Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Pitchers who induced most whiffs on pitches in strike zone last year:
17.9%— Garrett Crochet, CWS
17.1%— Tarik Skubal, Det
16.8%— Cole Ragans, KC
16.4%— Bailey Ober, Minn
16.3%— DJ Herz, Wash
16.2%— Tanner Bibee, Clev
Quote of the Day
“OK, you’re either going to draft me or you’re not. If you don’t draft me, that’s your fault. You’ve got to remember you’re the same team that’s got to play me for the rest of my career, and I’ll remember that.”
Miami Hurricanes QB Cam Ward, who will be drafted into the NFL in April
Tuesday’s quiz
What is the only American League team that has never had a pitcher win the Cy Young award?
Monday’s quiz
In the TV show Ted Lasso, an English soccer team hires a new coach, who used to be the football coach at Wichita State.
Sunday’s quiz
Butler lost the national championship game two years in a row, in 2010/2011; they were in the Horizon League back then, which is how coach Brad Stevens vaulted into the NBA.
***************************************
“No. Third base is my position. It’s what I play. I don’t know what their plans are. We had a conversation. I made it clear on what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”
Devers is a three-time All-Star, has played third base for Boston since 2017 and got a big $$$ contract from the Red Sox two years ago.
Bregman could play second base, but they also have Kristian Campbell, a 2B who is a highly-thought of prospect.
— Kansas Jayhawks are 8-6 in Big X this season, 3-4 in their last seven games. They’re ranked 23rd by the AP this week, the lowest they’ve been ranked since 2009 (they were also #23 in February, 2021).
— Northern Iowa 74, Murray State 67
Game was moved to Nashville, after there was a power outage on the Murray State campus, which caused this game to be postponed Sunday.
Northern Iowa was 20-26 on foul line, Racers were 8-12. Panthers have won five in a row, nine of last 11 games. Murray State is 3-8 in its last eleven games.
— Duke 80, Virginia 62
Duke shot 61.1% inside the arc.
Blue Devils out-rebounded Virginia, 41-24.
Three of Duke’s five starters are freshmen.
— TV recommendation; Suits LA starts on NBC Sunday night, a spin off from the old USA Network show. It is about a former New York prosecutor who starts law firm in Los Angeles that specializes in criminal and entertainment law.
Aaron Korsh is the creator; he also did the original Suits, so this figures to be a very good show.
— Famous birthdays, February 18
Dal Maxvill, 86
John Travolta, 71
Chuck Long, 62
Matt Dillon, 61
Molly Ringwald, 57
Le’Veon Bell, 33
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 32
Ryan Mountcastle, 28
Jake Irvin, 28
Isaac Paredes, 26
— Angels’ star Mike Trout is switching from center field to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier as he gets older.
33-year old Trout has played in only 266 games the last four years. Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014; they haven’t won a playoff game since 2009.
Somehow, the Angels are actually paying 3B Anthony Rendon more than Trout, and now it looks like Rendon’s career might be over. If his Angels’ stint is over, Rendon will have played a total of 257 games, out of a possible 1,032, while banking $228M from the Halos.
— Things can fall apart quickly; four years ago, the White Sox over/under win total was 91.1 wins, for the 2021 season. This year, it is 61.5.
Last year, the Pale Hose went 41-121. No bueno.
— Mets P Frankie Montas has a high-grade lat strain, is likely out until Memorial Day— this is an injured muscle around the rib cage. Montas has been shut down for 6-8 weeks, and then will start his season over from scratch from there.
— Arizona Diamondbacks gave SS Geraldo Perdomo a 4-year, $45M contract extension; 25-year old Perdomo hit .273 with a .718 OPS last year, in 98 games.
— Kansas City Royals signed P Cole Ragans to a 3-year deal worth $13.25M; Ragans was 11-9, 3.14 in 32 starts for the Royals last year, helping the Royals make the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
— This will be the 21st year of our fantasy baseball league, a dynasty league with 14 teams in it. Our first draft took 81 days to finish. The first two players I drafted were Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn, two very different hitters.
Dunn walked a lot and hit a lot of home runs. From 2005-08, he hit exactly 40 home runs four years in a row, which doesn’t seem possible. He hit 462 home runs, had a career OPS of .854.
He was the kind of player Billy Beane talked about in Moneyball; when Dunn was 34, at the tail end of his career, he played 25 games for the A’s, but by then, he was washed up. He did help my fantasy team a lot though, when he played for Cincinnati.
Pitchers who induced most whiffs on pitches in strike zone last year:
17.9%— Garrett Crochet, CWS
17.1%— Tarik Skubal, Det
16.8%— Cole Ragans, KC
16.4%— Bailey Ober, Minn
16.3%— DJ Herz, Wash
16.2%— Tanner Bibee, Clev
Quote of the Day
“OK, you’re either going to draft me or you’re not. If you don’t draft me, that’s your fault. You’ve got to remember you’re the same team that’s got to play me for the rest of my career, and I’ll remember that.”
Miami Hurricanes QB Cam Ward, who will be drafted into the NFL in April
Tuesday’s quiz
What is the only American League team that has never had a pitcher win the Cy Young award?
Monday’s quiz
In the TV show Ted Lasso, an English soccer team hires a new coach, who used to be the football coach at Wichita State.
Sunday’s quiz
Butler lost the national championship game two years in a row, in 2010/2011; they were in the Horizon League back then, which is how coach Brad Stevens vaulted into the NBA.
***************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— Red Sox signed 3B Alex Bregman last week for three years, $120M; they’re not saying where Bregman will play in the field this year, but incumbent 3B Rafael Devers had a lot to say about the situation Monday.“No. Third base is my position. It’s what I play. I don’t know what their plans are. We had a conversation. I made it clear on what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”
Devers is a three-time All-Star, has played third base for Boston since 2017 and got a big $$$ contract from the Red Sox two years ago.
Bregman could play second base, but they also have Kristian Campbell, a 2B who is a highly-thought of prospect.
— Kansas Jayhawks are 8-6 in Big X this season, 3-4 in their last seven games. They’re ranked 23rd by the AP this week, the lowest they’ve been ranked since 2009 (they were also #23 in February, 2021).
— Northern Iowa 74, Murray State 67
Game was moved to Nashville, after there was a power outage on the Murray State campus, which caused this game to be postponed Sunday.
Northern Iowa was 20-26 on foul line, Racers were 8-12. Panthers have won five in a row, nine of last 11 games. Murray State is 3-8 in its last eleven games.
— Duke 80, Virginia 62
Duke shot 61.1% inside the arc.
Blue Devils out-rebounded Virginia, 41-24.
Three of Duke’s five starters are freshmen.
— TV recommendation; Suits LA starts on NBC Sunday night, a spin off from the old USA Network show. It is about a former New York prosecutor who starts law firm in Los Angeles that specializes in criminal and entertainment law.
Aaron Korsh is the creator; he also did the original Suits, so this figures to be a very good show.
— Famous birthdays, February 18
Dal Maxvill, 86
John Travolta, 71
Chuck Long, 62
Matt Dillon, 61
Molly Ringwald, 57
Le’Veon Bell, 33
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 32
Ryan Mountcastle, 28
Jake Irvin, 28
Isaac Paredes, 26
— Angels’ star Mike Trout is switching from center field to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier as he gets older.
33-year old Trout has played in only 266 games the last four years. Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014; they haven’t won a playoff game since 2009.
Somehow, the Angels are actually paying 3B Anthony Rendon more than Trout, and now it looks like Rendon’s career might be over. If his Angels’ stint is over, Rendon will have played a total of 257 games, out of a possible 1,032, while banking $228M from the Halos.
— Things can fall apart quickly; four years ago, the White Sox over/under win total was 91.1 wins, for the 2021 season. This year, it is 61.5.
Last year, the Pale Hose went 41-121. No bueno.
— Mets P Frankie Montas has a high-grade lat strain, is likely out until Memorial Day— this is an injured muscle around the rib cage. Montas has been shut down for 6-8 weeks, and then will start his season over from scratch from there.
— Arizona Diamondbacks gave SS Geraldo Perdomo a 4-year, $45M contract extension; 25-year old Perdomo hit .273 with a .718 OPS last year, in 98 games.
— Kansas City Royals signed P Cole Ragans to a 3-year deal worth $13.25M; Ragans was 11-9, 3.14 in 32 starts for the Royals last year, helping the Royals make the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
— This will be the 21st year of our fantasy baseball league, a dynasty league with 14 teams in it. Our first draft took 81 days to finish. The first two players I drafted were Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn, two very different hitters.
Dunn walked a lot and hit a lot of home runs. From 2005-08, he hit exactly 40 home runs four years in a row, which doesn’t seem possible. He hit 462 home runs, had a career OPS of .854.
He was the kind of player Billy Beane talked about in Moneyball; when Dunn was 34, at the tail end of his career, he played 25 games for the A’s, but by then, he was washed up. He did help my fantasy team a lot though, when he played for Cincinnati.
