Over at Slate, Baseball Prospectus alum Greg Spira takes a look at the breakdown of baseball players by birth month. He notes that, since most baseball leagues (from the little league level on up) use July 31st as a cutoff date, players born in August have a natural advantage. At each step of the game, they can be months older than their peers. The result is that there are approximately 50% more major leaguers born in August than in July.

I wonder if this effect would persist if you looked at just the most elite players. I suspect that among the very best hitters and pitchers, this factor reduces to random noise.

Dear Bruce Bochy and Charlie Manuel,

We each have the distinct honor of playing a significant role in one of the most astonishing anatomical feats known to man. Somehow, through miracles of windups, scap loading, arm speed, and raw torque, Cole Hamels and Tim Lincecum are able to pitch baseballs with extraordinary skill. Both the Phillies and the Giants need their young aces a great deal. In the Phillies’ case, Hamels is the only pitcher in which the team can have consistent confidence. In the Giants’ case, well, Lincecum is the only player that matters. That is why, despite the fact that we are non-sentient ligaments in the pitching elbows of these two star pitchers, we have taken it upon ourselves to question the wisdom of your decisions.

You see, we are not just any elbow ligaments. We’re the critical ligaments in each player’s pitching elbow (for Hamels, the left, for Lincecum, the right) that create the torque and affords them such remarkable arm speed: the ulnar collateral ligament. Sure, you may have heard of us. But you usually only hear our names invoked when a pitcher has torn us. (More commonly, we are not even referred by name but by our initials: UCL. We hate that abbreviation. We think it is ugly.) The result of such a tear, unfortunately, requires the eponymous surgery first received by Tommy John in 1974. Though great gains have been made since Dr. Frank Jobe first pioneered the process of replacing ligaments like us that have torn (or snapped) with ones from the non-pitching elbow or knee, it is still an all too common occurrence, especially among younger players. Research has shown that excessive pitch counts, especially ones above 100 for a single start, can have tremendous impact on a pitcher’s health.

For the twofold reasons that, a) we don’t want to tear or snap, and b) as baseball fans we do not want to see these young pitchers get injured, we have to ask that you be very careful with us.

Allow us to use two in-game situations to demonstrate. Mr. Bochy, on April 24th against the Padres, you had Lincecum in the game. He had cruised through six innings, allowing no runs and just three hits while striking out nine batters. Needless to say, though, all those strikeouts had taken a toll on Lincecum’s arm, of which one of us is a central part. Through those six innings, he had pitched a total of 109 pitches. This excess by itself would not have been a big deal. We are reasonable; we understand pitchers need to finish innings. But then you ran Lincecum out to the mound in the 7th. After an 8 pitch walk to Kahlil Greene, Lincecum was up to 117 pitches. And yet, no hook. In fact, Lincecum was left in for two more batters, finally leaving after surrendering a single to Tony Clark. In 6.3 innings, Lincecum finished with a total of 122 pitches. Let me tell you, as ligaments with inside information, this was not pleasant.

Mr. Manuel (I hope someday you’ll let us call you Cholly, like hard-workin’ ligament-guys), we are equally concerned with your decisions. Just the day before Mr. Bochy made his error with Lincecum, you made a similar mistake with Hamels in a game versus the Brewers. Your star on the mound had pitched well through seven innings, allowing three runs (all in the first inning), striking out 11 and walking just two. He reportedly asked to stay in the game for the eighth inning to face the thunderous heart of the Milwaukee order: Braun, Fielder, Hart. You, being a player-friendly manager, understood and probably even admired Hamels’ determination. But you must not let Cole sway you, for he knows not how he hurts us. He had already pitched 110 pitches through those seven innings. Nevertheless, clinging to a narrow 4-3 lead, you stuck with your ace for the 8th. In the next 11 pitches, Hamels not only lost the lead (after two hard hit drives to right center, one by Braun good for a double and the next by Fielder an oh-brother shot to the bleachers), but he also put unnecessary strain on the same elbow that cost him a month at the end of last season due to injury. As a part of that elbow, we can safely say that we are trying our best not to snap. We just need a little help.

So that’s why we’re asking you, as ligaments first and as fans second, to go easy on the young arms. Because while it is true that there are some pitchers out there with rubber arms who always seem to defy the medical odds, there is no way to know if Lincecum or Hamels is one of those pitchers without first crossing the point of no return. And sirs, there is no one who is less eager to find out than us.

Signed,
Ulnar Collateral Ligament of Cole Hamels
Ulnar Collateral Ligament of Tim Lincecum

Ah, Philadelphia:

Good lookin’ out, Todd Zolecki.

Take a second, and look at your professional track record. Are you ever late to work? Do you ever act arrogantly, or in a way that rankles your co-workers (even if such a reaction isn’t particularly warranted)? Gotta be yes, right? Everyone does.

Unsurprisingly, “everyone” includes major league baseball players. So, yesterday, when Nationals manager Manny Acta held Lastings Milledge out of the starting lineup for showing up late to work, I was unfazed. Acta’s position (that he has three unbreakable rules, and that punctuality is one of them) is completely defensible and reasonable. It makes perfect sense to bench a player who shows up late. Even Milledge understood this, saying, “I was late. … It’s something I couldn’t control. I take full responsibility.” He took his benching like a man, ready to move on. But wait, maybe not.

CBS Sportsline, in their infinite wisdom, described the incident, and added a little commentary at the end: “Let’s hope this latest incident doesn’t send Milledge spiraling back down the wrong path.”

Now, it makes perfect sense to suggest that Milledge might be headed down the wrong path. After all, he is a recovering crack addict who has an agreement with his wife not to drive his car by himself and never carries more than $20 on him at any time, for fear he might try to get a quick score. Oh, nope. My bad. That’s this guy. Hmm.

Let’s recap the sins of Lastings Darnell Milledge, who just turned 23 earlier this month.

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Yes. (Okay, not really.)

Dear Pythagoras,

I know this is a little weird for me to be writing a letter to you, considering you’ve been dead now for about 2500 years. But there are some told-you-so moments that transcend time and the River Styx. You see, you came up with the Pythagorean Theorem, which related the three sides of a right triangle. It is elegant and logical, and it has proved extremely useful to mathematicians and scientists for centuries. Kudos, good sir. My time at Haverford College taught me to respect the classics.

More recently, though, Bill James hoped to come up with a formula that would relate a baseball team’s expected winning percentage to its runs scored and runs allowed over the course of a season. The idea was to create a predictor of success that was not based as much on luck as simple win/loss totals. His creation, the Pythagorean expectation, was named because it shared more than a passing resemblance to your timeless formula.

Last season, the Arizona Diamondbacks won the NL West and advanced all the way to the National League Championship Series. As the General Manager of the Diamondbacks, I’m very proud of what the players accomplished on the field. However, despite our strong starting pitching and lock-down bullpen, we were eliminated by the upstart Colorado Rockies. Many observers noted that we had a pedestrian 79-83 Pythagorean expectation, despite the fact that in the real world we won 90 games.

Well, this past offseason was no time to sit around counting my money (though I did receive an unparalleled 8 year contract. Suck on that, DePodesta). No, instead, I went out and I acquired the best pitcher available not named Johan Santana: Danny Haren. Not only that, but our core of young players, including Chris Young, Justin Upton, Mark Reynolds and Micah Owings is showing immense growth very quickly. Now, our team is built to last, but also built to roll through the playoffs. I don’t think anybody wants to face Webb and Haren twice in a series, even if they do have Matt Holliday’s aw-shucks smile and Troy Tulowitzki’s magic wand (I’m coming for you, Mr. O’Dowd, sir).

So, Pythagoras, I hate to bring this up with you, because it’s not really your fault. But Bill James is with the Red Sox now and I’m mad at Theo Epstein ’cause he won’t return my DVD copies of The Shield (the jerk), so you’re all I’ve got. Well, my team is 9-3 now, first in the NL West. And guess what? We’ve scored 77 runs and allowed just 45–good for a (you guessed it!) 9-3 Pythagorean expectation! Now, I’m not saying we’re going to win 122 games like we’re on pace to do, but I just got so fed up with people besmirching your good name.

Proportionately,
Josh Byrnes
Arizona Diamondbacks GM

You need but ask, and the internet provides. Turns out the team made $36 million last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, gate receipts represented only their fourth-largest source of gross income ($21 million), behind the MLB shared broadcasting and copyright revenue ($41 million), MLB revenue sharing funds ($33 million), and local media rights sales ($25 million). Simply astonishing.

You know, I am reminded of the Free Rider Problem.

There is no faster way into fans’ hearts than to get the season off to a strong start. This is especially true in Chicago’s North side, where players haven’t finished the season in baseball’s strongest way for a century. Playing in a weak NL Central, with a strong core of talent (Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano), the Cubs improved in several important ways this offseason. No move was bigger than landing former Chunichi Dragons slugger Kosuke Fukudome. He won the Central League MVP award in 2006 and was widely considered one of the best hitters in the Nippon League before his departure prior to this season.

Fukudome has burst onto the scene with the Cubs in a major way. In his first nine games, Fukudome is 13-35 with three doubles and a home run. He has six RBI, two steals and more walks (8) than strikeouts (6). Whether or not you believe Fukudome will be great (as he has been so far), or merely very good (as many have predicted he would be), there can be no doubt he is an instant fan favorite in Chicago. Some have already noted how certain Chicago sportswriters are using Fukudome as a model of hard work and a team-first attitude (especially when compared with a “selfish” Alfonso Soriano). But there is an even easier way to see the impact the Japanese rookie has had on Wrigleyville.

The Hachimaki Headband. These things are, my Chicago sources tell me, all over the place. Watching Cubs home games, you can spot them around the crowd. Here is a description, taken from one vendor’s website (this one’s sales are sponsored by a sushi bar, with some of the proceeds going to charity):

HARRY WOULD WEAR ONE, but the pronunciation of his name would be a challenge

A Hachimaki is a stylized headband (Bandanna) in the Japanese culture, usually made of red or white cloth, worn as a symbol of perseverance or effort by the wearer. These are worn on many occasions, for example students in cram school, office workers, expert tradesmen taking pride in their work. They are generally decorated with inspirational slogans and symbols. Tying the hachimaki equals the Western gesture of rolling up ones sleeves - getting serious and beginning to do the work. Chicago North Side Baseball fans…it’s been 100 Years! Wear the Hachimaki Proud, roll up the sleeves and Let’s Go To WORK LOUD & PROUD BLEACHER FANS!

Go Chicago!!!

100 Years will be worth the wait!

Everyone knows that to be a successful team based around hard work you need a gimmick. The Angels, during their exciting 2002 World Series run, had the Rally Monkey. Last year, the Rockies had Clint Hurdle’s grandma to aid them on their improbable run to the NL pennant. Even the Yankees’ emergent dynasty had Jeffrey Maier in 1996. Maybe this is just one more reason to feel good about the Cubs this year. Then again, maybe the Cubs are just grasping at what few straws they can. Either way, it looks like Fukudome is here to stay.

(Fukudome image courtesy flickr user planetexpress)

Two relatively new scouting-oriented blogs weigh in on top Phillies prospect Carlos Carrasco. Saber Scouting thinks he needs to refine his hard slider into a true out pitch to achieve his potential. Baseball Intellect is especially bullish on his fastball, but thinks he needs to make a series of minor mechanical changes before he’ll be effective at the major league level. This just goes to show you how scouting reports can vary depending on the time periods over which a scout sees a player. Baseball Intellect rated his FB velocity from 91-96 with movement, whereas Saber Scouting saw it sitting between 88-93. Maybe it’s the speed guns. What bother me are his relatively fringe strikeout and walk rates.

Related: Baseball America interviewed Carrasco back in 2006.

Politicians do not have a monopoly on making mountains out of molehills. This is the time of year when fans and sportswriters alike come together to bloviate about the new trends April has ushered in. But just like the weather and their March counterparts, these predictions, too, largely go out like lambs. Everyone take a deep breath: the Tigers won’t score 1000 runs, as Steve Phillips claimed in March. But nor will they go 0-162. And with that disclaimer, off I go, extrapolating from the meaningless!

There is a certain dirty term used in baseball, whispered in hushed tones in dugouts across the league, to describe mediocre players. Maybe they can’t play defense, or they don’t have the proper “make up,” or they’re just plain too old to get a shot. However it happens, there are few fates for an aspiring major league player worse than to be saddled with the term “Quadruple-A player.” Sometimes they hit the jackpot and log 675 plate appearances for the expansion Devil Rays, and sometimes they have to settle for a series of bus trips between the big league club and the Triple-A affiliate. Ultimately though, the best these Crash Davises can hope for is an awesome fan site.

But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way. There are a precious few players who, despite the fact that they show up late to the party, always make sure to bring some beers with them. And this, friends, is why they get to play. Jeff Keppinger showed up at Wayne Krivsky’s party a couple hours late but with a rack of Dusty Baker’s favorite heady brew (tagline: “Timely hits, less base-clogging“). That got me wondering, how does a promising young player save himself from Quad-A purgatory?

The answer is a story with three parts.

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