I just got a new book!
I'm a long-time supporter of Baseball-Reference and this was a gift sent to all of us by founder Sean Forman. B-R now includes Negro League stats and treats them as equivalent to MLB stats. Oscar Charleston, for example, is now listed among the all-time leaders in slugging percentage, just a tick above Jimmie Foxx and Barry Bonds!
I'll let you know my thoughts when I finish reading.
--M.C.
p.s. You can get the book in paper at the SABR website or as an e-book.
David Laurilia of FanGraphs writes a "Sunday Notes" column that is the best thing on that site. If you need good stuff to read about baseball you should check out his weekend posts. Last week he took a quick look at Buster Posey. We won't get to see Buster play ball again but we can certainly re-visit his career accomplishments. What fortunate fans we were to see him play! Laurilia's January 9th article is titled "Is Buster Posey One of the Best Catchers in MLB History?" and I recommend that you read it. It's short. Laurilia makes his points without a lot of B.S.
--M.C.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-is-buster-posey-one-of-the-best-catchers-in-mlb-history/
If a graph can be said to explain the current impasse between the players and the owners it would be this one. The owners figured out that paying older players (especially those past the age of 30) wasn't worth it. The best thing to do is underpay younger players when they are at their peak. The owners underpay younger players by maintaining the vestiges of the reserve clause. Younger players are "owned" by the team and the best they can do, salary-wise, is via the arbitration process. When they become free agents their best seasons are behind them. The players obviously want to change that system. They want to get to free agency sooner. They are right, of course, just a little late in their thinking. They got schooled by the owners during the last two rounds of CBA negotiations and now they are well behind where they ought to be.
The solution is obvious: make all players free agents from the beginning. Get rid of the draft, arbitration, and the rest of the nonsense surrounding the reserve clause.
I don't expect much progress. The owners will be reluctant to give the players anything. The players might get a few bones thrown their way, and they'll sign a deal that's superficially better than what they have now, but there won't be fundamental changes to the way MLB is run. Then we'll do this all over again in a few years.
Meanwhile, have a great holiday season. Merry Christmas!
--M.C.
The Giants are cornering the market on four-letter pitchers. Veteran righty Alex Cobb joins the team on a two-year deal in the $20M range. Alex Wood is supposedly returning but that deal has not yet been made official. The rotation of Webb, Wood, and Cobb has an alliterative, Anglo-Saxon meter to it so it's a good thing Anthony DeScalfani is there to broaden the poetic possibilities.
Cobb's forte is limiting walks and getting ground balls. Those two things fit well with the Giants pitching philosophy. Last year he upped his swinging strike and strikeout rates to the best marks of his career. That's a good trend line to be on!
--M.C.
update: the Wood signing is now official, two years, $25M
The Giants have re-signed Anthony DeSclafani. It's a three-year deal for $36M. Sounds good to me! They are supposed to be close to a deal with Alex Wood, too. MLBTR says they are also interested in Alex Cobb. He's a 34-year old righty who came up with Tampa Bay and most recently pitched in Anaheim. He's thrown 174 games across ten seasons, all as a starter, racking up over 1000 IP with a 3.87 ERA (3.94 FIP).
The Giants also traded Jay Jackson to the Braves for cash or a PTBNL. They had to make room for some Rule V guys. And speaking of clearing space on the 40-man, Alex Dickerson was DFAd.
Buster won Comeback Player of the Year for the NL.
I think the Giants need to go all-in on Seiya Suzuki.
--M.C.
Brandon Crawford finished fourth in the voting, behind winner Bryce Harper and runners-up Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis, Jr. I thought you might like to see the voting breakdown:
Crawford was named on all 30 ballots. Andrew Baggarly (on The Athletic) wrote a piece breaking down his vote. He put BCraw #1 and is responsible for the lone vote for LaMonte Wade, Jr.*
If you enjoy debating the merits of the MVP this was a good year in the National League. There were a lot of deserving players. I think we'd all agree that BCraw was the MVP of the Giants. (And the Giants were the best team!) I'm glad he was named by all the writers, I think that says a lot about his impact. I don't really care so much who wins as it is too hard to separate individuals and teams and too hard to define "value" in the context of an entire season. I think Baggs was making a point: context matters. You don't just pick the guy with the best stats, you pick the guy who (in your view) made the biggest difference for his team. He also felt BCraw's fielding was under-valued, and I can't argue with that. And I can't argue with his ballot:
Shohei Ohtani was such an obvious choice in the AL and he won unanimously. Only the NL decision provided any barstool-argument fodder.
Congratulations to Brandon Crawford on an outstanding season!
--M.C.
*p.s. FanGraphs has a stat called WPA (win probability added) and Wade finished 11th in MLB and 6th in the NL. That was with only 381 PA. He sure got a lot of clutch hits!!
To no one's surprise Gabe Kapler was named NL Manager of the Year. He got 28 of the 30 first-place votes. He deserved it. The Giants were the most actively-managed team in MLB and they far exceeded all pre-season expectations. They won 107 games and captured the NL West flag on the final day, denying the Dodgers who were expected to run away with the division.
Congrats to Kap!
--M.C.
