Blog Archives
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – April 23, 2015
ESPN.com
Chris Rock gave a hilarious if depressing rant about the lack of interest of African Americans on baseball. And along the way made some interesting observations about nostalgia.
I can’t speak for being African American. But I can say that baseball needs to build on a solid foundation to open its appeal and maybe not be so afraid to have fun.
I recounted and it is episode 912 of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast..
Johnny Cueto, Sonny Gray, Kolten Wong, Devon Travis, Jimmy Nelson, Roberto Hernandez, A.J. Pierzynski and Dustin Pedroia all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball?
Here is Chris Rock’s Rant from HBO Sports.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – February 8, 2015
It is time for The Sunday Request.
@sullybaseball Sunday question. I’m not sure if you’ve done this one before: The worst team to win it all? I go with the ’87 Twins.
— Tony (@tony_f70) January 31, 2015
Talking about the odd 1987 Twins, I discussed Kirby Puckett and company with ESPN’s Dan Szymborski.
It is an odd walk down memory lane on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Follow Dan Dan Szymborski on Twitter by clicking HERE.
Jeter Passes Yaz, Maybe Ties Wagner for 7th On ALL Time Hits List?: Plus #2’s Historical #’s
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Derek Jeter had 3 base hits in last night’s 4 – 2 loss to the Texas Rangers. In doing so, the man now has 3420 hits for his career.
Carl Yastrzemski had 3419 to hold onto the 8th spot previously, but Jeter’s 3420th hit seems to be confusing when you look at the websites of both http://www.mlb.com and http://www.baseballreference.com
BBREF has Honus Wagner listed at 3420, which would have El Capitan tying that mark for 7th last night, while MLB has Wagner listed at 3430 Career Hits.
All will be a moot point when Jeter passes the 3431 hits plateau in a few weeks, and shortly after that he should nestle into the 6th slot for good, when he passes Cap Anson. (3435)
For those that still don’t give Derek Jeter the respect he deserves, the man also is the Career Hits leader ever for an Infielder.
Of his 3420 base knocks. 3337 have come as a SS and 81 at the DH position, which is ahead of Wagner, Anson, and Eddie Collins.
The other 2 hits come via pinch hitting.
Wagner and Anson both saw some time in the Outfield during their time. Read the rest of this entry
How All Of The Twins Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree
The Twins won World Series in 1987 and 1991 based on a great number of Draft Picks. When the team struggled for a decade after the 91 Title, the club used another core of players drafted for another successful run. Now after a 3 year plus hiatus from contention, the club has been stockpiling great talent in the Minors, and maybe ready for another run really soon.
How All Of The Twins Hitters Were Acquired:
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Quite frankly, the Twins Roster Tree for the hitters was pretty uneventful.
The majority of the players were drafted by the team – or signed as a Free Agent. The greatest form of a chain of transactions revolve around Eduardo Escobar.
The Twins Utility Infielder can be traced all the way back to them drafting A.J. Pierzynski. That trade enabled the franchise for a string of Division wins based on the players brought back.
Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano were key contributors for almost a decade each. Liriano was dealt in 2012 for the Utility Infielder.
Josh Willingham and Kurt Suzuki highlight the club’s Free Agent signings. These guys may be made available for the pending Trade Deadline.
The Twins are an organization that has built within a couple of separate times for lengthy success runs.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the franchise parlayed drafts of Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Frank Viola, Chuck Knoblauch and Scott Erickson into 2 World Series wins. Read the rest of this entry
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – June 16, 2014
Jeff Topping Reuters
Today’s episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast. is a tribute to Tony Gwynn, the best hitter of his generation and one of the easiest players to root for in baseball history.
May he rest in peace.
Derek Norris, Travis Wood, Troy Tulowitzki, Hisashi Iwakuma, Mike Trout, Chris Tillman, Jonathan Lucroy and Madison Bumgarner all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 22, 2013
Photos: Matt Campbell, AFP / Ezra Shaw. Getty Images
It is the SUNDAY REQUEST of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
@sullybaseball Request:10 players who u would have loved to have had on ur roster,10 on your roster who you would have traded for Cheetos.
— Andre Straub (@strauberry72) December 17, 2013
What players did I want on the Sox?
Which players did I want off the team?
Oh boy, this is a topic I have given WAAAYYYYY too much thought to.
My 2010 post about my Least Favorite Red Sox players can be found by clicking HERE.
To subscribe to The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast on iTunes, click HERE.
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Passing The Torch From Greatest MLB Player To Player During The Years 1979 – 2013: From Brett To Cabrera
Cabrera has had back to back AL MVP seasons in 2012 and 2013. He has also won 3 straight AL Batting Titles. Cabrera is the best player offensively in the universe. He has put up 10 straight 100+ RBI campaigns, but he has racked in 276 RBI, and also 88 HRs – while featuring an OPS well north of 1.000. The 11 Year Veterans totals would have even been higher in 2013, but he fought a torn groin for the last half of the year. The 8 time ALL – Star and 5 time Silver Slugger Award Winner has improved even greater on his totals over the last decade. Cabrera has a Career 3 Slash Line of .321/.399/.967 – with 365 HRs and 1260 RBI in just 1660 Games Played.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
While watching Miguel Cabrera this year, I started thinking about the best players in the MLB over the last 33 years. I am talking the best player of the game at any point of time.
I tracked back to 1979 for this article. I may expand further back in follow-up articles. I didn’t rank defense as highly as offense when I came up with the players.
I agonized over players like Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken for some of the years given in specific time frames. These gentlemen were given every consideration.
In the end, we are talking about the best player in the game though and it is always subject to debate and personal opinion.
The criteria had to involve leading the league in several different offensive and/or defensive categories, followed by routinely being in the top 7 in MVP balloting (if not taking home the honor), All-Star Appearances for every year I listed them for and most of them won silver sluggers and/or Gold Gloves as well.
Cabrera’s 3 HR Game – 2013
Time To Elect Don Mattingly Into Cooperstown
Don Mattingly won 3 straight AL Sporting News Player of The Years – and was the best ALL-Around player in the game from 1984-1986 leading 13 Offensive Categories for the 3 years. His 145 RBI in 1985 was the most for a LHB since Stan Musial in 1949. He hit .340 with 656 Hits, 145 2B, 88 HRs, 368 RBI and only SO 112 times in 2131 PA’s. He also led the league in Doubles from 1984-1986. Mattingly’s 388 Total bases in 1986 had been the most in the Majors since Willie Mays back in the 1962 season. Mattingly won the first of 9 gold gloves in 1985.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Okay, it is time for me to make my argument for my favorite player of all time to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
There will be several people that will say that Don Mattingly’s career stats of: H-2154, HR-222, RBI-1099, AVG-.307 and 9 Gold Gloves are not enough in just 14 seasons.
I am not counting his 7 game-stint in 1982 with this. As a rookie in 1983, Don only .hit .283 with 4 HRs and 32 RBIs.
The Minnesota Twins Players, Organizational Affiliates, Prospects + Depth Charts (MLB + MiLB)
Ron Gardenhire and Tom Kelly have been the only 2 men to manage the Twins in the last 27 years. Having stability in the Manager and GM position lends itself for a proper run franchise in terms of on the field success. The Twins will give Gardenhire the chance to rebuild with this club yet again. Stocked with several young prospects, we could the club turn around to be a contender again in the next few years.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @mlbreports and Jeff Kleiner (Salary, Roster and Depth Chart Expert for the MLB) – visit his website here Follow @prosportsroster
The Minnesota Twins have had 3 – 90+ Losses Seasons in a row. This came right on the heels of the franchise having made the playoffs 6 out of 9 years.
All of those Post Season Appearances were made as Division Champions from the AL Central.
The Twins had enough smarts about them to understand where they were in the 1990’s. The management knew the club was better off building within – rather than spending via Free Agency.
From 1993 – 2000, the team never finished better than 4th in the Division they played. The club drafted really high for this time period, and had a nice renaissance by the time 2001 started.
For all of the Rosters, Depth Charts, State of the Unions and Salaries Posts that we do, please visit our dedicated page link here.
Joe Mauer 2013 Highlights
Minnesota Twins Organization: Payroll, Depth Charts + Rosters, (MLB + MiLB)
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Follow @mlbreportsSunday, June.23/2013
Ron Gardenhire and Tom Kelly have been the only 2 men to manage the Twins in the last 26 years. Having stability in the Manager and GM position lends itself for a proper run franchise in terms of on the field success. The Twins will give Gardenhire the chance to rebuild with this club yet again.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024 and welcome Jeff Kleiner (Salary, Roster and Depth Chart Expert for the MLB) – visit his website here Follow @prosportsroster
You guys are all in for a treat. Jeff Kleiner recently contacted me about a partnership merge for the website. He has developed a site (prosportsrosters.com) that covers all organizational affiliates in the Minors for all of the Major League Baseball Clubs. We are going to combine efforts to bring you the best look at salaries, current 25 Man Player Rosters and Depth Charts for all 30 teams.
Jeff is going to provide the documents in form of spreadsheets and I am going to accompany the posts with deep analysis of what the numbers tell us from my perspective. If you can’t wait for all of my assessments for each club, go and visit Jeff’s website over at http://www.prosportsrosters.com.
In Speaking with Jeff, he is one of the more passionate fans I have come across towards the game of baseball. He spends enough time in updating his MLB Facts for it to be a Full-Time Job. So after the usual Video Clip and READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY button, you will find some serious &*!@?!#!
Jeff updates this page below on a daily basis. After you click on it….Bookmark it. There is a 3 year salary forecast and stats not listed here on this page. Jeff updates these pages daily and these changes include any Roster moves!
For a Full 3 year Salary Outlook plus last years Stats for every player in the Twins Organization click here.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – April 25, 2013
The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast today salutes the long and memorable career of Mets reliever LaTroy Hawkins. He has pitched for nearly 20 years, surviving in the game and becoming teammates with some of the game’s best.
Edinson Volquez, Jordanny Valdispin, Alex Cobb and J. P Arencibia owned baseball on April 24, 2013.
To see the up to date tally of “Who Owns Baseball?”, click HERE.
Subscribe on iTunes HERE.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – April 25, 2013
Part 1 of a Series: All-Time All-Star Teams By Regionality
Friday November 23th, 2012
Note from Alex Mednick: I am going to be putting together a small project that accumulates all the best players of all time, and puts them together on teams according to their birthplace. For example, in this first edition I will be breaking down players from the United States of America into teams from the 1) Northeast, 2) Southeast, 3) Midwest, and 4) Southwest…(sorry, there really is not enough quality coming out of the northwest to compete with these teams…maybe I will put a Northwestern United States team in a later edition with less competitive teams). Later on I will bring you teams assembled from the all-time greats out Central and South American (Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Panama Canal Zone, etc.) and the All-Caribbean Team (Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Curacao, etc). Also look forward to teams from Japan, Canada and the EU. Should be fun to sort of assemble an “Olympics” of Baseball. I love watching the World Baseball Classic and seeing players fight for their nations pride…but by grouping the teams by region, it might make the teams more competitive. Of course, this is all for the sake of speculation; Babe Ruth was a great player, but I don’t think he will be taking any at-bat’s soon. (Also, please note that I do not lend consideration to relief pitchers in this analysis). Read the rest of this entry
Passing of the Torch as The Greatest Player in The MLB: From Pujols to Hamilton
Wednesday June.6, 2012
Josh Hamilton is on pace for 64 HRs and 177 RBI in 2012 with a .345 AVG. He has taken over as the best player in MLB from Albert Pujols -Photo Courtesy of http://www.real-fans.com
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- While watching Josh Hamilton this year, I started thinking about the best players in the MLB over the last 33 years. I am talking the best player of the game at any point of time. I tracked back to 1979 for this article. I may expand further back in follow up articles. I did rank defense highly when I came up with the players. I did agonize over Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken for some of the years given in specific time frames. These gentlemen were given every consideration. In the end, we are talking about the best player in the game though and it is always subject to debate and personal opinion. The criteria had to involve leading the league in several different offensive and/or defensive categories, followed by routinely being in the top 7 in MVP balloting(if not taking home the honor), All-Star Appearances for every year I listed them for and most of them won silver sluggers and/or Gold Gloves as well.
George Brett won batting titles in 3 different decades and flirted with .400 in 1980 while hitting .390 for the year. -Photo courtesy of lanius.wordpress.com
George Brett 1979-1983-George Brett was the best hitter in the game from 1979-1983. He hit for a .320 average and slugged his way to having the Royals as perennial contenders. He led the league in triples (20) and hits in 1979. In 1980, he hit .390 with a .454 OBP, 664 SLG and a 1.118 OBP which led the league. In 1983, Brett led the league in slugging an OPS once again. Brett won the MVP in 1980 and was the runner-up in 1979. In 1985, George Brett would lead the Royals to a World Series. He later won a batting title at age 37 with a .329 average. This was the toughest time frame to judge from 1979-1983. Mike Schmidt was an incredible force at third base with huge power and Jim Rice also put up mammoth numbers, but in the end I chose George Brett because he was more consistent out of 3. Read the rest of this entry
An Interview with Target Field Expert Stephanie Caro
Saturday, April.14/2012
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)-I had a lot of fun prospecting for the best interview experts amongst the friends network that I have in at http://www.ballparkchasers.com. I must say that I knew that Stephanie was a big fan of the Twins, I just didn’t know how far back her fandom went with the club. I was asking questions about the team since the Metrodome days us until now. Stephanie has been a fan since the team moved there from Washington. It was then I knew that having Stephanie as an expert for the Twins was the right decision!
CB: “Welcome to the MLB Reports Target Field Expert Interview Stephanie. Please tell us about yourself and then give us some information on your life as a Twins fan?”
SC: “I’ve been a Twins fan since I attended my very first Bat Day at Metropolitan Stadium in 1971. (With thousands of bats pounding against the old metal decks, I remember it being extremely loud!) As a kid, I would listen to the Twins game on my transistor radio after I went to bed; now, as a middle-aged woman, I keep track of the Twins via radio, TV and/or Internet.” Read the rest of this entry
Time to Elect Don Mattingly into Cooperstown
Monday December 5, 2011
Doug Booth- Guest Baseball Writer: Okay, it is time for me to make my argument for my favorite player of all time to be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. There will be several people that will say that Don Mattingly’s career stats of: H-2154, HR-222, RBI-1099, AVG-.307 and 9 Gold Gloves are not enough in just 14 seasons. I am not counting his 7 game-stint in 1982 with this. As a rookie in 1983, Don only .hit .283 with 4 HR’S and 32 RBI’s. In Donnie’s first year as a full time first baseman, he led the AL with a .343 AVG-with 23 HR’S and 110 RBI’s, also leading the league in hits with 207 and 2B’s with 48.
They say that if you have a shortened career-(and Mattingly’s back injury in the late eighties certainly robbed him of a definite Hall of Fame Career,) then you better have an incredible stretch as the best player in baseball. It is my belief that Don Mattingly was the best all-around player from 1984-1989, with apologies to Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Dale Murphy, Don’s incredible consistency during this 6 year stretch included these numbers. A .327 AVG with 160 HR’s and a staggering 682 RBI’s with 257 doubles and 1219 hits. Nobody had more RBI’s and extra base hits in that time frame. Only Wade Boggs had more hits. The 6 year AVG breaks down to an AVG of .327 with H-204, 2B-43, HR-27 and RBI-114. What is most impressive is that Mattingly only averaged 33 strikeouts a season/or about 1/23 Plate appearances in this stretch.
During this stretch-Mattingly was also an All-star for 6 straight seasons-and was a Gold Glover for 5 years straight from 85-89. Donnie led the league in doubles three times, (84-86), hits twice, (84-86), total bases twice, (85-86), AVG in ’86, slugging and OBP in 1986. Don’s 145 RBI’s in 1985 were the most RBI’s by a left hander since the 1960’s. The same could be said for his 388 total bases in 1986. Other dominant stretches included his 1987 power streaks, in which he hit a record-6 grand slams(since equaled by Travis Hafner,) and also is still tied for homering in a record-tying 8 straight games (and should be the official leader because only Don hit 10 HR’S in that stretch of 8 games.) Mattingly is a silver slugger three times over (84-86), and The Sporting News Player of the Year for the seasons of (84-86). Don was the AL MVP in 1985, and finished 2nd in 1986 to Roger Clemens, but for hitting he was listed as #1. His 1984 and 1987 seasons also garnered serious MVP considerations. All impressive for a man who was not considered a power hitting prospect.
Back injuries slowed Mattingly down from 1990-1995, where he lost most of his power, but he was a .290 contact hitter who would still drive in about 80-85 RBI’S per year. If he could have kept playing healthy, instead of retiring at the age of 34, he would have had nearly 3000 hits, and probably would have hit 600-700 2B, and 300 HR’s-with about 1600 RBI’S. He probably would have finished up career with an AVG. that was near .300. You could probably add 3-5 more Gold Gloves as well. Instead, he finished with 2154 hits. His .307 career average will be one of the higher averages never to be in the Hall of Fame if he is not voted in. Don’s average season is still .307 with 20 HR’S, 97 RBI’S, with close to 200 hits and 40 doubles.
Another fact that gets overlooked was Don’s strikeout ratio to plate appearances. Mattingly only struck out 444 times in 7721 PA’s, or
once every 19 times. This stat is unbelievable for a modern age hitter-and 444 Strikeouts is only 2 less doubles than the man hit in his career with 442. Only Tony Gwynn has had a better ratio for striking out in the last 50 years. You add the 9 Gold Gloves-(2nd all-time for a 1B), and this man should be gaining more consideration for the hall.
Other comparisons in numbers for players already in the Hall, would be Jim Rice and Kirby Puckett, Puckett for average and power, while Rice has similar offensive numbers for his 162 game AVG. Rice had a few more HR’s and RBI’s while Mattingly had a better AVG. and had more hits/doubles for an average season. Both played 14 seasons.
For all of those kids watching Donnie Baseball play live, or on TV, we saw a guy that exemplified a professional hitter. Amongst fielding 1st baseman that I have seen, no one has ever been better. His swing was pure poetry in motion, even when he older, it must have drove pitchers crazy that they could not strike him out. I am only sad that Don Mattingly has missed out on all of the Yankees championship seasons.
At least his fans can always recall his last at bat in the 1995 playoffs where he crushed a homer in a 5th game loss to the Mariners in the ALDS. It was a great career shortened by back injuries. If defensive prowess is deemed a lot more lucrative for a Hall of Fame bid, once again they have to consider ‘Donnie Baseball.’
*** Thank you to Doug Booth for joining us today on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***
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