The Cheat is surprised that Orlando Cabrera hasn’t been a particularly good baserunner for the White Sox, despite his reputation and baserunning stats. So he dissects Cabrera’s baserunning stats in this post, a good example of why you should dig behind most numbers.

Beyond the Boxscore reviews the Reds’ reasons for delaying Jay Bruce’s major league debut. The bottom line: the Reds will save money because Bruce probably won’t be eligible for arbitration in his third year. BBTB says that “The Reds were right to keep Bruce in the minors until now.” There’s another way to look at […]

Curt Schilling remembers Geremi Gonzalez.

Rich Lederer does his usual thorough job in breaking down the NCAA baseball tournament, with analysis of teams, regions and prospects to watch for. I don’t know much about college baseball, so I don’t have much to add, but definitely check this out.

Baseball Crank highlights the defensive turnarounds in Tampa and Florida as a key to their early season successes. Defense is often hard to analyze because it’s hard to quantify and highly subjective, but the numbers support the assertion, for what it’s worth.

Billy Beane dropped by Athletics Nation for an extended chat (the first of two parts, apparently) and discussed, among other things, the big offseason deals and the current state of the club.

Aaron Gleeman makes the case that Twins’ closer Joe Nathan ought to be pitching more often, given the bullpen’s lack of depth. Unimaginative use of closers is one of the most frustrating things about baseball today.

Hot Dodger prospect Clayton Kershaw made his major league debut today, and Kyle Boddy took an in-depth look at his mechanics. Synopsis: he liked what he saw.

The legendary sabermetrician Craig Wright publishes a semi-regular baseball column called The Diamond Appraised (subscription required). In his most recent issue, he recounts the career of the great Mike Piazza and includes stories of his time with the Dodgers when Piazza was establishing himself in the minors. It’s a fantastic read and easily worth the […]

The Dallas Morning News uses our Win Shares data to ask the question: who “won” the Hamilton/Volquez trade between the Rangers and Reds? At this (early) stage of the season, that’s got to be the most fascinating offseason transaction.