by Hans on January 28, 2009
As pitchers and catchers report in almost two weeks, the time has come to renew your passion for the game. Here are a few websites to help you explore just how far that passion can go.
1. www.fangraphs.com
Baseball has always been obsessed with numbers, its infinite empire of statistics expanding with every pitch. This site does a phenomenal job taking data, organizing it, and offering commentary through its blog. In particular, you can find things like data on the average velocity and type of pitch thrown by major leaguers. For example, did you know that Ubaldo Jimenez led qualified pitchers with a fastball that averaged 94.9 mph while Tim Wakefield placed at the bottom of the pack with an average of 72.9? This is my new favorite site and by a huge margin.
2. www.baseball-almanac.com
The history of this game is rich and seemingly endless. Baseball Almanac dedicates itself to preserving this history and does a wonderful job of it. Find amusing baseball quotes, the history of the Chicago Cubs uniforms, interviews with colorful characters in the game, and so on. Like much of life, you get what you put in. And if you put in the time to dig into all this website has to offer, you won’t be disappointed.
3. www.mlb.com
Ok. That was an obvious one. But people don’t fully appreciate the depth of information offered by this site, especially when it comes to video and other multimedia content. Look for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the league’s tech and media division, to start tying this site together with the all-new MLB cable channel. That’s when things start getting fun.
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by admin on January 15, 2009
With housing prices plummeting, foreclosures rising, and nearly a $1 trillion bailout needed to stop the bleeding, who would believe that ownership of one particularly attractive property has never been more lucrative? I’ll give you a clue: it is perhaps the most important and most fiercely contested piece of real estate in the history of mankind.
Alright, fine. Israel and Hamas would probably put the Gaza Strip a notch ahead. And on sleepless nights, even the middle of a small bed appears a greater battleground to a tired and uncomfortable couple. But the ability to lay claim to the 17 inch wide strike zone hovering over home plate has always proved profitable. Needless to say, the rent just went up… again.
While housing prices in the five boroughs have fallen 7.5% in the last twelve months, New York’s newest twin towers, CC Sabathia and Johan Santana, have each turned their abilities to own the strike zone into $23 million per year. As home plate covers about 1 2/3 square feet in area, their dominance is priced at roughly $14 million per square foot.
Johan Santana
So how solid is their claim on the deed? In the last 3 years, they have each thrown 687 innings giving us plenty of data to work with. In that time, Sabathia and Santana have shown exceptional control, striking out 4.49 and 4.24 as many batters as they have walked, respectively. This superior ability to focus on and conquer the strike zone puts them at first and second in the majors for pitchers with more than 120 innings per year. Over that same span, Johan and Carsten Charles have allowed 1.07 and 1.14 batters to reach to reach base per inning, respectively. Such denial of first base earned them the titles of stingiest and third stingiest in the majors. Even more miserly were Santana and Sabathia’s willingnesses to let runners score, putting up ERA’s of 2.87 and 3.03, respectively - good enough for best and second best in the majors.
CC Sabathia
Neighbors in New York, the Yankees and Mets both move into their new homes in 2009. And viewing both teams’ big signings as business decisions rather than baseball moves would easily be supported by the millions of fans and the revenue CC Sabathia and Johan Santana are likely to attract. But, like rival front offices in Baltimore, Washington, and many other cities know all too well, profits suffer when winning percentage drops for too many years in a row. So will the two simultaneously cheapest and most expensive pitchers live up to their contracts? Will they win the big battles and help bring home the ultimate hardware?
Come April, the answer will be just sixty feet and six inches away
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