Friday Links (19 Nov 10)

Her face is soft, her eyes deep, but there is no red in her cheeks; she has long forgotten innocence and will make him forget it, too. That’s okay, though, because he’ll still have links…

Maybin

I’ve given you my take; here’s what other folks are saying:

• Cameron Maybin Trade Analysis (MLB FanHouse). Tom Krasovic offers his thoughts: “Maybin doesn’t need to become a star to represent an upgrade for the Padres. He is as fast or faster than Tony Gwynn Jr., a defensive stalwart who was San Diego’s primary center fielder last year and now can slot as an extra outfielder.”
• Marlins Deal Busted Prospect Or A Decent Player? (FanGraphs). Dave Cameron does the same: “I get why the Marlins dumped him. It just seems a bit premature to give up on a guy really only needs to improve in one area to become a pretty nice piece for the future.”
• Why Cameron Maybin is not Tony Gwynn Jr. (Friar Forecast). Myron’s take: “Maybin was a top 10 prospect from 2007-2009 by Baseball America. Gwynn was not that highly regarded. Maybin hit .306/.393/.478 in the minors, almost always putting up very good numbers while being young for his league. Gwynn Jr. hit just .275/.349/.345 in the minors.” Daniel chimes in as well.
• Cameron Maybin trade is 85% Fresh (Gaslamp Ball). jbox goes all Rotten Tomatoes on us.
• There’s your answer, fishbulb (Sacrifice Bunt). Ray chimes in: “For an affordable price, the Padres were able to acquire an All-Star talent at one of the hardest positions in baseball to fill.”
• Maybin & the Hot Stove (something something…cooking metaphor) (Woe, Doctor!). As does Bryant: “Overall, Hoyer’s decision to deal for Maybin is one of high-risk, high-reward. While the Padres certainly need to upgrade the OF, they have severely depleted their ability to make any further moves to fill the remainder of this roster.”
• Revenge of the Nerds (Watson Files). And Dan: “Let’s see: one of the better center field prospects in the game (who the Marlins look like they’re quasi-giving up on) for a couple of young middle relievers who just threw a combined 80 jillion innings? Everyone not named Tony Gwynn, Jr. should like that deal.”
• Cameron Maybin a good bet for Padres (SweetSpot). Rob Neyer likes Maybin’s minor-league track record, and why not?

Padres

What the heck, we’ll include former and potential future Padres while we’re at it:

• The Sacrifice Cheat Sheet: We need to go deeper (Sacrifice Bunt). Ray offers a nice breakdown of moves that might benefit the Padres this off-season. The middle infield options continue to look brutal. It’s basically Orlando Hudson and a bunch of garbage (although J.J. Hardy isn’t a terrible idea if the Twins somehow let him go). B.J. Upton as a center field possibility intrigued me before the Maybin trade (and I’m not alone in this; reader Didi actually suggested the same a few weeks ago). Good food for thought.
• The Red Sox Should Not Trade For Adrian Gonzalez (Fire Brand of the American League). This may be the first time I’ve heard a Red Sox fan suggest such action. It’s kind of refreshing.
• Dirk Hayhurst. Yep, he finally has his own blog. Visit and enjoy! [h/t SweetSpot]
• 2011 Padres Roster Outlook. (Gaslamp Ball). Wonko examines the current situation.
• Can former top pick Phil Nevin return to majors as manager? (Big League Stew). Maybe there will be an opening in Philadelphia…
• Tragedy for Alderson Family (MetsBlog). John Alderson, father of former Padres CEO Sandy Alderson and a retired Air Force pilot, was killed in Florida last week after being struck by a car. My condolences go out to the Alderson family.
• Ughwick (Sacrifice Bunt). Ray defends Ryan Ludwick: “When Dan Hayes’ reported that Headley’s Super Two status might force the Padres to trade Ryan Ludwick, my first thought was ‘Oh hell no. Trade Headley.’” Personally, I like the Padres’ outfield depth better than their third base depth. And Ludwick in that ballpark doesn’t excite me at all.
• Castro tops list of Padres prospects (U-T). Bill Center gives his top 15. I am liking Jason Hagerty, and I’ve long been a fan of Edinson Rincon and Jeudy Valdez… “long” being a relative term.
• Questions growing for Padres as offseason advances (U-T). Center also outlines some issues Jed Hoyer must address this off-season. I’m anxious to see how creative Hoyer can get in assembling a middle infield for next year’s squad.

Awards

Okay, it’s just one award but a cool one at that:

• Black edges Baker by one for top NL skipper (Padres.com). It shouldn’t have been that close. Congratulations, Bud Black!
• Backin’ Bud Black Right Call Because He Did So Much With So Little (MLB FanHouse). Kras, as he so often does, nails it: “Outside of San Diego, some folks may not have been able to identify who the Padres’ manager was. Inside the Padres clubhouse, players found it amusing that any other manager could win the award.”
• Black’s steady hand in dugout wins him curtain call (U-T). Tim Sullivan chimes in with his thoughts, as well as this quote from Hoyer: “There’s a hell of a lot of people who know a lot about baseball that write about it for a living, and I didn’t see anyone pick us higher than fourth and most probably had us fifth. Vegas had us winning 71 games, and they don’t build those casinos by losing money.”

Research

• Derek Jeter, Gold Gloves, and the problem of getting advanced stats into the paper (Marc Carig). Don’t be fooled by the title; Jeter and his latest award only serve as the springboard for a fascinating discussion from an actual card-carrying member of the BBWAA about edumucating the masses. [h/t BBTF]
• A Primer on Primers: Beginning the Discussion on Sabermetric Education (Beyond the Box Score). Hmmm, I am sensing a theme here.
• The AL/NL gap in hit-by-pitch rates (Baseball-Reference). From the article: “As you can see, they have tracked fairly closely for most of the last 110 years… But check out what happened in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The AL opened up a gap starting in the early 1970s that lasted until the mid-1990s.” The comments include links to other relevant work.
• Inside the rules: the balk (Hardball Times). David Wade examines one of baseball’s more confounding rules and finds, among other things, that “starting around 1960, the number of pitchers called for balks doubled over the course of a 20-year period.”
• What the Rangers Can Do With $90 Million (FanGraphs). So, yeah, let’s get that new TV deal… preferably one that doesn’t suck.
• Who Takes The Longest Between Pitches, and Who’s Cruising? (Beyond the Box Score). Clayton Richard and Tim Stauffer worky quickly; Mike Adams, not so much. [h/t BBTF]
• Neutralizing Barry’s walks (Hardball Times). Steve Treder pens a thoughtful piece on Barry Bonds’ insane walk rate: “Did pitchers walk Bonds too frequently? And if so, what precisely was the cost they paid?”
• On $-per-Win Estimates of Baseball Players’ Worth (Sabernomics). J.C. Bradbury discusses methodology. I haven’t sunk my teeth into this one yet, but it looks interesting. Tango responds. [h/t Hardball Times]
• Negative WAR: 2010 Team Data (FanGraphs). The Padres did a fine job of avoiding crap performers this year.
• The Decade in Basic Fielding: Leadeboards (Baseball Analysts). Geez, Orlando Hudson is a good defender at second base. Subtle, aren’t I?
• Some Observations on Pace (FanGraphs). Dave Allen notes, among other things, that “two-strike counts slow down the game – adding over three seconds per pitch.”

Markets

• Best values among Elias Type A and B free agents (Fungoes). Pretty much what the title says. There’s a flip side as well. Beware of catchers and relievers.
• How the Minnesota Twins Built a Quiet Dynasty (Time). The Oakland A’s got a book written about them, but in some respects, the Twins might be a better model for the small-market Padres to follow. Quoth former GM Terry Ryan: “A lot of good things flow from having strike throwers. It keeps the game flowing and gets your defense off the field.” [h/t BBTF]
• Inside Salary Arbitration (FanGraphs). Maury Brown provides an exhaustive look at the process.
• New Exotic Investment: Latin Baseball Futures (New York Times). Quoth David P. Fidler, a professor of international law at Indiana University: “Buscones in the Dominican Republic are in the business of selling children, and it’s very disturbing that American investors would come in to profit from a system that exploits and discriminates against young children.” [h/t BBTF]

Fun

• Talkin’ Baseball (Seriously) with Kato Kaelin (Hall of Very Good). This gets my vote for Most Unlikely Good Interview Award. [h/t BBTF]
• Periodic Table of Hall of Famers (Wezen-Ball). Fun chart. Explanation here. [h/t BBTF]
• The Best Baseball-Reference Sponsorships, 2010 Edition (Baseball Junk Drawer). It’s meta, it’s fun… it’s metafun. [h/t BBTF]

Other

• All This Time Later, People Still Don’t Get “Moneyball.” (It’s About the Money). Man, this is shocking. It’s almost enough to shatter my faith in humanity. Anywho, I expect that as long as folks are aware that “Moneyball” exists, a certain portion of them will misunderstand and/or misrepresent it. My solution is to abandon all hope; you have no idea how liberating that can be until you actually try it.
• Florida’s Whitson explains why he spurned $2.1M (Rivals). Quoth Padres first-round pick Karsten Whitson: “Mentally and physically, I thought I’d be ready for pro ball, but then I get here to Florida and I hardly could walk after just a week of workouts.” Hmmm, if that is the case, then maybe failing to sign him wasn’t such a bad thing. [h/t reader LynchMob]
• The Promise (Joe Blogs). I’m not a big fan of father-and-son stories, but this is a good read. Bonus points for wrapping it around a Bruce Springsteen album. [h/t reader Didi]
• Arizona Fall League Observations (Minor League Ball). John Sickels got to see Bryce Harper and Dustin Ackley. Lucky…
• All the lonely people (Roger Ebert’s Journal). Nothing to do with baseball, but a wonderful read… I love this line: “Of all the purposes of education, I think the most useful is this: It prepares you to keep yourself entertained.” [h/t Minor League Ball]
• Author Archive – Geoff Young (EveryJoe). This may not matter to anyone other than me, but once upon a time I wrote for a general baseball blog called Knuckle Curve. It has undergone a few changes since then (most notably no longer being called Knuckle Curve) and for a long time, my archived articles were not readily accessible. I’m happy to report that this is no longer true. Thanks, guys!
• Inside the rules: it’s not a dropped third strike (Hardball Times). Fascinating stuff from David Wade: “The original rule about catching the third strike emerged around 1880, about 15 years before players began widespread use of gloves. Some believe the ‘dropped’ third strike came from devious catchers purposely muffing a pitch to try and get two outs instead of one.”
• An Upton Trade Would Be Unique (FanGraphs). Kevin Towers sure does make things fun, doesn’t he? Anyway, this won’t happen, but Dave Cameron examines the question of what Arizona might need to get in return were they to move Justin Upton.
• “Expanded Playoffs Appear Inevitable” (FanGraphs). If a bit late for the 2007 and 2010 Padres…
• And now shipping! (Hardball Times). Woo-hoo! Congrats to Dave and the entire gang; I am proud to be a part of this project.

And there you have it. Happy Friday!