Baseball

If you’ve been looking for the hitter’s equivalent of the gif of Yu Darvish throwing five pitches at once, here it is. Note that the pitches are all over the place, and not one of them is actually a strike. No matter, Cabrera will still hit it out.

From the comments: How is this post not named, “Who’s on fourth?”—“N Who’s on first. How’s on fourth!” OK, this is a totally dumb idea. But how would our favorite game [...] be different if there were five bases, with each of them still being 90 feet apart[?] The infield would look something like this:

While George Brett reached home safely 1583 times in his MLB career, those runs are not the subject of Craig Robinson’s recent analysis.

The Rotation is a weekly feature here at SB Nation MLB in which we put a question to our vast network of baseball scribes and bring you the answers. This week we ask, What is the worst ongoing conversation in baseball?

One of the things I find most deplorable about Major League Baseball is its blackout policies. Its origins are set deep into the financial structure of the television contracts at the national and regional levels and for that reason, fans have no choice but to live with it. From the fan perspective, the rules are confusing and frustrating. At its essence, the national situation is this. During the times when games are covered by FOX Network on Saturday and ESPN on Sunday nights, viewers are prohibited from seeing other out-of-market contests – even if one is paying for MLB’s premium packages such as MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings. Perhaps more so than any other team, the “nation” part of the Cardinal Nation feels the impact. From the days when the Cards were the only team west of the Mississippi and MLB had not yet entered the South, Cardinals fandom became most widespread. As such, one could argue that support of the Cardinals is even deeper-rooted than MLB’s blackout policy. Yet on days like this, it has to take a back seat to these fan-unfriendly rules. Specifically, on this Saturday, May 25, what that means is that much of the country will be stuck viewing one of four other contests such as Marlins-White Sox and A’s-Astros, rather than being given a choice to see the Cardinals-Dodgers instead. (Link to Saturday’s FOX MLB coverage map.) This exclusivity window is almost certainly baked into the national contracts, which run through 2021. Even worse news for the future is that starting in 2014, FOX’s regular-season game rights will double – from 26 to 52. In other words, the conflicts will only increase over the next eight years. The money involved in these broadcast rights is huge, with FOX to pay MLB an estimated half-billion per year and ESPN even higher at $700 million annually (which include post-season coverage). For that reason, relief from the national weekend television blackouts is not on the horizon. Follow me on Twitter. Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook. Tweet This Post

When I was about to go to sleep last night, I had an idea. I was going to write my thoughts about Curtis Granderson's latest bad luck injury. But when I woke up this morning, I realized it would probably just be one bad word and not enough to be made into an entire blog post. So a few minutes ago, after I started watching some clips of old baseball games, I decided to just write whatever came to mind about what I'm watching, what happened last night, today's weather, etc. There's no rhyme or reason and I may go all over the place. Or I may actually write something coherent and thoughtful with some randomness thrown in there. You never know. Enjoy. (Click "view full post" to continue reading)

div>Draft Schedule: The first and second rounds of the 2013 draft will start at 7 pm on MLB Network and coverage will continue through the first 73 picks. The draft will pick back up on June 7 at 1 pm on MLB.com for rounds three through 10 and rounds 11-40 will take place on June 8, beginning at 1 pm. Each team will have designated representatives that will announce their team's pick after the first round. This year the Yankees will be represented by Willie Randolph and scout Andy Cannizaro. It's nice to see Randolph back in the organization in some capacity. Should the entire MLB draft be televised? Would you watch it? Mock Draft: Jim Callis of Baseball America has done a second mock draft and this time he has the Yankees pick pitcher Rob Kaminsky, instead of Eric Jagielo, with their first pick. He also has them drafting the 'risky' Sean Manaea and Jon Denney. Kamisnky and Denney look like solid picks, but it's Manaea that has me worried. Yankees 2013 Mock Drafts Mock drafts from Keith Law, Baseball America, MLB and more The lefty seems to be the perfect candidate for a Yankees draft bust: He's left-handed, throws in the mid-to-upper 90s, is represented by Scott Boras, and has been bothered by injury that might allow him to fall to the bottom of the first round. He was recently scratched from a start after possibly tweaking the hip that has bothered him all spring or, as some sources say, shoulder tightness. Please, Yankees, don't turn this guy into another Andrew Brackman; If he's hurt just let him go. Brackman needed Tommy John surgery, but shoulder injuries are more series and tightness could lead to something worse in the future. The Yankees have also already lost their 2012 top draft pick Ty Hensley to hip surgery. Should the Yankees draft the best player available or the less risky player available? International Draft: Ben Badler of Baseball America argues that teams like the Yankees can take advantage of the CBA and international free agent market by spending big this year if an international draft is put into place for 2014. The Yankees would be at the end of the first round and unlikely to get the best players available, so he argues that they should spend over their draft pool to get the best players available now and worry about the penalties (loss of draft picks) later. It would essentially ensure that they get the best available talent in the last year it would be capable to spend so much. The Yankees could also make up for lost draft picks by trading for them if MLB allows teams to do so in the international draft. More: Draft Coverage The problem with this plan is that no one seems to know if there will be a draft or not and MLB is not telling anyone one way or the other. While going over a team's draft pool can be a worthy investment, I highly doubt any MLB draft will allow teams to trade draft picks, or at the very least, trade limitations as a penalty. It's hard to cheat the system when you don't know how the system is going to be set up. Are you for or against an international draft? More From Pinstriped Bible 2013 Yankees Mock Draft Discussion 2013 Yankees Mock Draft Discussion #2: Shortstops Curtis Granderson fractures left hand after being hit by pitch

Legendary magazine writer Pat Jordan penned the epic “Thin Mountain Air” for Philadelphia Magazine in 1994. The story pulled back the curtain on the reclusive Phillies’ Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton whose relationship with the media was beyond adversarial. And when I say “pulled back the curtain”, I mean that it showed the beloved pitcher to be a fucking lunatic: He believes that the last eight U.S. presidents have been guilty of treason, that President Clinton “has a black son” he won’t acknowledge and that his wife, Hillary, “is a dyke,” and that the AIDS virus was created at a secret Maryland biological warfare laboratory “to get rid of gays and blacks, and now they have a strain of the virus that can live ten days in the air or on a plate of food, because you know who most of the waiters are,” and finally, that most of the mass murderers in this country who open fire indiscriminately in fast-food restaurants “are hypnotized to kill those people and then themselves immediately afterwards,” as in the movie The Manchurian Candidate. He blinks once, twice, and says, “Who hypnotizes them? They do!” …and it just gets weirder from there. Earlier this month, Deadspin republished the story as part of “The Stacks”, their collection of classic bits of sports journalism. The phrase “must read” gets thrown around a lot, but trust me when I say that this is something you really must read. It’s honestly hard to believe that a guy that popular can be so loopy.

In his first game back from a neck injury last night, Michael Cuddyer had a two-run double and a solo home run, driving in three of the Rockies' five runs in a 5-0 win over the Giants. Cuddyer improved his hitting line this season to .325/.387/.610 in 32 games this season with eight home runs and 26 RBI. The Rockies were 7-7 in the 14 games Cuddyer missed with a neck injury and saw some less than stellar play from replacements Eric Young Jr. and Charlie Blackmon both in the field and at the plate. Like many of the Rockies, Cuddyer has seen a significant turnaround from his performance in 2012. He hit just .260 last season, his lowest mark since 2008, and posted his OBP (.317) since 2002 while missing 61 games. Cuddyer was as emblematic of the team's failure in 2012 as he has been of its success in 2013, which has thus far been a career year for him. Cuddyer's personality on and off the field has made him someone who is easy to root for and in 2013 he has become the player the Rockies paid more $30 million for two offseasons ago. Here's hoping he and the Rockies can continue their hot start this year. Links: Versatility of Rockies' roster on the rise with Blackmon, Cuddyer in mix - Denver PostTroy Renck has more on Cuddyer's return and the increased flexibility of the Rockies' roster that now includes both him and Charlie Blackmon. Marv Foley enjoying new job, watching Single-A catcher Tom Murphy - Denver PostIrv Moss catches up with Rockies catching guru Marv Foley, who is in Asheville working with catching prospect Tom Murphy. Who is Josh Rutledge? - FangraphsPaul Swydan at Fangraphs tries to figure out which is the real Josh Rutledge, the one we saw when he was first called up, the one who struggled last September, or something in between. Not explaining Jason Grilli - Baseball NationRob Neyer takes a look at former Rockies reliever Jason Grilli, who has found success closing games in Pittsburgh this season. The finally successful Luke Hochevar - Baseball NationGrant Brisbee breaks down the success of Colorado native Luke Hochevar, who has a 2.08 ERA in his first season as a reliever this year. Offensive decline leads list of 10 early-season trends to watch - SI.comTom Verducci wrote a column earlier this week that essentially boiled down to, "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!"