Baseball Page 1129 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

When Should Managers Pull Their Starting Pitchers?
"A Data-driven Method for In-game Decision Making in MLB" is easily the worst title of the eight Sloan paper finalists, which is a shame, given that it's actually an interesting application of machine learning that's directly related to one of the most important aspects of baseball game management. ...

MLB Bans Home-Plate Collisions, But Not Really
Here is the newly approved (and "experimental" ) Rule 7.13. You need only pay attention to the parts I've bolded....

The Angels Are Going To Screw Up Mike Trout's Contract
Yahoo's Jeff Passan reports that the Angels and Mike Trout are in talks on a contract extension that would lock up the 22-year-old superstar for six years and around $150 million. This is an eminently reasonable number; it just makes no sense for the Angels....

Mike Trout Has Finally Broken Baseball's Math
For the past few years, Mike Trout has been the biggest steal in sports. He's had two otherworldly seasons, and he's only 22. So on the surface, news that the Angels are trying to lock him up to a six-year deal worth about $150 million makes sense. But it's actually remarkable for how much sense it ...

The Milwaukee Brewers' Adopted Stray Dog Is The Best Dog
This is Hank the dog. Hank is a stray who wandered into the Milwaukee Brewers' spring training facility last week, and has since become the team's unofficial mascot. Hank is the best dog....

Fat Jesus Montero On His Offseason: "All I Did Was Eat"
Once-hot catching prospect Jesus Montero, who was shipped to Seattle by the Yankees in exchange for Michael Pineda (as of two years later, it seems like one of the fairest trades ever made), is now trying to salvage a big-league career. He's not doing a very good job of it. ...

Tim Byrdak Posts Handwritten "Reliever For Sale" Ad
Crafty lefty (there are no other kinds of lefty, especially not ones playing at age 40) reliever Tim Byrdak doesn't have a spring training invite. So he took to Twitter to request one:...

Grant Balfour Has A Big-Ass Truck
This is Rays reliever Grant Balfour's big-ass truck. He is far from the only pitcher to own a big-ass truck, but his might be the biggest-ass of them all....

MLB Drops Its Sham Lawsuit Against Biogenesis's Tony Bosch
After getting what it wanted—the Biogenesis founder's testimony and evidence against Alex Rodriguez—MLB has dropped its lawsuit against Tony Bosch. Everyone try to act surprised....

Quantifying Hustle: How Many Runs Does Cano's Slacking Cost His Team?
Originally published on Baseball Prospectus...

Yu Darvish Jokes That Masahiro Tanaka Is Overpaid, Everyone Freaks Out
Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish was asked about the newest Japanese import, and more specifically, the seven year, $155-million contract with the Yankees that blew Darvish's deal (under the old posting system) out of the water. Darvish made the mistake of being sarcastic. It didn't translate....

David Ortiz: "Fuck Them. I'm Tired Of Hearing Them Talk Shit"
Red Sox designated hitter/style icon David Ortiz, who's in the last year of his contract and coming off his best regular season since his mid-aughts prime and an all-time postseason run, has made it clear this winter that he wants money. The world's response has mainly been, "Well, the Red Sox shoul...

Ryan Dempster Gives Up $13 Million, Plans To Not Pitch In 2014
Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster announced that he'd sit out the 2014 season at spring training today, voluntarily relinquishing the $13.25 million he was scheduled to make this year....

Bartolo Colon Is Still A Large-Ass Man
Mets players have arrived for spring training, and pitcher Bartolo Colon hasn't lost any weight, in case you were wondering. His body type could best be described as "out-of-shape dad." Colon's shirt also isn't helping him appear svelte....


Jim Fregosi, Dick-Waving Angel
Baseball lifer Jim Fregosi died early this morning after being taken off life support, days after suffering a stroke on an MLB alumni cruise. One of the best shortstops of his era, Fregosi went on to spend more than two decades as a manager and coach and remained a scout right up until his death at ...

CC Sabathia Is Skinny Now And It's Weird
This screengrab of a gaunt-looking CC Sabathia at last night's Knicks game is making the rounds, and it's damn near disturbing. Is he...OK? We are happy to report that Sabathia is healthy, maybe healthier than he's been in decades....

America's Baseball Writers Mourn The Passing Of Derek Jeter
Like the rest of us, America's baseball writers were surprised when New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter took to Facebook yesterday to announce his retirement. Unlike the rest of us, many of them seem to have been so surprised that they mistook his retirement for his death, and wrote obituaries. Her...

Which NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL Teams Have The Best Local Fan Bases?
Nielsen released its annual "Year in Sports Media Report" last week, a fascinating look into who consumed sports in 2013 and how they did so. There's tons of great trend data if you're into this sort of thing—TV viewership is down for the NBA while every other sport has grown; mobile devices are tak...
