Kuzul

The San Francisco Giants have been the 2010 World Series Champions for about a week now, which means Tim Lincecum and his buddies are probably just now fully appreciating what they’ve done for the city.

However, as the champagne from San Francisco’s first baseball title goes flat and the last scraps of confetti get washed away by November rains, greedy Bay Area eyes are already turning toward 2011 and beyond.

The rosier lenses in the region see a lot more winning down the road.

With the young rotation bristling with talent and forged by postseason experience, Buster Posey behind the dish, and a budget that can/should expand efficiently, there is plenty about which to be excited if you follow baseball on the shores of the San Francisco Bay.

Yet any discussion about los Gigantes that involves a look to the future inevitably comes back to Lincecum, his slight build, and his importance to the team. The (sound) logic is that the horizon gets considerably grayer if the Franchise isn’t taking the pearl every fifth day and his skeptics are perpetually predicting the first muscle strain or bulging disc that will announce the beginning of the end.

For Timmy and for the Giants.

But those skeptics haven’t been paying attention.

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This is a feature I’d like to start here on the blog. I not only want to use this blog for commentary, but also as a place where sports fans can learn.

Part of that learning will be history lessons—telling stories about events that shaped sports and the people that made them what they are today. But it also involves knowing the terminology, and some of the most complicated of those are statistics.

This section will help you understand what someone means when they throw out some seemingly random acronym.

WHIP stands for Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched. It is a simple sabermetric statistic that is used to show how effective a pitcher is at keeping the opposing team off the basepaths. It is measured by adding the number of hits and walks and then dividing that total by the number of innings pitched.

Naturally, the lower this number is, the better the pitcher should be at keeping the bases empty—and after all, if the other team can’t reach base, they can’t score runs.

The statistic was probably invented by the man who is credited with inventing fantasy baseball: Dan Okrent. Okrent, who designed the game as a way to have fun with friends, created the statistic by using the Strat-O-Matic baseball game and a newspaper. The statistic was originally called IPRAT (Innings Pitched Ratio) and was later renamed WHIP.

Okrent developed the statistic in 1980, and it didn’t take long for the stat to become integrated as a useful tool for fans and baseball professionals alike.

The stat, however, is not without its flaws. In the Wall Street Journal article that credits Okrent for creating the statistic, the Director of Baseball Operations for the Tampa Bay Rays, Dan Feinstein, notes the team ignores the statistic when evaluating players. He gives the following explanation in the article for the organization’s decision:

“Once a ball is hit, the pitcher has no control over the outcome of the play, with the exception of the home run,” Mr. Feinstein explains. “There are too many factors that determine whether or not that ball will be a hit, including ballpark size and dimension, positioning of the defense and ability of his defenders.”

That said, WHIP is one of the more widely accepted sabermetrics in baseball. While there will never be one single, flawless statistic in sports, in context, there are many useful pieces of data. It is up to us, as humans, to properly apply each statistic properly.

I’ll wrap up this post with a list of the leaders in this statistic. Please note that for single-season data, a minimum of one inning pitched per game is required. For career data, a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched is required.

Lowest Single-Season WHIP: 0.7373, Pedro Martinez (2000)
Lowest Career WHIP: 0.9678, Addie Joss (1902-1910)
Lowest Career WHIP (Active): 1.0035, Mariano Rivera (1995-present)

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

“Six-and-a-half games back and not playing very well in a season we thought we ought to be in contention.  I think we were losing ground with the field,” Ranger managing general partner George W. Bush said in June of 1992 upon firing his manager.

The manager?  None other than Bobby Valentine, a baseball man with nearly four decades of baseball experience sorely needed in the dullard Seattle Mariner organization, made famous for its uncanny ability to create 100-loss seasons regardless of the payroll or who is running it.  Valentine has the personality horsepower needed to confront a dogmatic front office that Mariner fans are ready to run out of town amidst a mob of ropes and flaming torches.

The Texas Rangers were 46-41 at the time of the firing, and were in third place in the division, 5.5 behind first-place Minnesota in the days of dual divisions in each league.   Valentine then in his 25th baseball season at the age of 41, his eighth with the Rangers,  he had been the third-longest tenured manager in the major leagues behind only baseball icons Tommy Lasorda of the Dodgers and Sparky Anderson of the Detroit Tigers.  Bobby Valentine had been the youngest manager in the major leagues when offered the job on May 16, 1985.  A former Dodger, he had long been a favorite of Lasorda and once was thought to be his heir apparent as manager of the Dodgers.  

Almost a decade later on a different team, Valentine was again fired, but this time following a tumultuous and controversial summer of 2002 in New York.  The Mets finished with a 75-86 record in spite of their $102 million payroll, in last place in the NL East for the first time since 1993 and below .500 for the first time in six years.  It had been a mere two years after Valentine had led them to the first Subway Series in four decades.

Many felt Valentine had taken the fall for then knucklehead general-manager Steve Phillips.  Valentine left with an overall record of 536-467, reaching the playoffs in 1999 and 2000.  But in late-season 2002 came one of the worst months in team history with a 12-game losing streak where the Mets didn’t win a game at Shea Stadium in August, during a NL-record 15-game home losing streak.

Earlier that summer Mets part owner Fred Wilpon issued several dreaded “votes of confidence,” but by mid September was fed up with underperforming players, seven of whom Newsweek magazine had claimed were caught smoking marijuana and goofing off.  “The team just did not respond to the manager,” Wilpon explained at a packed news conference after the fact.  “Whatever grip Bobby had on the team was gone by the end of the season.”

Sports pundits ripped the move.  Ian O’Conner of USA Today wrote a scathing column insisting the Mets had fired the wrong guy, and that the Mets “should’ve fired his loser of a general manager, Steve Phillips.”  Phillips had embarrassed Valentine by refusing to allow him to attend the winter meetings and embarrassed the franchise with rumors of an extramarital affair with a subordinate.”

Valentine himself said, “I told Fred that that he had to give the next manager authority in the clubhouse and on the field, that he had to get Steve off the field and out of the clubhouse.  You can’t let a GM high-five guys and joke around after a win and then after a loss act like it’s the end of the world. Get him out of there for the sake of the next guy.”

Sobering words for Mariner fans, given that current Mariners manager Jack Zduriencik spent a large part of July and August this past summer hobnobbing in the dugout with Mariner icons while “evaluating” soon-to-be fired manager Don Wakamatsu, claiming that Wak too had “lost control of the team.”   

Mariner fans responded in ways not seen before.  Fed up with a perceived meddling by an incompetent front office, radio talk shows and newspaper comments were bombarded with scathing rebukes of long-time Mariner management figures Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln.  Fans weren’t buying management’s latest line about “needing change, ” considering the next hire will be the team’s seventh manager since Lou Pinella left in 2002.

If this franchise was a horse, it would have been shot two decades ago.

The Seattle Mariners are in dire need of a manager like the only successful manager in team history: Lou Pinella.  Unlike his predecessors, Pinella routinely had shouting matches with owners who felt they knew baseball better than he did.  Pinella had no problem getting in the face of decision-makers and publicly scolding them for failed or non-existent moves.  Valentine is a guy who shares this trait.

Whatever the real story in the clubhouse as Mets manager, off the field Valentine had been a force for compassion following the unsettling attacks at 9/11.  People close to the manager felt his unyielding commitment to the families of victims put things in perspective for Valentine, and perhaps made sports far less important.  Gone was the focus, some claimed, which led to apathy towards superstar tantrums during his last season in New York.

He has held various jobs in baseball other than his managing stints.  Following his departure from Texas, early in January 1993 Valentine was hired by the Cincinnati Reds to be an advance scout that included consulting player personnel and watching talent on other teams during spring training. 

Also spending part of the last decade in Japan managing the Chiba Lotte Marines, Valentine was soon headed back to the United States for reasons other than on-the-field success.  Making somewhere around $3.9 million a year, he priced himself out of the market and was told by Marines management that the club would not be able to afford him after the 2009 season, regardless of how many games his team wins.  Thus he returned to commentating on ESPN this past season.

Valentine’s players may have been chided for misbehaving, but he too has been known to be part of on-field mishaps and mayhem.  In December of 1998 he admitted he made a “bad guess” when he speculated why Todd Hundley blamed him for being replaced by Mike Piazza.  Hundley felt Valentine had it in for him, but Valentine blew it off saying, “It’s an Italian thing.  He thinks that I would do something because he’s not Italian or because I am Italian.  I think that’s ridiculous.”

And then who can forget the infamous if not somewhat humorous two-game ban and $5,000 fine in June of 1999?  While Met manager, Valentine returned to the dugout during a game versus Toronto donning a fake mustache and glasses after being ejected from a game against the Blue Jays.

He might need that humor if hired in Seattle, since this is only one of three organizations that have never played in a World Series.  But clearly Valentine would hold the most baseball experience of anyone in the organization.  On a team in Seattle with cranky fans still living in memories of the past, hiring Bobby Valentine should be a no-brainer.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As baseball fans know the Omar Minaya era has came to an end in New York after six years.  Though the Mets had one of the highest payrolls when Minaya was in office the team never really established themselves other than in 2006. 

As a Mets fan, I must say Omar did bring us some good times but he definitely brought us some bad times.  Minaya brought in the likes of Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran but on the other end he also brought in the likes of Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez. 

So let’s all take a look at the Minaya era in New York—the good, the bad and the ugly.

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Three of this year’s division series seem all but over. 

The Yankees, Phillies, and Rangers lead their best of five division series by two games to none.  Only a late inning rally by the Atlanta Braves prevented all four baseball series from being two games to none affairs and feeling all but over.

Baseball has been playing five game series since 1969.  In that year baseball added four new teams and expanded each league to two divisions. 

From 1969 to 1984 the winners of the Eastern and Western divisions in each league faced of against each other in a five game set to determine who would go to the World Series.

Starting in 1985, baseball changed the five-game format of the league championship to the current best-of-seven.

When the Wild Card was introduced in 1994 and four teams from each league began to make the playoffs, baseball again used the five-game series to determine the two winners in the divisional round. 

In all there have exactly 100 best-of-five playoff series in baseball since 1969.  In seven of them, a team has trailed two games to none and come back to win the series.

This slide show is a look at the seven ball clubs who accomplished the feat. 

For those in Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Tampa Bay, this is a reminder that there is still hope. 

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With one of the most exciting times of the baseball season, the trading deadline, behind us, the contenders should begin to take shape within the next month as we move closer to October baseball.

With so much talk of trades the past several weeks, I decided to look back and name what I feel is the best trade, be it deadline, off-season, or otherwise, in the history of each MLB team.

Some decisions were certainly easier than others, with moves like the Lou Brock and Jeff Bagwell trades a no-brainer. However, for other team’s it was much harder to settle on a best trade. And I will allow you to start thinking now, but a great Dodgers trade is nowhere to be found.

So with that, here are what I feel are the best trades in the history of each MLB team. I hope that this will spark some lively debate, and I encourage you to chime in with any great trade I may have excluded.

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Andre Dawson’s induction into the Hall of Fame on Sunday will mark just the second time Cooperstown will honor the legacy of the Montreal Expos.

For a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the best organization in baseball resided north of the border; where Dawson, fellow Hall of Famer Gary Carter, Steve Rogers, Tim Raines and Warren Cromartie were the vanguard of a team that sprouted prospects and fielded competitive teams that spent many a September in the heart of the National League East pennant chase.

While the team fell a game short of the World Series in 1981, Montreal’s greatest team was the 1994 edition that bolted out to a 74-40 record before the strike delivered what would prove to be the death knell to the franchise’s existence in Canada.

Currently disguised as the Washington Nationals and featuring several players (Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman) who may one day merit Cooperstown consideration, the club’s heart will always belong in Montreal, which is why we take the time to salute the 25 greatest players who donned the blue, red and white from 1969-2004.

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What’s wrong with baseball today?

In 2010, our best hitter, Albert Pujols, is a hardworking, wholesome Christian. The best pitcher? Some say it’s the soft-speaking Rockie who lives with his parents, Ubaldo Jimenez. Others say it’s the humble, consistent Philly, Roy Halladay.

Rewind the clock ten years, back to 2000.

The best hitter? A juiced-up, muscle-bound, record-breaking freak who punished teammates or reporters who got too close. The best pitcher? A jheri-curled 12-year old trapped in a 28-year old’s body, putting up one of the greatest pitching seasons ever.

The colorful hues of our national pastime are quickly fading into the background of America’s football obsession.

Some people might ask if this is really a problem, or just a change in the dynamic of baseball.

For the last three seasons, attendance in Major League Baseball has been down. Many have blamed the economy, but economics are not the only factor lowering interest in baseball.

Poor teams, such as the Royals and Padres, have been unable to draw crowds, even with newly renovated parks.

Back in the 1980’s, crowds would turn out in droves to see competitive Royals and Blue Jays teams, who had characters like George Brett and George Bell. That decade, Kansas City was fifth in overall attendance. Toronto placed seventh, despite only making the playoffs twice.

When you’ve got players who charge the field over an overturned home run or MVPs who tell the media that fans can “kiss their purple butt,” people are going to come out to the stadium to see your team.

But nowadays, teams like Kansas City and Toronto have fallen on hard times. Only three teams had larger drops in attendance since last year.

For the Royals, whose best players are a socially anxious Cy Young winner and a quiet slugger who’s one of only five players to ever hit at least 20 HR and 50 doubles in a season by age 24, it hasn’t been for lack of talent.

Attendance around baseball is down across the board. Almost two-thirds of teams experienced attendance drops. Can you name some current characters similar to the likes of Bonds or Martinez or Canseco or Wendell? Ozzie Guillen? Milton Bradley? An aging Manny Ramirez? Sure, but there’s not nearly the comical menagerie of clowns that we saw from the 1980’s and 90’s and even into the early part of last decade.

At the end of the season, we may have to say goodbye to a few of baseball’s great characters in fiery managers Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox. Even free agent Pedro Martinez could have thrown his last pitch in the major leagues. Once Manny Ramirez is gone, well have little reason to laugh at a baseball game.

So is baseball becoming less entertaining?

Some might say so. Baseball has been called “boring” and “dull” by those who prefer the quick pace and loud-mouthed players of football or basketball. And it’s my biggest fear that if baseball doesn’t get some personality back into the game, ther interest of the casual fan will fizzle out.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Two pitchers with heavily decorated resumes.

The first, CC Sabathia, has more of a track record and is completing his 10th full season in the Majors.

The second, Tim Lincecum, affectionately known as “The Freak,” is in his fourth season, and has two Cy Young Awards.

However, both are known as workhorses, the proverbial baseball term that gives revered status to those pitchers who miss very few starts to injury and normally throw 200-plus innings per season.

Based upon their sizes, both Sabathia and Lincecum are on the opposite ends of the spectrum of pitchers you would consider workhorses.

CC is a hulky 6’7″ 290-pound behemoth, while Lincecum stands 5’11” and 170 pounds. Yes, even though Tiny Tim appears more slight, he is listed at 170.

Both have thrown a lot of innings in their careers. Sabathia has averaged 31 starts and 210 innings during his first nine full seasons, while Lincecum has averaged 32 starts and 226 innings in his only two full seasons.

In today’s game, those are huge amounts of innings…but somewhere Steve Carlton is laughing.

Both pitchers are headed for similar (if not higher) numbers this year. CC has made 20 starts and Lincecum 19, with both having double-digit wins once again.

Interestingly enough, Sabathia is the only active MLB pitcher who has double-digit wins and a winning record in each season of his career.

But with the similarities between the two pitchers (team workhorse aces) and their differences (body type), which hurler is the more likely pitcher to eventually break down?

I don’t think either one will break down anytime soon. Both have pretty good pitching mechanics. Their arm actions are great, putting less stress on their elbows and shoulders.

But history does provide a glimpse of those types of pitchers who have long careers, and they are not usually the slight of build guys.

There have been 70 pitchers in baseball history who have thrown 3500-plus innings. The leader, of course, is Cy Young, with a ridiculous 7,356 innings. It doesn’t matter what era you are pitching in, that is a preposterous amount of innings.

So, of all these 70 pitchers, only eight are of the recent era. They are Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer, Dennis Martinez, Jack Morris, and Mike Mussina.

All of the other 62 pitchers played the bulk of their careers before the 1980s.

Almost all of these 70 pitchers were six feet tall or bigger. Ten were under six feet tall, and all but one played before the 20th century, when pitchers threw with less velocity but more often during a season.

The only pitcher under six feet tall who pitched in the modern era was Whitey Ford, who tipped the scales at a robust 5’10”, 178 pounds.

But Ford was a soft-tossing left-handed pitcher who would pepper the corners with moderate fastballs, change ups, and cut pitches (literally). Similar to Glavine, minus the cut balls.

There are not many smallish built pitchers who throw many innings, especially hard-throwing slight of build pitchers like Lincecum. Even Pedro Martinez and his lengthy career, has thrown only 2,827 innings, and he is similar in size to Lincecum with the same velocity.

Martinez, who had tremendous pitching mechanics, ended up having rotator cuff surgery in 2006. His rotator cuff issues began back in 2001 (at age 29) when he missed a good chunk of that year to the injured shoulder.

Lincecum is now 26 years old, but at the same age, Pedro had thrown about 300 more innings than Lincecum will throw this season.  

Sabathia, as of this writing, has thrown 2,027 innings. That is good for 404th place all time. At his current rate, CC will move into the 360th-place range.

He has a workhorse frame, and even with the seven postseason series (and 61 more innings), Sabathia looks as strong as the day he broke into the Majors.

With his slight build, Lincecum should not compile as long a Major League career as Sabathia. He may not break down for major arm surgery like Pedro, but I would not bet against it.

History shows us smaller guys do not last as long or throw as many innings as bigger guys.

But both smaller and bigger guys end up getting surgery. That is the nature of the beast with pitchers.

They say pitchers’ careers are made with their legs, and the arms are just along for the ride. When the legs get tired, the arm gets tired, and that is when injuries occur.

That is why a Major League pitcher who is throwing around 120 pitches can still throw more if his legs are strong, but a guy can be wiped out after 90 if his legs are weak.

From the looks of both pitchers, it appears Sabathia’s legs have a bunch more strength than Lincecum’s.

For that reason, his size, and the longer history of sustained work with no ill effects, I believe CC Sabathia will have the longer career, logging many more innings than “The Freak.”

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Hey guys, and welcome to today’s rumor mill for Major League Baseball!

We’ll be discussing some pretty good rumors around the MLB, so you may want to stick around to catch the excitement.

Will Cliff Lee be traded back to his old team, the Philadelphia Phillies?

Will Pedro Martinez join him? Or will he go to a different team?

All of these rumors and a lot more on today’s MLB Rumor Mill!

So check out the rumors.

Hope you enjoy them.

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