- I would pay to take a class on baseball history from Brian Erts. Stuff like this is why. Luckily he's giving it up for free so I don't have to.
And seriously, Baseball Prospectus or somebody similar ought to hire this guy.
- Lots of great stuff going on at Church of Baseball, here and here.
- Something tells me that Bill Peterson might read Reds blogs.
- Apparently Jim Bouton (of Ball Four fame) is starting a baseball league that will play by 19th century rules. Bouton's an interesting guy, and it'll be interesting to see where this goes. In all seriousness I could see the World Series for this league ending up on ESPN one of these days.
- The Frank Thomas Hall of Fame debate is going to be an interesting one. I say he deserves to go, and I don't really think it's all that close of a matter. The guy thoroughly dominated baseball from 1991 through 1997, and he had a few other dominant years as well. Just look at his career line coming into this year: .307/.427/.568. That's amazing. His counting stats are going to end up pretty decent too, especially if he gets to 500 home runs. I think he will, and I think he's a no brainer for the HoF, but I think the debate might end up being framed in a stathead vs. traditionalist kind of way.
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Dusty Baker:
"On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage," Baker said. "On-base percentage just to clog up the bases isn't that great to me."
I almost feel sorry for Cubs fans. Almost.
- The Reds are looking for a fifth starter:
The Reds are seeking a fifth starter, but they might not be able to find a better option than left-hander Chris Michalak, who allowed the Astros only two runs in 6 1/3 innings on Monday.
The pool of available starters -- Jason Johnson, Sidney Ponson, Bruce Chen and Co. -- is decidedly weak.
I think that sticking with Michalak would be the prudent thing to do in this case. None of those names are even remotely appealing.
- Majewskigate, finally explained.
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