The 2014 Major League baseball season

[sagegrouse]

You betcha!

Here are the composite standings as of July 21 AM of the top teams:

	Washington	53	43	0.552
	Atlanta	        54	44	0.551
	San Francisco	54	44	0.551
	LA Dodgers	55	45	0.55
	St. Louis	54	45	0.545
	Milwaukee	54	45	0.545

It's even better than that, in that there are two teams in each division among the six listed.

[Olympic Fan]

You have to be a Yankee fan to appreciate the arrival of Chase Headley.

No, I don't think he's going to turn the season around or anything, but for the past three years, Headley has been the favorite free agent/trade prospect of Yankee fans everywhere. To finally get him (for a backup middle infielder and a non-prospect) is heaven. And his Yankee debut is the stuff of magic -- he wakes up in Chicago Tuesday morning, learns that he's been traded from the Padres to the Yankees, flies to New York, arrives after the Yankees have started their game with the Rangers and delivers the game winning hit in the 14th inning (never mind that he first appeared in the eighth and was 0-3 before his game-winner).

Alas, this is not the Headley who was one of the best young players in the game two years ago -- looking like a contender with Evan Longoria and David Wright as the best young third baseman in the game. That year he led the NL in RBIs, hit 31 homers had an .875 OPS and won a gold glove. He was an MVP candidate.

Last year, bothered by back issues, he slumped to 13 homers and a .747 OPS. He was struggling this season in San Diego, hitting .214 with a .640 OPS.

There is some hope that the move will help him -- Headley was hurt by the worst hitters park in baseball -- he is a career .804 OPS on the road and just .703 at Petco. As a left-handed power hitter, he ought to benefit from playing in Yankee Stadium.

The Yanks have to take a long look at Headley over the next two-plus months. He's a free agent after this season. He made $10 million last year. Do the Yankees pay him long-term or just let him go in October? They got him for virtually nothing (reportedly the Padres are paying part of his remaining salary), so they can let him go without cost.

Still, Headley is a guy that Yankee fans have lusted after for years ... great to see him in pinstripes.

PS I was amazed at some the stupid commentary about the trade by idiots who are supposed to know baseball. Keith Olberman, who I usually like, kept trying to make the point that Solarte (traded for Headley) was hitting better than Headley. Even when his expert guest kept telling him that Headley is a major upgrade, Olberman kept coming back to the relative OPS of the two players. Allow me to suggest that's an extremely simplistic reading of the stats.

Solarte is a career minor leaguer who was forced into action and responded with a great spring -- he was a spark with an .865 OPS the first month of the seaspn, But it was a flash in the pan. His OPS in June was a woeful .495 and in July was even worse -- and incredible .328 (not batting average ... that was .118). Over the last 28 days, he's hit .105 with a .333 OPS. Headley, over the last 28 fays, has hit .305 with a .736 OPS. Still not up to his 2012 standards, but far, far better than Solarte.

Plus, Headley is a huge defensive upgrade on Solarte (and Kelly Johnson) who had been butchering third base.

The Yankees did upgrade their third base position. I still don't think they are a playoff team -- unless they miraculously heal their four injured starters or make some better pitching moves than adding Brendan McCarthy and Jeff Francis.

[Blue in the Face]

Tigers trade for Joakim Soria. I don't know anything about they guys they gave up, but this seems like a pretty solid deal for them, picking up a good player in an area of need.

[Duvall]

Time for Atlanta to start dealing guys to get some prospects at the trade deadline?

[YmoBeThere]

The Reds are are on pace to lose their seventh in a row.

[mr. synellinden]

You have to be a Yankee fan to appreciate the arrival of Chase Headley.

No, I don't think he's going to turn the season around or anything, but for the past three years, Headley has been the favorite free agent/trade prospect of Yankee fans everywhere. To finally get him (for a backup middle infielder and a non-prospect) is heaven. And his Yankee debut is the stuff of magic -- he wakes up in Chicago Tuesday morning, learns that he's been traded from the Padres to the Yankees, flies to New York, arrives after the Yankees have started their game with the Rangers and delivers the game winning hit in the 14th inning (never mind that he first appeared in the eighth and was 0-3 before his game-winner).

Alas, this is not the Headley who was one of the best young players in the game two years ago -- looking like a contender with Evan Longoria and David Wright as the best young third baseman in the game. That year he led the NL in RBIs, hit 31 homers had an .875 OPS and won a gold glove. He was an MVP candidate.

Last year, bothered by back issues, he slumped to 13 homers and a .747 OPS. He was struggling this season in San Diego, hitting .214 with a .640 OPS.

There is some hope that the move will help him -- Headley was hurt by the worst hitters park in baseball -- he is a career .804 OPS on the road and just .703 at Petco. As a left-handed power hitter, he ought to benefit from playing in Yankee Stadium.

The Yanks have to take a long look at Headley over the next two-plus months. He's a free agent after this season. He made $10 million last year. Do the Yankees pay him long-term or just let him go in October? They got him for virtually nothing (reportedly the Padres are paying part of his remaining salary), so they can let him go without cost.

Still, Headley is a guy that Yankee fans have lusted after for years ... great to see him in pinstripes.

PS I was amazed at some the stupid commentary about the trade by idiots who are supposed to know baseball. Keith Olberman, who I usually like, kept trying to make the point that Solarte (traded for Headley) was hitting better than Headley. Even when his expert guest kept telling him that Headley is a major upgrade, Olberman kept coming back to the relative OPS of the two players. Allow me to suggest that's an extremely simplistic reading of the stats.

Solarte is a career minor leaguer who was forced into action and responded with a great spring -- he was a spark with an .865 OPS the first month of the seaspn, But it was a flash in the pan. His OPS in June was a woeful .495 and in July was even worse -- and incredible .328 (not batting average ... that was .118). Over the last 28 days, he's hit .105 with a .333 OPS. Headley, over the last 28 fays, has hit .305 with a .736 OPS. Still not up to his 2012 standards, but far, far better than Solarte.

Plus, Headley is a huge defensive upgrade on Solarte (and Kelly Johnson) who had been butchering third base.

The Yankees did upgrade their third base position. I still don't think they are a playoff team -- unless they miraculously heal their four injured starters or make some better pitching moves than adding Brendan McCarthy and Jeff Francis.

Headley went 3 for 4 tonight as the Yanks won again and now lead Toronto and Seattle for the second wild card slot. I love the trade for the Yankees - although the real chip for the Padres was probably DePaula who was one of the Yanks' top prospects the past two years. But after starting with two strong minor league seasons, he has struggled this year and last. He has great strikeout numbers but also has shaky control - if he ever improves that he could become a very good major league starter.

[Blue in the Face]

As 3 first-ballot electees go in to the Hall of Fame, a voting change is made, with players now only eligible for 10 years, rather than 15. (The only players currently on the ballot past their 10th year of eligibility, Lee Smith, Mattingly and Trammell will be grandfathered in and remain eligible through 15 years as long as they get 5% of the votes, but none has a chance to get in anyway). In the past few years, Rice, Sutter and Blyleven have gotten in after their 10th year, and 13 players total have been voted in by the BBWAA after the 10th year, out of 115 total that they've elected.

http://blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014...ting-policies/

[Olympic Fan]

As 3 first-ballot electees go in to the Hall of Fame, a voting change is made, with players now only eligible for 10 years, rather than 15. (The only players currently on the ballot past their 10th year of eligibility, Lee Smith, Mattingly and Trammell will be grandfathered in and remain eligible through 15 years as long as they get 5% of the votes, but none has a chance to get in anyway). In the past few years, Rice, Sutter and Blyleven have gotten in after their 10th year, and 13 players total have been voted in by the BBWAA after the 10th year, out of 115 total that they've elected.

http://blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014...ting-policies/

I'm not sure, but this could actually help the PED cheaters get into the Hall.

The cheaters like Bonds, McGwire, Clemons and all are not going to be elected by the voters. It's just not going to happen.

But cronyism has always ruled the veterans committee (or whatever its called -- they keep changing the name). The only hope for the cheaters is they'll be given a free pass when they come up on that committee.

I'm not positive how the rule change impacts this, but they will come off the ballot five years earlier -- and thus it seems as if will be eligible for selection by the committee five years sooner.

Incidentally, Tony LaRussa, who goes into the Hall Sunday, told Bill Madden of the Daily News earlier this week that he'd favor letting the cheaters in -- with an asterisk:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1880787

He also claims that he once went to management and wanted to take action against Canseco and McGwire, who he suspected of cheating:

I knew our programs in Oakland were 100% clean,” said La Russa, who managed the A’s from 1986-1995. “But we had our suspicions — guys hitting stronger but not working out. I went to Sandy and ownership about this. And they told me flat off, ‘Right of privacy. It’s a collective bargaining issue.’ ”

Sandy Alderson responded with an interesting statement:

Alderson, the general manager in Oakland from 1983 to 1997, told the Daily News Saturday morning: "I'm not going to comment on that until at least Monday."

Obviously he's going to dispute LaRussa's remarks, but doesn't want to detract from the HOF weekend.

Bryant Gumbel recently issued a commentary arguing that LaRussa should not go in the hall because so much of his success was based on steroid users -- and that LaRussa turned a blind eye to their cheating (indeed, to this day, he believes that McGwire was 100 percent clean):

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainmen...ec0ef2223.html

It should be noted that both Joe Torre and Bobby Cox, who are also going in the Hall Sunday, have benefited from cheaters -- although to a lesser degree. Torre had several years of Clemens and a few years of Jason Giambi. Cox has a couple of years from Gary Sheffield.

[Duvall]

Incidentally, Tony LaRussa, who goes into the Hall Sunday, told Bill Madden of the Daily News earlier this week that he'd favor letting the cheaters in -- with an asterisk:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...icle-1.1880787

He also claims that he once went to management and wanted to take action against Canseco and McGwire, who he suspected of cheating:

I knew our programs in Oakland were 100% clean,” said La Russa, who managed the A’s from 1986-1995. “But we had our suspicions — guys hitting stronger but not working out. I went to Sandy and ownership about this. And they told me flat off, ‘Right of privacy. It’s a collective bargaining issue.’ ”

We don't believe you Tony, you need more people. Unless it's just a coincidence that he stayed silent when Canseco and McGwire were hitting the home runs to win the game that put him in the Hall of Fame, but he is willing to speak up now when it will have no adverse impact on him whatsoever.

[YmoBeThere]

We don't believe you Tony, you need more people. Unless it's just a coincidence that he stayed silent when Canseco and McGwire were hitting the home runs to win the game that put him in the Hall of Fame, but he is willing to speak up now when it will have no adverse impact on him whatsoever.

The question I would ask is this, was Tony's record with the Cardinals sufficient to get him into the HoF?

[YmoBeThere]

"Jeter Close To Announcing" - I thought he already announced his retirement? LOL, I know, I know, different Jeter. But then, I thought there was only one?

[weezie]

Good old Jim Joyce, Tiger fan fav, blows another call.

He's a beaut, he is....

And, he thinks that idiotic moustache looks good! Moron.

[DU82]

Headley went 3 for 4 tonight as the Yanks won again and now lead Toronto and Seattle for the second wild card slot. I love the trade for the Yankees - although the real chip for the Padres was probably DePaula who was one of the Yanks' top prospects the past two years. But after starting with two strong minor league seasons, he has struggled this year and last. He has great strikeout numbers but also has shaky control - if he ever improves that he could become a very good major league starter.

I was at new Yankee Stadium today for the loss to the Blue Jays. The Jays kept letting the Yanks back in, but then the Yanks would give it back.

Headley hit his first Yankee homer, and made a very nice play in the field (along with the routine ones.) If indeed they figured out a flaw in his swing, I think the Yanks try and sign him to a multi-year deal. After all, the won't have another third baseman around next year, right?

[theAlaskanBear]

As 3 first-ballot electees go in to the Hall of Fame, a voting change is made, with players now only eligible for 10 years, rather than 15. (The only players currently on the ballot past their 10th year of eligibility, Lee Smith, Mattingly and Trammell will be grandfathered in and remain eligible through 15 years as long as they get 5% of the votes, but none has a chance to get in anyway). In the past few years, Rice, Sutter and Blyleven have gotten in after their 10th year, and 13 players total have been voted in by the BBWAA after the 10th year, out of 115 total that they've elected.

http://blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014...ting-policies/

IMHO, Lee Smith belongs in the hall. He was one of the three-four relief pitching pioneers who transitioned the game to the modern use of closer (along with Sutter, Eckersley, and Fingers). He was a better pitcher than Sutter, ended his career as the all time saves leader, and games finished. He was dominant in his time.

[throatybeard]

So I was at the Hall of Fame today, for my first and probably only time ever, for Glavine and Maddux, and to a lesser extent, Cox and TLR. Here are my observations. I report this more for the people who have never been to this event, and I stuck it in this thread because I didn't want to start a new thread.

1) I was shocked at how emotional I've been about this. Let me report my Facebook status:

Other than the day Shalay decided she and I were together, I think this has been the best day of my life. I got a photo of my son and me in front of Henry Aaron's plaque at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. That alone is worth a bunch of money and driving 1100 miles. It is only fitting to me that Maddux and Glavine (and TLR and Cox) went in at the same time. I found myself getting surprisingly emotional and I have probably cried about a dozen times today. I'm very grateful to my wife for making the trip and to my 4.5yo son for walking probably three or four miles today, which is like sixteen or twenty for him. I took my little boy to the Hall of Fame on the best possible day.

I might talk about Duke-UNC 1998 as third, or a number of Classical music events I went to, but don't come back at me with the birth of the kid (nineteen hours of watching my wife suffer so bad that it looked like she would die or something) or our wedding (a large party thrown for everyone in our lives except us who were stressed as hell for 72 hours). And I knew I wanted to go. But I lost it about twelve times, and kept putting my shades up so people mostly wouldn't know I was crying. I cannot express what Maddux, Glavine, (and Smoltz) mean to me.

2) The story of baseball is too the story of the Civil Rights era, I think largely because baseball was still bigger than the NFL back then. I took about fifty, sixty, pictures inside the museum, and a lot of the photo choices had to do with the Civil Rights era (Bell, Gibson, Paige, Doby, Robinson, Mays, Aaron, Brock). I have a friend who used to post here a lot but got bored with it, and he's from Milwaukee, and he basically said something to me like he thinks AfAm folks don't watch baseball, and in a statistical way that may be true in Milwaukee, but I was like dude, I live in StL and it's a huge baseball town, and there are tons and tons of Black baseball fans, and where I was a kid, I don't know as much, but there were a lot of old Black dudes who were into the Braves. Henry Aaron and Willie Mays are living, shining icons of the Civil Rights era. The most, most important to me about his trip was getting a picture with me and my 4.5yo son in front of Aaron's plaque. I do feel like this is a crisis in baseball

3) We left the ceremony after Frank Thomas because my kid was starting to melt down and, no disrespect to Torre, we also didn't want to deal with the aggressive, incivil Yankees fans. I felt bad because I felt like my gesture was disrespecting Torre. I like that guy plenty. But there are certain really mean people I have to limit my exposure to, especially when my little boy is with me. I can't have NYY fans being nasty to my 4.5yo son because of his StL gear. There are certain places I draw the line.

4) Like I said, I've never been here before. (Actually, I'm typing this post from a semi-janky Super 8, 25 miles away in Oneonta). The museum is shockingly tiny. Well not tiny, small. Floor 2 and 3 clearly must be under the fire marshal's control, as well as that of very thoughtful museum curators who have to do a lot of thinking about what gets moved out of those two floors when new things happen. I feel like the museum errs on the side of over-emphasizing key figures (Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Aaron, dominant teams, others not mentioned, no disrespect to them) over a more collective vision. But that's probably a really hard job and I have a lot of empathy for the people who have to make those decisions.

5) Further, if you've never been, this is the weirdest part. They direct you when you come in to the second floor. But what do you want to see? The plaques of the [now 305] men and [1] woman enshrined. But they direct you away from that and it's on the first floor near the gift shop. Everyone walks around taking crappy cell phone pictures of dimply lit jerseys on those floors. It's more about the better-lit plaques on the low floor with the skylights. And today, I got pictures of the mounts of the guys whose plaques hadn't made it from the stage to the wall yet. Labels. Weird.

6) Cooperstown is a gem. It is a real honest real place, forged before WWII and walkable. It's a delight. A real little town, not a crappy un-walkable exurb or suburb. I'm pretty sure that, despite our somewhat noxious car-formed appearance, we got the last free parking space in town because we showed up early. That's another thing. I expected the whole thing to be a huge butt pain...and it wasn't. We drove 1000 miles. (OK that was a pain). I figured it would take a couple hours of bumper-to-bumper to get into town...and it didn't, perhaps because we had the sense to come from the north, or perhaps because luck. My son loved all the real, honest local businesses on Main Street, at least the ones that sold baseballs and gumballs. The whole thing went insanely smoothly, including finding a spot under the six trees on the perimeter so my wife and kid didn't get melanoma this week. Then we beat the foot traffic because Torre held the last of the Yagul's farm crowd away from the museum. We so, so, so lucked out. Even to get to the site, we walked back, but we rode the bus because I was all like, "everyone is walking this way...we have to get in this line." And then it was the bus to the ceremony site.

7) I have a picture of me and my kid in front of whole thing went insanely smoothly, including finding a spot under the six trees on the perimeter so my wife and kid didn't get melanoma this week.

8) I love you Braves, I still do...20 or 25 years ago. I have disowned you because of this move you've pulled with Cobb County. We are done. Congratulations, Cobb residents. Your life was already hell before people introduced 40K people to the worst car juncture in your vicinity.

[throatybeard]

Also, I really love Frank Thomas. I missed so much of his career because he played in the league that doesn't play actual baseball. But that dude is so solid. Rally great person.

[weezie]

I was at new Yankee Stadium today ...

I'm going next week to see the lackluster Tigs and to bid farewell to Jeter.

Any stadium advice for a yokel such as myself?

Oh, and I dragged my family to Cooperstown many years ago. "Crazy Mom" I think that was the refrain...but I loved it! What a sweet little ballpark they have there!

[nocilla]

Semi-related but I am going with a group of fantasy baseballers to games this weekend. We will see Seattle @ Baltimore and Philly @ Washington. A few of us work together and a few others are joining us from as far away as California. We plan to visit the inner-harbor in Baltimore. My son wants to go to the science center so we will probably do that. I plan to try the crabcakes at some point on the trip. In DC we plan to sightsee around the capitol area. Any other suggestions for our short weekend trip are welcome.

[DU82]

I'm going next week to see the lackluster Tigs and to bid farewell to Jeter.

Any stadium advice for a yokel such as myself?

Oh, and I dragged my family to Cooperstown many years ago. "Crazy Mom" I think that was the refrain...but I loved it! What a sweet little ballpark they have there!

Bring plenty of money. They'll get you at every opportunity.

My sister's family had season tickets (boxes) in the old stadium, about even with first base, one section off the field. The last year, I think they were $85 each. The first year in the new one, they. We're placed being the foul pole, for over $100 each. That was the last year they did that.

This was a last minute thing, so I went solo, and scalped in with a ticket in the upper deck, three rows from the top. It was a couple of sections off home plate, and good views. I don't necessarily recommend scalping since the dealers are even more sketchy than at the ACC tourney! but the seats (~$23 each) were good.

I was staying with my sister in NJ, and drove to the Secaucus train station right off the Turnpike. Other than I missed a convenient train and had to wait about 30 minutes, it's about ten minutes into Penn Station, then about 30 on the subway (A train from 34th to 125th, switch to the D.). I'm not sure id be out of the garage by now, a day later, if I drove all the way. I can't recommend a hotel since I've not stayed in Manhattan for almost 20years (and that time it was a comp for my cousin's wedding.)

I plan on going to Cooperstown while in NY for the Syracuse football game in November. It's been about ten years since I was last there. About a 90 minute drive that I'll do on Friday.

[devildeac]

Destination Cooperstown in about 2.5 weeks and taking my wife who has never visited there. BB HOF in am, Ommegang Brewery for early afternoon lunch, tour and tastings. Wait, should this post be in Ymm, Beer thread now?