News and Analysis: Stephen Strasburg Shutdown

Bryce Harper is the player that you love to have on your own team, but opponents can't stand him! He might have a swagger that annoys opponents, but he is one heck of a baseball player and this year he is breaking out to the superstar everyone expected! He is just 22 years of age and he is one of the most feared hitters in baseball. He has battled injuries to start his career because of what some have termed too much hustle, but this year he has put all together. He is hitting .331 27 home runs and 64 runs batted in the no question NL MVP at this point in the season. He might rub fans and opponents the wrong way but he is fun to watch play baseball I just wish as a Braves fan he was in a different division.

The new approach helped the Oakland A’s succeed because it was ethical. Billy Beane used numbers to evaluate the players. Numbers matter but can be misleading. By looking closely and understanding what he was doing Billy made good decisions based on numbers. The old approach was unethical because it misjudged the players. In the “old fashion statistics of the players some key important factors were left out. For instance the old statistics did not mention the number of walks a batter earned. This left out information misleads coach’s judgments and resulted in scouts undervaluing players.

But, Peterson didn’t only have a love for the game of baseball, but had a love for writing. After he had graduated from Upsala College, this love he had for writing lead him to work for many newspapers in Suffern, New York, Titusville, Pennsylvania, and Elyria, Ohio before joining the World-Telegram and Sun in 1962. But, in 1966, the paper closed and because of that event, he turned to freelance writing and set out to learn the history of the Negro Leagues. By interviewing the star players of the Negro Leagues and studying the plays of the players through microfilms. Peterson was inspired to try out for the Brooklyn Dodgers when he was nearly 30 but, these try-outs were unsuccessful for him as a player, and so he returned to writing newspaper

Bob Gibson is a retired baseball pitcher, he broke his ankle on July 1967, he had 268 strikeouts, 13 shoutouts, 15 consecutive wins, and 92 innings. Bob Gibson was known as “The Year of the Pitcher” in 1968. Before he retired he got 3,117 strikeouts, he won 251 games and lost 174 games.

Baseball statistics are meant to be a representation of a player’s talent. Since baseball’s inception around the mid-19th century, statistics have been used to interpret the talent level of any given player, however, the statistics that have been traditionally used to define talent are often times misleading. At a fundamental level, baseball, like any game, is about winning. To win games, teams have to score runs; to score runs, players have to get on base any way they can. All the while, the pitcher and the defense are supposed to prevent runs from scoring. As simplistic as this view sounds, the statistics being used to evaluate individual players were extremely flawed. In an attempt to develop more

Kershaw has achieved what many pitchers dream about many times. In 2011, Kershaw produced a appealing record of 21-5 with an Era of 2.28 and 248 strikeouts made it an easy selection to award Kershaw his First Cy Young Award. Kershaw, had achieved a triple crown, leading pitchers in wins, strikeouts and Era in 2011 to go along with a gold glove award. Clayton Kershaw is the youngest, three time CY-Young award winner, and first NL pitcher to win the MVP award since “Bob Gibson” in 68. Kershaw from 2011 to 2014 has had the lowest earned run average in baseball for four straight years. Kershaw is destined for the Hall Of Fame, as a batter, Clayton Kershaw had a higher on-base percentage as a batter [2.35] than opposing hitters against him [.231].Kershaw is a five time all-star from [2011-2015.] Kershaw has thrown two no hitters in his career, but has never made it to the World Series unlike Justin

The Chicago Cubs (Arrieta’s team) record is 26-8. Arrieta has pitched in at least 10 of those games, and in each game he’s pitched in, they have won. He pitches more than an average pitcher, and can pitch more innings that an average pitcher. The Los Angeles Dodgers (Kershaw’s team) record is 18-17. Kershaw has pitched in at least 10 of those games, but has not won each game he’s pitched in. This shows that Jake Arrieta holds his opponents to not score, and gives his offense a chance to gain momentum and score and win. “Arrieta didn't say outright that he was worth more than the seven-year, $175 million contract that the Nationals awarded to Stephen Strasburg earlier this week, but he came close. "I'll let you judge that. Just look at the numbers," he said. When asked if he would be giving the Cubs a hometown discount, he said, "No" while shaking his head. This season, the reigning NL Cy Young winner holds a minuscule 0.84 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, and 37/12 K/BB ratio over 43 innings. As is befitting of those fine numbers, the ace right-hander has jumped out to a 6-0 record. May 11 - 11:53 PM” (http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/5017/jake-arrieta). This quote shows that Arrieta has not only the confidence and mental state to be the best pitcher in the league, but that he also has the performance to back it up.

He gave the edge on pitching to the Reds, but believed the White Sox offense and experience gave them a better chance at victory.

Clayton Kershaw has been sidelined for the entirety of the second half of the regular season and is finally making a return. The Los Angeles Dodgers has announced today that Clayton Kershaw will make his first start of the second half this Friday against the Marlins in Miami. Kershaw started out this season looking better than we have ever seen him before, and that is saying a lot. Before Kershaw was injured his record was 11 – 2, with a 1.79 ERA, and a 16.1 – 1 strikeout to walk ratio. If Kershaw had not been injured and continued at the pace he was at, he would have been the clear NL Cy Young Award winner and NL MVP Award winner. Kershaw’s return is highly anticipated especially by the Dodgers because if they have him back at the level he was playing at, that means they will be going into the playoffs as one of the best teams.

It is hard to be homesick when the Indians gave the players good places to stay big dinning halls. Roger’s contract said that he would start in Class C ball. The Fargo-Moorhead Twins., which is perfect for him because it was close to home. But a front office person said that he should start in Class D ball which means he would stay in Daytona. Roger argued and was stubborn because he wanted to play in front of his family and friends. Being so stubborn Roger said “ I am going to go home to play or go home to stay.” Most times players would be bluffing but the Indians knew how stubborn he was being that this was no lie. So Maris won and got to go home to play. After one year of playing ball with the Fargo Twins and with his older brother now ay North Dakota State University and Polio free, Roger decided to leave. Leaving with him was Pat his wife. The Indians wanted him to play Class C ball again but Maris dug in his heels and said “ Promote me to Class B or I am leaving.” and yet again Roger won and he got promoted. The manager of Class B ball loved Roger, he loved the way he played. Roger had a great season with a crazy .315 average, 32 home runs,111 RBIs and 25 stolen

The other day, I got into an argument about Rick Porcello. One person made that argument that if you believe in fWAR, Porcello has been good. He’s been worth 8.4 fWAR over the past 3.5 years or about roughly 2.4 fWAR per year primarily due to a strong FIP and the ability to pitch a lot of innings. If one win costs $7.5 million then paying $20 million per year is a slight but not huge overpay. Writers at Fangraphs have also argued that Porcello is underrated (http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-underappreciated-and-evolving-rick-porcello/), that he’s developed nicely into a 3 win player (http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/tigers-and-red-sox-swap-cespedes-and-porcello/) that moving to Boston will make him better (http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/three-things-the-red-sox-will-do-for-rick-porcello/) and that he is worth ((http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/rick-porcellos-upcoming-enormous-payday/) roughly $20 million per year (http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/red-sox-lock-up-rick-porcello/). Paul Swydan, an author for Fangraphs, wrote an article in the Boston Globe suggesting that Porcello is the thirteenth best pitcher in baseball (https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/12/19/red-sox-really-need-get-ace-pitcher/mSX30HHA8zMnh1jVd0XGmO/story.html). On the other hand, I made the argument that Porcello is a slightly better version of Bud Norris. Let me explain why I made that argument and why just using one number to decide a pitcher is worth $100 million isn’t always the best

Although Curt Flood lost his fight for free agency, it was not considered a total loss due to the development of the “10-and-5 rule.” The 10-and-5 rule, is any player with 10 years of major league service and 5 years with the same team could not be traded without his consent. The 10-and-5 rule would have prevented Flood’s trade and is often referred to as the “Curt Flood Rule.” (p. 314). Unfortunately, Flood did not get to see his dream come true because it wasn’t till after his passing did the Curt Flood Act of 1998 come to life allowing free

According to Burns, “Those who wear pinstripes and affiliated with the New York Yankees organization are not only expected to win, they are required to represent themselves in the utmost professional manner, both on and off the field” (45). Yankee management demands that the entire organization to promote a positive image of the club which can be viewed as professional and humble or, arrogant and overconfident. Perceptions of the franchise not only varies between

There have been many famous figures that have made a significant impact in the sport industry. One person, who was hired in 2002 at the age of 28, is one of those people. Theo Epstein has made monumental waves in the sport industry since he became the general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2002. Since then, Epstein has gone on to revolutionize baseball in hiring young, educated, talented minds with knowledge and understanding of sabermetrics to lead their organizations. Epstein was one of the first general managers to receive the title who had no professional baseball playing experience. As a model of success, other Major League Baseball franchises have begun hiring young intellectuals like Epstein to run their teams.

Former Major League Baseball great and the ex-manager of the Cincinnati Reds expressed disappointments over the decision of Commissioner Rob Manfred to uphold his lifetime ban in the league but admitted that he put the new top official “in a tough spot to make a judgment on my situation.”