Keith's Articles

July 1, 2010 - A Ballplayer's Inside View - Upon learning that Doug Glanville had written a book revealing the hidden life of a baseball player and the social mores surrounding the game, the first question that popped to mind was, "Why hasn't anyone written this before?" After reading The Game From Where I Stand, it's hard to believe that anyone else would have made it work so well as Glanville did.

June 20, 2010 - The Worst MVP Voting Ever? - PNC Park was filled to capacity Saturday night as the 50-year anniversary of Pittsburgh's 1960 World Series Champions was celebrated in a pregame ceremony. The PA announcer certainly engaged in some excusable hyperbole during the ceremony, trying to convince us that backup outfielder Joe Christopher was an integral part of that 1960 team and rather matt-of-factly grading the Bill Mazeroski Game Seven homer as the most memorable moment in MLB history.

What isn't excusable, looking back at the 1960 season, was the MVP voting that year. National League MVP winner Dick Groat probably wasn't the worst MVP selection in history, but the NL voting top-to-bottom may well have been.

June 17, 2010 - Ubaldo Jimenez Is on His Way to an Exceptional Season - It's easy to get in trouble projecting a player's June stat line to a full season total. Juan Gonzalez had 101 RBI in the first half of the 1998 season, and although he actually hit much better in the second half (.353 vs .293), he collected only 56 RBI after the break. Ten years later, Chipper Jones had a .400 batting average on June 18, but hit "only" .320 the rest of the way to finish at .364.

Still, projecting June stat lines can be a lot of fun, and there's no stat line in baseball more fun to look at right now than that of Ubaldo Jimenez. After 14 starts, the Rockies' ace is 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. It's time to consider whether Jimenez could possibly be heading towards one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time.

June 2, 2010 - Editing the Official List of Perfect Games - Last night, Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game with two outs in the ninth because of a missed call by first base umpire Jim Joyce. To Joyce's credit, he admits that he blew the call and apologized to Galarraga. But anyone who watches a replay of that ground ball knows that the runner was out at first and that Galarraga should have been credited with the 21st perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball.

So why isn't AG credited with a perfect game? If an official scorer sees video replay postgame that refutes one of his decisions, he changes the scoring of the play. Can't an umpire who changes his mind do the same given the special circumstances? (A perfect game has been amended before, as you will soon discover).

Whether or not June 2, 2010 is considered a perfect game in the official history books, it is considered a perfect game by Baseball Evolution. Actually, if you look at the list of Baseball Evolution perfect games, you'll note several discrepancies from the official list.

February 22, 2010 - What Does a 40-Save Closer Mean for Your Postseason Chances? - Billy Wagner was recently quoted as saying, "If I get 40 saves, there is a great chance the Braves are going to the playoffs." Wagner's motivations for the quote aside, let's evaluate its merit. Is a team with a 40-save closer really much more likely to make the playoffs than the average team?

February 14, 2010 - Derek Jeter, second best shortstop ever? - We used to find Boneheaded Sportswriters a bit more frequently than we do now, which is probably because we've geared ourselves away from reading Boneheaded Sportswriters as much as we once did. Nevertheless, after coming across yet another article that heaps blind praise upon Derek Jeter, we are reminded that, anytime we short on material, we can always find New York sportswriter to put into the hopper. Perhaps we should start a feature called the "Boneheaded Jeter Article" Award. This one argues that Derek Jeter is already the second-best shortstop of all-time. When it isn't busy contradicting itself, that is.

January 28, 2010 - Mark Redman Follow-Up - Baseball Evolution first unveiled the Mark Redman Award in 2006, meaning that we have some follow-up data for half a dozen Redman winners. We know who the 2009 winners are, but what does that mean for their 2010 campaigns and beyond? The answer may not be quite what you expect, although it still isn't good news for Edwin Jackson and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

January 21, 2010 - The Mark Redman Award is given annually to the pitcher in each league that most personifies crashing back down to earth after a strong start to the season. We find a plethora of candidates in each league for the 2009 Mark Redman Award, making the winners not as clear-cut as in some past seasons.

Lee vs. Halladay 12/18/09
How big of an immediate upgrade is Halladay for the Phillies?

'09 Alex Gonzalez Awards 12/16/09
Jermaine looked as though he Dyed and Freddy Sanchez took a Giant step backwards.

Winter Meetings Roundup 12/12/09
Five winners and five losers in Indianapolis

Linear Saves 2009 11/25/09
Mariano Rivera Impresses, Fernando Rodney Surprises, and Brad Lidge Astounds.

Bad 2009 Predictions 11/16/09
Keith Swings and misses on the Mets, Indians, and Giants like a blindfolded Mark Reynolds.

October 27, 2009 - World Series Previews –10/27/09
This is the matchup that most people were expecting and most people were hoping for: The Philadelphia Phillies versus the New York Yankees. The Phillies are the first team since the Yankees to defend a World Series title. The Yankees go for World Championship #27 and World Championship #1 in their new stadium. Who will prevail? Keith and Asher take sides:

Asher: Yankees in Four | Keith: Phillies in Seven

Angels/Yankees ALCS Preview> 10/15/09
The two best offenses in baseball vie for the American League crown.

Twins/Yankees ALDS Preview 10/7/09
The best team in baseball squares off against the hottest team in baseball.

Red Sox/Angels ALDS Preview 10/5/09
Two AL powerhouses square off in the Division Series for the fourth time in six years.

Three Inexcusable Omissions 9/16/09
Flick, Garciaparra, and Terry fail to make Asher's Top 200 List

Pirate Exodus 8/4/09
The Pirate ship has exploded. Is it a cheap captain hoarding his treasure, or a clever maneuver designed to seize a better rival ship?

Grading the Deadline Deals 8/1/09
Keith takes a stab at evaluating the major deadline deals that do not involve the Pittsburgh Pirates.

How Good Is Dan Haren? 7/26/09
Dan Haren is on pace for one of the best pitching performances of this decade... or is he?

Are The 2009 Rays The 2006 White Sox? 7/17/09
The 2008/2009 Rays are following the unfortunate path of the 2005/2006 Chicago White Sox.

The Legacy of Ivan Rodriguez 5/16/09
I-Rod is known for bringing winning ways wherever he goes, but is that reputation still justified?

Remembrance of Voros McCracken 4/15/09
Nearly 10 years after we first heard about it, what do we really know about Defense-Independent Pitching?

The Fielding Bible Volume II 3/19/09
The Fielding Bible made history, and its sequel is just as revolutionary.

Manny vs. C.C. 2/3/09
Manny Ramirez and C.C. Sabathia represent two of the biggest-impact midseason acquisitions of all time. Which acquisition made more of an impact?

Second Half Chokers 1/22/09
With the 2008 award season in the rear view mirror, Baseball Evolution finally doles out its Mark Redman and Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins Awards.  Better late than never.  Of course, since these awards stigmatize the pitcher and hitter who collapsed most in the second half of the season, the motto for our winners should probably be, "better never than late."

Keith's 2004-2008 Archive