TwitterAs is my wont, I’m giving Friday over to some rapid-fire observations and notes, from all over the place: Every batter’s optimal plate approach is different. Some guys should swing much more often, especially in… Read more »
Posts by Matthew Trueblood
By now, you know the drill. These are my weekly power rankings, my best estimate of the relative strength of all 30 teams (NOT their playoff chances, mind you, but their actual, bedrock quality). The… Read more »
The life of a two-pitch starting pitcher is a difficult one. If either of your go-to offerings isn’t working on a given night, you’re in deep trouble, trying to pitch around a fundamental weakness and… Read more »
I hate the qualifying offer, because it dampens the market for perfectly good players, and forces teams to choose between the near and long term, instead of trying to improve both at the same time…. Read more »
This is Chicago Cubs outfield prospect Jacob Hannemann. He’s off to a strong, if somewhat short of dazzling, start for the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League. Hannemann was the Cubs’ third-round choice in… Read more »
Mike Olt was one of the dozen best prospects in baseball, then a bust, then a great recovery story. Now, he’s in danger of washing out of baseball.
The worst starting rotation in baseball is that of the Diamondbacks, but their ineptitude doesn’t show up early in starts.
“I hope you’re happy, everyone. You’ve used up all the baseball. Like Social Security and gasoline, baseball will be dried up and gone before you retire, before your kids graduate high school.” Keith Olbermann glowers at you… Read more »
April is finally over, and we’ve come to what, to me, is often the toughest time to be a baseball fan. The weather hasn’t yet turned. Your schedule isn’t yet relaxed for the summer. The… Read more »
Forty-one years ago, a group of desperate men made a desperate decision. The American League lagged far behind the National League, in terms of average attendance, perceived quality of play and number of star players…. Read more »
Most teams throughout Major League Baseball will play 79 intradivisional games this season. A handful will play 80. Now that the leagues are of equal size and each division contains five teams, there’s less variation in… Read more »
I could probably make three articles from this, but I’ll run through the condensed version of each finding here instead, for concision’s sake: -Late last week, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs wrote a quick post about the… Read more »
In late August 1993, police responded to a 911 call from the home of Barry Bonds. It was Bonds’s wife, Sun, who had called, and she told the responding officers that, among other things, Bonds… Read more »
Regular readers (all four of you) will be familiar with this exercise. I began it last week. These are power rankings, my best estimate of true, relative team quality, listed from last to first, with… Read more »
With some terrible teams, it’s fascinating to go through all the varied and excruciating ways in which they lose games. The 2014 Arizona Diamondbacks are not such a team. Unlike, say, the most recent Houston… Read more »
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ season is essentially over. The sooner they recognize that, the better off they will be. On Tuesday night, the Chicago Cubs thumped Arizona 9-2, pushing the Diamondbacks to 5-18 on the season…. Read more »
I’m a guest on Tuesday’s edition of Effectively Wild, the daily podcast from Baseball Prospectus. It was a thrill for me, as one who has listened to all 430-plus episodes of the podcast thus far. Co-hosts Ben Lindbergh… Read more »
Believe it or not, I don’t spend all of my time expanding a meager idea into a 2,500-word blah-fest. I learn plenty of new things about baseball every day, so once a week, I’m going… Read more »
Look, MLB power rankings are stupid. I could broaden that and say that all power rankings are stupid, but: At least in football, one can take the time to smartly build a list, without having… Read more »
The Houston Astros completed a senseless development process for a top prospect Tuesday, announcing that they will promote George Springer to the Major Leagues Wednesday. Springer, 24, was their first-round pick in 2011, and hasn’t stopped… Read more »
Heroism is in short supply, anymore. In fact, since the end of World War II, the number of people American society has called ‘hero’ has been in steady, steep, inexorable decline. Politicians used to be… Read more »
Just a few quick things this morning, issues that have my attention right now: Stop the Bellyaching About Replay: I can’t believe the number of people complaining about the expanded instant-replay system in the early… Read more »
Michael Pineda had pine tar on his hand for the first half of the New York Yankees’ tilt with the Boston Red Sox Thursday night. Baseball Twitter noticed, flooding everyone with screenshots pulled from the… Read more »
I don’t get to a great many live baseball games. I live in the Twin Cities area, which means any affiliate minor-league ball is a five-hour drive away, and the cost of going to MLB… Read more »
You’re the Commissioner of Baseball, and there’s a gun to your head. The masked man forces you to make a substantial change to baseball’s rules governing games tied at the end of nine innings. In… Read more »
Didi Gregorius is playing second base for the Triple-A Reno Aces right now, waiting for an injury or some massive failure to open a spot for him on the Arizona Diamondbacks’ roster. Gregorius was Arizona’s… Read more »
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (we have to do something about that) thumped the Houston Astros 9-1 on Monday afternoon. Mike Trout didn’t have a sensational game, and there was no singular standout performance… Read more »
Just the tables. Commentary to come, as time permits: American League East Central West Tampa Bay – 94-68 Cleveland – 89-73 Anaheim – 90-72 New York – 89-73 Detroit – 85-77 Texas – 88-74 Boston… Read more »
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Gerardo Parra got famous for his defensive highlight reel last season, and some defensive measurement systems credited him with 40 or so runs of value added with the glove. You should always… Read more »
An exercise in summary, inspired by Bill James: The 2014 Cubs in 25 words: The climax of the season will be the trade deadline. A young team, they’re still a year away. Yet, their talent… Read more »
