Last night, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about and discussing the shattering maple bat situation and MLB’s proactive decision to eliminate certain kinds of bats, starting in the minor leagues.

One of the things that really caught my eye (again) was the BatGlove, a virtually invisible “sheath” that adheres to the handle of the bat and eliminates the parts of the bat from separating. It doesn’t stop the bat from breaking or cracking; it only stops it from flying off in potentially dangerous directions. As I mentioned last night, I was hoping to reach the makers of the BatGlove for additional color on their product. Luckily, Steve Rauso was good enough to respond:

Jason,

The product was developed to adhere to MLB rule 1.10. From the bottom of the handle, 18″ up a player is allowed to use any material or substance as long as it is to improve the players grip on the bat. The players already use adhesive products to promote player grip on the bat. Because of the location as well as the ultra thin transparent film that is being used, the players cannot even tell the product is on the bat. It is in the area where a player applies pine tar to a bat, so it makes it even less obvious to the player once the tar is applied.

Every player who has ever held a bat with our invention has endorsed it. Most of the time the product has to be pointed out to them because they do not even see it or feel it when they hold the bat. Let’s face it, nobody wants to be “that player” who has to deal with a death or injury in the stands or out on the field. If it does not change the performance of the bat and meets all of the criteria for MLB. Why not?

The MLB Research Center @ Lowell/UMass reports that the invention definitely promotes safer conditions for players, fans and umpires.

The pictures above are from Steve and show the BatGlove, as it looks applied to a bat. Rather innocuous, no?

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Sort of seems relevant and appropriate to ask these days, doesn’t it? Well, the esteemed Tom Tango tried to answer the question at the new ESPN “blog” called “The Max Info” (abbreviation for which is TMI; more on this below):

It’s safe to assume that Jeter is a unique talent, so what if we consider only the 31 players with at least 21 wins from the ages of 32 to 35 (thereby putting Jeter just below the very best players for this age range)? These players averaged just 10 wins from the age of 37 onward, which is still not an impressive number, but would put Jeter’s value at somewhere close to $50 million for his next contract — if he ages gracefully.

Now, let’s take the 21 players from this group of 90 who had their best season in this age range at 36. Those players still averaged only 12.5 wins from age 37 onward. That means that if Jeter manages to be better than he was last season, when he had 6.5 WAR, then in the best-case scenario he could be worth up to $60 million for 2011 and beyond.

The worst-case scenario is, of course, zero.

Is a three-year, $60m contract both realistic and reasonable? Guessing the Yanks would jump for joy but would Jeter take it? Is he going for a 5+ year deal? Is he looking for same AAV as ARod? Both?

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And that concludes the PED-free portion of the Yanks’ Spring Training plans. Well, we hope this is merely a blip and nothing more:

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been contacted by federal agents regarding a Canadian doctor under investigation for alleged drug violations not limited to professional athletes.

Rodriguez could join Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, as well as other non-baseball clients, among those who have spoken to authorities about Anthony Galea, a Toronto-based sports medicine doctor who has also worked with golf icon Tiger Woods.

“I’m aware of an investigation, and I plan on cooperating,” Rodriguez said at George M. Steinbrenner Field after the Yankees’ workout.

[...] “This is about someone else,” Rodriguez said. “I’m going to cooperate the best I can and focus on baseball.”

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