November 21, 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: Pennant doingsby Dave StudemanSeptember 30, 2009 Major League News for September 30Player News Yesterday’s Results Today’s Games Standings You can always find the most recent THT Daily at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/thtdaily/ Player NewsPlayer Headlines are courtesy of RotoworldMarlon Byrd is being called "day-to-day" after leaving Tuesday night's game with a hip injury. Byrd injured himself on the first base bag while trying to beat out a groundball. And with only five games left, the Rangers might simply decide to shut hi down for the rest of the season. Through 539 at-bats, the soon-to-be free agent hit .280/.325/.479 with 20 home runs and 89 RBI. The Rangers have expressed a desire to bring him back for the 2010 season. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers are discussing a long-term contract extension with general manager Ned Colletti. Colletti is locked up through 2010 on his current contract, but the Dodgers' ownership group wants to ensure that he sticks around beyond that. "He's obviously done a very good job," owner Frank McCourt said Tuesday. "The team has the best record in the National League. We're on the verge of clinching the division back-to-back [for the first time] in 31 years. I think that speaks for itself." The Dodgers are 93-65 this season. Adam Lind slugged three home runs in a win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night. It was his fourth career mulit-homer game -- all this season -- but the first three-homer game of his career. Lind is now batting .305/.370/.562 with 35 homers and 114 RBI this season. He currently ranks fifth in the league with a .932 OPS. Justin Verlander allowed four runs over eight innings in a 6-5 win over the second-place Twins on Tuesday night, as the Tigers restored their lead in the AL Central to two games. Verlander threw a season-high 129 pitches in the victory. He scattered eight hits against eight strikeouts and zero walks. He actually held the Twins scoreless until the sixth. The Twins made things interesting, cutting the lead to one run in both the eighth and ninth innings, however closer Fernando Rodney was finally able to shut the door after a miscue by Curtis Granderson in center field. The Tigers have five games left on the docket. Scott Kazmir was suddenly scratched from his Tuesday start. Sean O'Sullivan will start in his place against the Rangers. According to Angels manager Mike Scioscia, the move was made solely to get Kazmir rested up for the playoffs. There's nothing physically wrong with him. Josh Hamilton (back) has been shut down for the rest of the season. Hamilton has played in just two games since September 2 due to a pinched nerve in his back. The Rangers have just six games remaining on their schedule. The 28-year-old will finish with a .268/.315/.426 batting line, 10 home runs and 54 RBI in 336 at-bats. Kevin Gregg (rib) has been shut down for the rest of the season. Gregg suffered a crack in his rib cartilage last week and there's no point in having him pitch through pain. He finishes the year with a 4.72 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 23 saves in 30 chances. According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 16-year-old shortstop Miguel Angel Sano has agreed to terms with the Twins. Sano, a highly touted prospect out of the Dominican Republic, will be handed a $3.15 million signing bonus. He was pursued heavily by the Pirates and Orioles, among other teams, but questions about his age and identification caused a stir around the league. An investigation came back inconclusive, but that obviously didn't scare away Minnesota management. The deal is pending a physical and Sano's ability to obtain a work visa. Josh Beckett (back spasms) expects to start against the Indians on Saturday. Beckett was a late-minute scratch from his scheduled Monday start against the Blue Jays. He has dismissed his back issue as minor, but was given three cortisone shots Tuesday afternoon. The Red Sox insist there won't be any lingering problems going forward, but it's definitely a situation to watch. Yesterday’s ResultsFor the full scoop regarding yesterday's games, read "And That Happened" at Shysterball.American League TOR 8 BOS 7 (Recap and Boxscore) NYA 4 KC 3 (Recap and Boxscore) TB 3 BAL 1 (Recap and Boxscore) DET 6 MIN 5 (Recap and Boxscore) MIN 3 DET 2 (Recap and Boxscore) LAA 5 TEX 2 (Recap and Boxscore) SEA 6 OAK 4 (Recap and Boxscore) National League FLA 5 ATL 4 (Recap and Boxscore) PHI 7 HOU 4 (Recap and Boxscore) WAS 4 NYN 3 (Recap and Boxscore) CHN 6 PIT 0 (Recap and Boxscore) CIN 7 STL 2 (Recap and Boxscore) COL 7 MIL 5 (Recap and Boxscore) SD 3 LAN 1 (Recap and Boxscore) SF 8 ARI 4 (Recap and Boxscore)Check out Fangraphs' scoreboard to see all the games in action. Today’s GamesWhiteSox (76-81) @ Indians (64-92), 2nd Game 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 102 56 .646 0.0 95 7
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.
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BOS 91 66 .580 10.5 91 0 
TB 81 76 .516 20.5 83 -2 
TOR 74 84 .468 28.0 81 -7 
BAL 60 97 .382 41.5 65 -5 
American League Central
DET 84 73 .535 0.0 79 5 
MIN 82 75 .522 2.0 82 0 
CHA 76 81 .484 8.0 77 -1 
CLE 64 92 .410 19.5 71 -7 
KC 64 94 .405 20.5 65 -1 
American League West
LAA 93 64 .592 0.0 90 3 
TEX 85 72 .541 8.0 83 2 
SEA 81 76 .516 12.0 72 9 
OAK 75 82 .478 18.0 80 -5 
National League East Pwins Diff
PHI 91 66 .580 0.0 90 1 
ATL 86 71 .548 5.0 89 -3 
FLA 84 74 .532 7.5 79 5 
NYN 67 91 .424 24.5 69 -2 
WAS 54 103 .344 37.0 62 -8 
National League Central
STL 90 67 .573 0.0 88 2 
CHN 82 74 .526 7.5 84 -2 
MIL 77 80 .490 13.0 75 2 
CIN 75 82 .478 15.0 73 2 
HOU 73 84 .465 17.0 67 6 
PIT 59 97 .378 30.5 64 -5 
National League West
LAN 93 65 .589 0.0 97 -4 
COL 89 68 .567 3.5 87 2 
SF 84 73 .535 8.5 83 1 
SD 73 85 .462 20.0 65 8 
ARI 68 89 .433 24.5 72 -4 
Wildcard Standings
American League
BOS 91 66 .580 0.0
TEX 85 72 .541 6.0
MIN 82 75 .522 9.0
TB 81 76 .516 10.0
SEA 81 76 .516 10.0
National League
COL 89 68 .567 0.0
ATL 86 71 .548 3.0
SF 84 73 .535 5.0
FLA 84 74 .532 5.5
CHN 82 74 .526 6.5
“Sano, a highly touted prospect out of the Dominican Republic, <i>will be handed,/i> a $3.15 million signing bonus.”
I know this is primarily an issue of semantics, because other phrasing options can be clumsy, but I so dislike it when players are “given” xx-million dollar contracts. Like they didn’t earn them? As if the team doesn’t expect to recoup its investment and more?
If the Twins, or anyone else, truly are simply handing out millions of dollars, where do I get in line?