Baseball: Variety on Moneyball, Joe Colella, Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson, MVP System

“Throwing the conventional sports-movie formula a curve, Moneyball defies the logic that auds need a rousing third-act championship to clinch their interest. Instead, writers Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin resurrect the old adage ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game’ to drive this uncannily sharp, penetrating look at how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane helped reinvent baseball based on statistics rather than near-superstitious thinking. Sparing auds the technicalities but not the spirit of financial reporter Michael Lewis’ business-of-baseball bestseller, Moneyball should appeal well beyond—if not always to—the game’s fans,..While a hopelessly awkward-looking Hill provides fish-out-of-water laughs, Pitt gives a genuinely soul-searching performance. “ - http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/09/10/moneyball_reviews  

Hundreds of players to pass through the Hopewell high school and American Legion baseball programs have lost their coach. Hopewell Area School District officials said Joe Colella, who completed his 48th year as head baseball coach at the high school, died on Sunday. Colella's career at Hopewell has made him a legend in Beaver County; he was a 1987 inductee into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame earlier this year. - http://www.timesonline.com/sports/local_sports/hopewell-baseball-legend-colella-dies-sunday/article_3b739d07-127a-52eb-a6dd-f04d376f1cdf.html

The Rays' stocked farm system has produced another high-profile prospect ready to test the deep waters of the Major Leagues. On Sunday evening, the Rays announced that they have selected left-handed pitcher Matt Moore from Triple-A Durham. Moore, 22, is the team's top-rated prospect and the third-ranked prospect on MLB.com's Top 50 Prospects list. Moore went 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA (33 earned runs in 155 innings) in a combined 27 starts for Double-A Montgomery and Durham. He ranked second in the entire Minor Leagues in ERA, strikeouts (210) and opponents' batting average (.184), and led all Minor Leaguers with 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings. - http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110912&content_id=24577984&vkey=news_tb&c_id=tb  

Jeremy Hellickson: 2.90 ERA – 4.24 FIP = -1.33 ERA-FIP (Not Ranked, N/A) - The luckiest player on this list also happens to be one of the most talented. A high profile prospect for the Rays over the last few years, Hellickson finally broke into the Tampa Bay rotation this year after dominating the minors for nearly five seasons. His ERA may suggest that he’s having similar Major League success, but if one dives into the numbers a little more, it’s easy to see that this is not the case. Despite showing very strong K/9 (9.8) in his minor league career, Hellickson is striking players out at nearly half that clip (5.76 K/9) at the Big Show. However, even with that low strikeout rate, Hellickson has somehow found a way to produce an incredibly efficient strand rate (81.7%) and BABIP (.229). I’m still a believer in Hellickson’s ability, but I think we should all expect a 2012 ERA closer to his 2011 FIP than his 2011 ERA. - http://www.replacementlevelbaseball.com/2011/09/what-the-luck-september-2011-edition  

Here's a little secret about the small sample size of baseball's postseason balloting: Voting isn't always done by the most savvy voters. In 1996, my first full year on the baseball beat for The Miami Herald, I had a vote for the National League Cy Young. How come? No idea. One day I went to my mail box, and there it was: my Cy Young ballot. It was a staggering moment, one I'll never forget, to find out I was going to contribute more than 3 percent of the entire vote for such a historical award. I hated it. Who was I to have so much power? I was nobody. Same goes for baseball voters today. Who is the writer in Chicago or Kansas City or Toronto or Detroit to wield so much power -- especially for a vague award like MVP, where reasonable people can't even agree on the criteria? Nobody. That's who. It's a stupid system. And the MVP this season ought to be Justin Verlander - http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/15569707/baseball-current-system-for-selecting-mvp-is-broken