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Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies ace off-season with smart rebuilding moves - MLB - SI.com
Philadelphia's main goal this winter was to try to add to their stock of prospects and pre-arbitration players and resist the temptation to take on financial obligations by making immediate upgrades to the major league roster via free agency. The Phillies accomplished both and also added some depth at the major league level for the coming season.
Phillies chairman David Montgomery underappreciated
IT'S A funny little paradox. A boss who urges even interns under his employ to address him by his first name is to receive an award named for a boss whose highest-level employees refuse to do so out of respect . . . - Sam Donnellon, Philadelphia Daily News
Phillies Pitchers Go Deep - Twice
The Philadelphia Phillies have had seven different pitchers in their 133-season history hit two home runs in a single game.
Hall of Fame
Seattle Mariners retiring Ken Griffey Jr.'s No. 24 at all levels
As part of the celebration the Mariners announced that Griffey's No. 24 will become the first number retired in franchise history during a ceremony in August about two weeks after his Hall induction. The number retirement is throughout the organization, including the minors, meaning no one associated with the Mariners will ever wear No. 24 again.
Hall of Fame open to Ken Griffey Jr.'s backwards cap plaque - NY Daily News
"Plaques are first revealed as part of the Induction Ceremony on July 24," VP of communications Brad Horn told The News by email. "Between now and then, the artistic representation will be crafted and we are open to possibilities that best capture a player's likeness."
Mike Piazza has close ties to Philadelphia area
He now joins Roy Campanella and Tommy Lasorda as the last link in a chain that began more than a half-century ago in Brooklyn. Like Piazza, the manager who had a brief mid-'50s career as a pitcher was born in Norristown. One of his closest friends was Vince Piazza, his future catcher's father and another Norristown native.
Mike Trout and the Hall of Fame - SweetSpot- ESPN
I did a search on Baseball-Reference.com for all position players who accumulated 32 WAR over a four-year stretch. Everybody who's done that is in the Hall of Fame except Bonds and three active players: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Chase Utley. That last name may surprise you and Utley's Hall of Fame chances are probably slim, but from 2006 to 2009 he accumulated 32.2.
What Ken Griffey Means for Mike Trout’s Hall of Fame Timeline | FanGraphs Baseball
But as Griffey’s overwhelming election shows, Trout’s not that far away from crossing any reasonable bar that one might want to construct. With five or six more seasons that would be a huge drop-off from what he’s done to this point — but still quite good by anyone else’s standards — Trout will have essentially recreated the first decade peak that got Griffey inducted.
Tim Raines’ Missing Information | FanGraphs Baseball
...top 20 base-stealers from the last 14 years contributed 93% of their base-stealing value doing other baserunning stuff. Apply that to Raines and you’re adding 94.4 non-steal baserunning runs, or 9.8 WAR. Add 9.8 to Raines’ displayed 66.4 and you get 76.2.
Trevor Hoffman and the Closer’s Place in the Hall of Fame | FanGraphs Baseball
But WAR and WAR-type figures should never solely be the end-all, be-all, and that may be especially true in the case of a reliever. But then there’s the fact that Hoffman wasn’t even an overwhelmingly dominant reliever.
Imagining a World in Which Barry Bonds Retired Before 1999 | FanGraphs Baseball
It shouldn’t matter what he did after 1998: take away the steroids and the 70-plus home run season, and you’re still left with one of the best baseball players who ever lived.
Jim Edmonds' bad reputation - Viva El Birdos
Before Jim Edmonds came to St. Louis, he had become a pariah in Anaheim. So what was that all about?
Is Vladimir Guerrero a Hall of Famer? | FanGraphs Baseball
He won an MVP award, and came close three other times. He had a marvelous career, and was an outstanding hitter. But even allowing for his arm, he was a horrible defender, and an even worse base runner. He doesn’t have a great peak-value argument and, statistically, finds himself squarely in the middle of the pack.
Manny on PEDs, Hall: 'Sometimes you think you're doing right, but you're not'
Ten Years, No HOF Votes . . . Where is the love? – 2016 Update – Value Over Replacement Grit
I thought it would be cool to take a historical look at those players who were on the standard BBWAA ballot at least once, and didn’t receive even one vote. I presented the respective "career category leaders" within that group.
Around the League
Ex-Cardinals Scouting Director to Plead Guilty to Hacking Houston Astros - WSJ
Major League Baseball had asked the FBI to look into the matter after information related to potential player trades was released anonymously online in 2014.
Washington Nationals hire ex-Miami Marlins manager, GM Dan Jennings to help Mike Rizzo
Dan Jennings, the former manager and general manager of the Florida Marlins, has been hired by the Washington Nationals as a special assistant to GM Mike Rizzo.
Will 2016 Spell the End of Major League Baseball's 162-Game Season? | Bleacher Report
According to Manfred, however, there is increased chatter about returning to the pre-1961 figure. "Players have asked about 154," he said, per MLB.com's Richard Justice. "I think 154 is a topic that is complicated. It has big competitive and economic ramifications. Having said that, I think in the 20-something years I've worked in the game, there's more conversation about it than there has been in a long time."
Report: MLB nearing decisions on Reyes, Puig, Chapman | theScore.com
Major League Baseball appears to be nearing decisions on discipline for Jose Reyes, Yasiel Puig, and Aroldis Chapman - the first three players to be investigated under the new domestic violence policy - with rulings expected to come down before camps open next month, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
The Worst Active Base-Stealer | FanGraphs Baseball
Look at those numbers carefully. That’s not a difference of one percentage point between worst and second-worst. It’s a difference of eleven percentage points…