|
June 19, 2013
THT Essentials:
![]()
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Kyle Boddy Brian Borawski James Gentile Matt Hunter Frank Jackson Chris Jaffe Brad Johnson Jason Linden Dan Lependorf Bruce Markusen Jeff Moore Greg Simons Scott Spratt Dave Studeman Shane Tourtellotte Steve Treder And here's the full roster. Now availableYou can now purchase the Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2013, with 300 pages of great content. It's also available on Amazon and Kindle. Read more about it here.
Or you can search by:
THT E-bookThird Base: The Crossroads is THT's e-book, available for $3.99 from the Kindle store. The good news is that anyone can read a Kindle book, even on a PC. So enjoy the best from THT in a new format.Get your very own THT merchandise from our CafePress store. We've got baseball caps, t-shirts, coffee mugs and even wall clocks with the classy THT logo prominently displayed. Also, check out the THT Bookstore. Please support your favorite baseball site by purchasing something today. ![]() All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
Blue Jays Articles
Following are the one hundred most recent articles for the category
Blue Jays
.
06/19/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 12, Vol. IIby Karl de Vries06/19/2013: Roy for ROYby Frank Jackson06/19/2013: Currently historic: Helton doubles!by Jason Linden06/19/2013: You can’t take it with youby Derek Ambrosino06/19/2013: Trending youngby Alex Connors06/18/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/18/2013: The Verdict: absolute power corrupts absolutelyby Michael Stein06/18/2013: All-time two-first-names teamby Greg Simons06/18/2013: AL East division update: June editionby Nick Fleder06/18/2013: THT Awardsby John Barten06/18/2013: The Rangers have painted themselves into a cornerby Jeff Moore06/17/2013: Closer watchby Karl de Vries06/17/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/17/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 12, Vol. Iby Jack Weiland06/17/2013: 30th anniversary: Bob Welch does it allby Chris Jaffe06/17/2013: The Hot Seatby Scott Strandberg06/17/2013: Red Line doubleheaders (part I)by Chris Jaffe06/15/2013: 30th anniversary: Keith Hernandez for Rick Ownbey and Neil Allenby Chris Jaffe06/14/2013: The daily grind: 6-14-13by Brad Johnson06/14/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/14/2013: 18 again!by Shane Tourtellotte06/14/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 11, Vol. IIIby Karl de Vries06/14/2013: 50th anniversary: Willie Kirkland brings the clutchby Chris Jaffe06/14/2013: Traders Corner: Oakland Elixir, V is for Victorby Jonah Birenbaum06/14/2013: Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Amos Otisby Bruce Markusen06/13/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/13/2013: The daily grind: 6-13-13by Brad Johnson06/13/2013: The clutchiest hitter of all?by Carl Aridas06/13/2013: The all-decade team: the ‘50sby Richard Barbieri06/13/2013: 40th anniversary: the Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield beginsby Chris Jaffe06/12/2013: The daily grind: 6-12-13by Brad Johnson06/12/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/12/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 11, Vol. IIby Jack Weiland06/12/2013: Helping their own causeby Shane Tourtellotte06/12/2013: Hub fans bid Kid redoby Frank Jackson06/11/2013: The daily grind: 6-11-13by Brad Johnson06/11/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/11/2013: Call-up season is upon usby Jeff Moore06/11/2013: THT Awardsby John Barten06/11/2013: 10th anniversary: Houston no-hits the Yankeesby Chris Jaffe06/11/2013: The Steel City power outage of 1917by Dave Vocale06/10/2013: The daily grind: 6-10-13by Brad Johnson06/10/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/10/2013: NL East division update: June editionby Brad Johnson06/10/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 11, Vol. 1by Karl de Vries06/10/2013: When a $9 ticket costs $20by Chris Jaffe06/10/2013: The Hot Seatby Scott Strandberg06/10/2013: 15,000 days since Luzinski rings the Liberty Bellby Chris Jaffe06/09/2013: Visualization: the 2013 MLB draftby Dan Lependorf06/08/2013: Four teams, 38 innings, one historic dayby Shane Tourtellotte06/07/2013: The daily grind: 6-7-13by Brad Johnson06/07/2013: Jose Canseco’s independents dazeby Frank Jackson06/07/2013: Roster Doctor: Two to sell highby Jonah Birenbaum06/07/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 10, Vol. IIby Karl de Vries06/07/2013: Cooperstown Confidential: Horace Stoneham’s real legacyby Bruce Markusen06/06/2013: The daily grind: 6-6-13by Brad Johnson06/06/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/06/2013: Stolen base attempts: an algorithm for allocating run valueby Greg Rybarczyk06/06/2013: The Roto Grotto: catching up with pitcher statsby Scott Spratt06/06/2013: 50th anniversary: walk-off homer by pitcher Lindy McDanielby Chris Jaffe06/05/2013: Ignoring suspension noiseby Derek Ambrosino06/05/2013: Does MLB have a case this time?by Eugene Freedman06/05/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/05/2013: The daily grind: 6-5-13by Brad Johnson06/05/2013: Currently historic: So many walks and strikeoutsby Jason Linden06/05/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 10, Vol. Iby Jack Weiland06/05/2013: Three True Outcomes too common?by Alex Connors06/05/2013: BOB: Spring training war updateby Brian Borawski06/04/2013: The Verdict: not all trades are created equalby Michael Stein06/04/2013: The daily grind: 6-4-13by Brad Johnson06/04/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/04/2013: 25th anniversary: three-run walk-off errorby Chris Jaffe06/04/2013: Revisiting pre-arb contractsby Greg Simons06/04/2013: Ike Davis and comfort at the plateby Matt Filippi06/04/2013: The Hot Seatby Scott Strandberg06/04/2013: Astros set to repeat their draft philosophyby Jeff Moore06/04/2013: THT Awardsby John Barten06/03/2013: The daily grind: 6-3-13by Brad Johnson06/03/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra06/03/2013: AL West: pretty much what we thought going inby David Wade06/03/2013: 10th anniversary: Sosa’s corked batby Chris Jaffe06/03/2013: What WPA can tell usby Chris Jaffe06/01/2013: 10th anniversary: worst one-game hitting WPA performance everby Chris Jaffe05/31/2013: Traders Corner: Conundrums Kemp and otherwiseby Jonah Birenbaum05/31/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/31/2013: Shut ‘em out, hit a home run: “Pappas games”by James Gentile05/31/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 9, Vol. IIIby Jack Weiland05/31/2013: Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Joe Pepitoneby Bruce Markusen05/30/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/30/2013: 100th anniversary: leadoff homers in both ends of doubleheaderby Chris Jaffe05/30/2013: Lohse goes for pitching history tonightby Chris Jaffe05/30/2013: Trapped in the minors: Dean Annaby John Kochurov05/30/2013: The Roto Grotto: z-scores appliedby Scott Spratt05/30/2013: Currently historic: Rick Ankiel and Dave Duncan form a new connectionby Jason Linden05/29/2013: On Jon Heyman and the Oakland Coliseumby Dan Lependorf05/29/2013: Job opening at Bloomberg Sportsby Dave Studeman05/29/2013: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/29/2013: BOB: A new chapter in the spring training warsby Brian Borawski05/29/2013: Fantasy Waiver Wire: Week 9, Vol. IIby Karl de Vries05/29/2013: Triage in the Bronxby Shane Tourtellotte<< Click here to return to the category list. |
![]() May 08, 2013What nobody is talking aboutThere are plenty of hot topics in baseball today, a sampling of which includes:{exp:list_maker}Justin Upton is killing the ball while his brother, B.J., is getting killed. The Red Sox and Yankees are 1-2 in the American League East, just as God—or at least ESPN—intended it, while the Blue Jays absorbed the Marlins' big payroll obligations yet continue to absorb loss after loss. Those same Yankees have compiled one of baseball's better records while nearly $100 million in payroll sits on the disabled list. Roy Halladay has looked, at best, mortal, at worst, mostly dead, and now he's on the DL. Los Angeles' two franchises are scuffling along with sub-.500 records despite adding making major salary outlays over the winter. Strikeouts, strikeouts, strikeouts! Oh, the humanity, strikeouts everywhere!!!{/exp:list_maker} While all of these stories and many others are quite deserving of the coverage they've received, there's one story that seems to have all but evaporated in terms of the attention it's getting now compared to before the season started. Click for more... Posted by: Greg Simons October 23, 2012A few playoff nuggets— How have the Tigers and Giants fared against each other in previous postseason encounters? Actually, they've never faced one another in the playoffs. Heading into the League Championship Series, this was the only one of the four potential World Series match-ups that never had happened before. The Yankees and (New York and San Francisco) Giants have met seven times (1921, '22, '23, '36, '37, '51, '62), with the Bronx Bombers holding a 5-2 advantage. The Cardinals and Yankees have faced off five times (1926, '28, '42, 43, '64), with St. Louis winning three titles. The Cardinals and Tigers have squared off three times (1934, '68, 2006), with the Cards emerging victorious twice. — Could we be watching both Most Valuable Players in this year's Fall Classic? Buster Posey seems to be the favorite in the National League, while Miguel Cabrera has a strong shot in the American League if those nerdy stats geeks focus just on the numbers. You know, the Triple Crown, which contains one category (home runs) of obvious value, another (batting average) that is worthwhile in limited situations, and a third (RBI) that has as much to do with the guys hitting in front of a player as with that player's actually ability. — The Giants are the second team in history to win three do-or-die games twice is a single postseason, joining the 1985 Royals. Kansas City came back from 3-1 deficits against Toronto in the ALCS and St. Louis in the World Series. As we just witnessed, San Francisco overcame a 2-0 hole in this year's best-of-five NLDS against Cincinnati and rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the NLCS. — In its four League Championship Series wins, San Francisco outscored St. Louis, 27-2. The Cardinals and Yankees combined to score eight runs in their eight LCS losses, with New York looking like a relative powerhouse by plating six runners. — The Redbirds are the first team to lose four playoff series after having a three-games-to-one lead. They also were the first, and still only, team to lose in three such scenarios. In addition to this season and the '85 World Series mentioned above, St. Louis dropped the 1968 championship to Detroit and the '96 NLCS to Atlanta. — Boston is the only team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit three times, including the remarkable comeback from a 3-0 hole versus New York in the 2004 ALCS. The Red Sox also rallied against the Angels in the '86 American League Championship Series and the Indians in the 2007 ALCS. The Royals the Pirates have achieved this feat twice each. KC's triumphs were mentioned above, while Pittsburgh defeated the Washington Senators in the 1925 World Series and Baltimore in the '79 Fall Classic. Posted by: Greg Simons August 02, 2012July’s most exciting games (and teams)I have a system I debuted last year that ranks how exciting a game is. There’s no point getting into a full account of how it works (methodology given a the end of this article if you're curious), other than to say it gives points for the things that makes games exciting and/or memorable: lead changes and comebacks, late inning drama, extra innings, walk-off wins, how close the final score was, and outstanding performances by pitchers and sluggers.Well, I’ve been tracking the games played so far throughout the 2012. season, and based on that system, here are the five most exciting games played in July: Click for more... Posted by: Chris Jaffe May 02, 2012The list, and the wait, grow longerDee Gordon hit the first home run of his career Tuesday. Gordon isn't know for his power; he's known for his speed. One day he'll probably tag up from second and score on a pop-up to shortstop.Dee Gordon has more homers this year than Albert Pujols. Jose Tabata homered for the first time this year Tuesday. With nine career long balls in 812 at-bats, that's about one home runs every 90 at-bats. Jose Tabata has more homers this year than Albert Pujols. Rafael Furcal went deep Tuesday for the initial time this season. He actually has more than 100 career home runs, maxing out at 15 in a single season twice, but he's always been known as a speedy (and oft-injured) leadoff hitter. Rafael Furcal has more homers this year than Albert Pujols. Cory Snyder, Gordon Beckham and Mark Kotsay all did something Tuesday they hadn't done before in the 2012 regular season. Care to guess what it was? Care to guess what it means? Thus far, 252 players have hit at least one home run this season. Albert Pujols is not one of those players. This is not a vengeful rambling of a Cardinals fan rejoicing in the pain of a former hero (though I am a Cardinals fan). No, this is an inquiry into when one of the great hitters in the game's long history will start performing as we all expect him to. Sure, the signs of decline have been evident the last few years, with Pujols' triple-slash line steadily declining from .357/.462/.653 (1.114 OPS) in 2008 to .299/.366/.541 (906 OPS) in 2011. But last year's OPS+ was still a healthy 148; it's not like Pujols was Adam Dunn bad, where we weren't sure he'd ever bounce back. He still had 37 home runs in 2011, an identical number to his 2008 total. Knocking the ball over the fence has never been a problem for Pujols, who "bottomed out" in 2007 with a mere 32 long balls. But for some reason—the pressure of his new contract, moving to a new league, having to spend too much time in perfect SoCal weather—that first home run has yet to clear the fence. Now, we all know it will come, and when it does, it's likely Pujols will pull out of his funk and start shredding the ball as he typically does. But for now, it gives us a chance to speculate. So, when will Pujols finally join the gaggle of players who have knocked a ball over the fence? Make your guess in the comments section, and we'll see who comes closest to predicting the date Albert Pujols' homerless drought died. I'm going with Saturday, May 5, against Toronto's Kyle Drabek (though tonight's match-up against Liam Hendricks—WHO?—is enticing). Posted by: Greg Simons October 27, 2011Farrell situation a win-win for the Blue JaysWith much talk in the last three days regarding the possibility of John Farrell moving from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Boston Red Sox, the issue of Farrell's situation with the Jays seems to have slanted altogether.If I recall, it was only a matter of weeks ago that there was a sect of Blue Jays fans and pundits that didn't seem to care much for Farrell's status with the team, even going as far as suggesting that the Jays should hire the recently unemployed Terry Francona to manage the team and in turn demote Farrell to pitching coach. Now that there are rumors of the inverse occurring and Farrell perhaps moving over to the Red Sox, these same people are up in arms, ruing the potential loss of one of the game's bright young managers. The Blue Jays announced forcefully that they will not let an employee under contract to break it for a lateral move to another team. Farrell just completed the first year of a three-year contract. Well, which is it? Does it really matter if Farrell takes off to the Sox? My inclination is to say no, absolutely not. Click for more... Posted by: Chris Lund Click here for more THT Notes. | ||||