Baseball Deprivation, The Other 1-Year Tiger & Punch a Midget

♦ Kicking Rocks: A Case of the Januaries (fangraphs.com)

While the movie Office space made the phrase, “somebody’s got a case of the Monday’s” a modern day staple of the American workplace, I think it’s time someone in the fantasy baseball community made the adjustment and coined the phrase, “a case of the Januaries.” Because let’s face it, this month sucks, plain and simple. The GM winter meetings have come and gone, the majority of free agents have already signed, Spring Training isn’t for another month and a half, and the baseball news feeds are pretty much barren. . .

Of course, if you're a College Baseball fan, January is when things really start to get interesting, with opening day looming on February 15th.

Shaun MarcumMU Freshman

But still, the baseball deprivation blues have me paying attention to unusual stuff, like an interesting article about that other MLB player who played at Mizzou for just one season.

♦ Shaun Marcum's Winter of Silence (fangraphs.com)

...It’s just not normal. Marcum has averaged 86.7 mph with his fastball over the last three seasons, the slowest non-knuckleballer, non-Livan Hernandez right-handed fastball in the game (min. 400 IP). It doesn’t look or feel right because it’s so unconventional, and yet it works for him and has for a really long time now. One day someone’s going to do some really great research and analysis on pitch sequencing and we’ll better understand how a big league hitter could swing through an 87 mph fastball over the heart of the plate like it was 97, and maybe then guys like Marcum will get some more respect....

♦ Thanks to Former MU Baseball Student/Forever MU Baseball Fan Christian Walden for tweeting the link to Routine Baseball. Some great baseball-themed Tees, Sweats, Caps, etc.

And a great page devoted to The Bible of Baseball S'language

[Mrs. Doubtfire]- Someone on the opposing team who doesn't look anything like a ballplayer, but turns out to be a stud.

[Punch the Midget] - A visual aid for players, when stealing bases you drive your arm forward as if punching a midget.