I’ve always been intrigued with the concept of the “5 tool player” and have been experimenting with ways to visualize what such a player looks like. The 5 Tool Analyzer maps a player’s skill (relative to his peers) across 5 offensive and defensive measures. The resulting map reveals a few things at a glance. First, […]

Curt Motton was hardly a household name; if you’re a baseball fan under the age of 40, it’s probable you never heard of him. Yet, he was a good enough player to become an important backup on those great Baltimore Orioles teams of 1969-1971. Motton, who died last Thursday at 69 after a yearlong battle […]

The Phillies have extended three of their arbitration eligible players, all to three-year contracts, locking up the complementary core of their team through the window of opportunity for the club. The 31-year old Carlos Ruiz has a $9 million contract extending through 2012, at a salary that Matt Klaassen over at FanGraphs deemed to be […]

Commenting on Oakland’s projected outfield alignment of Rajai Davis in left, Coco Crisp in center and Ryan Sweeney in right, A’s left-hander Gio Gonzalez told the San Francisco Chronicle, “anything hit in the air is going to be caught.” Gio’s got a point. Following Crisp’s one-year, $5.25 million free agent deal and the four-player trade […]

MLB.com is reporting that Oakland Athletics prospect Grant Desme will be retiring from baseball to become a priest. The 23-year old was a second round pick in 2007 and missed nearly all of 2008 due to a wrist injury but he emerged as a premier prospect last season and was the only player in the […]

Rick Ankiel’s an odd duck, and not in the Long Island sort of way. While it wouldn’t surprise me if he eventually latched on with the famed Atlantic League outfit, Ankiel can thank Scott Boras for finding him an even zanier huckleberry: Dayton Moore. Coming off a 0.1 WAR age-29 season, Ankiel will earn $3.25 […]

Last year my TotalZone ratings gave Torii Hunter an excellent +12 rating. Due to an injury Torii only played 115 games in center, most of the other starts went to Gary Matthews Jr., who TotalZone absolutely hated out there for a -18 rating in only 435 innings. If both of their ratings were prorated to […]

The title is the hypothesis, and I’ll take this portion to try and prove it. For those unfamiliar with Nelson Figueroa’s story, it’s a good one. Figueroa attended Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, which normally churns out basketball players such as Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair. A great student, Figueroa took an interesting path to […]

With catcher Bengie Molina returning to San Francisco, speculation about a possible fit between Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder and the Mets have heated up. Following the 2008 season, Snyder signed a three-year, $14.25 million extension with the Diamondbacks. The then-27 year old was coming off a .237/.348/.452 season at the plate, a burgeoning reputation as […]

For 2 years and 16 million according to ESPN. In 2009, Piniero put up some pretty insane numbers. He struck out 4.42 batters, walked 1.14 and allowed just 0.46 home runs per 9 innings last year. That’s good for a 3.27 FIP in 214 innings, making him one of the best pitchers in baseball last […]