Quote of the Week
“ I guess I'm just the old crusty school guy who keeps running out there. ”
– Jon Lester, talking about modern analytics
This Week in Baseball
Begun the Trade Wars Have
As the MLB Trading Deadline fast approaches, teams are angling and making their moves in order to finalize deals before July 31st. The Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Rockies, Athletics and Red Sox have all acquired players to help them down the stretch to compete for a shot at the World Series. While teams like the Orioles, Blue Jays, Mets, Rays and Rangers compete to see who can have the lowest attendance.
No Wrist No Reward...
New York Yankees star slugger Aaron Judge is headed to the DL for three weeks with a broken wrist when he was hit by a pitch. Though he doesn't require surgery, he won't be able to swing a bat for three weeks. Or, you could say he will recuse himself. (Judicial jokes!)
It Doesn't Take a Brain Surgeon...
In his Major League debut, Daniel Poncedeleon of St. Louis Cardinals, threw seven no-hit innings. Poncedeleon was almost killed by a line drive off his head last season that required him to get brain surgery. So, really any game that ends with him conscious is a perfect game.
Change for the Worst...
Padres and ex-Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes said Derek Jeter would pay off his lost wagers with change. Apparently, Jeter would make occasional bets and if he lost, he would pay them off with pennies. This guy must have been a nightmare at strip clubs.
Thoughts and Prayers...
In a season of almost non-stop problems and oddities for the New York Mets, now the "Amazin's" Tim Tebow is out for the season with a broken hamate bone in his right hand. Tebow who is hitting .273/.336/.399 in Double-A with six homers and 36 RBIs, broke his hand swinging the bat. No truth to the rumor that this is some kind of Stigmata.
On the Air
“ The Mets are the Oregon Trail of baseball. ”
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Episode 73: Big Trades; Daniel Poncedeleon bounces back; Anthony Rizzo pitches; Steaming Pile of Mets; Viral Video; Buyers/Sellers; James Gunn; Taco Bell Botulism
First and foremost, how about Daniel Poncedeleon bouncing back from a possible career-ending injury to throw seven no-hit innings in his MLB debut? Episode 73 of Foul Territory: A Baseball Podcast—the Ricardo Rincon episode—starts with some technical challenges before finding …
Going Deep
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Baseball: What the Hell Is Happening?
Part one of a three-part investigation On the surface, everything in baseball seems fairly normal as we head down the stretch of this season, However, over the past few months, I have seen more articles about baseball’s on- and off-field …
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Exploiting Fantasy Recency Bias with Future Projections
In sports, we must always look forward. We’re in a particularly dangerous stage in the baseball season right now: enough games have been played where we start to overweight year-to-date (YTD) production, thinking that what a player has done so …
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Fantasy Baseball Strategy: The Art of the Stream
I remember my first matchup of the fantasy season. It was fantastic, a 9-1 gutting of the now fifth-ranked team in the league. I sat back in my chair at work and thought to myself, “Ryan, you’re a genius. You …
Off Base
