Mop Up Duty Mop Up Duty A Baseball Blog dedicated to answering the questions rarely asked. Main topics include fantasy baseball, sabermatics, forgotten leagues & players, expansion, bios, etc. Updated almost everyday! 
Articles
Team USA Key to Canada?s Success and?
2009-03-10 14:04:00 Team USA Key to Canada ’s Success Well it looks like Team USA was the Key to Canada’s success, at least at the box office for the WBC. Last night’s game against Italy drew under 13,000 fans. As we all know by now Saturday’s game vs the USA had over 42,000 in attendance. Of course there are ... More About: Commentary , Team , Toronto Blue Jays
Twitter, Facebook & Pete Orr
2009-03-09 19:09:00 Twitter, Facebook & Pete Orr Our Twitter link is https://twitter.com/mopupduty We’re new to Twitter, so up front apologies for not adding you, your site, etc as of yet. We’ll get there eventually. On the same note please join our Facebook group! We have something like 13 members, which is pathetic for all of the hits this website gets. Pete ... More About: Twitter
WBC Kinda Like Little League?
2009-03-07 15:49:00 WBC Kinda Like Little League ? Did you ever play against a really tough pitcher in little league? Sometimes the strategy would be simply to wait out his pitch count or innings maximum and try your luck against the relief pitchers. The same strategy could also be used in the WBC. Starters have a max of 65 pitches ...
How Canada can beat Team USA
2009-03-06 15:59:00 How Canada can beat Team USA Pitching Pushing back #1 starter Scott Richmond to start in the second game of the tournament sends a clear message that Canada is saving themselves for a more realistic chance vs a weaker squad. Bullpen usage will be the key for the pitching staff vs Team USA. It goes without saying that ... More About: Beat
Manny, Darvish & Elvis
2009-03-05 15:17:00 Manny, Darvish & Elvis Manny $45 million for two seasons? That’s a lot to pay for any player, let alone a question mark like Manny Ramirez. Sure, Manny had a great run with the Dodgers last season in 53 games, I’m not going to argue that point. However his 2007 season was poor (by his standards) and ... More About: Manny
Jason Lane Notes
2009-03-04 18:52:00 Jason Lane Notes Jason Lane was what we’d call a fantasy sleeper way back during 2005 & 2006 season drafts. With just over 150 PA for the Astros in 2004 Lane posted an .811 OPS. He did slightly better in 2005 with an .815 OPS and 26 HR in 550 PA. Since that time he’s fallen ... More About: Jason
Roy Halladay is Baseball?s Most Efficient Pitcher
2009-02-26 10:34:00 Roy Halladay is Baseball ’s Most Efficient Pitcher I’ll be honest with you. Due to my disappointment with the Blue Jays lack of off-season activity I was originally going to write a “save Doc for 2010″, with my supporting proof namely being Roy Halladay’s high number of innings pitched over the past three seasons (220, 225, 246). ... More About: Season , Toronto Blue Jays , Sabermetrics , Roy Halladay
Attention: Dunedin Spring Training Veterans
2009-02-24 13:38:00 Attention: Dunedin Spring Training Veterans I am heading down to Dunedin F-L-A at the end of March to catch the last 2 of the Jays’ Spring Training games. When I am not marvelling at Ken Takahashi’s meatballs, I need to keep myself occupied. Idle hands are the devil’s tools, as they say. I realize I am about ... More About: Jimmy Buffett , Florida
Vernon Wells Out for a Month
2009-02-24 02:42:00 Vernon Wells Out for a Month (at least) Vernon Wells has pulled his hamstring and is out for at least a month. Wells will need to take an MRI to see the extent of the damage. Keep in mind that the month estimation comes from J.P Ricciardi. Right now, preliminarily, I’d say he’s going to miss four ... More About: Toronto Blue Jays , Vernon Wells
Cale Iorg Update
2009-02-23 13:30:00 Cale Iorg Update ?I?m not gonna lie. It was money, 100 percent.? That’s Cale Iorg, commenting on his decision to sign upon the return from his Mormon mission. About a year ago I checked in on the Baby Jays and mentioned Cale Iorg, the son of Garth Iorg. The youngest of Iorg?s three sons, Cale didn’t play an official baseball ... More About: Cale
Random Observations 02/22/09
2009-02-22 17:00:00 Random Observations 02/22/09 At the beginning of the new year we decided to add a Jays focus to the site, which has made this off-season pretty boring. It’s hard to get worked up over Kevin Millar… M’s sign Griffey - I have no idea what the plan is in Seattle. They ship out serviceable players left and ... More About: Random , Clayton Kershaw
The Ever Expanding Jesse Litsch
2009-02-17 18:16:00 The Ever Expanding Jesse Litsch (Included photos of Jesse during 2009 spring training) When Jesse was drafted he weighed in at 175. In Baseball America’s 2007 (really the 2006 off-season) prospect guide Jesse is listed at 205. Over at MLB.com Jesse is listed at 215 for the 2008 season. 2009 and beyond? David Wells or Sidney Ponson? BallHype - The Ever ...
Alex Rios 2009 Keyword: GB Ratio
2009-02-16 13:26:00 Alex Rios 2009 Keyword : GB Ratio The Keyword(s) to Alex Rios 2009 success or failure is - Groundball Ratio. Below is a graph (via fangraphs.com) of Alex Rios batted balls. Take a quick glance at 2006 & 2007 and then focus on the 2008 season. In 08 we can see that GB % is up considerably vs career ... More About: Alex , Alex Rios , Toronto Blue Jays , Sabermetrics
Suzuki Can?t Scratch His ?Ich? in the WBC
2009-02-13 13:34:00 Suzuki Can’t Scratch His “Ich” in the WBC Japan WBC manager Tatsunori Hara has ignited the speculatory fires by suggesting that using Ichiro in emergency pitching situations is a possibility in this year’s tournament. In his workout on February 7th, he skipped batting practice and worked out as a pitcher. He threw 56 pitches off the ... More About: Calman , Suzuki
WBC Odds
2009-02-12 15:30:00 WBC Odds Who is the ’smart moneys’ pick to win the 2009 WBC? Current odds over at Bodog have the Dominican as the favorites, paying blackjack odds of 3/2. The USA is in second with 6/5 odds and is followed by Japan (6/1) and Venezuela (7/1). China & South Africa are the dark horses of the tourney, ...
WBC Odds
2009-02-12 15:30:00 WBC Odds Who is the ’smart moneys’ pick to win the 2009 WBC? Current odds over at Bodog have the Dominican as the favorites, paying blackjack odds of 3/2. The USA is in second with 6/5 odds and is followed by Japan (6/1) and Venezuela (7/1). China & South Africa are the dark horses of the tourney, ...
Pop-Up King - Mark Ellis
2009-02-09 16:08:00 Pop-Up King - Mark Ellis Heading into the beginning of the 2008 season it was readily apparent to anyone watching the A’s/Red Sox Japanese opening series that the A’s had high hopes for Mark Ellis, as he opened the season in the three spot of the order. By the end of the year Ellis hit only ... More About: Season
Pop-Up King - Mark Ellis
2009-02-09 16:08:00 Pop-Up King - Mark Ellis Heading into the beginning of the 2008 season it was readily apparent to anyone watching the A’s/Red Sox Japanese opening series that the A’s had high hopes for Mark Ellis, as he opened the season in the three spot of the order. By the end of the year Ellis hit only ... More About: Season
Another Mysterious Medal
2009-02-05 15:43:00 Another Mysterious Medal A while back we posted a mysterious baseball medal from 1921 and asked our readers to help us identify it. We were lucky enough to have one shed some light on the subject, believing it to be a minor league award of some sort. Pictured above is a different yet similar medal. There is ... More About: Calman
Another Mysterious Medal
2009-02-05 15:43:00 Another Mysterious Medal A while back we posted a mysterious baseball medal from 1921 and asked our readers to help us identify it. We were lucky enough to have one shed some light on the subject, believing it to be a minor league award of some sort. Pictured above is a different yet similar medal. There is ... More About: Calman
World Baseball Classic Primer
2009-02-03 13:30:00 World Baseball Classic Primer In anticipation of the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Kman has collated all of my International Baseball posts into one .pdf file that you can download here. It covers all of the nations participating in the WBC and a bonus country. They include: Cuba Israel Italy Japan Korea Mexico Netherlands Panama Puerto Rico South African Taiwan Venezuela Hopefully this e-book will enhance your understanding of the way the ... More About: World , Calman
World Baseball Classic Primer
2009-02-03 13:30:00 World Baseball Classic Primer In anticipation of the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Kman has collated all of my International Baseball posts into one .pdf file that you can download here. It covers all of the nations participating in the WBC and a bonus country. They include: Cuba Israel Italy Japan Korea Mexico Netherlands Panama Puerto Rico South African Taiwan Venezuela Hopefully this e-book will enhance your understanding of the way the ... More About: World , Calman
Jays Sign Takahashi
2009-02-02 17:44:00 Jays Sign Takahashi Remember when JP hired all those new scouts and said that now he will have the resources to maybe get a lefty arm from Japan who could be a middle reliever or a 5th starter? Well it looks like that self fulfilling prophecy has come to pass only a few short days later. Left-hander ... More About: Transactions , Calman , Toronto Blue Jays , Jays
Sign Andrew Brown
2009-01-30 17:46:00 Sign Andrew Brown The Oakland A’s signed free agent Russ Springer to a one-year, $3.3 million contract yesterday and in a surprising move, released reliever Andrew Brown from their 40 man roster. Brown is an ex-team USA member and has played portions of the past three seasons in the major leagues. Last season in limited action due ... More About: Commentary , Transactions , Sign , Toronto Blue Jays
Blue Jays now purely a Business?
2009-01-29 17:42:00 Blue Jays now purely a Business ? Quotes like this (hat tip to the Drunk Jays Fans) make things pretty clear to me. Beeston: “I don’t think necessarily it’s in terms of profitability, it’s in the basis that you wouldn’t want to lose money…” The Jays appear to be gearing their roster (ie the lower the payroll the better) ... More About: Blue Jays , Blue , Toronto Blue Jays
Felix Hernandez in 2009
2009-01-28 18:47:00 Felix Hernandez in 2009 While reading a newspaper while on vacation I came across the Mariners signing of Felix Hernandez to a one-year, $3.8 million contract. God, that’s quite a deal when compared to the Silva’s and Washburn’s of the world. Another feather in the arbitration, pre-FA contract’s cap. Any who, looking at Felix he’s bound ... More About: Seattle Mariners , Felix Hernandez , Felix
Is Shin-Soo Choo for real?
2009-01-27 15:04:00 Is Shin -Soo Choo for real? Buster Olney over at ESPN.com wrote the following quote in a recent column: The Indians’ Shin-Soo Choo is one of the most dangerous hitters in the big leagues against right-handed pitchers. Consider that last season, he posted a .992 OPS against righties, a number that placed him in the same class as ... More About: Stats , Cleveland Indians , Real
Bart Given Let Go
2009-01-25 17:15:00 Bart Given Let Go Yesterday Jays GM JP Ricciardi made the following announcement: “Please be advised that Bart Given is no longer an employee of the Toronto Blue Jays . “Bart wishes to remain in baseball, and can be reached at this phone number “Thank you.” Bart Given began his career with the Jays as the Travelling Secretary and acquired ... More About: Calman , Bart
How the game has changed?
2009-01-21 12:00:00 How the game has changed… I was recently checking out some numbers over at the great baseball reference site. Being a bit of a baseball geek, I realized that strikeout totals for pitchers were low in the 1930?s. I also realized that walk totals were relatively high for a select group of star batters. But what ... More About: Commentary , Game , The Game , Stats , Sabermetrics
Late HOF Rant. What a Joke
More articles from this author:2009-01-18 04:50:00 Late HOF Rant . What a Joke This year’s HOF numbers go a long way in confirming that many MLB writers have absolutely no clue. Myself and Callum both selected the same four players for inclusion to Cooperstown. Here’s how they each did. Rickey Henderson - Elected with 94.8% We’ve discussed numerous times 100% rate. Surprised by such a ... More About: Commentary , Hall of Fame , Late 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
|
 |
|
 |
