A note about today's Daily Links: this is a Red Sox site, but considering the state of the team at the moment, the national media has not focused much on our little corner of baseball-dom. As such I've made the executive decision to bring you the best baseball-themed writing, with a Red Sox bent as much as possible. Enjoy.
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Should the Sox release the oft-angered hurler? Should he be disciplined? Should the team turn the other cheek? Former OTM'er Cee Angi takes on the enigma that is Alfredo Aceves. (Cee Angi; The Platoon Advantage)
The Strasburg Shutdown, as it's being called, has garnered much media attention. At the heart of it is the idea that shutting the young ace down will prevent injury. Turns out, that might not true, or at least, that type of information might not be knowable. (Rany Jazayerli; Grantland.com)
This is a bit meta, but now I will link to an article about the article I just linked to. (The Common Man; The Platoon Advantage)
Last season the Red Sox had two All Star-level first basemen. You could make a case they had too many. Now, oddly, next year they'll have none. Not no All Star-level first basemen, though that too, but no first basemen at all. James Loney will be a free agent and unless the team is seeing something that I'm not (quite possible, I admit) his limited time in Boston will be finished. Thus the Sox will need a new first baseman. Alex Speier looks into some of the possibilities. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)
Yesterday Fox Business Channel reported that the Red Sox might soon be up for sale. The team's ownership took to the airwaves shortly thereafter to disavow that rumor. Gordon Edes takes a look at the circumstances surrounding the team now and concludes that selling now wouldn't make much sense. (Gordon Edes; ESPN Boston)
Which pitcher had the greatest three year peak in baseball history? There is no definitive answer, of course. Baseball history extends back 150+ years so the farther back you go the murkier things get. But make no mistake, we Red Sox fans surely have a horse in this race, and he's probably the favorite, even if you extend the peak period out to four or five years. (James Gentile; Beyond The Boxscore)
Strength of schedule isn't widely discussed. Maybe that's because over the course of a 162 game season people feel it all evens out. And it may, but there are about 20 games left for most teams in the season so the sample has dropped in size considerably. And that means more variance is likely (i.e. teams are more likely to have an .800 winning percentage over 20 games than 162). One aspect that could contribute to that variance is the strength of schedule. Who has the advantage now in that arena? Dave Cameron takes a gander. (Dave Cameron; Fan Graphs)
Looking at Bryce Brentz and Jeremy Hazelbaker and how they've dealt with their late season assignments to Triple-A. (Matt Huegel; Sox Prospects via ESPN Boston)
Finally, my little bit of self-promotion: my weekly column at Baseball Prospectus was about last Saturday's awful Red Sox/Blue Jays game and how it showed all the possible components of being the worst baseball game of the year. (Matthew Kory; Baseball Prospectus ($$$))