Weekend Round-Up – 5/8/2011

Tales from around the Red Sox Blogosphere:

• Fire Brand of the American League – In case you missed it…Troy analyzes Carl Crawford’s slump; Charlie wonders when A-Gon will regain his power and suggests the strikeout parade won’t last much longer; Mike takes a long look at Red Sox prospect Kolbrin Vitek; and I examine thestruggles of Bobby Jenks and discuss the potential for another SS controversy in 2012.
• Red Sox Beacon – Marc Normandin wonders if Lackey is injured, and examines Buchholz’s velocity and pitch selection from his last start.
• Over the Monster – Jered Stegall breaks down the game that just wouldn’t end.
• Surviving Grady – What do Puppet Red and the Boston Red Sox have in common?  They both reside in the basement.
• Red Stockings Thoughts – Matt examines the difficulty behind building a successful bullpen.
• Joy of Sox – Allan agrees with the players—Angel Hernandez is completely incompetent behind the plate.
• The House that Dewey Built – Jimmy recaps the nearly eight hour marathon and laments the existence of sports talk radio.

Tales from around the Yankee Blogosphere:

• It’s About the Money, Stupid – In case you missed it…Brien breaks down the tale of two struggling legends; Larry explains the reasons behind the Yankees recent decline in attendance; Mark wonders if it’s better to draft pitchers or hitters, and then discusses taking the best player available; Hippeaux expresses that being a fly ball pitcher can be a good thing; and Tamar provides a farm report update.
• Yankee Analysts – Moshe wonders if we should’ve seen Jeter’s drastic decline coming, and Matt Imbrogno marvels at Colon’s strikeout levelsthus far.  With regards to Colon, I have two words for you: cheeseburger steroids.
• Pinstriped Bible – Steven Goldman shares the list of hitters with lower line drive rates than Derek Jeter.
• River Avenue Blues – Joe Pawlikowski thinks Swisher will break out in the coming weeks, and Mike Axisa wonders what happened to all of those Burnett change-ups.
• Replacement Level Yankee Blog – Is Jorge Posada the worst base runner ever?  No, but he’s close.
• Pinstripe Alley – What should the Yankees do about Jeter?

Tales from the Sweet Spot Mother Ship:

• David Schoenfield – David thinks it’s time to move Cap’n Jetes out of the leadoff spot.  Somewhere Brien is jumping up and down.
• Christina Kahrl – Christina takes look at the best switch hitters in baseball history.
• Steve Berthiaume – Steve searches for Ubaldo Jimenez’s once blazing fastball.
• Susan Petrone – Sweet Spot newcomer Susan Petrone opines about Andre Ethier’s impressive hitting streak to start the season.
• Charlie Saponara – Charlie discusses Yovani Gallardo’s near miss at a no hitter.

Tales from around the Sweet Spot Network:

• The Platoon Advantage (MLB) – Bill picks out the seven “worst” no-hitters of all time, and the Common Man breaks out the Jon Matlack player tree.
• Crashburn Alley (Phillies) – Considering the sorry state of the shortstop position, Bill Baer thinks it might be a good idea to lock up Jimmy Rollins beyond this season.
• The Ray Area (Rays) – Chris Glover examines the manner in which the Rays were built.
• Nick’s Twin Blog (Twins) – Nick thinks that Liriano’s no-no was just the first step.
• Capital Avenue Club (Braves) –  Ben tries to figure out what happened to Brian McCann’s power.
• Fungoes (Cardinals) – Matt Phillip uses Fielding Independent Game Scores (FIGS) to determine where Francisco Liriano’s no hitter ranksamong the all-time worst.
• Royals Authority (Royals) – Craig Brown recaps Eric Hosmer’s ascension to the major leagues and the it’s subsequent fallout.
• Bay City Ball (Giants) – Rory Paap provided the Giants lineup from Tuesday’s game without comment.  The best word to describe the lineup is trainwreck.
• Dodger Thoughts (Dodgers) – That Frank McCourt is a really swell guy.  He’s so quiet and well behaved!  It’s a shame he’s the only one defending himself.
• Weaver’s Tantrum (Orioles) – Dave shares his all-time young Orioles team.  Lots of great players on this team.
• It’s Pronounced “Lajaway” (Indians) – Susan gives her  take on Shin Soo Choo: Underrated and Under the Influence.
• Daily Fungo (Tigers) – Wade tackles the complicated concept of team chemistry and player personalities.
• Baseballin’ on a Budget (Athletics) – Dan wonders who should start at third: Kouzmanoff or LaRoche?
• Pro Ball NW (Mariners) – Taylor discusses an always interesting topic:  the economics of base stealing.
• Baseball Time in Arlington (Rangers) – Joey wonders what will happen when Tommy Hunter comes back.  Does he move to the bullpen?  If not, who does?
• Ghostrunner on First (Blue Jays) – This just in:  John Farrell is managing his bullpen very well so far.
• View from the Bleachers (Cubs) – Joe laments his Cubbies penchant for leaving men on base and inability to put crooked numbers on the board.
• Redleg Nation (Reds) – Greg thinks Jay Bruce will be just fine. You know what?  I agree.
• Austin’s Astros 290 Blog (Astros) – Austin explains four ways the Astros can improve right now.
• Disciples of Uecker (Brewers) – What’s wrong with Yovani Gallardo?  Jack digs deep to find he answers.
• Mets Today (Mets) – The potential Mets buyer is under investigation.  I am Jack’s total lack of surprise.
• Ducksnorts (Padres) – Geoff uses a metaphor to describe the back and forth affair that was the latest Padres-Pirates game.
• Nationals Baseball (Nationals) – .235.  That was the highest batting average out of anyone in the Nats lineup on Wednesday night.  Yikes!
• Blake Street Bulletin (Rockies) – Steve Berthiaume’s comparison of Ubaldo Jimenez to Smokey Joe Wood almost made Logan cry.  To be fair, if I was a Rockies fan, I probably would’ve felt the same way after reading Berthiaume’s  article.

Tales from around the Baseball Blogosphere:

• Fangraphs – Matt Carruth marvels at Johnny Venters unbelievable GB/FB ratio; Dave Allen tries to figure out what’s wrong with Derek Jeter; Dave Cameron thinks that with a new run environment, it’s time to adjust our expectations for performance; and Jonah Keri gets an early start with trade speculations.
• Rob Neyer – There seem to have been a rash of DUIs as of late.  Rob wonders if it’s finally time for baseball to institute a DUI policy.
• Joe Posnanski – Joe shares his sub-Derek Jeter all stars.
• NBC Hardball Talk – Craig thinks Dodgers vice chairman Steve Soberoff should be fired, and Aaron “glee-fully” pokes fun at Jon Heyman’s terribly misinformed view of Ryan Howard’s albatross of a contract.
• CBS Eye on Baseball – Evan speculates about who the Giants could target to play shortstop.
• Baseball Analysts – No update this week.
• Hardball Times – Do you remember how everyone was calling the Rangers the team to beat after six games?  David Wade explains that their road to glory may not be as clear cut as originally thought.
• Splashing Pumpkins – Julian Levine wonders if we’ve entered the dark ages at shortstop.
• Camden Crazies – Daniel Moroz entertains the idea of trading Nick Markakis.
• Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness – Is anyone else up for another misinformed anecdote from Jon Heyman?  Of course you are!  Mike goes back one year to revisit Heyman’s ill fated tweet where he opined that Kershaw and Billingsley were quickly regressing.  Oops!
• USS Mariner – Marc provides an update on Franklin Gutierrez.
• Beyond the Boxscore – Scott McKinney thinks the Royals screwed up in promoting Eric Hosmer before June 1^st.  Dave Gershman wonders “What’s the rush?” with regards to prospects.
• The Outside Corner – Who’s the most interesting player in the world? Joe Lucia says Jose Bautista.  Considering Bautista’s improbable meteoric rise, it’s hard to disagree.
• DRaysBay – Mr. Negative wonders if we should reset the AL East expectations.
• Chop n’ Change – With no ideal shortstops available within the farm system, Jeremy Reed wonders if the Braves should bring Alex Gonzalez back for 2012.
• Aaron Gleeman – Aaron says that Liriano’s no-no was so ugly, it was beautiful.
• McCovey Chronicles – JT Jordan takes an extensive, historical look at the Giants and base running.
• Dodger Divorce – No update.
• Tiger Tales – Lee Panas wonders if we should officially stick a fork in Brandon Inge.
• Rany Jazayerli – Rany shares the tale of two outfielders.  Oh, and for what it’s worth, the length of Rany’s posts are just fine.
• The Process Report – Tommy Rancel discusses Wade Davis’s ability to induce infield fly balls.
• Brew Crew Ball – Jordan shares his thoughts about Zack Greinke’s first start.
• Monkey with a Halo – Ryan Fella prepares for the worst with Kendrys Morales.
• Don’t Bring in the Lefty – Lucas takes a deeper look at Max Scherzer.
• Cubs Stats – Bradley Woodrum breaks down and hands out grades to the Cubs catching staff.

Categories: Weekend Round-Up