Official 2012 Spring Training Thread.

[User Name]

Discuss happenings around the league here.

[User Name]

Orbital fracture for Burnett, surgery Friday

 

Right-hander injured while bunting; no word on recovery time.

 

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett sustained a right-eye orbital fracture and will undergo surgery on Friday in Pittsburgh.

 

The Pirates had no word on a possible recovery time for Burnett, the right-hander acquired from the Yankees on Feb. 18 as the finishing piece of a team that will be seeking its first winning season since 1992.

 

Earlier on Thursday, the Bucs scratched Burnett from his Grapefruit League debut. He had been scheduled to face Toronto on Sunday in the McKechnie Field home opener.

 

Burnett was injured Wednesday while participating in the team's bunting tournament. He fouled a ball from a pitching machine into his right-eye area and had to be immediately tended to by trainers.

 

Burnett walked off the field with a towel pressed to his bleeding eye socket. Following preliminary examinations in the Bradenton area, a decision was made to have him fly to Pittsburgh and undergo further tests by specialists.

 

Burnett had a 9:30 a.m. ET appointment for the exam, results of which were announced 2 1/2 hours later by the club.

[User Name]

The Next Frontier Of Baseball Analysis

By Tim Dierkes [March 5 at 11:01am CST]

The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference assembled an excellent baseball panel this year in Boston. Host Rob Neyer asked participants their thoughts on the next frontier in baseball analysis, and a few highlights follow.

 

Red Sox senior advisor of baseball operations Bill James gave a two-part answer. First, James feels "one of the things we most need to understand better is how levels of competition fit together so that the information we get from one level can be interpreted at another level in a way that is more helpful." James says "we really don't have a clue" how levels such as college, Double-A, and Japan fit together. Second, James believes that teams and players act in their best interest, even if it's not beneficial for the game as a whole. He gave an example of a player stepping out of the box to regain his focus. That 30 second break helps the player perform his best, but delays of this nature are bad for baseball in general, because they cause many to consider the game boring to watch.

 

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow wasn't actually answering Neyer's question at the time, but he volunteered his thoughts, saying, "The frontier from my perspective is really turning that player evaluation into player valuation. When Scott [boras] and I have a conversation about a player, this player may be 12 runs above average and another player might be 10 runs above average, but there's so many other factors that go into whether I'm going to be willing to pay more or less for that player. For example, we always talk about the most likely outcome for this player, but what's the distribution look like? Is there a 10% chance that he's below replacement level, is there a 10% chance that he's above superstar level?"

 

Guardians president Mark Shapiro spoke of an "infinite number of things that I don't know," but mentioned during the conference that "medical is an absolute separator." Agent Scott Boras focused on psychology, as a means to increasing the chances of players reaching their potential. Rays baseball operations special assistant Rocco Baldelli wonders why some players develop the ability to hit, and some do not.

 

The panel provided a wide array of answers, but Luhnow's resonated most with me. We often apply straightforward methods to determine what constitutes a good free agent signing, but projecting a player's WAR and multiplying by the price of a win is just a starting point. Both Luhnow and Shapiro lamented the inability to tell fans all the factors that went into a decision, so unfortunately there will always be missing information for those outside the front office.

 

[a700hitter]

The Associated Press

Yankees' Robertson hurts foot in fall down stairs

The Yankees took their first misstep of 2012 when All-Star setup man David Robertson sprained his right foot when he fell down stairs while moving boxes in his spring training home. An initial X-ray was negative, and the reliever was taken a hospital for an MRI Thursday, March 8, 2012.

[Divinity]

Papelbon thinks Phillies fan's are smarter than Boston's

 

Former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon took a shot at the Fenway faithful Thursday, telling a Philadelphia radio station that Phillies fans "tend to know the game a little better" than fans in Boston, who he said were "a little bit more hysterical when it comes to the game of baseball."

 

Papelbon, who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent after spending six seasons as the best closer in Boston history, made the comments to a CBS radio station in Philadelphia when asked to compare the fans in the two cities.

 

"It's a religion (in Boston). It's a way of life," Papelbon said on 94WIP's "Angelo Cataldi and The Morning Team." "(Fans) come to the field and they expect certain things out of players. ... It's an environment where you put up or shut up. I enjoyed that. That's what got my motor running every day. ... I've had a guy take off his prosthetic leg and throw it in the bullpen in Boston and want me to sign it."

 

Papelbon continued: "The Philly fans tend to know the game a little better, being in the National League, you know, the way the game is played."

 

Papelbon also said he had expected the Red Sox to be more aggressive in pursuing him in the offseason. The Phillies signed him early in free agency, locking him up with a four-year, $50 million deal.

 

"It was a situation where the Red Sox didn't really come at me the way I was expecting them to come at me in the offseason," Papelbon said during the radio interview. "And I told my agent that the first team that shows me interest and shows me loyalty, I'm going to show that right back to them, and that was Philadelphia.

[a700hitter]

Papelbon is still my favorite bullpen guy of all-time. I don't care what he says. The Sox didn't want him. That's not his fault.

[ORS]

I think his quote is taken out of context, a little. He's essentially saying that the NL fan knows baseball better than the AL fan because the NL game plays by the traditional, non-DH, rules. It just so happens that he's in Philly and came from Boston, so it comes out as Philly fans are smarter than Boston fans, but that's not really what he's saying.

[Bellhorn04]

I've got no problems with Papelbon. He was key for us winning in 2007 and he pitched great for us 90% of the time. He has a bit of a mouth sometimes but I don't think there are any bad intentions behind it.

[seabeachfred]

I think his quote is taken out of context' date=' a little. He's essentially saying that the NL fan knows baseball better than the AL fan because the NL game plays by the traditional, non-DH, rules. It just so happens that he's in Philly and came from Boston, so it comes out as Philly fans are smarter than Boston fans, but that's not really what he's saying.[/quote']

 

Congratulations ORS. At least you think you figured out what Papelbon was trying to say. I still can' made heads nor tails of it. On the one hand, he says our fervor got his motor running every day and that baseball is a religion in Boston where you have to put up or shut up, but then he says the Philly fans know more than we do. The problem from where I sit is that his reason is shaky and full of holes. Using the DH as the reason for his new team fans' superiority to Red Sox rooters sounds pretty lame to me. Bias aside, I have news for Paps. Philly fans are no more knowledgeable than Red Sox fans are, but they are nastier and much more inclined to turn against their home team's players than our fans are. Of course, that is just my opinion.

[VA Sox Fan]

I think his quote is taken out of context' date=' a little. He's essentially saying that the NL fan knows baseball better than the AL fan because the NL game plays by the traditional, non-DH, rules. It just so happens that he's in Philly and came from Boston, so it comes out as Philly fans are smarter than Boston fans, but that's not really what he's saying.[/quote']

 

Oops. Just cut and pasted the quote in another thread. Don't care what he says. Thanks for everything. Especially 2007.

 

I heard that the "DropKick Murphys" will no longer let him use their song as his entrance music.

[a700hitter]

Chris Carpenter leaves Cardinals camp with neck injury

 

Aaron Gleeman

 

Mar 9, 2012, 10:15 AM EST

 

Chris Carpenter will miss his scheduled start Monday and has left Cardinals camp to get a second opinion on his injured neck, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Strauss writes that the Cardinals have “remained intentionally vague about Carpenter’s timetable after initially suggesting he would miss one Grapefruit League start.” Carpenter…

Oswalt is warming up in his backyard.

[Emmz]

Oops. Just cut and pasted the quote in another thread. Don't care what he says. Thanks for everything. Especially 2007.

 

I heard that the "DropKick Murphys" will no longer let him use their song as his entrance music.

 

Hah! It wouldn't be appropriate for any non-Boston player to use a Murphys song anyways.

[Spudboy]

I loved watching Paps play but I have never mistaken him for a Rhodes Scholar. He said what he said and there can be no misinterpretation. What he said was stupid. He was stupid to say it. But then, he is stupid.

 

I make allowances for stupid people all the time. So he gets off on this one. Just this once.

[User Name]

I loved watching Paps play but I have never mistaken him for a Rhodes Scholar. He said what he said and there can be no misinterpretation. What he said was stupid. He was stupid to say it. But then, he is stupid.

 

I make allowances for stupid people all the time. So he gets off on this one. Just this once.

 

Too much truth in this post.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Papelbon is still my favorite bullpen guy of all-time. I don't care what he says. The Sox didn't want him. That's not his fault.

 

They wanted him, just not at that price. f*** that.

[Spudboy]

They wanted him' date=' just not at that price. f*** that.[/quote']

 

Holy s*** Mike. You have over 12,000 posts!:thumbsup:

[Emmz]

He used to be the Kevin Durant of Talksox posting, but then he got a job.

 

Hey, Ted is the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of Talksox posting.

[a700hitter]

He used to be the Kevin Durant of Talksox posting, but then he got a job.

 

Hey, Ted is the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of Talksox posting.

I'd rather be the Wilt Chamberlain of TalkSox.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Holy s*** Mike. You have over 12' date='000 posts!:thumbsup:[/quote']

 

Haha, I didn't even notice. Most of them come from gamethreads. Like Emmz said, I work now so I don't post as much as I want to. I usually post when I'm at school. Even gamethreads might be kind of slow for me. I'm not sure how much i'll get to watch the Red Sox play with the way my schedule is listed.

[Spudboy]

I'd rather be the Wilt Chamberlain of TalkSox.

 

:lol::lol:

 

I believe that I know exactly why!!!!!

[a700hitter]

:lol::lol:

 

I believe that I know exactly why!!!!!

[a700hitter]

 

Iglesias out with groin strain

Globe Staff March 11, 2012 12:59 PM

 

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

 

SARASOTA, Fla. — Jose Iglesias stayed behind in Fort Myers to get treatment on a minor groin strain.

 

According to Bobby Valentine, Iglesias suffered the injury last Monday but didn't say anything until last night.

 

Valentine said his inclination was to give the shortstop a few days off. The Red Sox are off on Wednesday, so Iglesias could get four consecutive days off and should be fine after that.

[a700hitter]

Has Andrew Bailey pitched in a game yet? I though the lat strain was very, very minor?

[VA Sox Fan]

Has Andrew Bailey pitched in a game yet? I though the lat strain was very' date=' very minor?[/quote']

 

He's scheduled to pitch his first game tomorrow.

[a700hitter]

He's scheduled to pitch his first game tomorrow.

So, he has been throwing on the side?

[VA Sox Fan]

So' date=' he has been throwing on the side?[/quote']

 

I would assume so but this is all I could find in the Globe:

 

Red Sox Red Sox notebook

 

A smart move by Bailey

 

Reliever says team has ‘very intelligent fan base’

By Peter Abraham

Globe Staff / March 10, 2012

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Jonathan Papelbon made some disparaging remarks about Red Sox fans on Thursday, telling a Philadelphia radio station that Phillies fans understood baseball better. Andrew Bailey respectfully disagreed on Friday.

 

Related

McDonald must impress

Bailey picks up a save

for Red Sox fans

Cardinals’ Wainwright

shines in return

Buy Red Sox tickets

More Red Sox coverage

“Growing up a Phillies fan, they’re great, too. But so far the Nation is pretty good,’’ said Bailey, whom the Red Sox acquired to replace Papelbon as the closer. “There’s no reason to cause drama from my perspective. Your fans are the ones who go out and support you. For me, I loved them all . . . The Red Sox have a very intelligent fan base.’’

 

Bailey didn’t know what Papelbon had said until he was approached by reporters. He found it amusing.

 

“To say one fan base is better than the other, I’ve never really seen that,’’ Bailey said. “It’s definitely welcoming to be here. This fan base has been awesome.

 

“Papelbon’s got to do his own thing down there. He’s got to embrace that fan base. I’m thankful to be here and I’m looking forward to the opportunity . . . It’s going to be fun.’’

 

Of more importance to Bailey is that he is scheduled to pitch in his first game Monday. The righthander fell behind the other pitchers because of a strained muscle behind his shoulder on the second day of camp.

 

“I feel great and I’m anxious to get out there,’’ Bailey said. “I won’t need too many innings to get ready. But it’s nice to finally get started.’’

[Emmz]

I'd rather be the Wilt Chamberlain of TalkSox.

 

You'd rather be dead and have your record broken? Jeez.

[Emmz]

Every sports fan base is as collectively intelligent as the other, unless that fan base is located in New York.

[a700hitter]

Blue Jays Pursuing Gavin Floyd

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [March 12 at 2:12pm CST]

 

The Blue Jays continue pursuing White Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports report. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos has interest in upgrading the club's rotation before Opening Day, the FOX reporters add.

 

The Blue Jays and White Sox have had dialogue about Floyd since Spring Training began, according to Rosenthal and Morosi. The 29-year-old will earn $7MM in 2012 and his contract includes a $9.5MM club option for 2013. Henderson Alvarez and Dustin McGowan currently profile as the club's fourth and fifth starters. Alvarez has just ten big league appearances and though McGowan is looking sharp this spring, he has struggled to stay healthy in recent years, appearing in just five big league games since 2008.

 

The Blue Jays' pitching staff includes two relievers who were traded to Toronto after finishing the 2011 season with the White Sox: closer Sergio Santos and right-hander Jason Frasor. Anthopoulos and GM Kenny Williams have completed three trades since last summer, as MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows.

[Station 13]

Soria have TJS again. I believe the Braves also lose a pitcher to it too.