No, this is not the title of a new children’s book, or a remake of Kukla, Fran and Ollie. I’m dating myself with that one. After a relatively quiet weekend baseball-wise, it’s the big story of Thanksgiving week. The Boston Red Sox made a huge splash, diving hard into the position-player end of the free-agent pool, remaking a significant portion of their offense in the process. Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval are now set to move into the most distinctive offensive environment in the game, one defined by the presence of a large man-made structure in left field: the Green Monster. What does the Monster hold in store for the two newest members of the Red Sox? Read the rest of this entry »

Just like winter, hot stove season appears to be arriving early this year. Somewhat lost in all of the hubbub regarding Giancarlo Stanton‘s record-breaking deal is Russell Martin‘s five-year, $82 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Though it is heavily backloaded, this still ranks as the third-largest catching contract currently on any club’s books — behind Buster Posey‘s nine-year, $164 million, and Brian McCann’s five-year, $85 million deals, which both run through the respective players’ age-34 seasons. Martin’s runs through his age-36 season. So how do the next five years look for Martin, and for the Blue Jays? Read the rest of this entry »

After a few days of heightened speculation, word finally came down on Monday that the Miami Marlins and Giancarlo Stanton had come to an agreement on a historic 13-year, $325M deal. Terms have not been fully disclosed, but it seems clear that Stanton will have the ability to opt out of the deal at some point, most likely after the 2019 season. This is massive news on many levels – it’s the largest dollar guarantee to a single player in the history of the sport, and a huge departure in operating procedure on the part of the club.

It furthers the ongoing industry trend toward diminished free agent pools, as teams continue to lock up their best and brightest in advance of the exhaustion of their six years of team control. Today, let’s take a quick and dirty look at the potential outcomes for player and club by examining Stanton’s foremost attribute – his peerless ball-striking ability. Read the rest of this entry »

The free agent market is beginning to percolate, and though all has been somewhat quiet on his front to date, it stands to reason that Max Scherzer will be one of its chief beneficiaries. It’s a strong starting pitching group at the top, with Scherzer, Jon Lester and James Shields the lead dogs. Most would agree that none of these guys are Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez, but it wouldn’t be shocking if one of the current free agents approached the tax bracket of The Two Best Pitchers In Baseball. Scherzer presents a particularly intriguing case – he is a true outlier, a dominant strikeout artist who has allowed a fairly extreme amount of damage on the balls he has allowed to be put in play. Is this on Scherzer, or are there other factors in play? The question, at the very least, must be asked before any club invests anywhere a quarter billion dollars in him. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a couple of general time frames in the baseball calendar that are particularly difficult to write about in an analytical fashion – that May-June period when the season is young, and sample sizes are still small, and right about now. The postseason has recently ended, and hot stove season is imminent. I could simply write an article speculating about the destination of free agents and potential blockbuster trades, only for 95% of the contents to be blown to bits in a matter of days, or I could create a somewhat esoteric diversion. I choose the latter. It is said that a picture is worth 1000 words. How many, then, is a table of granular batted ball data worth? Read the rest of this entry »

The World Series is over, and though the San Francisco Giants have nailed down their third championship in the last five seasons, there is seemingly no time to savor the accomplishment. Qualifying offers are being extended, the first offseason transactions have begun to trickle across the wire, and hot stove season will soon begin in earnest. This week, however, let’s take one last look at the two World Series participants from a top-sided, macro perspective. How good were the Giants and the Royals, in various aspects of the game? Today, let’s take a look at the AL champion Royals. Read the rest of this entry »

The World Series is over, and though the San Francisco Giants have nailed down their third championship in the last five seasons, there is seemingly no time to savor the accomplishment. Qualifying offers are being extended, the first offseason transactions have begun to trickle across the wire, and hot stove season will soon begin in earnest. This week, however, let’s take one last look at the two World Series participants from a top-sided, macro perspective. How good were the Giants and the Royals, in various aspects of the game? Today, let’s take a look at the champion Giants. Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout October, several narratives have run through the national media coverage of the baseball postseason. The Royals became the media darlings, and their bullpen, team speed and defense were trotted out as examples of some sort of “new way” in baseball. The season ended tonight, with the “other” team – the San Francisco Giants – prevailing, on the back of a dominant starting pitcher and some pretty darned good defense of their own.

Joe Panik turned a potential first an third, no out, situation into two outs in the 3rd inning tonight, having arguably as much effect on the eventual outcome as that tall lefty the Giants brought out of the pen. In fact, I’d argue that the World Champions’ team defense as currently constituted belongs on roughly the same level as that of their Fall Classic opponents. Read the rest of this entry »

The last travel day of the season is behind us, and regardless of what lies ahead, we can be sure that a champion will be crowned in Kansas City. It’s been an entertaining, largely well-played series to date, with both teams’ respective strengths and weaknesses on display. I’m not here today to predict how this matchup is going to turn out — I picked the Giants in five last week — instead, let’s take this opportunity to look at the best and worst Game 6 and Game 7 tandems among the 25 World Series of that length since the advent of divisional play in 1969. Read the rest of this entry »

Much has been made of the supposed mediocrity of the two teams currently battling for the World Series championship. Not only are the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals both wild card teams, they’re the first pair of Fall Classic combatants to both win fewer than 90 games in the regular season. That said, there are a number of reasons why these clubs are worthy title competitors. The core of this Giants team, after all, has won two of the past four titles. The Royals, while a very poor offensive club by postseason standards, are clearly a strong run-prevention unit — riding defense and speed and a stellar bullpen into October. Very quietly, though, there is something else that truly stands about this Royals team: the durability of their core nine position players whose names are written into the lineup almost every day. Read the rest of this entry »