BillyWilliams

Umm, I believe a guy named Ty Cobb was also a lead off hitter, no?

First off, I didn't compare anyone, Baseball - Reference did. Secondly, it specifically states 1,000 innings minimum, kimbrel is about halfway there.

I thought this was a very cool read ..... https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/johnny-damon-baseball-letter-to-my-younger-self

How about career adjusted ERA+ (min. 1000 innings)! Mo - 205 Next best is kershaw at 159

Mo by Derek Jeter I heard a stat the other day and it blew my mind: In human history, more people have walked on the moon than have scored an earned run off of Mariano Rivera in the postseason. Sounds crazy, right? But it’s true. According to NASA, 12 people have had the privilege of walking on the moon. According to Baseball Reference, 11 people have scored an earned run off of Playoff Mo. And while no statistic could ever truly encapsulate Mariano, I figure this one is as close as we’re going to get. Because I think it really gives you a sense of what sort of greatness we’re dealing with, when it comes to Mo. It’s hard to compare him to other closers — in fact, it’s hard to compare him to other pitchers. Mariano is just on another level. The thing I respect most about Mo is that what you see is what you get. A lot of people I’ve met over the years, they’ve asked me what Mariano Rivera is like off the field. And I’ll tell you what I tell them — which is that he’s pretty much the same person you watched for all those years on the mound. There’s no “persona” with Mariano. He’s never had a character that he portrayed. He’s always just calmly and coolly done his thing. He’s quiet. Thoughtful. Intense. He’s a man of faith. He has an incredible eye for detail. Have you ever seen a Mariano Rivera autograph? Google it when you get a chance. With a lot of guys, their signatures are these quick little scribbles. But Mariano, man, if he’s signing something for you, he takes his time. He puts care into it, until he gets it just right — like with everything else he does. To me, right there … that’s Mo. And like I said: It was always the same thing on the mound. There wasn’t much mystery if you were facing Mariano Rivera. No smoke and mirrors — nothing to hide. The scouting report was the same every time. Mo knew he was going to throw that cutter. The guy at the plate knew he was going to throw that cutter. Fifty thousand plus at Yankee Stadium knew he was going to throw that cutter. And it wouldn’t matter. Because Mo wasn’t trying to trick you. And in the end, like it or not, he was just going to flat-out beat you. During my first full season in the minors, when I was 18—19 years old, Mariano was coming back after having had surgery on his arm. So one of the things I’d do from shortstop was keep track of Mo’s pitch count. And although eventually I stopped counting his pitches, it’s funny — in a way, I never stopped being that 18-year-old kid. Because for all of the amazing things that happened to me over those next 20 years with the Yankees, I never stopped being aware of this one: that on any given night…. if we could just get ourselves a lead…. I had the best seat in the house to watch the greatest closer of all time. Hall of Fame teammate. Hall of Fame person. And now, officially, a Hall of Fame player. Congratulations, Mariano, and the rest of this year’s class. —Derek https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/derek-jeter-mariano-rivera-baseball-hall-of-fame

ted williams only played one full season in RF, he was a left fielder.

Mariano Rivera: Perfect choice for 1st perfect Hall of Fame ballot By Ken Davidoff January 22, 2019 | 9:15pm Cheers to the perfect candidate for perfection. Well, look, if you want to get all wonky about Mariano Rivera becoming the first player to ever gain unanimous Hall of Fame election on the writers’ ballot, then yeah, you can point out the silliness of the legendary Yankees closer succeeding where Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and everyone else failed. Yet the world’s changing times brought us to this moment, and could baseball field a better symbol for perfection in 2019 than Mo? Humble. Generous. Funny. Spectacular at his work, ordinary in his manner. “He was such a class act,” Tino Martinez, Rivera’s Yankees teammate, said in a statement released by the team. “He never showed up a batter after striking someone out or retiring the final batter of the game.” Added Yankees general manager Brian Cashman: “Mo was always someone who I could point to and say, ‘That’s what a Yankee should be like.’ ” In a conference call Tuesday night, Rivera said, “I think that comes from back home, remembering where I came from and never forgetting where I came from. Because I was the New York Yankees’ closer, or we were winning or losing, that would never change my way to treat people and respect people and react to the game itself.” His is indeed a rags-to-riches story, signed out of his native Panama for a $2,500 bonus, undergoing major right elbow surgery while still in the minor leagues and not making his big-league debut until age 25 (and not recording the first of his record 652 saves until age 26). Any young, aspiring athlete can read the Rivera tale and feel uncompromisingly inspired by it. That goes double for the way he conducted himself. Good luck trying to find anyone in the game who will speak a disparaging word about Rivera, whose sublime tranquility as he jogged from the Yankee Stadium bullpen to the mound belied the soundtrack (Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”) that accompanied him. Added another longtime teammate, Bernie Williams: “He was also one of those old school players that took it upon himself to take care of young players. He would take rookies to dinner, talk to them about life as a major leaguer and how to carry yourself. He was always very embracing of the young blood on the team, a great teammate.” It wasn’t just how Rivera performed when he closed out the save, smiling and shaking the hand of his catcher without the histrionics. On the rare occasions when he blew a save, he made sure to stand at his locker shortly after the clubhouse opened to the media, taking accountability for his failure and reminding us that he was only human. That humanity defined him, ultimately. During his final season, 2013, Rivera made a point to tour each visiting ballpark and meet with the stadium’s behind-the-scenes workers before games. It was a truly extraordinary endeavor, never attempted before or since. It spoke to the respect he held for the game and his Earth cohabitants. You could offer similar praise about the way Aaron and Mays conducted themselves. They just arrived too early for the ultimate unanimity. Their names came up during a time when voters could fill out their ballots in relative anonymity and not worry about an unpopular opinion leading to a social media beatdown. This cushion afforded some voters the luxury of clinging to ridiculous notions like never voting for a first-year candidate. And so Mays fell short on a remarkable 23 ballots, Aaron on nine and — three years ago — Ken Griffey Jr. on three, setting a new peak with 99.3 percent. Rivera picked the right time to get on the ballot. And the writers picked the right guy to set the un-toppable ceiling. “It was amazing, amazing,” Rivera said of his 100 percent approval rating. “ … I can’t even describe it or put it in words.” Rivera might not have been quite perfect when it came to save opportunities. For this honor, though, in this time? The right word, for sure, is perfect. https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/mariano-rivera-perfect-choice-for-1st-perfect-hall-of-fame-ballot/

How so?

As I said, moonslob's statement was an outright lie.

I know at one point Aramark was in control of the majority of the concessions in MLB parks. They certainly are not a "shell company".

While it may have not shown up in his limited pro debut, he certainly has exhibited a hit tool over his collegiate career(not that that guarantees anything) The 6-foot-1, right-handed-hitting Stowers played collegiately at Louisville, where he hit .407 in the NCAA tournament as a sophomore before boosting his draft stock in the wooden-bat Cape Cod League. As a junior for the Cardinals, he hit .336 with an OPS of 1.036 and 36 steals while earning D1Baseball and NCBWA All-America third-team honors. He was also named to the All-ACC Academic team in 2017 and 2018. https://nypost.com/2019/01/21/meet-josh-stowers-the-speedy-prospect-yankees-got-for-sonny-gray/

Who's No. 1? Ranking the best at RF, C Jan. 20th, 2019 MLB Network's countdown of baseball's best players at each position will run every Saturday night through Feb. 9. The second installments of the "Top 10 Right Now!" series featured the game's right fielders and catchers. The five-week program hosted by Brian Kenny used rankings based on player performance over the last two seasons, a number of offensive and defensive metrics, both advanced data and traditional numbers and analysis by the MLB Network research team. The series features appearances from MLB Network on-air personalities and former Major Leaguers Eric Byrnes, Cliff Floyd, Mike Lowell, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Ron Darling, Jim Thome and Joe Girardi, as well as roundtable discussions with Kenny, president of SABR Vince Gennaro, the Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and MLB.com analyst Mike Petriello. Each episode also featured a fan-generated Top 10 Right Now list compiled via voting on MLB Network's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages using #Top10RightNow. Below is a breakdown of this year's rankings results: Top 10 right fielders right now We know what you are thinking, Aaron Judge over Mookie Betts, after the season Betts just had? But consider this: These lists are dictated by The Shredder, MLB Network's player rating formula, which looks back at the last two seasons and weights them evenly. Over the past two years …. Judge: .282/.409/.584, 79 homers, 15 steals, 162 wRC+ Betts: .301/.388/.541, 56 homers, 56 steals, 143 wRC+ And while Betts is a stud on defense, Judge also rates highly in the outfield, with the third-most Defensive Runs Saved among right fielders in the last two years, which allowed him to hold Betts off for the top spot. 1. Aaron Judge 2. Mookie Betts 3. Christian Yelich 4. Mitch Haniger 5. Bryce Harper 6. Brandon Nimmo 7. Yasiel Puig 8. Andrew McCutchen 9. Nicholas Castellanos 10. Stephen Piscotty Top 10 catchers right now There is a strong argument that J.T. Realmuto is the best catcher in the game right now, but Buster Posey still gets the edge, buoyed by a strong 2017 campaign that is still weighted heavily. Given recent trends, there is a very good chance that this is Posey's last year at the top. 1. Buster Posey 2. J.T. Realmuto 3. Yasmani Grandal 4. Gary Sanchez 5. Willson Contreras 6. Yadier Molina 7. Kurt Suzuki 8. Wilson Ramos 9. Mike Zunino 10. Salvador Perez Top 10 second basemen right now This position is going through a bit of a transition, with a bunch of youngsters entering the mix, though veterans such as Jose Altuve, Jed Lowrie and Robinson Cano are still holding strong. 1. Jose Altuve 2. Jed Lowrie 3. Whit Merrifield 4. Robinson Cano 5. Chris Taylor 6. Scooter Gennett 7. Joey Wendle 8. Gleyber Torres 9. Ben Zobrist 10. DJ LeMahieu Top 10 third basemen right now This might be the most stacked position in baseball right now, and you can argue for about six different guys at No. 1. 1. Jose Ramirez 2. Justin Turner 3. Nolan Arenado 4. Anthony Rendon 5. Alex Bregman 6. Matt Carpenter 7. Matt Chapman 8. Kris Bryant 9. Josh Donaldson 10. Eugenio Suarez Schedule of remaining shows Airing at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET, respectively Jan. 26: Top 10 left fielder and center fielders Feb. 2: Top 10 first basemen and starting pitchers Feb. 9: Top 10 shortstops and relievers MLB Network top 10 at each position WWW.MLB.COM A new season means it's time to rank the top 10 players at each position around MLB. It's always fun not only to do the ranking, but to see how the list has changed year over year and who the newcomers are. The lists for the 2020 season were unveiled

I read a rumor on twitter that the Phillies are interested in kimbrel.

Trout for sure, mookie needs to show that he can put up numbers like last year consistently. And it's not a huge revelation that players will get more in the future, it's always been that way.

Why is that?

I agree.

Classy, but we don't really expect much more from a troll like you........

There, fixed it for you.

'I think about his smile, his laugh': Roger Clemens reflects on Mel Stottlemyre 7:00 AM ET Buster Olney ESPN Senior Writer For a lot of the years Mel Stottlemyre served as pitching coach of the New York Yankees, he made it easy for everybody to forget he was in treatment for a life-threatening illness. Because he never mentioned it, and if not for the changing texture of his hair, he never gave off any clues about the cancer. Stottlemyre died Sunday almost two decades after his initial diagnosis. "I got word today," Roger Clemens said over the phone Monday evening. Clemens won the sixth of his seven Cy Young Awards while pitching for the Yankees and Stottlemyre, who himself had pitched 11 seasons for the Yankees in the 1960s and '70s. Stottlemyre's smile was more wry than toothy, and he was understated and honest, a product of Missouri, free of the need to be the smartest guy in the room. Harry Truman in a baseball uniform. Clemens was traded to the Yankees after winning Cy Young Awards in 1997 and 1998, and he immediately noticed Stottlemyre never interjected instruction into his bullpen sessions or workouts. Rather, Stottlemyre watched quietly, and if everything went well, he'd clap his hands and say so and leave it at that. Sometimes he did have suggestions, Clemens recalled, and those thoughts, sometimes passed along while sitting in the bullpen, were constructed on that credibility. Clemens would listen and find himself saying, "I think I can use that, Mel." Stottlemyre possessed the trait that distinguishes a lot of instructors from their peers: relentless empathy. "He was rooting for you," said Clemens, well aware of the tendency of some coaches to turn on players. David Cone struggled terribly for the Yankees in his last season with the team, in 2000, and he once related the hurt he saw in Stottlemyre's eyes when the pitching coach walked to the mound to talk to Cone during a bad inning; it bothered him to see somebody he cared about face failure. The first time Clemens pitched in Fenway Park as a member of the Yankees was in July 1999 -- in the second game of a three-game weekend series, on a Saturday. Clemens recalls this very specifically, and accurately, because after the first game, right fielder Paul O'Neill had jokingly complained to manager Joe Torre about how the Fenway Park crowd wore him out. Clemens overheard this. "Come out tomorrow if you think it's hectic for you," Clemens said, telling O'Neill he'd have no worries because of course the fans' ire would be aimed at The Rocket. "I think about his smile, and his laugh, even when I knew he wasn't feeling well." There was a group of well-soused football players hovering near the visitors' bullpen when Clemens went out to warm up before that start, Clemens remembered with a laugh. Stottlemyre stood next to his pitcher, as always, a towel draped over his shoulder, a water bottle on the ground. The fans screamed insults at the former Red Sox ace as he threw his warm-up pitches, sweat pouring down his face, and after one particular verbal grenade from the stands, Clemens glanced over at Stottlemyre -- and saw his pitching coach had a hand over his own mouth to cover up his laughter at what had just been yelled. "You thought that was funny?" Clemens asked Stottlemyre. "Yeah, that was a good one," Stottlemyre responded, and Clemens remembers them sharing the laugh. Stottlemyre had a passion for his work, for stories, for a moment. When the Yankees played in the World Series after 9/11, President George W. Bush was scheduled to throw out the first pitch before Game 3, which Clemens was scheduled to start. Clemens was rooted in his preparation and schedule, but Stottlemyre mentioned to him it might be a good idea to head to the bullpen a little sooner than normal. That way, they would both have a chance to pause and watch the president. Clemens agreed and altered his routine. He threw his first warm-up pitches, Stottlemyre counting them and watching the pregame ceremonies, which, that fall, were built daily around first responders -- firemen and Port Authority officers and others who had rushed in to help right after the planes went into the World Trade Center. The first responders would line up in the relatively narrow hall just outside the Yankees' clubhouse before each game. Scott Brosius, the Yankees' third baseman, said at the time he would pass the group on his way to the dugout and think about what they had all been through, with so much trauma and loss of friends and family. Now before Game 3 of the World Series, there was a lot of anticipation for the president's first pitch. Between warm-ups, Clemens glanced at the top of Yankee Stadium and saw the silhouette of snipers above the facade. He heard Stottlemyre say, "Let's take a break right here," and from the Yankees' bullpen, Clemens said, nobody could have had a better view of President Bush's perfect throw. In April 2000, Stottlemyre revealed he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I covered the Yankees for The New York Times in that era and wrote the news, and I remember how Mel spoke of the life-threatening disease in the same matter-of-fact tone he might've discussed a starting pitcher having a short outing. Perhaps he worked to wall off his emotions in that moment, because he was more than familiar with cancer: Jason, his youngest son, had died of leukemia in 1981. But his demeanor never seemed to change throughout that period. I mentioned to Clemens on Monday that Stottlemyre, to me, was like John Wayne transported off the big screen, in how he carried himself. "One hundred percent," Clemens agreed. "That was Mel." http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25768164/roger-clemens-reflects-mel-stottlemyre

Not to mention that Tulo is only costing the league minimum, no need to rush to cut him. Let's see if he surprises first.

Not this Yankee fan ..........

Yes, I assume that they have decided what machado wants is not a fit. Can't say I'm really upset about this. While he's a fantastic player entering his prime, I wasn't really looking forward to a 10yr commitment to him. Maybe if we didn't have the Stanton contract on the books it would be more feasible. I really wish we would have signed jd martinez for DH instead of trading for Stanton. Would have kept his bat out of the sox's hands and been a great add for us at a lot shorther commitment which would have given us more flexibility moving forward.

You can see it however you like, that doesn't mean it's true......

According to Jack Curry he will see time at 1st, 2nd and 3rd base. http://bronxpinstripes.com/news-rumors/yankees-agree-to-two-year-deal-with-dj-lemahieu/?fbclid=IwAR1CuXI1gONg8SQFl0sQboVVtXI9RXqrEv1On2dAyEIdKAGiJ619QfRba80