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May 25, 2012
THT Essentials: Now AvailableThe Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it.
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Strategy Articles
Following are the one hundred most recent articles for the category
Strategy
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05/25/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/25/2012: NL Waiver Wire: Week 7by Nick Fleder05/25/2012: AL Waiver Wire: Week 7by Josh Shepardson05/25/2012: Roger and the Babeby Frank Jackson05/25/2012: 75th anniversary: Mickey Cochrane gets beanedby Chris Jaffe05/25/2012: Card Corner: 1972 Topps: Duke Simsby Bruce Markusen05/24/2012: Visualization: Vertical spray chartby Dan Lependorf05/24/2012: Trader’s corner: reader’s choice editionby Mark Himmelstein05/24/2012: Which starters have lost the most velocity since 2011?by Jason Dunbar05/24/2012: Don Drysdale’s two-for-one specialby Shane Tourtellotte05/23/2012: The daily grind 5-23by Brad Johnson05/23/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/23/2012: The tragedy of expectations in baseballby Chris Lund05/23/2012: BOB: Athletics stadium limboby Brian Borawski05/23/2012: 10th anniversary: Shawn Green’s big dayby Chris Jaffe05/23/2012: The real replacement level of starting pitchingby Derek Ambrosino05/22/2012: The daily grind 5-21by Brad Johnson05/22/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/22/2012: Which lineups should be feared?by Paul Singman05/22/2012: 10th anniversary: Giambi-Mabry tradeby Chris Jaffe05/22/2012: THT Awardsby John Barten05/22/2012: The virtual 1969-76 Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians (Part 3: 1970-71)by Steve Treder05/22/2012: The Verdict: Collusion - if it quacks like a duck…by Michael Stein05/22/2012: Has Daniel Bard been squeezed?by Troy Patterson05/21/2012: The daily grind 5-21by Brad Johnson05/21/2012: AL West: Oh, the storylinesby David Wade05/21/2012: The fall of Mickey Hatcherby Steven Booth05/21/2012: Default heroby Chris Jaffe05/21/2012: This week in (fantasy) baseball 5/14-5/20by Karl de Vries05/21/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/21/2012: 20th anniversary: Angels bus crashby Chris Jaffe05/21/2012: Closer watchby Paul Singman05/20/2012: The daily grind 5-20by Brad Johnson05/18/2012: Kerry Wood career highlightsby Chris Jaffe05/18/2012: The daily grind 5-18by Brad Johnson05/18/2012: NL Waiver Wire: Week 6by Nick Fleder05/18/2012: AL Waiver Wire: Week 6by Josh Shepardson05/18/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/18/2012: Lopsided batter/pitcher match-ups of the 1990s and 2000sby Chad Evely05/18/2012: Cooperstown Confidential: The tale of Charley Lauby Bruce Markusen05/17/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/17/2012: The daily grind 5-17by Brad Johnson05/17/2012: The Oklahoma territorial imperativeby Frank Jackson05/17/2012: The (baseball) power of the Oval Officeby Richard Barbieri05/17/2012: 10th anniversary: Giambi’s walk-off slamby Chris Jaffe05/16/2012: The daily grind 5-16by Brad Johnson05/16/2012: Brett Lawrie, the ump and the human elementby Chris Lund05/16/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/16/2012: BOB: Braun arbitrator gets the sackby Brian Borawski05/15/2012: The daily grind 5-15by Brad Johnson05/15/2012: Save tonightby Paul Singman05/15/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/15/2012: The virtual 1969-76 Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians (Part 2: 1969-70)by Steve Treder05/15/2012: Mythbusting - closer editionby Derek Ambrosino05/15/2012: THT Awardsby John Barten05/15/2012: Centennial anniversary: Ty Cobb beats up a crippleby Chris Jaffe05/15/2012: Bryan LaHair is Cubs’ silver lining so farby Troy Patterson05/15/2012: Battling through injuriesby Dave Shovein05/14/2012: Chris Sale and his faulty elbowby Kyle Boddy05/14/2012: The daily grind 5-14by Brad Johnson05/14/2012: This week in (fantasy) baseball 5/7-5/13by Karl de Vries05/14/2012: The state of the NL Centralby Jason Linden05/14/2012: 50 years from the Mets junk drawerby Chris Jaffe05/14/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/14/2012: 90th anniversary: Last time the Phillies franchise at sea levelby Chris Jaffe05/11/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/11/2012: NL Waiver Wire: Week 5by Nick Fleder05/11/2012: AL Waiver Wire: Week 5by Josh Shepardson05/11/2012: What is the best swing-and-miss pitch in baseball right now?by Jason Dunbar05/11/2012: 20,000 days since Dodgers announce their move to LAby Chris Jaffe05/11/2012: Lopsided batter/pitcher match-ups of the 1980sby Chad Evely05/11/2012: Picking up pitchersby Paul Singman05/11/2012: Card Corner: 1972 Topps: Jim “Mudcat” Grantby Bruce Markusen05/10/2012: Mo’s winsby Dave Studeman05/10/2012: No two games alike? Sure, but these are the closest.by Jonathan Falk05/10/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/10/2012: The daily grind 5-10by Brad Johnson05/10/2012: THT review: Great Hitting Pitchersby David Wade05/10/2012: The pre-Angelic Autryby Frank Jackson05/10/2012: Did Matt Kemp just have one of the best Aprils ever?by Dan Lependorf05/10/2012: Ranking the new closersby Mike Silver05/09/2012: A job with your name on itby Dave Studeman05/09/2012: The daily grind 5-9by Brad Johnson05/09/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/09/2012: Trader’s corner: week sixby Mark Himmelstein05/09/2012: Day for nightby Shane Tourtellotte05/09/2012: Last week’s recordby Jonathan Falk05/09/2012: BOB: MLB looks at alliance with NCAAby Brian Borawski05/09/2012: Make them notice: Andy Dirksby Paul Singman05/08/2012: The daily grind 5-8by Brad Johnson05/08/2012: And That Happenedby Craig Calcaterra05/08/2012: Long viewby Derek Ambrosino05/08/2012: THT Awardsby John Barten05/08/2012: The virtual 1969-76 Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians (Part 1: 1968-69)by Steve Treder05/08/2012: 10,000 days ago: Marge Schott becomes Reds ownerby Chris Jaffe05/08/2012: How to be in first in Tout Warsby Paul Singman05/08/2012: The Verdict: the court rejects a disputed fantasy baseball tradeby Michael Stein05/07/2012: Ubaldo Jimenez: A quick mechanics reviewby Kyle Boddy05/07/2012: The daily grind 5-7by Brad Johnson05/07/2012: This week in (fantasy) baseball 4/30-5/6by Karl de Vries<< Click here to return to the category list. |
![]() May 04, 2012Calico Joe and home-field advantageI'm reading John Grisham's new book, Calico Joe. As the name, and certainly the book's cover, indicate, this is not his latest legal thriller. It's a quick (208-page) piece of baseball fiction for which his publisher has the gall to charge $25. (Thank goodness for libraries.) A full review may be forthcoming, but for now I'd like to focus on one singular scene in the book and the question it raised in my mind.This might be spoiling things a bit, but the seminal moment of the book is a hit-by-pitch, as the home team's hurler plunks a visiting batter. There is some speculation that the batter simply didn't see the ball, that for some reason he couldn't pick up the ball as it rocketed toward his skull. This got me thinking. In baseball, the home team usually wears white uniforms, while visiting squads wear some sort of colored uniform—gray, blue, red, yellow, orange, teal, purple, etc. (I think the Marlins' new unis contain all these colors, and more.) How much does the fact that a white baseball is being thrown by a pitcher in a white outfit contribute to home-field advantage? Certainly, it's easier to pick up the ball against a dark background, which is why the batters' eye in ballparks usually is painted black or dark green, and why some teams have had to remove trees and other distractions from their center-field backdrops over the years. An aside: Jeff Sullivan at SB Nation wrote an article recently about the advantage Jered Weaver gets throwing the ball with Angels Stadium's rockpile behind him, and it's possible this benefited Weaver in his recent no-hitter. Well, that and he was facing the Twins. There is also speculation that the Marlins' new home run feature could provide a similar benefit to certain pitchers. A quick internet search did not come up with any studies examining the impact of jersey color on home-field advantage, so I'm wondering if anyone has looked into this effect. If not, it could be an area worth exploring. With so many teams donning non-white alternate home uniforms over the last several seasons, there could be a large enough sample size to work through the noise and see if there's any impact. Posted by: Greg Simons October 11, 2011LCS thoughts & theories 10/11Bullpen battle taken by TexasAfter Texas starter Derek Holland was pulled with two outs in the third inning of Monday's ALCS game two, Rangers manager Ron Washington had to put his bullpen into action way earlier than he ever would have anticipated. Then the game went into extra innings, and the Rangers relief corps remained nearly perfect. Texas' bullpen threw 8.1 scoreless innings, and they were rewarded by Nelson Cruz's 11th-inning grand slam that gave the Rangers a 7-3 win over Detroit and a 2-0 series lead going back to the Motor City. The Tigers' bullpen was perfect before Ryan Perry imploded in the 11th, but the battle of the bullpens has been a huge reason why Texas has taken the first two games at home in Arlington. IP Record ERA WHIP K/9 Texas Bullpen 12.2 2-0 0.00 0.65 11.8 Detroit Bullpen 8.0 0-1 4.50 1.00 4.5 With the next games shifting over to Comerica Park, the Rangers relievers have a lot to live up to if they want to remain as close to flawless as possible. For the Tigers, the margin of error is close to none, which was proven with one swing of the bat Monday night. Brewers starters unstable sans GallardoMilwaukee survived the NLDS against Arizona by winning all three of its home games, but the Cardinals offense has proven not as kind to the Brewers at Miller Park as the Diamondback hitters were. Shaun Marcum allowed five runs in four innings in the Brewers' 12-3 loss to St. Louis in Game Two of the NLCS and continued the trend of Milwaukee starters not named Yovani Gallardo stumbling and faltering in the postseason. Zack Greinke struggled in the team's Game One win, and Randy Wolf was abysmal in the Division Series in Phoenix. Let's see how extreme the splits are between Gallardo and the rest of the Brewers rotation. IP Record ERA WHIP K/9 Yovani Gallardo 14.0 1-0 1.29 0.92 9.00 MIL SP w/o Gallardo 18.2 1-2 9.53 2.07 7.54 Gallardo can only pitch two more games in this League Championship Series, so Ron Roenicke will need at least one of his other starters to perform up to team standards and fulfill this team's rightfully lofty expectations. Posted by: Shlomo Sprung October 07, 2011The Division Series, last night and tonightMany Detroit players were key contributors in the team's ALDS upset of the Yankees, but two players acquired during the season by GM Dave Dombrowski, Doug Fister and Delmon Young, played key roles throughout the series, especially in the decisive game five.Delmon Young PA Slash Line HR RBI R XBH With Twins 325 .266/.305/.357 4 32 26 20 With Tigers 178 .274/.298/.458 8 32 28 14 Tigers LDS 21 .316/.381/.789 3 3 4 3 Young's power numbers increased dramatically with Detroit, and his three solo homers against New York all came at crucial times. His home run in the first inning Thursday night gave the Tigers an early lead and set the tone for the rest of the contest for manager Jim Leyland. On the other side of the ledger, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi surprisingly used the same lineup in all five games. Young top prospect Jesus Montero and veteran outfielder Andruw Jones were left on the bench. While right fielder Nick Swisher struggled, going 4-for-19 in the series, Jones notched an RBI in his lone plate appearance. Swisher surely had a solid regular season, but he has historically performed poorly in his career against Detroit. Jones has fared better. Career PA Slash Line HR RBI R XBH Jones vs DET 75 .258/.387/.468 3 4 10 7 Swisher vs DET 236 .223/.369/.399 8 27 33 17 Granted, Swisher had a .273 average and a .414 OBP against the Tigers this year, but Girardi probably should have realized that Swisher was struggling in the series. While the Yankees manager was very quick to pull pitchers, he seemed strangely reluctant to change up his offense, which ultimately faltered in the disappointing defeat. Milwaukee and Arizona both dominated their two games at home offensively, but the scene now shifts back to Miller Park for the deciding contest. Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo seems like a different pitcher at home; he had a 10-2 regular-season record at home with an even 3.00 ERA, more than a full point better than his road ERA. Though Diamondbacks starter Ian Kennedy is better at Chase Field than he is at home, his regular-season road numbers (10-2, 3.19) are quite comparable to Gallardo's. In the NL's second Game Five, Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter has been a revelation since the All-Star break, going 7-2 with a 2.98 ERA and 3-0, 2.15 since the beginning of September. But only tonight's Game Five in Philadelphia matters now, with Carpenter playing second fiddle in the pregame billing to Phillies ace extraordinaire Roy Halladay. The splits clearly favor the home team: Game Five SP IP Record ERA WHIP K/9 Halladay Home 112.2 8-3 2.48 0.99 8.6 Carpenter Road 119.1 7-6 3.85 1.27 7.4 Posted by: Shlomo Sprung September 16, 2011Revisiting the Napoli-Wells three-way tradeAfter Rangers catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli collected two more hits to raise his average to .312, it brought me back to what turned out to be a relatively lopsided three-way trade.The original purpose of the deal was for Toronto to get rid of Vernon Wells' contract, sending him to the Angels for Napoli and Juan Rivera, who was later designated for assignment and shipped to the Dodgers. With J.P. Arencibia seen as their future at catcher, the Blue Jays sent Napoli to the Rangers for Frank Francisco, who turned out to be the Jays' closer for a decent stretch this season. I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the players in this trade, which was really two separate deals, with a nifty comparison graphic. PA Slash Line HR RBI R WAR Mike Napoli, Rangers 392 .312/.411/.613 26 67 67 5.0 Vernon Wells, Angels 478 .218/.251/.399 21 56 56 -0.3 Juan Rivera, TOR/LAD 473 .260/.321/.381 9 62 40 0.7
Innings Record/ERA/SV WHIP K/9 WAR
Frank Francisco, Blue Jays 47.2 1-4, 3.78, 15 1.36 9.44 0.7
Despite Wells having $86 million left on his contract at the time of the trade and Anaheim being left to start a light-hitting, defensive-minded catcher in Jeff Mathis, the Angels decided it would be best to acquire Wells and deal the power-hitting Napoli, coming off a 26-home run season, to the Blue Jays. Having led baseball in team home runs the season before, it was understandable that Toronto would trade Napoli to Texas for some relief help. But the clear, obvious winners in the trade were the Rangers. Napoli has given them yet another power-hitting addition to their scary-potent offense, while Wells has proven that he will be a past-his-prime toxic contract for the Angels for years to come. Who would have thought that trading Napoli to Toronto would have drastically changed the landscape of the AL West race? Posted by: Shlomo Sprung June 29, 2011Pop quiz: What to do with the DH?After a three-game appetizer in mid-May, baseball is in the midst of feeding its fans a steady two-and-a-half-week diet of interleague games. Some fans enjoy the taste, while others would rather swallow ground glass.To each his own, right? Well, no, where would the fun be in that? Aside from abrogating the purity of the single-league schedules, interleague play also introduces the conundrum of the designated hitter. How can American League teams be expected to compete with one of their vital bats on the bench? How can National League teams match up against their Junior Circuit brethren when they don't have a thumper to insert into the lineup opposite the AL's full-time hitter? Usually, this wrinkle is played out according the host team's rules. Well, actually, it always is, but occasionally it doesn't seem that way. Click for more... Posted by: Greg Simons Click here for more THT Notes. | ||||