Paul Swydan at Fangraphs looks into the question of whether every World Series championship team had a Hall of Fame player.  (No, but most did and the study is interesting.)

Grant Brisbee writes that Mike Piazza must be elected to the Hall of Fame (because Piazza is the only candidate who can plausibly get elected even though he doesn't really warrant the honor, and therefore will clear a spot from the current HoF logjam.)


Reid Hanson discusses the Rangers' 2014 batting order.  More importantly Joshua Mastracci analyzes the most efficient use of Texas' new batting order.  The good news is, it's going to be very difficult for Ron Washington to screw this up without *intentionally* trying to screw it up.

The Astros want to open the roof at Minute Maid Park more often.  The funny thing is, I remember a few years back when there were complaints about how much the roof was open, i.e. "We have a domed stadium, why do we leave it open to the hot Texas sun so much?  Close the damn roof!"

Steve Goldman at SBNation provides some context and commentary on every candidate on the Hall of Fame ballot.  Part One, Part Two, Part Three.  Warning:  If you are of the opinion that PED use, proven or otherwise, immediate and obviously disqualifies a player from the Hall, you probably don't want to read Steve's comments.

OmahaHi at Athletics Nation presents an interesting argument depicting the teams/general managers of the A.L. West as Old West movie villains.  Well, Billy the Kid was technically real, but what everyone knows about him is based on highly inaccurate movies.  Of course, Omaha is actually pretty complimentary about Texas; but Angels, Mariners and Astros fans may not be happy.  The setup is that Oakland (Billy the Kid), Texas (Tuco from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"), LAAA (Angel Eyes from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"), Seattle (Snaky from "Once Upon a Time in the West") and Houston (The Waco Kid from "Blazing Saddles") are playing poker.  There's a lot of discussion about who's good at what, who's figured out who's tells and who's revealing too much info.  Part of the discussion is whether Oakland giving Michael Lewis access to front office decision-making for "Moneyball" actually screwed the A's.  (General opinion is that it didn't, which I agree with but won't demonstrate why at the moment).

I couple of poker analogies that I found interesting and apropos:

• Tuco figured out Angel Eyes' tell for when he thought he had a good hand and was willing to go all-in.  Tuco jumped on this tell and took Angel Eyes for all his money.
• Snaky is dangerous, but can only win with one of the best hands.
• Billy is probably the smartest player, but has a tendency to get brash and cocky and accidentally show his hand.
• One I would add after reviewing the last few years for Texas:  Jed Hoyer of the Cubs has had/has a line into the Rangers front office and has mined Texas for prospects for a few years now.  I would really like to know if Hoyer had a hook in Nolan Ryan, or if it's Daniels that Hoyer can ring up for cash.

Posted by: Ben at 10:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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