Call to the Pen

Call to the Pen, a key part of the FanSided Sports Network and the main hub for our MLB Division, offers comprehensive coverage of Major League Baseball. Here, you can find the latest news, rumors, and in-depth analysis related to the sport.

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Analyzing Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Is the Dodgers' ace better than we thought he'd be?

3 weeks ago | calltothepen.com | Andrew Meyers

The Dodgers didn’t have to wait long to see Yamamoto's mastery on the mound. Oh how far we've come since Yoshinobu Yamamoto's MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in March 2024. The expectations were immense, considering the Dodgers gave Yamamoto the largest contract to a pitcher in baseball history before he threw a pitch in the states. Then, he allowed five runs in one inning, and the overreactions began.
AL Central has done amazing job shutting up their critics in 2024 MLB Playoffs

Oct 7, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

That ought to shut up the AL Central critics. The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers both swept supposedly superior teams in the AL Wild Card round, advancing to the American League Division Series. They now join the division champion Cleveland Guardians to comprise three-fourths of the surviving American League bracket. It’s not how the game’s wise ones had it figured.
Hatred has been the guiding motif of the Division Series in 2024 MLB Playoffs

Oct 7, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

You only need four letters to sum up the divisional round of the 2024 MLB playoffs. In order, those four letters are: h, a, t and e. Antipathy will be baseball’s universal calling card for the next week. The Padres hate their foe, the Dodgers, and the feeling is pretty much mutual. No greater evidence of that fact was needed than Sunday night's Game 2 Padres win, punctuated by a 10-minute delay resulting from Dodger fans hurling baseballs at Padres players.
AL East front office grades midway through 2024 season: Did Brian Cashman do enough?

Jun 29, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. Which MLB executives did enough to send their teams closer to contention since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason? And which came up short, dooming their rosters with a cavalcade of gaffes? The final installment in this series focuses on the AL East. The standard of measurement in Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because unlike WAR, it is zero-based.
NL East front office grades midway through 2024: Braves, Mets thriving

Jun 29, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason. The fifth installment in this series focuses on the NL East. The standard of measurement in Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because unlike WAR, it is zero-based.
Grading AL Central front offices at midpoint of the 2024 MLB season

Jun 27, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason. The fourth installment in this series focuses on the AL Central. The standard of measurement in Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because unlike WAR, it is zero-based.
Grading NL Central front offices at midway point of 2024 MLB season

Jun 27, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 post-season. This third installment looks at the NL Central. With the exception of the 44-32 Milwaukee Brewers, the Central has been a haven for mediocrity during the season’s first half. The Cardinals, Reds, Pirates and Cubs are a collective 11 games under .500.
Mid-term front office grades: Astros, Rangers, and the AL West mess

Jun 26, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason. The second installment of this mid-season series looks at AL West front offices. The standard of measurement in Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because unlike WAR, it is zero-based.
A mid-term assessment of front office work: The NL West

Jun 25, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason. We begin with the NL West. The standard of measurement here is Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because, unlike WAR, it is zero-based.
For the Kansas City Royals, the schedule is about to get a lot easier

Jun 25, 2024 | calltothepen.com | Bill Felber

The Kansas City Royals are in the midst of one of the most extreme scheduling shifts imaginable. On Sunday, the Royals completed a two-week stretch during which they played 12 games against the Guardians, Mariners, Yankees and Dodgers, all of them division leaders. Starting this Tuesday the scheduling tide will turn profoundly. On that day the Royals begin another two-week stretch, but this time they’re playing the Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins.