Barry Bonds in 2004: 376 Times On Base In 373 AB!

Barry Bonds in 2004: 373 at-bats 376 times safely on base Not a typo. He turned 40 that season. Neither is that. pic.twitter.com/XFDHAAYWmF

— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) November 26, 2015

Also:

Ted Williams would have to be unfrozen, return to baseball, and fail to reach in 2,000 straight PA for his career OBP to drop below .400.

— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) November 24, 2015

Babe Ruth would have to resurrect, return to baseball, and go 0-for-3,188 for his career SLG to fall below .500. pic.twitter.com/7od31wmM02

— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) November 24, 2015

Ortiz Makes It Official: "Time Is Up, So Let's Enjoy Next Season"

David Ortiz makes it official: he will retire after 2016.

Life is based on different chapters, and I think I'm ready to experience the next one in my life.

I pick this day to announce that next season I'm going to be done with my career playing baseball. I would like people to remember me as a guy that was just part of the family, a guy that was trying to do the best, not only on the field, but with everyone around him. Baseball is not just based on putting up numbers. This is our second family. Whoever is around you on a daily basis is like a second family, and I always had good thoughts for everyone around me. ...

I'm really proud of what I had accomplished through the years. I'm very thankful for having fans like guys who have supported me through my career. I wish I could play another 40 years, so I have you guys behind me, but it doesn't work that way.

After next year, time is up, so let's enjoy next season.

Amen. ... And Happy Birthday, Big Papi!

Fox Sports: 2016 Will be David Ortiz's Final Season

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that David Ortiz will announce tomorrow - his 40th birthday - that 2016 will be his final season.

Sources: David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2015

Red Sox Trade For Craig Kimbrel

Ian Browne, MLB.com:

The Red Sox acquired a flame-throwing, four-time All-Star closer in Craig Kimbrel on Friday night, sending four prospects to the San Diego Padres.

Dave Dombrowski's first major acquisition since being hired by the Red Sox as president of baseball operations in August was a doozy, one that paves the way for a bullpen that could dominate in the late innings.

Koji Uehara, the club's closer the last three seasons, will move to the eighth inning. Junichi Tazawa, one of the top setup men in the game the last couple of years, will be responsible for the seventh.

And Kimbrel, smack in the middle of his prime at 27 years old, will be there to finish. The Red Sox have Kimbrel under their contractual control for the next three seasons. ...

To acquire Kimbrel, Dombrowski parted with outfielder Manuel Margot, shortstop Javier Guerra, infielder Carlos Asuaje and lefty Logan Allen.

WEEI's Ryan Hannable looks at what the Red Sox gave up for Kimbrel.

Xander Bogaerts Wins Silver Slugger

Xander Bogaerts won the 2015 Silver Slugger as the American League's best-hitting shortstop. Award winners are voted on by the league's managers and coaches.

Bogaerts led all AL shortstops in batting average (.320), hits (196), doubles (35), runs scored (84), RBI (81), total bases (258). and OBP (.355).

Bogaerts finished second among all MLB shortstops in FanGraphs' wins above replacement metric at 4.3. Brandon Crawford of the Giants finished first at 4.7.

Bogaerts is the third Red Sox shortstop to win a Silver Slugger, joining John Valentin (1995) and Nomar Garciaparra (1997). Bogaerts (who turned 23 on October 1) is the youngest Red Sox player to win a Silver Slugger at any position.

Red Sox Hire Gordon Edes As Team Historian

The Red Sox have hired sportswriter Gordon Edes to work as a team historian. Edes will also work as strategic communications advisor for the Fenway Sports Group.

Over the course of nearly four decades, Edes worked for numerous newspapers and media outlets, including the Boston Globe, ESPN, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, National Sports Daily, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and Yahoo.com.

Edes had been covering the Red Sox for the past 18 years.

Bautista: Bat Flip Haters Are Ignorant Dinosaurs

Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista has written an article for The Players Tribune on his now-iconic ALDS bat flip against the Rangers and the negative comments it provoked:

Were these same opinions expressed when Carlton Fisk "waved" his home run fair in '75? Or when Joe Carter jumped around the bases in '93? When I was growing up and I watched iconic moments like those, I was so caught up in the emotion that I got chills. I wasn't thinking about the implications. I was fully immersed in the moment and enjoying it. I loved Cal Ripken Jr. for his poise and control. But I also admired Reggie Jackson for showing his passion and flair.

Those moments are spontaneous. They're human. And they're a whole lot of fun.

But nowadays, when a player flips his bat, especially a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve, a small section of people always seem to turn it into a debate about the integrity of the game. ...

[F]or whatever reason, there's a small section of old-school, my-way-or-the-highway type of people who never want the game to evolve. They're the dinosaurs who believe that everybody should play the same and act the same. They usually claim that it is out of "respect."

In my opinion, true respect is about embracing the differences in people's cultures. ...

I flipped my bat. I'm human. The emotion got to me. It's in my DNA. If you think that makes me a jerk, that's fine. But let's call it what it is. Let's not have these loaded conversations about "character" and the integrity of the game every time certain players show emotion in a big moment. That kind of thinking is not just old school. It's just ignorant.

Good-Bye To Alexi Ogando and Jean Machi

Alexi Ogando and Jean Machi have decided to become free agents after both relievers went unclaimed on waivers.

Allen Craig also went unclaimed, but accepted a demotion to Pawtucket.

Sandy Leon signed a one-year deal and will begin next season in AAA.

Babe Ruth, Most HR With 1,000+ IP

Most HR (at-bat) with at least 1,000 innings pitched Babe Ruth 714 Cy Seymour 52 Wes Ferrell 38 Bob Lemon 37 Mike Smith 37 Red Ruffing 36

— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) November 5, 2015

Re-Name Yawkey Way?

WEEI columnist John Tomase suggests re-naming Yawkey Way, because honouring Tom Yawkey, who owned the Red Sox for 44 years until his death in 1976, is a quiet assent to his virulent racism.

Honoring Tom Yawkey is every bit as offensive as the nickname of Washington's football team.

By celebrating this stain on the franchise's history, Tomase says the current ownership group is "either ignorant of his disgraceful past or indifferent to it". (And we know they are not ignorant of team history.)

By the time Yawkey relented and allowed a man with dark skin to wear a Red Sox uniform, it was July 1959. Every other major league team had integrated - though most only to a small degree - and Jackie Robinson had been retired from his Hall of Fame career for nearly three seasons. Robinson called Yawkey "one of the most bigoted guys in baseball".

Royals Were Kings Of The Postseason Comeback

Jayson Stark, ESPN:

The Royals won 11 games in this postseason. In seven of them, they trailed by at least two runs at some point, then roared back to win. No team had ever done that. ...

And in six of those 11 wins, the Royals were losing heading into the sixth inning. No team had ever won six games that way in a single postseason, either. ...

And just in this World Series, the Royals not only trailed in all five games but won three games in which they trailed in the eighth inning or later. No team had ever done that before in any of the first 110 World Series in history.

Doug Kern, ESPN:

Raul A. Mondesi, 20, fresh from the Royals' Double-A team, pinch hit in Game 3 ... Mondesi is the first player to make his major league debut in the modern World Series; his only rival is James "Bug" Holliday, then an 18-year-old minor-leaguer, who went 0-for-4 in the exhibition "World's Series" between the NL's Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) and the St. Louis Browns, then of the American Association, in 1885. ...

Kyle Hendricks and [Jason] Hammel: First starting pitchers to bat eighth in a postseason game. Babe Ruth did bat sixth (and had a two-run triple) in Game 4 of the 1918 World Series. ...

Eric Hosmer: First player with the game-winning RBI in Games 1 and 2 of same World Series since Mark Bellhorn for the 2004 Red Sox.

Only 99 Days Until "Truck Day"!

The Red Sox announced today that 2016 Truck Day will be on Wednesday, February 10.

Pitchers and catchers will report to camp in Fort Myers, Florida, on February 18, with position players due on February 24.

The Red Sox also exercised its $13 million club option on Clay Buchholz, who started 18 games (3.26 ERA) before injuries took him out of the rotation.

Royals Win 2015 World Series In Five Games

Fun facts on the just-completed World Series, most of them from Elias:

Kansas City's five runs in the 12th broke the World Series record for runs in one inning in extra innings. The previous mark was four by the Mets in the 12th inning of Game 2 against the A's in 1973.

Christian Colon was the first player to drive in the Series-clinching run on the first World Series plate appearance of his career.

Kansas City hit only two home runs in the 2015 World Series - solo shots by Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon, both in Game 1. The Royals were the first team to win a World Series with only two runs scored on homers since the 1950 Yankees.

The Royals came from behind in each of their four World Series wins. That in itself is not rare. Five other teams did it in a best-of-seven format: the Pirates in 1925, Reds in 1975, Dodgers in 1981, Marlins in 1997, and Angels in 2002. But Kansas City was the first team to win three games in the same World Series in which it trailed in the eighth inning or later.

The Royals outscored the Mets 15-1 in the seventh through the 14th innings in the series.

It was the first World Series to have 2 games go to extra innings since 2001, Yankees vs Diamondbacks.

Royals reliever Franklin Morales allowed four runs in Game 3. While pitching for the Rockies, Morales was charged with seven runs in two-thirds of an inning against the Red Sox in the 2007 Series opener, which matches the most runs allowed by any pitcher in one inning of a World Series game. Morales is the only pitcher in World Series history to have two outings in which he allowed at least four runs while recording fewer than three outs. In three World Series appearances, Morales has been charged with 11 runs in 3 1/3 innings for a 29.70 ERA, the highest for any pitcher who has thrown three or more career innings in the Fall Classic.

And ... Opening Day 2016: Mets at Royals!