Baseball Statistics

I know this article is a little different and contradicts bloggers in this internet age, but bear with me!

This past weekend I was reading the latest Sports Illustrated Issue—the one with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and their newest pick-up LeBron James.

I will admit it that I have always been a sucker for a good sports read. Whether it be, SI, ESPN The Magazine, or since I discovered this whole new world we call the business of baseball, books focused of the economics of the game.

The biggest signing of the 2009 Winter Meetings was of course a deal that involved the New York Yankees.

A three-way trade between the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and the Arizona Diamondbacks was the most intriguing, a deal that included the following players;

The Golden Baseball League seems to have this habit of generating headlines in a sport dominated by A-Rod, Derek Jeter, and the New York Yankees.

On Saturday afternoon, during the Fox Saturday Game of the Week, the Boston Red Sox were playing host to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Nothing out of the ordinary, except that the Phillies are in dangerous team slump where hitting and pitching have seemingly affected everyone.

Surprise! Pete Rose is back in the news.

Apparently, there is a collector who has x-rayed one of Rose's old bats. He has discovered that the bat has something in it that may be cork or a similar substance. He even has some evidence that the bat was used in a game.

This is not really news, as a 2001 Vanity Fair article made the same allegations.

Here is why we should not care.

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With the Washington Nationals' publicity machine on overdrive, baseball in D.C. could be at an all-time high.

Bryce Harper, as you all know by now, is christened as the next, next, next big thing.

Stephen Strasburg and his 14 strikeout debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates lived up to everything it was meant to be and more!

Obviously, two No. 1 picks will get the glory, we all know that, but what about the guys getting drafted in the 20th, 30th, and 40th rounds.

If chicks did the long ball, there's not going to be a whole lot of love if your team is squaring off against the Mets.

For all of the questions about Jerry Manuel's rotation coming into the season, it has been an unlikely group of pitchers who have helped New York remain in contention in a highly competitive NL East.

Every team has their faults in the division, and with no one team running away with things one-third of the way through the year, it is as wide open as it has ever been.

Through the first 18 games, the Mets are at .500, and it is like the season is starting fresh. They still don’t have Carlos Beltran, but they do have Ike Davis and a healthy Jose Reyes, and some of the struggling players like Jason Bay and David Wright appear to be on the verge of breaking out.

Scott Kazmir, it seems, has been around forever.

Moneyball introduced the world to Kazmir, and he since has been at the head of the class.

Chosen 15th overall by the New York Mets and then signing for $2.15 million allowed Billy Beane to select Nick Swisher.

Kazmir went on to lead the resurgent Tampa Bay Rays into their lone playoff appearance as the “veteran” ace of the staff.

It appears that being the ace in your early 20s comes with its problems.

I am fan of Josh Towers.

He has the bulldog attitude, the will to win, the courage to push through when his stats tell us something further from the truth.

Towers saw early success while attending Oxnard JC, located in Oxnard California.  The Baltimore Orioles saw the promise and drafted Towers in the 15th round of the 1996 amateur draft.

1998 through to 2000 was when Towers put together three tremendous campaigns, going 30-21, with a 3.54 ERA in 500 innings.

Shelley Duncan has seen brief success when he has played for The New York Yankees from 2007 to 2009.  It is a completely different story when he gets full time play with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Triple-A affiliate of the 27 time World Champs.

Duncan lead the International League in home runs (30) RBI (99), runs and extra base hits, thus being honored by the Topps Company of New York, as their Player of the Year.