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MLB Hot Topics
Ryan Braun lobbied for support by Buster Olney -- ESPN
Ryan Braun took another public hit as information has leaked through that he reached out to major league veterans saying that the doctor who collected his sample was an anti-Semite, and that he was a Cubs fan. When Braun made the call to the veterans, they said he was anticipating he was going to lose his appeal, when he in fact ended up winning it. Braun is expected to speak out publicly, but since all this information has come out, and so many players are losing respect for him, I don't think it's going to help him much. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Braun going forward, like things have been going with A-Rod.
MLB: Willing to release A-Rod files by Mike Mazzeo -- ESPN
It seems as if the league is getting fed up with the threats from A-Rod and his legal team. The league's executive Vice President Robert Manfred said he is willing to waive the league's confidentiality clause in the league's drug-testing agreement, which would release all the evidence it has against A-Rod to the public. Nonetheless this should get interesting to say the least.
Red Sox promote 20-year-old Xander Bogaerts to major league squad by David Brown -- Yahoo Sports
Xander Bogaerts has been one of my favorite follows in the minors since he has shown great power for such a young hitter, at a premium position, SS, although the Red Sox might use him as a utility player to begin with at 3rd and SS. The number eight overall prospect coming into this season, hit 15 home runs in between AA and AAA this season. Seems as if there is a new and exciting player coming up every month, which can't help but make baseball more popular.
Nationals acquire outfielder David DeJesus from Cubs by Dayn Perry -- CBS Sports
The Nationals in an under-the-radar move acquired David DeJesus Monday from the Cubs for a PTBNL. The Cubs will be saving around $2.5 million with this move, and with Brian Bogusevic coming back, and Ryan Sweeney close to coming of the DL, the move makes sense for the Cubs in the short term. As for the Nationals I thought it was a weird trade since the Nationals will be paying the rest of DeJesus contract to be their fourth outfielder along with Denard Span, Bryce Harper, and Jayson Werth.
The Sabermetrics Community
Player’s View: The Best Stat to Evaluate Pitchers by David Laurila -- FanGraphs
One of my favorite columns that FanGraphs does is they ask players or coaches what they think is the best way to evaluate something in the game. This one relates to major league pitchers and what they think the best stat is to evaluate pitchers. As you would think there is a whole lot of variety between answers as their are starters and relievers who answer the question.
Exploring the Battery Effect by Max Weinstein -- FanGraphs
Max digs deep here into looking at the battery effect on passed balls and wild pitches. He wants to see who has the bigger blame for the amount of passed balls or wild pitches that do happen over time, analyzing 301 battery combinations since 2002 with at least 200 innings together to get the data.
Colby Rasmus Turns Back the Clock by Matt Klaassen -- FanGraphs
When you think of Colby Rasmus, first thing that comes to mind to many is one who never lived up to their potential. That might be the case still but one thing Rasmus does have is power. Colby is having his best season since 2010 with the Cardinals, this year he is having an above-average offensive year, although some might be quick to point out he has a career high K rate, still a low contact rate and very high BABIP. For Rasmus, a lot of his hits go for extra bases, and that might be his call to staying in the league is keeping that power and making the most of his poor plate approach.
National League West: runaway Dodger blue by Steve Treder -- The Hardball Times
The Giants haven't had their normal starting pitching they've had in recent years, The Padres have had below average pitching, and hitting since being in third place on June 17, The Rockies have been too bumpy all year to keep chase despite improved pitching , and besides Patrick Corbin and Paul Goldschmidt, the Diamondbacks have had no other impact to keep their first place position in mid July until now. All these factors and the Dodgers historic hot streak has the Dodgers pulling away with the NL West.
New at SBNation MLB
Has Rawlings finally fixed the Gold Gloves? by Rob Neyer -- Baseball Nation
Rawlings is teamed up with SABR, who will provide the yearly award with 25% of the votes that goes towards the gold glove. Rawlings hired seven people to look over the defensive statistics using five different defensive metrics, while we all know the defensive metrics are suspect, the people they hired can come to a consensus on what is right.
When Ryan Dempster made us like Alex Rodriguez by Rob Neyer -- Baseball Nation
It seems to be that Ryan Dempster knew he was going to hit Alex Rodriguez the first time he faced him, as there were tweets from sources saying that Dempster told multiple people he would. There is also speculation it could be a personal vendetta since A-Rod blew off Dempster at a public event. Whatever the case is, many still believe what Dempster did was wrong in that he should have stopped after he didn't hit him with the first pitch and shockingly people were sticking up for A-Rod.
Yasiel Puig allegedly cusses out members of media by Mark Sandritter -- SB Nation
The media has found another thing to make a huge story about. Apparently Puig when asked about something cursed at the media, which happened after his press conference. Puig has been on record in saying how he doesn't like how America's media talks about stories of the players off the field, which is understandable.
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All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.
Anthony Bauer is a writer at Beyond The Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @skipbauer22.