The Baseball Show with No Name will air at 7:00 PM with me & @JoelHenard & guests @Brandon_Warne @FigureFilbert

The Baseball Show with No Name will air at 7:00 PM with me & Joel Henard & guests Brandon Warne and Jonathan Mitchell: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/05/07/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang.

We’ll talk Mariano Rivera, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, Jason Heyward, Albert Pujols, Bryce Harper, Hanley Ramirez, Heath Bell, Tampa Bay Rays, Jemile Weeks, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Robin Ventura, Adam Dunn, Kansas City Royals, Francisco Liriano, Alcides Escobar, Brett Lawrie, Kyle Seager, Adam Lind, Huroki Kuroda, Felix Hernandez, roto, fantasy baseball and much more.

Any Player/Any Era: Ed Walsh for Baseball Past and Present

Any Player/Any Era: Ed Walsh for Baseball Past and Present: http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2012/04/19/playerany-era-ed-walsh/. A look into how the spitballer would have faired on the 1970 Baltimore Orioles.

Bottom of the Ninth: What to Look for in the First Week for Closers for @Razzball

Bottom of the Ninth: What to Look for in the First Week for Closers for Razzball: http://razzball.com/bottom-of-the-ninth-what-to-look-for-in-the-first-week/.

A look at the bullpen situations of the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians and Washington Nationals.

Will Carroll and April Whitzman join the guys on BDD Radio at 7:00 ET

Will Carroll and April Whitzman join the guys on BDD Radio at 7:00 ET: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/03/26/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang?utm_source=BTRemail&utm_medium=ShowReminder.

We’ll talk Brian Matusz, Nolan Reimold, Josh Willingham, Ben Revere, Buster Posey, the Blue Jays, Adam Lind, Travis D’Arnaud, Anthony Gose, Brett Cecil, Kyle Drabek, Noah Syndergaard, Henderson Alvarez, J.P. Arencibia, Carlos Gonzalez, Jonathan Sanchez, Justin Morneau, Chris Sale, Chase Utley, David Wright, Michael Morse, Joba Chamberlain, Pedro Alvarez, Julio Teheran, Giancarlo Stanton, Zach Britton, Scott Baker, Asdrubal Cabrera, Neftali Feliz, Rajai Davis, Alex Presley, Tyler Pastronicky, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Michael Bourn, Matt Holliday, Mike Napoli, Rickie Weeks and much more.

Any Player/Any Era: Bobby Grich for Baseball Past and Present

Any Player/Any Era: Bobby Grich for Baseball Past and Present: http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2012/03/22/playerany-era-bobby-grich/. A look at the great career of Grich and how he might have fared on the 1990s Atlanta Braves.

Any player/Any era: Eric Davis for Baseball Past & Present

Any player/Any era: Eric Davis for Baseball Past & Present: http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2012/03/02/playerany-era-eric-davis/.

Some fond memories of his time with the Orioles and wondering how he would do on the 1960s St. Louis Cardinals.

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang from 1.09.12

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/01/10/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang

We discussed the Hall of Fame results, Barry Larkin, Jeff Bagwell and Jack Morris.

In addition, we focused on  the Cubs latest moves, the fate of the Oakland Athletics, Jorge Posada’s retirement and his Hall of Fame chances, Ryan Braun, Brett Lawrie, the Baltimore Orioles, the Reds 2012 prospects, the Chicago White Sox, Tyler Chatwood, the Phillies line-up issues, the Marlins and Josh Johnson, and went through some fantasy baseball and roto projections/ranks.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/01/10/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang at 7:00 PM ET on #HOF

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/01/10/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang.

We’ll talk the Hall of Fame results, Barry Larkin, Jeff Bagwell and Jack Morris. We’ll also talk the Cubs latest moves, the fate of the Oakland Athletics, Jorge Posada’s retirement, Ryan Braun, Brett Lawrie, the Baltimore Orioles, the Reds 2012 prospects, the Chicago White Sox, Tyler Chatwood, the Phillies line-up issues, the Marlins and Josh Johnson, and go through some fantasy baseball and roto projections/ranks

Matt Wieters: Awesome Catcher for the Platoon Advantage

Matt Wieters: Awesome Catcher for the Platoon Advantage: http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2011/12/matt-wieters-awesome-catcher.html

It’s been an incredibly tough season/off-season for Orioles fans. After the way the club finished 2010 and a pretty good 2010 offseason (sure they made their share of bad signings, but, this time, they were limited to one-year deals!), which saw them deal fringy relievers for solider major league players, Orioles fans could smile a little smile that the team was at least sort of going in the right direction. On April 9, the Orioles were 6-2 and 5.5 games ahead of Boston and Tampa Bay. Of course, reality set in and the Orioles continued to completely and utterly fail to develop minor league talent at the major league level and finished 69-93, 28 games behind the Yankees. Then, the 2011 off-season came and GM candidate after candidate turned them down. Eventually, they hired Dan Duquette (who has been out of baseball almost as long as it has been since the Orioles finished above .500), and, sadly, it didn’t seem nearly as embarrassing as it could have been. Of course, the one joy Orioles fans had throughout the season was the defense of Matt Wieters. It was beautiful to watch him play baseball well. Then, when the Fielding Bible and Gold Glove Awards recently came out, we had validation for our love of Wieters.

For the full article, visit: http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2011/12/matt-wieters-awesome-catcher.html

Check You out on the Flip Side: Delino DeShields

Anyone who reads the back of this card and doesn’t think of Top Gun or Independence Day is simply an unAmerican.

What I didn’t realize is that DeShields was Kenny Lofton before Lofton was. DeShields had a full ride to run point for Villanova before being the 12th overall pick in the 1987 MLB draft by the Montreal Expos. And, of course, there was that little tidbit of him Spud Webbing a dunk contest in a battle across sports (I assume this was a Rock n Jock, but can’t find the video).

He made quick work of the minors, posting great OBPs and made his debut in 1990 at 21. He hit .289/.375/.393 in 129 games.

Unfortunately, a lot of that average was BABIP driven as he hit .349 on balls in play that year. He came back to earth in 1991, hitting .238/.347/.332 and would lead the league with 151 Ks. In addition, his .9623 fielding percentage that year was the seventh worst by a second baseman in a season since 1946. But he got on base and ran, accumulating 56 SBs. You combine his steals with Marquis Grissom (who had 76 swipes) and you get the 11th most prolific stolen base combo in MLB history.

His average bounced back in a major way in 1992, as he hit .292/.359/.398 with 46 steals. Again, if you pair him and Grissom (78 steals) you get a bad ass burglar combo – the 16^th best duo in history. After four years with the Expos, he had a .277/.367/.373 line and 187 SBs.

The Dodgers, evidently thinking he was the next Lou Whittaker, traded a promising young pitcher by the name of Pedro Martinez for his services. That didn’t work out so well. DeShields struggled in LA, going .241/.326/.327 in three years.

After leaving the Dodgers in free agency, he played well for the Cardinals for two years, and then signed with the Baltimore Orioles. His first two seasons with the Orioles went well, but his third was horrid. He hit .197/.312/.309 and made the last out in Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter. The Orioles released him and the Cubs scooped him up. He played better for the Cubs and combined went 23/25 in SBs that year, tied for the 28^th best stolen base percentage in a season in MLB history (min. 20 SBs).

Speed was clearly DeShields calling card from a positive standpoint. He ended his career with the 45^th most SBs in MLB history: two ahead of Bobby Bonds and two behind Eric Young, Sr.

Of course, striking out and poor fielding would be DeShields calling card from a negative standpoint. He finished with 1,061 Ks, the 29^th most in MLB history by a lefty (two behind Any Van Slyke, another erstwhile Oriole). The 151 Ks in ’91 were the 29^th most in a season by a lefty (tied with fellow Flip Sider Ray Lankford). Hey, hopefully he can appreciate symmetry.

[Complete non-sequitur] For some reason I can’t divorce him from José Offerman in my head…and what do you know, Offerman is #1 on his similarity score.

Still, DeShields was a fun Luis Castillo-like player. He also put in work after his playing career, co-founding the Urban Baseball League and raising some athletes. You know about his son, but his eldest daughter appears to be the next preeminent female dunker.

In his work with the Urban League, he travels with fellow Flip Sider Oil Can Boyd as part of the Oil Can Boyd Urban All Stars.

Follow h2h_corner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/h2h_corner