THT Daily: New ground
by Bryan TsaoJanuary 15, 2008
Clutch meets numbers - Tom Tango has an ambitious new project in the works that aims to measure clutch by asking fans to pick out clutch players and normal before the season—and then compares their relative performances in high leverage situations. Go check it out.
Pitch f/x primer - For all you budding sabermetricians out there, Mike Fast of Statistically Speaking brings us a very comprehensive and well organized primer on how to get and analyze Pitch f/x, along with links to most of the current work on the system so that you don't reinvent the wheel. We get article submissions all the time at the Hardball Times, and I'd say this cutting edge field is where we've seen some of the best original and independent work in the past year.
Mitchell testifies before Congress - That's the obligatory steroids link of the day. I feel dirty.
Pena, Rays talking long term - DRays Bay (I wonder if they're going to change their name too) brings us news the the Tampa Rays are exploring the possibility of a long term deal with breakout first baseman Carlos Pena. Looks like they really want to try to be players in the AL East.
Rumors: Bedard to Mets - MLB Trade Rumors rounds up the current rumors around Erik Bedard.
Fringe benefits - Apparently, the Phillies were the team with the most former indy league players in its system, including two major leaguers last season.
Goodbye, Richmond - Yesterday, the Braves moved their longtime Triple-A affiliate from Richmond, Va. to Gwinnett County, Ga. JC Bradbury gives us the reasons why.
Hank reverses Yankees course again - Just when I thought I was out ... just kidding, I never thought the Yankees were truly out of the Johan Santana talks. Because firstly, to me they need Santana more than the Red Sox or Mets, and secondly, even if they were out of the talks, it would be silly from a competitive standpoint to let their rivals know that they were. Still, as a small market fan, this endless flip flipping heartens me. Hopefully we'll see actual results on the field soon follow.
Boston projections - Dan Syzmborski has his free ZiPS projections up for the Boston Red Sox over at Baseball Think Factory. What a juggernaut.
Texas waives Chris Shelton - Could be an interesting option for teams looking for a cheap, young right side of a first base platoon that still has some upside.
THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Bryan Tsao is the editor of The Hardball Times website. He welcomes comments, questions, and suggestions for both himself and the site via email.