Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 12/21/18

FanGraphs | Craig Edwards: Aside from everything problematic about Sinclar Broadcasting politically, there is another issue with their deal with the Cubs... transmission fees. If they are to negotiate with local networks on carriage fees, then there could be spates where there are gaps, or inordinate fees, to show the Cubs in your local market.

Tangotiger Blog | Tom Tango: We have similarity scores for a lot of things in baseball, and people usually think of them in regards to, say, PECOTA projections. But they can be used for Statcast, too, and you can create similarity scores for pitchers based on quality of contact results. It’s why Jacob deGrom’s best comps are Walker Buehler, Noah Syndergaard, and Stephen Strasburg, for example.

ESPN Insider | Jeff Sullivan ($): Of course teams would love a Manny Machado to fall into their laps, but if you’re looking for a bargain, maybe look into... Daniel Murphy, or Trevor Cahill (who just signed), Logan Morrison, or Greg Holland, to name a few.