“Long before there was Bill James and his vast acolytes of baseball codifiers, there was Earnshaw Cook.

He was the subject of a Sports Illustrated piece called “Baseball Is Played All Wrong,” based on his computerized analysis. That piece ran in 1964. In those days, computers themselves were about as big as Boog Powell, the Orioles’ lefthanded slugger. Yet Cook’s theories has somehow trickled down to the major league dugouts of today.

Cook found that starting pitchers should work a couple of innings, be removed for a pinch-hitter, and be relieved by a better pitcher who would work five or so innings. Then the guy whom we now know as the “closer” would work the eighth and the ninth. The theory was that pitchers should not hit, and pinch-hitters would increase the run totals by a dramatic margin.”

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“Spring training is the original fantasy league.

Under the friendly skies of Florida and Arizona, the road to October seems unimpeded. No one has lost a game that mattered since November, and, for most teams, September. And no matter how many times those peaceful days are invalidated by the chill of April, the optimism keeps bubbling up.

Those who write about spring training need a serious Geiger counter to find actual news. There are injuries, signings, the occasional tantrum, but most spring days are spent watching people who will never get to a major league game without a ticket competing against others in the same boat.”

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Canadian Baseball Network columnist Mark Whicker writes that the Baltimore Orioles’ acquisition of 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes might be the most important move of the off-season.

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