Uuuugh! The Yankees’ tentative deal with the Montreal Expos for reliever Ugueth Urbina has fallen through, based upon the failure both of Urbina and Yankees prospect Brandon Knight to pass physical exams. The deal would have brought the Yankees some much-needed relief help, at the expense of a pitching prospect they’ve already given up on …
Archive of entries posted by Jay Jaffe
Roger Clemens With Clemens’ victory over Detroit, he now leads the league in victories, with nine. And since July 2 of last season, when he was activated from the disabled list, Clemens is 18-3. I can’t stand Mr.-Texas-vs.-Oklahoma-Every-Fifth-Day, but there’s no denying he’s getting the job done. In a season where the blueprints for a …
Allan Roth & Branch Rickey I was a preteen baseball stat-head. I actually read the backs of baseball cards, and learned to calculate batting averages before the concepts of fractions or long division were introduced in school. I scored the games I watched on TV, and God help me, I kept stats on simulation games …
Falling Pitch Counts The relationship between a pitcher’s workload and his tendency toward injury is perhaps the most controversial area of inquiry among those who study baseball statistics. The studies haven’t proven much, but lots of blood has been spilled among researchers over the matter. The argument has been rather impassioned, primarily because of what’s …
The Best Baseball Nicknames ESPN has been running a feature on the best nicknames in the major professional sports. The baseball one was mostly a hodge-podge of the obvious (“the Babe,” “Hammerin’ Hank,” “The Spendid Splinter”). Over at Baseball Primer, folks have offered up some more obscure and inspired choices. I thought about doing a …
Welcome to Baseball Hell The Texas Rangers find themselves further out of first place at this point in the season than any team in the history of baseball, except the 1953 Detroit Tigers. The Rangers’ record is a putrid 23-43, while the Seattle Mariners are 52-14. The cosmic beauty of this, of course, is that …
They’re Going to Whack Him at the All-Star Game This bit of news is so surreal, I can only think it’s a set-up for a mob hit. Tony Muser, manager of the hapless Kansas City Royals, has been selected by Joe Torre to be one of the American League’s coaches for the All-Star Game. The …
Goodbye, Country Joe The Yankees have shuffled their roster considerably over the past week or so, in the name of strenghtening their bench. Jorge Posada’s thumb injury triggered a veritable avalanche of moves, and it’s a sure thing that more changes are to come. Posada’s injury necessitated the addition of a third catcher, who arrived …
Bobby Cox—Dominant Manager? On the occasion of his first managerial meeting with his mentor, Toronto Manager Buck Martinez pronounced Bobby Cox “the dominant manager of his era.” Indeed, Cox is a fine manager. Since 1991, he’s led the Atlanta Braves to nine division crowns, five pennants, and one World Championship. An impressive record of success, …
The Kevin Bacon of Baseball A guest writer for Baseball Primer named Jonathan Daly has suggested that pitcher Mike Morgan is the Kevin Bacon of baseball. That is, he can be linked by a few degrees of separation to nearly everybody in the baseball universe. Morgan has played for twelve different teams over twenty-one seasons, …