Tuesday Applesauce

Arizona Fall League

Peoria Saguaros 13, Mesa Solar Sox 2

• Josh Thole went 1-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored.
• Tobi Stoner allowed two hits in two scoreless innings of relief.

At Dugout Central, Mike Silva asks the burning question: How exactly is Willie Randolph a winner?

Joe Posnanski reacts to last night's rain-induced postponement in-column as well as blog-wise.

Tim Welke admitted he blew the call on Sunday when Evan Longoria clearly tagged Jimmy Rollins as he scampered back to third.

At FanGraphs, Dave Cameron considers Juan Rivera a free agent bargain.

Rivera may never get back to his 2006 prime, but he’s certainly better than he’s shown the last two years, and there’s no reason to think he’s washed up at age 30. For a team looking for a right-handed power bat who makes good contact and offers some upside without requiring a long term, big money deal, Rivera’s a good bet. He’ll never be a star, but he could be the kind of useful role player that is picked up cheaply that championship teams need.

At the blog for The Book, MGL examines whether first/second half batter splits mean anything, i.e. do they have any predictive value. The short answer is "No, they don't", but as MGL points out in the comments, the regression analysis tests for a "uniform effect", not the effect on individuals. Basically, a test of all players shows no correlation, but that doesn't mean that a test of each player would net the same result. The problem with the latter is that it's difficult to draw anything meaningful from one player's data because even five years worth of splits isn't a whole lot to go on. Perhaps we could establish a pattern (as with Johan Santana), but not necessarily a meaningful correlation.

All signs point to Ken Macha as the new Brewers manager. Whoopie!

I'm an avowed Windows loyalist, but this is hilarious.

Finally, SB Nation gets a nice writeup in the Sports Business Journal, so if anyone is interested in that sort of thing definitely check it out.