The 2009 honors for Lincecum and Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke reflect a recent shift in how pitchers are evaluated. The focus has changed to more developed statistics, including some that even take into account team defense.
Greinke equaled the previous low of 16 wins for a non-shortened season when he won the AL award on Tuesday. Afterward, he talked all about FIP, a mathematician's dream that stands for Fielding Independent Pitching.
Lincecum has his own favorite indicator.
"To say which one I look to the most, I would just say WHIP," he said, referring to walks plus hits allowed per inning, "just because you just limit the amount of baserunners that can hurt you."

I especially like the tone of the column - he/she's very disappointed in these kids and their newfangled stats.

This gets the seal of approval from BBTF. I haven't yet read the piece -- it's a whopping 12,000 words -- but I love long-form journalism. I'll check it out this weekend, and drop another baseball-related long-form link in the comments

Top Ten list of b-ref sponsorships. Funny AND obscure. There may be a full house reference, no guarantees though.

First time I've heard of a pitcher using advanced statistics to influencing pitching strategy.

"He's a strong kid with leverage," said John Danks of his brother. "He gets on base and is quick and can drive the ball. I'm not really comparing him to anyone, but he's like an Alex Rios -- same build, lots of power and lots of speed."

Hilarity from the Onion. I'm mobile posting. So I hope this shizz works...

Do we take the chance and offer them arbitration? I thought that deadline passed....

Nov. 9 – General managers meetings, Chicago.

Nov. 1o-11 – General managers meetings are moved to Rio de Janeiro.

Nov. 15 – Joe Cowley reports that the White Sox have interest in trading for Chone Figgins.

Nov. 29 – The White Sox front office ponders whether or not to offer arbitration to Octavio Dotel.

Nov. 30 – Scott Linebrink wakes up from yet another undeservedly good night of sleep.

December – Questionable Latin American alleged crime period.

(More at the link)