Baseball links from around the sabersphere...
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Jim Palmer -- The Most Overrated Pitcher of All Time? | Lone Star Ball
Without batted ball data, it seems impossible to provide a definitive answer to this. But it does appear clear that, at the very least, Palmer's numbers benefited from having a strong defense behind him, and spending his entire career with an organization that consistently fielded not just winning teams, but clubs that supported its pitching staffs with quality defense.
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Does Cardinals’ slow start portend losing year? | Fungoes
Can a team’s first seven games really spell disaster for the season? History isn’t on the Cardinals’ side.
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The Mariners have used very few pitchers so far in 2011, but is that a good thing? | Baseball Reference Blog
The Seattle Mariners only had 14 pitching appearances throughout their first five games of the season. -
Dark Depths | Nick's Twins Blog
Nishioka, the Twins' only high-profile offseason addition, had done little to establish himself over the team's first handful of games and unfortunately he'll have to wait a while before he gets a chance to change that. In the meantime, the Twins are going to have a real headache on their hands with the middle infield.
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Manny Ramirez by the numbers | Hardball Talk
Manny Ramirez retires with the ninth-highest OPS of all time, among many other accomplishments.
More links after the jump...
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Release point notes | The Hardball Times
Mound heights, pitchers' injuries, altered deliveries: a quick tour on pitching release point. -
Braves Graph of the Week: How Alex Gonzalez Works the Count | Talking Chop
In contrast to Jason Heyward's plate approach. -
50 greatest Yankees of all time: 15-1 | ESPN SweetSpot Blog
David Schoenfields runs through his list of the top 15 New York Yankees of all time. -
Gordon Beckham Adjusts | Baseball Analytics Blog
Gordon clearly showed a weakness down and outside, and it appears he worked turning that weakness into a strength. We'll see if it holds up during the season, but great hitters need to make adjustments like this, so take it as a positive sign that Beckham is working in the right areas.
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The Retirement of MannyBManny | Joe Posnanski
I looked this up once before in 2009 -- at that time Manny Ramirez had never once played for a losing team in his 15 full seasons. His teams had made the playoffs 10 times and the World Series four times. He may have been a terrible teammate. He may have been an atrocious left fielder. He may have been the biggest pain this side of kidney stones. But the man hit baseballs hard. And because of him or despite him or both, his teams won.