There was a time when there was no such thing as bullpens and closers. In fact saves! weren’t even an official statistic until 1969. Starting pitchers were expected to pitch the whole game, and relief pitchers were used for spot starts and multi-inning relief appearances when a starter would struggle or get injured. Things changed however… starters went from pitching
Read moreDISAPPOINTMENTS 1. SP CHRIS SALE, BOSTON RED SOX The Boston starter had injury issues to close out 2018 and his four-seamer declined to 90.2 MPH. There’s also his dangerous delivery, that is too reminiscent of Mark Prior. Part of the reason why I don’t expect Boston to be nearly as good in 2019 as they were in 2018 is because
Read morePhotos courtesy of Google images. What’s going on? Why are two of the best young players in the game still free agents? Are they refusing to take less than some astronomical number? Are they not receiving any even remotely acceptable offers? It seems that it’s a combination of the two and it seems to be heavily influenced by the luxury
Read moreThe 2016 World Series was one of the best World Series that I ever saw. Despite the fact that I’m not a fan of either the Chicago Cubs or the Cleveland Indians, watching Chicago win their first championship since 1908, was one of the most memorable moments in my time following this great game. That said, it’s disappointing to see
Read moreFor the second year in a row, teams seem to have little interest to splurge in free agency, with the luxury tax becoming a salary cap. The players are upset and the next CBA is likely to be a major storyline because of it. The current CBA expires after the 2021 season and the owners and the players will sit
Read moreMinimum 100 innings pitched. 1. GB% HIGHER THAN FB% # TOTAL WAR 107 227.9 AVERAGE WAR PER PITCHER: 2.1 2. FB % HIGHER THAN FB% # TOTAL WAR 33 64.2 AVERAGE WAR PER PITCHER: 1.9 3. THREW FASTBALL 50%+ # TOTAL WAR 15 62 AVERAGE WAR PER PITCHER: 4.1 AVERAGE FASTBALL SPEED: 94.9 MPH 4. THREW CHANGEUP 20%+ # TOTAL
Read moreI decided to look at some famous and not as famous trades where star players and future star players were traded. I tried to avoid most recent trades as it’s too early to tell as to which team won the trade. I’m using WAR to analyze these trades and counting the WAR received by the team for the players that
Read moreWhat are some bad contract swaps that teams could do? I’m sure that the contract swaps that I’m going to list are not unknown to the teams themselves, but I think that it’s interesting to look at them and consider whether they would make sense. I should add that some of these contracts include no-trade clauses and so trades could
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