Lineouts! 08/13/13: Abreu defects, Puig adjusts and Cy Young battles

We have a great edition today of Lineouts! with a lot of great analytical articles coming out Monday from multiple sites. Pete Rose made another radio appearance talking about his mistakes, another great Cuban player seems to be on his way to America and it looks as if Yasiel Puig has adjusted to pitchers who made an adjustment on him, which is one of the things that makes great hitters, well, great.  Enjoy everyone!

MLB Hot Topics

Mike Trout: Ban PED users for life by Mike Mazzeo -- ESPN

Add another superstar to the list who has voiced his opinion against PEDs.  Mike Trout believes it should be one failed test and you've played your last day in the league.  He went on to say guys get tested everyday and every week, and that an even playing field is all he wants.

Pete Rose: 'I picked the wrong vice ... I should have picked alcohol by Dayn Perry -- CBS Sports

Pete Rose seems to be popping up everywhere lately since all of the Biogenesis suspensions were handed down.  On a radio interview in Pittsburgh, Rose said that he picked the wrong vice, while mentioning drugs, alcohol, and spousal abuse.

Jose Dariel Abreu Will Become One of Most Sought After Free Agents This Winter by Benjamin Klein -- Bleacher Report

More power than Yoenis Cespedes? That is quite scary to imagine since Cespedes put on a show at this year's home run derby in New York.  Jose Abreu is the latest defector from Cuba, who is said to be highly sought after once he is free to sign with a team.  He is projected to be either a first baseman or DH, due to his large frame at 6'3, and 250 pounds. His power is said to be off the charts, which he showed briefly when he destroyed at the World Baseball Classic, hitting three home runs in six games. It will be interesting to see if he does indeed get more money than Puig or Cespedes, due to their quick impacts with their new teams.

The Sabermetrics Community

Overthinking It: Yasiel Puig Adjusts to the Adjustments by Ben Lindbergh -- Baseball Prospectus

Ben Lindbergh's article talks about adaptability, which Yasiel Puig has added to his tool kit. Tim Hudson said to see where he is at in eight or nine weeks -- well, it has been that long and Puig indeed has made the necessary adjustments to keep the hype train going.  Puig started off hot during his first 20 games, regressed and slumped in the next 20, and went on another tear his last 20 games.  His improvement from his middle 20 games was that he learned to lay off pitches outside of the strike zone, and his bring his contact rate back up to where it was around the first 20 games, which was around 70%.

Mariano Rivera’s Week of New Things by Jeff Sullivan -- Fan Graphs

Sullivan takes a closer look at the pitches in which Rivera blew his three consecutive saves.  What it looks like is that Rivera really didn't pitch that poorly. He didn't miss his spot against Dunn and he made the smallest mistake to Miguel Cabrera on Sunday, but Cabrera is the world's best hitter. I believe he threw his worst pitch to Victor Martinez, an inside cutter belt high, in which he crushed.  After all the evaluation it just looks like bad luck really for Mariano, nothing to get nervous about for Yankee fans going forward the last two months.

AL Central: At the three-quarter mark by Chris Jaffe -- The Hardball Times

The Tigers look to be running away with the AL Central with their current run, as the Royals have come neck to neck with the Indians, both in search of the wild card at this point.  Jaffe includes a chart in the article, where you can see how the division has played out thus far in 2013, with only a little more than six weeks remaining.

The Unsung Heroes of the Dodgers' Crazy Run by Dave Cameron -- FanGraphs

Dave looks at two of the Dodgers who aren't getting the national media attention, but are contributing mightily to the Dodgers success. Those two players are Mark Ellis and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Each has been scorching hot over the last month, during which the Dodgers have gone on their monster run. Ellis has been the Dodgers' best hitter over the past month, and Ryu has a 59 xFIP- (which is xFIP adjusted by league, where 100 is average and anything lower is better) over the last month. That's the third-best in the league, behind only Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey.

New at SBNation MLB

Yu Darvish loses no-hitter, shutout, in 8th inning by Satchel Price -- SB Nation

Darvish added 15 strikeouts on Monday, bringing his major league-leading total to 207 strikeouts. Oh yeah, and he also nearly threw a no-hitter against the same team he almost perfect gamed earlier this season. Darvish now has five games with 14 strikeouts or more during 2013, which is quite impressive to say the least.

Spirited Cy Young battles in both leagues! by Rob Neyer -- Baseball Nation

Time to talk about the battles for the league's top individual awards. The American League has the battle between Max Scherzer and Felix Hernandez, while the National League is all about Clayton Kershaw versus Matt Harvey. All four of these pitchers are having phenomenal years, and if you break down all of their numbers and compare, they are all very similar.

Tigers' pitchers still on pace for the team strikeout record by John A McGeehan -- Bless You Boys

The Tigers are on pace to break the 2003 Chicago Cubs total of 1404 strikeouts over the course of a season. That year, the Cubs were led by huge seasons from Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. This is just another thing to watch as Detroit gets closer and closer to the record -- and they arguably have the best pitching staff in the major leagues.

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All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.

Anthony Bauer is a writer at Beyond The Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @skipbauer22.

More from Beyond the Box Score:

• PITCHf/x profile: Jhoulys Chacin
• The hidden cost of the sinker
• Site Update: The (updated) Analytics Toolbox!
• Lineouts! 08/12/13: Puig vs. Myers, Rivera and Griffey
• The Smallest Sample Size 8/12/13: Giant meltdowns