baseball

Showing 19 posts tagged baseball

Curt Schilling, Rhode Island and the Fall of 38 Studios

Matt Bai for NYT:

As Mr. Schilling scrambled for backing and failed to make his payroll for three consecutive weeks, Mr. Chafee publicly called the console game a “flop” and said 38 Studios was “just the worst investment that’s ever been made, I think, in the history of Rhode Island.” He also accused 38 Studios of trying to pass the state a bad check. By the time 38 Studios closed its doors for good in June, dismissing hundreds of employees in an e-mail, the company listed $150 million in debt, $22 million in assets and $320 in petty cash.

Yes, “Mr. Schilling” is Curt Schilling. Yes, that Curt Schilling. All of this makes the story of Color look downright rosy. All kinds of yikes.

Hitched to an Aging Star

Fascinating look at the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez deal by David Waldstein for NYT:

Mallory and Cardinale made about 10 calls to Levine over the next few days, transmitting the proposals and counterproposals back and forth. Rodriguez also enlisted the help of the investor Warren E. Buffett, a friend and adviser who helped Rodriguez devise ways to resolve a stalemate over a $50 million gap.

Ultimately, the terms of the deal would include $265 million in guaranteed salary, a $10 million signing bonus and an additional $30 million in marketing bonuses tied to landmark home runs.

For each of the five milestones — tying Mays, Ruth, Aaron, Bonds and breaking the record — Rodriguez would receive $6 million. The Yankees looked at the bonuses as a kind of licensing fee they would pay to Rodriguez to secure all the rights to market the home run chase, which would presumably become a commercial boon.

The result is A-Rod earning more than the entire Houston Astros team combined this year.

Almost as interesting: that the article features an Instagram image of A-Rod.

I competed in that era. I played at a high level in that era. There are a lot of great players, but as it unfolds, a lot of it was not the real deal. I know 100 percent I was the real deal.

Former White Sox great Frank Thomas, talking to The AP.

Thomas was my favorite player growing up. And he’s never been anywhere near any of the steroid controversies. He should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer next year, no question.

[via @selviano]

Melky Cabrera of San Francisco Giants reinstated from 50-game ban

Yes, but:

Cabrera is back on the Giants’ 40-man roster as of Friday. Giants vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans says, “Cabrera’s status regarding the postseason remains unchanged” after the club announced Sept. 27 it wouldn’t add Cabrera for any round.

Good for the Giants. They had the right to put him back in the lineup, but they’re not going to do it. Of course, he hasn’t played a game in months. But he is still a guy that was leading the league in hitting at .346 when he was suspended in August.

An interesting side note: Cabrera was the MVP of this year’s All-Star Game. He led the National League to a win, thus ensuring home field advantage in the World Series. So if the Giants beat the Cardinals in the NLCS and make it to the World Series, they’ll have Cabrera to thank for the home field.

thedailywhat: Fraud of the Day: Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera is the most recent recipient of a 50-game ban handed down by the league office, after testing positive for testosterone — a no-no under the league’s performance enhancing drug policy. Normally that’s where the story ends, barring appeals. However, the New York Daily News has discovered a bizarre plot — one that would make Albert Belle’s Cleveland Indians proud. Melky and his “associates” concocted a website which sold a fake product containing a banned substance, which Cabrera unknowingly purchased and used. Cabrera presented this as evidence at his appeal hearing, and probably thought he was home free. That is, until some very obvious subjects were addressed: MLB’s department of investigations quickly began asking questions about the website and the “product” — Where was the site operating from? Who owned it? What kind of product was it? — and quickly discovered that an existing website had been altered, adding an ad for the product, a topical cream, that didn’t exist. The comedy of errors now involves the FDA, an investigation into Cabrera’s “associates”, and (what we can all assume) an unlikely repealing of the suspension. [deadspin] Did they make the site on GeoCities, I wonder? 

thedailywhat:

Fraud of the Day: Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera is the most recent recipient of a 50-game ban handed down by the league office, after testing positive for testosterone — a no-no under the league’s performance enhancing drug policy. Normally that’s where the story ends, barring appeals. However, the New York Daily News has discovered a bizarre plot — one that would make Albert Belle’s Cleveland Indians proud.

Melky and his “associates” concocted a website which sold a fake product containing a banned substance, which Cabrera unknowingly purchased and used. Cabrera presented this as evidence at his appeal hearing, and probably thought he was home free. That is, until some very obvious subjects were addressed:

MLB’s department of investigations quickly began asking questions about the website and the “product” — Where was the site operating from? Who owned it? What kind of product was it? — and quickly discovered that an existing website had been altered, adding an ad for the product, a topical cream, that didn’t exist.

The comedy of errors now involves the FDA, an investigation into Cabrera’s “associates”, and (what we can all assume) an unlikely repealing of the suspension.

[deadspin]

Did they make the site on GeoCities, I wonder? 

How dominant was Matt Cain’s perfect game? This dominant: Matt Cain had a game score of 101… that is tied for the 2nd-highest in any 9-inning game in the live-ball era. The highest is 105 by Kerry Wood in his 20-strikeout game in 1998.  Game score is a metric that Bill James (he of sabermetrics fame) came up with to determine how dominant a pitcher was in any given outing. The basic idea: The highest possible game score in a nine-inning game while allowing no baserunners is 114, possible only if a pitcher goes 9 innings while striking out every batter he faces and facing three batters per inning.  Again, no one in modern baseball has come closer to that number than Kerry Wood’s 20K game (and that wasn’t a no-hitter, it was a 1-hitter). Cain’s game last night tied him with Nolan Ryan’s 7th (and final) no-hitter in 1991 and a perfect game Sandy Koufax threw in 1965. Complete and utter dominance.  High-res

How dominant was Matt Cain’s perfect game? This dominant:

Matt Cain had a game score of 101… that is tied for the 2nd-highest in any 9-inning game in the live-ball era. The highest is 105 by Kerry Wood in his 20-strikeout game in 1998. 

Game score is a metric that Bill James (he of sabermetrics fame) came up with to determine how dominant a pitcher was in any given outing. The basic idea:

The highest possible game score in a nine-inning game while allowing no baserunners is 114, possible only if a pitcher goes 9 innings while striking out every batter he faces and facing three batters per inning. 

Again, no one in modern baseball has come closer to that number than Kerry Wood’s 20K game (and that wasn’t a no-hitter, it was a 1-hitter). Cain’s game last night tied him with Nolan Ryan’s 7th (and final) no-hitter in 1991 and a perfect game Sandy Koufax threw in 1965. Complete and utter dominance.