The Weekend Round-Up returns after being off for the past couple of Sundays! There are a ton of really great links from the past week, so let’s dive right in.
Around the Red Sox blogosphere:
- In case you missed it…here at Fire Brand, Troy discussed lineup optimization; Charlie discussed Papi’s power surge; and I opined about Red Sox Nation’s “Chicken Little” mentality.
- Ben Buchanan of Over the Monster gives his account of Saturday’s disaster performance by Clay Buchholz and the Red Sox. While it’s still way too early to make any judgments about his season, the early returns on Buchholz aren’t encouraging. His fastball has been consistently up; his curveball has been loopy; and his control has not shown any improvement.
- Is Salty here to stay? That remains to be seen, but Matt over at Red Sox Beacon takes a closer look into whether or not he can stick with the Sox.
- Denton over at Surviving Grady has some rational things to say about the Red Sox including, “This team is going to win 95+ games, it doesn’t matter what order they do it in.” Agreed.
Around the Yankee blogosphere:
- Lots of great stuff at IIATMS this week. Brien discusses Hughes’s mysterious drop in velocity and the dangers of managing to a statistic; Mark explains why Rafael Soriano does what he does; and Larry gets a trifecta of links this week starting with his take on rotten starts, and his first two parts of his three part series on payroll (Part 1 and Part 2). For those who read part two, just know that I’ve reserved Emperor Palpatine for the Red Sox.
- Yankee Analysts is quickly growing to be one of my favorite sites. This week, Moshe gives his take on Swisher’s unfortunate (but not dirty) slide into second against the Twins. I agree with is take. Larry explains how pitchers have been attacking Jeter based on the count and location.
- The Replacement Level Yankee Blog dives takes a deep dive into the Red Sox/Yankee series to discuss the potential implications on the CAIRO projections.
The Best of the Rest:
- Joe Posnanski waxes about Manny Ramirez. Manny had more than his share of faults, but he’ll always be one of my all time favorite players. He brought a childlike joy (and a childlike demeanor) to the game.
- Rob Neyer tries to make sense of how Brandon Wood came to be the player he’s become. It just goes to show…there’s no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to prospects.
- Craig Calcaterra over at Hardball Talk discusses Manny’s legacy. Does he have a shot at the Hall of Fame? Yes, but it will probably be close to 20 years before he’s elected—or should I say, if he’s elected. I think he will make it, but it’s really hard to put a guarantee on it just yet.
- Double dipping from Craig this week. He puts on his dusty shyster hat to discuss the Bonds trial. It’s in the jury’s hands now.
- This week at Fangraphs… Jonah Keri discusses Manny’s legacy, and the fate of the Rays. Dave Cameron asks if it’s time to panic in Boston? Chris Cwik tries to make sense of Matt Garza’s crazy start—7 innings, 12 hits, 12 Ks, 0 BBs. Eric Seidman gives his take on the oddly structured options in Aaron Hill’s contract.
- Bill and The Common Man over at the Platoon Advantage come up with some really clever ideas for articles. This week, they discuss pocket heroes, the All-Tiny team, and All-Tall team.
- Dave Allen over at Baseball Analysts compares the 2011 standings projections for six systems. Some of the teams have some extreme projections.
- Paul Francis Sullivan thinks that Vernon Wells is about to embark on a tremendous season.
- Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley says the Phillies offensive success is not sustainable. It’s hard to argue with you consider the team BABIP is a whopping .423.
- Should Dodger fans get used to being shut out? Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness thinks so, and I have to agree. Other than Kemp and Ethier, that team has the potential to be brutal offensively.
- Julian Levine of Splashing Pumpkins speaks to my inner-geek when he explains Jonathan Sanchez’s development. Great stuff.
- Marc W at USS Mariner looks at Michael Pineda’s first start. He gave up three extra base hits over the seven lefties he faced. Was it because of his changeup? Depends on who you ask apparently.
- Daniel Moroz of Camden Crazies ask, “Are the Oriole pitchers this good?” In my opinion, no—but they have quite a bit of potential.
- Pip at Fungoes wonders if the Cardinals slow start portends a losing season. No, someone seems to be sticking the voodoo doll into Cardinals players left and right.
- Nick at Nick’s Twin Blog discusses the real reason behind Baker’s recent problems—base runners.
- Interested in learning more about sabermetrics? Lee Panas of Tiger Tales shares his top ten list.
- Rany Jazayerli gives his Royals “not” prediction for 2011. It might not seem optimistic, but in a way, I think it is.
- Adam Morris of Lone Star Ball asks a controversial question: Is Jim Palmer the most overrated pitcher of all time?
- Dave Gershman of Beyond the Boxscore wonders what it would take for the Pirates to lock up Andrew McCutchen long term.
- Otis Anderson of Bay City ball thinks Tim Lincecum has found a way to avoid the effects of defense—strike everyone out.
- I hate it when certain writers and fans try to claim that so-and-so is a head case. Phil Birnbaum of Sabermetric Research explains why psychology should be your last resort.
Awesome Link of the Week:
- Alec Baldwin? Awesome. John Krasinski? Awesome. Both of them starring in a commercial for New Era about the rivalry? Totally amazing.