year in 2012, but a rebound could give a good new cog to the Rays’ lineup.

Non-Baseball Action:

Reaction: Others might have been more deserving, but it is hard to argue with a MVP, a league title and an Olympic Gold medal.

Keep an eye open for more Action and Reaction throughout the Winter Meetings.