Now that Spring Training has begun it’s time to get excited about the upcoming season. And we’re going to take a moment here to look forward to some of the milestones that some of game’s legends can surpass. Now most sites would bring your the traditional hits, HRs, wins, strikeouts, but with baseballreference.com’s Milestone Watch, that’s too easy. So instead let’s take a look at…

2012’s Mediocre Milestones

Jim Thome - Yes, the great Phillies slugger will surpass Sammy Sosa this year for 7th place on the all-time home run list but he could become the all-time leader in another category: strikeouts. Thome needs to whiff 110 more times to surpass the great Reggie Jackson. Needless to say, this record will probably garner Thome as much attention as he received when he hit homer #600 last season.

Ivan Rodriguez - One of the game’s greatest catchers (and alleged steroid user), Pudge is just about 150 hits away from 3,000. However, he’s only 13 groundballs away from becoming baseball’s all-time leader in grounded into double plays (GIDP). So let’s keep an eye on that. (The current all-time leader? Cal Ripken, Jr.)

Juan Pierre - Pierre signed a minor league deal with Thome’s Phillies this off-season giving the speedster a chance to reach the top five in caught stealing. Pierre is currently 8th, just behind HOFer Eddie Collins. If Pierre can average his normal 18 CS per season he will end the season tied with Dodger great Maury Wills. Good luck Juan!

Omar Vizquel - Just when you thought a 44-year-old couldn’t play anymore Vizquel signs a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Vizquel, who has played 23 seasons, has a chance to move up the Outs Made board passing Brooks Robinson for 9th, and depending on whether he can get back to 300+ ABs, maybe Robin Yount. Fingers crossed.

So there you have it. Some baseball legends reaching for records they never wanted or didn’t know they had. Once again proving the greatness of our National Pastime.

-ə

(Image of Omar Vizquel is copyright of Harry How/Getty Images and courtesy of zimbio.com. Image of “Pudge” Rodriguez is copyright Al Bello/Getty Images and courtesy of zimbio.com. Image of Jim Thome is courtesy of thesportsbank.net. Image of Juan Pierre is courtesy of artofthepalehose.mlbblogs.com)

Ryan Braun wins appeal of drug violation, will not be suspended via Larry Brown Sports. 

Here’s what Larry Brown writes about Braun successfully appealing his PED test results:

Reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun has beaten the system. The Brewers outfielder will not be suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for a violation of the league’s drug policy, according to Tom Haudricourt of theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Haudricourt writes “Someone familiar with the decision said the appeal went Braun’s way not so much on contesting the result of the test but the testing process itself, some kind of technicality.”

Braun reportedly tested positive for elevated levels of synthetic testosterone during the playoffs. He accepted his MVP award and the MLB writers had no plans to re-vote on the award.

Braun is expected to report to spring training on Friday. He was the first of 13 players to successfully appeal a drug suspension case.

LBS goes on to give more details about the appeal and the MLB’s reaction, but the only real important news is that Braun successfully appealed the test results and his 50-game suspension and he will be eligible to play at the start of the season. 

Fantasy geeks, set up your draft boards accordingly. 

@Suga_Shane

“Like I say, I haven’t talked to them, but I prefer not to use [El Hombre]. I still have the same respect for him as I had, not just for what he’s done in baseball but for what he did for his country. That’s something you have to appreciate.”

- Albert Pujols on being marketed with Stan “The Man” Musial’s Spanish moniker.

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times / February 22, 2012)

badspringtrainingtwitpics:

“OOOOH LOOGIT ME I INSTAGRAMMED IT!” You’ll never guess which market Jaymee Sire covers. Thanks for that grainy wrinkle, Jaymee!

We can get down with Bad Spring Training Twitpics.

New York remembers Gary Carter

siphotos:

Gary Carter passed away this afternoon at age 57. The catcher played for four teams during his 19-year career (Expos, Mets, Giants, Dodgers) and made the all-star team 11 times. (Andrew C. Bernstein/Getty Images)

GALLERY: Rare Photos of Gary Carter

Cuban defector and five-tool outfielder Yoenis (or Yoennis? thoughts on that Topps?) Cespedes signed with the Oakland A’s for 4 years and $36 million. Although he’s a free agent at the end of the contract, it caught some folks by surprize. It shouldn’t have:

• Cespedes, tired of the haggling just decided to go in alphabetical order by team nickname. (Unfortunately for the Angels his list had “A’s” and not “Athletics.”)
• Before he defected to the Dominican Republic Cuba was showing the 1988 MLB season - without explaining it wasn’t live. Cespedes is excited to become the 3rd Bash Brother
• In a misunderstanding Cespedes thought the A’s had Cocoa Krispies in the clubhouse. Awkward.
• Cespedes loves elephants; especially white ones.
• Moneyball was released in Cuba in 2011. He is jazzed to play with Jason Giambi, Kevin Youkilis and Scott Hatteberg. 
• He googled “reasons to move to Oakland.” Found this site. Deal cinched.
• Cespedes hobby is the development of semi-conductors and nanotechnology. Excited about the A’s move to San Jose.
• Wants to exert his tremendous political and social influence in helping to re-ignite the Occupy Oakland movement. He also hates Mayor Jean Quan.

So let’s back off. The Yoenis Cespedes era begins this spring in Oakland and he’s darn happy about it.

(Image is copyright of Topps Co. and courtesy of beckett.com)

-ə

Red Sox Truck Day!

(Steve Silva / Globe Staff)

This would go straight to DVD. It might even skip DVD and go directly to VHS. 

(Source: drunkonstevphen)

2012

(Source: mightyflynn)

Moneyball 2012

By Aaron Sorkin & Sean Keane

(SCENE: The ramshackle Oakland front office’s conference room. Oakland scouts fidget nervously, staring at their own pagers rather than each other. Billy Beane bursts into the conference room waving a printout.)

Billy Beane: Guys, you’re still trying to replace Gio Gonzalez. I told you we can’t do it. We can’t do it. Now what we might be able to do is recreate him, in the field of social media.

Grady Fuson: The field of what?

Billy Beane: No one is talking about this team as contenders, but the real problem is no one is talking about this team, at all. We haven’t been a trending topic since Dallas Braden’s perfect game.

Ron Hopkins: What’s a Trending topic?

Billy Beane: Peter, get Wikipedia open for Ron. Gonzalez has 19,586 followers on Twitter. Andrew Bailey has 11,835 followers. Trevor Cahill is not on Twitter, but his Facebook fan page has 2,128 likes. What’s the total?

(He snaps his finger and points to Peter )

Peter Brand: Do you want me to speak?

Billy Beane: When I point to you, yeah. Why couldn’t Milton Bradley have been like you?

Peter Brand: Thirty three five forty-nine.

Billy Beane: Divided by three.

(Billy snaps his finger again)

Peter Brand: Eleven one eight three.

Billy Beane: That’s what we’re looking for. Three ball players whose average Klout score is…

Peter Brand: Sixty-three!

Billy Beane: Now here’s who we want. @LoMoMarlins, AKA Logan Morrison.

Ron Hopkins: Logan Morrison! That guy’s a head case.

Grady Fuson: The Marlins sent him to the minors last year even though he had 17 home runs.

Billy Beane: And he has 88,700 followers! Number two, @JoseCanseco.

Grady Fuson: Jose Canseco! Come on, Billy! He’s 47 years old!

Ron Hopkins: He proposed to Lady Gaga!

Grady Fuson:  Didn’t he box a kangaroo on pay-per-view?

Billy Beane: Well, his social media reach is all we’re looking at here.

Ron Hopkins: Why do you like this idiot?

Billy Beane: Peter?

Peter Brand: (shrugs) 400,000 followers, 2,000 Tweets. He gets online.

Billy Beane: Number Three, @RobDelaney.

Grady Fuson: For crissakes Billy, he’s not even a baseball player!

Billy Beane: Peter’s computer says Delaney’s received over 70,000 “Favorites,” some of his stuff has been retweeted over 6,00 times, and he looks good in baseball pants.

Ron Hopkins: Billy, we’re not selling jeans here.

Billy Beane: Maybe we are selling jeans. If we have players with followers, we can use sponsored tweets. We make a deal with Levi’s, and we might earn enough to afford hot water in the locker room showers. They’ll like him for the same reason we like him. Because…?

The Scouts: He gets online.

Billy Beane: He gets online!

Grady Fuson: So he Tweets a lot.

Billy Beane: He gets online a lot. Do I care if it’s a blog or a Facebook status update? Do I, Pete?

Peter Brand: You do not. Hey, who do I talk to about getting my character’s name changed?

Billy Beane:  Fausto Carmona.

This man runs the MLB, sadly. Bud Selig Can’t Hear You: A Gallery

huggingharoldreynolds:

When you’re elected into the HOF have you decided what hat you will wear?

Donatella Versace intends to enter the Hall as a Met.

(Source: metsgifs)

Presidential First Pitches, Part I: Taft - JFK

On April 14, 1910, President William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch at Boundary Field as the Washington Senators faced off against eventual World Series champs, the Philadelphia Athletics. Walter Johnson outdueled the pride of Gettysburg College, Eddie Plank, 3-0. Thus began a somewhat erratic tradition of the President of the United States opening the major league baseball season. So how did things turn out? This week we look at the first 9 POTUSes and their roles as harbingers of luck - good or bad.

Note: From 1910 through 1963 all the games involved the Washington Senators: “First in War, First in Peace and Last in the American League.”

Taft, Throws: Right, Career: 2-0
1910 - W, 3-0 vs. Philadelphia
1911 - W, 8-5 vs. Boston

Wilson, Throws: Right, Career: 3-0
1913 - W, 2-1 vs. NY
1914 - No pitch
1915 - W, 7-0 vs. NY
1916 - W, 12-4 vs. NY
Because of WWI and a subsequent stroke Wilson doesn’t throw out anymore pitches.

Harding, Throws: Right, Career: 2-1
1921 - L, 3-6 vs. Boston - the game took 2 hours
1922 - W, 6-5 vs. NY
1923 - W, 2-1 vs. Phil.
Harding died in office in 1923

Coolidge, Throws: Right, Career: 3-1
1924 - W, 4-0 vs. Phil. - Senators win their only World Series that year
1925 - W, 10-1 vs. NY - Lou Gehrig plays RF for the Yankees
1926 - No pitch
1927 - W, 6-2 vs. Phil.
1928 - L, 5-7 vs, Boston

Hoover, Throws: Right, Career: 1-3
1929 - L, 4-13 vs. Phil.
1930 - L, 3-4 vs. Boston
1931 - L, 3-5 (11 inn.) vs. Phil. - Future HOFer Lefty Grove pitches 9th-11th for the win
1932 - W, 1-0 vs. Boston

Roosevelt, Throws: Right, Career: 5-3
1933 - W, 4-1 vs. Phil.
1934 - W, 6-5 (11) vs. Boston
1935 - W, 4-2 vs. Phil. - Future HOFer Jimmie Foxx plays catcher; caught 109 games in his career
1936 - W, 1-0 vs. NY
1937 - L, 3-4 vs. Phil.
1938 - W, 12-8 vs. Phil. - Brothers Rick Ferrell and Wes Ferrell (HOF) are the battery for the Senators
1939 - No pitch for FDR. Couldn’t find out why.
1940 - L, 0-1 vs. Boston
1941 - L, 0-3 vs. NY
The outbreak of WWII in 1941 and FDR’s death in 1945 end his service on Opening Day.

Truman, Throws: Left, Career: 3-4
1946 - L, 3-6 vs. Boston
1947 - L, 3-9 vs. Boston
1948 - L, 4-12 vs. NY
1949 - W, 3-2 vs. Phil.
1950 - W, 8-7 vs. Phil.
1951 - W, 5-3/W, 8-4 vs. NY - Doubleheader
1952 - L, 0-3 vs. Boston

Eisenhower, Throws: Right, Career: 5-3
1953 - L, 3-6 vs. NY
1954 - W, 5-3 (10) vs. NY
1955 - W, 12-5 vs. Baltimore - 1st time the Senators play a team that’s not NY, Boston or Philly. The Orioles had moved from St. Louis before the 1954 season.
1956 - L, 4-10 vs. NY
1957 - L, 6-7 vs. Balt.
1958 - W, 5-2 vs. Boston
1959 - W, 9-2 vs. Balt.
1960 - W, 10-1 vs. Boston - Senators pitcher Camilo Pascual strikes out 15. Gives up one run - a home run to Ted Williams in his last Opening Day.

Kennedy, Throws: Right, Career: 1-2
1961 - L, 3-4 vs. Chicago - First time facing a team from the Central time zone on Opening Day. This is also the 2nd Washington Senators franchise. The original moved to Minnesota during the offseason to become the Twins.
1962 - W, 4-1 vs. Detroit
1963 - L, 1-3 vs. Baltimore
JFK was assassinated in November 1963.

POTUS record 1910-1963: 25-17

Next week: LBJ - Obama

List of presidential first pitches courtesy of baseball.about.com. Scores and boxscores available from the amazing www.retrosheet.org.

- ə

Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona Roberto Hernandez-Heredia was arrested in the Dominican Republic when he tried to obtain a travel visa under his false name. The Fausto-ian bargain helped the former Carmona get a four-year contract after his stellar rookie season in 2007, although that season is less impressive now that he appears to be three years older than his listed age of 28.

The Indians can’t be happy about the arrest or the age discrepancy, which might make them regret picking up his $7 million option for 2012. Who is happy about it? Former utility infielder Fausto Cruz, who is now, again, the only Fausto in baseball history. And also me, because I can start working on my screenplay about the incident. The working title is “The Fausto And The Furious.”

(Sean Keane)