Baseball

[kurtsimonw]

Lugo!? No thankyou!

Mark Buehrle of the White Sox pitched a perfect game tonight, well done to him. I believe he had a no-hitter in a season just gone by too.

EDIT: Just watched a video of the 9th inning, there was a really close call with 0 outs when the guy nearly hit a homer, Wise made a great play to make the out though!

[kingphil]

Just discovered I can now watch this on ESPN American (channel 417). So have seen my first few baseball matches in quite a while this week.

[maqroll]

Great game from Buerhle, and what a catch buy Wise to keep it perfect....

Normally I wouldn't care, but Buerhle is on my fantasy team 8)

[RunRickyRun]

Bollocks missed it!

Well done Mark - He's been such a consistent performer for the White Sox for years.

Really happy for Wise too. Whatever happens, he'll always be remembered for that catch

Surely throwing the perfect game has to be the greatest achievement in sport (considering the thousands of games that are played each season and the fact that there have only been 18 )

[kurtsimonw]

Surely throwing the perfect game has to be the greatest achievement in sport (considering the thousands of games that are played each season and the fact that there have only been 18 )

Agreed.

[leviramsey]

Major League Baseball finally concedes that baseball is of fundamentally British origin

As for Buehrle's perfect game, I guess the closest cricket analogue (if there's any cricket fans reading this thread...), given that pitching in baseball is more akin to batting in cricket, would be a batsman scoring 180 runs in 5 overs.

Probably about 400,000 people have seen a perfect game live, of whom maybe 250,000 are currently alive.

[NibblyPig]

Major League Baseball finally concedes that baseball is of fundamentally British origin

As for Buehrle's perfect game, I guess the closest cricket analogue (if there's any cricket fans reading this thread...), given that pitching in baseball is more akin to batting in cricket, would be a batsman scoring 180 runs in 5 overs.

Probably about 400,000 people have seen a perfect game live, of whom maybe 250,000 are currently alive.

180 runs in 5 overs would never happen I'm afraid, levi

To my knowledge, 36 runs in one over has only happened twice in first class cricket in the 130+ years of first class cricket (Sobers and Yourav)...

... only once has it happened in international cricket (and that was a piss-pot twenty20 game)

No-one has ever hit 7 sixes in a row... let alone 30

I think a perfect game is probably closer in equivalence to one bowler getting 15 wickets in a match. Without looking it up... I'd imagine it's probably only happened about 18 times in international cricket.

I'll hit submit and then check out cricinfo to see how wrong I am

[NibblyPig]

Just checked it out: a bowler getting 15 wkts in a match has happened 12 times in test match cricket

However, I should note that there's probably only been about 2,000 test matches...

Compare that to the (I'm guessing here) approx. 250,000 MLB games there have been... (please let me know the exact number if you know)

A more apt analogy to a perfect game is perhaps: 10 wickets in an innings. Only happened twice in test cricket (Laker and Kumble)

[leviramsey]

A full MLB season is now 2,430 games, though a few games aren't played every year, but postseason games and playoff games (technically, MLB doesn't refer to the division and championship series as playoffs, instead reserving those for the occasional end-of-season games needed to determine which team goes to the postseason) would still inflate that maybe 2,460 games a year on average. But that would only cover the past decade or so. From the mid-70s through the mid-90s it would have been (between expansion and a shorter postseason) 2,125 games a year. For most of the first 60 or so years of the American and National Leagues, the season was 154 games by 8 teams per league (so they actually played a symmetrical schedule: every club in a league played 11 at home and 11 away against every other!) so only 1,238 or so in a typical year. I'm getting an estimate of about 180 thousand games, which is high for the post-1900 period, but the amount of over-estimation is probably balanced by the number of games played when the National League (or the American Association which was briefly a second major league before merging into the NL... the only two franchises to continuously be in the National League are the Braves and Cubs; even though the Reds were the founders of the NL, they were expelled for daring to sell beer at their games) in the 19th century.

So in theory a perfect game should be something that's not yet happened in test cricket.

[RunRickyRun]

According to Elias Sports Bureau there have been approx 195,000 MLB games meaning there have been approx 390000 pitchers that have started these games (one for each side)

The percentage of these achieving a perfect game is 0.00462%

(figure from here but they forget to multiply by 100 )

[knoppy1987]

Any news stateside on the return of Vladdy, Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera. I know Rivera was supposed to DH over the weekend, Hunter and Vladdy are still on the DL. Surely cannot be long.....??

[leviramsey]

A summary of the Halladay trade rumors for today

9:04am: Here's a quick summary of yesterday's Roy Halladay rumors, 15 updates and nearly 400 comments later. The Phillies and Jays reached an "impasse" in their negotiations since neither side wanted to change its offer. The Red Sox are planning a big move, but the Jays would ask the Red Sox or Yankees to give up more than other teams. And what about those other teams? Don't expect the Twins to trade for Halladay, and the Dodgers don't seem likely either. Here are today's rumors:

* Several Phillies people tell David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News that they don't expect resolution on a possible Halladay trade before Friday.

* The Blue Jays are still asking for J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek in any deal.

* The Phillies believe they'd have to give up almost as much to acquire Cliff Lee.

* Andy Martino of the Philadelphia Inquirer hears that the Jays and Phillies are still talking.

* As for Drabek, he struck out six without walking a man yesterday, touching 96 mph on the gun, according to Don Beideman of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

* Yahoo's Tim Brown says no GM believes J.P. Ricciardi will stick to his self imposed deadline. Last week Ricciardi said today was the last day he'd consider dealing Halladay.

10:07am: Joel Sherman of the New York Post hears that the Blue Jays insist on receiving Drabek because they consider Happ a middle-to-back-of-the-rotation starter. They want Happ, but may relent if the Phillies give up Drabek.

The Phillies remain favorites to add Doc, but the Red Sox and Rangers could still acquire him.

10:55am: Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail says many top Blue Jays people are deciding whether to trade Halladay. It's not just Ricciardi's decision.

Meanwhile, SI's Tom Verducci weighs in. He talked to a scout who spoke of an organizational "tug of war" in Philly, with Pat Gillick and Charlie Manuel pushing the win-now move for Doc while Ruben Amaro Jr. and other player development guys are reluctant to move top prospects.

Verducci says Carlos Carrasco doesn't do anything for the Jays, and they'll require either Drabek or Jason Knapp. The Angels and Dodgers are the other top suitors for Halladay, in Verducci's opinion.

12:53pm: Sherman says the Rangers are very much involved in the Halladay talks. The Jays want three of the Rangers' best prospects. Not only is GM Jon Daniels reluctant to give up that much talent, he has limited financial flexibility and the Blue Jays are refusing to take on salary.

The Jays want high-ceiling, MLB-ready players instead of many players who are further from contributing in the majors.

1:12pm: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark says the Blue Jays and Phillies both need to complete a Roy Halladay trade. Ruben Amaro Jr. will be criticized if he can't get Halladay and J.P. Ricciardi's chance to get more than one impact player for his ace disappears at 4:01 EST on Friday.

1:29pm: The Associated Press (via ESPN) reports that Rogers Communications, the company that owns the Blue Jays, wants to bring its costs under control. The Blue Jays have said they don't have to deal Halladay, who has over $20MM left on his contract, for financial reasons.

1:57pm: Yahoo's Gordon Edes reports that the Red Sox offered "at least" Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Ryan Westmoreland to the Blue Jays for Halladay. In my opinion, that is a very strong offer. Edes says the Jays would like to acquire a shortstop since they are "vigorously shopping" Marco Scutaro. That means the Sox might need to get creative.

Edes says Daniel Bard and Casey Kelly "have been declared off-limits by the Red Sox." And while the Dodgers deem Clayton Kershaw untouchable, they've at least discussed internally the possibility of moving Chad Billingsley. Billingsley might be the best name we've heard yet in connection with Halladay, though remember that Edes labeled that an internal discussion.

3:59pm: Dan Roche of WBZ-TV hears that the Red Sox did not offer Buchholz, Bowden and Westmoreland for Halladay.

4:40pm: Jayson Stark reports that the same Blue Jays scout who watched Kyle Drabek pitch last night will be in Lehigh Valley to watch as shortstop Jason Donald comes off the DL for his first start since June. Both minor leaguers could be part of a Phils-Jays trade.

5:00pm: ESPN.com's Keith Law hears that the Red Sox have no intention of including Westmoreland in any deal.

With the Red Sox reportedly putting in a bid, I have to think that the Yankees are scrambling to put one together to keep Halladay from going to Boston....

However the Red Sox and Blue Jays are both denying Edes' report

Sources from both the Red Sox and Blue Jays tonight denied to the Globe that Boston had offered pitchers Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden and outfielder Ryan Westmoreland to Toronto for ace Roy Halladay, which had been reported this afternoon by Yahoo! Sports’s Gordon Edes.

Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi has set a personal deadline of today to deal Halladay, though he recently said that was not set in stone.

The 24-year-old Buchholz, who pitches tonight, is 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA in two starts for the Red Sox this season after tearing through Triple-A Pawtucket earlier this season. The 22-year-old Bowden is 3-5 with a 3.09 ERA for the PawSox. The 19-year-old Westmoreland has six homers and 21 RBIs to go along with a .279 average in 32 games for the Single-A Lowell spinners.

Edes also noted in the report that Daniel Bard and 19-year-old Casey Kelly (both a pitching and shortstop prospect) have been declared off-limits by the Red Sox in trade talks.

[El Zen]

I have to admit I haven't read through all of that, Levi, but thanks anyway for posting it.

So forgive me if this is already covered; which team, in your opinoin, of the teams reportedly interested in Halladay need him the most? From the AL east, which is where I focus most of my Baseball attention, couldn't it be argued that neither the Sox or my Yankees have decent rotations already? Them going after Halladay too is kind of like the nuclear arms (hey, that's almost a pun -arms, gettit?) race of the cold war, so to speak?

[leviramsey]

I gotta say that I agree with this comment in the second link:

Theo, go get it done!! You're just adding to one of the best, if not the best, rotations in baseball.

This is why you stalk up on propects...for the opportunity to get a premier, season changing player for the stretch run. Beckett, Lester, Hallady in the playoffs for the next two years? you can trot out the Royals offense and still have an 80% chance of winning the series. Get Scutaro in the deal too...that solves our leadoff hitter need.

Lord Jesus! Please!

HALLADAY - BECKETT - LESTER = WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!

With Halladay, the Red Sox would be set in the rotation for the next few years and buy some time to develop some more starting pitching in the minors.

I would definately do the deal. I would rather go with someone who I know is great than someone I think may be very good.

[kurtsimonw]

I believe I read somehwere Halladay still has quite afew years on hid current contract, does that mean if anyone does get him, they'll have to be giving up ridiculous amounts? Or isn't in the same as in football where a longer contract doesn't necesarrily mean much.

But I agree if the Red Sox got him that would be scary!

[leviramsey]

I have to admit I haven't read through all of that, Levi, but thanks anyway for posting it.

So forgive me if this is already covered; which team, in your opinoin, of the teams reportedly interested in Halladay need him the most? From the AL east, which is where I focus most of my Baseball attention, couldn't it be argued that neither the Sox or my Yankees have decent rotations already? Them going after Halladay too is kind of like the nuclear arms (hey, that's almost a pun -arms, gettit?) race of the cold war, so to speak?

The Sox rotation has been rocky once you get past Beckett and Lester.

As the John Smoltz experiment continues to fizzle right in front of our eyes, it’s becoming clear that the Red Sox [team stats] have to fight a battle on two fronts.

The need for another big bat has not gone away and now the starting pitching depth - so vast last month that the team could toy with dealing away Brad Penny - is as shallow as a kiddie pool.

What a story it would be if Smoltz were to turn his season around. Too bad the Red Sox no longer have the luxury to wait and see if he will.

Tim Wakefield [stats]’s timetable for returning from a bad back is uncertain, Daisuke Matsuzaka [stats]’s return this season is not guaranteed, and Smoltz is frazzled and unsure of how to stop the bleeding. Who can the Red Sox turn to next?

Make Justin Masterson a starter again? Place savior status on young Michael Bowden? Expectations already weigh heavily enough on Clay Buchholz, whose start tomorrow is going to take on historic proportions in this market.

Roy Halladay’s name is going to be uttered every other second until Friday’s trading deadline, and as sweet as it would be to place that name alongside Josh Beckett [stats] and Jon Lester [stats]’s in a postseason rotation this October, it’s not in this franchise’s DNA to ship a handful of its very best prospects even for a sure thing like Halladay.

The Red Sox need to bring in another starter, and while there is no other Halladay on the trade market, they should set their sights higher than finding another Paul Byrd-type like they did early last August. The front office can have fun filling that hole the next few days, or weeks, realizing that the gamble on Smoltz has not paid off.

That’s not to say it never will, but the idea, back in January when Smoltz signed, was that the 42-year-old would be a hedge against making a trade right at this point in the season.

“We’re trying to add as much depth as we can now so that hopefully we can wait as long as possible before we have to find someone,” general manager Theo Epstein said then. “If we sign extra pitching now and don’t have to trade prospects in June or July, all the better.”

By now, Smoltz’ performance in yesterday’s 6-2 loss to the Orioles is no longer a shocker. He allowed six runs on nine hits in five innings as his ERA ballooned to 7.04 and his batting average against ran up to .318.

Smoltz had no answers, other than to concede that he deserves to feel the heat until he produces numbers that can lower the flame.

“In a high-intensity place with the media attention the way it is, people are going to start talking about different solutions because it looks pretty bad, but I feel a lot better than it looks,” he said.

Manager Terry Francona had Smoltz’ back and, as he has done so many other times since he arrived in 2004, he saw better days ahead for one of his players.

“I’ve certainly been wrong before - I don’t think I’m wrong this time. I don’t think we’re wrong this time,” said Francona. “This guy, it’s going to work, I really believe that. The results certainly haven’t been what we’ve wanted so far. I think he’s going to be just fine.

“His career’s not over; I don’t think that we look at it like that. He’s worked hard to get back and he’s a member of our club now. As results get better, I’m sure he’ll feel better. I think he’s frustrated. We want better results, certainly, so does he, but there’s plenty to win.”

Maybe so, but there’s plenty more reasons to keep looking for more help than Smoltz can provide.

The Phillies probably will end up with Halladay, and I think he will be fantastic against NL lineups (the norm for AL pitchers going to the NL is for their ERA to drop by about 1 or so).

[leviramsey]

I believe I read somehwere Halladay still has quite afew years on hid current contract, does that mean if anyone does get him, they'll have to be giving up ridiculous amounts? Or isn't in the same as in football where a longer contract doesn't necesarrily mean much.

Baseball contracts are guaranteed money and don't get wiped out in a trade.

Halladay also has a no-trade clause, so the team that gets the Jays to agree may have to offer him an extension or a whole new longer-term contract.

Details

The company that owns the Toronto Blue Jays says it needs to control costs.

Rogers Communications remains committed to the Blue Jays, CEO Nadir Mohamed said Tuesday on a conference call discussing the company's quarterly earnings.

The team has put ace Roy Halladay on the trading block.

Rogers bought the Blue Jays in 2000. The company also owns the team's stadium and its flagship radio and television stations, the FAN 590 and Rogers Sportsnet.

"We believe that the financial performance of the Blue Jays can improve," said Tony Viner, president of Rogers Media, the corporate arm responsible for the team, stadium and broadcasting. "In fact, it's the one division of the media company this year, year over year performance is better than it was. We think that we can bring costs reasonably under control and more in line with revenues.

"Our revenues are actually increasing in certain parts of the business so, as you know, the Jays form an important part of our programming schedule on Rogers Sportsnet, which is another division of the company which has done recently well and especially during the recession."

A call to Blue Jays interim CEO Paul Beeston was not immediately returned.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi acknowledged earlier this month he was fielding trade offers for Halladay, the 2003 AL Cy Young winner and AL starting pitcher at this year's All-Star Game. Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is July 31.

Halladay, 11-3 with a 2.62 ERA, is scheduled to start for Toronto on Wednesday night at Seattle.

A 12-year veteran who has never pitched in the postseason, Halladay has a full no-trade clause and is signed through 2010. He will earn $15.75 million dollars next season and has indicated a desire to test the free agent market.

The Blue Jays' 2009 payroll is approximately $80 million.

So Halladay has about $20 million to earn between now and next October, or about 200k pounds per calendar week (on a per-game played basis, that's about 300k pounds per start)

[leviramsey]

So the Jays' self-imposed deadline has passed with nothing happening...

* The Red Sox are still in the hunt but had their last offer turned down by the Jays

* The Dodgers aren't willing to give up the players needed to get Halladay or Cliff Lee

* Jays have set the price for the Yankees: Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke on Tuesday with his Blue Jays counterpart, J.P. Ricciardi, as the Red Sox emerged as a leading player for Jays ace Roy Halladay.

Where the Red Sox go, the Yankees follow, and vice versa.

But how serious the Yankees are about Halladay is not known.

The Phillies remain firmly in the mix for Halladay while also exploring options such as Indians left-hander Cliff Lee and Mariners lefty Jarrod Washburn, sources say.

The Rangers continue to show persistence in the Halladay discussions, though many doubt whether they could afford the financial commitment.

The Angels, unable to offer a major-league-ready starting pitcher such as Phillies lefty J.A. Happ or Red Sox righty Clay Buchholz, are on the periphery along with the Dodgers.

With Friday's nonwaiver deadline looming, it is not surprising that Cashman touched base with Ricciardi, regardless of whether he was motivated by the Red Sox's pursuit of Halladay.

For Cashman, such contact is routine. He also inquired on Lee and Washburn on Tuesday.

Cashman, like his Red Sox counterpart, Theo Epstein, checks in on every available big name. Often, Cashman's interest is minimal. But occasionally, he's up to something more.

Informed that the Yankees were merely "touching base" on Halladay, one rival general manager cracked, "That means they're all in."

Actually, the Yankees merely might be more interested in available Blue Jays relievers such as right-hander Jason Frasor.

But Halladay cannot be ignored.

The Yankees resisted trading top prospects while taking on a big salary in their pursuit of Johan Santana during the 2007-08 offseason.

Halladay, though, is not an exact parallel.

Santana received a six-year, $137.5 million contract from the Mets in exchange for waiving his no-trade clause. Halladay, sources say, would not require the same kind of commitment.

His goal is to join a consistent winner. He would not require a contract extension to waive his no-trade clause, though he might welcome one in time. His remaining salary is about $4.75 million this season, plus $15.75 million next season.

Even to the Yankees, those sums are not inconsequential, especially in a challenging economy. Still, the Yankees learned Tuesday that right-hander Chien-Ming Wang will undergo season-ending arthroscopic shoulder surgery. They currently are using right-hander Sergio Mitre as their fifth starter.

In short, they are one injury away — Andy Petttitte, Joba Chamberlain, A.J. Burnett, take your pick — from a full-blown rotation crisis. They are also one trade away from an outrageous front three of Halladay, CC Sabathia and Burnett.

The Blue Jays, one source says, want both Chamberlain and Phil Hughes in any package for Halladay. The Yankees might include one, but not the other. They also are loathe to put either in the same package with catcher Jesus Montero, who has an .891 OPS at Class AA at age 19. But the Jays also like other Yankees prospects -- catcher Austin Romine, center fielder Austin Jackson, left-hander Jeremy Bleich.

And then there is this:

If the Yankees get Halladay, the Red Sox will not.

Halladay, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester would form another outrageous front three. But if the Red Sox fail to land Halladay — or Lee — they will face continued questions about their rotation. The injured Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield. The ineffective John Smoltz.

Maybe the Yankees' interest in Halladay is indeed minimal; they also spoke Tuesday with the Mariners about Washburn, a pitcher whom they also tried to acquire last season. Halladay ranks third in the American League with a 2.62 ERA. Washburn is fourth at 2.64. Yet the acquisition cost for Washburn, in both players and dollars, would be much less.

Washburn seems the more logical play for the Yankees, until you start thinking about the Red Sox getting Halladay. The Jays can only hope that both AL East super-powers will turn completely paranoid, though both teams have become increasingly restrained and rational in recent years.

The Red Sox are in on Halladay.

Et tu, Yankees?

[B-dub]

Phillies aren't in for Halladay now that they've traded for Lee. Got a feeling he's staying in Toronto.

[kingphil]

I've just one quick question which I hope our American friends can answer, as I cannot find the answer anywhere.

What is the factor to decide if a team is in the American League or the National League ? It's obviously not due to location, as the Mets & Yankies are in different leagues, as are the White Sox and Cubs - so what is it/was it that decided if a team should be in the American or National league ?