Hideo Nomo Has a Posse

Did the blogosphere win? Maybe, maybe not. I’d like to think so, because it makes it funnier that today TBS and Chip Caray decided to “part ways.” The parties, of course, are claiming that it is a mutual decision. I’m not aware of too many guys who land a dream job only to mutually “part ways” but perhaps they exist. HOWEVER, the bitter cynic at the heart of me simply must suggest that the absolutely scathing criticism Caray (and TBS) received over his awful butchering of the craft in this year’s postseason played just the tiniest smallest role in the parting of ways.

“Since the end of the 2009 MLB Playoffs, we’ve had several discussions with Chip Caray regarding 2010 and beyond. Both sides agree that now is the right time to move ahead on different paths,” the network said in a statement.

How did that conversation go?

Network: Chip, you weren’t just up to par–

Caray: But, I–

Network: TERRIBLE!

Caray: But, really, Darling–

Network: GODAWFUL!

Caray: But hang on let me-

Network: FUUUUU-HIRED!

And so seeing as we may never again enjoy the subtle insights of Mr. Caray, let’s just fondly recall his finest moment from this year:

Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there. The runner tags. Throw to the plate. On target. And in time! A double play!

I updated my Retrosheet parser / database creator thingy to work with Chadwick 0.5.2, which introduced six new extra fields. The change also includes a new way of running the CSV files into MySQL- it’s slower, but more complete, as it uses the actual headers from the Chadwick export rather than loading the entire file at once.

Parsing the files from 1953 – 2008 took a little over two hours on my rather macho Linux box. 8,594,270 events.

Also: in awesome news, Retrosheet has completed the game files for 2009 and they should be available this weekend. I can’t say enough good things about the guys over there. They do incredible work and our lives – all of us baseball obsessives – are far better for it.

The award’s interesting to me, historically, as it’s awash with folks who either lead middling careers (Eric Karros, Eric Hinske) and others who dropped out entirely (Ben Grieve) so perhaps like the Heisman, I wouldn’t say it’s a great predictor of future success, but it always generates excitement.

2009′s Rookie of the Year awards were handed out today to Andrew Bailey in the AL and Chris Coghlan in the NL. I’ve got nothing much to say on the latter: I liked Tommy Hanson because I like pitchers and thought he demonstrated brilliance and OK, let’s be honest, I don’t think I saw but an inning or two of the Marlins. Did anyone? Did Marlin fans? Hanson, however, still finished second to JA Happ: Happ had a smidgin more strikeouts (119 to 116) but in far more innings (166 to 127.2), giving Hanson the better K/9 rate at 8.2. Hanson also posted a smaller WHIP. So, whatever, the awards aren’t science, they are awarded by old men who write words for a living. About baseball. Lucky bastards.

HOWEVER, Bailey over Elvis Andrus? That’s something else. Baily became Oakland’s closer, saving 26 of 30 opportunities, striking out 9.8 per nine innings, which puts him only 12th of any closer with more than 20 saves. Great stuff for a rookie, but  he’s no Andrus.

Andrus lead all AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8), total bases (179), and stolen bases (33) despite somehow earning a reputation of being less than stellar with his bat. And he absolutely shone brilliantly with the glove: third among all shortstops with a 10.7 UZR, playing in 150 games. I’m not sure how you choose Andrew Bailey over Elvis Andrus.

Tomorrow is the AL Cy Young. There shouldn’t be any competition. It should go to Zack Greinke. I love Felix Hernandez to death but there’s no argument for either him or CC Sabathia, not against Greinke’s 2009.

The Twins of Minnesota have bounced out some new unis and a logo and they look sharp indeed. Check out the road digs:

Best of all is one of the new the revised logo. Looks totally Minor League Baseball, and I love it:

It also vaguely reminds of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs Spy, and I think poor old Mr. St. Paul is probably about to get a shiv in his kidneys.

What the Twins failed do to is incorporate their newly found theme of snowed-out April games in their logos. No illustrations of hypothermic fans clutching one another for warmth. The jerseys are classy though, and restrained. They make me lament the fact that it’s still only mid November, and there’s still a long ways to go until pitchers and catchers report.