Deadspin has found them! And as such, I thought them worthy of review and discussion in this space. Plus, although there are 30 such rules, I gotta think that they missed a few.... so certainly a complete run-down would be good. I'm pretty sure the submissions will be priceless (though maybe let's leave out "Don't get involved in a land war in Asia.").

So as reproduced from a 1986 edition of Baseball Digest, here they are:

1. Never put the tying or go-ahead run on base.
2. Play for the tie at home, go for the victory on the road.
3. Don't hit and run with an 0-2 count.
4. Don't play the infield in early in the game.
5. Never make the first or third out at third.
6. Never steal when you're two or more runs down.
7. Don't steal when you're well ahead.
8. Don't steal third with two outs.
9. Don't bunt for a hit when you need a sacrifice.
10. Never throw behind the runner.
11. Left and right fielders concede everything to center fielder.
12. Never give up a home run on an 0-2 count.
13. Never let the score influence the way you manage.
14. Don't go against the percentages.
15. Take a strike when your club is behind in a ballgame.
16. Leadoff hitter must be a base stealer. Designated hitter must be a power hitter.
17. Never give an intentional walk if first base is occupied.
18. With runners in scoring position and first base open, walk the number eight hitter to get to the pitcher.
19. In rundown situations, always run the runner back toward the base from which he came.
20. If you play for one run, that's all you get.
21. Don't bunt with a power hitter up.
22. Don't take the bat out of your best hitter's hands by sacrificing in front of him.
23. Only use your bullpen stopper in late-inning situations.
24. Don't use your stopper in a tie game—only when you're ahead.
25. Hit behind the runner at first base.
26. If one of your players gets knocked down by a pitch, retaliate.
27. Hit the ball where it's pitched.
28. A manager should remain detached from his players.
29. Never mention a no-hitter while it's in progress.
30. With a right-hander on the mound, don't walk a right-handed hitter to pitch to a left-handed hitter.

3pm EST 1/17/12, Jim Bowden, Casey Stern hosting <strong>Inside Pitch</strong> on Sirius/XM. This is a stream-of-listening paraphrase of what I hear, in semi-real-time. Wasn't a lot of ground-breaking info.

---------------------------
Nice intro - Jim Powell highlight calls from games in 2011.

1. Busy day for you.... lots of signing/agreements. Last one JJ, done about 5 mins before the slary-figure-exchange deadline. Credits his staff for good work over the weekend.

2. Is avoiding arbitration advantageous? It's a right the players have; it doesn't typically have a lot of holdover effects. We try to avoid it, but are not afraid of the process.

3. Jim Bowden - argues that 'doing nothing' is a great off-season given the organization. "Thanks for giving me that, Jim!" We have a huge fanbase, hard for them to understand not doing much. We basically made the whole roster available if we could make the team better. Had several inquires on several players. We underperformed last year; hoping these guys will bounce back. We'll have some time to see if that happens. If there's something that's a clear winner for us, we'd do it, but not otherwise.

4. Where's the one spot in the field where you would want to upgrade? Well, that's the trouble -- no clear spot (went through all positions and explained). We need to be open-minded and such, but none of the discussions we had with other teams got very close.

5. How important was it to retain Prado (for sake of covering for Chipper) vs. getting a LF hitter? Great point Jim, because if we had traded Prado, it would mean multiple changes to our team.

Note: Mentioned Chipper in town hitting in the cage.

6. Depth of Rotation. Casey gets the sense that you like Minor as the lefty. How do you handle Delgado and Teheran. You're right - we prefer to have that lefty, but Teheran and Delgado are definitely "ready". If Hudson, Hanson, JJ, Beachy are ready, then there's probably not a spot for those guys yet. Left a hint that maybe Hanson and JJ might not be 100%

7. Do you see Medlen and Vizcaino in the bullpen? Yeah... Medlen has this swing-n-miss changeup - could pitch anywhere in the bullpen. Vizzy a little behind in maturity and pitching.... will be an interesting spring training (kinda curtailed discussion of Vizzy).

8. Fredi managing bullpen. He changed in the 2nd half, but the real problem in the bullpen was the offsense not swinging the bats well enough to allow the starters some room to go deeper in the games.

9. Fredi more: your assessment of Fredi - is he on the hotseat, or the long-term answer? "No, Fredi - we love Fredi". It's tough to follow Bobby, but Bobby's one of his greatest supporters and is there for advice. Handled the transition well.

Yes - the previous Rosterbation post is still active... so way did I feel the need to start another one?  Lots of reasons based on recent newsy items:

"Wait - yeah, they're still watching us."  Seabass and Odarp: Walking off into a Braves' sunset?

1.  The Braves are openly saying that they are listening to offers for Jurrjens and Prado.

2.  The Braves are increasing payroll for 2012.  I already believe they had some cash to spend before that announcement and the Lowe trade added $5m more.  If Prado and JJ are ultimately dealt, this saves $3.1m and $3.25m from the 2011 payroll - never mind their expected increases via arbitration.  And, of course, the Braves would have to fill those positions.

3.  The non-Super-2 status of any player for 2012 Arbitration has implications.

4.  New rumors are flying about concering a number of current Free Agents

5.  A new Cuban defector of significant note (Yoenis Cespedes) is out there.  As of this writing, the Marlins are supposedly the front-runners for him, though the Yankees have high interest... and so do a number of other teams.

6.  Many of the comments on that prior thread are simply no longer applicable, having been overcome by events.  And there's only 3 days to go on it...So why not start afresh and see how this goes?

7.  Hey!  The World Series is over, the season is over,... my mourning over September is...um, pretty much over.  It's indeed time to stop worrying and embrace the changes this off-season will likely bring to the Braves roster.

While pitching is still going to be an issue this off-season (primarily with bullpen holes to fill - Linebrink, Sherrill, possibly Moylan), Atlanta usually waits on these slots until later.  That leaves us with finding an outfield upgrade, shortstop, and utility infielder.

To kick things off, please refer to the following chart of outfielders.  I list all of these guys for two reasons:  (1) for complete comparison purposes; and (2) because both Free Agent and Trade routes may be available in our quest for upgrading the position.  Hopefully the image download bandwidth limits survive this thread.  All data obtained via fangraphs.

Click here to embiggen the chart for slightly easier reading. You'll have to click-through a second time... hopefully that will also help that bandwidth thing.

As distinguished from the previous post, this chart represents the final minor league stats for all (remaining) prospects on the Talking Chop Top 25 list.  Hopefully, I got the math right for those that experienced multiple levels this year.  Because of the recent interest he has garnered, I have taken the liberty of adding Evan Gattis to the list... he's a beast.  Click here to embiggen.

Feel free to murmur excitedly about this team's bright future... especially given the mound presence.

P.S. - Mike Minor's stats are not here because... he's not on the prospect list any longer.

First and foremost:  all research and inspiration credit goes to ArmyITSpec for this FanPost idea and its maintenance.  Thank you for your service sir - in many more ways than this.  In response to some of the comments from the original version of this post, I have taken his data and created something 'pagnosis-esque' that I hope will be useful to the community here.

The following chart represents the final stats for our recent Braves draftees in their first few weeks and months of professional ball.  Click here to embiggen, as they say.

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, the next scheduled off-day for the 83-46 Phillies is now Thursday, September 29.  That is, unless we somehow end up needing a division tie-breaker game, for that date marks the day after the regular-season ends.

Yes:  31 days remain, and 33 games remain on the Phils' schedule with double-headers on both the 15th and 20th.  No breaks at all.

The only good news for the Phils is that September relief call-ups are a mere 3 days away... well, that and they are in first place.  Cole Hamels is also being activated from the DL today, but Jimmy Rollins is going to be out for another week-plus.  Lately, it's been a tag-team thing with them -- as soon as one player is retrieved from the shelf, another is folded neatly and placed on it.  Currently, I'd watch Roy Ozwalt, who didn't exactly dazzle in their loss on Friday.

But let's check the details of that schedule:

Aug. 29-Sept 4.  On the road:  4 at Cincy, then 3 at the Marlins.  Isn't it about time for the Marlins to go on a hot streak again?  Hmmm...I see that the Phils were provided with 'getaway' day game scheduling from both destinations.

Sept. 5-7.  Back home to Philadelphia for a whopping 3 game homestand.... against Atlanta.
Sept. 8-14.  Back on the road:  4 games vs. Milwaukee, followed by 3 vs. the Astros.

Obviously both teams will be trying to make a pre-playoff statement in the Brewers' series.  That will be interesting, but certainly we would hope that the home team can at least split this series.  As for Houston... we hear of "trap" games in football -- games you're supposed to easily win, but instead are panic-events coming off of the emotional high of a difficult prior win.  If there was ever a good time for Houston to play the Phils, it's probably right here in this slot. 

Again, day games for the end of each road series.  Wish they had given us one of those the week before.

Sept. 15-22.  Now back home for the last time...  The Marlins have to make a special trip back to Philly... in the midst of a their own 11 game/10 day road trip.  And they will have just left Atlanta.  You can always hope for a split, but I'd be surprised stunned if the Fish can do that here.

After that scrimmage, they get the Cards for 4 and the Nats for 4.  10 games in 8 days on that homestand. 

St. Louis actually has a brutal stretch here as well -- Milwaukee, Cincy, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and now the Phils.  They do have an off-day on the 15th -- right before this series -- so that should help. 

The Nats likewise have the 19th off before the double-header on the 20th.  Hopefully this wears out both the Phils and the Nats, for the Nats then cruise down I-95 to host the Braves on the 23rd.  Oh, and Strasburg will likely be pitching against the Phils... but then again, maybe against us, too.

Sept. 23-28.  The Phils finish up on the road after that nasty homestand... 3 vs. the Mets; and 3 vs. Atlanta.

As for the Bravos... only 29 games remain on their schedule.  The Braves had almost every Thursday off in September, but now it's only the 15th and 22nd, after this extra 'All-Star Break' through today.  Hey, extra days off at home isn't a bad thing.  But I reference the ASB for a good reason:  The worst schedule stretch they have starts tomorrow:  6 home games in a row, then 9 more consecutive road games in 8 days... kinda like mid-July.  The Dodgers, Philly, New York, and the Cardinals are all included with that.  Expect guys named Minor, Teheran, and Delgado to get some work ("our backup pitchers can beat up your backup pitchers").  Notably, however, even the road trips are not horrible in duration or distance.  Plus, there's the two days off later in the month - exactly when needed.

I believe we need to gain about 3 games on the Phillies in the non-head-to-head matchups.  If so, we might be able to beat up a really tired team at the end of the year and thus take the division.  Yes, they have '4 games in hand' -- but this isn't exaclty an advantage as you can say they're all made up as double-headers.  You gotta think it's still within reach.  Let's just see how Jurrjens and Hanson (especially) are doing, and keep everybody else healthy.

While July 31st marked the end of the unrestricted trading deadline for Major League baseball, there is still a window of opportunity for contenders to continue to beef up their rosters for the stretch run.  There are various explanations of this out there, but frankly, I didn't like like how they were structured/explained, so I have put together this version in the hopes of answering all of the inevitable questions.  I do like, however, this definition of "waivers" from baseball-reference.com that I will start off with:

Waivers are a [request for] permission granted by the other teams in Major League Baseball to allow a team to do a player move which would not normally be allowed by the rules. In other words, opposing teams waive their objection to the move.

A "Waiver Claim", therefore, is a team's statement of objection to the request to waive player-movement rules.  Such a claim has numerous implications, and that's the subject of this post.

So here's how Waiver Claim Trading works from August to the end of the Season:

1.  Players made eligible for trade are placed on "revocable waivers".  This is pretty much routinely done for much of the roster for most of the teams.  Why?  Well, it provides maximum flexibility for their GMs; it tends to mask whatever their true intentions might be (forest/trees); and it also doesn't single out individual players as possible targets -- which would tend to get players bent out of shape (witness Andruw Jones a few years ago).

2.  Once placed on the Waiver list, there is a 48-hour claiming period, during which any team may put in a claim.  So that every team doesn't claim every player out there and cause utter chaos, there is a token price ($20,000) attached to waiver claims.  If a team fails to make a claim, it is effectively saying "we have no objection to you moving this player to another team", and thus they render themselves powerless in whatever happens after that point.  In other words, they give up their right to complain later.

3.  Let's do the simple case first:  if no team claims a given player after the 48-hour window, that player may then be freely traded to any other team -- just like the rules allowed before August... except for a little detail that I'll cover in Item #6 below.

4.  Now the fun part:  a waiver claim is made.  Let's use an example of Wandy Rodriguez, since he's gonna be an interesting case.  His contract requires another $2-1/4 million payment this year, but kicks up to $12 million for each of the next 3 years.  It is exactly for that financial reason that many expect him to clear waivers unclaimed.  But let's suppose that the Yankees put in a claim.  What happens then?  Here are the options:

a.  Revocation of Waivers.  The Astros can be stupid and pull Wandy back to their side of the dark void... that's the "revocable" part of revocable waivers.  This is effectively a team saying "PSYCH - I really wasn't trying to trade this guy."  He still belongs to the original squad.... but of course they still gotta pay him, too.

b.  A Trade.  The Astros can try to negotiate a trade.... exclusively with the Yankees, since they were the claimants (they asserted their right to object  -- and are rewarded with this right of exclusivity).  That trading opportunity window is limited -- 48 more hours.  If they can't get together on a deal in that time frame, then the Astros can still pull Wandy back... OR they can...

c.  Give the Player away.  At the Astros option, the claimed player can simply be given away -- entire salary and all -- to the claimant team.  This is why the higher-salaried players will often clear waivers:  because of the risk that it's simply a salary dump ploy.  So while the initial dinner date (the waiver claim) might be cheap, but you might also regret it in the morning.  We'll get to that more later.

5.  Waiver Claims, part 2.  If a player is pulled back to his original team (waivers are revoked), the original team CAN place the same player on waivers again in August.  However, during that second time, the Right to Revoke is lost:  any team making the claim has effectively bought the player without the need to negotiate anything.

6.  Part 3, or 'a Trade is Bourn':  Let's say that a bona fide trade deal is worked out.  Waived Player A traded for a Player B.  If Player B is on the 40-man roster of his club, then he must also have already passed through waivers successfully (i.e., his own 48-hour waiver period is done) before being trade-eligible. 

When I mentioned "maximum flexibility" above, this is what I was referring to:  getting a large number of your own players through waivers gives your GM more options for possible trades.  Now if Player B is not on the 40-man, then there is no issue.  This turns out to be common with "player-for-prospects" kind of trades. 

Sometimes, these trades are also done on a "Player to be named later" (PTBNL) basis... if you believe you can't get a guy through waivers to make him tradable, then you simply wait out the process and "name" the guy after the season when this process is no longer in force.  So there are ways around it if the two partners are satisfied enough to wait it out.

7.  Part 4:  Getting More Complicated.  Okay, that's trading with one claiming partner.  But suppose there are multiple teams making claims on the same waived player.  What then?  Well, there's a "pecking order" of priority -- which prevents the best teams from simply loading up.  Let's go back to Wandy's case and suppose that the Giants, Phils, Red Sox, and Yankees ALL claimed him.

Take all of the teams making a claim and arrange them in order of League, and then by current Won-Loss record.  In the case of Wandy Rodriguez, he's National League, so the Giants and Phillies get first crack - and the Giants win out because their record is worse than Philadelphia's.  If no NL team claimed him, then the AL squads finally get a chance - with the Yankees prevailing over the Red Sox because of the Sox' better record. 

Once again, the rule is this:  First - look for claims within the same league as the waived player.  If multiple teams in that league put in a claim, the winner is the one with the worst record on that date in which the 48 hour window expires.  Next - If no team in the same league put in a claim, repeat the process for the opposing league.  In case of a tie... well, I actually don't know the answer to that one; I would guess we'd use playoff tie-break rules!

If the claim-winning team is unable to come to a trade agreement, steps 4A and 4C (above) are still the only other options - you cannot go to the next claiming team in line.  There are some unfair negotiating advantages that this would impose on the process otherwise.

8.  Finally:  Using Waiver Claims as a Weapon.  There are numerous famous cases of a team making a claim specifically to block a (better) rival from obtaining a certain player.  Do note that this is a two-way weapon... you might also get stuck with somebody that you don't really want yourself/can't afford. Here's some history:

> The Braves claimed pitcher Dennis Martinez in 1993 to block him from the Giants.  We didn't get him... but then neither did the Giants.  There's also a rumor that the Yankees put in 45 claims that year to try and block "every decent starting pitcher" available!

> However, the Yankees did get stuck with Jose Conseco in 2000 when he was waived by the Rays in an apparent attempt to trade him to the Blue Jays.  He basically sat on the bench for the rest of the year with no position available to him, but you could argue that the tactic was successful, because Jose ended up with a World Series ring.

> The Braves were blocked from getting closer Randy Myers in 1998 when the Blue Jays waived him and San Diego put in a claim.  Oops... the Blue Jays simply gave him to the Padres for nothing, saying "thank you very much for taking his contract", which was for an additional $12 million over 2 years (think 1998 dollars - that was huge).

A Few Final Notes:

A.  Note that waiver claim trades may continue to occur from now until the end of the season -- but to be "playoff eligible", traded players must be on their new team's 25-man roster before September 1st (*see below).  It's for that reason that the waiver-trade action will be from now until the end of August, as the only practical reason for going past that date is to replace injured players.

B.  Can teams talk trade before the waiver claims are made?  Sure -- if you want to do a trade, it's a good idea to work out the parameters beforehand... and sometimes the claims process actually works out to let that happen.

C.  Let's suppose the Cards and Brewers both make a waiver claim on the same player.  Based on today's standings, the Cardinals would win the claim.  Do the Brewers then get a refund of their $20 grand?  Nope.  That's their ante in the poker game:  the non-refundable price of admission.  High enough that most teams won't make claims frivolously -- but low enough to still allow for meaningful transactions.

D.  So where do I (John Q. Baseballfan) go to see the current listing on the waiver wire?  Well it turns you can't, actually.  This tidbit from Wikipedia:

The waiver "wire" is a secret within the personnel of the Major League Baseball clubs; no announcement of a waiver is made until a transaction actually occurs.

Bummer.  Occasionally some information will be leaked out, but by-and-large, we simply don't know until after the fact.  Kinda takes all the fun out of it, but overall, that's probably a good thing.

E.  *More About Playoff Eligibility.  This is almost as confusing as the waiver process itself, but at least I cab boil it down to a fairly compact list of bullet points.  A player is eligible for post-season play if he fits any of the following eligibility rules:

1.  On the 25-man active roster before September 1st.

2.  On the Disabled list as of August 31/midnight (but, per usual practice, must be eligible to come off of the list for a given playoff game)

3.  On the bereavement list as of August 31/midnight.

4.  On the suspended list as of August 31/midnight.

5.  A member of the team's organization approved by the Commissioner's office to replace an injured player during the playoffs.  Such a player must be a direct replacement (position for position:  you can't add a pitcher to replace a catcher).  If the player is not currently on the 40-man roster, he must be added.  He then must be added to the 25-man active roster, replacing the injured man.  Replacement player must have been a member of the organization continuously from at least the period of August 31st onward.

...and I think there's a time period in which you can do these replacements -- like the beginning of a series or something.  But that's way deeper than we need to go right now.

Thanks very much for the compliments on this post.  My pleasure to serve.  Several online sources contributed to this compilation of information.

I had a call today from the Braves business office, and spoke to Hannah Basinger about a topic that I had inquired about some time ago:  "What is the status of the Braves/MARTA Shuttle Service?"

As you may recall, this service was cut near the end of last season in a budgetary move.  There is activity moving that has the hope of restoring it, but -- especially for those living in the Atlanta area -- some actual participatory action may be necessary.  Details after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

Breaking News:  Jo-Jo Reyes and Yunel Escobar are going to the Blue Jays for Alex Gonzalez and Minor Leagers Tim Collins and Tyler Pastronicky.  XM 175 is discussing this now (Casey Stern/Jim Duquette)... lots of head-scratching going on about "maybe the braves should have gotten more for Escobar" and "is Alex Gonzalez' current season a fluke?"

This one is gonna generate a lot of comments... let's get started boys and girls....

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Can't get to Anaheim for the biggest sporting event of the week?...uh, other than the LeBron thing... and that Soccer thing... and there's the biking thing... oh, nm. 

The Southern League (AA) All-Star Game is Monday evening, July 12, at Joe Davis stadium in Huntsville, Alabama (Drake Ave. exit off of the 231/431 Memorial Parkway, then south on Leeman-Ferry Rd).  The Mississippi Braves will be represented in the field by catcher Orlando Mercado and OF'r Willie Cabrera.  Pitchers are Brandon Beachy (1.15 ERA) and Mike Minor.  DH Cody Johnson is also on the squad.   Link to Complete All-Star Rosters

Continue reading this post »

Multiple reports are putting John Lackey in Boston for "AJ Burnett" kinda numbers (~5yrs., ~$85 million).  He is said to be in Boston for a physical today.

Meanwhile, the more interesting deal from the Braves perspective is the report that Halliday's agent is in Philadelphia for the purpose of negotiating a long-term contract extension for the Blue Jays' ace.  The report (heard on XM radio from other sources) puts Halliday in Philadelphia with Cliff Lee perhaps going to a third (unnamed) team.  Apparently, Lee is not cooperating enough with the Phillies in getting a long-term deal for him (Lee is signed through 2010).  Clearly, if the extension discussion is underway, then Toronto would have already signed off on a Halliday deal.  From the perspective of the Braves, I'd have to know what else is going on with this deal, but if it's effectively a Lee-for-Halliday swap, then it's a 'no real harm done' deal.  The worst-case scenario for Atlanta would be if both pitchers were in the Phillies rotation for 2010, but that appears not to be the case.

Also:  Matsui to the Angels... one year, about $6.5 million.

No words about Lowe at this time, but presumably, he would be next on the list.

UPDATE:  Another domino has fallen:  AP reports that Mike Cameron has signed with Boston.  (7:53pm, MLBTR).  Ken Rosenthal adds that "the Deal is in the range of $15.5MM for two years."  Interesting numbers.