David Roth – The New Republic: The Houston Astros cheated, the sign-stealing scandal has shown us that much. A ruling from Major League Baseball will come down at some point. However, there’s a lot more to the Astros and the current state of MLB front offices than just sign stealing. At the heart of MLB’s current dilemma is the makeup of team front offices. Gone are the days when MLB front offices were occupied by shady baseball people who would bend and break every rule to win. Now your MLB team’s front office is full of, mostly white males, who will bend and break every rule to try and save the team, or company, as much money as possible. That’s the new MLB, really makes you want to go watch a game, doesn’t it?
Sam Miller – ESPN: Most people reading this site use the statistic Wins Above Replacement in their everyday baseball valuations. It’s a great statistic, one that I use quite regularly. However, it’s important that we take a step back and acknowledge that there are limitations to WAR. Its website and mathematical formula specific. WAR often isn’t formulated to include very important actions that help or hurt a play. In the end, WAR is no different than the old school stats that we often decry. Just like batting average or earned run average, WAR tells a part of the story of a player but it does not tell the whole story. If all we rely on is WAR then we are missing the totality of the player. We all need to get better at how we use and incorporate WAR into our player valuations and discussions, myself included.
Emma Baccellieri – Sports Illustrated: Marvin Miller deserves to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That he is not is a crime on the same level as the exclusion of Buck O’Neil, and he certainly belongs in the Hall of Fame ahead of every MLB Commissioner who is a member. Alas, Miller does not need a Hall of Fame plaque for his importance to the game to be known by all. We need to continue to make up for the Hall of Fame’s failing of Miller by ensuring that his importance to the game is never forgotten. Marvin Miller is a titan of the game, and we can never let the Hall of Fame forget their incompetence at not electing him to their ranks.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Associated Press
