November 22, 2009
Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. 
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Brian Borawski Craig Brown Evan Brunell David Gassko Jonathan Hale Brandon Isleib Chris Jaffe Max Marchi Bruce Markusen Harry Pavlidis Jeff Sackmann Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! Dan Turkenkopf Colin Wyers Geoff Young John Brattain And here's the full roster.
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THT Daily: Cubs Sale Finalby Matthew CarruthSeptember 24, 2009 Major League News for September 24Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings Top Minor League Performances You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldA federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware has approved the Tribune Co.'s sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts family. There was a hold up in the finalization of the sale because the Tribune Co. is currently trying to climb out of bankruptcy, yet still wants to maintain a 5 percent stake in the Cubs franchise. The deal now only needs the approval of Major League Baseball, which should come shortly. It appears the Northsiders will have a new ownership group in place by the time baseball's free agency period rolls around. That's a good thing. Chad Billingsley allowed three runs over six innings in his return to the rotation against the Nationals on Wednesday night, but took a no-decision in an eventual 5-4 loss. He didn't give up a hit until a game-tying three-run home run by Ryan Zimmerman in the sixth. However, it shouldn't distract from an otherwise positive outing. Billingsley struck out nine and walked four, throwing 52 of 87 pitches for strikes. Even with the no-decision, it was a positive step forward. He likely lines up for a start against the Padres next week. Freddy Sanchez's left knee will require surgery to repair a meniscus tear. The Giants are hopeful that the procedure can be put off until the offseason. "We'll wait and see what happens in these next two games," manager Bruce Bochy said. Sanchez aggravated the injury on Monday. There is some healthy buyer's remorse going on in San Francisco right now. Rich Harden may be shut down for the remainder of the season, according to Cubs manager Lou Piniella. Harden was skipped in the starting rotation last week due to mechanical issues. He has not started since September 16 and has been limited to throwing off flat ground since then. If this is it, Harden finishes the season 9-9 with a 4.09 ERA. Francisco Liriano will likely start against the Royals on Sunday, according to manager Ron Gardenhire. "Frankie is probably the most likely choice," Gardenhire said. Liriano will replace struggling rookie Jeff Manship in the rotation. Liriano has allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings over three relief appearances since getting yanked from the rotation in mid-August. With a 5.75 ERA and 1.53 WHIP on the season, the lefty remains too inconsistent to trust in mixed leagues. AL-only players in daily lineup leagues could roll the dice, however. Milton Bradley will not appeal his suspension, reports ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Apparently the Cubs came to a resolution with Bradley and his agents Seth and Sam Levinson. Bradley apologized to the team and will not appeal the suspension, while the Cubs have yet to file the suspension's paperwork. It appears that the Cubs are just going to pay Bradley to not be part of the team for the rest of the season, which means that the Players Union can't file a grievance because it won't be an official suspension. Bradley's time with the team is likely over, despite the resolution. The Braves have announced that Bobby Cox will return to manage the team for one last season in 2010. There has been much speculation of late regarding Cox's plans, including reports that suggested he might retire at the end of this season. After closing out his final managerial campaign in 2010, the Atlanta skipper will move into an advisory/consulting role for the Braves' major league and minor league baseball operations. X-rays on Jorge Posada's injured foot Wednesday came back negative. Posada fouled a ball off his foot in the fifth inning on Tuesday, but remained in the game afterward. It remains to be seen if he'll miss time, with manager Joe Girardi acknowledging that Posada may have been able to stay in on Tuesday because "Sometimes, adrenaline keeps you in the game." The good news is that Posada doesn't appear to have any broken bones, but Jose Molina got the start behind the plate Wednesday afternoon. An MRI on Freddy Sanchez's left knee Tuesday revealed a meniscus tear. Sanchez will probably need to undergo some sort of procedure in the offseason. But for now, he'll try to play through. "We’ll rehab him," said manager Bruce Bochy. "It’s probably a few days if not more." The Giants may have just developed serious reservations about picking up the second baseman's $8.1 million option for 2010. Yesterday’s ResultsFor the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TB 5 SEA 4 (Recap and Boxscore) TOR 7 BAL 3 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 8 CHA 6 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 11 CLE 3 (Recap and Boxscore) BOS 9 KC 2 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 3 LAA 2 (Recap and Boxscore) TEX 9 OAK 8 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 7 PHI 6 (Recap and Boxscore) ATL 5 NYN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 5 LAN 4 (Recap and Boxscore) HOU 3 STL 0 (Recap and Boxscore) MIL 3 CHN 2 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 12 PIT 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 5 ARI 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 6 COL 3 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action. Today’s GamesRangers (83-68) @ Athletics (72-80), 3:35pm StandingsThe graphics next to each team are called "sparklines.” They depict each team’s performance over the last month. Each "up" bar is a victory and a "down" bar is a loss. There are horizontal lines for home games and red bars represent games decided by two runs or less. "PWins" is short for Projected Wins, based on each team’s Run Differential, and is often a better measure of a team’s true strength. Other team graphs and stats can be found on our Team Page.American League East Pwins Diff NYA 97 56 .634 0.0 90 7 Top Minor League GamesThe following list, provided by First Inning, includes the top minor league batting (based on Runs Created) and pitching (based on Game Score) performances from yesterday.ORG LVL PLAYER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO Notes ORG LVL PLAYER IP H R ER SO BB HR Notes
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BOS 90 61 .596 6.0 89 1 
TB 78 74 .513 18.5 82 -4 
TOR 69 83 .454 27.5 77 -8 
BAL 60 92 .395 36.5 64 -4 
American League Central
DET 81 70 .536 0.0 76 5 
MIN 79 73 .520 2.5 79 0 
CHA 73 80 .477 9.0 75 -2 
KC 63 89 .414 18.5 64 -1 
CLE 61 90 .404 20.0 68 -7 
American League West
LAA 90 62 .592 0.0 86 4 
TEX 83 68 .550 6.5 80 3 
SEA 79 73 .520 11.0 70 9 
OAK 72 80 .474 18.0 76 -4 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 88 63 .583 0.0 87 1 
ATL 82 70 .539 6.5 85 -3 
FLA 82 71 .536 7.0 77 5 
NYN 65 88 .425 24.0 66 -1 
WAS 52 99 .344 36.0 60 -8 
National League Central
STL 89 64 .582 0.0 87 2 
CHN 78 73 .517 10.0 80 -2 
MIL 75 77 .493 13.5 73 2 
CIN 71 81 .467 17.5 69 2 
HOU 71 81 .467 17.5 65 6 
PIT 56 94 .373 31.5 61 -5 
National League West
LAN 91 61 .599 0.0 95 -4 
COL 86 66 .566 5.0 84 2 
SF 82 70 .539 9.0 80 2 
SD 70 83 .458 21.5 63 7 
ARI 66 87 .431 25.5 70 -4 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 90 61 .596 0.0
TEX 83 68 .550 7.0
MIN 79 73 .520 11.5
SEA 79 73 .520 11.5
TB 78 74 .513 12.5
National League
COL 86 66 .566 0.0
ATL 82 70 .539 4.0
SF 82 70 .539 4.0
FLA 82 71 .536 4.5
CHN 78 73 .517 7.5