Matthew Trueblood – Baseball Prospectus ($): The end of the Clint Hurdle era was a long time coming for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That being said, firing Hurdle alone is not the answer to the Pirates’ larger problems. He is responsible for losing the clubhouse and the less than desirable culture of that team. Neal Huntington […]
Tag: nippon professional baseball
The Best Second Baseman
As the 2019 regular season closes out it’s yet another season we were lucky enough to spend with one of the best second basemen to ever play the game. He’s been among the best since his third season, and first full season, of professional baseball and he’s never really looked back. Whether he’s manning the […]
No More Big Mess
For a lot of people, Randy Messenger threw his last pitch on October 4th, 2009 with the Seattle Mariners. That was the day he walked off a Major League Baseball mound for the last time. Were this many years ago I could forgive people for thinking Messenger’s career ended on that day. It’s not though, […]
Succeeding in NPB
One of the ideas often put forth in baseball circles is that going from Major League Baseball to Nippon Professional Baseball will result in instant success. The general context behind this idea is that MLB players are so good that even those MLB players who can no longer cut it in that league will excel […]
The Long Road Back
Baseball is full of players who amass interesting careers. Some accomplish a lot, some accomplish very little, and even others are simply ballplayers who never accomplish a single thing worth noting. Then there are the players who were once great but now are merely good. They are a rare breed, far more common are the […]