U.S.S. Mariner

Forging Genius (affiliate link) is the story of how Casey Stengel grew into being a great manager. Steve Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible column and blog for the Yes Network’s website, and also writes for Baseball Prospectus.
It’s an enjoyable read, and I recommend it. Goldman’s done an outstanding job researching and writing the book, [...]

Konerko stays with the White Sox with a 5 year, $60m deal. This is crazy. And some of the stories floating around would have you believe that there was a 6 year deal from another team on the table.
Also, some reliever guy got some huge contract.
If Konerko gets 5/60, Giles… well, he’s not going to [...]

Tired of waiting for that stove to re-heat? Well, fire that bad boy up with a joint Baseball Prospectus/USSM event to herald the release of Mind Game. The ever-suave Jonah Keri will be in attendance to preview BP 2006, and so will I.
Regardless of what that announcement says, there will be no regaling, and Evil [...]

Match the relievers to the contracts!
Player A: 77.2 IP, 1.51 ERA, 87 K, 20 BB
Player B: 70.1 IP, 2.43 ERA, 100K, 26 BB
Player C: 56.1 IP, 2.72 ERA, 48K, 15 BB
Player D: 68.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 65K, 26BB
Player E: 73 IP, 2.47 ERA, 48K, 16BB
(not adjusted for home park)
1 year, $6.5m
4 years, $43m
3 years, $11m
3 [...]

You can cross one part of my offseason plan off the list. The A’s today signed Esteban Loaiza to a 3 year deal with a team option for a fourth believed to be worth $21 million guaranteed with possible total value of $30 million.
I suggested signing Loaiza for 3 years, $18 million, [...]

I got my copy (okay, copies, since I’m a geek who plans on giving out a couple to friends…) of the Hardball Times 2006 Annual today. I’ve mentioned before that I have an article in the book, so there’s little objectivity involved when I tell you to buy one. Actually, buy more than [...]

There isn’t one. Slow period for baseball news, yup.

BP’s latest Prospectus Notebook has a bit on Kenji Johjima, and includes this long-awaited tidbit:
Johjima 2000-2005 Translated Statistics with Fukuoka
YEAR AB HR SB% BA/OBP/SLG EqA EQR
2000 311 6 83.3 293/351/428 [...]

Being a great hitter doesn’t always help a player become a great coach. It may even be a liability. The Mariners have run through a series of hitting coaches lately, and none seem to have done the team any good, and few seem to have done any player any good.
Paul Molitor’s in the Hall of [...]

For your Turkey Day enjoyment, the Mariners MLB site features a translated Johjima interview.