I'm back from my vacation/travels/schoolnight-curfew. And, I brought LINKS. I'll have to dig through a whole pile of them that I built up while away, but this should hold y'all over till then.
(My apologies if I link to something that's already been linked to before; I don't recommend cramming a week of OTM into 90 minutes.)
The triumph of Moneyball - THT
What was the impact of the book that Billy Beane didn't write?
Did it cause OBP and salary to correlate better, as is popularly believed?
MLB Exec: Moneyball is a Flop - New York Baseball Digest
Chances this is a MFY executive? Seriously, the person who said this isn't going to win over any sabermatricians by justifying his position with the results of sabermetric GM's teams.
Fun With The Elias Rankings - Lookout Landing
A very brief glance at the awful awful Elias free agent rankings.
This is just sad. So very, very sad. In fact, I need something to cheer me up...
Guest Harry Pavlidis examines Bard’s breaking ball - Fire Brand of the American League
BARD!!!! Always fun to talk about him.
Trades Of The Decade: Hanley Ramirez For Josh Beckett & Mike Lowell - MLBTradeRumors.com
Who didn't see this one coming?
After the jump, arbitration notes, examinations of the old guys on the team, and slightly less rumors than your standard high school (assuming my observations from the bottom of the social ladder are correct).
Arbitration-Eligible Players - The Biz of Baseball
Wagner Willing to Take Arbitration - Yawkey Way Academy
Pitch F/X strike zones included to show the trend of Wagner's pitches over the past few years. He has a few issues, but they aren't alarming, according to the Academy.
Jason Varitek’s Fast Decline in 2009 - Tom's Bombs of Thought
This, on the other hand... I'm just going to move on.
Offseason storylines are plentiful - Yahoo! Sports
New York Yankees widen the gulf: The roadmap for the rich to get richer is easy to navigate. Re-sign Damon as a DH; sign Holliday or Bay to play left field; sign Lackey to bolster the starting rotation; re-sign Andy Pettitte(notes) for one more season after offering him arbitration to chase off other suitors. Then, one year from now, sign catcher Joe Mauer(notes) when he hits free agency. Seem implausible? All it takes is that green stuff oozing out of Yankee pores.
That is just evil. It's not going to make anyone feel better either. Well, we could talk about big moves we're going to make; in fact, let's do that:
Are The Sox Getting Ready To Make A Big Splash? - Boston Sports Pulse
Eww... math. At least someone did it for us - interesting to see the available money, based on Theo's comments. This is kind of the update to BTLove's FanPost from a month ago, with new information. Of course, now we get to guess what Theo wants to do...
Pirates Could Trade Doumit - MLBTradeRumors.com
Any interest left over? No? Okay, moving on.
Player Profile: Matt Holliday - Intro to Sabermetrics 101
It should come as no surprise that corner outfielder Matt Holliday is at the top of every team’s wish list. The outfielder split the season between the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals and excelled as he always had back in his days at Coors Field with the Colorado Rockies. How much can we expect Holliday to be worth? Let’s take a look.
Yes, please.
Making the Age 31 Comparison - Yawkey Way Academy
Who do we want?!? HOLLIDAY!!!!
Red Sox Interested In Matsui? - Boston Sports Pulse
NOOOOO.... As you can see, the passion flows on this topic. I don't get this rumor either, unless Theo&Co. think there's something wrong with Papi for this season. This had better not be a backup plan for LF, because it won't work.
Comments, links, guesses about when the next Filter will be published (I'll try to get one up for tomorrow), and general discussion is acceptable.