Are the first 10 games a precursor of things to come? Normally you wouldn’t think so since the baseball season is 162 games long. It represents exactly 6% of the total schedule. There are, however, some trends in how a team performs the last decade. ACTA Sports produced this analysis in their latest “Stat of [...]

The Mets officially became 50-years old earlier today. On April 11th, 1962 they played the first-ever game in team history, an 11-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Appropriately, the Mets celebrated that sloppy debut with an equally sloppy 4-0 defeat to Washington earlier today. Nonetheless, here is a short video to commemorate the birthday [...]

On the second night of Passover, a simple dinner discussion that evolved into an argument between the Matzo Ball Soup and the Brisket was the impetus for this list. Going through the Internet to find any definitive list, this wonderful piece by the ubiquitous Jonah Keri from 2007 was discovered  listing the Top 18 Jewish [...]

The Mets lack of pitching depth has been widely discussed this spring. Look past the starting five, and you don’t see many options that make you warm and fuzzy. Perhaps Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia will change that mid-season, but neither should be put into the equation on March 20th. With the new rule that [...]

All reports indicate that MLB will expand its playoff system this year to include a second Wild Card team. MLB continues to be the only sport that doesn’t get it. What I mean by that is they don’t have the understanding or ability to create an economic system where the disparity in local revenues between [...]

The minor-league deal. The non-roster invite to spring training. It’s like one of those phrases you hear in passing and ignore. There are two types of non-roster invitees, as former Dodgers GM Fred Claire pointed out to me the other day. “There’s the promising young player that you would like to take a long look [...]

You know the story about the Mets and their inability to add much, if any, payroll. What once was supposed to be about $120 million dollar budget has slide all the way down to around $90 million. That’s why it came as no surprise that one of their rumored targets- Rick Ankiel- signed as minor league [...]

Let’s have some fun. I was surfing Sportsbook reviews looking for what the odds makers think about the local teams chances of winning the World Series. The big free agent signings of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder have surged the Angels and Tigers into the top five, respectively. The Yankees are tied with the Angels was 13-2 favorites. The Phillies are still #1 in [...]

It was inevitable that Carlos Beltran would be asked about his New York experience one last time during the B.A.T charity dinner on Monday. “I’m not thinking about the fans, I’m thinking about myself,” Beltran said to reporters. He added that “we can’t bring 2006 back to 2012. It has been six years. If they want [...]

The terms “Cincinnati legend” and “lifetime Cincinnati Red” were used to describe Barry Larkin yesterday after his election into the Hall of Fame. He also became the 48th member of the Hall to spend his entire career with one team. Born in Cincinnati, Larkin won the 1990 World Series, MVP in 1995, and become the first shortstop [...]

Forget any stats – advanced or otherwise- let’s do a fun exercise and vote for the Hall of Fame based on “feel.” This isn’t easy since you would have to see someone play for a majority of their career. As mentioned before, if I had a Hall of Fame Ballot it would include  Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jack [...]

We are a little over a week away from the Baseball Hall of Fame announcing its 2012 selection. Each year, I give the readers of NYBD an opportunity to cast their own BBWAA-style ballot. Last year Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar garnered the most fan support, but not the requisite 75% needed for induction. In December, Gil Hodges received the most [...]

In recent months I have discussed the dangers of long-term deals, specifically when it came to the Mets signing Jose Reyes. The years, more than the dollars, is usually the problem. Long-term contracts lead to teams paying premium dollars for players past their prime. The average annual value is often skewed because you have situations (see [...]

The Rangers winning the bid for Yu Darvish put the nail in the coffin for the Yankees free agent pitching hopes. They spurned C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle, and weren’t ready to break the bank on Darvish. You hear rumors that Brian Cashman would like to deal for John Danks or Gio Gonzalez, but he [...]

It’s been nearly 15 years since the BBWAA elected to not enshrine someone in Cooperstown. During the 1996 election, Phil Niekro received 68.3% of the vote, followed by Tony Perez (65.7%), and Don Sutton (63.8%). Ironically, all three would be enshrined by 2000.  I believe there is a good chance no one will be inducted by the [...]