Kuzul

Baserunner/catcher home plate collisions are back in the news after Nyjer Morgan instigated two such collisions that ended up costing his team runs and generated controversy.

The first happened in last Saturday’s game between the Cardinals and the Nats.  Willie Harris hit a bases-loaded double with Morgan on first base.  Morgan came flying around the bases, and St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson initially set up to block the plate.

However, Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols cut off the throw from right field and held up on throwing to the plate where he seemingly had no play on Morgan.  When Pujols held the ball, Anderson stepped out of the base line toward first base. 

Instead of simply scoring the run, Morgan stepped out of the base path into fair territory, threw an elbow into Anderson and in the process completely missed stepping on home plate.

— READ: Most Pathetic Fight Attempts in Sports —

Another National in the on-deck area grabbed Morgan and pushed him back so Morgan would return and touch home.  Morgan was called out on the basis of interference because another National touched him before the run had scored.

This was obviously a stupid play by Morgan, and one can easily see why even Nationals’ manager Jim Riggleman criticized Morgan afterward. 

You don’t give up a run so you can go out of your way (and the base path) to hit a fielder who doesn’t even have the ball.

In yesterday’s game between the Marlins and the Nationals, Morgan was involved in another collision, and again it cost the Nationals a run.

Morgan’s decision to hit Marlins’ rookie catcher Brett Hayes and try to knock the ball loose was a stupid play, because Morgan probably would have scored if he had slid into home plate.

In my mind, however, it was not a dirty play like Morgan’s elbow to Bryan Anderson on Saturday. The Marlins and Nats were tied 0-0 in the 10th inning when Morgan tried to score on an infield grounder.

It was going to be a close play at the plate.  Hayes caught the ball on the third base side of the plate, and (the slow motion replay shows) just had time to set himself before Morgan barreled into him.  Hayes injured his shoulder on the play, but he held onto the ball and made the out.

A base runner absolutely has the right in those circumstances to run into the catcher, who is standing in the base path, to try to knock the ball loose if the runner thinks it gives him the best chance to score. 

The game was on the line, and the professional game is about winning first, second and last. Base runners are paid to score runs, pure and simple.

It is a split second decision, and in hindsight you can say that Morgan made the wrong decision in terms of scoring the run.  It’s also a shame Hayes was hurt on the play. 

However, hard, clean plays like that are part of the game, unless you advocate changing the rules to provide that catchers can never be in the base paths even when they have the ball in their hands.

I think catchers should be barred from setting up in the base path before they have received the throw from another fielder, not that catchers shouldn’t be able to move into the base path once the ball is actually in their hands.

Interestingly, no one on the Nationals had anything negative to say about Morgan’s collision with Hayes.

As I’m sure you know, there was a bench-clearing brawl in today’s Marlins-Nationals game.  Chris Volstad threw one behind Morgan’s back, and Morgan charged the mound.

However, there was more to today’s brawl than the Marlins trying to get back solely because of the Morgan-Hayes collision. 

Morgan had stolen a couple of bases in the game even though the Nationals were down by 10 runs (I can kind of see why it’s considered bad form to steal bases when your team is up by 10, but I don’t think it makes any sense to consider it unsportsmanlike to steal bases when your team is losing big—if anything, the base stealer is doing the team with the big lead a favor, since the cost of getting caught stealing is much greater than the value of a stolen base when the stealer’s team is that far behind).

However, some ballplayers are offended by base-stealing anytime the game is a blowout one way or the other.

I’m also certain that the Marlins knew all about the Morgan-Anderson collision, which put the Morgan-Hayes collision in a different light. 

A lot of baseball people watch SportsCenter or go to MLB.com, because they want to know what their competitors are doing.  It’s their livelihood, after all.

Finally, the brawl happened because Morgan decided to charge the mound even though he hadn’t actually been hit with the pitch.

The totality of the past week’s events don’t cast Morgan in a very favorable light, and I think you can be fairly certain that Tony La Russa and the Cardinals won’t forget the Morgan-Anderson collision between now and the next time the Cardinals and Marlins play each other.

However, the Marlins have probably gotten Morgan out of their system, particularly after the big shot first baseman Gaby Sanchez gave Morgan after Morgan threw a punch at Volstad during today’s brawl.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

I’m back after two exciting weeks in and around Dumaguete City in the Philippines.  An awful lot has happened since I was away: Lou Piniella’s decision to retire sooner rather than later, Roger Clemens getting indicted, the Giants’ vaunted starters posting the worst ERA of any starting rotation in the National League so far in August.

One thing that especially surprised me, however, was the fact Bryce Harper signed for only $9.9 million when Steven Strasburg got $15.1 million from the same team last year.  I had expected Harper to get right around what Strasburg got.

Now that Strasburg has blown out his elbow tendon and will miss at least a full year to rehab his arm after Tommy John surgery, it’s easy to say that Strasburg got too much or that Harper got too little.  However, you could have come to the same conclusion before Strasburg’s injury simply by looking at recent draft results for college pitchers and high school position players selected with the first pick of the draft.

The reasons that Strasburg got more money probably have to do with past signing amounts and the fact that top college pitchers are the amateur players closest to the major leagues in terms of ability at the time they are signed.  Before Strasburg’s big payday, the record first contract was Mark Prior’s $10.5 million deal back in 2001.

The prior high for a position player was given to then college first baseman Mark Teixeira, who got a four-year, $9.5 million deal also in 2001.

Strasburg got more than Prior, and Harper got more than Teixeira.  Also, Harper had less leverage than a player his age usually has because had he not signed, he would have had to return to junior college, the same level he played at last year, and where it would be extremely difficult for him to improve significantly in the eyes of major league organizations from his 2010 performance. 

Most 18-year-old high school draft picks can threaten to go to a top four-year college program, where they will play at a much higher level, comparable to full-season Class A or A+ ball.

However, none of it really makes any sense.  I mean, whose career would you rather have right now: Mark Prior’s or Mark Teixeira’s?  And it’s not just these two players.

Here’s a list of all the high school position players taken with the first pick of the draft since 1987 when Ken Griffey, Jr. was selected: Griffey (1987), Chipper Jones (1990), Alex Rodriguez (1993), Josh Hamilton (1999), Adrien Gonzalez (2000), Joe Mauer (2001), Delmon Young (2003), Matt Bush (2004), Justin Upton (2005), Tim Beckham (2008).

It’s too early to tell with Beckham (he presently has a .347 on-base percentage in the pitcher friendly Class A+ Florida State League at age 20, which is promising for a shortstop), and Delmon Young has been kind of disappointing (although it’s worth noting he is currently hitting .305 with an .830 OPS and doesn’t turn 25 for another two weeks).

However, the only real dog of the bunch is Matt Bush, and in his case, everyone thought it was a terrible, bargain basement pick when the Padres selected him solely because he was local boy who would sign for way less than No. 1 money.

The other seven players on the list feature three sure-thing Hall-of-Famers, two guys reasonably likely to have Hall of Fame careers (Gonzalez and Mauer), another player who probably would have had at least a borderline Hall of Fame career if drugs had not derailed him for years (Hamilton), and a young major leaguer with everything you look for in a player who might develop into a Hall of Famer (Upton).

Here are all the college pitchers selected with the first pick of the Draft since 1987: Andy Benes (1988), Ben McDonald (1989), Paul Wilson (1994), Kris Benson (1996), Matt Anderson (1997), Bryan Bullington (2002), Luke Hochevar (2006), David Price (2007), and Stephen Strasburg (2009). 

Now that we know Strasburg will be undergoing Tommy John surgery, is there even one pitcher whose career you would rather have than any one of the seven position players listed in the preceding paragraph?

I could see someone saying they’d rather have David Price’s career than Justin Upton’s career, given what we’ve seen so far, but I sure wouldn’t.  The odds are much greater David Price will get seriously hurt more often than Upton going forward.

Of course, I can already hear some of you saying the best player isn’t always selected with the first pick of the draft, Mark Prior and Mark Teixeira being examples. 

However, the first player selected is almost always a great prospect, and when it’s a high school position player overwhelmingly regarded as one of the very best players available, the position player’s chances of future major league success are significantly greater than any pitching prospect’s chances of future success due to the pitchers’ potential for major arm injuries.

Okay, the Nationals gave Bryce Harper a five-year deal, and who knows how long he’ll be in the minors before he’s ready for the show.  However, he’s so young (17) that he could spend the entire five years in the minors and still come up young enough to have a Hall of Fame or near Hall of Fame career.

Finally, it’s worth noting that at the major league level, teams all recognize how much more valuable a superstar position player is than a superstar pitcher, due to the pitcher’s greater likelihood of future injury.

That’s why the biggest player contracts go overwhelmingly to position players.  According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, eight of the 10 most lucrative contracts in baseball history and 16 of the biggest 21 have gone to position players.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

by shlepcar

…

I grew up in Minnesota and as a kid attended many Twins games at the old Met in Bloomington from 1977 through 1981.

I remember clearly, and somewhat sadly, being at the game in 1980 in which Twins center fielder Ken Landreaux’s 31-game hitting streak came to an end.

I remember going to the Mall of America for the first time and seeing where home plate for the Met used to be. I’d remember the games and players I liked seeing there—Bombo Rivera, Disco Dan Ford, Rod Carew—and then looking around to see a bunch of crappy mall stores. 

The Metrodome years hold some fond memories for me because the Twins won two World Series, but the place was a drag. It felt like an empty greenhouse. There became a time in 2002, though, where I’d have been content with the Twins playing there forever. That was the year Bud Selig tried, or at least professed to intend, to contract the Twins.

I was so angry at Minnesota for a while, because they were slow to approve any ballpark measures, and worse seemed to have an undying love for the Vikings—the heartbreaking, stupid Vikings! The Twins had won two World Series, and it seemed nobody cared. Of course, that was just passionate anger stemming from fear of losing my team.

The chance of it began to seem real enough that I had to entertain the idea of a life without baseball. I enjoy the Giants because I live in San Francisco and they are a National League team that doesn’t compete with the Twins, but they wouldn’t be enough. It was then that I really developed empathy for Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants fans.

When the Twins clinched the division that year, the team celebrated in the locker room with champagne while Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” played (“Don’t worry about a thing/’cause every little thing’s gonna be all right”). It was cool to see that the players cared so much.

They felt it was a mission to win, figuring that if they did, it would be that much harder for Selig and the owners to get rid of them. That mission is one of the reasons that I will always be a Torii Hunter fan. He gave a crap.

So today, eight years after almost being contracted, I went to see my first Twins game at their new stadium, Target Field. I couldn’t tell you if the food was that great, though they did have walleye and pork chop on a stick. I couldn’t tell you how their new ballpark compares to all of the other modern ones. It isn’t better than the Giants’ park, but I doubt that many are.

It is the Twins, in downtown Minneapolis, outdoors. It’s perfect.

(My uncle from Wisconsin came with me and assured me that Miller Park is better, but he also frothed at the mouth at the mere mention of Brett Favre coming back to the Vikings, so take that with a grain of salt.)

…

Kevin Slowey wasn’t perfect against the Oakland Athletics today, but he was really good. He threw 106 pitches in seven innings, allowing five baserunners but no hits. Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Slowey got into a little trouble in the seventh, but with two runners on and one out, he got out of it when Rajai Davis hit into double play.

There was a sustained ovation at that point, as if the crowd was finally letting themselves believe that there was now a good chance that they might be witnessing a no-hitter—something that hasn’t happened for the Twins since Eric Milton pitched one against the Angels in September 1999.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Twins opened up their lead to 4-0 after Jim Thome hit his 16th home run of the season, and 580th of his career, with two on. It was a line shot to right, and it just so happened that a guy in a Thome shirt caught the ball.

With the lead expanded, the buzz definitely built in anticipation of Slowey returning to the mound, but instead, Jon Rauch headed out there to pitch the eighth. The whole stadium was pretty confused. People were angry, and there were a lot of boos. You could see everyone looking on their iPhones and Blackberries for instant answers and finding none.

Only after Rauch had allowed the no-hitter and shutout to lapse did word spread that Slowey was removed just as a precautionary measure. He’d missed his last start with tendinitis, and Ron Gardenhire wanted to keep him on a short leash.

AUGH!!

Okay, I suppose it makes sense. But I gotta admit being angry about it. I just feel like year after the year the Twins find success and then tighten up. I think not letting Slowey out there can also be seen as being symptomatic of a fear-based way of managing.

I know Gardenhire says it is the smart thing—and yes, I suppose it is—but it doesn’t make the thought it conjures invalid. The Twins have faced the Yankees in the playoffs multiple times in the past seven years and lost each time, and it seems that with each meeting, the Twins seems more and more intimidated.

That’s just mainly frustration talking. I know there is a wisdom to pitch counts and protecting pitchers, especially when the guy is already dealing with tendinitis. On the other hand, there does seem to be some undercurrent of wussiness at work when managers feel comfortable pushing pitch counts as the excuse.

There is a gap between the manager and fans that doesn’t seem to be going away, no matter how logical. Something stinks about it, and I think it is that it says to the fans that the manager, and in some cases the player, doesn’t care about winning as much as the fans do.

A no-hitter in August is of course nowhere near as important as a World Series Game Seven, but you gotta wonder if Jack Morris would ever get to pitch that 10th inning today (he ended up throwing 126 pitches).

In looking up the Morris pitch count, I found a 2009 baseball preview from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which interestingly enough focuses on the differing schools of thought on pitch counts, with Slowey being the center of the article and Bert Blyleven, who defended the decision today, making a case against the pitch count police 16-and-a-half months ago.

I do wish, though, that Gardenhire would have let him go out there. Saying that there is “no chance” Slowey would’ve finished is no reason, especially when it is Gardenhire himself who makes the decision.

Gardenhire said after the game that he thinks the fans had the right to boo. If that’s the case, then he should have let Slowey out there and then gone to remove him so that Slowey could tip his cap and Gardenhire could hear the boos, not poor Jon Rauch.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

by shlepcar

Burly is on vacation for a few weeks.  When he goes on vacation, he tends to go all out.  He’s likely in some jungle somewhere, hacking his way through very tall, razorblade-leafed undergrowth.  So, until he gets back, I’ll be sitting in for a few posts.

I’ve been a friend of Burly’s for going on 20 years now and have always turned to him for his take on all things baseball related.  I am a big Twins fan, and so I suppose I’m one of the reasons that there is so much Twins content on this site.  I am actually in Minnesota right now for the sole purpose of attending a game at the new stadium this coming Sunday, which I plan to write about. 

I know about one-tenth as much about baseball as Burly does, but hopefully if I stick with what I know, I might present a few things that will be of interest.   And blah blah blah, I’ll get on with it.

In a move that Burly dreaded, the Giants did indeed acquire Jose Guillen today for cash considerations and a player to be named later.  Guillen had been designated for assignment by the Royals after they could find no takers by the trade deadline.

After a hot June, he’d been on an 0-for-21 skid, hitting just .207 in July.  The 34-year-old is in the final year of a three-year, $36 million contract, and the Royals are on the hook for three million of the remaining $3.75 million owed to him this year.  So, the good news is that Guillen isn’t coming at too high of a price.  I know that isn’t exactly great news, but it beats a repeat of the Shea Hillenbrand deal a few years ago.

There is always a chance that Guillen could go on a Randy Winn-like tear for a few months and make Sabean seem like a genius, but until that happens, I’m not thrilled with the deal.  Bochy has already said that he plans on starting him in right field. 

That means that Huff will be the primary first baseman and Ishikawa will have to go back to proving himself again as a pinch-hitter.  Of course, it is likely that everyone in the outfield will see fewer at-bats.  The Giants have been playing pretty well lately, and Burrell has been doing really well. 

It’d be easier to damn Sabean for messing with the chemistry of a team that is beginning to gel if it weren’t for the fact that the Giants lost tonight to the first-place Padres (so, what, does Sanchez have to eat his hat?  What happens with that guarantee stuff?  I guess I’m not taking any stock tips from him).  Guillen wasn’t in uniform yet, but he will be starting tomorrow. 

I don’t like it.  I don’t like Guillen.  In the article posted by the Giants San Francisco Chronicle writers, Guillen is quoted as saying that he didn’t even want to come to San Francisco: “I talked to Sabean for an hour. (San Francisco) was not my favorite choice, but he convinced me. In the AL, I knew I’d be able to DH more, but now I’m totally healthy.” 

Great, Mr. 0-for-21 has decided to grace us with his presence.  The Giants are the 11th team to take a chance on him (Colorado signed him but he never played a game for them…smart). 

I don’t get Sabean.  Guillen is 34, he’s been linked to the Mitchell report, he’s got a reputation for hustling only when he feels like it, and when he was offered the job, he didn’t want it!  Sabean had to talk him into it!  I feel like Charlie Brown when he missed the football—“AUGH!”

I hope it works out, but I ain’t holdin’ my breath.

Eugenio Velez came off the DL—he had taken a foul ball to the face off the bat of Burrell.  As a warm welcome back, they optioned him to Fresno. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Yesterday I wrote a post about how strong the AL East is and how hard it is for a small market team like the Orioles to compete in it (although I note that the small market Rays have managed to compete quite nicely, thank you, at least for the last three seasons).  An obvious follow-up would be to look at how MLB’s other divisions have done when playing against outside teams.

The conventional wisdom is that the AL East is the strongest division in baseball by far.  Do the actual numbers back up the conventional wisdom?

Yes, they do, at least so far in 2010.  As mentioned in yesterday’s post, AL East teams have a .555 winning percentage when playing outside their division.

No other division comes close.  The next strongest division this season is the NL West, with a .525 winning percentage against outsiders.

Only a few seasons ago, the NL West had a reputation as one of MLB’s weakest divisions.  Things can change quickly if several bad teams in a division can turn it around.  The Giants and Padres have rather suddenly become strong teams in the last two seasons.

The NL East is a close third with a .519 winning percentage against non-division opponents.

What is more interesting about the NL East, however, is how evenly matched the teams are when playing within their own division.  The Braves and Phillies have the best in-division records at 21-20 and the Mets have the worst at 21-24. 

That’s parity, at least when playing within the NL East.

The weakest division in MLB this year by far is the NL Central.  It has a .434 winning percentage when playing against teams in other divisions.

The only NL Central team with an winning record outside the division is the Cardinals with a 35-29 record.  The Reds, who have made such an exciting turn-around this year, are only 30-30 when playing teams outside of the NL Central.

Here are the records and winning percentages of each division in baseball as of today (note that I have not updated the AL East’s record since yesterday) when playing non-division opponents.

AL East  188-151, .555 winning percentage

NL West  187-169, .525

NL East  182-169, .519

AL West  149-156, .489

AL Central  171-186, .479

NL Central 155-202, .434

With America’s largest metropolitan areas disproportionately located on the East or West Coasts, it should, perhaps, not be surprising that the AL Central and NL Central, comprised of mostly Mid-West teams, should be the weakest in baseball.

With the exception of the two Chicago teams and Houston, the markets in the center of the country just aren’t that big, and aren’t growing nearly as fast as metropolitan areas on the coasts or in the South and Southwest.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Looking at the MLB standings today, I couldn’t help but notice just how strong the AL East is so far this season. Even the fourth place team, the Toronto Blue Jays, are seven games above .500, and the only bad team in the division is the Orioles.

I thought it might be interesting to see what the differences are when an AL East team is playing in its division as opposed to playing teams in other divisions. 

Here are the results with in-division records first:

New York Yankees: 26-18, .591 winning percentage; 43-24, .642

Tampa Bay Rays: 27-17, .614; 41-27, .603

Boston Red Sox: 22-23, .488; 42-26, .618

Toronto Blue Jays: 25-17, .595; 34-35, .493

Baltimore Orioles:  10-35, .222; 28-39, .418

As a whole, AL East teams are 110-110 when playing each other and 188-151 (a .555 winning percentage) when playing out of division teams.

As you can see the Red Sox, Orioles and, to a lesser degree, the Yankees have all played substantially better outside of their division than within it. 

The only team to do substantially better in the AL East than outside it is the Blue Jays, and that is entirely the result of the fact the Jays are a perfect 12-0 against the Orioles.

What conclusions can we draw from this?

First, the Yankees look like the best team in the division based on their ability to win both within their division and against non-division teams.  This may mean they’ll play better in the postseason than the other AL East team that makes the playoffs.

This isn’t really news, however, since everyone expects the Yankees to perform well in their postseason, given their high-priced talent and previous postseason experience.

The Rays have played exceptionally well in their division and will need to continue to do so if they are going to make the postseason.  The Red Sox have played poorly against the rest of the AL East and will need to turn that around going forward if they want to make the postseason.

Finally, although the Orioles have the worst record in baseball, they aren’t nearly as bad as they appear to be based on their overall win-loss record.  Instead, the Orioles are taking a pounding under the new weighted schedules that force them to play the other AL East teams more often.

In fact, based on the O’s record outside their division, it seems apparent that they are probably no worse than the Mariners and substantially better than the Pirates, who play in one of this year’s weakest divisions.

The only good thing about being a small market team like the Orioles stuck in a division full of free-spending, top market teams is that the Orioles are virtually assured of receiving the first pick in the 2011 Draft. 

Let’s hope they use it wisely and some of their good, young talent from past drafts and trades begin to gel the way the Rays’ young talent has the last three seasons.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

According to this article, a fan who was injured in the face by a shattered maple bat has sued the Mets, the bat manufacturer, and players Luis Castillo (the batter) and Ramon Castro (the owner of the bat).  I’ve been waiting for this kind of a lawsuit for some time.

Every ticket to a major league game contains a disclaimer in fine print on the back that states the purchaser assumes all risk of injuries which occur during the game.  The disclaimer has effectively shielded teams from injuries caused by batted balls and broken bats in the past.

The difference here is that it has become common knowledge in MLB, if not among less sophisticated fans, that maple bats are potentially more dangerous than bats made of ash.  For example, the article linked above states that an MLB committee released a study which concluded that maple bats are three times more likely than ash bats to shatter into multiple pieces.

It’s also common knowledge to anyone who has watched the game since maple bats began coming into common use that maple bats shatter in a way that is more likely to produce sharp edges than ash bats.

I note, however, that in this case, the fan didn’t get speared by the broken bat.  Instead, the fan was struck by a section of the broken bat and had several facial bones fractured.  We’ll have to wait and see if the special facts surrounding the injuries suffered impact the outcome of the case.

As I said, MLB attempts to insulate itself from liability with its disclaimer that fans are assuming the risk of injury.  However, the laws of most states limit the ability of a manufacturer (or in this case, a service provider) to enforce such disclaimers for public policy reasons.

Specifically, most states will not allow all potential risks to be assumed by the customer no matter what the purchase contract says. 

For example, car manufacturers and dealers cannot limit themselves from liability for dangerous defects in their products, like SUVs which have a tendency to role over when making sharp turns at 45 mph, or Ford Pintos which had the unfortunate habit of having their gas tanks explode in relatively minor collisions.

Another good example would be parachute manufacturers: the product has to perform what you would expect from a parachute.  There is no way to disclaim defects which would likely result in the deaths of sky-divers.

Without getting into the law too deeply, or, in particular, analyzing New York law on the issue (the injury occurred at Shea Stadium), the case will likely boil down to whether teams are taking an unnecessary and unreasonable risk to fans’ health and bodily well-being by allowing maple bats to be used, in comparison to ash bats.

The big problem for MLB is that it has long been known that maple bats are potentially more dangerous than ash bats because of the way the maple bats tend to break compared to ash bats.  According to the article above, MLB’s own study shows as much.

The fan’s argument will be that fans expect that teams will take reasonable precautions to protect their safety, or fans wouldn’t go to the games in the first place. His attorneys will argue that it is unreasonable for teams to allow maple bats to be used when they are three times more likely to break into multiple pieces than ash bats, when teams could potentially make such injuries less likely by restricting players to ash bats.

The fan will also likely argue that the disclaimer shouldn’t be given a lot of weight because it appears in fine print and most fans never read the disclaimer anyway.  This argument has failed in bat or ball injury cases in the past, but it may come into play if the fan can prove that maple bats are inherently more dangerous to fans than ash bats.

Most likely, the case will turn on whether or not the fan can prove to the court’s or a jury’s satisfaction that the use of a maple bat made the injury more likely than if an ash bat had been used, and that additional risk created by using a maple bat was unreasonably high.

It will be interesting to see how the case plays out.  MLB has fought fan bat and ball injury lawsuits tooth and nail in the past, so I would expect the Mets to fight this lawsuit hard, if not through trial, then at least until a summary judgment motion has been denied.

In the meantime, the pending lawsuit should not serve as a reason for MLB to delay further consideration of whether maple bats should be banned. 

In most states, subsequent remedial measures designed to make a product safer or reduce the risk of future injuries is not admissible by a plaintiff injured prior to the remedial measure, for the public policy reason that manufacturers should not be discouraged from making improvements or fixing defects until all pending defect litigation has been resolved.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As I’m sure you know, today’s major league pitchers can barely hit a lick. 

The rise of the designated hitter, not only in the American League but also it’s wide-spread use in the minors and in the college game, is perhaps the biggest factor for the demise of pitchers who cannot hit. But it’s hardly the only one.

Pitchers simply don’t get as many opportunities to hit today because of the steady trend of using more and more relievers throwing more and more innings, which means starting pitchers get fewer opportunities to hit. Plus, there are more opportunities for professional hitters to be used as pinch hitters.

Also, the level of Major League play has gradually improved since the professional game started in the 1870′s, which means that pitchers who make the majors solely based on their ability to pitch have undergone a slow but steady decline as hitters by virtue of the relative improvement of pitchers and professional hitters.

Nevertheless, there are always a few pitchers in any era who can hit, and it can also be fun to see just who the worst of the worst are.

I looked at current pitchers with at least 100 career major league at-bats in order to weed out the pitchers who just hadn’t had enough at-bats for their hitting stats to mean anything one way or another. 

I found 85 pitchers currently playing with at least that many ABs. I may have missed a couple, but I think I got most of them.

The mean batting average and OPS of these 85 qualifying pitchers are approximately .135 and .340.  That’s really pretty terrible, and it shows you just how hard it is even for professional athletes who have played baseball all their lives to hit major league pitching if the players have not been selected for the major leagues based their ability to hit.

A few pitchers can swing the stick a little bit, though. Here is my non-scientific list of the five best hitting pitchers currently playing:

1.  Micah Owings

Micah Owings is far and away the best hitting pitcher in baseball (at least if you exclude Rick Ankiel, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2004). 

After 184 major league ABs, Owings has a .293 batting average and an .861 OPS. That’s better than a lot of corner outfielders playing regularly at this level.

In fact, it plainly appears the Arizona Diamondbacks made a terrible mistake when, after drafting Owings in the third Round of the 2005, they decided to develop him solely as a pitcher.

Owings turns 28 in late September, and it is pretty much obvious he will never develop into a good major league pitcher.  He has a career 5.11 ERA and was recently demoted by the Reds to their AAA team.  With all the young pitchers the Reds have in the pipeline, Owings’ career as a pitcher is in some jeopardy.

At this point in his career, Owings should give serious consideration to either becoming a position player or at least playing enough in the field at AAA to become another Brooks Kieschnick, who had a couple of solid seasons for the Brewers in 2003 and 2004 as a relief pitcher and regular pinch hitter.

2.  Carlos Zambrano

He may have fallen off as a pitcher this year, and he may be hard to put up with in the clubhouse.  But at least Zambrano can swing the ash.

Zambrano has a career .236 batting average with a .632 OPS.

He is an all-or-nothing hitter. He has only six walks to go with 209 strikeouts in 585 major league at-bats, but he has hit an impressive 20 HRs and 47 extra base hits. 

He’s scored 61 runs and driven in another 61 in his career.  That’s better than a lot of middle infielders given 585 at-bats.

3.  Dontrelle Willis

One of the things I loved about Willis was his ability to hit.  Even though he’s also now pitched his way out of the majors, he still owns a career .232 batting average and a .634 OPS.

Willis doesn’t quite have Zambrano’s raw power, but he’s much more willing to take a walk (22 in 358 career ABs). I ranked Zambrano higher only because he has put up his numbers in considerably more ABs.

I wonder what is more discouraging to a pitcher: Walking the opposing pitcher or giving up an extra base hit. Even though the latter would seem to have more value, the pitcher on the hill can better rationalize it—the batter got lucky, he’s a good-hitting pitcher, etc. 

Everyone on defense slumps their shoulders when the pitcher walks his doppelganger.

4.  Yovani Gallardo

The Brewers young ace is another pitcher with pop at the plate.

His career .207 batting average isn’t particularly impressive, but his .661 OPS is (at least for a pitcher).  With eight HRs and eight doubles in 150 career AB’s, he’s someone opposing pitchers have to be careful with, particularly with men on base.

Gallardo already has four HRs this year in only 43 ABs.  Since the Brewers will probably hold on to him at least until he gets close to free agency, he’ll have plenty more opportunities to show if his hitting so far is for real.

5.  Adam Wainwright

The Cardinals’ ace knows how to help his own cause.  He’s got a .230 career batting average and a solid .608 OPS.

With his relatively high batting average, Wainwright is exactly the kind of pitcher you don’t want to walk the No. 8 hitter to get to with men on base.

Honorable Mention

CC Sabathia

Sabathia doesn’t quite make the list, because after playing almost his entire career in the American League he has only 97 ABs in ten major league seasons.

Nonetheless, he has hit .258 with a .647 OPS in those 97 ABs.  Some guys are just ballplayers pure and simple.

Other pitchers who can hit a little include: Dan Haren (.226 batting average, .580 OPS), Livan Hernandez (.223, .532), Darren Oliver (.221, .545), Russ Ortiz (.202, .549), Jason Marquis (.202, .519), Jeff Weaver (.208, .480), Javier Vasquez (.206, .486), Manny Parra (.195, .532), and Randy Wolf (.188, .500).

As you can see, there aren’t a lot of pitchers who can hit in today’s game.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The younger brother of San Francisco Giants outfielder Nate Schierholtz was arrested today for a drunken driving rampage in their hometown of Danville, California.

23 year old Cainan Schierholtz was driving a big red pick-up truck when he first struck a bicyclist, then hit a pedestrian standing a in a bicycle lane, then hit not one, but two parked cars and finally came to a halt only when he struck a light pole and two other pick-up truck drivers boxed him in so he couldn’t get away.

Cainan reportedly reeked of alcohol and was nearly incoherent when the police arrested him around 10:00 a.m. this past Sunday morning, and the authorities have tested him to see if he had any other substances in his system.

I’m obviously reminded of the conviction of Dustin Pedroia’s older brother Brett, who pleaded guilty last year to having oral sex with the nine year old son of the woman with whom Brett had been abusing methamphetamine.

Amazingly, Brett Pedroia was sentence to only one year in the county jail and eight years of probation for what is obviously a heinous and unjustifiable crime no matter how badly you’re tweaking. Apparently, the crime had been committed four years earlier, and in the interim Brett had made substantial progress toward beating his addictions and turning his life around.

But even though incidents like these, in spite of their incredible sordidness, are only really news because the acts were committed by siblings of the wealthy and famous. It is tremendously unfair to tar Nate Schierholtz and Dustin Pedroia with the stains of their brothers’ conduct.

At the same time, it is news. The American public loves to hear stories about the mighty falling, or in these cases, the relatives of the mighty falling.

At the same time, there is some real value to these stories entirely distinct from the cheap sensationalism and schadenfreude they provide the public.  For example, it’s good to remind people that drug and alcohol abuse can effect anyone regardless of income or social class and that drugs and alcohol can lead people to do really f***ed up stuff.

There’s also a value in the public seeing that even the wealthy and powerful will have to suffer the consequences (including the negative publicity) when they do something really reprehensible.  I often suspect that it’s only the fear of being caught and the consequences that keeps a lot of us on the more or less straight and narrow.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s harsh to beat up on a player just after he gets hurt, but after watching the video of the big collision in today’s Indians-Red Sox game, I just don’t feel as much sympathy for Santana as perhaps I should.

Santana is a great young player, and I hope the injury isn’t too serious and he recovers quickly.  That said, the injury is entirely his own fault.

Baseball rules don’t allow a fielder to block or impede a base runner unless the fielder has possession of the ball.  Yet, catchers routinely block the plate without the ball.

The umpires don’t enforce the actual rules here for the same reason the NHL will never completely crack down on fighting, the NFL will never crack down on concussion-causing big hits, and the NBA referees will always allow a lot more contact during the playoffs: the fans enjoy collisions at home plate.  They’re violent, exciting, and full of drama.

The video shows exactly what Santana did wrong and why he got hurt.  He’s attempting to block the plate too far up the line and his stance is too wide.  The  proper method for a catcher to block the plate is with the left foot right on the edge of home plate with the body in a relatively upright position, so that a base runner coming down the line full-speed isn’t going to blow out the catcher’s knee if he comes in hard.

If the throw is up the line, as this throw was, a catcher simply has to try a swipe tag, because in order to prevent the base runner  from just running around the catcher, the catcher has to take too wide a stance.  Then the runner is forced to go through the catcher’s knee to get the plate.  Getting to home plate by any means necessary is part of every base runner’s job description, so the results are entirely predictable.

Carlos made a rookie mistake, and it’s one he’ll never make again.  Let’s hope he isn’t so badly hurt that it ruins his career.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com