Was Cal Ripken Jr. Really the “Iron Man”?
Breaking News from The Off-Base Newsdesk at Foul Territory … BALTIMORE — Scandal has rocked Major League Baseball once again. This time it’s not from the usual shady types like Alex Rodriguez or Pete Rose. It’s Hall of Famer Cal …
Baseball 2019: Brute Force, Full of Surprises
The 2019 season is in full swing and already, 10 percent in, it’s a season that has fallen prey to the same problems that bedeviled baseball the last quarter century. Too many home runs. Too many strikeouts. Too few base …
The Tampa Bay Brand: Fiscally Sound, Value-Driven Baseball
That’s right, baseball teams are brands. They offer fans a promise of who fans want the team to be. Who the team wants to be. And what the team may become. Winners? A rebuilding year for a .500 team? An …
Red Sox Postseason Projections Drop After Woeful Start
Listen to the Red Sox players. The manager. Cliches flow. Groundless excuses whirling across empty spaces. Homilies about unwanted consequences. More soliloquies about the promises of the next game ahead. And just as baseball can be redemptive, it can be …
Meme-O-Random: 2019 Red Sox Rough Start
Last year the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and this season they look like a team that won’t make the playoffs. They don’t even have the excuse the injury-riddled Yankees have. The starting pitching has been terrible, but …
Reserve Clause (Almost) Fifty Years Later: A Closer Look
Who says the new, younger, more analytically oriented general managers are not astute baseball men? Not Ronald Acuña. Not his family. And certainly not his financial planner, who suddenly has a lot of money to manage. Because the eight-year, $100 …
Ramon Laureano and Craig Kimbrel: Performance Versus Value
Into the Teeth of the Shift Too many articles have been written in the sporting press recently about the folly of Craig Kimbrel’s current lack of employment. Seems some writers believe Kimbrel still offers top-notch performance for the value he …
Meme-O-Random: Red Sox Bullpen Strategy
Welp! The Red Sox won the World Series and in preparation for the defense of their title, they decided to let Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly go on their way. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays …
Why Billy Heywood Is the Greatest Fictional Baseball Manager of All Time
George Knox managed the California Angels in Angles in the Outfield. Lou Brown managed the Cleveland Indians in Major League. Jimmy Dugan, at times, managed the Rockford Peaches in A League of Their Own. None of these managers come close …
Fear and Loathing in Spring Training
Spring is a time of new life. It is a time of flowers and leaves and hummingbirds and bees. It is also the time of baseball’s spring training, so called because the teams are training for the upcoming season and …
