Sports Writing

I had e-mailed my questions about the Bradbury-Dinen paper to J.C. Bradbury, who responded in a very nice e-mail to me. Firstly, there’s an updated version of the paper on the effects of the DH on hit batsmen - I had been looking at an old one. (I blame the fact that the New York Times website doesn’t, for some reason, have hyperlinks to appropriate places.) As Bradbury points out:

David Wells… Dom DeLuise…

The Sox announce their plans to create a Hall of Fame or museum at Fenway Park. I’m just surprised this hasn’t happened already. I remember visiting the museums at various soccer pitches in England and it seemed like a nice way to make money from the grounds when no one was around…

Incidentally, my personal blog - the more scattershot one featuring my thoughts on everything else other than baseball - has been nominated for the Asia Blog Awards. If you like it, do vote (it’s “Daryl Sng”, blog #6 under the “Best Singapore Blog” category). And even if you don’t, a quick click around the other finalists gives a nice slice-of-life picture of this island I live on…

Riffing on a joke by “Marty Nopointe” over at Boston Sports Media Watch… Dear Mr Pedro - I sincerely write to seek your co-operation and trust to enable my colleagues and I carry out an urgent business opportunity in my department.

… you just might get it. (A parody of those Mastercard ads, with Denis Leary getting his comeuppance. Link courtesy of SoSH)

The one-L lama, He’s a priest The two-L llama, He’s a beast But I will bet A silk pajama They don’t throw strikes Like John Halama* *The author’s attention has been called to the Dalai Lama’s 3-inning 6-K no-hit relief appearance for the Lhasa Apsos. Pooh.

And now that the Sox aren’t committing money to Pedro, they’re giving it to Edgar Renteria. 4 years/$40 million. Conventional logic seems to be that young pitching commands a premium, more so than young hitters. Or, conversely, people like to pay for old position players. Clearly the Sox position seems as usual to be counterintuitive, by sacrificing age at pitching (Wells over Pavano) for age at positions (Renteria).

Was flipping through the New York Times Magazine’s annual Year in Ideas issue, which included the idea of the “Designated Hitter as Moral Hazard”, which presented John-Charles Bradbury and Doug Drinen’s analysis that the introduction of a DH increased the chances of a hit-by-pitch. (Here’s their paper: “Moral Hazard on the Mound - the Economics of Plunking”. Edit: this is the updated version.) This seems to make intuitive sense - no chances to retaliate when the pitcher doesn’t bat - but as far as I recalled the HBP rates of both leagues are actually not that different. From tangotiger’s posts in an old Baseball Primer discussion on the topic, the HBP rates are:

By the way, if you’re still bummed about Pedro leaving like I am… never let it be forgotten, the man brought a World Series to Boston. And there are pictures to prove it.

So, barring any problems with the physical, Pedro Martinez is a Met. It’ll take some time to get used to seeing him bat. Sad to see him go, but that’s business. Hey, if I were offered $16 million for one extra year of work I’d take it. Plus I think he’ll pitch well enough for the Cy - if the Mets’ bullpen can hold on to enough leads to get him wins. I foresee a “Steve Carlton in 1972” situation redux.

Good story on the rise and fall of Jeff Allison in the Globe. If he makes it back into the bigs this will have a Behind the Music feel to it.

I really don’t like this Manny for Floyd move rumours. While I respect Theo for making the Nomar trade - which I think will forever be his signature move - at the time Nomar was distinctly not performing. It’s another thing to just ship someone off because you think his contract’s not worth it when he’s had an MVP season or close to one. They put the man on waivers, tried to trade him all winter, and instead of pouting like he could have done he came into 2004 all prepared, worked hard, and even learnt to deal with the media and fans. I respect Manny a lot for that. What more could you have asked from him? I understand the “trade him while his value is high” thinking, and I understand that if they don’t trade him now he becomes a 10/5 player, but I don’t see why if a trade has to be made it has to be a salary dump. Give me the guaranteed production of Manny over the question marks of Floyd. Of course, if the savings enable a Beltran acquisition I might - just might, heh - come round to it.

Lefties flourish in violent societies. What does that say about the 2004 Red Sox clubhouse? I always knew that Lenny DiNardo was trouble.

D-day for Pedro to sign. Apparently. And about the Manny for Cliff Floyd/Kaz Matsui rumours - I like Theo’s coldblooded approach as much as anyone, and I know about rooting for the laundry, but that may be a bit too much for me. It’s not like trading an underproducing Nomar - Manny may have a huge contract, but he still hit like an MVP. I remain a strong believer that the real wasted money in baseball is in the $5-10 million contracts.

Actually, now that I think about it, the amazing thing about the Wells offer is that Theo made it in the morning. I didn’t know the Boomer got up that early.

Dr Morgan, diagnosis: fired. Should suturing Schilling’s smashed shin (okay, ankle, but I was going for the quasi-alliteration) outweigh some questionable in-season diagnoses? I guess this is the same attitude as we see in the Sox’s dealings with Lowe: great postseason performances don’t negate weak in-season work.

So the Sox sign David Wells. This is a deal I like for many reasons: one, while Wells is an ex-Yankee, he’s an ex-Yankee who would love to stick it to Steinbrenner. Two, Wells walks no one. No one. He’s a control freak. Three, he’s a character. And I love characters.

It increasingly looks like Pedro will sign for the Sox, but for those who claim that him signing elsewhere would be betraying what he said about loving Boston, just recall these immortal words of Curt Schilling: