Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 2/21/19

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: Rest in peace to Don Newcombe, who had an illustrious career as ace of a historic Dodgers run of teams, an integration pioneer in the age of Jackie Robinson, and a ambassador for the game, helping players and the community deal with substance abuse. He will be missed.

Baseball Prospectus | Zach Crizer ($): In Spring Training, pitchers are always trying to make adjustments. But each team has a different philosophy on how to do so, and one way is how you create consistency of release point. While the Cubs want all of their pitchers to repeat the same release point all the time, a team like the Dodgers actually preaches the opposite, hoping that variety will actually confuse hitters. Either way, a consistent strategy could lead to consistent results.

The Ringer | Claire McNear: Manny Machado is joining the Padres, which means he is also not joining the White Sox. The Sox whiffed on the massive free agent at the possible turning point of their rebuild, something the organization has already put the fans through countless times. But if the same happens as last time around—the prospects are only just good enough to make them mediocre and they never acquire premium talent—then they may be stuck in the same cycle.