- Marc Normandin recently began writing regularly for the highly acclaimed Baseball Prospectus. Throughout the season, he'll write about issues pertaining to the Boston Red Sox in the Prospectus Notebook. Also, be sure to check out his recent contribution to the Yankees' portion of the notebook, in which he discusses the outlook of Yankees starting pitcher Shawn Chacon. This is a great accomplishment on the part of Marc, and can be directly attributed to all the high-quality work he's done throughout the past few years.
His work can also be found at Beyond the Boxscore and Baseball Digest Daily. In fact, I've actually organized a pool in which each person must predict when he'll pass out due to fatigue. Fortunately for him, he possesses a favourable PECOTA attrition/drop rate, so everything should work out well.
- Randy Booth, who writes at Over the Monster, attended Wednesday's Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway Park. For some reason, I found the following story to be really humourous:
We were outside the park when the players were driving in. The first guy we saw was none other than David Ortiz. He strolled in with his H2 (pics to come) and he and his posse popped out. It's white, with his signature on the side. Can't miss -- really, you can't.
There was a woman who could only say five words after Ortiz arrived: "Papi! That's a bad ride!" That's all she said. Everything. And she yelled it in my ear on numerous occassions.
That's a bad ride, Papi!
Also, apparently J.P. Ricciardi has his very own posse:
And Blue Jays' GM JP Riccardi arrived with his own posse. I think I was the only person to recognize him...
My opinion of J.P. has gone way up. It's no wonder he cajoled ownership into granting him a contract extension this past offseason: his imposing street posse struck fear into the hearts of management.
- Although most reports have been positive with regards to Roy Halladay's health issues, Will Carroll is slightly more concerned:
Just as the Blue Jays get A.J. Burnett back, Roy Halladay is going to miss a couple of starts. While the party line is that the Jays are using a favorable schedule to be conservative with Halladay's "tight forearm," the fact is that this is a bit more serious. The flexor mass is an injury that has become more common in baseball (Andy Pettitte, Jason Schmidt, Troy Percival) and has been used by some teams to disguise elbow problems. That isn't the case here; the Jays are, from all signs, telling the truth about Halladay. The problem is more that the injury has been lingering all spring. Sure, Halladay could pitch with it, but where did it come from? Halladay's injury problems are reminding me more and more of Mark Prior's.
The comparison to Mark prior seems rather premature, considering the nature of Halladay's injury. Although, I think Carroll's intent is more cautionary than prescriptive. Let's hope his injury doesn't linger for any extended period of time.
- Minor league pitcher Vince Perkins was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers. He posted a record of 7-7 with a 4.03 ERA with New Hampshire (AA) last season.
- At The Baseball Analysts, Rich Lederer wrote a great piece about former baseball player Curt Flood. Also, Sports Illustrated columnist and Bronx Banter writer Alex Belth wrote a book about the life, both on and off the field, of Curt Flood entitled Stepping Up: The Story of All-Star Curt Flood and His Fight for Baseball Players' Rights. An excerpt from the book is posted at The Hardball Times.
- Check out the following pitching line Daniel Cabrera posted on April 12, 2006:
IP H R ER HR BB SO GB FB TBF #Pit
5.0 3 1 1 0 9 10 3 3 26 117Courtesy of poster DKDC at Baseball Think Factory, the last player to walk nine and strikeout nine in the same game was Tim Wakefield way back during 1993, when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It's obvious that Cabrera possesses as much pure, raw talent as any pitcher in the game. Suffice it to say, however, that he must learn to harness that talent at least somewhat in order to become a consistently productive pitcher.
- While on the subject of young pitchers who possess loads of potential, Francisco Liriano of the Twins has pitched remarkably well this season. In 8.1 IP, he's posted an ERA of 0.00, a microscopic WHIP of 0.72, and 13 strikeouts. In fact, in 30.1 career IP, he's struck out 45 hitters. He's going to become an absolute stud when he joins the starting rotation on a full-time basis.
- Funny, random quote, courtesy of Deadspin:
Adam Dunn, in support of the use of female cheerleaders in baseball: "I think it's a great idea. It gets the fans into (the game) and gives us something to look at."
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