Category MLB

2009 AL All Star Starters

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

With just a couple days left for fans to vote for the starters of the 2009 MLB All Star Game, it’s time to look at which players deserve that honor. First up, the American League:

Catcher: Joe Mauer

This one is easy. Mauer leads all American League catchers in Batting Average, Home Runs, RBI, Runs, Hits, On-Base-Percentage, and Slugging Percentage. He’s made just one error on the season and has thrown out 9 of 26 batters who have tried to steal against him. The one negative for Mauer is that he missed the first month of the season with an injury. That just makes Mauer’s stats all that more remarkable as he leads all AL catchers in all those categories despite many fewer at-bats.

First Base: Justin Morneau

One of the tougher choices in the AL, First Base has many deserving players. Kevin Youkilis leads the league in OBP, 38 points higher than Russell Branyan who is in second place, but has just 12 home runs and 42 RBI on the year. Carlos Pena leads with 23 home runs, but sports just a .238 avergae. Mark Teixeira has 20 homers and 60 RBI, but just a .276 average. Only Justin Morneau is complete in all the stats with 18 home runs, 63 RBI (most amongst first basemen), and a .309 Batting Average. His .389 OBP is 5th between AL first baseman and his .960 OPS is 4th. He has made just one error this season and has the second highest Zone Rating amongst AL first basemen. Continue reading “2009 AL All Star Starters” →

Manny Shouldn’t Be Allowed A Rehab Stint

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

manny rehabManny Ramirez is in the midst of a 50-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy. He can return to the Dodgers on July 3rd when his suspension is done. In the meantime, Manny has been working out and keeping in shape for his return. However, he is now planning on going to Los Angeles’s Triple-A club Albuquerque to play some ball there before returning to the Dodgers’ lineup. How is this fair??

Ramirez is suspended from Major League Baseball. but he can go play in the minors? This makes no sense to me. Manny is suspended from the majors. He shouldn’t be allowed to play. Period. There isn’t any wiggle room there yet mysteriously, he can go play at Triple-A all he wants. That’s not a suspension from baseball. It’s a suspension from MLB. Why didn’t he just spend the whole 50 games down there, playing regular baseball and keeping himself in peak condition? He could have broken every Triple-A record, come back to Dodgers fresh, and have missed nothing. He’d be completely in rhythm.

This rule needs to be fixed immediately. A suspended player is suspended from professional baseball. He can’t go rehab and get himself ready to play. It doesn’t work like that. Manny should have had to work his way back AFTER the suspension ended. It’s common sense yet MLB managed to screw it up. Well done, Bud Selig. Continue reading “Manny Shouldn’t Be Allowed A Rehab Stint” →

Designing A New Baseball Stadium

Danny Vinik 2 Comments

With the recent opening of Citi Field and New Yankee Stadium, I began thinking about what is necessary to build a great baseball stadium. I’m not talking about big concourses or large aisles. I’m talking about what will give my team the ultimate home field advantage. Baseball is amazing in that the field you play on is different from every other field in baseball. There are no standard regulations like every other sport. No football, hockey, or basketball team can make their field, rink, or court a different shape or size. Baseball teams have the freedom to do that and yet many decide not to do so. Let’s take a look at the best ways to design a stadium for the greatest home field advantage.

  1. The Field Shape. Make one field very short so that you can stack your team with hitters for that field and have a lineup that will put up huge numbers at home. Fenway Park in Boston has the Green Monster just 310 feet from home plate and they stack their lineup with right-handed hitters. Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell,  Jason Bay, and Jason Varitek (Switch) all rack up doubles by hitting balls off the wall that would be caught in others. Yankee Stadium and the New Yankee Stadium both have the short porch in left field. The Yankees stack their lineup with lefties such as Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano, Hideki Matsui, Mark Teixeira (Switch), and Jorge Posada (Switch). The Yankees and Red Sox offenses are built upon their home ballparks, because they play 82 games at home. Building a symmetrical park eliminates the opportunity to build a lineup designed for your home park. Continue reading “Designing A New Baseball Stadium” →