Those who can, play. Those who are too fat to, talk.
The Dodgers are signed Norihiro Nakamura, a 13-year vet in Japan, according to CBSSportsline.com’s MLB “Rumor Mill.”
Nakamura hit .274, and slugged .468 in 2004 for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. He led his league in RBIs in 2002, ahead of Hideki Matsui.
He is said to have an OK glove and can hit for power, but doesn’t do much speedwise.
Ever since I saw George Will rip on the movie Field of Dreams I’ve wondered what it is that draws people to the game. I mean I always assumed it was that romanticized family aspect that hooked most people. Then again, maybe Bull Durham is closer to peoples’ hearts. You tell me. Either leave a comment here, or e-mail me at stvngrdnr@comcast.net. I’ll give you my reasons after I dismiss yours. 
Before the Dodgers signed Odalis Perez and Derek Lowe and agreed to terms with Brad Penny, I wasn’t high on the off-season moves. But with the pitching moves and even though the Dodgers lost Adrian Beltre, I think overall it was a good winter for L.A. That sense is based on my hopes for young Dodger prospects at third base and catcher. There are too many variables to predict whether the Dodgers will improve this year, though I think they have the tools to be better, especially in the playoffs if Lowe and Penny are healthy.
As for the Mariners, no question this was a very good off-season and they have young talent who look very promising. No doubt the team will improve this year, but we all know that wouldn’t take much for a team that finished 18 games under .500 last year. The added offense and the defensive improvements should earn them 15-20 wins more than last year alone. Whether they improve more than that will depend entirely on the pitching staff. The staff was miserable last year, only three teams had worse starters. I think Mariner management did the right thing in trying to drastically improve the offense, because the pitchers have shown real ability in the past. For the Mariners to be above .500 this year, they’ll all have to do it. If not, look for the front office to go after pitchers this time next year.
The addition of Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre have got people talking World Series up here in Seattle.No doubt those were great moves and should help keep fans in the seats. Seattle fans have been extremely supportive of the team since 1995 (when Ken Griffey Jr. legged it home to beat the Yankees) and figure to stay that way unless the Mariners go through a few consecutive years like the one we just witnessed. Though improved, any talk of the post-season is way premature. Unless this team’s arms improve dramatically, the Mariners can count it good if they break .500. Of course, that would be good for the fans, because for much of the year the team would be in contention. Last year they were pretty much out by the end of May, finishing the season with a 63-99 record just three years after winning 116 games.
Will the starting lineup be better than in 2004? If you just look at the numbers, not much. CBS SportsLine.com ranks players based on offensive and defensive numbers and shows glaring problems on offense, but an improved pitching staff. Those numbers come with tremendous variables, however. Overall, I’m seeing hope for improvement.
I thought I would try to calculate the difference between the 2005 Dodgers against the 2004 team, based on the key additions and losses. There are some glaring omissions in this. I didn’t include Steve Finley because he wasn’t on the team all that long. I also didn’t include Ricky Ledee, Jose Hernandez, etc. because they didn’t play in all that many games. And this is only an offensive comparison, a three-on-three.
Up until the moment that Carlos Beltran signed with the Mets last week, 90% of the baseball world assumed that sooner or later, George Steinbrenner would come in and outbid everyone for Beltran’s services. I think Scott Boras assumed that, too, which is why he started the bidding at an outrageous 10-year, $200 million price that only The George could afford. All along, I was wondering: why is this such a foregone conclusion? Read the rest of this entry »
As a member of the media (My real job is as a reporter so I’m not saying this blog makes me a media member, though that would qualify too. I’m just saying there’s more to me than just this blog.), allow me to welcome Randy Johnson to New York City and tell him what an idiot he was yesterday when he got strong with the camerman. I have now seen the apology. It’s appropriate enough, I guess. But I’ve also read where this kind of behavior isn’t all that uncommon with the BIG UNIT. So he’s used to these apologies.
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In an effort to get rid of a spammer’s comment left on a previous post, I ended up deleting the entire post. It’s not like anyone reads this site yet anyway, but what a bonehead move. It reminds me of when I first went to work at Novell and managed to delete about 90 stories written for the magazine we published. Grateful was I someone had backed up the files a few days previous. In this case, my brilliant post on the big deal being back is gone forever, unless someone knows how to retrieve it. Don’t bother, it’s really not worth it. I am high-tech slow, not completely incompetent but dangerous when experimenting.
Maybe it’s time to step back a bit and look at what DePodesta hath wrought. Now that Odalis Perez and Derek Lowe have signed, I’m encouraged. I look at the current roster and see a team that could feasibly play in the World Series.
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For the story that asks the question, “Who are these guys?” click here.
This goes back to Seinfeld’s bit in which he says sports fans basically root for clothing. I can’t root for Shawn Green anymore, because he’s wearing the wrong clothes. I don’t know these guys I’m rooting for, but they’ve got the right uniform. Read the rest of this entry »