ASG News

Here is this week’s news and discussion relating to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.

Weekend (6/4-6/5):

• Baseball’s All-Star Game needs a few tweaks to make it better (Chicago Tribune)
• Bautista trade shows how far Huntington has come as GM (Time’s Online)
• Derek Jeter shares thoughts on Muhammad Ali (YES)
• Eminian: Chiefs loaded with All-Star candidates, and manager Kruzel has MLB admirer (Journal Star)
• Mariners’ Kyle Seager, brother Corey two of MLB’s hottest hitters (ESPN Seattle)
• MLB: Dodgers cut ties with underperforming Carl Crawford (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• MLB notebook: Padres deal Shields to White Sox (Trib Live)
• MLB Notes: Padres Trade SP James Shields to White Sox (CSN Philly)
• Sleeper picks for the MLB All-Star Game (Sports Blog)
• Trevor Hoffman, Moises Alou to manage All-Star Futures Game (Fansided)
• Watch Muhammad Ali’s legendary appearance at the 2004 All-Star Game (MLB)
• Where are they now? Bobcats in the big leagues (The University Star)

[Read more…]

This week Major League Baseball released the first wave of 2016 All-Star Game voting results.  There are several points of conflict between the analysis in our first All-Star Game Voting Guide and the initial vote totals, which should come as no surprise given that the voting is done by fans, who are known to play favorites or vote for familiar names.

For the American League, Brian McCann leads in WAR, WPA, and RE24 (as of the publication of our voting guide) yet is not leading the race for catcher.  The same goes for Chris Davis at first base.  As for the National League, Daniel Murphy leads all three statistical categories yet trails in the NL voting for second base.  At third base, Jake Lamb and Nolen Arenado lead the stats yet neither is in the lead with votes.  In the outfield, Ryan Braun leads two of three categories in LF, but is not in the top three outfielders thus far. [Read more…]

Here is this week’s news and discussion relating to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.

Weekend (5/28-5/29):

• Five MLB players who could be traded before the end of June (Sporting News)
• Harris looks to represent Houston Astros at All-Star game (Climbing Tal’s Hill)
• Padres All Star Game 2016 Updates (Friar’s On Base)
• Royals’ Salvador Perez hurts quad, taken for MRI after collision (ESPN)
• Steve Finley, Toledo, the Rochester Red Wings and bugs — lots of bugs (Sporting News)
• Wood River’s Zangori to be on display at Busch Stadium (Advantage News)

[Read more…]

Here is this week’s news and discussion relating to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.

Weekend (5/21-5/22):

• MLB All-Star Game: Do Phillies Have Any Representatives? (That Ball’s Outta Here)
• My National League All-Star Ballot (Sport’s Blog)
• Rangers, City of Arlington Announce Plans for New Retractable-Roof Stadium (Red Fever)
• Rougned Odor’s popularity among peers soars after punch (Star-Telegram)
• 4 Cleveland Indians Deserving Of Your MLB All-Star Vote (Factory of Sadness)
• 5 Miami Marlins Players Who Have Played Like All-Stars So Far In 2016 (Rant Sports)

[Read more…]

For the first time, Major League Baseball has an official sock sponsor, having reaching a multi-year deal with Stance.  Starting with this year’s All-Star Game and continuing on a more widespread basis for the 2017 season, every sock worn on the field by MLB players will be from Stance’s new Fusion Baseball line.  Stance’s collection features four different styles (Memorial, Diamond, Legends, Stadium) available for each team, potentially providing a variety of additional uniform combinations for MLB teams.

The official Twitter announcement from Stance:

Stance is now the Official Sock of @mlb. @StanceBaseball #stancebaseball #repyourcity #theuncommonthread pic.twitter.com/Jk6JAGEdEq

— Stance (@stance) May 23, 2016

More Coverage:

• New Stance Fusion Socks To Debut At 2016 MLB All-Star Game (CBS Philly)
• MLB tries to make socks fun again, follows in NBA’s footsteps in new deal (USA Today)
• Stance signs deal with MLB to be official sock provider (ESPN)
• MLB’s Socks Are About To Get A Lot More Fun (The PostGame)
• MLB Announces New On-Field Sock Designs Afoot (Sports Logos)

Now that All-Star Game voting has opened, the casual fan may be wondering how to make an informed vote.  We’ve compiled this season’s statistics in three key categories below.  The stats we focus on are WAR, WPA, RE24.

What metrics did we choose and why?

WAR: “The WAR value calculated for a player is claimed to be the number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player was substituted by a replacement-level player: a player that may be added to the team for minimal cost and effort.” Source: Wikipedia

WPA: “Win probability added (WPA) is a sport statistic which attempts to measure a player’s contribution to a win by figuring the factor by which each specific play made by that player has altered the outcome of a game.” Source: Wikipedia

RE24: “is based on the concept of run expectancy, which provides the average number of expected runs per inning given the current number of outs and placement of baserunners.” Source: FanGraphs

Leaders are listed for each league and position, along with our pick (based on positional rankings across all three metrics).  Interestingly, the only consensus picks at this point are Brian McCann, Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Daniel Murphy, David Ortiz, and Bryce Harper.

[Read more…]

87th MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard®

Date: Tuesday, July 12
Game Time: TBA; Television coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time (7:30 p.m. Eastern Time)
Location: Petco Park
TV Network Coverage: Fox (US); Multiple International Networks
Radio: ESPN
Cost: Approx. $275 and up through resellers
Tickets: Sold out; available through resellers such as Vivid Seats, Stub Hub, Cheap Tickets, Ticket City, Prime Sport, Ticket Network, Seat Geek, and Tickets Now.

[Read more…]

Here is this week’s news and discussion relating to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.

Weekend (4/30-5/1)

• Cause for concern: One player on every MLB team who needs to turn his season around (USA Today)
• MLB April All-Stars: Harper, Machado, Syndergaard lead month’s best (Sports Illustrated)
• MLB Takeaways – League News Round-Up (01 May) (Real Sport 101)
• Saturday Links: All-Star Game, Ellsbury, Prospects, DL (River Ave Blues)
• Twins’ Park Byung-ho Listed as MLB April All-Star (KBS World Radio)

[Read more…]