AGRI Biz

The Chicago White Sox All-time Starting Rotation Imagine you are the lucky individual chosen to select the Chicago White Sox all-time starting rotation for a special fantasy league.  Your rotation would then have to face off against every other team’s rotation to determine a champion.  Whom would you select?  Who would back up your top five starters and close out games? The rules are simple.  You may select anyone ...

The Boston Red Sox All-Time Starting Rotation Imagine you are responsible for selecting a fantasy starting rotation and pitching staff to represent the Boston Red Sox. Your staff would have to face the fantasy staffs of all the other major league teams. Who would make your rotation? Who would you select for back up and relief roles? You have access to all pitchers in Boston history, but only how ...

Imagine you were chosen to select an all-time rotation and pitching staff for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Who would you select?  Who would make your all-time pitching staff? Your fantasy team would then have to compete against all of the other all-time rotations and teams selected.  How would it fare? The rules are simple.  In order to be eligible, a starting pitcher must have pitched 1,000 innings for the team.  They may ...

Imagine you are responsible to select an all-time starting rotation for the San Francisco Giants in a fantasy league.  Your team would then have to compete against all other selected teams.  Who would make your team?  Who would you select for back up? The rules for eligibility are simple.  Pitchers selected must have pitched 1000 innings for the Giants.  Relief pitchers considered must have logged 250 games for the team. You may ...

á During my childhood, when I was first learning about baseball, I can remember asking my father, ôWho is a good pitcher?öá We lived near Washington D.C., and the hapless Senators offered little to root for, but my father answered, "Now Camilo Pascual, heÆs a good pitcher.á But itÆs hard on him, because Washington is never very good.öá I can vaguely remember him saying something about Pascual keeping a good ERA ...

Recent baseball wisdom has held that having two great pitchers is the path to postseason success.á This must have been what the Yankees were thinking as they acquired C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett a year ago.á IÆm sure it also crossed the minds of the Seattle MarinersÆ management and fans as they just got Cliff Lee to go with Felix Hernandez in their planned rotation for next year. Free agency has made ...

The Five Great Pitching Trios It hasn’t occurred very often that three pitchers rise to the challenge and cause a team to ascend to great heights because of their efforts. The stars aligned for this to occur about once an era.  The formula would be something like this—you take a staff ace, a great pitcher, bring up a good rookie, and trade for a promising pitcher someone else might not value so ...

As faithful baseball fans, we depend on the Hall of Fame to show us who the truly great players are. The players who dominated, not just for a season or two, but for years. The Hall of Fame began in 1936, inducting Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson in its first year. Next came Cy Young. Pete Alexander followed. From 1939 to 1947, while only Rogers Hornsby was elected, the veteran's committee was ...

What qualifies a pitcher for the Hall of Fame?   Today, we have set the bar quite high, demanding 300 wins, and ignoring a pitcher with 3,000 strikeouts and 60 shutouts year after year on the HOF ballot.  Do they have to win the World Series in the largest media markets?   History shows it doesn’t hurt! Is there some standard that history has set that marks a pitcher for the HOF?  The aim of this ...