LATEST STORIES FROM BASEBALL THINK FACTORY
The 2009-2010 Offseason, Theo Style, Part III: The Rotation
11 hours ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Last offseason, the Red Sox took some quite large risks in the rotation by shelling out moderate contracts to Brad Penny and John Smoltz, neither of which provided them with much value at all. The one nice thing about those deals was that they were only for one year, allowing the Red...
The 2009-2010 Offseason, Theo Style, Part II: SS
8 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Remember, the key here is to pile up a depth of decent to good players. Because this is the case, there’s just no way that the 2010 season can start with Jed Lowrie as the starting SS and only a utility infielder behind him. He’s just too risky in the health (and possible...
The 2009-2010 Offseason, Theo Style
10 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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It’s taken me a couple years but I’ve finally come to terms with how this team operates. They place an extremely high priority on reaching 95-ish wins and very little importance on winning the division. I’ve found this frustrating and often disagreed with some of...
2010 Hall of Merit Ballot
12 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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OK, it’s time to start the voting. There is no rush . . . please read through the discussion thread to work through the candidates.
The election closes 11/23 at 8 p.m. EST. We welcome newcomers, but require that you are willing to consider player from all eras. Voters also...
Twins - Acquired Hardy
14 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Minnesota Twins - Acquired SS J.J. Hardy from the Milwaukee Brewers for CF-9th Carlos Gomez.
Hardy had a terrible 2009, capped off by a trip down to Nashville. That being said, Gomez hasn't really developed as a hitter at all and at this point, I'd take the player who has...
Pirates - Acquired Iwamura
15 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Pittsburgh Pirates - Acquired 2B Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for P Jesse Chavez
A nifty little pickup for the Pirates here. Iwamura is a solid second baseman and fills a pretty big hole for the Pirates in return for a decent, but replaceable reliever. I think the Rays...
Angels - Signed Abreu
15 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Los Angeheim Angels - Reportedly have signed RF Bobby Abreu to a 2-year contract.
This just broke and there's nothing about contract terms yet. To pull a complete figure out of thin air, I'd guess that it's in the $8-$10 million per range. I expect this to be a reasonable...
White Sox - Acquired Teahen, Signed Kotsay
15 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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Chicago White Sox - Acquired 3B-OF Mark Teahen from the Kansas City Royals for 3B-OF Josh Fields and 2B Chris Getz; Signed OF Mark Kotsay to a 1-year, $1.5 million contract.
A pretty bad and pretty pointless trade for the White Sox. Luckily for White Sox fans, when it comes to Kenny...
The Oracle’s Amazing Time Machine: The Future of Bill Plaschke’s Column
19 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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5. Jolly Old St. Nick (now, with Screen Name history) Posted: November 02, 2009 at 07:34 AM (#3374366)
None of the above. The L.A. Times just has a realistic assessment of the attention span of the average West Coast reader. By next year their stories are likely to be exclusively...
Giants - Signed Sanchez
21 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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San Francisco Giants - Signed 2B Freddy Sanchez to a 2-year, $12 million contract.
Nothing filthy about this signing. Sanchez had a $8 million club option for 2009 with a $600K buyout, so the Giants aren't even really even quite paying him that. Sanchez is a roughly league-average...
2009 in Review: A Manager’s Season
23 days ago by
Baseball Think Factory
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[An MCOA post]
What I’m interested in, when talking about managers, are the various things they do over the course of a season which have real and large effects on team wins – building bullpens and platoons, evaluating and developing young players, evaluating injured and aging...
Hall of Merit Pitcher Rankings
October 14, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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The cross-era pitchers ballot is now complete, and to the surprise of no one, we’ve ranked Walter Johnson as the greatest pitcher in the Hall of Merit.
Johnson held the top spot on all 17 ballots. Lefty Grove edged Cy Young by one point for the #2 spot. 14 pitchers were named...
Hot Stove Already?
October 12, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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[MCOA at it again, figuring what to do this offseason.]
There are already three threads with Red Sox off-season talk ongoing. My quick take is that a lot of these discussions center on the Red Sox acquiring Joe Mauer, Felix Hernandez, Albert Pujols, or Mecha-Pedro. Suffice it to...
Well, That Sucked
October 11, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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[MCOA chimes in the the postmortem.
I just got back from the ballgame, and I thought it might be interesting to post
my thoughts after watching the game, see how they match up.
There were so many ways that the Red Sox could have not lost this game.
Papelbon makes a two-strike...
Back to Boston, Down 2-0
October 09, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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Someone didn’t send the Angels the message that they are supposed to be losing. Heading back to Boston, the Red Sox have their work cut out for them. They’ve burned their two best starters and now must hope for their lesser lights to get the job done. Here’s hoping.
Why the Red Sox Are Going to Be Totally Awesome in the Postseason
October 06, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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[MCOA breaks out the CFBPS to size up the Red Sox’ chances in the postseason.]
1) The Red Sox are best at preventing runs of the AL playoff teams. Despite working in the worst pitcher’s park in the American League, they ranked third in runs allowed, behind only the White...
Through 162--What Say You?
October 04, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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A lot of the focus at this time of year is, for good reason, on the upcoming playoffs. But now is also a great time to take a look back at the season. After all of the ups and downs, the Red Sox came in at 95-67, the third best record in the American League. They got some very exciting...
Playoff Roster Thread: Finally, Our Chance to Talk about George Kottaras
September 30, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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[Matt Clement of Alexandria has volunteered to contribute some content during the playoff drive. Here’s his first entry--it’s quite entertaining. Enjoy.]
The Red Sox clinched the AL Wild Card last night in dramatic fashion, sitting around in their underwear watching Texas...
SI.com: Posnanski: Appreciating the understated brilliance of Chipper and the Braves
September 30, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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The Wonderful Year of Jacoby Ellsbury
September 21, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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Jacoby Ellsbury is having just about the type of offensive year that most projection systems expected him to have. His slash line of .304/.356/.423 is just about what ZIPS, James, and company had him for coming into the year. Yet, somehow, I’m very happily surprised at his success...
Combined Pitchers Ballot
September 21, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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We’ll start today, and close the balloting October 5.
Vote for your top 20, in order, with explanations, etc..
Points will go 25-24-23 . . . 8-7-6.
A reminder of the results of our ‘by era’ voting:
RK 1871-1892 PTS 1893-1923 PTS 1924-1958 ...
Dodgers - Acquired Garland
September 01, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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Los Angeles Dodgers - Acquired P Jon Garland from the Arizona Diamondbacks for 2B Tony Abreu.
Garland won't go 5-0 in September or throw a no-hitter in the playoffs or send the Dodger infield back in time to create a time loop that confers de facto immortality upon himself, but...
Dodgers - Acquired Garland
September 01, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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Los Angeles Dodgers - Acquired P Jon Garland from the Arizona Diamondbacks for 2B Tony Abreu.
Garland won't go 5-0 in September or throw a no-hitter in the playoffs or send the Dodger infield back in time to create a time loop that confers de facto immortality upon himself, but...
White Sox - White Flag II
September 01, 2009 by
Baseball Think Factory
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Chicago White Sox - Traded DH Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers for SS Justin Fuller; Traded P Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies for P Brandon Hynick.
Is this a white flag trade? Yes. Is there anything wrong with that? No.
There comes a time where yes, it's smart to pull...
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