Around the SaberSphere 10/29: Lopsided World Series, Tim Lincecum the reliever, Minor League diets

The Common Man (Michael Bates) lists the top-5 most lopsided World Series in baseball history for Getting Blanked: So You Got Swept: It Could Have Been Worse | Getting Blanked | Blogs | theScore.com

There is no doubt that the Giants clamped down on the Tigers during the World Series, producing one of the more lopsided Fall Classics in modern memory. Pablo Sandoval single-handedly demolished the Giants in Game 1, the Tigers were held scoreless in the middle games, and Giants starters posted an ERA of 1.42 in 25 1/3 innings. But as great as the Giants played, and bad as it was for the Tigers, it could have been even worse. These are most lopsided World Series in history:

Scott Spratt of the Hardball Times analyzes Tim Lincecum the reliever: What to make of Tim Lincecum the reliever--THT

If that trend continued, there was little reason to expect Lincecum to become effective because he only had to face batters once in shorter relief appearances, and if was due to improve because of BABIP regression, it seemed as likely to happen for him as a starter as it would as a reliever.

Russell A. Carlton of Baseball Prospectus takes a look into the diets of an entire baseball organization: Baseball Prospectus | Baseball Therapy: The Proper Care and Feeding of Minor Leaguers

A modest business proposal to all 30 major-league teams: please feed the kids. It's better for them and for you in the long run, not just from a humanitarian angle, but for your bottom line.

Here's why.

Eric Seidman of FanGraphs takes a look into how teams currently look at managers: The Changing Managerial Landscape | FanGraphs Baseball

Both Ventura and Matheny were chosen over several other candidates who had either coached or managed at the major league level for quite some time. While these decisions were questioned, if team success is a major analog for managerial success, it’s hard to argue with either selection. Both were cerebral players destined for managerial duty, it was just the timing of their initial hiring that came as a surprise.

Steven Goldman of Baseball Nation describes the tumultuous times for the Giants organization in San Francisco: What the hell are the Giants doing in San Francisco, anyway? - Baseball Nation

The defects of Candlestick Park are legendary and there is no need to rehearse them here; suffice it to say the Giants, who approved all aspects of the publicly-funded ballpark, had saddled themselves with one massive disincentive to anyone wanting to take themselves out to the ballgame. Combine this with the arrival of the A's in Oakland and their rise to championship status and the Giants might as well have been the third team in a two-team town.

Please stay safe, folks.