MLB Bullets On Judgement Eve

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss?

• On the twentieth anniversary of the 1994 strike, the biggest failure of Bud Selig's reign as commissioner (by his own admission). the battle to replace him is getting nasty, writes Bob Nightengale.  It's possible, although not likely at this point, that a new commissioner is announced tomorrow. Hardliners who want another showdown with the players are trying to block Selig's choice Rob Manfred, who they feel is too conciliatory to the union. Pretty ironic on the 20th anniversary of the event that came close to ruining the sport.
• Red Sox owner John Henry is backing his team president Tom Werner. He's the hardliner's candidate.
• In any case, Selig is eager to announce his successor and step down.
• One thing that Selig wants to announce before he steps down is regular season games in Europe. They could come as early as the start of next season and most likely in Amsterdam. Are you ready for some Honkball?
• Going back to the strike, Cliff Corcoran has a good summation of the forces involved, who won (the players, mostly) and who lost (Montreal being at the top of that list), and how it affected the game in the years to come.
• Tim Keown looks back at the 1994 season and what might have been.
• Grant Brisbee says that the strike cost us an epic pennant race in the AL Central.
• Marc Normandin says it cost us the joy of seeing the Texas Rangers in the playoffs. The Rangers were leading the AL West at the time of the strike. They were also ten games under .500. Theoretically, we could have had a World Series Champion with a losing record.
• Matt Snyder wonders if the Expos had won the 1994 World Series, might baseball in Montreal have been saved?
• Rob Neyer looks back at the Expos and Ian Desmond, whom he calls "the last Expo." This takes a little explaining. Desmond never played for the Expos. There are several other players who played for the Expos still active. But Desmond is the only player in the Nationals organization that played for the Expos organization. Got it? He's the last player they brought with them to D.C still with the Nats.
• The good news is that the Blue Jays and Reds will play two exhibition games in Montreal next year.
• One last bit of legal news. Wendy Thurm believes that the Ninth Court of Appeals is leaning towards MLB in the antitrust suit brought forth by the city of San Jose.
• Alan Siegel explains the 20-80 scouting system and where it comes from. Probably not from Branch Rickey, as the legend has it.
• Sean Doolittle takes over for Buster Olney for one name and explains all the new sabermetric stats for you. (Insider only)  For example, did you know that BABIP is actually a reference to Bip Roberts? (If you're not an insider, here's a little bit on Hardball Talk.)
• In some real sabermetric news, Russell Carleton commits heresy by saying there is such a thing as clutch ability.
• Clayton Kershaw says it's the "World Series or bust" for the Dodgers.
• Everyone is talking about what a great season Clayton Kershaw is having, but why isn't anyone talking about Felix Hernandez, whose season has been just as good?
• So Craig Calcaterra is talking about King Felix. He calls him "positively ridiculous."
• Rob Neyer wonders why the Cardinals can't hit anymore. They upset Jobu, of course.
• Rob Arthur notes that hitting coach Dale Sveum tried to fix what was wrong with the Royals hitters and failed. But the Royals started to hit better anyway. As he says, you can't predict baseball.
• The Royals traded for Josh Willingham. It's a low-risk gamble for the team, writes Jon Tayler.
• Cee Angi thinks the Angels are relying on a slumping offense and thin pitching staff to carry them to the playoffs.
• David Schoenfield believes that the Tigers "Studs and Scrubs" approach to building a roster is the cause of their recent implosion.
• There is no "structural damage" to Justin Verlander's shoulder. So he's just been stinking all on his own. He's not expected to be put on the DL.
• Bad news for the Orioles in that Manny Machado has a ligament sprain in his right knee.
• Matt Kremnitzer lays out the options for the Orioles if Machado is going to miss time.
• There was some crazy base running in Monday's Orioles-Yankees game, namely runners scoring from both third and first on a botched hit and run.
• Buck Showalter wants the Orioles "farewell gift" to Derek Jeter to be a picture of Jeffrey Maier. That's beautiful. Don't forget, Showalter was Jeter's first manager in the majors, too. Don't ever change, Buck.
• Steven Goldman says that Derek Jeter was a better shortstop than Honus Wagner. That's true, but pretty meaningless as by his definition, Brandon Crawford was a better shortstop than Honus Wagner. But he does have a good history lesson about Honus Wagner and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Goldman also talks about his wish to get Robin Williams to play Casey Stengel in the movie version that never got made of his biography of Stengel. And about depression in general.
• Grant Brisbee looks at the silliness behind the Bryce Harper "defiling the Braves A" controversy.
• This is a Cubs story and I'm sure Cub Tracks will have it tomorrow. But I'm also sure you want to read it today. Rany Jazayerli writes about the "brilliance" of the Cubs rebuilding plan. Like me, he thinks the Cubs can contend next season.
• Video of a dancing umpire in the Bahamas. Please let this guy umpire one Braves or Diamondbacks game. I'd just love to see how they'd try to hit the umpire with a pitch.
• On a taping of the PBS show "Antiques Roadshow" last Saturday, one person had a collection of baseball memorabilia appraised at $1 million. It stuff from the 1871-72 Boston Red Stockings of the old National Association.
• The Washington Post has ranked the beer selection at each ballpark in the majors in a kind of neat infographic. Seattle comes out on top. Unfortunately, Wrigley is near the bottom. (h/t Big League Stew)
• And finally, in times like this, we could all end on a feel good story. And there aren't many that feel better than this one. Rany Jazayerli on the adventure of Sun Woo Lee, a Royals fan for the past twenty years from South Korea and his magical first trip to Kansas City. To say the Royals and the people of Kansas City rolled out the red carpet for him is an understatement. And Jazayerli has a lot of good thoughts on what it means to be a fan. (h/t Hardball Talk) You really should read the shorter Hardball Talk story if you don't want to read the whole story by Jazayerli. But you'll want to. And the Royals moved into first place with Lee's arrival.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.