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Phillies
This Phillies rebuild should be quicker than the last | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
It's tough to pinpoint when exactly the Phillies will contend again, but it's apparent that finances should make this rebuild quicker than their last.
After productive offseason, Phillies look to be on the upswing again – Metro
If you compare the Phillies to the moribund Sixers, who are trotting out what might be the worst NBA team of all time, the rudderless Eagles, who have a myriad of question marks and the uneven Flyers, the local baseball team may have the most promise. Who would have ever guessed that in September.
Without A True Closer, Should Phillies Break The Mold? | Phillies Nation
Maybe they’re the team that fully denies the idea of employing a "closer" who’s meant to pitch one inning with the lead. Maybe they’ll put their best reliever into a tie game when the heart of an opposing order is coming to bat in the seventh inning.
Team Ownership Ratings, By the Community | FanGraphs Baseball
Phillies ranked in the middle of the pack.
Farm System
2016 Top 50 Phillies Prospects: 41-50 | Phillies Minor Thoughts
2016 Top 50 Phillies Prospects: 31-40 | Phillies Minor Thoughts
An Unlikely Group of MLB Feeder Colleges | FanGraphs Baseball
Jay Floyd reviews each of the Phillies top 25 prospects
Organization Reports | BaseballHQ.com
Phillies 2016 Organization Report: Top 15 Prospects
An Unlikely Group of MLB Feeder Colleges | FanGraphs Baseball
And one finds, of players drafted and signed from US News’s top 25 universities between 1990 and 2010, 22.5% of them made the majors — a figure which is somewhat higher than those produced by the other two pools.
Hall of Fame
The Fred McGriff Hall of Fame debate
This is what's happened with McGriff: Voters have chosen not to look at the Hall of Fame from the perspective of Fred McGriff. If you do that, then you have to go through the roll call of every borderline candidate from the PED era and give them extra credit based on whether you believe they were clean.
Nomar Garciaparra: Four Years a Hall of Famer | FanGraphs Baseball
The fact that Garciaparra’s quest ended this week in the fashion we all knew it would for the last decade does not dim the luminescence of what he accomplished during his peak or his career. Plaque or not, for four years Nomar was as good as a Hall of Famer, even if, after this week’s results, he’ll never be one.
In the NL East
Will the New York Mets have a historically awesome rotation?
As you can see, the Mets have a lot of work to do just to compete with the best rotations of the past five years. That Phillies rotation, in fact, ranks tied for first on the all-time FanGraphs list for WAR (with the 1970 Chicago Cubs) at 26.0.
Wei-Yin Chen, Miami Marlins agree to five-year deal
The Marlins have acquired one of the top pitchers remaining on the free agent market, agreeing with former Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen on a five-year deal, sources told ESPN.
Mattingly, Bonds feel they can shape Marlins' Ozuna into a 30-30 guy - CBSSports.com
Having allies on the coaching staff for Ozuna might change the team's calculus going forward with their sometimes-troubled asset.
The Risk of Signing Ian Desmond | FanGraphs Baseball
This is the list of players who, along with Ian Desmond, produced at least four WAR in each season from 2012 to 2014: Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, Dustin Pedroia, Ben Zobrist, Adam Jones, Alex Gordon, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, and of course, Mike Trout.
Around the League
MLB teams must hire full-time Spanish translators for 2016
While some big-league clubs already have full-time translators on staff, others routinely rely on coaches or other uniformed personnel to serve as interpreters for Spanish-speaking players who are not well-versed in English during media obligations.
Weak free agent class looms, so one-year deals could make sense - CBSSports.com
For the remaining big-name free agents, it would be a tough pill to swallow in taking a one-year deal, but it makes sense on some level.
Cardinals GM confident rest of front office uninvolved - Yahoo Sports
St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak is confident the rest of the front office was not involved in the Houston Astros hacking case. Former scouting director Chris Correa pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston on Friday to accessing the Astros player database and email system. Mozeliak said the team has not been contacted by Major League Baseball regarding potential disciplinary action, possibly a fine or loss of draft picks.
Gerardo Parra announces in tweet he has joined Colorado Rockies
He will join a crowded outfield in Colorado, which already has Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, Corey Dickerson, Ben Paulsen and Brandon Barnes.
Report: Dodgers have agreement with Cuban righty Yaisel Sierra - CBSSports.com
He's 24 years old and not subject to MLB's international bonus-pool limits. The deal covers six years and is believed to be worth around $30 million.
The Most Volatile Hitter in Baseball History | FanGraphs Baseball
In 2012, Raburn out-hit only Wilson Valdez. Then he signed a minor-league contract, and he was a top-15 bat on a rate basis, hitting as well as Josh Donaldson. So he signed a two-year big-league contract, and then he was a bottom-10 bat, hitting worse than Andrew Romine. Then he bounced back and was a top-10 bat on a rate basis, again hitting as well as Donaldson.
Yankees' bullpen trio and the best bullpens of all time - SweetSpot- ESPN
With Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, the Yankees may have the top bullpen in the majors in 2016.
Sunday Notes: Tal Smith, Scouting, Padres, Orioles, Cloninger, more | FanGraphs Baseball
RANDOM FACTS AND STATS: In 1938, in this third year on the ballot, Rogers Hornsby received fewer Hall of Fame votes than Johnny Evers (106 OPS+) and Rabbit Maranville (82 OPS+). Hornsby’s 175 adjusted OPS ranks fifth all-time.
The Impending Battle Over the Future of Televised Baseball | FanGraphs Baseball
The case — Garber v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball — may not be the highest-profile lawsuit currently proceeding against MLB. But from the league’s perspective, it’s almost certainly the most important.