• Caught an interesting note during last night's game. From the Associated Press, this year's top four Opening Day payrolls:
Yankees $209 million
Tigers $139 million
Mets $138 million
Red Sox $133 million
It's been fashionable in recent years to lump the Yankees and the Red Sox together in one big ball of spending, but that meme never really made sense because the Yankees vastly outspent the Sox, and now it
really doesn't make sense. Let's try to keep these figures in mind all season, shall we?
• Last week there was some discussion here about the break-even point for stealing bases. Well, Tangotiger has a
nifty formula for figuring exactly what that point is, depending on the hitting environment (and as is often true, you'll learn even more by reading through the attached comments; they have a smart crowd over there).
• I don't know if
Ichiro Suzuki is
really like
Wee Willie Keeler ... but as a history buff, I'm just thrilled to see
Wee Willie getting some serious ink.
• It's not often that you see a
Hall of Fame honoree fired, but
that's essentially happened to the New York Times' Murray Chass. I'll bet he
blames the bloggers.
• How hard is scouting? Courtesy of Baseball Analysts, check out the
first 10 picks of the 2000 draft (this is the
first in Marc Hulet's five-part series and I'm looking forward to the next installment).
• Bugs & Cranks wonders:
Is Jake Peavy cheating? My guess? That's pine tar on his fingers, which seems to be tacitly permitted by Major League Baseball, even though it clearly violates the letter of the law.
• With the help of video analysis, Saber-Scouting figures out
what's wrong with Kei Igawa ... not an easy chore, considering the game in question included six innings, seven strikeouts and zero walks.
• Frankly, I don't care much about MLB's Byzantine blackout rules (I've never missed a game because of them). But judging from my e-mail a lot of
you care, and here's the
best primer on the subject I've seen. It's actually somewhat surprising to me that MLB hasn't solved what seems to be a fairly obvious problem.
• Angels owner Arte Moreno gets
a lovely mention in the L.A. Times after treating fans to a few hundred bucks worth of t-shirts and caps. Makes you wonder why every owner doesn't follow suit. I'm
pretty sure they can afford it.
• Mike Pagliarulo says
Phil Hughes' mechanics are screwed up, but that Hughes
might -- if he's willing to change -- be pitching effectively in 2009 or '10. Something tells me the Yankees weren't figuring they'd have to wait quite that long.
• You want a prediction for tonight's game? Watch KU's Brandon Rush. If he takes fewer than four ill-considered shots, Kansas wins. More than four: they lose. Exactly four: overtime. Rock Chalk,
Jayhawk.
Rob Neyer
