C-Trent Out at Homer

Just found out via Twitter that C. Trent Rosecrans, blogger extroidanire for 1530 Homer, was laid off today along with several other workers at Clear Channel Cincinnati.

His page has already been deleted from the Homer website.

I loved the guy’s writing, insight, and his taste in music.  I wish him all the best in his future endeavors as a journalist.

You can still follow him via Twitter at twitter/ctrent or his personal website http://ctrentrosecrans.com/

Predictions

This is not based on anything scientific or for that matter, sabermetric.

AL East-New York Yankees
AL West-LA Angels
AL Central-Cleveland Indians
Wild Card-Tampa Bay Rays

There is a tremendous burden on the Yankees and their payroll that rivals most small nations.  Those enormous expectations will play into what happens in the AL East.  The Angels win the AL West by default since there are no other intriguing teams in that division.  The AL Central is probably the most wide open, however.  While the Tigers may contend, I think the Indians’ time has come again to make another run at the playoffs.  The Rays haven’t changed much and, in fact, have improved slightly with Pat Burrell at DH and they have David Price waiting in the wings to be brought up from the minors after preforming brilliantly late last season.

NL East-Philadelphia Phillies
NL West-LA Dodgers
NL Central-Chicago Cubs
Wild Card-NY Mets

I don’t think adding J.J. Putz and K-Rod at the back of the rotation is enough to put the Mets over the top in the division, but I do think it is enough for the wild card.  The Dodgers are solid but may have problems with their pitching.  The Cubs will win the Central (again) and not really be tested by any other teams in the division.

World Series
Phillies vs. Indians, Phillies in 6

The World Series is a total guess as are the rest of these predictions, but it should be another great year of baseball.

Opening Day Weather

From AccuWeather. Yikes.

High: 43°F RealFeel®: 34°F

Windy and much colder with a couple of showers of rain or snow

I hope this does not prompt another round of the yearly “Baseball games needs to start later and only be played in warm weather cities on opening day” columns from the writers.

It is an outside game.  Deal with it.  The same thing applies for World Series games in late October and early November, especially this year due to the World Baseball Classic.

About the Hiatus

I wanted to finally get back on the horse and start blogging again but wanted to wait until the college basketball season was complete.  As of yesterday’s crushing loss, I can now start paying attention to baseball again.

Over the next week I will be updating and revamping the site so that it will be ready for opening day next Monday.  By adding and subtracting links and doing some other things I had in mind for the site, I hope to better serve the readership (the few of you that remain) for the upcoming season.

If you have a link or site that you want to see featured here OR if you have ideas for content (Twitter feed?) please let me know in the comments so that I can add them in as I see fit.

I apologize about the layoff but college basketball is a little more important to me than the spring baseball season.

Off To Reds Fest

Today I head up to the ‘Nati and the Duke Energy Center for my first Reds Fest.

Hopefully I’ll have some photos to share later on when I return.

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to express thanks for the readers, as few as they may be, as well as the ever expanding Reds blogging community who have become very strong over the past year that I have been around.

Now go, eat.

Hopefully there will be a lot more to be thankful for in 2009 when Opening Day rolls around.

Hey Walt…

This might be a good idea for your team.

It looks like the Mariners’ new GM, Jack Zduriencik, is devoting a whole new department to statistical analysis.

From the Seattle Times:

It turns out the Mariners are planning to do a whole lot more. In fact, they’re in the process of creating an entirely new department to deal with the subject.

The department will fall under the auspices of Tony Blengino, a longtime baseball stats analyst and a special assistant to new Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik. Details of the department’s mandate and size are still to be worked out, but the move could vault the Mariners from their perceived Stone Age approach to stats to one in which they’re seen as one of the game’s more progressive franchises.

I know Jocketty was pretty much vehminetly opposed to any analytical department in St. Louis and that it was part of the reason he left.  However, if he sees that other teams are getting serious, how can he ignore it for much longer?

We want to take all the information at our disposal and combine it with our scouting,” Blengino said Friday.

I think this is the best approach.  A synthesis of scouting (subjective) and statistical analysis (objective) can really be an asset to any club looking for an edge.  Too much of one or the other can lead to players being missed and then you lose your advantage.

If we were to ask Walt to what extent the Reds use statistical analysis I am sure that he would give a canned response that wouldn’t revel anything.

Perhaps someone could ask him in person if they see him at RedsFest next month.

Reds Broadcast in Jeopardy

Here we go again.

Rick Redding, a local media critic and journalist has reveled that the Louisville affiliate for Reds broadcasts will be pulling the plug on their sports-talk format.  A move that could leave the Louisville market without any radio broadcast of Reds games.

A dispute has developed between 93.9 The Ticket (Reds affiliate) and 790 WKRD, the latter of which is operated by the University of Louisville Clear Channel.  Each station has poached talent and has taken pot shots at each other for one reason or another.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I am a University of Louisville fan, but the programming on WKRD has been controlled and manipulated by the University, almost to the point of censorship, which totally disgusts me.

I have posted on this blog before about the difficulties of finding a reliable affiliate that had a clear signal around town for me and others to enjoy the Reds down here in Louisville, but this is getting a bit out of hand.  Of course, if I had the money (any donations?) I would have bought a 50,000 watt station and broadcast Reds games and other national programming (Fox Sports has gotten the shaft here locally as well) since I like it much more than most radio shows around the area.

I guess I will have to make another call to Joe Zerhusen, the Reds affiliate coordinator, to make sure that fans in Louisville can hear Marty, Jeff, and Thom next season.  Joel was very helpful the last time around and I have no reason think that he won’t work his hardest to make sure fans are satisfied.

EDIT: Clear Channel operates the station, not the University of Louisville.  Sorry for the error.

Sheehan: Reds Should Get Lowe

An interesting take by Joe Sheehan from Baseball Prospectus via Sports Illustrated.com

2. Cincinnati signs Derek Lowe.

The Reds aren’t often thought of as players in free agency, but they could be an NL Central sleeper in ’09; Lowe, 35, would make them a bona fide contender. He’s a durable righthander who may be the safest bet in a deep free-agent pitching pool. His ability to induce ground balls is a huge asset in tiny Great American Ballpark, and his signing would allow Cincinnati to keep Homer Bailey, 22, in long relief as he adjusts to the majors, or to deal Bronson Arroyo for a quality infield glove.

Intriguing.  He had a very good season last year.  At 35, he started 34 games and pitched 211 innings.  His 2008 WHIP at 1.133, and having a strong, durable groundballer at GABP is a very nice thought.

The only problem is that he would probably ask for about the same amount of money ($10M in 2008) or more and 3-4 years.

If only Wayner hadn’t given Coco Corderro that bloated, long-term deal, Derek Lowe in the rotation would be a very good possibility.  Now the team seems to have more issues in terms of position players rather than pitching.

Could the Reds use Lowe as a stop-gap measure while wating for Bailey, Daryl Thompson, and/or Ramon Ramirez?

Boycott Zogby

In my other life, outside of pouring over baseball and other sports, I am a political science geek.  I love politics, news, and current events so of course the upcoming election tomorrow, (Go out and vote!) it is one of my favorite times of the year.

Zogby, one of the biggest polls out there, has taken a shot at a fellow baseball geek and Baseball Prospectus writer Nate Silver, editor and founder of FiveThirtyEight.com, a website that uses Nate’s Baseball Prospectus model to project the presidential election using weighted polling data.

Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic, who’s blog has been amazing during the campaign season (and beyond), quoted Zogby’s direct shot across the bow at Nate:

“Remember, as I said yesterday, one day does not make a trend. This is a three-day rolling average and no changes have been tectonic. A special note to blogger friends: calm it down. Lay off the cable television noise and look at your baseball cards in your spare time. It is better for your (and everyone else’s) health.”

As someone who not only loves his childhood collection of baseball cards (Topps ’82-’92) and politics, I am now going to boycott Zogby polling, even though I know as a good political scientist that I should take in all information and distill it down without bias.  However, with Zogby’s quote, I feel that he is taking a shot at me as well.