Those who can, play. Those who are too fat to, talk.
I posted a couple days ago about how the Dodgers were negotiating a Milton Bradley for Barry Zito trade, and I expressed a bit of concern that the Dodgers might throw in some valuable minor leaguers to make it happen. Rumor today has it that the Bradley/Zito talks have died, and I am a little bit relieved. Read the rest of this entry »
So the Dodgers hired Grady Little as their manager. Hmmmmmm. On one hand, there is the natural tendency to think that this is an absolutely ridiculous hire, what with his incompetence and all. On the other hand, if he can manage to cost the Dodgers the NLCS the way he cost the Red Sox the ALCS three seasons ago, at least it will mean that the Dodgers managed to win a playoff series for the first time in eighteen years to get to that position. Read the rest of this entry »
Every winter, I am faced with the same realization: When I hear the name Scott Boras, I just see in my mind the face of Steve Boros. If that is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
The Dodgers pulled off a major coup yesterday, swooping in at the last minute to snatch Rafael Furcal out of the hands of the Cubs and/or Braves. Was shortstop a priority going into the offseason? Probably not, what with outfield issues, no manager (I’m available!), and a few other things. But outside of Paul Konerko, Furcal was one of the top offensive players available on the market this winter. And leadoff is definitely an area where the Dodgers DID need some help, so snagging one of the best leadoff men in baseball was great. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s an idea that I know would tick off the union, but everyone else would be happy: what if Roger Clemens decided to come back for the 2006 season, and he signed a one-year, $6 million contract? Why is it just a foregone conclusion that Clemens is going to get a $20 million contract if he decides not to retire again? Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes I really can’t tell how much my opinions are colored by my dislike for Chipper Jones. I was reading tonight about his newly restructured contract, and John Schuerholz had this to say:
Whatever it takes, Chipper is always willing to step up, and we are pleased that this latest unselfish act will likely ensure that he will play his entire career as a Brave.
Yes, this new contract pays Chipper $6 million less next season (unless you count the $4 million signing bonus he gets next month, but hey, if it doesn’t count towards the payroll number, it ain’t real money, right?), giving them a little wiggle room to try to re-sign Rafael Furcal. But look at the details of the contract. Before the restructure, Chipper had $22 million in guaranteed money left on his contract. Now, he has $37 million guaranteed. His two options years, 2007 and 2008, are now guaranteed, and the Braves have a vested option on 2009. And this all happened two months after ending a season in which he missed 50 games due to injury!
Well, love Chipper or hate him, you have to give him credit: he just convinced the Braves to give him $15 million while praising his unselfishness. If I could just find a way to do that ONE TIME, I would be set.
Rumor has it that Esteban Loaiza’s incomprehensible contract with the A’s has driven up the price for Angels’ free agent Paul Byrd, who will probably end up getting three years at close to $8 million per year. I understand that the free agent market is weak, but honestly, this is ridiculous. Byrd will be 35 years old tomorrow, which means he will be pushing 38 when he completes a three-year contract. He has a history of arm troubles, missing the entire 2003 season after surgery on his pitching elbow. His fastball tops out at about 35 MPH. He has a mediocre career ERA of 4.23, and last season is only the third time in ten seasons he has dipped below 3.90. His career record is 72-64, which is about what you would expect from someone with a 4.23 ERA. Bottom line: Paul Byrd is the kind of guy you sign to be your number three or four starter. Read the rest of this entry »
Is this what we can expect for the next three months? We all knew there would be more trades than usual due to the dearth of quality free agents, but did anyone really expect that Josh Beckett, Carlos Delgado, and Jim Thome would all get traded in the span of two days?
The Beckett and Delgado deals are obviously intertwined, both tied to the fact that the Marlins are starting from scratch for the second time in seven years. Do you realize that in the 15 years the Marlins have existed, they have been terrible, then won the World Series, then had a fire sale, then won the World Series again, then had another fire sale? So anyway, Beckett, Delgado, and Mike Lowell are gone, and Juan Pierre, Paul LoDuca, and anyone else making more than $1.98 next year is likely to follow. Why did baseball expand into Florida again?
As for Thome, this is great for the Phillies. The common assumption was that the Phillies would be unable to move Thome’s contract until he had proven he was healthy, which wouldn’t happen until spring training, at which point no teams would have money left for him. So for the Phillies to get it over with so early is great for them, for Thome, and for Ryan Howard. And if Thome can regain form, it will be great for the White Sox, too. If nothing else, it got one of their creepy white guys off the team.
I can’t wait to see what else goes down this winter.
I just read a nice little article by Tim Kurkjian about the Washington Nationals and their lack of an owner. Now, I am not an expert, and I don’t have any inside knowledge, but I don’t see any possible good reason why it has taken so long for Major League Baseball to pick a buyer. When the Expos finally got out of Montreal, it looked like they were going to have a chance to be competitive again, and they were for about four months in 2005. But by failing to get this sale done, Bud Selig has hamstrung the team again and given them absolutely no chance to improve their team for 2006. I wish all eight ownership groups vying for the sale would collude and cut their offers in half at the same time, because let’s face it, every day that the Nationals aren’t improving their team, they are getting worse, which means the value of the team is going down. This is ridiculous, and Bud needs to make a decision now.
According to anonymous sources, Major League Baseball and the Players Association have agreed to a new steroid policy, which calls for a 50-game suspension for the first positive test, 100 games for the second, and a lifetime ban (appealable after two years) for the third offense. The new agreement also included testing for amphetamines, with different consequences. The first positive test results in an automatic second test. A second positive calls for a 25-game suspension, with 80 games for a third positive. The consequences for a fourth positive test are left to the commissioner’s discretion, with all decisions reviewed by an arbitrator.
I think this is a positive step for baseball, especially if it will get Congress off its back. But after reading all the reports in ESPN the Magazine, I still can’t help thinking that the issue here isn’t as much in the penalties as in the actual testing. According to BALCO head-weiner Victor Conte, the current testing system is very easy to beat. As long as that is the case, it won’t matter how tough the penalties are, because only the stupid people will get caught anyway.
So yes, this is a good step forward, but until there is an effective (and flexible, to account for new technology) testing plan in place, there is still work to be done.
UPDATE: I’m glad to say that Albert Pujols won.
Okay, I am going to make this quick. I wish I didn’t think Andruw Jones was going to win this award today, but I do. Should he? Absolutely not. Let’s look at the statistical categories in which he led Albert Pujols and Derrek Lee: home runs and RBI.
Home runs are nice, but really, the point is to score runs, and it doesn’t really matter how you do it. A better indication of a player’s power contribution to his team is slugging percentage, because it gives credit to hits of all kinds, with more credit going to the bigger hits (like home runs). Andruw Jones, despite having five more home runs than Derrek Lee and ten more than Albert Pujols, still trailed them in slugging percentage by 85 and 34 points, respectively. A lot of that comes from the fact that Jones had many fewer extra-base hits that weren’t homers (27, compared to 40 for Pujols and 53 for Lee). You also have the fact that Jones had far fewer singles (76) than Pujols (114) or Lee (100). Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: The votes are in, and A-Rod won.
Well, the AL MVP award will be announced in about 12 hours or so, so here are my final thoughts.
It obviously comes down to Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. They both had absolutely great years. I will tell you up front that A-Rod is still my pick. Here are some important stats for both of them: Read the rest of this entry »
Over on ESPN.com, former Mets GM and current ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips has posted his report on the top 50 free agents this offseason. Included in the report is his guess as to where each free agent will end up. I want to talk about it, but I have to warn you all that this is one of those posts that reminds the reader that while I love baseball in general, I am a Dodger fan first and foremost. Read the rest of this entry »
ESPN.com has a remarkably in-depth and enlightening report on steroids in baseball. I believe it will be appearing in the newest ESPN the Magazine, which I haven’t gotten in the mail yet. I have read all four parts of the actual report, and I am about halfway done with the “Special Features.” I can’t recommend this report strongly enough.
In reading it, I had a whole bunch of thoughts on a whole bunch of topics. My number one thought: Bud Selig needs to be replaced. By me. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: The voting is in — Carpenter wins, Willis second, Clemens third.
It’s time for my thoughts on the National League Cy Young Award, just in time for the official announcement on Thursday, November 10. Read the rest of this entry »
Manager of the Year Awards are announced later today, November 9. There is no way in the world Bobby Cox isn’t winning the National League Manager of the Year award, and rightly so. As for the American League, it pretty much comes down to Ozzie Guillen and Eric Wedge. If the Indians hadn’t choked the last week of the season and the White Sox hadn’t stopped choking at the same time, the award would be Wedge’s, but they did and they did, and the award will go to Guillen.
Dang it, I meant to get my predictions and preferences down in writing before the official announcement. Oh well. Anyway, Bartolo Colon won the American League Cy Young Award. If I had gotten my picks in early enough, I would have predicted that, although I also would have strongly disagreed with it. My vote would have gone to Johan Santana, and I doubt that Colon would have even gotten my second- or third-place vote (Mariano Rivera and Mark Beurhle probably would have finished ahead of him). I will be posting my picks for the NL in the next day or so, including my formula and what I think is important. In summary, though, this vote for Colon was clearly based on the win/loss record, which I think is absurd. On the other hand, the only reason the award is named after Cy Young is because he had 511 career wins, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
The Rookie of the Year awards are announced today. If I was voting, my votes would go to Ryan Howard in the NL and Huston Street in the AL. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tadahito Iguchi win in the AL, and I wouldn’t have a major gripe if he did, but I still lean towards Street. In the NL, I think Willy Taveras has about a 60% chance of winning, but I will be pretty upset if he does. Howard was great, and while Taveras played a whole season and Howard didn’t, Taveras was nothing more than solid, and he has several large offensive weaknesses (like having absolutely NO power, striking out way too often, and lacking the ability to get on base consistently). It says a lot that Taveras might be the fastest guy in baseball but couldn’t bat leadoff on his own team.
UPDATE: Well, it’s official, and I was actually right. I wish I had as much confidence in the voters’ abilities when it comes to the other awards that will be coming in the next week or so.
I heard a rumor that the Yankees are going to pursue Rafael Furcal, have him play second base, and move Robinson Cano to center field. Imagine that: Derek Jeter would be the third-best shortstop in his own infield!
Looks like the Devil Rays are going to hire Gerry Hunsicker to be their new non-GM. There had been some doubt that the D-Rays would be able to land a big name like Hunsicker, simply because he will not be given the title of General Manager, but is being brought in to serve as a consultant/mentor to two young bucks the D-Rays are grooming for the future. Here’s a bit from this ESPN.com article: Read the rest of this entry »
My miscellaneous thoughts on last night’s World Series game, which saw the White Sox go up 3-0 in the series: Read the rest of this entry »
You may be wondering why I haven’t been posting more baseball stuff lately. After all, the postseason is the best time of year for a baseball fan, right? Absolutely. Unfortunately, it is also the time of year when there are a lot fewer games going on but the same number of sportswriters, which means they are all writing about the same thing. And honestly, that gets old, and I have absolutely no desire to add to the pile of pointless words.
Do I think all baseball commentary at this time of year is pointless? No, but I do believe that genuinely intelligent and insightful commentary is hard to find right now. I read almost everything ESPN.com puts up about baseball, and it is easy to find the people who are intelligent and the people who are Joe Morg–er, I mean, unintelligent. Unfortunately, ESPN seems to know who the winners are too, since most of the good guys are now “Insiders,” meaning you have to pay to read them. But just in case you don’t know this already, if you have a subscription to ESPN the Magazine, you get free access to the Insider stuff.
So anyway, I thought I would just point you to some of the people I actually enjoy reading, in no particular order: Read the rest of this entry »
So honestly, is there a white guy on the White Sox who isn’t creepy looking? Piersynzki, Rowand, Podsednik, Crede, Beurhle. They all look like they could play the abusive husband in a Lifetime movie.
In this post from a couple weeks ago, I declared that Huston Street should be the AL Rookie of the Year. In the comments on that post, T.D. Hogg said this:
Robinson Cano is the obvious choice for rookie of the year, he plays under the great big new york lights that some veterans cant even handle, and while playing everyday under that pressure he has amassed a .291 batting average, thats great , not just good, for a rookie and good for a veteran. A pitcher should never win this award or , for that matter, any MVP award. They dont play everyday, and its unfair to take it away from a guy who busts his butt every day.
I was going to reply in the comments, but as I got going, I realized that it deserved a little more attention. Read the rest of this entry »
The Astros won a thrilling game on Sunday, and although I believe that any day the Braves get knocked out of the playoffs is a good day, I couldn’t help feeling very sorry for Joey Devine. The kid already has an unfortunate spot in the record books (the only pitcher to allow a grand slam in each of his first two career appearances), and now he gave up this huge walk-off homer. But let’s not think about that — let’s focus on the Braves being eliminated! Read the rest of this entry »
The Yankees are mad at Buck Showalter for pulling his stars early in their final game on Sunday. Are they right to be upset? Read the rest of this entry »
In 1998, the Boston Red Sox went 92-70, a record that would have easily won the American League Central or West. Unfortunately, they played in the AL East, and they finished 22 games behind the 114-48 Yankees. That Red Sox team holds a record that I made up: the furthest out of first place a team finished with a record that would have won another division. Well, that record could be in trouble. Read the rest of this entry »
So the Cardinals and Astros have a little two-game series starting tomorrow, and with the Astros lead in the Wild Card down to one game, it has some major playoff ramifications. So the questions becomes, how hard do the Cards try? Read the rest of this entry »
Another thing from Jerry Crasnick’s chat yesterday:
Sean (Los Angeles): Hey Jerry, I never used to have anything against the White Sox, but now with the MLB package, I hear their announcers all the time. They are the cockiest, most biased I have ever heard, by far. I’d love for the Sox to miss the playoffs just because of them. Have you heard them? He gone!!
Jerry Crasnick: Sean,
Nothing personal against Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson, but yes, they can be tough to take if you’re an impartial observer watching White Sox games. The guy who runs the heavethehawk Web site sure doesn’t like them very much.
The eighth of my random thoughts for tonight, again with possible quotes from the Joe Morgan and Jerry Crasnick chats from today (see this entry for links to the chats):
The AL Central Race: Read the rest of this entry »
