Lest we think that personnel decisions have been taken over completely by objective analysis, consider the case of Darren O’Day.

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The Cardinals have one of the richest histories in baseball, right?

They’ve won more modern pennants and World Series titles than any other NL team, right? (18, 11)

They’re the only team ever to win 105+ games for three straight years, right? (1942-44)

So isn’t it a shock … Continue reading →

 Jerry Lynch passed away recently. Lynch was an outfielder for the Pirates and Reds in the 1950s and 60s. He also caught a few games (and did so without a passed ball or error).

But, Lynch is remembered mostly for his prowess as a pinch-hitter. After the jump, I’ll look a bit more into how Lynch ranks among the game’s premier pinch-hitters.

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The Angels faced Jim Kaat as a starter 57 times, more times than they have faced any other starting pitcher.  That does seem like a lot, being more than a third of a full season worth of games and 0.7% of all the regular season games the Angels franchise has ever played.  But how does it compare to the number of starts accumulated by the most frequent starting pitcher opponent for other franchises?  The answer after the jump. Continue reading →

I’ve been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research for about two years now, a baseball blogger for about three, and among the many things I’ve learned, certain topics raise the ire of fellow baseball researchers. Jack Morris’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Over-reliance on traditional counting stats like wins or batting average. Runs batted in.

I don’t know when the first attacks began on the RBI, a counting stat that dates to the late 19th century, though I get where some of the criticisms come from. It’s easier to drive in runs on teams that score a lot of them in good offensive eras. It’s one reason Hank Aaron had 86 RBIs and a 153 OPS+ on the 1968 Braves while Dante Bichette had 133 RBIs and a 102 OPS+ on the 1999 Rockies. By no advanced measure did Bichette have the superior season, he just was in the right place at the right time. The stat converter on Baseball-Reference.com suggests that if Aaron had played on the ’99 Rockies, he’d have had 43 home runs, 157 RBIs, and a .370 batting average.

But, as it is with Morris or sub-replacement level WAR players who manage to hit .320 (George Sisler in 1929 and Bob Dillinger in 1949, by the way), I think some of the criticisms with RBIs are unfounded. It may not be as important a stat as its proponents suggest, but it’s also not altogether meaningless or a complete fluke to drive in a run.

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Justin Masterson put his team in a 7-run hole Tuesday by allowing 8 runs in 3.2 IP. But after Seattle knocked him out with 6 runs in the bottom of the 4th, Cleveland answered with 7 in their next time up, and went on to claim their 4th straight win, 9-8.

How rare is it to overcome such a disastrous start as Masterson had? Find out after the jump.

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There are a lot of awful things to say about Mark Melancon’s performance yesterday, but this might be the worst.

Al Veigel www.baseball-reference.com

Al Veigel passed away a week or so ago. You probably haven’t heard of Al – his big league career lasted all of two games. But Veigel’s passing has significance not only for his family, but also for aficionados of baseball history.

Why is that? The answer is after the jump.

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PRESSWIRE

Miguel Cabrera turns 29 years old today.

It’s hard to believe that he’s so young, given that he’s already had 8 seasons where he’s qualified for the batting title with an OPS+ of at least 129.

Check out who has the most such seasons through their Age 28 season:

These guys all started in the majors at a young age and not a single one of them flamed out early. In fact, as you probably noticed, every player on that list who is eligible for the Hall of Fame is in the Hall of Fame, and it would seem that Griffey, Pujols, and A-Rod are pretty much locks already.

I have no doubt that if we look at raw numbers, Cabrera will rank toward the top in homers and RBI thanks to the era in which he has played. It would be fun, though, to project how Cabrera will end up. Continue reading →