http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/562 Recent articles about Kirk Saarloos en-us Today's brief examines which slugger tied Lou Gehrig, which player with a .921 OPS at home carries a .288 SLG on the road, which hitter has a .649 winning percentage when he's in the lineup, the baseball equivalent of "if a tree fell in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound" and more. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:52:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308748 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308748 In an attempt to add some depth and leadership to their rotation (and possibly bullpen), the Marlins signed starter/reliever Mark Hendrickson to a one year contract. It looks as though the Marlins will use Hendrickson in their rotation, since their bullpen was a strong point last season, and their rotation was far from it. The Marlins currently have Sergio Mitre, Scott Olsen, Andrew Miller, Anibal Sanchez, and Rick VandenHurk in their rotation, but Hendrickson figures to have a secure spot considering Sanchez is still recovering from arm surgery, and VandenHurk struggled in 2007 (despite a nice 9.03 K/9 IP). If Hendrickson can remember what he did in the first two months of 2007, then he should be a serviceable fantasy pitcher, but that's a tad unrealistic. At this point, he's a marginal NL-only reserve pick as a starter, but he could potentially have more fantasy value as a reliever. We'll also examine Jose Valentin to the New York Mets and and Kirk Saarloos to the Oakland A's. Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:36:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/95766 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/95766 "NEW YORK -- A total of 106 players filed for salary arbitration Jan. 12 (x-free agent who accepted arbitration). Players and teams exchanged proposed salaries Tuesday if they couldn't come to agreement on a 2007 contract." For those who care...It's actually an interesting list if not just to see what specific players were making in 2006. Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:14:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/8593 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/8593 Put your on your dork hats. David Gassko of Hardball Times lists the 20 luckiest and unluckiest pitchers using a statistic known as LIPS, Luck Independent Pitching Statistics. "Essentially, the idea behind both DIPS 3.0 and LIPS is that a lot of luck goes into a pitcher's performance, as measured by ERA, every year. To get a better feel for how good a pitcher actually was, we want to remove the elements of his pitching line that could be especially overwhelmed by luck. It so happens that while defense independent events like strikeouts, walks, and hit-by-pitch are pretty stable from year-to-year, things like singles per outfield fly ball or line drives are not. DIPS and LIPS try to correct for that." Consider yourself warned, Chien-Ming Wang owners! Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:32:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/7966 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/7966 Cyril Morong of 'Beyond the Boxscore' created two 15 player lists, one of pitchers who improved from the 2005 to 2006, the other of players who declined. He used a statistic called RSAA which means "the amount of runs that a pitcher saved vs. what an average pitcher would have allowed. It is adjusted for park effects." In short, it's a good list for determining the value of pitchers in 2007, who will be a bargain, who had a nice comeback season and who may have just had a career year. Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:43:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/7044 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/7044 I don't usually engage in rumor-mongering like so many others tend to do when the snows of winter suspend the actual playing of baseball and encourage chatter about rosters and trades. I'll make an exception this time, though, for no better reason than that I'm bored, and I think I've found a reasonable target for the A's, and one that's actually being mentioned in legitimate trade talks. With Jay Payton signing with the Orioles for a surprisingly reasonable contract in this off-season of inflation, the A's have a hole to fill. So how to replace the versatile and useful Payton? Fill the void with Ryan Church, I propose. Ryan Church is a soon-to-be 28 year old LF/CF from the Nationals. [click through the link to read the whole article] Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:04:17 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/6560 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/6560 This is a great article about the A's and their run to hold on in the AL West. Probably the quietest of all the division winners, the A's are fighting the Angels, who as of today are still five games out but could make a run with their talent. The A's have done it rather quietly, as I've said, and they are a good team with some solid talent. Whether or not they can compete in the postseason is a different story, but for now they are plugging along. This article brings to light hte A's struggles against both the Angels (6-6) and the White Sox (0-3 as of Thursday) this season, both teams they will see over the next 17 games. Can the A's hold on? Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:21:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/2403 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/2403