Content out the bunny butt. Hop to.
- Besides the Dodgers' recent change of ownership, the addition of two more playoff teams come 2012 is the talk of the town. Joe Pawlikowski gives us a good breakdown of some issues and options for the eventual expanded playoff format.
- Via Fangraphs, a (frustrating but in-depth) presentation on FIELDf/x. This will likely be the analysis system to put all other defensive metrics to shame and/or eventual pasture. For clarity on the new technology, Bloomberg has the insight. However awesome this may seem, there's little reason to believe the raw data will be made available to the general public, but that isn't necessarily terrible. Fangraphs proper has the reasoning.
- Next, a succinct and cursory look at recent happenings in the business of baseball from The Hardball Times, including news of the Rays, Rangers, Astros, Mets, and, of course, Dodgers. For deeper interest, more links are provided within.
- Also from THT, these are fascinating versions of spray charts that I don't recall seeing before. The Hit-Where-Pitched index can be used to analyze dead-pull hitters versus those with an inside-out swing. Fairly simple and informative, HWP gives us an idea of the importance of horizontal pitch location as compared to run values for individual batters. Though limited in scope, a proliferation of these charts would be quite welcome.
- MLB Trade Rumors gives us a comprehensive wrap of the White Sox 2012 contract issues. Good reference.
- This is the way to avoid outs on the base paths. It's a small video, but what a damn slick move.
- Here's your sad Tigers link to help offset recent White Sox woes: Volunteers get together to clean up and rehab the field from old Tiger Stadium. Read the story, watch the embedded video. Feel better? Yeah, I didn't think so.
- Your marginally-related-to-baseball link for the day (if you didn't already catch it in the RRRR), a truly inspiring speech from the manager of a dog-riding goat-herding team of monkeys at a Peoria Chiefs game, as shared by our in-house Goat Correspondent, craigws.