The Sports Frog

The mystery of Mark Teixeira continues, but should conclude today. And yet there is contradictory information about his eventual destination.

Version #1 Sources have confirmed to Sons of Simmons, that the Boston Red Sox have agreed in principle to an eight-year deal with first basemen Mark Teixeira.

Version #2 The Washington Nationals "have sweetened their proposal to Teixeira, offering him an eight-year deal worth $178-184 million" according to a report by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) website. MASN's Roch Kubatko has been told the Nationals are willing to go nine years and there's been talk of a 10-year offer.

1. Age
Teixeira: Entering age 29 season
Ramirez: Entering age 37 season
Let's start with the argument I'm the most confused by: Teixeira is a huge risk because he'd require an 8 year deal. Sure, any deal that long has a lot of inherent risk. What I don't understand is why he's seen as riskier than Manny for 3 years when Manny, right now, is older than Teixeira would be in the last year of his deal. Granted, Manny showed no signs of slowing down last year (although I caution everyone to check out his BABIP, especially in Los Angeles) but it has to be coming. Maybe not for three more years, but that's the gamble. Even factoring in a shorter commitment, betting on a 37 year old DH seems to have far more downside than betting on a 29 year old 1B.

2. Contract
Teixeira: ~$23MM over 8 years
Ramirez: ~$25MM over 3 years
Even if those numbers are a bit off, they're essentially the same cost for the next 3 seasons at which point Ramirez rolls off. Unless Ramirez is a bust, his absence would mean a major hole in the lineup heading into 2012, one which could probably be filled quite well by a then 32 year old Teixeira.
(Both were offered arbitration by their teams so either would, in essence, cost the Yankees their 3rd round pick. Don't quote me, but I believe if Teixeira is signed, Anaheim gets the 1st, Milwaukee the 2nd and Toronto the 3rd. If Manny is signed, Milwaukee gets the 1st, Los Angeles the 2nd and Toronto the 3rd. Usually losing 3 picks would make me cringe but the disaster draft of 2008 ensures that, at most, NY would only be down only a 3rd rounder. I can live with that.)

Continue reading "The Argument for Teixeira in New York" »

Last year Rocco Baldelli (The Woonsocket Rocket) was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease which can be fatal.

From WebMD:

Mitochondria are the energy-making structures inside the cells of our bodies. They have their own DNA, which we inherit directly from our mothers. Mitochondrial diseases or disorders are caused by defects in mitochondrial DNA, or by defects in regular DNA that affect mitochondrial function.

People with mitochondrial disease may get too little energy to power the immune system, the nervous system, and/or other important bodily functions. Or their dysfunctional mitochondria allow toxins to build up within cells.

So in layman's terms with mitochondrial disease you're fucked. And since it is genetic perhaps you wouldn't sire any off-spring. But that's not what Rocco has. Turns out all those experts where wrong. Where is House when you need him?

Rocco has, and let's for now say allegedly, channelopothy. The internet does not have much information about channelopothy, but apparently it is not fatal and it is treatable.

So now Rocco becomes a more valuable free agent. You paying attention Hank and Hal? He would look good in center in pinstripes.

I can only imagine how thorough his free agent physical is going to be. It could take weeks. But it is great news for Rocco and his family.

The Baltimore Orioles have evidently given up on waiting for right-hander Daniel Cabrera to live up to his potential.

The Orioles declined Friday to offer the arbitration-eligible starter a contract for 2009, making him a free agent.

I fail to see how this makes the Orioles a better team. Sure this guy can be wild and inconsistent, but he is only 27 years old and he is 6'9". (the ESPN article says 26 and 6'7" but their roster has him listed as older and taller, way to go WWLIS)

Perhaps they were afraid of getting their ass toasted in arbitration, but this guy led the league in wild pitches and batters hit. He only had Leo Mazzone for about a year. Maybe the guy is a head case and the Orioles know all about him, but based on their current rotation and his raw ability, I don't see how this helps them.

Wouldn't it be funny if Cards sign this guy and give him to LaRussa and Duncan? Perhaps the A's? He had trade value last year, but after Bedard's exit the Orioles wanted to keep him and now the Orioles have nothing in return.

Way to go Baltimore. Keep that tradition alive. Why not try having three GMs next?

From the city that never sleeps, we bring you the newest FA signed by the Yankees: A.J. Burnett. This is the kind of high risk signing few teams other than the Yankees could afford. (Think Carl Pavano.)

The deal is $82.5M 5-year for an oft injuired right hander that last year had career highs in wins (18), strikeouts (231) and innings (221 1-3). Never mind those 10 trips to the disabled list for various elbow and shoulder injuries, he should work out just fine.

First things first, the difference between Jay Buhner and Melky Cabrera is that Buhner had a discernable talent in the minors: Power. (Two talents, I guess, if you count his right cannon.) Melky is a good glove in CF but over his first 1,600 major league PAs, he's yet to exhibit much on the offensive side that makes you think he can contribute to a playoff team. His batting average has been mediocre, his walk rate subpar, he's not much of a basestealer and he hasn't flashed power outside of a single month (April 2008). Right now, his upside looks to be as a middle-of-the-road CF on a 2nd division team who does everything ok and nothing exceptionally well. If none of his offensive tools develop and he outgrows CF, a distinct possibility, he might be out of the league and forgotten by age 30.

A team with the Yankees' 2009 expectations and resources can't afford to give Cabrera a 4th straight 450 PA season and see if its going to click. Brett Gardner is also not the answer. To flip either of them for Mike Cameron, if the trade gets finalized, is a great low-risk short term move. Cameron is Cabrera's equal in CF, if not better, and offensively contributes two things the Yankees lineup needs, power and plate discipline. In letting Giambi and Abreu leave, the Yankees lost the 3rd and 4th ranking hitters, respectively, in terms of pitches seen per plate appearance. In picking up Swisher and (possibly) Cameron, the Yankees would offset those losses by plugging in hitters who ranked 1st and 7th overall. While a head to head comparison would indicate the Yankees are still losing more offense than they're gaining, it really shouldn't be viewed this way. Baring injuries, the Yankees are shuffling 4 in and 4 out of their everyday lineup. Abreu, Giambi, Molina and Melky/Gardner are gone, replaced with Matsui, Posada, Swisher and Cameron. So, in essence, Cameron and Swisher are really only being asked to exceed the "production" of the Molina / CF tandem from last season. If all those two do is sit at the bottom of the lineup, bang out 20 HRs each and see 9 pitches every time through the lineup, the Yankees are an improved team. If Swisher reverts to his Oakland form and Cameron goes for 25/25, the Yankees are vastly improved.

(Caveat of sorts: Cameron was my 2nd choice in CF. If this trade falls through and the Yankees make a run at NYC boy David DeJesus, despite the higher return that would be necessary, I'll be even happier.)

I remember a period when George would collect about half a dozen 1B/DH types and wonder why they couldn't all play in the same game.One of those guys only cost Jay Buhner. Today's move may be just as curious, but there may be more than meets the eye.

The Yankees have found their center fielder for 2009, as they are set to send Melky Cabrera to Milwaukee for veteran outfielder Mike Cameron on Thursday, according to two major league sources.

What the article doesn't say, and what I read or heard somewhere yesterday, is that Cameron and Sabathia are BFFs.

The problem I have with this is that it is a one year fix. Cabrera is not even 24 years old yet. I understand the move, but I don't like how little they got for Melky.

Brian Cashman did a lot of talking and hand holding these last three days to get Sabathia to sign. The Yankees, a franchise that seemingly has a love affair with hefty lefties, offered Sabathia the largest contract ever to a pitcher.

A $161 million, seven-year contract, with a three year opt-out clause, should keep him stuffed with cheeseburgers. Ruth, Wells, Sabathia.... where is Jared Lorenzen? It's not like the Yankees didn't toy with Elway and Drew Henson.

When people say this guy will anchor the staff, well they aren't kidding.

This year has the smallest amount of players on the ballot. Yesterday I listened to Peter Gammons, who will again add Alan Trammel to his ballot. Here is my ballot:

Rickey Henderson
Bert Blyleven

That is the sum total of whom I would vote for. I would love to throw David Cone a vote for being a warrior and Mattingly a vote for being a class act, but let's be honest, they were great players, but they belong in the Hall of Very Good.

As for Jim Rice, All-Star Hockeycentric Swamper, Max Webster says it best:

"I was the biggest Jim Rice fan in the world growing up. I think at this point I'd rather have him be one of the best on the outside than one of the worst on the inside."

Well said Max and I completely agree.

Here is a list of everyone on the ballot.

Rickey Henderson
Mark McGwire
Jim Rice
Jay Bell
Mark Grace
Dan Plesac
Matt Williams
David Cone
Ron Gant
Jesse Orosco
Greg Vaughn
Mo Vaughn
Harold Baines
Bert Blyleven
Andre Dawson
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Tim Raines
Lee Smith
Alan Trammell

We have all heard about the tax increase for those of us making over 250K. It's not actually an increase it's a roll back of the Bush tax break.

President-elect Barack Obama has proposed increasing the top federal income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, where it was under the Clinton administration.

But now the Scott Borases of the world will try to get FA deals done before Jan 1st, thus avoiding the increase. Still, for a big-money free agent earning $10 million in 2009, Obama's plan could increase his federal tax by more than $400,000.

Those poor bastards.

Congrats to the city of Philadelphia and Phillies phans all over. You guys are World Champs of what was a very entertaining and unique season.

As a Tampa native and long time Rays follower, I can say that the team your Phillies defeated in this World Series looked nothing like the Rays team I watched all year long. And I say that is the highest compliment I could give another. You didn't just blow past the unflappable Rays, you made them look very, very flapable.

So congrats. As tribute, we've guest-posted two personal accounts of the Phillies joy on this day after the day after the day after game five.

Both are from swamp regulars:
timgod99 http://www.sportsfrog.com/2008/10/phillies_2008_world_series_cha.php
Ljam3 http://www.sportsfrog.com/2008/10/phillies_2008_world_series_cha_1.php

If you asked me on New Year's Day 2001 which team would have ended the then-17 year drought, the last team I would have said was the Phillies. After all, the Flyers went 7 games with the Devils the prior spring, and were rolling again. The Birds resurrected in a hurry behind an opportunistic defense and an exciting young QB. And the Sixers were absolutely kicking butt. The Phillies? Really? The guys who had ONE winning season in the previous 17 years, and coming off a last-place finish?

So imagine my surprise that when I was walking out of the Bank Monday night, I was wet, I was cold, I was tired, I was hoarse, my eyes were bloodshot, I was in the four-beer no man's land. Our Ace, our Livan Hernandez, our Orel Hershiser, our Josh Beckett, had only thrown 75 pitches. The rain affected his change up, and the Rays just tied it up due to his change not working, Jimmy flubbing a ball he normally gets 99 times out of 100, and some admittedly timely hitting by the Rays. Then the Heavens opened up.

Continue reading "Phillies 2008 World Series Champs - Part 2" »

The morning no Philadelphia fan ever thought would come is here. The Phillies are World Champions. Still feels surreal, especially for anyone who is around my age of 28, as it has been a quarter of a century since this town won any kind of major sports championship.

After having my heart broken time and time again by Philly teams in the playoffs, this feeling is almost unbelievable. It is now more than 12 hours since Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske and the notion that we won the last game of the MLB season still hasn't sunk in. Though, every time I hear Harry Kalas' final call I tear up. Every time I see Lidge crouch and fall to his knees is euphoria, I well up.

Continue reading "Phillies 2008 World Series Champs - Part 1" »

When the Sunday Night ESPN basball game begins, my wife can usually only tolerate an inning of Joe Morgan. "I can't listen to this idiot," is her usual comment and unless it is my beloved Yankees, we change the channel. Though her knowledge of the game may not be fantastic, it is better than Joe's, and she has a greater ability to get her point across.

Sources say ESPN set to break up Morgan-Miller team.

Sources said Morgan could be shifted to the network's midweek baseball telecast, where he would work with a new play-by-play partner.

His likely Sunday night replacement would be Rick Sutcliffe. If there is a switch, it is not a given Miller would stay in the "Sunday Night Baseball" booth, either. He too could be moved to another night or over to the radio side.

Miller and Morgan have spent nearly two decades together. During that time their relationship has had its rocky moments. That's no secret.

What's coming to light is how unpopular Morgan has become with many of his ESPN colleagues, who are less than thrilled with the way he prepares for a telecast. Some of them also don't respond well to what they call Morgan's haughty attitude, which he has displayed during some of his more outspoken performances in internal ESPN meetings.

Prone to on-air mistakes, Morgan also has come under some intense media scrutiny.

The guys over at FJM may have to re-name their blog.

Because they are just so damn happy when things go well. They remind me of the 1991 Braves team that broke through to winning after decades of incompetence. They took joy in everything that they did that year.

At any rate, this year's edition of pure joy on a baseball field pulled out a 9-8 extra-innings win last night over Boston to even the ALCS at 1-1 as the series shifts to Boston Monday. The winning run scored on a sac fly, which ended with Tampa dancing in a big pile up the first base line. As if they had won the World Series. And that kind of enthusiasm is pretty cool to watch. And root for.

Course, this is the team that celebrated with champagne when they clinched a playoff spot, then when they won the AL East, then when they won the Division series. At least I think they did. It sure seemed like SC was showing bubbly showers from Tampa for the better part of a week at any rate.

It's all new and fun with them. They are the easiest casual observer bandwagon root I have seen in at least a decade.

In case you were wondering, as baseball's first post-season without the Yankees since latish last century unfolds (and 18th straight post-season without the Reds, for the record), Hank Steinbrenner is still here. Talking to the NY Post, Steinbrenner got some stuff off his chest:

"There is one very important point here," Steinbrenner told The Post during an exclusive half-hour session. "The most important thing to remember is this: If you didn't get it from me or my brother [Hal], it doesn't mean [anything]. I don't care about some piss-ant employee. If you don't get it from me or Hal, it's meaningless. I have a lot of things [in Tampa] and Hal is in New York, which is good." Asked if he has taken a step back, Steinbrenner emphatically said, "No."

Tadow.

Got it. Brian Cashman = pissant. I will adjust my scorecard accordingly. While we are here, how is Hankster feeling about not closing the deal on Johan Santana last off-season? Not good.

"I should have pushed harder for the [Johan] Santana deal," said Hank, who was talked out of signing Santana by Hal and GM Brian Cashman because they believed the Yankees' talent (Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera) and the money (Santana signed a six-year, $137.5 million extension with the Mets) was too costly. "My dad wanted to do that," Hank said. "But that doesn't mean we would have won if we got into the playoffs, because [Chien-Ming] Wang was hurt.

Checkbook going to be open this off-season in the Bronx? Why, yes:

"So, with multiple holes in the rotation, center field and first base, will Steinbrenner be more assertive this offseason when the Yankees chase free-agent pitchers C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and first baseman Mark Teixeira?

"I would likely say, 'Go do it,' " Steinbrenner said. "But that won't be necessary, because we are all on the same page." Asked if the emphasis will be on pitching, Steinbrenner said, "Anything we can get to improve our situation, pitcher or position player. We are going to do everything we can and try our hardest. We are going to look at everything, and we are interested in everything, pitchers and position players. Whatever fits for us, whatever we need the most. To say we aren't interested in somebody would be ridiculous. Teixeira is a quality player."

Thank god. In a world gone mad, I need stability. Yankees spending money? That's screams normalcy.

It's playoff time, the best time of the year for baseball. In the past baseball used to have a gag order on issues other than what went on between the lines. Not anymore. Why detract from the culmination of a marathon 162 or in some cases a 163 game season? Why sully the exciting accomplishment of stars, new and old, as they embark on the post season? Why?

Because some people can't keep their mouth shut and because MLB itself has no idea how to market its own game in a positive light. All these things could have waited.

• A grievance the Padres are pursuing against shortstop Khalil Greene likely will not be heard before spring training, said Mike Weiner of the major league players association.

The union is representing Greene in response to the club's attempt to recover up to $1.47 million in salary paid after Greene's self-inflicted hand injury ended his season July 30.

So they are going to prolong this issue until spring training. Not really fair for the player. But why did we need the announcement during the playoffs?

• Longtime Indians bullpen coach Luis Isaac has been fired by Cleveland manager Eric Wedge.

Wedge said Tuesday that "it was tough" to dismiss the 62-year-old Isaac, who had been with the club for 44 years.

Did you need a new bullpen coach this week? This man has been with the team since he was 18 and let's just dump his ass. How about a banquet instead? Why treat someone like this? Why not reassign him as a scout or special assistant?

• Brewers Owner Attanasio Wants More Revenue Sharing From Yankees .

Dear Dumbfuck, your team is in the playoffs. Oops, I blinked. Okay so they aren't in the playoffs anymore. Why not worry about your team on the field. Are you going to put the revenue sharing into the team or into your pocket? Much like our new bailout, I think there should be oversight on revenue sharing money.

• And finally the sage wisdom of A. Bud Carsalesman. Given the state of the U.S. economy, baseball commissioner Bud Selig warned team owners Saturday not to "get too cocky" and overprice game tickets.

"Because you do pay a price," Selig said.

Since the BBWAA voters have to get their ballots in before the postseason begins, I figure I should too ...

Rookie of the Year:
AL: Evan Longoria (3B, TBA): .272/.343/.531, 27 HR, 7 SB, 508 PA
NL: Geovany Soto (C, CHN): .285/.364/.504, 23 HR, 0 SB, 563 PA

Manager of the Year:
AL: Joe Maddon (TBA): 97-65, 1st place AL East (66-96 in 2007)
NL: Fredi Gonzalez (FLO): 84-77, 3rd place NL East (71-91 in 2007)

AL Cy Young:
1. Cliff Lee (CLE): 22-3, 2.54 ERA, 4.4 K/FP, 223.3 IP
2. Roy Halladay (TOR): 20-11, 2.78 ERA, 4.0 K/FP, 246.0 IP
3. Ervin Santana (ANA): 16-7, 3.49 ERA, 3.9 K/FP, 219.0 IP
4. Jon Lester (BOS): 16-6, 3.21 ERA, 2.0 K/FP, 210.3 IP
5. John Danks (CHA): 12-9, 3.32 ERA, 2.6 K/FP, 195.0 IP
6. James Shields (TBA): 14-8, 3.56 ERA, 3.1 K/FP, 215.0 IP
7. Mike Mussina (NYA): 20-9, 3.37 ERA, 3.8 K/FP, 200.3 IP

NL Cy Young:
1. Tim Lincecum (SFN): 18-5, 2.62 ERA, 2.9 K/FP, 227.0 IP
2. Johan Santana (NYN): 16-7, 2.53 ERA, 3.1 K/FP, 234.3 IP
3. Cole Hamels (PHI): 14-10, 3.09 ERA, 3.6 K/FP, 227.3 IP
4. Brandon Webb (ARI): 22-7, 3.30 ERA, 2.4 K/FP, 226.7 IP
5. Derek Lowe (LAN): 14-11, 3.24 ERA, 3.2 K/FP, 211.0 IP
6. Ryan Dempster (CHN): 17-6, 2.96 ERA, 2.3 K/FP, 206.7 IP
7. Dan Haren (ARI): 16-8, 3.33 ERA, 4.5 K/FP, 216.0 IP

AL MVP:
1. Grady Sizemore (CF, CLE): .268/.374/.502, 33 HR, 38 SB, 745 PA
2. Joe Mauer (C, MIN): .328/.413/.451, 9 HR, 1 SB, 633 PA
3. Dustin Pedroia (2B, BOS): .326/.376/.493, 17 HR, 20 SB, 726 PA
4. Carlos Quentin (LF, CHA): .288/.394/.571, 36 HR, 7 SB, 569 PA
5. Cliff Lee (SP, CLE): 22-3, 2.54 ERA, 4.4 K/FP, 223.3 IP
6. Roy Halladay (SP, TOR): 20-11, 2.78 ERA, 4.0 K/FP, 246.0 IP
7. Alex Rodriguez (3B, NYA): .302/.392/.573, 35 HR, 18 SB, 594 PA
8. Josh Hamilton (CF, TEX): .304/.371/.530, 32 HR, 9 SB, 704 PA
9. Kevin Youkilis (1B, BOS): .312/.390/.569, 29 HR, 3 SB, 621 PA
T-10. Ian Kinsler (2B, TEX): .319/.375/.517, 18 HR, 26 SB, 583 PA
T-10. Nick Markakis (RF, BAL): .306/.406/.491, 20 HR, 10 SB, 697 PA

NL MVP:
1. Albert Pujols (1B, SLN): .357/.462/.653, 37 HR, 7 SB, 641 PA
2. Chase Utley (2B, PHI): .292/.380/.535, 33 HR, 14 SB, 707 PA
3. David Wright (3B, NYN): .302/.390/.534, 33 HR, 15 SB, 736 PA
4. Hanley Ramirez (SS, FLO): .301/.400/.540, 33 HR, 35 SB, 693 PA
5. Lance Berkman (1B, HOU): .312/.420/.567, 29 HR, 18 SB, 665 PA
6. Jose Reyes (SS, NYN): .297/.358/.475, 16 HR, 56 SB, 763 PA
7. Chipper Jones (3B, ATL): .364/.470/.574, 22 HR, 4 SB, 534 PA
8. Carlos Beltran (CF, NYN): .284/.376/.500, 27 HR, 25 SB, 706 PA
9. Matt Holliday (LF, COL): .321/.409/.538, 25 HR, 28 SB, 623 PA
10. Brian McCann (C, ATL): .301/.373/.523, 23 HR, 5 SB, 573 PA

Pick your winners and discuss in the Swamp ...

Tim Lincecum currently ranks 1st in Pitcher Abuse Points, 3rd in total pitches thrown and has the only category 5 start (133+ pitches) in the majors this season which came in an ultra-meaningless Sept. 13th game. No pitcher, not Sabathia nor Hamels nor anyone else in a playoff race, has gone above 132 this season. Only two other pitchers, the rubber-armed Livan Hernandez and the likely ruined Jason Schmidt, have hit 138 in the past five years. San Francisco did go on to win that game against San Diego and improve to just 14 games under .500. Totally. Worth it.
In a season where San Francisco is double digits out of first place in NL West, they've worked Lincecum and their only other potential bright spot, Matt Cain, as hard as any young tandem in baseball since ... who didn't see this coming ... Prior and Wood. We all are too aware how that one has worked out. If Sabean, Bochy and possibly Righetti (I have no idea his level of influence) all believe this is justified to pursue a Cy Young award, one Lincecum's overwork may end up costing him, San Francisco is screwed. Whether it's due to a short sighted attempt to save jobs, a complete disregard for research or completely out of whack priorities, someone needs to step in as the voice of logic. Right now, the only hope looks like Magowan* jumping in and clearing house from Sabean down and soon. There are more high upside arms working their way up the ladder in the minor leagues, including minor league Pitcher of the Year Madison Bumgarner, but with the current regime in place, it won't matter. Those who do make it will be shouldering an increased workload to make up for the other potential aces sitting on the DL.

(Believe me, I've heard the reasoning that his pitch counts don't matter, his mechanics are such that he puts very little strain on his arm, etc, etc. Perhaps it's true, but he's the first of his kind and he's only 24 years old. Do they really want to test out the Infatigable Lincecum hypothesis in meaningless games during his first full season?)

* (Correction: Neukom)

Tonight the Yankees will play their last game in Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth Built will eventually be turned into parking for the House that 1.3 billion dollars built.

As a child growing up in NYC I had a choice to make at about 6 years old. Yankees or Mets? My Dad's drugstore was only two miles from Shea and I would see many more Met's games in the coming years than Yankee games, but it was the Yankees I chose.

Perhaps it was Phil Rizzuto's ramblings on Channel 11 or it was the facade or the monuments or the fact that Lindsey Nelson's sport jackets could scare a small child. Either way it was Yankees all the way for me. And in 1967 when I became a Yankee fan the team sucked. And while they continued to stink, (Horace Clarke, Jake Gibbs, et al) I continued my devotion.

Things did get more exciting when George bought the team and then when Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich swapped wives and families. My mother had a very tough time explaining that one to me.

Today some very famous people have written about their memories about the famous cathedral/ synangouge in the Bronx.

From Billy Crystal:

If stadiums are the cathedrals of baseball, or in my case synagogues, then I have been worshiping at the same place for over half a century. The Stadium has been the safe room of my house of memories.

From Henry Kissinger:

Yankee Stadium was an important stage in my discovery of America. I came here as an immigrant in 1938. In the summer of 1939, I started working in a shaving brush factory. Some of my co-workers turned out to be of Italian origin, and they took me to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. A seat in the bleachers in those days cost 55 cents.

From Paul Simon :

I was sitting on my father's lap listening to a Yankee game on our old Philco radio. It was 1948 and I suddenly realized I was a Yankee fan. The team was headed for a dismal third-place finish. I was 7, and there was nothing to do but wait for 1949 and the new Yankee manager, Casey Stengel.

From Penny Marshall:

I was born and raised in the Bronx and my grandfather and my brother Garry were huge Yankees fans. One of my first memories is of them listening to a game on the radio and screaming at the radio. My brother would cry when they lost, and when I was really little, I didn't know why he was crying.

From Keith Olbermann:

"We're sitting behind first base," my father said, "so you can see Mickey Mantle."

I still didn't understand.

"He plays first base" my father said. "That's him, right there." I was 8 years old and only intermittently quick on the uptake.

I cannot even believe this is being brought up. I thought Daruzz was kidding when he texted me last night asking what I thought of Howard as an NL MVP candidate. He was not kidding; at that very moment on ESPN was a discussion about the merits of Ryan Howard, NL MVP. I'm going to refute this a couple different ways. I invite you to choose whichever one you like.

Approach 1: The Numbers
HR: 45, 1st
RBI: 136, 1st
Howard leads Adam Dunn by 8 HRs. That type of clearance over 2nd place is certainly impressive but it needs to be pointed out that hitting HRs is the only thing Ryan Howard has really done right this year and he's doing so in a home park that greatly favors hitters. (Not that he has crazy splits, but it certainly doesn't hurt.) Howard also leads the NL in RBIs but this is in part because he hits a lot of HRs and in part because he has very good teammates. I realize this means he's leading two of the triple crown categories but he's been terrible in the third and there is quite a bit of redundancy in the first two anyway. Basically, Howard is hitting a lot of HRs and not much else.

Continue reading "The Delaware Doctrine II: Ryan Howard, MVP???????" »

Part of me believes there is no reason to even spell out why Francisco Rodriguez shouldn't win the Cy Young award this year. There is actually a more valid argument that he shouldn't even be in the top 10 of the voting. Still, these same voters get it very wrong year after year so my efforts here are probably not a complete waste of time.

For starters (mandatory baseball pun), the American League Cy Young Award winner is Cliff Lee. Not should be. He is. There is no other choice for first place on any ballot. Voters are permitted to consider Roy Halladay for a few seconds or maybe even Ervin Santana or Jon Lester to satisfy the part of their brains that yearn for award winners to be members of playoff teams, but they must vote Lee first. Granted, this could all be a foregone conclusion, I haven't read too many articles slanted against Lee or touting Krod for Cy Young, but that could simply be because I don't often read columnists who would write such articles. Still, let's assume the Krod at the top of the ballot write-ups are coming and those writers need to be proven wrong. Again. To compare only the pitchers I mentioned above ...

Continue reading "The Delaware Doctrine: A Preemptive Strike Against the "Krod for Cy Young" Lobbyists" »

As it became apparent to me that my Yankees would not be making the playoffs for the first time since 1993, I was a little sad. Then I began to think that this might be a good thing. That it might be time to re-think the Yankee approach, which has recently been fielding a team of mostly OLD guys. While I am thrilled that Jorge Posada received a lifetime achievement contract, I don't think he should be doing much catching when he is 39.

The season itself was over when Wang went down. Then Hughes and Kennedy, leaving the rotation to the likes of Sidney Ponson. The Joba incident was a comedy of errors, perhaps risking the career of the team's most promising pitching prospect.

So I figured perhaps the "brain trust" in Tampa would sit back and approach things in a different fashion. This year's trade for Nady was an atypical Yankee move, because he's not a star, just a solid player. Gone are the days of the late 70's when the Yankees could buy an all-star at every position. There are more teams competing for free agents, thanks revenue sharing.

And then Hank spoke..... And now I know the Yankees are in serious trouble. Hank doesn't seem to understand a few things that are germane to baseball and actually has two different plans that he wants to utilize. The only problem is that these two plans contradict each other. His statements follow:

If Johan Santana was a free agent this year, you can bet Hank Steinbrenner would not have taken 'no' for an answer.

"Suffice to say, there's not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I'm going to go after him," Steinbrenner told The Record by phone this afternoon.

Ok so Hank would go out and get Type A free agents. He would not take no for an answer. That's plan #1.

Because of those injuries, the major league roster "might not be as difficult to fix as you'd think," said Steinbrenner, whose chief concern is at the root level.

"The biggest mission, for myself, is making sure the farm system is stronger than it's been the last few years," Steinbrenner said. When it comes to prospects, "I want more."

That's plan #2. What Hank doesn't realize is that when you sign a Johan Sanata you have to give up draft picks... so where do these prospects come from? So will the Yankees buy the entire Dominican Republic? They are already in the middle of a Latin American scouting scandal.

This is not about Carlos Quentin, who through his own stupidity, ruined the White Sox post season. This is about something much more fun.

The little team that could has to deal with a little stormy weather. The magic luster may have begun to wear off a little this season on the latest DL news.

Carl Crawford has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a subluxation of his right middle finger tendon, and his status for the remainder of the season is unknown.
Rocco Baldelli was activated off the disabled list to take Crawford's place on the roster; Eric Hinske was penciled in as Sunday's left fielder.

"It's not good," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

It may be getting close to midnight for cinderella.

Awesome!

Sucks!

30 teams in 30 hours? Doubtful!

Atlanta was 55-62 heading into today's game then they lost again to drop them to 55-63. The best they would slot in any division is 3rd place, Tim Hudson is effectively done until 2010, Jeff Francoeur is showing occasional flashes of mediocrity as he realizes that raw talent alone doesn't work in professional sports and the Mark Teixeira trade has been a disaster in every possible sense of the word. To talk about the Braves or any other major league baseball team, c'mon into the Swamp!

Veras: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2 HR
Ramirez: 0.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR
Robertson: 1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Combined: 2.0 IP, 11 H, 10 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR

Heading into today's game, the Baseball Prospectus ELO adjusted odds of the Yankees making the playoffs was 25% to Tampa Bay's 80% and Boston's 71%. As I type this, Boston is up 5 runs in the 8th and Tampa Bay has a near gimme with Garza facing Seattle late tonight. It's quite safe to say this is the most worried I've been about the Yankees playoff chances in a very, very long time. The last time they missed out, I was still waiting to get my driver's license. I'm now 29. This could be a really shitty October.

Sunday Morning Update #1: It now stands Tampa Bay 84%, Boston 78% and New York 18%.

Sunday Morning Update #6: Yankees were actually 4.5 games out of the playoffs on this date in 2005 and had to jump 2 teams. 3 weeks later they led the Wild Card. Perhaps. Perhaps ...

This post was inspired by an article on The Hardball Times about a college course --an academic study in "baseball ethics"-- was offered in the spring of 2008 at Carleton College, a top-tier liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota.

I love reading stories about the old days of baseball and cheating has always been a large part of our national pastime. So please excuse the cut and paste of this post, though it did take a lot of time to find some funny stories. All of the stories are linked, so enjoy them.

Belt grab: Legendary Baltimore Orioles third baseman John McGraw played in the rough-and-tumble era of the 1890s. There was only one umpire per game in this era, and he couldn't see everything. McGraw used to grab the belt of the runner on third, or try to trip him or knock him down, when there was a hit to the outfield and the umpire's back was turned. In a humorous aside, note the time that Louisville's Pete Browning, aware of McGraw's tricks, was on third when a sacrifice fly was lofted into the outfield. Browning quickly unbuckled his belt. McGraw, who didn't know it was unbuckled, grabbed the back of the belt. After tagging up, Browning scored easily. McGraw was left at third, alone and embarrassed, gripping the belt.

So hated was Ty Cobb that, on the 1910 season's final day, when he was neck-and-neck with Napoleon Lajoie for the American League batting crown, the St. Louis Browns' third baseman played his position as far back as feasible to help Lajoie back into the batting crown by letting him drop bunts guaranteed to be beaten out for hits. Fat lot of good that did. The actual race ended in a dead heat, but American League president Ban Johnson, "seeking an essential truth in lieu of true facts," as Bill James phrased it, "made up a couple of extra hits for Cobb and declared him the champion, anyway."

Mickey Mantle's fondest desire at the end of the line, in 1968, was to finish ahead of Jimmie Foxx on the all-time home run list. Denny McLain, who pretty much had his 31st win in his hip pocket, decided to make Mantle's wish come true.(Brings to mind Farve and the fetal position for the sack record) "He's told me to tell you what's coming," Detroit catcher Bill Freehan told the Commerce Comet as he approached the plate. "He wants you to get it." Mantle simply waggled his bat at the spot where he most liked to connect, McLain obliged, and Mantle drove one into the Tiger Stadium upper deck. (The on-deck hitter, Joe Pepitone, not hearing the original exchange, though McLain was in such a good mood that he might get a groove pitch to hit. Pepitone waggled his bat to the spot where he liked to connect.and McLain smashed three straight unhittable fastballs past him.)

In Game 2 of the '91 World Series, Kent Hrbek blatantly pulls Ron Gant off first base and applies the tag, while first base umpire Vince McMahon calls Gant out. Hrbek, with his back to the ump, used an elegant maneuver involving his hip, thigh and glove to get sufficient leverage to pull Gant off, making it appear to the ump behind him that Gant's momentum carried him off, but making his intentions obvious to viewers who got a perfect angle from the third base line camera.

The cheat proved costly for the Braves, who lost the game by one run and lost the series in seven games.

Another elaborate tale of deception is not from the players or coaches, but from a grounds crew. They can do as much to affect the outcome of a game as anyone else out there. For instance, the popular example is of the famous family of groudskeepers, the Bossards. Their family started in the 1920's when Emil Bossard would move back the portable fences as a Cleveland Indians' groudskeeper to nullify the distinct power advantage that the Yankees had. Then his son, Gene, would take it a step further. He would "freeze" balls, keeping them in a room with a humidifier for a period of almost two weeks, which would subsequently make them heavier and less likely to travel further than a normal ball. Then his son, Roger, was actually the one who made the basepaths softer and, thereby, harder to steal bases from and stretch long plays out for an extra base.

Every Yankee fan expects to add to the 26 World Series banners every year. But this year, the last for the House That Ruth Built, was even more important.

I say was, because with recent developments I don't even see them making the playoffs. Certainly Xavier Nady, Co-AL player of the week, was a fantastic pick-up, but there are more severe problems. Jeter is posting the worst offensive numbers of his career. A-Rod's stats are definitely as empty as his marriage. And someone needs to rip out the months from April - June of Robinson Cano's calendar so he can come out of the gate hitting.

And yet these problems pale in comparison to the pitching rotation. Last year's new addition, Igawa is no where to be found. Pavano is still out (addition by subtraction) but even Mike Hampton has been able to make a comeback. Phillip Hughes is still on the shelf and Ian Kennedy is in the minors, where he is making some progress.

Rasner and Giese do not even evoke memories of Doc Medich and Andy Hawkins. So with all this happening the "brain trust" decided to put Joba in the rotation, in the middle of the season. He was a starter in the minors and then last year hastily converted to a reliever with a set of "Rules." Perhaps we should have had some rules for the wunderkind this year. Or what makes the most and perhaps only sense was to work him as a starter in Spring Training or just leave him in the bullpen the rest of the year and convert him next year.

Many pitchers make a successful conversion to the bullpen, but few make it to starter in the middle of the season at such a young age. Do I have stats to back up that statement? No I do not, I just cannot recall many situations like this one. The desperation of winning in the last year of The Stadium, I think has trumped common sense.

The road from the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tube to Dr. James Andrews isn't a path a pitcher wants to travel.

Yet, at the YankeesNew York Yankees ' request, that is the one being taken by Joba ChamberlainJoba Chamberlain , who will have his talented and bothersome right arm examined Wednesday by the noted orthopedic surgeon.

It has been an interesting week in baseball and it's only Tuesday. A large portion on the MLB staff is in China at this moment and they have to deal with Ozzie Guillen when they return. I applaud him for his honesty. Last night Big Papi heard a "click" in his bad wrist and Joba left a game early with shoulder problems.

Unfortunately none of those issues are the big story. Almost all sports are having a terrible time with keeping the big stories on the playing field. With drugs, money, immaturity and thuggish behavior, some days the sports section can resemble the police blotter.

Major League Baseball investigators are looking into accusations that several New York Yankees prospects from the Dominican Republic were forced to kick back portions of their signing bonuses to one or more team employees, several sources told ESPN.

Just a little off the top is a phrase commonly heard at barbershops, hair salons, and mafia business negotiations. We can now add that phrase to signing bonuses of Dominican baseball players.

As of 1998, almost a tenth of all Major League players heralded from the Dominican Republic and there were more Latinos than African-Americans in the League. Only California, with four times the population of the Caribbean Island saw more of its residents enter the Majors.

Those figures are ten years old and I imagine the are even more Dominican players currently.

For example, there is uncontested evidence that the Dodgers, in 1996 and 1997 under the actions of their head Dominican Scout, Pablo Peguero, violated the U.S. Embargo against Cuba by holding secret try-outs for two Cuban players and arranging for their defection. Despite these facts, the United States Government has taken no remedial action, leaving punishment in the hands of the Baseball Commissioner.
(Scott Cwiertny, The Need for a Worldwide Draft: Major League Baseball and its Relationship with the Cuban Embargo and the United States Foreign Policy)

So just like the mob, baseball can do what it wants, because of its anti-trust exemption, and we are just supposed to go along with it, buy our tickets and our official MLB Chinese made apparel.

Major League Baseball's ongoing investigation into the skimming of signing bonuses from Dominican players reached the Red Sox last month.

Pablo Lantigua, the club's Dominican scouting supervisor, was fired last month for receiving a kickback of an unspecified amount on a player he recommended, a baseball source said yesterday.

Pablo was probably shocked by his firing as what he did has been common practice for years. Sure it's illegal, but it's never enforced. Imagine his surprise, like a young Henry Hill in Goodfellas getting pinched for selling stolen smokes.

Here is a great example of what goes on in the Dominican Republic:

The story of Enrique Soto and Willy Aybar exemplifies the problems of informal representation. Soto, the most famous Dominican buscon, discovered Aybar at age thirteen and molded his development as a player. Upon signing with the Dodgers, the team released the first half of Aybar's bonus, $490,000, to Soto, who deposited the check in his personal bank account. Soto then paid the American agent, Rob Plummer, who negotiated the contract, $35,000, and finally awarded Aybar's family a lump sum of $6,250 and a stipend of roughly two thousand dollars a month. Although Soto returned roughly $185,000 to the Aybars it is believed he is still in possession of over $200,000 of Aybar's signing bonus.

It only leaves me wondering that if at the age of 16 or 17, when it is evident that a player won't be signed by a major league team, do they just shoot them like we do with horses?

According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, the Yankees have acquired outfielder Xavier Nady and reliever Damaso Marte from the Pirates for Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Phil Coke and George Kontos.

Tabata is a toolsy prospect with a 10 cent head and the patience of a petulant five year old. I thought Ohlendorf would make the roster out of spring training. I think this deal works well for both teams, though Marte did have trouble in the AL while with Chicago.

(Edit by Mister Delaware: Just for the one of you that gets your latest trade news here (or, I guess, for the sake of historical accuracy), the final version of the trade is without Coke and Kontos and includes Daniel McCutchen and Jeff Karstens. Makes it a bit better for Pittsburgh but still a deal Cashman couldn't possibly pass up on.)

QERA: (2.69 - (K% * 3.4) + (BB% * 3.88) - (GB% * 0.66)) ^ 2

QuikERA (QERA) is a peripheral based ERA developed by Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus. Due to a myriad of outside factors, most importantly luck, a pitcher's inputs don't always match his outputs. QERA (and other component ERAs like DIPS and FIP) attempt to isolate only on the pitcher's controllable performance. I tend to like QERA best because it ignores HRs (which aren't entirely predictible (see: Beckett, Josh)) and factors in ground ball rates. I usually add HBPs to BBs and then adjust the league factor (2.69) so the league average QERA equals the league average ERA total. This provides more useful comparisons in the context of a single season.

Below are the top 10 pitchers with the highest and lowest QERA to ERA variances among starters with 12 or more starts. The key number to look at when assessing potential 2nd half value is QERA itself. Shawn Hill having the 5th highest variance doesn't mean all that much if you're simply hoping he can get his ERA from horrific to below average so think of his QERA as his "expected" 2nd half ERA.

Top 10 To Target:
Boof Bonser, MIN: 81.7 IPs, 16.4 K%, 6.7 FP%, 39.2 GB%, 6.50 ERA, 4.03 QERA, +2.47
Bronson Arroyo, CIN: 104.0 IPs, 19.3 K%, 9.1 FP%, 40.6 GB%, 5.97 ERA, 3.97 QERA, +2.00
Randy Johnson, ARI: 98.0 IPs, 22.0 K%, 7.4 FP%, 42.6 GB%, 5.23 ERA, 3.31 QERA, +1.92
Brett Myers, PHI: 101.7 IPs, 19.2 K%, 10.3 FP%, 45.2 GB%, 5.84 ERA, 4.03 QERA, +1.81
Shawn Hill, WAS: 63.3 IPs, 13.2 K%, 8.1 FP%, 48.9 GB%, 5.83 ERA, 4.43 QERA, +1.40
Mark Hendrickson, FLA: 106.3 IPs, 13.3 K%, 9.6 FP%, 47.2 GB%, 6.09 ERA, 4.71 QERA, +1.38
A.J. Burnett, TOR: 127.0 IPs, 22.3 K%, 10.8 FP%, 48.8 GB%, 4.96 ERA, 3.61 QERA, +1.35
Andrew Miller, FLA: 100.7 IPs, 17.3 K%, 11.5 FP%, 48.0 GB%, 5.63 ERA, 4.42 QERA, +1.21
Aaron Harang, CIN: 123.0 IPs, 20.4 K%, 6.4 FP%, 34.3 GB%, 4.76 ERA, 3.58 QERA, +1.18
Javier Vazquez, CHA: 121.0 IPs, 22.4 K%, 7.7 FP%, 36.7 GB%, 4.61 ERA, 3.44 QERA, +1.17

Top 10 To Shop:
Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS: 88.3 IPs, 19.9 K%, 15.8 FP%, 37.9 GB%, 2.65 ERA, 5.05 QERA, -2.40
Justin Duchscherer, OAK: 108.7 IPs, 16.0 K%, 6.8 FP%, 41.4 GB%, 1.82 ERA, 4.03 QERA, -2.21
Aaron Laffey, CLE: 86.0 IPs, 11.1 K%, 9.7 FP%, 51.4 GB%, 3.45 ERA, 4.94 QERA, -1.49
Dana Eveland, OAK: 113.3 IPs, 15.1 K%, 13.1 FP%, 49.7 GB%, 3.49 ERA, 4.96 QERA, -1.47
Armando Galarraga, DET: 93.7 IPs, 15.7 K%, 10.6 FP%, 45.9 GB%, 3.27 ERA, 4.57 QERA, -1.30
Gregory Smith, OAK: 110.3 IPs, 16.2 K%, 10.7 FP%, 38.7 GB%, 3.43 ERA, 4.72 QERA, -1.29
Carlos Zambrano, CHN: 120.3 IPs, 15.8 K%, 8.3 FP%, 49.5 GB%, 2.84 ERA, 4.08 QERA, -1.24
Gavin Floyd, CHA: 111.7 IPs, 16.0 K%, 11.5 FP%, 40.5 GB%, 3.63 ERA, 4.83 QERA, -1.20
Scott Olsen, FLA: 119.3 IPs, 12.7 K%, 8.8 FP%, 36.3 GB%, 3.77 ERA, 4.97 QERA, -1.20
Tim Wakefield, BOS: 122.3 IPs, 16.6 K%, 10.8 FP%, 37.2 GB%, 3.61 ERA, 4.73 QERA, -1.12

League Averages: 17.3 K%, 9.6 FP%, 45.4 GB%, 4.19 ERA, 4.19 QERA

The names that stand out the most to target are Burnett (who I love and who has real MLB trade potential), Harang if his owner is selling low and the ever underrated Javy Vazquez. Myers could be a strong waiver wire pickup if he was dropped after being demoted to the minors. On the trade side, Duchscherer is no surprise as no one can keep up a 1.82 ERA in the AL (even in Oakland), especially not an injury prone 2007 reliever. He's a good pitcher but if anyone is offering ace value, you have to take it. Matsuzaka is a weird case; his peripheral numbers are pretty awful but he has 6 starts of 0 earned runs, only one of more than 4. Even if he does regress, he'll still get wins in Boston. I have no idea what to do with him. The other guys who could bring in some value are two former name prospects; Floyd and Olsen. Neither one should be counted on for much in the 2nd half so move them if a hitter or pitcher you like is being offered. Zambrano I'd hold as a 4.08 QERA is still better than average and he'll keep racking up numbers in other categories.

(If anyone wants a copy of the excel spreadsheet I used, just send me a PM with your email address.)

This column was submitted by Swamper UNC Boy. Front page entries are certainly welcome by any and all Swampers and if you have something to add please type it up and send it over. Don't be shy. We're nice like that. Really. We are.

Yes, I know it's a wee bit premature to already hoist the banner at the Trop. Who even said that they are definitely going to make it as a Wild Card having been losers of seven straight heading into the All-Star Break?

Bud Selig may have done one right thing in his 16+ years as the commissioner of MLB, and that was making sure the All-Star Game had a winner so that one of the leagues gets home-field advantage for the World Series. Since the new rule was instituted in 2003, I have been a strong advocate against it considering that the American League has been winning the All-Star Game every year since the Martin Van Buren Administration. That is to say, the Wild Card, which "supposedly has the worst seed" in the playoffs and at times has a worse record than other division or league champions, gets the four home games should the Series go the distance. Yes, the team that gets in with maybe 86 wins will snatch the Wild Card, win seven games to get to the Series, and the NL Champion (we'll say the Cubs) winning about 98 games (12 games or so ahead of the AL Champion) gets penalized by hosting one less game - all because of a creation to avert tie games in future All-Star events.

However, here is my theory that the Tampa Bay Rays will represent the American League in the World Series this season. It's great that it is a "feelgood" story for 2008, but I really hate to see four games at a ballpark where fly balls can hit the catwalk sitting at least 10 feet below the roof and still be considered in play, even if it pinballs itself on the catwalk before the ball finally drops itself onto the field of play.

Every year since the new rule was created, the American League has won the All-Star Game and home-field advantage.

2003: New York Yankees (best AL record)
2004: Boston Red Sox (AL Wild Card)
2005: Chicago White Sox (best AL record)
2006: Detroit Tigers (AL Wild Card)
2007: Boston Red Sox (best AL record)
2008: ???

See the pattern??

But let's delve even further to the World Series and maybe give the trophy to the Rays. Look at the results of the World Series since the Y2K threats, with the Wild Card team still listed as the loser:

2000: NY Yankees, NY Mets lost as the WC
2001: Arizona
2002: Anaheim (WC), San Francisco was the other WC
2003: Florida (WC)
2004: Boston (WC)
2005: ChiSox, Houston lost as the WC
2006: St. Louis, Detroit lost as the WC
2007: Boston, Colorado lost as the WC

So the Wild Card winner is due to win the Series this year, and with the pattern listed, it will belong to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Hey, let's look on the bright side. This may be the one World Series throughout which East Coast viewers like myself will actually be going to bed before midnight toward the end of October.

• So now the Mets have won nine in a row, the best winning streak since Aprill of 2000. You have to be a contender in order to have a collapse.

• According to Andy Pettitte something smells in Yankeetown.

"If we want to make the playoffs, we have to be better," said Pettitte, who took the loss Sunday. "We stink right now for the most part. As a team, we've kind of stunk it up here lately, so we need to play better."

• F-Rod has been making new and interesting friends. He is ringing up saves at a record pace (paging Bobby Thigpen, that sure was a long 15 minutes), but his on field behavior is being called into question again.
"I don't think he's got too many fans in this clubhouse," Oakland designated hitter Jack Cust said of Rodriguez, who is seven for seven in save opportunities against the A's this season.

• No Bonds market on the South Side.

''No. Barry can't play for my team,'' Ozzie Guillen said. ''Maybe Barry changed the way [Texas' Josh] Hamilton changed. But I don't like a player like Barry Bonds on my club. With all respect to Barry -- a Hall of Famer; to me, he's the best in the history of baseball, no matter what. But he's not the type of player we're looking for in this organization.''

• RIP Bobby Murcer. He was touted as the next Mickey Mantle and was just fine as Bobby Murcer. Even Mickey couldn't live up to being Mickey and nearly drank himself to death many times.

Murcer delivered the eulogy at Thurman Munson's funeral and was then offered that night's game off. Instead he insisted on playing and drove in all of the five Yankee runs, leading them to victory.

Not much, according to this article via today's Globe and Mail.

A couple of the highlights:

From Boston's Mike Lowell:

"If it means so much to win the All-Star game, then you should just have your best nine players play all nine innings, he said."

From Chicago's Paul Konerko:

"There's going to be a guy there that will be on a last-place team that will have no bearing on the playoffs, and he could come in and either give up a home run or make an error in the field that could result in changing the game," he said. "He's just going there to enjoy the game, and in the middle of October, he's going to get questions about a play he made that settled home-field advantage. I just don't think that's right."

There are countless ways to determine World Series home field advantage. Using a showcase that in 2002 was deemed unimportant enough to be declared a tie and by 2004 was suddenly significant enough to provide home field advantage to a team who won seven less regular season games than their opponent is surely one of the worst of all conceivable ways.

The annual "Everyone Hates This Except For Bud Selig And Fox Sports" festival continues on Tuesday.

"Getting off to a slow start, it's been a grind," Howard said. "This year's been a grind. It's been a learning process for me. The average may not be there right now, but I'm just going out there, trying to do what I can do."

In that span, he has hit .353 (18-for-51) with eight home runs and 18 RBIs. His batting average, which bottomed out at .163 on May 7, is up to .234, the highest it has been since he was at .235 on April 5.

"After three years, after playing hurt, playing every day, going in every day whether I got a hit and never complaining, I just played because Bobby [Cox] kept putting me in the lineup. But I just felt like a little three-minute thing -- 'Hey, you're going down' -- I feel like after three years, I was owed a little more of an explanation. But that's Frank's deal and that's what I guess they decided to do ... My question is, what if I had hit a home run or had two hits [Thursday night]? Does it delay it one day, until I was 0-for-4? I was left standing outside in the dark on that. You almost felt like they had made [their minds] up before the game. That's where I felt frustrated, where I felt a little betrayed." - Jeff Francoeur on his recent demotion

Francoeur's AVG: .234 (T-157th of 171 qualifiers)
Francoeur's OBP: .287 (T-166th)
Francoeur's SLG: .374 (T-141st)
Francoeur's BB Rate: 1 every 18.1 PAs (146th)
Francoeur's P/PA: 3.5 (T-147th)

Francoeur is one of those players that I love and hate at the same time. I'm a sucker for young, toolsy athletes but, at the same time, a severe lack of plate discipline is infuriating to watch. If they aren't hitting .320 or playing plus-plus defense at a premium position, there's really no justification for running them out for 600-700 PAs per season. Francoeur showed nice progress in the walk rate last season, but only in the context of it being a work in progress for atleast another season or two. That he's stalled in the patience department and isn't seeing his rookie season power bounce back should be a huge red flag that his approach needs to be revamped. Odds are the power is still there but pitchers have learned that he can be counted on to get himself out. Throw one close and Francoeur is going to be hacking; there's no real fear of falling behind 2-0 and having to come into his wheelhouse. His hypothesizing about what a home run or a two hit game may have done is indicative that he's still not getting it despite the demotion; he's seeing it as a results issue rather than an approach issue. At 24, a talent like Francoeur is far from a lost cause, but while his average should climb (he currently has a .263 BABIP), I wouldn't expect too much else to change until he really learns how to hit.

"After three years, after playing hurt, playing every day, going in every day whether I got a hit and never complaining, I just played because Bobby [Cox] kept putting me in the lineup. But I just felt like a little three-minute thing -- 'Hey, you're going down' -- I feel like after three years, I was owed a little more of an explanation. But that's Frank's deal and that's what I guess they decided to do ... My question is, what if I had hit a home run or had two hits [Thursday night]? Does it delay it one day, until I was 0-for-4? I was left standing outside in the dark on that. You almost felt like they had made [their minds] up before the game. That's where I felt frustrated, where I felt a little betrayed." - Jeff Francoeur on his recent demotion

Francoeur's AVG: .234 (T-157th of 171 qualifiers)
Francoeur's OBP: .287 (T-166th)
Francoeur's SLG: .374 (T-141st)
Francoeur's BB Rate: 1 every 18.1 PAs (146th)
Francoeur's P/PA: 3.5 (T-147th)

Francoeur is one of those players that I love and hate at the same time. I'm a sucker for young, toolsy athletes but, at the same time, a severe lack of plate discipline is infuriating to watch. If they aren't hitting .320 or playing plus-plus defense at a premium position, there's really no justification for running them out for 600-700 PAs per season. Francoeur showed nice progress in the walk rate last season, but only in the context of it being a work in progress for atleast another season or two. That he's stalled in the patience department and isn't seeing his rookie season power bounce back should be a huge red flag that his approach needs to be revamped. Odds are the power is still there but pitchers have learned that he can be counted on to get himself out. Throw one close and Francoeur is going to be hacking; there's no real fear of falling behind 2-0 and having to come into his wheelhouse. His hypothesizing about what a home run or a two hit game may have done is indicative that he's still not getting it despite the demotion; he's seeing it as a results issue rather than an approach issue. At 24, a talent like Francoeur is far from a lost cause, but while his average should climb (he currently has a .263 BABIP), I wouldn't expect too much else to change until he really learns how to hit.

Call up the Rangers' GM and see what player or players he'd want in return for pitcher Thomas Diamond. While a 25 year old who has never pitched above AA and is still in the recovery period of Tommy John surgery may not appear to be a logical trade target, consider this: Texas has an inability to internally develop starting pitching and starting pitchers have a seeming inability to succeed in Texas. Four years ago, it looked like the Rangers were on the verge of having the next great homegrown rotation with their D.V.D. trio of prospects. Unfortunately for Texas and their fans, none of the three panned out during their time in Arlington. However, the story didn't end there and the two who have been liberated have been among the most successful pitchers in baseball over the first half of this season.

John Danks, CHA: 107.0 IPs, 2.52 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 19.8 K%, 2.8 K/BB, 34.8 VORP (6th among MLB pitchers)
Edinson Volquez, CIN: 110.7 IPs, 2.36 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 24.8 K%, 2.1 K/BB, 35.1 VORP (4th)
Thomas Diamond, ???

I have no idea why Danks was deemed expendable (for a somewhat similar pitcher) or why Volquez didn't work out in Texas but is starring in Cincinnati. While both are probably over their heads with ERAs in the 2.50 range, both have provided their teams with a ton of value so far in 2008 and are likely to continue doing so over the next several years. One has to think that, even as good as Josh Hamilton has been, Daniels would undo both of these trades if he could. Regardless, it has to be worth something to find out what the 3rd member of the highly touted trio could become outside of an organization that can discover but not develop solid major league starters, no?

The Dodgers expect to sell up to 10,000 heavily discounted tickets for their seven-game homestand that starts tonight but don't think that will lead to the unruly fan behavior that marred their "$2 Tuesdays" promotion in 2005.

Under the latest promotion, offered by Dodgers.com to Travelzoo.com members, $16 reserved seats cost $3, $20 lower reserved seats $6, $28 infield reserved $9 and $50 field box seats $18.

Steve Shiffman, the Dodgers' vice president of ticket sales, said the method of distributing tickets wouldn't attract the kind of fans who misbehaved and prompted the cancellation of the once-popular promotion that included $2 right-field pavilion seats on Tuesday nights.

Because this promotion is Internet-based, Shiffman said, "You're targeting an affluent crowd, a computerized crowd."

I guess Steve doesn't know that blogs are ruining baseball, because all we do is spew vile and profanity.

"Dunkin' Donuts has a long standing promise to customers to give away a free donut after every Tampa Bay Rays win. Hungry breakfast munchers are getting a lot of freebees these days.

With last night's big win against the bitter Eastern Conference rival Red Sox, pushing the local team to a game-and-a-half lead over the Sox, the handing over of free doughnuts was brisk this morning."

"Everyday they get flooded with peeps... especially senior citizens. They love the shit."

AL Starters:
CF: Grady Sizemore, CLE - 368 PA, .268/.372/.525, 19 HR, 19 SB
C: Joe Mauer, MIN - 311 PA, .321/.406/.442, 3 HR, 0 SB
2B: Ian Kinsler, TEX - 384 PA, .323/.377/.534, 13 HR, 20 SB
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYA - 265 PA, .322/.404/.591, 15 HR, 10 SB
RF: J.D. Drew, BOS - 288 PA, .304/.417/.570, 15 HR, 2 SB
DH: Milton Bradley, TEX - 290 PA, .323/.443/.613, 16 HR, 4 SB
LF: Carlos Quentin, CHA - 336 PA, .288/.396/.544, 19 HR, 5 SB
1B: Jason Giambi, NYA - 280 PA, .262/.396/.542, 17 HR, 2 SB
SS: Michael Young, TEX - 369 PA, .280/.333/.408, 7 HR, 5 SB
SP: Cliff Lee, CLE 103.7 IP, 2.34 ERA, 22.2 K%, 5.6 K/BB

AL Reserves:
C: Dioner Navarro, TBA - 224 PA, .317/.368/.444, 4 HR, 0 SB
1B: Kevin Youkilis, BOS - 317 PA, .313/.382/.544, 13 HR, 3 SB
2B: Brian Roberts, BAL - 357 PA, .293/.370/.478, 5 HR, 21 SB
3B: Carlos Guillen, DET - 319 PA, .292/.372/.451, 7 HR, 6 SB
3B: Evan Longoria, TBA - 298 PA, .270/.342/.529, 15 HR, 4 SB
SS: Derek Jeter, NYA - 337 PA, .284/.344/.393, 4 HR, 5 SB
OF: Nick Markakis, BAL - 355 PA, .288/.394/.474, 12 HR, 8 SB
OF: Josh Hamilton, TEX - 362 PA, .312/.362/.565, 19 HR, 3 SB
OF: B.J. Upton, TBA - 348 PA, .287/.401/.416, 5 HR, 23 SB
OF: Manny Ramirez, BOS - 328 PA, .289/.378/.519, 16 HR, 1 SB

AL Pitchers:
SP: Roy Halladay, TOR - 121.3 IP, 3.12 ERA, 20.4 K%, 5.3 K/BB
SP: Felix Hernandez, SEA - 108.0 IP, 2.83 ERA, 20.9 K%, 2.4 K/BB
SP: Shaun Marcum, TOR - 98.7 IP, 2.64 ERA, 21.5 K%, 3.2 K/BB
SP: C.C. Sabathia, CLE - 114.3 IP, 3.78 ERA, 24.9 K%, 3.7 K/BB
SP: Ervin Santana, ANA - 108.3 IP, 3.32 ERA, 22.6 K%, 3.5 K/BB
SP: Justin Duchscherer OAK - 85.0 IP, 1.91 ERA, 16.9 K%, 3.1 K/BB
SP: John Danks, CHA - 92.7 IP, 2.52 ERA, 18.0 K%, 2.5 K/BB
SP: Josh Beckett, BOS 101.0 IP, 3.65 ERA, 24.5 K%, 5.1 K/BB
RP: Mariano Rivera, NYA - 36.3 IP, 0.74 ERA, 33.1 K%, 14.0 K/BB
RP: Jonathan Papelbon, BOS - 36.0 IP, 2.00 ERA, 33.8 K%, 7.8 K/BB
RP: Joe Nathan, MIN - 33.7 IP, 1.34 ERA, 28.9 K%, 6.2 K/BB
RP: Joakim Soria, KCA - 35.0 IP, 1.29 ERA, 27.6 K%, 4.1 K/BB

NL Starters:
SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLO - 365 PA, .294/.384/.528, 18 HR, 20 SB
2B: Chase Utley, PHI - 364 PA, .295/.382/.609, 23 HR, 7 SB
3B: Chipper Jones, ATL - 303 PA, .394/.485/.630, 16 HR, 2 SB
DH: Albert Pujols, SLN - 296 PA, .356/.483/.640, 17 HR, 2 SB
1B: Lance Berkman, HOU - 342 PA, .364/.444/.690, 21 HR, 12 SB
OF: Jason Bay, PIT - 341 PA, .285/.387/.535, 16 HR, 6 SB
OF: Pat Burrell, PHI - 334 PA, .271/.410/.571, 19 HR, 0 SB
OF: Carlos Beltran, NYN - 352 PA, .270/.372/.480, 12 HR, 11 SB
C: Russell Martin, LAN - 324 PA, .307/.404/.444, 8 HR, 7 SB
SP: Tim Lincecum, SFN 109.7 IP, 2.38 ERA, 25.2 K%, 2.7 K/BB

NL Reserves:
C: Geovany Soto, CHN - 308 PA, .281/.367/.513, 13 HR, 0 SB
C: Brian McCann, ATL - 310 PA, .295/.365/.536, 14 HR, 1 SB
1B: Mark Teixeira, ATL - 354 PA, .276/.379/.495, 16 HR, 0 SB
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD - 363 PA, .287/.358/.534, 21 HR, 0 SB
2B: Dan Uggla, FLO - 331 PA, .289/.375/.620, 23 HR, 4 SB
3B: David Wright, NYN - 368 PA, .285/.378/.497, 15 HR, 8 SB
3B: Aramis Ramirez, CHN - 341 PA, .289/.390/.502, 14 HR, 1 SB
SS: Jose Reyes, NYN - 373 PA, .296/.358/.485, 9 HR, 28 SB
OF: Nate McLouth, PIT - 364 PA, .280/.359/.522, 15 HR, 9 SB
OF: Matt Holliday, COL - 294 PA, .333/.415/.543, 10 HR, 8 SB
OF: Adam Dunn, CIN - 322 PA, .224/.388/.508, 20 HR, 1 SB

NL Pitchers:
SP: Dan Haren, ARI 110.7 IP, 2.85 ERA, 21.9 K%, 5.1 K/BB
SP: Ben Sheets, MIL 111.3 IP, 2.83 ERA, 20.4 K%, 4.0 K/BB
SP: Edinson Volquez, CIN 99.3 IP, 2.08 ERA, 26.4 K%, 2.3 K/BB
SP: Johan Santana, NYN 113.7 IP, 3.01 ERA, 21.7 K%, 3.2 K/BB
SP: Brandon Webb, ARI 112.0 IP, 3.21 ERA, 20.2 K%, 3.2 K/BB
SP: Cole Hamels, PHI 120.0 IP, 3.38 ERA, 21.8 K%, 3.3 K/BB
SP: Tim Hudson, ATL 114.3 IP, 3.31 ERA, 14.4 K%, 2.0 K/BB
RP: Kerry Wood, CHN 39.7 IP, 2.49 ERA, 31.6 K%, 6.1 K/BB
RP: Jon Rauch, WAS 41.3 IP, 2.18 ERA, 22.8 K%, 6.0 K/BB
RP: Brad Lidge, PHI 32.0 IP, 0.84 ERA, 32.3 K%, 2.8 K/BB
RP: Billy Wagner, NYN 33.0 IP, 1.91 ERA, 29.0 K%, 4.8 K/BB

Breakout by Team
5: Mets , Red Sox
4: Braves, Phillies, Rangers, Yankees
3: Indians, Rays
2: Blue Jays, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Marlins, Orioles, Pirates, Reds, Twins, White Sox
1: Angels, Astros, Athletics, Brewers, Cardinals, Giants, Mariners, Nationals, Padres, Rockies, Royals, Tigers

* Stats are as of June 29th

Somewhat minor question: Why don't fans of top NL teams complain about the one player per team rule now that the game (stupidly) counts for something important? Even with 32 selections, having 2 more teams puts them at a disadvantage in filling out the back end of their roster.

(Edit 1: Substituted Tim Hudson in for Jake Peavy. I had Peavy in originally as the Padres representative but eventually found room for Adrian Gonzalez. Peavy should have been removed.)

5-4 win over Boston last night in what felt like a, ah, rivalry game.

50-32 record. Best in baseball.

1 1/2 game lead on the AL East. Unless you are a Red Sox or Yankees fan, pretty much impossible not to be pulling for them.

Against all odds, faced with a decision about whom to sit tonight against lefty Paul Maholm, Dusty Baker, in the upset of the year, is sitting Jr. Right decision in every respect. That said, this exchange as reported by C. Trent Rosecrans is all kinds of wonderful:

"Ken Griffey Jr. got what the guys in the clubhouse call a "GSB -- good solid benching." Dusty Baker called it a day off against a tough lefty, Paul Maholm. Baker didn't see Griffey before the team's meeting that the coaching staff has before every series, so Griffey was asked about why he wasn't playing before he knew. The first Baker Griffey saw on Monday was Dusty's son, Darren. Griffey picked Darren up, threw him on the couch in the clubhouse and said, "Why is your dad not playing me today?"

"Because you can't hit lefties," Darren said.

Griffey is hitting .200 against lefties this season with 17 hits in 85 at-bats and two home runs against left-handers. "I can't hit lefties?" Griffey asked. "How about 1996 when I hit a record 21 homers off lefties?"

"We're not in 1996," Baker said.

"I'm still in 96," Griffey said.

"You're older."

"I'm not older, I'm just better looking."

"You're old."

"How old do you think I am?"

"You're like 50."

"If I'm 50, how old is your dad?"

And that was pretty much it.

When told his son had told Griffey he was 50 and couldn't hit lefties, Dusty Baker said, "He did not." When informed he did, Dusty laughed.

And here I've been wondering who would have the cajones to tell Jr. the current facts of life. It would appear a child shall lead them.

Given that in our readership, we have sizable contingencies from Baltimore, Memphis, and Tampa, and an unholy representation from Red Sox Nation, this Boston Herald story seems newsworthy:

"According to sources, the Sox recently received a mailed threat, believed to be postmarked in Memphis, Tenn., which targeted black and Latin players, citing at least two by name. The named players have been informed about the threats and will likely have security accompaniment away from Tropicana Field, including at the team's hotel in St. Petersburg."

"According to a source, law-enforcement authorities have been looking for a suspect believed to be from Baltimore but living in the Memphis area. By all indications, he is not in custody yet."

This is good news for people who are having a down day, and feeling sad and worthless. Look on the bright side. There's always someone sadder than you out there.

According to the Swamp's Ed Kranepool, the above was accidentally caught by Fox cameras during the Cubs/White Sox game today.

Excellent demonstration of non-verbal communication of displeasure.

Much thanks to Ed K for the screen shot and heads up here in the Swamp.

As interleague play winds to a merciful close, John Donovan at si.com ponders why the AL continues to take names in its games against the NL year after year. A refresher: the last 10 All-star games not screwed up by Bud Selig and 16 of the last 19 have gone to the American League. 124-84 record in the head to head games this year. Basically, continued confirmation of on-going domination. Donovan's musings as to why include:

---Better teams (that seems kinda "duh", Donovan. Just sayin'.)

---Better pitching

---Better contact hitters (SABR folk will just loooooovvvee that argument)

---The designated hitter

At any rate, we get back to real baseball starting Monday, as the leagues decide things amonst themselves. And then wait for October, for another likely AL beatdown of the NL in the World Series.

The headlines are about Shawn Chacon's suspension for insubordination in Houston. The insubordination in question appears to be that Chacon physically assaulted GM Ed Wade.

Hmmm, sounds less than ideal. But what are the details? From the Chronicle:

According to Chacon, he was in the dining room after batting practice when Cecil Cooper asked him to come to his office. "I said, 'What do you want to speak to me about?' " Chacon said. "He said, 'We just want to talk to you.' I said, 'Anything you can say, you can say to me right here. I don't want to go to the office.' He looked at me, and I said, 'There's nothing for me to say to you guys.' And I don't think whatever they had to say to me they were going to make me happy. I didn't want to get in a closed-room conversation."

"I sat down to eat, and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, 'You need to come with me to the office.' I said, 'For what? I don't want to go to the office with you and Cooper.' And I said, 'You can tell me whatever you've got to tell me right here.' He's like, 'Oh, you want me to tell you right here?' And I said, 'Yeah.' I'm not yelling. I'm calm." It deteriorated quickly afterward, according to Chacon.

"He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade. "I'm sitting there, and I said to him very calmly, 'Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, 'You better stop yelling at me.' I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, 'You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.' So at that point I lost my cool, and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him, because at that point I wanted to beat his (behind). Words were exchanged."

Now, I am not necessarily down with choking bosses, but (thanks Chris Rock), I understand.

And I am pretty darn sure that boss cussing employee is a potential trigger for some choking. Should Shawn Chacon have gone to the office in the first place? Sure. He didn't? Fine, suspend him at that point. But doing what Ed Wade did at that point? Asking for a choking.

By the way, Chacon is 2-3 on the year with a 5.04 ERA. Not a great ERA, but not Reds-fifth-starter-tragic either. And, remember, he started the year taking nine straight no-decisions thanks to some bad luck and an anemic Astros offense. I can see where he might be a little testy. Ed Wade was asking for it.

I understand the "why" when it comes to a major league baseball umpire forcing himself into the storyline of the game, I just don't agree with the usual means of accomplishing the "how". Does making oneself look like a power-drunk autocrat in front of a live and television audience of 100,000+ really satisfy any egotistical urges? Perhaps it's no more of an issue now than it has been in the past, but there are several current umpires I count on to act blatantly unprofessional on almost a weekly basis. As of yesterday afternoon, my immediate mental list would have been C.B. Buckner, Phil Cuzzi and Angel Hernandez. They are the big three of awfulness; the guys I'm most disappointed to find out will be working a Yankees series because I know there's a better than normal chance that one of the games will be overshadowed. All three seem to go out of their way to antagonize players and managers, Hernandez in an especially condescending manner, in an effort to see how big of an on-field argument they can instigate. After last night, my list is one name longer. Add: Brian Runge.

From ESPN.com:

"Jerry Manuel was ejected from his second home game as New York Mets manager, upset with how plate umpire Brian Runge handled a disagreement with center fielder Carlos Beltran ...

After the second strike, Beltran started talking to Runge, who took off his mask and continued the dialogue before he brushed dirt off home plate. Manuel then came out and started arguing ...

Runge appeared to bump into Manuel before throwing him out of the game ...

Beltran continued the conversation and Runge quickly threw him out the game. An incensed Beltran then got in Runge's face and had to be held back before Manuel came out to escort his center fielder to the dugout."

If MLB has any sense of justice, every one of you will have seen the replay of this incident by week's end because Runge's suspension will become a major sports news story. The narrative above is tame; Runge went out of his way to provoke Beltran (a player who, judging on TV exposure alone, has always appeared to be incredibly laid back). He walked past Beltran to get to the front of home plate and then stood there waiting for Beltran to continue talking. By the time it became apparent that Beltran wasn't taking the bait, with him even nodding at Runge to move it along, Manuel was out of the dugout to protect his player. Runge's bumping of Manuel, which happened before Met tempers had been completely lost, should not be the basis for his suspension, it should simply add to a suspension that was already warranted.

In a perfect baseball world, there wouldn't be a slap on the wrist here; Brian Runge would be suspended for a month, the season or even fired. While that probably seems drastic, there are plenty of umpires in the minor leagues who can get most of the calls right and do so without begging for TV time. What Runge did, regardless of it having no bearing on the outcome of this particular game, was unprofessionalism at its finest. I understand that when a player or manager gets up in an umpire's face, the umpire will often times engage and shout right back. That's part of baseball but that wasn't the case last night. Runge, the authority figure, took it upon himself to bait both Beltran and Manuel into ejections and there's no room for that in the game. The league can either send Runge and his type a harsh message now, as they did with Mike Winters last season, or they can risk a much more costly altercation in the future. Should be an easy decision to make.

In which I defend (to a slight extent) Dusty Baker.

Look, he's been just comically awful at times this season with regard to his decisions. In particular, the Corey Patterson leads off and ruins games fetish of his.

But one concern that accompanied him to Cincy was the flat-out abuse he heaped on Mark Prior and Kerry Wood (and Carlos Zambrano for that matter) while he was in Chicago. For whatever reason, Prior's career looks done, Wood is in the pen, and Zambrano is same as he ever was. Whether or not Dusty's usage of those pitchers harmed them remains an open but obvious question. At any rate, it is pretty generally agreed that how he used those three on occasion was dumb. And reckless.

In Cincy, he has been tasked with managing the first full major league seasons of 24-year-old Edinson Volquez and 22-year-old Johnny Cueto. Volquez, as I documented below, has been insanely good this year. Cueto, with a 5.19 ERA, has had typical rookie ups and downs, but has shown enough to give Reds fans room for genuine optimism.

Now, with yet another Reds prized youngster called up to make his major league debut today (Daryl Thomson---23), worries are again being expressed about how Dusty will handle him. Based on how Baker has used Volquez and Cueto so far this year, those worries are perhaps misplaced.

Volquez's game by game pitch counts:

95, 75, 112, 105, 104, 100, 118, 110, 111, 92, 39, 102, 113, 101, 112, 103

Note: The 39 pitch count anomoly came in Baker's on insane usage of Volquez, an appearance in the 18th inning on one days rest.

Cueto's game by game pitch counts:

92, 66, 82, 99, 99, 55, 108, 98, 97, 114, 119, 100, 114, 101, 109

A quick review of those numbers reveals some improvement on Dusty's part from some of those 136 pitch count monstrosities he unleashed on Wood, Prior, and Zambrano. And, I can tell you from watching most of their starts this season, Baker has generally done a good job at not pushing those two arms to the limit in pressure situations when they have tired, rather instead opting to go ahead and get them out of the game.

So, yeah, in a year when Baker's managing has been very uneven (at best), his usage of two of the organization's assets has not been malpractice. So, small tip of the cap to Baker.

Edited to add:

Mr. Delaware raised a salient observation in the Swamp, noting (quite correctly dammit) that the Reds suck, while the 2003 Cubs did not, and were in a race all year. True dat. Still, up until a few weeks ago, the Reds were in theory in a race (owner Bob Castellini said upon firing GM Wayne Krivsky that he wants to "win now") and the usage of Volquez/Cueto still felt more sane than what my memory is of how Dusty was using Prior/Wood in 2003. A check of the game logs shows that:

Mark Prior pitch counts through June 29 in 2003 (arbitrary date picked for before the heat of the race kicked in):

105, 112, 95, 112, 116, 97, 105, 124, 107, 111, 123, 124, 107, 119, 107, 127

That was already a far friskier pace than he has set with Volquez. Mind you, Prior finished up that year with 131 and 133 pitch count monstrosities for his last two starts. Simply ridiculous.

Kerry Wood pitch counts through June 29 in 2003:

88, 111, 120, 104, 124, 114, 116, 141, 121, 90, 109, 109, 120, 104, 108, 111, 126

Oof. Some serious heavy usage there, far more than we have seen so far with Volquez/Cueto.

For what it's worth, Baker lifted Thompson after five scoreless innings today in his debut after 96 pitches. The improvement? He didn't run Thompson out there for "just one more inning", choosing instead to lift his pitcher at an appropriate juncture. This is good asset management. For whatever else Dusty's flaws have been this season (and they have been many), again, his management of the young pitchers has been a pleasant surprise.

As if the Jays' GM doesn't have enough to deal with in regard to his own considerable failings (see Scottie's post below on the managerial change in Toronto), adding vicious slams at random players on other teams probably isn't necessary. Still, a few days back, the Jays GM on a radio program in response to a question about whether Toronto would be interested in Adam Dunn said Dunn, among other things, "didn't have a passion for the game".

Dunn, suitably unimpressed with Ricciardi's broadside, called Ricciardi a clown.

Ricciardi has now apologized to Reds GM Walt Jocketty. Dunn, for his part, doesn't accept the apology. And Reds fans everywhere wonder why Ricciardi doesn't mind his own fucking kitchen.

The best take on the stupidity oozing from Ricciardi's mouth? As always, Fire Joe Morgan. They do like his apology and it gives them another amusing chance to kill Buzz Bissinger, always fun, but not to be missed is their initial ripping of Ricciardi for his take. Gotta say, after watching the brilliance of FJM fed by the insanity that is Dusty Baker helming my favorite team, it is a nice change of pace to see someone else get rightfully skewered for attacking a Reds player of some definite utility. A taste:

There's a reason why you're attracted to some players and there's a reason why you're not attracted to some players. I don't think you'd be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here ...

Dude, again, I'm not saying you should definitely trade for Adam Dunn. He's not a savior by any means. But your current leader in OPS is Rod Barajas, at .821. Current Adam Dunn, despite his piss-poor .227 BA, would lead your team in R, HR, RBI, OBP, SLG, and (of course) OPS. But you're not "attracted" to him, naturally, because he's such a passionless turd.

I actually have some sympathy for Ricciardi here. You know who sucks on the Blue Jays this year? Everyone. All of them. Vernon Wells sucks. Alex Rios sucks. Scott Rolen sucks. David Eckstein...well, Eckstein is awesome. And a lot of these guys simply shouldn't be sucking as much as they're sucking. I don't know that it's completely fair to pillory Ricciardi for the same reason that I don't think Mark Shapiro is a miserable GM because Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, and Jhonny Peralta have been absolute black holes for a third of a season.

Still, you don't hear Mark Shapiro ripping good players on other teams. That's one for Mark Shapiro, I guess.

Won his 10th game of the season last night in the Bronx with seven innings of two run baseball. Struck out five and walked one. He has two losses on the year. One, when Tim Hudson beat him 2-0. The other when Dusty Baker lost his mind and ran Volquez into the 18th inning of a game in San Diego on one days rest. Even then, he would have been out of the inning but for a Reds error (typical) which kept it going and opened the door for the Padre win.

For the year he has thrown 95 innings Kd 110 BBd 45 while allowing just 66 hits. His ERA? Still a Maddux-in-his-prime-in-his-best-seasons-esque 1.71. He has allowed more than two earned runs in just one start this season. And that was a start in which he allowed three runs, two of which arguably should have been unearned as the official scorer in Florida turned an obvious error into a hit.

His fastball hits 97 or 98 when he wants it to. He deals it generally around 94. His changeup should be illegal. When he throws it close to how he wants to, it is unhittable. He also has a rapidly improving curveball.

He is just 24, and while Josh Hamilton is tearing up the AL, the deal that sent Hamilton to Texas and brought Volquez to Cincy is one the Reds would do 100 times out of 100.

Color the Yankees suitably impressed (comparisons to Pedro and all that jazz).

As for Reds fans? We're stunned. Older-timers than me compare his season so far to Jim Maloney in Maloney's best years. For my generation, this is a replay of Mario Soto's 1982 and 1983 seasons. Only better. There probably has not been a Reds pitcher this dominant for this long ever. If he comes remotely close to matcing this the rest of the way, I don't care how far out of first the Reds end up (and it will be FAR), Volquez should be the NL Cy Young.

He is worth making an effort to see, either in person or on TV. If he were wearing a Red Sox uniform, ESPN would have devoted an entire channel to him at this point. As it stands, since he is in Cincinnati, while his year has certainly not been ignored, it is also true that it is flying under a lot of radars. If you like baseball, don't let it fly under yours.

Thanks to bugsandcranks.com for posting and swamper motownwingnut for linking to this entertaining minor league baseball moment.

A switch pitcher for the Staten Island Yankees faced a switch hitter for the Brooklyn Cyclones. They danced for a few minutes before umpires and coaches got together to sort the whole mess out. While the rule governing the issue was never really declared on the television broadcast, the pitcher was made to throw righthanded to the righthanded hitting batter - who then quickly struck out.

The NY Times had a full article on Pat Venditte, the switch pitcher, last year and in it they reference the rule declaring the pitcher has to declare which arm he intends to throw with. I'm pretty certain that same rule applies to batters as well. If one can't switch in between an at-bat, the other shouldn't be able to either.

Here's the 40 second clip from espn but the entire at bat can be seen here. It's eight minutes long.

According to my "Personal Files" folder at work, it's been a shade over 2 months since I last posted one of these on the front page. I'm going to forgo all excuses (buried in work!!!) and sarcasm (waiting for Ed Wade to trade Lance Berkman for a great young reliever in Houston) and simply finish up with an abbreviated version before Baseball Prospectus puts out their list. To the best of my memory and ability, I'm going to pick the player I would have before the season versus the one who may have emerged in the last 2.5 months. Why? I have no idea. I guess it seems more pure to me or something.

Continue reading "If I Were Starting a Team, Lazy NL Central/West Combo Edition ..." »

I wonder if 72-year old Galen Cisco is also available to return as pitching coach? Clearly John Gibbons was managing on borrowed time and it was a matter of "when" not "if" he was going to be escorted to the nearest exit. This week's third managerial firing comes as no great shock in the wake of losing 13 of their last 17 games. Nor was the full house-cleaning of the coaching staff; Marty Pevey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Denbo also getting the boot. What is surprising, to say the least, is who Toronto has selected to replace the feisty Gibbons; none other than Hank Aaron's old roomie and two-time World Series winner Cito Gaston.

The 64-year old Gaston may prove to be just what the Toronto BlueJays need. He's very much a "player's manager", the guys love him and his style of simply letting his players play the game is very much a contrast to the social drama Gibbons often instigated. Back to the future, indeed.

The Swamp's baseball minds are discussing this (and the rest of the week's goings on) right here.

"Bradley left the clubhouse after the game and reached the press box but never talked to Lefebvre. General manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington chased after Bradley, and Daniels escorted him back to the clubhouse.

Bradley then walked around with tears welling up and his voice breaking as he spoke.

"All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had, that's it," Bradley said to a quiet clubhouse. "I love all you guys. ... I'm strong, but I'm not that strong."

"The fracas turned out to be staged in an attempt to loosen up the team. It seemed to work temporarily as ASU took a 2-0 lead in the first."

"I can only speak for this. This is not a guy who is in any of those documents, who has been accused of taking steroids, a guy who everyone knows has taken something. What he's about to do should be celebrated."

It looks like John Smoltz's career may have come to an end. Traded to the Braves for Doyle Alexander, all those yeas ago, Smoltz has been the ultimate team player and warrior on the mound. Need a closer? Fine with him. Need a starter? That's ok too.

John Smoltz will have season-ending shoulder surgery that could also put the career of the 41-year-old Braves pitcher in doubt.

The Braves have called a media conference at 11:30 a.m. at Turner Field to be attended by Smoltz, general manager Frank Wren and manager Bobby Cox. A Braves official confirmed surgery for Smoltz will be announced at the media conference.

The game of baseball will be that much poorer with his absence.

It is expected that a MLB team will make a move for Beckham in the next few days. He is expected to be a shortstop at the Major League level. Me? I'm not convinced that right midfielder talent translates to middle infield.

What? Oh, it's not that Beckham?

On the heels of my thoughts yesterday about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, their attendance numbers, and their worst to first rise this season, I had anticipated following up that piece with a preview of a very important stretch to their season the kids of AL East will begin tonight.

But swamper govmentchedda put his own thoughts together so well, his words deserve the floor on this issue. He writes:

The Rays, at 35-22 after 57 games, have outperformed even the most optimistic expectations. Much has been said about the improved pitching (both starters and the 'pen), Evan Longoria's arrival as a starter, management (wisely, IMO) locking up the young stars to contracts that buy out their arbitration and early free agent years.

What has only been mentioned minimally in the national press is the improvement in the field. There are 3 massive defensive upgrades in the infield; Longoria for Iwamura at third (the least of the three upgrades), Bartlett over Harris and Zobist at short, and Iwamura for Cantu at second. I'm not well versed in these new-fangled stats from the BP folks, but the new defense is something that I'm sure someone can quantify as a great improvement. The only hole on the field now is in RF, and then only when Gomes or Hinske are out there. Gross has been very good with the glove and arm from position #9.

The Rays have played 34 of their 57 games at home, and will be facing easily their toughest part of the schedule in the next month. Three games at Boston (made a little easier with Ortiz hitting the DL), then three games at the bandbox in Arlington against Hamilton and co., followed by three games at Anaheim. Those three series are against teams that are eighteen games over .500 combined. They return home for three series in a row against the Marlins, Cubs and Astros before going down to Miami. That's a stretch of 12 games against NL opponents who are a combined 24 games over .500 combined.

We will find out soon how "for real" this team is. That's a brutal 21 game stretch. I, for one, would be happy with a record of 9-12 after its done. I don't think that's the goal that Joe Maddon will be preaching to the guys, but he can't possibly expect much more than that.

Two winning months in a row do not a season make.

• Baseball is the greatest sport ever, because every time you go home, you score.

• Albert Pujols single-handedly destroyed the San Diego Padres. He accomplished this in a most unusual way.

"How many times does that happen? ... In one inning, two guys get hurt by one player. It was a tough night," Pujols said. "I'm excited we got the win, but I'm kind of bummed. Hopefully they don't lose Josh for a long time. Chris, he's one of the best pitchers, it's kind of bumming right now. They lose two guys. You don't want any player to be getting hurt on the field."

• Sports radio can be evil sometimes. So can blogs, but not this one, we are just sarcastic and mocking. Apparently, there is some nasty speculation that the Brewers signed Ryan Braun and not Prince Fielder to a long term extension, because of skin color. If there is a scintilla of truth to this, it is deplorable.

• What is going on in TV in the big apple? Just last week an anchor was caught cursing on the air and now this. "Terry Crowley is lucky he's in fucking baseball" makes it on the air on YES.

• Some people are happy to see the retirement of Mike Piazza. A 69th round draft pick who was only selected because he was the g-dson of Tommy Lasorda, Piazza did set the record for homeruns by a catcher. Here is a column full of snark about Mike. This is my favorite:

"The runner goes, here's the throw from Piazza -- and it comes in on two hops."

• New York Yankees reliever LaTroy Hawkins has been suspended three games for throwing an inside, head-high pitch to Baltimore Orioles left fielder Luke Scott. Now if we can just figure out how to get him suspended for the rest of the season, all Yankee fans would be filled with glee.

• Jay Bruce is wasting his talent in the minors. Almost any organization would have called a player with his stats (He's hitting .369 with 10 home runs and 37 RBI at Triple-A with a .397 on-base percentage and a .661 slugging average.) up to majors by now. But Corey Patterson is blocking his way. Patterson has put up some amazing stats so far this year.(Batting .227 with a .270 on-base percentage).Patterson's OPS (on-base plus slugging) was seven points higher than Bruce's slugging.

When will the suffering end for Reds fans? Will Bengal get ulcers?

• Willie Randolph played the race card. I would have never suspected this of Willie, I can only imagine the play of the Mets is making the man lose his mind.

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph issued an apology Wednesday to team ownership, the club's TV network and his players "for the unnecessary distraction" he created by suggesting he was portrayed in a different manner than white managers.

Despite mounting legal troubles regarding his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens apparently hasn't decided whether he will retire, one of his former owners told MLB.com on Thursday.

The right-hander, who will be 46 years old on Aug. 4, is an unsigned free agent, but missed the first few months of the season the past two years before returning to action. Drayton McLane, the chairman and chief executive of the Astros, said he spoke with Clemens briefly at a game in Houston as recently as three weeks ago.

"We have a personal services contract with him and it's not activated until he tells us he's ready to retire," said McLane, just after this week's quarterly owners' meetings drew to a conclusion. "Well, he hasn't said that. I think if he was ready to retire, and that was clear, he would have already said that to us. But that has not happened."

I wish I could credit for the title of this post, but I lifted it directly from the article.

The deepest, darkest secret harbored by the New York Yankees first baseman is that whenever he is in a prolonged hitting funk, he wears a gold lamé, tiger-stripe thong under his uniform. "I only put it on when I'm desperate to get out of a big slump," he confides.

Over Giambi's checkered career in the Bronx, he has left the "golden thong" in the lockers of slumping teammates Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, Robin Ventura, and Robinson Cano. "All of them wore it and got hits," he reports. "The thong works every time."

The way he is hitting I think he should go for the garters, crothchless chaps and a push up bra.

Seems to be a little trouble in the Mets clubhouse. And in the dugout and definately on the playing field. The team that was going to represent the NL in the World Series (on paper) has seen their plans go haywire. Last night things boiled over a bit, at least for Billy Wagner.

"You should be talking to the guys over there," he snapped to reporters in the clubhouse.

He apparently, according to The New York Times, then gestured toward the lockers of Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and, especially, Carlos Delgado.

"Oh, they're not there. Big shock," he said.

The 36-year-old reliever later added to his furious finger-pointing of teammates during his weekly radio appearance, voicing frustration that he is one of only a few players reporters can interview after a crushing loss.

"I didn't even play today, I was not a participant in the game and the guys that had participated were gone," Wagner said in his interview with ESPN Radio 1050's Michael Kay. "David Wright is always there, the same guys are always there. But there needs to be other guys that are accountable. It gets a little old when the same people keep getting interviewed even when they don't participate."

"Right now everyone in Chicago is making lineups -- 'Call up this guy, call up that guy.' ... If we had 50 people allowed on the roster, we could do that. That's what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media: They forget pretty quickly. A couple of days ago we were the [bleeping] best [stuff] in town. Now we're [bleep]," Guillen said to the aforementioned Chicago media before the game.

Guillen observed that Chicago still loved the Cubs, even though they have not won a World Series since 1908, but the White Sox -- winners of the 2005 World Series -- did not receive the same affectionate support.

"We won it a couple years ago, and we're horse[bleep]," Guillen said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "The Cubs haven't won in [100] years, and they're the [bleeping] best. [Bleep] it, we're good. [Bleep] everybody. We're horse[bleep], and we're going to be horse[bleep] the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win.

"We are the [bleep] of Chicago. We're the Chicago [bleep]. We have the worst owner [Jerry Reinsdorf]. The guy's got seven [bleeping] rings, and he's the [bleeping] horse[bleep] owner."

If only there had been a tape recorder.

Royals left-hander John Bale won't be returning to active duty any time soon after breaking his pitching hand Friday night by punching a door at the team's downtown hotel.

Bale apparently was frustrated by his slow recovery from a fatigued left shoulder. He returned early Sunday to Kansas City and is scheduled to undergo further examination Monday by club physicians.

"I'm not pleased, obviously," manager Trey Hillman said.

He sounds a little Section eight to me. I wonder if he is related to Kyle Farnsworth.

Because Bengal has been very busy with some kind of boring trial thing we have been missing the heartache of being a Reds fan. As a tribute to Bengal and other fellow sufferers I found a good post from the Church of Baseball.

!!?!This is beyond comprehension??!?

The Reds are not this bad. What the heck is going on? We need someone to blame. Well, I blame Corey Patterson. Get rid of him now and bring up Bruce.

Ryan Freel should never be allowed to steal. He's just too dumb to know how to do it. I'm tired of baserunners getting out for stupidity.

Bench Dunn. Just bench him. Maybe a week off will get his head on straight. He really needs to get his head out of his ass. Send him down to the minors like they did Edwin last year. A week or two down there would do him good. Bring up Bruce.

If I were to bet on baseball, I'd bet Arroyo goes on the DL tomorrow to make room for Weathers. I hope he doesn't spend his fifteen days drinking at the Blind Lemon or whatever that place is he goes.

I'll be at the game on Tuesday - Harang vs. Zambrano. Odds are on the Cubs to win the series, but we'll see. Something has to click soon. I think I'm bringing a "Where's Bruce?" sign. No, I don't think Bruce is the answer to all of these problems, but I think Griffey and Dunn are killing this offense and a new bat might bring some life to it.

It's mystifying, it really is. I don't want to give up hope, but right now, it's pretty tough to hope for anything. This team needs to stop feeling sorry for itself and start playing how they are capable of playing before it's too late. I have a feeling too late is coming sooner rather than later.

Sigh. I'm really depressed.

According to Dr. Rick Wilton of Baseball Injury Report, baseball is suffering through an epidemic of injuries over the past two seasons (and I thought it was just on my fantasy team). There was apparently a big jump in 2007, and baseball is on pace for a bigger jump in injuries in 2008:

Major League Baseball is on pace to set a another record for the number of players who spend time on the disabled list.

The previous record was set last year with 404 players. As of April 30, there are 180 players who have spent time on the disabled list this season. That is 6.6% increase over the same time last season. From 2002-2006, an average of 141 players landed on the DL from spring training through April 30 each year. This year's pace is 21.7% greater than the average during that period. This alarming statistic could increase even further in the coming days with retroactive disabled list moves.

Last year's record 404 players was a 12.2 % increase over the five-year average between 2002-2006. The current pace is for 416 players to spend time on the disabled list in 2008.

Now this could all be pure and coincidental-like, see? But maybe, just maybe, there's something going on here. One of the primary benefits of performance-enhancing drugs is to quicken the recovery time from use and/or injury. As we've learned more and more about the actual use of these drugs in baseball, it seems that a significant number of ballplayers were juicing not to become huge Neanderthals, but rather to quicken recovery time (witness the high number of pitchers caught).

As the spotlight on steroids shined more brightly than ever last season, ultimately culminating with the Mitchell Report and a more rigorous testing program, maybe players are actually getting off the stuff and allowing their bodies to heal naturally. That could explain - at least partially - an increased number of injuries and time spent on the disabled list. Of course, this is all speculative without looking beyond a five-year sample size. And given that performance enhancers have been in baseball for so many years, to the extent that the last time players might not have been juicing medical technology and player usage patterns were probably incomparable to today's realities, there may be too many outside factors to really compare with any accuracy.

However, if the testing program is even a part of the cause of increased injuries (as perverse as that sounds), Major League Baseball should be commended for coming up with a program that is actually effective in reducing drug use in baseball.

The last man to play before helmets were manditory,sixty-four year old Julio Franco, a contemporary of Abner Doubleday, has finally hung up his spikes.

The 49-year-old announced his retirement from baseball after a 23-year career in the Major Leagues and stints in his native Dominican Republic, South Korea, Japan and Mexico. In 2007, he became the oldest player to hit a home run in the Majors.

An otherwise regular Major League baseball game will eventually make its way to Hollywood.

A backdrop to the Marlins beating the Padres, 6-4, on Friday night was the shooting of a scene for the upcoming movie "Marley & Me," starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson.

Friday was a "Bark at the Park" night for the Marlins, a promotion through which fans can bring their dogs to the stadium. And as it happened, a dog running on the field is part of a scene in the movie, which is set to be released on Christmas Day.

Aniston and Wilson were at the ballpark, filming a few scenes. The first took place in the stands, with a dog racing down the aisles, Wilson and then Aniston in pursuit.

And after Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins was thrown out trying to steal third base, ending the eighth inning, Wilson and Aniston surfaced again, chasing after a dog in left field.

Players were leaving and entering the field but momentarily stopped as the two actors finally grabbed the dog and were whisked away. The segment lasted about a minute and didn't interrupt the game.

Fans will pay starry prices for this year's All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.

Tickets will be priced at $150-$725 for the July 15 game, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday. That's up from $75-$285 for last year's game at San Francisco and $10-15 for box and reserved seats the last time the All-Stars were at Yankee Stadium, in 1977.

Tickets for the Home Run Derby and workout day on July 14 are $100-$650, an increase from $50-$225 last year. Tickets for the Futures game on July 13 are $50-225, up from $22.50-$125 last year.

Prices likely will decrease for the 2009 All-Star game, to be hosted by the Cardinals.

"They will be adjusted for St. Louis. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- instant memorabilia, instant memories," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "The regular-season ticket prices in New York are substantially higher than they are in St. Louis."

Everything is more expensive in NYC. Now if we can just figure out how to charge the comissioner's office for all the bullshit, we'd all be rich.

Why not just say, "Hey it's NY, they're used to getting fucked."

I paid $116.50 a ticket for a Sunday matinee to Spamalot and $4 for a bottle of water at the theater. At least the play didn't end in a tie.

Last year some of the guys from the Frog purchsed a 7XL yellow sweater from Ebay and sent it to El Guapo. We never heard from him regarding our thoughtful gift, but Garces himself is back.

Those of you who have rubbed those "El Guapo Bobble Belly" dolls (I have to find one of those for myself.) in hopes that it would result in the return of former Red Sox reliever Rich Garces to the Nashua Pride, your wish has come true.

After expecting to pitch most of the season in Mexico, Garces was released last week by Potros de Tijuana, after the Mexican League team was struggling at 13-22. He immediately phoned Pride general manager Chris Hall and a deal was worked out.

"I'm happy to be back with Nashua," Garces said. "I want to compete and win another championship and the Pride is the team I want to do it with."

When Walt Jocketty was hired as a special assistant to the owner of the Reds the handwriting was on the wall. Wayne Krivsky refused to look. When he was fired, Wayne Krivsky refused to comprehend it. And now though Wayne is officially unemployed he still can't let go. Almost sounds like stalking. From HOF Hal McCoy:

Wayne Krivsky is finding it difficult to sever his ties with the Cincinnati Reds after he was fired and says, "I must be crazy because I hope the Reds win every game the rest of the year and I still get on-line every morning to check how the minor-league teams did."

And before he fades into the woodwork, Krivsky wants to clear a few things off his desk and his mind.

One of the things he wants known is that Dusty Baker was his choice to manage the Reds and he told owner Bob Castellini at the time, "Dusty Baker is my man and he is the guy for the job." And Krivsky added, "It was my recommendation and Bob agreed."

• So much for Joba going to the rotation. Right-handed reliever Brian Bruney almost certainly will miss the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a Lisfranc fracture in his right foot.

Bruney was placed on the 15-day disabled list and is not expected back before 2009, general manager Brian Cashman said. Dr. William Hamilton examined Bruney yesterday in Manhattan and recommended surgery.

• Because the Yankees told Joba Chamberlain to stay off his feet during batting practice yesterday, it was likely the set up man wasn't available for last night's 6-4 loss to the Indians in which the need for him didn't surface.

"He slipped on the mound (Thursday night) and tweaked his legs," manager Joe Girardi told The Post during batting practice.

• As though this is news.... The Dodgers are expected to place Nomar Garciaparra on the disabled list Saturday and recall third baseman Blake DeWitt to replace him. Nomar will be out for about a month with an ovarian cyst.

• Chipper Jones has had varying degrees of injuries to a wide range of body parts, but nothing quite like this.

The hot-hitting third baseman was scratched from the lineup Saturday morning after having severe back spasms 2-1/2 hours before the game with the Mets.

• Brad Penny had just stepped out of the shower area in the clubhouse when a replay of his 96-mph fastball crashing into umpire Kerwin Danley's mask with a sickening thud was showing on the wide-screen TV.

• Sawx placed first baseman Sean Casey on the 15-day disabled list.

Last night Morris gave up 8 runs on 9 hits in 4 innings, which brings his 2008 ERA to a hefty 9.15. That's a run per inning. Some elite pitcher barely allow a baserunner an inning. We all know Pittsburgh has its problems but Matt Morris?

Though he has been able to keep his walk totals low this year the least amount of hits he has given up in any of his four starts has been 7 and he only pitched 4.2 innings. I somehow doubt the Pirates will release him during the season, they don't like to eat contracts, but this may partially explain their low attendance.

I only wish I could take a couple of hacks at the shit he's throwing out there.

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Zipper's post below for the following reasons:

1. Rivera and Chamberlain aren't similar pitchers. Mariano's never exceeded two plus pitches while Joba, by all accounts, has four major league offerings. I get that Rivera is the easy comparison given that he came up in the Bronx as a starter and thrived as a closer but they are very, very different. Frame, repertoire, development path (Mariano was already 26 when he began contributing), everything.

2. In a general sense, 180+ innings is always better than 80 innings regardless of leverage. You don't take a consensus top 5 prospect and cut his participation in half unless he proves he can't handle a starter's work. Chamberlain thus far has done nothing to indicate he can't.

3. In a more specific sense, Joba needs to throw around 150 innings this season after getting a total of 116 in 2007. With both Mussina and Pettitte quite possibly out after 2008, Chamberlain is going to be vital to the 2009 staff. If he doesn't get stretched out this season, they'd be taking a massive risk (in both a health and results sense) expecting 30 starts next year.

4. Mark Fidrych threw 250 IPs at age 21. He completed 77% of his starts. Apples to apples that ripened in a completely different era. (Also, Oswalt threw 175 innings at age 22.)

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Zipper's post below for the following reasons:

1. Rivera and Chamberlain aren't similar pitchers. Mariano's never exceeded two plus pitches while Joba, by all accounts, has four major league offerings. I get that Rivera is the easy comparison given that he came up in the Bronx as a starter and thrived as a closer but they are very, very different. Frame, repertoire, development path (Mariano was already 26 when he began contributing), everything.

2. In a general sense, 180+ innings is always better than 80 innings regardless of leverage. You don't take a consensus top 5 prospect and cut his participation in half unless he proves he can't handle a starter's work. Chamberlain thus far has done nothing to indicate he can't.

3. In a more specific sense, Joba needs to throw around 150 innings this season after getting a total of 116 in 2007. With both Mussina and Pettitte quite possibly out after 2008, Chamberlain is going to be vital to the 2009 staff. If he doesn't get stretched out this season, they'd be taking a massive risk (in both a health and results sense) expecting 30 starts next year.

4. Mark Fidrych threw 250 IPs at age 21. He completed 77% of his starts. Apples to apples that ripened in a completely different era. (Also, Oswalt threw 175 innings at age 22.)

I know what you're thinking. The season isn't even a month old. It's way too early to read anything into player statistics. Have I forgotten all about sample sizes? Fear not, I'm only here to share a quick glance at one of the very few stats that is relevant at this point: BABIP. Hitting BABIP is odd in that it does matter early in season but only because a more prominent related stat, batting average, doesn't matter yet. Make sense? Without boring you with all the numbers, in the past 3 years, 929 players have accumulated 251 or more PAs. Of those 929, only 2 have had a BABIP below .225 and only 2 more have exceeded .399. Basically, anything outside of or even near those extremes will likely be corrected towards the mean (~.303) over the next 5+ months of the season. However, since there are plenty of reactionary owners in every league that see an early low batting average and decide the guy has lost it (even more so in the PED era), opportunities arise. With this in mind, I give you a list of 22 players who currently have BABIPs under .225 and were projected by PECOTA to earn atleast $10 in AL or NL only leagues. Obviously not every one of these guys will bounce back to their projected levels due to injuries, lost playing time or just an off year, but now is the time to make a discounted offer on ones you like.

$30+ Projected Value:
Alfonso Soriano, CHN, LF, .175 AVG, .182 BABIP, .263 ADJ AVG
David Ortiz, BOS, DH, .160 AVG, .172 BABIP, .267 ADJ AVG

$20 - $29 Projected Value:
Adam Dunn, CIN, LF, .189 AVG, .216 BABIP, .245 ADJ AVG
Ryan Zimmerman, WAS, 3B, .215 AVG, .224 BABIP, .278 ADJ AVG
Troy Tulowitzki, COL, SS, .176 AVG, .213 BABIP, .243 ADJ AVG
Carlos Pena, TBA, 1B, .206 AVG, .189 BABIP, .270 ADJ AVG
Rickie Weeks, MIL, 2B, .174 AVG, .184 BABIP, .261 ADJ AVG
Russell Martin, LAN, C, .197 AVG, .222 BABIP, .262 ADJ AVG
Gary Sheffield, DET, DH, .192 AVG, .220 BABIP, .250 ADJ AVG

$10 - $19 Projected Value:
Robinson Cano, NYA, 2B, .169 AVG, .176 BABIP, .286 ADJ AVG
Jim Thome, CHA, DH, .222 AVG, .220 BABIP, .270 ADJ AVG
Paul Konerko, CHA, 1B, .172 AVG, .167 BABIP, .276 ADJ AVG
Jose Guillen, KCA, RF, .173 AVG, .214 BABIP, .240 ADJ AVG
Corey Patterson, CIN, CF, .186 AVG, .135 BABIP, .339 ADJ AVG
Travis Buck, OAK, RF, .154 AVG, .213 BABIP, .215 ADJ AVG
Placido Polanco, DET, 2B, .148 AVG, .160 BABIP, .278 ADJ AVG
Adam Laroche, PIT, 1B, .132 AVG, .182 BABIP, .208 ADJ AVG
Austin Kearns, WAS, RF, .212 AVG, .222 BABIP, .273 ADJ AVG
Bill Hall, MIL, CF, .211 AVG, .209 BABIP, .268 ADJ AVG
Frank Thomas, N/A, DH, .167 AVG, .159 BABIP, .267 ADJ AVG
Ben Broussard, TEX, 1B, .180 AVG, .182 BABIP, .260 ADJ AVG
Casey Blake, CLE, 3B, .179 AVG, .214 BABIP, .250 ADJ AVG

The Prince of the Yankees has issued an edict. Joba must start. Of course we are only twenty games into the season, and Joba was away for three of those games, but he must start. Start he must. As it is written, so shall it be done. Quote the Prince:

"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner said Sunday by telephone. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

Interesting the man used the word idiot. Because that's exactly what I was thinking about him.

Joba has pitched a total of 138 innings in his career at the tender age of 23. He's not exactly a Roy Oswalt yet. I would rather see him stay in the pen so he doesn't become a Fydrich.

If we even take this thinking a step or two further, Mo Rivera is not going to last forever. Rivera did very well setting up Wetteland for a couple of years. Back off Hank and let's not fuck up the Yankees in your first year. Why not try to find the next Jay Buhner and trade him for today's Ken Phelps. Oh the sins of the father.

Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Frank Thomas was livid Saturday after getting benched in favor of Matt Stairs and being told by manager John Gibbons he can expect further cuts to his playing time.
Thomas was hitless in his past 13 at-bats and has gone 4-for-35 since homering in three straight games April 5-8.

The 39-year-old Thomas signed a two-year, $18-million contract with Toronto in November 2006. The deal includes a $10 million option for 2009, but only if Thomas makes 376 plate appearances this season.

Thomas, who is batting .167 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 60 at-bats, said the Blue Jays are cutting his playing time to prevent the option from kicking in.

"It's pretty obvious," Thomas said. "Sixty at bats isn't enough to make that decision. I'm angry, I know I can help this team. My career isn't going to end like this."

Perhaps Frank is correct and sixty at bats is too small a sampling to make a decision, but that .167 looks ugly. I would be pissed if Matt Stairs was replacing me too.

I love being right. Maybe A. Bud reads the front page of the Frog. Just yesterday I pointed out how the umpire didn't do his job correctly and should have ejected Farnsworth. I said when the tape was reviewed there may be a suspension. Viola.

New York Yankees reliever Kyle Farnsworth was suspended for three games and fined Saturday for throwing a fastball behind the neck of Boston slugger Manny Ramirez earlier in the week.

Farnsworth appealed the penalty, which was to start Saturday night against Baltimore. He will be eligible to pitch until a hearing is held. (And Joba returns from family leave.)

Within hours of a Sun-Times report detailing the sale near Wrigley Field of a Kosuke Fukudome T-shirt bearing a racist image, the Cubs put a stop Friday to the production and sale of the shirt.

Inundated with e-mails from offended fans, Cubs officials investigated, discovered the unlicensed product used a trademarked Cubs logo and confronted the vendor - who complied with the team's demand to pull the shirt and cease production.

"Clearly, the shirt was in poor taste and the Cubs are pleased to know that it will no longer be produced or sold," Cubs spokesman Peter Chase said.

The shirt used the traditional Cubs cartoon bear face but with slanted eyes and wearing oversized Harry Caray-style glasses. It was accompanied by the words "Horry Kow!" scrawled in cartoonish "Japanese" script.

And I thought it would have said: Fuck you, Do me !!!

Nine years!

Let's put it another way. After Friday's events, Longoria has more years on his contract than days in the major leagues (seven, as Crawford noted). So much for conspiracy theorists who were convinced the Rays sent him back to the minors last month to keep his clock from starting for arbitration and free agency.

With a guarantee of $17.5-million over six seasons (and $19-million if he doesn't go back to the minors), it is considered the largest contract for a player, not including a half-dozen veterans from Japan and Cuba, with less than one year of major-league service.

The Rays made the deal, essentially, because they could.

They project Longoria, 22, to be a star, and doing the deal -- and doing it sooner rather than later -- gives them cost certainty over what he will make during his arbitration years, extends their control through what likely will be his first two years of free agency, and could save them millions if he is as good as expected.

WOW. Eat shit Vince Namoli.

Tom Glavine's strained right hamstring has landed the Braves pitcher on the disabled list for the first time in his 22-year major-league career.

"If I could give myself a novocaine shot in the hamstring and go out and pitch, I'd do it," said Glavine, 42, who had been scheduled to start Saturday's nationally televised game against the Dodgers. "But it's not that kind of thing."

Left-hander Chuck James has been recalled from Class AAA Richmond to start in place of Glavine, whose DL assignment was retroactive to Monday. He'll be eligible to come off April 29, and he was certain he would be ready.

But on Friday, he said he felt like he had let down everyone in the clubhouse. Glavine has pitched with aches, strains and even a broken rib during his 303-win career, but he never had problems with his legs until now.

"The streak has come to an end," he said late Friday. "I've been on the DL, what, two hours? I hate it. I feel like I've let down everyone."

Boys and Girls, that is the definition of a mench.

Nationals manager Manny Acta, concerned that injured infielder Dmitri Young's big, curly Afro was becoming too much of a distraction, told the injured first baseman after Thursday night's loss to the Mets to have his hair cut before he showed up for Friday night's game here.

Young, who is protective of his locks, complied. He sported a more trimmed look when he surfaced at the clubhouse.

Acta's order was not as sinister or arbitrary as it might sound. First, the manager knew Young's "special barber" was in Miami. Second, he said that Young told him he planned to have a trim while here anyway.

"It's not like you're going to see him with a shaved head," Acta said, smiling.

Acta said he requested the haircut in the interest of team "structure" with the Nationals.

After 9/11 a lot of Latin American ballplayers aged a few years overnight. Some people still refuse to believe Albert Pujols correctly states his age. But now the truth is out about Miggy Tejada. This bit of news also answers why his range at shortstop has been cut down.

Age ain't nothing but a number, unless you're Miguel Tejada.

The Houston Astros shortstop told the Oakland Athletics when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1993 that he was 17. But he was actually 19, meaning he is now 33, two years older than his listed age in the Astros' media guide and other baseball records.

The shortstop made his admission after being approached Tuesday by ESPN.

"E:60" correspondent Tom Farrey presented Tejada with a copy of a birth certificate, filed by his father in his hometown of Bani, that showed he was born on May 25, 1974. The document was acquired by a Dominican law firm hired by ESPN after clerks at the town hall in Bani declared -- improperly -- that Tejada's records were confidential.

Now if ESPN had only done that kind of investigation before they fired Harold Reynolds.

Willie Randolph played for the a Yankees team that often had fist fights in its own clubhouse and dugout. Suffice to say the Yankee teams of yesteryear didn't only hate their opponents but each other as well and that was what Randolph learned about baseball.

This week's visit to Shea by the Nationals, a team managed by former Mets coach Manny Acta, again featured the kind of affection usually reserved for family reunions. Hugs, handshakes, plenty of laughs.

Acta is a great guy, and still well liked in Mets circles. But it's a little strange after the events of last September to see the teams maintain the same close contact on Shea's front lawn. It didn't sit well with everyone.

Manager Willie Randolph, an old-school veteran of the gang warfare between the Yankees and Red Sox, was not among the intermingling groups of front-office members and players. Not this week, and rarely.

To see one of his former lieutenants fawned over by members of the Mets organization probably makes every game against Washington an annoyance for Randolph. But that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon, and neither does the inexplicable chumminess between some Mets and the team that humiliated them only seven months ago.

"How does that happen? How does that become normal?" Randolph said. "I don't know. It's just foreign to me, that's all. I'm fine with, 'Hey, how you doing?' That stuff. I wish that we could enforce it more, really. They talk about it, but I don't really see anyone policing it. You can't force people not to talk to someone."

I know I can never believe a single word coming out of the front offices of the baseball team in Miami. They have a team payroll smaller thatn A-Rod's and I am sure the cash their revenue sharing checks. Here are the words from the lying puppet, I mean team president.

Forbes released its annual state of baseball report Thursday, drawing little more than a chuckle in Marlins offices.

According to the magazine's numbers, the Marlins are the least valuable, but second- most profitable franchise in Major League Baseball.

Forbes puts the Marlins' total worth at $256 million, a 5 percent increase from last year. The Pirates ($292 million) and Rays ($290 million) are the only other franchises Forbes doesn't value at more than $300 million.

The Marlins rank last in revenues at $128 million, $3 million less than the 29th-ranked Royals and $199 million less than the top-ranked Yankees.

In terms of operating income, defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, Forbes lists the Marlins at $35.6 million, second to the Nationals ($43.7 million).

"Every year I continue to be surprised at the absolute inaccuracy that a so-called reputable magazine is willing to print," Marlins President David Samson said. "We've never gotten called by them. We've never been asked to verify, deny, confirm, nothing. It's just a shame their readership is forced to read numbers that aren't true.

"I know the number they have for the Marlins is simply wrong. They have no information of any kind on which to base that article."

If I was Forbes, I wouldn't call a lying sack of shit either.

I have never cared for Kyle Farnsworth. This is a guy who once broke his foot warming up in the bullpen for the Cubs. Somehow I have always doubted the truthfullness of that even though I was watching that game on the tube. Seems like a Jeff Kent washing the truck story.

Regardless, last night after Manny took Mussina deep twice last night, and Manny owns Mussina, Farnsworth decided it was time to throw a 96mph fastball behind Manny's head.

As a Yankee fan the last thing I want to see is Manny mad and motivated. When you throw behind his head that is a major sign of disrespect on Manny's home planet. The ump didn't even properly do his job, he just warned both benches. He should have ejected Farnsworth and the league should review the tape.

Drill a guy in the ass or the thigh. Never throw at a players head. Send a message. Make the guy eat some dirt, but NEVER throw at his head. I don't want to see Boston throwing at Jeter's head, though at this point I wouldn't blame them.

Perhaps Girardi as instilled some grit into this team. That wouldn't be a bad thing except that when explaining something to Farnsworth, I believe you have to use very small words and really big flashcards.

In a game that probably would have even made Ernie Banks tired, the Rockies beat the Padres 2-1 in 22 innings. It wasn't a game it was a relationship.

6 hours, 16 minutes, 15 pitchers, 658 pitches, 3 runs.

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy threw the game's first pitch at 7:05 p.m. The game didn't end until 1:21 a.m., when Padres pitcher Glendon Rusch took a called third strike. Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba, who caught all 22 innings, wearily pumped a fist in celebration.

It's been a while so here's a quick team-by-team recap of the American League before we head into the National League.

Baltimore Orioles: Nick Markakis, RF, 25
Boston Red Sox: Josh Beckett, SP, 28
Chicago White Sox: Nick Swisher, CF, 27
Cleveland Indians: Grady Sizemore, CF, 25
Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, 3B, 25
Kansas City Royals: Alex Gordon, 3B, 24
Los Angeles Angels: Howie Kendrick, 2B, 24
Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer, C, 25
New York Yankees: Philip Hughes, SP, 22
Oakland Athletics: Daric Barton, 1B, 22
Seattle Mariners: Felix Hernandez, SP, 22
Tampa Bay Rays: B.J. Upton, CF, 23
Texas Rangers: Ian Kinsler, 2B, 26
Toronto Blue Jays: Alex Rios, RF, 27

Where the AL West was relatively unexceptional outside of Felix Hernandez, the NL East is full of under 30 stars across the board. If reading this entire article is in your plans, quickly try to figure out who you'd pick from the five NL East teams before clicking ahead. Atleast for me, three of the five teams are no-brainers, one is somewhat easy and the last is tough but for reasons of depth, not scarcity.

Continue reading "If I Were Starting a Team, NL East Edition ..." »

It appears the answer to the question below is Chad Moeller. While his current minor league line of .136/.231/.182 suggests he would be plenty capable of DHing for the Red Sox, that sort of production isn't going to cut it in the Bronx.

Get well soon, Jorge. Really, really soon.

After last night's game (which if you missed it was painful to watch) the Yankees have no catchers. Jose Molina hurt his hamstring in the eighth inning and Posada was forced to go behind the plate.

At this point Jorge can't throw. Posada has told friends that he has never experienced any sensation in his shoulder like he's feeling right now. (and I would link to it if those WWLIS bastards didn't have this on the Inside)

So what do the Yanks do? How about manager Joe Girardi? He could catch and he never hit much anyway. Stay tuned, I am sure this will get interesting.

After five innings, he had a no-hitter for the Tigers. He had also walked five batters. And struck out only one. Two more walks to start the sixth, and finally his first hit allowed, chased him from the game. Seven walks total. Against only one strikeout. And, from looking at the highlights of the game on Baseball Tonight, he wasn't close. It was not like he was just barely missing the zone, he was missing by damn near juuuuussst a bit outside margins. There was a time this past off-season when I was hoping the Reds would pursue him. Thank goodness they did not.

At any rate, the Tigers have fallen to 0-5. And desperately need Justin Verlander to step forward and be a stopper for the team. While they will eventually hit, and should hit a lot (health will help), they don't want to dig too deep a hole in the meantime.

With the baseball season off to a satisfying start, some pieces with some stuff to chew on as the first weekend of the baseball season unfolds.

---Keith Law at espn.com with 10 players who are breakout candidates.

---Jon Heyman at si.com reserves some praise for Johnny Cueto of the Reds and a few other choice newcomers. I unabashedly express my love for Cueto. He's swell.

---Scott Miller at sportsline joins the chorus in casting doubt about just what Barry Zito can do to halt his decline. The rest of us marvel at what an awful job Brian Sabean has turned in as the Giants' GM in the last half dozen or so years.

---Mike Harmon at foxsports has some fantasy notes (more Cueto!) in a comprehensive read while Ken Rosenthal's notebook touches, among other things, on the very real pitching concerns in Philly.

And, to return to Miller's subject linked above, the Giants are really, really, really, terrible. They have a chance to be a special kind of bad. Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum may snap and kill Brian Sabean by the All-Star break. The killing would likely be found justified by a jury of bay area peers.

Quoth the chain smoker following the sweep at the hands of the Royals:

"We don't look ready," Leyland said. "If somebody would have told me that, I would have told them they're crazy." He moaned about how the Tigers produced "lazy at-bats, lazy fly-ball outs, first-pitch fly-ball outs, weak outs." He added: "That's not us. That's not supposed to be us.""When I cool off a little bit, I'll mention some things on an individual basis to guys. You don't want to make a fool of yourself because you're upset. "I'm not really aiming anything at one player or two players. I'm aiming at me. We just don't look like we're attacking the game like we're supposed to attack the game. And that bothers me. "We're supposed to be aggressive and smart. We've been none of those things so far."

True dat.

Their fourth loss in a row to open the season last night probably has not done much to improve his mood. They miss Curtis Granderson.

...GMs of real life baseball teams would notice that Rich Harden has been nails to start the year. If Harden keeps this up and avoids his annual May pilgramage to the disabled list, he might become the object of some pointed affection as the season deepens.

I had a bad opening day. I awoke to thuderstorms and was then unwilling to drive three hours to Chicago for what was certain to be a rainout. But my day wasn't as bad as a few of the players:

Tom Gordon: 1/3 inning, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 135.00 ERA, 135 Whip. Loss.

Kerry Wood: 1 Inning, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 27.00 ERA AND THEN NOT TO BE OUTDONE

Eric Gagne: Before he recorded an out. 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 fuck you do me Homer. Tie Game.

Felix Pie: 0-3 , 2k's, LOB 4.... the Cubs only had 5 men left on base in total

Mark Buerhle: 1.2 Innings, 7 hits, 7 runs, 1 walk, 37.8 ERA

Indians' Victor Martinez injures leg in opener while running to second.

Octavio Dotel: 1 inning, 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, one loss, 27.00 ERA.

In the HBO documentary Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush, a fan is quoted as saying, "You're in a room with Hitler, Stalin and Walter O'Malley and you have a gun with two bullets: Who do you shoot? And of course the Dodger fans would say, 'You shoot O'Malley twice.'"

Before the Dodgers deserted Brooklyn there were fights between the city and the owner. No one could agree on a suitable place for a stadium. (Sounds so familiar)

The team that broke the color barrier also broke the Mississippi barrier and of course moved to LA. There are still a lot of Brooklyn residents and former residents (like my Dad) that have never forgiven the move or lost interest in baseball entirely.

Here are some recent articles regarding this anniversary. NY Mag or USA Today.

It's a good day.

Ever since ESPN began broadcasting three games on opening day it has become an official holiday for me. I always take it off from work, no matter what. It is truly the one day a year for me and I hold it sacred. I put on my new Yankees cap (must have a new one for each season) and just sit and watch something I have been denied for the past 5-6 months.

This year it will be a little different. I WILL NOT be working or in front of the 46" wide screen, I will be at Wrigley Field for opening day. The best man from my wedding called yesterday and said he had four tickets. And he asked if I would like to go. The nerve. All I could think of is why are you asking. I thought he knew me. He was my best man.

So Monday I will be well chilled in the old musty stadium at Addison and enjoying the first day of what promises to be an exciting season. Pictures to follow.

Sure baseball games can get boring. And it is always nice to see some mammories in the cheap seats, but who would think there would be a DVD collection of such things. I know if mlb.com put that on their website to sell it would be successful.

"Girls gone Wild, from Comerica Park"

So here are the details of the pending litigation.

Tigers photographers routinely shot inappropriate "soft core videos" of female fans at baseball games, a sexual harassment suit by Comerica Park's former scoreboard operator claims.

"We believe there is no merit to the allegations," Karen Cullen, spokeswoman for team owner Mike Ilitch, said Wednesday.

The videos were "freely and openly shown in the scoreboard area to all employees and supervisors on almost a regular basis," and are stored in a room behind the scoreboard, Reanen Maxwell of Beverly Hills says in her Wayne Circuit Court lawsuit, which was filed Feb. 22.

The "continued showing of the soft core videos" created a hostile work environment in violation of the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, the suit claims. Maxwell is requesting damages in excess of $25,000 on each of four counts, plus at least that much in exemplary damages, costs and attorney fees.

Back to Japan for MLB for a couple of real games, the A's and Red Sox are tied in the 9th following a homerun in that frame by rookie Brandon Moss, who started only because JD Drew was a late scratch from the line-up. Seems pretty exciting there. The most annoyed people in the country are A's fans and owners of Huston Street, who just blew the save.

Oh, and it still kinda blows counting these games, but whatever. Baseball will do what baseball will do. But Steve Phillips would do well to stop bleating "There's nothing like Opening Day". Yeah, that's true. When, ya know, it actually FEELS like Opening Day. Counting two games in Japan that begin at 6:00 am est doesn't really capture the Opening Day feeling.

Just sayin'.

...about re-signing with Yankees and firing Beelzebub (Scott Boras). Here goes:

"So to make the right decision just feels really good," Rodriguez said, "versus being taken down a road where I'm like, 'Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I'll blow my --- head off.' "I wanted to remain a Yankee and for once I put my money where my mouth was. It felt good to make a decision on my own and execute it - to deal with Hank and Hal (Steinbrenner) on a one-on-one basis and get a deal done. "If people want to question why I did it, I don't care because it made me happy. If I had gone to Team X, Y or Z, it wouldn't have made me happy. It would have been because Scott wanted me to go - it would have been for the most money. And then I'm always going to be known as a guy who always wanted the most money."

Well, we certainly wouldn't want anyone to blow their heads off over being stuck somewhere with $400 million dollars, so, glad he didn't that THAT particular cross to bear. And, I am not sure that staying in New York for just under $300 million will really drop the tag of him as plays-for-money guy, but I guess he can always hope.

"My wife and daughter both love New York," said A-Rod. "Four days after I opted out (and was living in Miami), my daughter says, 'I really miss my bedroom and my toys in New York.' I wanted to shoot myself. I said to my wife, 'What the --- are we doing?'

When it was suggested that some players never put such personal considerations ahead of the best deal, A-Rod nodded. "That was me - and now it's not," he said. "That's the difference between being 24 and 32. And that's what I'm proud of."

Wow, Rogriguez cusses as much as I do. Which is saying something. At any rate, I am still not sold that people are going to buy the sacrifice-to-stay-with-the-Yankees spin, but, hey have at it. At the least, this next part should make Rodriguez owners and Yankees fans happy:

"Once you start letting go a little bit, things start coming to you a little easier," A-Rod said. "They did for me last year. In the past, I've always said, 'I have to do this and I have to do that,' mainly because of the expectations. Now I've come to a point where, if I get a hit with the bases loaded, cool, and if I don't, so what? Next at-bat. Or next game. People always want it to be about the .individual battle with me, but I just want to be part of this team, and I think that will help me get to where I want to go....

"I want to believe it's the same with me. If I had gone to Detroit or someplace and I don't win, people are going to hammer me, because there's no loyalty, and by moving again, I don't represent anything. Instead, I'm planting my roots here and saying I want to win with one team and represent something as a Yankee the rest of my career. I think it's the right way to do it."

Guess he's been stung by the mercenary tag over the years. And if he feels more comfortable at the plate as a Yankee, I would suspect we can expect his ridiculous numbers to continue to accumulated as he moves through his 30s. As for New York winning a World Series again? That is going to rest more on the development of Phillip Huges, Joba Chamberlin, and Ian Kennedy than on Rodriguez sustaining his excellence.

With regard to this post. No, the rebuttal is not from me. I think he was nails with that analysis. But, an argument that the Joe Nathan signing by the relatively payroll poor Twins was not insane? Read on:

"Joe Nathan's new limited contract trade clause actually makes the Twins' closer easier to swap at the deadline because of the cost uncertainty there would be if he were on his way to becoming a free agent, as he could have been after this season."

Meh. Or, he could blow out an elbow or cuff a shoulder and the Twins are stuck with a ridiculous amount of payroll in a closer. Or teams could decide they don't want to meet Minnesota's price were he on the market. Or the Twins could seriously think signing Natha to that contract was a good move and hold him. But perhaps there is some merit to the above thinking. Perhaps. Color me skeptical that the Twins make this signing make sense.

Perhaps you have been busy figuring out how Davidson ruined your bracket. Maybe you're an accountant who hasn't had time to breathe. Or you're a South Floridian fighting off gay Dominican gentlemen with a stick. In the meantime baseball players have been dropping like fat women in 100 degree heat.

• Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Chris Capuano was told Sunday that he has a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and will probably need Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career.

• Scott Rolen broke his finger during a fielding drill Sunday, and the Toronto Blue Jays' new third baseman might not be available for opening day.

• Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent (bad hammy) played in a simulated game Saturday and also did some light running, but likely won't be ready to play until next week at the earliest.

• Detroit Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday and will miss opening day.

• If Duaner Sanchez isn't ready to break camp with the Mets, and it's certainly possible, it would seem that the next reliever in line would be Rule 5 pick Steven Register from the Rockies.

• Sean Henn may not be on the team but is still a Yankee because there is a chance he opens the season on the disabled list with a tender left shoulder.

• A new injury has forced the Red Sox specialized Japanese-only roster to be re-jiggered the day before the season opens.

Sean Casey's stiff neck, which came from the plane ride over here, has forced him to be one of the three players on the inactive list. He will be joined by Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield.

• On Thursday the Brewers placed pitcher Randy Choate on the 15-day disabled list. On Friday the Brewers placed pitcher Yovani Gallardo on the 15-day disabled list. Ben Sheets cannot be far behind.

It appears that sometime this weekend Minnesota Twins General Manager Bill Smith will give a definitive answer of "Yes!" to the question "are you in over your head as a major league general manager?" by signing Joe Nathan to a 4 year contract extension worth $11-$12MM per season. Nathan is a great reliever but it's an ugly, ugly move for a team that can't afford to make bad financial decisions. The following are my three initial reasons; as time passes I'm sure I'll come up with atleast a dozen more so perhaps addendums will follow.

Current Roster Composition:
I like to mock Chicago GM Kenny Williams for the seeming lack of cohesion between his various moves and his inability to view the White Sox in a realistic manner, but even he is probably shaking his head. Rarely will you see a team contradict itself as Minnesota will by extending their 33 year old closer a couple of months after trading one of the best players in baseball for a package of prospects. I think it's fair to say that on the day the 2007 season ended, the Twins had a 6 player core of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, Johan Santana, Francisco Liriano and Nathan. With Hunter a free agent and Santana and Nathan headed into walk years, a decision had to be made if they should cut the core in half and rebuild or try to keep everyone together and make a run. Given the strength of Cleveland and Detroit in the Central, Smith appeared to be heading in the right direction by trading Santana and letting Hunter (and valuable starter Carlos Silva) leave via free agency. The logical final step should have been trading Nathan either now or at the deadline to finish the veterans for young talent portion of the rebuilding (or "rebounding" in Smith's words) portion of this project. Instead, Smith is forking over $40-$50MM to keep Nathan on.

Continue reading "Bill Smith Is Probably Awful ..." »

Dontrelle Willis so far in Detroit? Sucking:

"Tigers pitcher Dontrelle Willis' honesty was more evident than his skill Friday. Following a wild outing in which the left-hander allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings in the Tigers' 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays, Willis admitted, "I was terrible." On the heels of the Tigers' seventh consecutive loss, Jim Leyland agreed. "You can't pitch like that," the manager said. "Nobody can." His first spring with Detroit hasn't been the best for Willis, who's walked 10 and allowed nine earned runs in his last 8 2/3 innings. "I have to do a better job of going out there and making guys hit the ball," he said. "It doesn't matter how hard you throw, I just want guys to swing and swing early. I haven't been doing that. "I never shy away from calling it as I see it. ... I just didn't do my job today. It could have been a whole lot worse, but that doesn't mean I can't do my job. "I feel strong, though. I would tell you if I didn't."

Yuck.

Felipe Lopez benched in Washington? Likely. Which is why he is being shopped. Surprisingly, there may be a team or two interested. The latest rumor? The Cubs. Wait until they find out he can't hit.

Joe Crede really going to block Josh Fields for the White Sox? Apparently. Turns out teams were NOT actually interested in beating down Chicago's door to get to a post-back operation on-the-wrong-side-of-30 Crede. Huh. Who could have seen THAT coming?

Cut Washington erstwhile opening day starter John Patterson can't break a pane of glass with his fastball? Assuming he has the command to hit the pane of glass? Not exactly a good scouting report. But apparently not one that bothers the Astros, who are kicking those flat tires.

Patterson, the Washington Nationals' opening-day starter last year, has been limited to 15 starts the past two seasons because of arm injuries. He underwent surgery in September to repair a nerve problem. Wade said any possible deal with Patterson, 30, would hinge on him passing a physical and that he would be sent to Class AAA Round Rock to rehabilitate. "He needs time, from what I understand," Wade said.

Uh, yeah. "Time". By time, Wade hopefully means "8 years ago".

And, finally, from the SF Giants files, they seem to realize that there team is going to be, um, awful. At the least, they are trying to do something about it. Course, if they won't deal either Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum, it's not likely they will be able to start fixing what ails them. Jeebus but they are bad. At any rate, given that you can shake a tree and a first baseman falls out of it, it is absolutely amazing that they are just now realizing they are the one baseball team with players over the age of 12 in the entire world that does not actually have a decent first baseman. Anywhere. Which leads them to beg the Angels for Casey Kotchman. From the Chronicle:

"No match," Angels General Manager Tony Reagins said. "Not now."

The Giants are looking for ways to improve a roster that has failed to meet limited expectations while slogging through the Cactus League schedule. They managed just four hits - all singles - in an 8-1 loss to the Angels at Tempe on Thursday. At 6-17-2, they have the worst exhibition record in the major leagues. Their .253 batting average is the lowest in the Cactus League, and their 7.11 ERA is the worst in the majors. They haven't been so hot catching the ball, either. Lacking Omar Vizquel's stabilizing play at shortstop, their infield continues to look a fright. Third baseman Eugenio Velez committed an error on a routine grounder hit right to him when he inexplicably sidestepped it and tried to field on a backhand.

"We need to turn it up here," Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. "We're not even playing decent ball. We've talked about it. We've addressed it numerous times. . . . You see it. The guys are taking a ton of groundballs every day. "We've got to keep working here. Believe me, we're aware we're not winning games. We'd like to win some in the next week here. But the last thing we need to do is start hanging heads."

Hee. For funsies, if you are bored this weekend waiting for the season to start, pick up the 2008 Baseball Prospectus and peruse the organization section on the Giants along with the biting write-ups on various Giants players. To answer their question at one point, no, it is NOT too early to begin to use the verb, "to Sabean".

Turns out my irritation with Jayson Stark is significantly lessened when he says nice things about the Reds. OK, and he says nice things about other teams' prospects too. But I don't care about them quite so much.

Yeah, I am a whore. I think I am okay with that. Then again, it has been so long since good things were written about Reds pitching prospects that it doesn't matter where I can get it, as long as I can get it.

And Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez are cut from a different pitching cloth than we have seen in Cincy in awhile. At the least, it will no longer be Harang, Arroyo and flich with horror-o in Cincy this season.

"We're going to leave, but we're not leaving our memories," Tommy Lasorda told them in a pregame address, pausing between sentences. Later, he reflected: "In all probability, I'll never be here again."

In no other sport does history mean as much as it does in baseball. Who better to have the last word on Dodgertown than the voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully:

"There's probably no place in the world that holds more memories for me,'' Scully said."

No higher praise than that.

that would do justice to the event that has transpired in The Swamp over the past eight months. Twenty-two individuals filled out an entire roster of a fictional baseball team using the greatest players of all time. Which doesn't sound like it would be too hard until you try and think up the 22nd best third baseman in baseball history. It was an epic thread, recently finished, and deserves recognition. Nice work, fellas.

The Final Draft Board (yeoman's work done by Turdfurgeson on this, by the way.)

Part One
Part Two

...lost weight? Apparently.

...regained some velocity? Reportedly.

....drawn the interest of a variety of team? Scouts from the Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Astros, Rangers, and Royals say yeah. At least enough interest to send scouts.

Pitching still at a premium in the major leagues? Without question. These kind of throwing sessions underscore just how much of a premium. Big ass premium.

Your assignment:

Figure out which young National League right hander is drawing comparisons to Pedro Martinez (the young version, not the old broken one).

Do note, the comparison has been made not just by teammates, but by observers from other teams.

After seeing (but not really reading) article #3,000 about why team X isn't interested in Bonds, I feel the need to spell this out for any major league GM who reads the Frog. Your team would be better with a player who does this:

2007 Barry Bonds: .276/.204/.289, 28 HRs in 477 PAs

I can even accept that part of his OBP is likely due to hitting in a lineup so horrific that opposing teams had no incentive to pitch to him. Still, it was still .480. The last major leaguer not named Bonds to reach the .480 mark was Frank Thomas back in 1994. Even if you wanted to say his 43 IBBs weren't "earned" and eliminate them from the equation altogether (which is admittedly dumb), he'd still have an OBP of .429 which would have tied with Pujols for 4th overall. His isoP was 8th in the majors last year. So 1st in OBP, 8th in isoP, unable to find work. Got that? Even the defensive argument doesn't hold much weight with me as long as offense-only butchers like Carlos Lee, Adam Dunn, Chris Duncan and Manny Ramirez are deployed to left field every day.

So, in the absense of better things to do, here's a team by team analysis of which teams actually need Bonds and which can view him merely as a potential bench luxury ...

Continue reading "Barry Bonds Article #3,001 (or Positive Article #1) ..." »

LOS ANGELES ANGLES OF ANAHEIM (94-68, 90-72, 1st place AL West)
My Choice: Howie Kendrick, 2B, 24 (.322/.025/.127, 5 HRs in 353 MLB PAs)
Sigh. Kendrick's numbers thus far at the major league level aren't the type that would normally catch a sabermetrician's eye, especially the terrible plate discipline (14 unintentional walks in 636 professional PAs) and the unsustainably high 2007 BABIP (.381). For that reason, 2008 is a big season for him; another low isoD/isoP performance or another injury that costs him 50 games and maybe expectations will have to be reeled in a bit. Still, I can't help but look at the 90th percentile PECOTA projection (.316/.039/.210), factor in the hand injury last year and think Howie's much closer to unlucky than underdeveloping. Given 650 PAs, I'll put faith in Kendrick establishing himself as the hitting star so many analysts expect him to become and eventually bumping the isoD up to respectability. Even if the last part doesn't happen, that .359 minor league average in over 1,600 plate appearances can't be all hit luck. He's a player until proven otherwise.
Also Considered: Francisco Rodriguez, RP, 26 (31.6 K%, 11.9 BB%, 2.6 K/BB, 45.6 GB% in 67.3 MLB IPs)
Rany Jazayerli had a great article a couple weeks back about what it is Krod has accomplished over his first 300+ games and what he stands to accomplish if he can stay healthy. The full version is here; the summary is that Krod is a near lock for the Hall of Fame if the next decade of his career simply stays in the same neighborhood as his first five seasons. All well and good and reasonable, but even at his current level, its only 500 (great) innings over 7 years, so I'll pass.
(Whenever people question if a pitcher like Joba or Papelbon or Dempster should start or relieve, look at it that way. Over 7 years, its 500 innings versus 1,250. That's a huge, huge difference.)
((I was kidding about Dempster. He should probably stay in the pen to minimize the damage.))
In 2009: Brandon Wood (SS/3B, 23, .272/..066/.225, 23 HRs in 488 AAA PAs) has massive power upside but the strikeouts are worrying and the isoD has never cracked .070 in a professional season. If I didn't know a thing about his reputation (1st round pick, top 10 on most 2007 preseason prospect lists), I'm not sure I'd see his upside beyond present day Mark Reynolds. Time will tell, I guess.

Continue reading "If I Were Starting a Team, AL West Edition ..." »

Just who the fuck does Jason Marquis think he is?

The set-up:

Cubs have some pieces of their rotation set.

Jason Marquis is not one of those guaranteed a spot in the rotation.

He is supposed to be competing for a job.

He doesn't like that.

Quoth the Maquis:

"After a so-so two innings in his debut, pitcher Jason Marquis said Saturday that if he doesn't win a spot in the rotation, he wants to ''take my services elsewhere.''

To which his manager responded quite correctly with:

"Well, if that's the case, he can go somewhere else. How's that?'' About a minute later, Piniella stopped in mid-sentence when talking about another player to add, ''You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does. I'm not pleased with that comment at all. We've had a good camp over here. Everybody's getting an opportunity. Go out and win a spot in the rotation. Nobody's going to stand in your way if you do it. That's the easy way out.''

There was more. Follow the link above for the entire back and forth. And, yes, seriously. Jason Marquis. No, really. Jason Marquis. Amazing. No, you are not misremembering who Jason Marquis is.

In an admission that would surely disappoint my literary and analytical mentor, Joe Morgan, I have neither the consistency nor the presumed intangibles it would take to keep up a consistent post-per-day rate. Still, I was feeling particularly motivated today (at work) so let's enjoy this while it lasts and take a run through the AL Central ...

CHICAGO WHITE SOX (72-90, 67-95, 4th place AL Central)
My Choice: Nick Swisher, CF, 27 (.262/.119/.193, 22 HRs in 659 MLB PAs)
2008 is going to be a really interesting year for Swisher as he's moving from a home park that greatly favors pitchers to a home park that greatly favors hitters. While his OBP was higher in Oakland last year, his isoP was 24 points lower in large part because 14 of his 22 HRs were hit on the road. Mostly based on the trade, PECOTA is expecting Swisher to increase his HRs by almost 50% (up to 35) and register an isoP of .236 (which would have ranked inside the top 25 in 2007). However, I'm not sold that he'll see quite the massive power gains due to his projected usage in Chicago. In 2007, Swisher split his playing time somewhat evenly among CF, RF and 1B (39%, 33%, 28%). In 2008, he's expected to play most of the season in CF which, theoretically, would take a bigger toll on his body. While I'd temper my enthusiasm a bit below what PECOTA projects, Swisher has proven himself a durable player in the past and should be good for a moderate stat jump across the board. Besides, he was a really simple choice here.
Also Considered: White Sox 40 Man Roster
Seriously, you tell me. John Danks? Carlos Quentin? Both could develop into nice players but absolutely everything and then some would have to go right for them to be franchise players. I promise it won't.
In 2009: Aaron Poreda (SP, 21, 2007 1st round pick, 25th overall) has #1/#2 upside if he stays in the rotation but he's thrown less than 50 professional innings so I probably wouldn't consider 12 months from now anyway. Honestly, I only included Poreda here because I feel bad for White Sox fans and figured maybe tossing out another name might cheer them up a bit. If I were to read an article tomorrow exposing the White Sox as actually having co-GMs both named Kenny Williams with vastly differing philosophies who make deals without consulting each other, I'd probably feel better about the future of this team. They're just a directionless, self unaware mess. I'm sorry, Chicago south.

Continue reading "If I Were Starting a Team, AL Central Edition ..." »

Hello all, it's your good friend Mister Delaware. I'm stepping up to the front page to write pieces that get people talking and questioning what they hold dear while ... just kidding. I'm here to help alleviate the burden on the regular (spectacular) front page writers and to see if I can rise above the snarky, one-line comments that comprise 90% of my Swamp resume. Two words of caution:
(1) If you hate parenthetical thoughts as much as most educated readers do, this could be a bumpy ride.
(2) Most of my contributions will likely be baseball related so if you're looking for travel advice or metrosexual tips, you may just want to head inside to the Swamp now.

That said, here's what I'm thinking for my first six posts: An unoriginal in theory and sometimes verbose team-by-team romp through the major leagues to determine which player would be the best choice if starting a team. Obviously my opinion will matter the most since I'm on the front page but hopefully we can kill some time before opening day debating everything in the Swamp. Here are the ground rules ...

Continue reading "If I Were Starting a Team, AL East Edition ..." »

...players who made usage of PEDs is nearly limitless. From the St. Louis Post Dispatch, a recounting that for a second straight off-season that LaRussa asked his organization to go get them some Bonds. Barry Bonds.

Saith the LaRussa:

"When you look at somebody dangerous to hit behind Albert, Barry was the guy I thought of," La Russa acknowledged before Sunday's workout. "For whatever reason, at the general manager or the ownership level, they didn't agree."

As for the whole soap opera dealie surrounding Bonds, LaRussa apparently would not have cared:

"La Russa made clear that his interest was based solely on what Bonds might contribute between the lines and was hardly tempered by the legal soap opera that has engulfed the player.

"I take these guys as guys who fit into what we're trying to do. If somebody looks at the bigger picture, that's their responsibility, not mine," he said."

Got it. No big picture for Tony. Which is clearly not the case for Cardinals management, who quite rightly have a clear view of the big picture.

I laugh only so I don't cry.

I have started to collect Dusty Baker quotes in this spring training thread in the Swamp, but belatedly realize that my pain as a Reds fan might bring amusement to the rest of you. So, here's the highlights of Dusty Baker's first week of spring training quotations:

"Baker said it's possible the Reds could carry three catchers. "It depends on how things go," Baker said. "Late in the game, you'd love to have a guy like Bako behind the plate for a double switch or to pinch-hit. I told [general manager] Wayne [Krivsky] I'm looking for options. The more options I have, the more things you can do, the more people that can play and be put positions where they feel comfortable and succeed."

Because NOTHING says good roster management by potentially carrying David Ross, Javy Valentin, AND Paul Bako on your team.

""Boy, [Norris Hopper] can hit that ball hard. He's a strong little dude," Baker said. "The ball made a loud sound. I use my ears a lot. I can tell what kind of bat speed [he] has by that sound."

Let's be clear here: nothing says good hitter like Dusty's abillity to hear ball hit bat. And, since Norris Hopper potentially stands in the way of Jay Bruce making it to the Reds' starting line-up on Opening Day, consider this goodness from Swamp all-timer (and hopefully soon front page poster Mr. Delaware):

"I like that the sound of Hopper's bat is giving him the leg up over the mere stat based potential of Bruce. You guys are fucked. (Check out Bruce's 90th percentile PECOTA projection. .298/.371/.592 with 41 HRs. Wow.) (Hopper's is .334/.383/.406. 0 HRs. In 4,049 professional PAs, he has 4 HRs. How hard can someone hit a fucking ball if they're leaving the ballpark, at best, once every thousand plate appearances?)

Well, yeah. Good points Poindexter, nerdy stat guy, geek. I direct your attention to another of Dusty's quotes this week:

"All I've seen is stats. There's more to being in the big leagues than just stats. Everyone is so stat-conscious. You get away from: Can he do the little things ... to play winning baseball?"

Well. Consider yourself schooled, Mr. D. So, CAN Jay Bruce do the little things? Or is he just going to hold the Reds back with his power and speed? Huh? Thought so. You are not so tough now, are you, stats boy?

And, finally this, which is just FANfuckin'tastic in all of its jaw-droppingly old-school glory:

"I'm big on driving in runs and scoring runs," Baker said. "Guys in the middle should score about close to equal to what they drive in. On-base percentage, that's fine and dandy. But a lot of times guys get so much into on-base percentage that they cease to swing. It's becoming a little bit out of control."

Yeah, stupid people who work walks, get on, um, "base", and drive up pitch counts. Dumbasses. Don't they see it is out of control?

For the record, I find the OBP stuff from him less than surprising. From my post expressing my pain at the hire back on October 14 of last year, here was my first enumerated problem with it:

"1. He abhors walks and thinks "hitters should hit". Be afraid, owners of Adam Dunn in 2008. Be very afraid. I cannot imagine what the bitching will be like between Baker and uber-grump Marty Brennamen on the pre-game shows on days after Dunn has a few of his usual Ks. You can't get odds in Vegas on Baker and his desire to "fix" Dunn this spring. Nevermind that Dunn remains one of the top 10 productive hitters in baseball."

So far, he has left Dunn alone. Then again, they have not played a spring training game yet, so, wait for that. As for the first sentence: check.

The good people at Fire Joe Mogan have now realized the wonderful stupid falling from Dusty's mouth, and are limbering up. Should be happy hunting for them all season. Hell, consider that the OBP quote from Baker was SO stupid that Ken Tremendous, six days after the birth of his first child, was compelled to address it. So, props to Baker for that.

At any rate, I consider it my duty to keep wanderers through this part of the 'net up to date on all things stupid said by Dusty. As a Reds fan, I guess I will consider it some sort of punishment. Not sure for what, but the pain has begun.

letting users edit "encyclopedia" entries is a bad idea. As Ultimate Swamper DaveinSeattle pointed out, the 2008 Ford Frick award went to broadcaster Dave Niehaus, of the Seatlle Mariners. Yet some wikipedia user decided to taint Niehaus's award by editing the entry thusly:

I love me some of the Old Lefthander, but this was uncalled for.

He's talking. Not exactly a shocker there. Remember the set-up: signs $8 million dollar contract in November, potential season-ending shoulder issue discovered six weeks later. Here goes (courtesy of the Boston Globe):

"Something happened,'' said Schilling, who said he began throwing in mid-December, felt some discomfort, shut down for a couple of weeks, then felt "intense" pain when he resumed throwing in January, far worse than anything he experienced last season, when he was on the disabled list for seven weeks with what was described as biceps tendinitis. If some people want to believe this was me taking advantage of the situation financially, I wouldn't be doing it here. I would have done it for $14 million in at least two other places, if I was going to sit on my ass on the DL and collect a paycheck. So I know that for a fact. People are going to believe what they want to believe. I was healthy at the time.''

And:

"Here I am, 14 years later, and he (Morgan)[Schilling's preferred shoulder doc] was right every time,'' Schilling said. "This guy has been cutting edge forever. He's always been way ahead of the bell curve. He's an orthopedic surgeon, but that's like saying he's a major league player. He's Papelbon, a specialist, a shoulder specialist, that's what he does. But they (the Red Sox) disagreed. And at the end of the day, I hear one doctor say one thing, another doctor say something different, and a third doctor say something completely different. I'm probably as lost as anybody.''

And:

"Schilling said he is following the Sox prescribed regimen "because I don't have any choice. If their course of action doesn't work I don't pitch this year, I might not ever pitch again.'' Schilling did not come right out and say the Sox doctors were wrong, but he called their judgment into question this way. "I think there's unspoken here that doctors have egos every bit as much as professional athletes. These are some of the top people in the world at what they do. I had three different doctors tell me three completely different things with three completely different courses of action. I'm obviously going to fall back on the guy who's already been down this path before.''

And, ball's back in the Red Sox' court. I am guessing they will ignore it. Schilling's doc thinks he needs surgery. The Red Sox doc's think an injection will help it. Schilling's doc laughs at that. And one way or another, the Sox will pay Schilling $8 million dollars this year.

...his ex-teammates are glad to talk, their problems with Bonds, they no longer need to allay:

"[Barry] Zito told San Francisco reporters that a lot of players weren't "comfortable in their own skin" around Bonds, including himself.

"I'm excited," Zito said. "People will be allowed to be who they want to be, not who they think they have to be because there is such a heavy presence in the clubhouse, such a superstar."

Even Giants GM Brian Sabean is twisting a bit of a knife:

"General manager Brian Sabean knows there's something to the talk about a "freer" clubhouse. "The players are excited to, on one hand, be themselves, and on the other, branch out a bit," Sabean told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We all know ... Barry was bigger than life on the field and in the clubhouse. He was a very dominating personality."

Oh, and the double standards are gone as well, go Tyler Walker:

"That meant that since Bonds' arrival from Pittsburgh in 1993 there generally have been two sets of rules -- one for Bonds and one for everybody else. Walker says it will be great to be rid of the double standard Bonds created.

"I just had some preliminary conversations with Randy Winn about keeping everyone on the same level," Walker said. "If stretching is at 4 o'clock, you're out there or it's a fine, so nobody feels [there's] preferential treatment."

He's still available, by the way, for some lucky team in 2008. Anyone looking for clubhouse anthrax? Anyone? Hello? Is this thing on?

Jay Bruce in Cincy's camp.

Kerry Wood throwing in Cubs camp.

BJ Ryan back and already reports of full health from Toronto after he missed almost all of last season with elbow surgery.

Cameron Maybin in camp early for his new team in south Florida.

A running clock to the first spring training game is on mlb.com's home page. 10 days and 1 hour, as of this post.

Good. It's one thing that still feels timeless.

No small question, given that they seem likely to win 90+ games. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kerry Wood enters the spring as the odds on favorite. The other candidates are Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry. And, for the fantasy people among us, this note is most helpful:

"Only Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild know who will be given the first chance. The only thing Piniella has revealed is he won't use a closer-by-committee system and that he thinks he'll have a closer picked by the third week of Cactus League games."

Good. One thing we crave is certainty as drafts are unfolding. A decided closer early on would be a nice gift.

Thanks Tracy Ringolsby, for this:

"Cincinnati has shown consistent interest in Oakland right-hander Joe Blanton, but the Athletics aren't going to give up Blanton unless they get what they want in return, and what they want is outfielder Jay Bruce, whom the Reds consider untouchable."

Hee. I mean Joe Blanton's a nice pitcher and all, but c'mon. Be serious.

I don't think there's any chance in hell that A's GM Billy Beane is seriously asking for Jay Bruce straight up for Joe Blanton. But laughs are fun to start the day, so, much appreciated. If the Reds wouldn't loose Bruce for Erik Bedard, he certainly is not in play for Joe Blanton. And Beane knows that. And, I would think, so does Ringolsby. So perhaps Beane is setting the table by asking for the sun, moon and stars and will hope to then trick Reds GM Wayne Krivsky into giving up Joey Votto and either Johnny Cueto or Homer Bailey. In fact, I bet that's his game. I hope "sane Wayne Krivsky" is still on the scene and rejects Beane's play. If "insane Wayne Krivsky" (Kearns trade) has returned, all bets are off.

---Supposedly the Reds and A's are talking about Joe Blanton. I like Blanton, but not if the reported price will be Homer Bailey or Johnny Cueto AND Joey Votto + another prospect. Um, if that's what Billy Beane wants, please just say no Wayne Krivsky. That would arguably be a greater haul than Beane got for Dan Haren.

---Teams are still kicking the Bartolo Colon tires (Pirates, Royals, Astros), and finding the tires to be flat and torn. Scouting reports from his starts in the Dominican are that:

"By all accounts, Colon has not impressed in the Dominican, his fastball seldom touching 90 mph and his conditioning as questionable as the status of his arm."

Gee, add in two years of shoulder and elbow issues, and I think the phrase "DO NO WANT" is applicable. Surely each of those teams has AAA chaff that is better than what Colon offers at this point.

---Your closer in Arizona? Brandon Lyon will get the first shot. GIven how strong that team looks, adjust your draft sheets accordingly.

---Sean Casey to suppsedly help the Red Sox at first base. Well, at least with hugs. If the Red Sox were lacking hugs before this, they have addressed it and then some. Casey loves him some hugs. In fact, I have decided that what Casey really is, is the human embodiment of supporting character Chubby Huggs (he's a cat) from the comic strip Get Fuzzy. The Chubby Huggs description from Wikipedia:

"A portly cat who believes positive reinforcement (mostly through hugs) solves all problems. Once Chubby is locked in his hug position, he is unable to move for ten minutes."

Yup. That's Casey. Should he do anything noteworthy this baseball season (unlikely as that is) and worth a mention in these spaces, he shall be called Chubby Huggs. As for baseball help as opposed to hugs help? Not so much.

Oh, and the Twins really screwed up. Big time.

Santana, the deal they couldn't mess up, finally moved, to the Mets for Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra and Carlos Gomez. The finally details are being put in place before the deal will be official. Not near enough of a haul. In fact, a worse haul than if they had consumated their teasing with the Red Sox and Yankees back at the winter meetings. They overplayed their hand, no matter how they try and spin it in the next few days.

Mike Lupica, in the Daily News, per usual, misses the story and claims that Mets GM Omar Minaya finally bowled over the Twins. Um, no, he didn't. It was the same deal that the Mets have reportedly had on the table to the Twins for weeks. And it doesn't include the one prize from the Mets system that Minnesota had been holding out for.

In Minnesota, the columns rationalizing a massive screw-up have begun. Good luck talking yourselves into that argument.

Let's be clear. Both the deals originally offered by the Yankees and Red Sox were superior to what the Twins ultimately took. By holding out for "one more player", it forced them to the Mets' offer seven weeks later. And even then, they couldn't get that "one more player" and ended up with a package that is sub-par for their needs.

Horrible job, all the way around in Minnesota. As for the Mets? You can't have lucked into a better situation.

Interesting, watching a new city get acclimated to the Josh Hamilton story. The Dallas Morning News hits the usual high points of his comeback with a decent read. The stuff in there is 90% repetitive if you are a Reds fan who watched his rise last year, but probably of interest to Rangers fans.

What IS of interest to this particular Reds fan were these paragraphs deep in the story:

"Cincinnati maneuvered to get him through the Rule 5 draft. The one caveat: The Reds had to keep him in the majors all season. It was a gamble. But in Reds manager Jerry Narron, who once fought to keep an unproven Michael Young on his Rangers team six years ago, Hamilton found an advocate.

Narron's brother, Johnny, had coached Hamilton as a teen. Jerry had seen Hamilton's talent up close. After doctors suggested what support Hamilton might need to make the against-the-odds transition to the majors, one thought stuck with Jerry: Get Johnny back together with him. "Doctors told us he'd need somebody to talk to, somebody who he could trust, who he could depend on," Jerry says. "The guy that fit that to a 'T' was Johnny." Within a week, Hamilton and Johnny were working together in Smithfield. Johnny joined Cincinnati's staff. In addition to scouting video and assisting with hitting instruction, Hamilton's welfare fell under Johnny's duties.

They were rarely apart. When Hamilton got antsy in the clubhouse, Johnny would play patsy on NCAA Football '07. When Hamilton went on the disabled list, Narron accompanied him on daily movie expeditions, even if meant sitting through "Transformers" for three consecutive days. They talked daily about baseball, life and faith.

"He is a unique talent who has some unique needs," Johnny says. "I'm there for him and all 25 players. Whatever I do for Josh, I'd do for anybody in the clubhouse."

Fair enough. Except, for most players, he wouldn't have to. And, there's the thing. From all accounts, whispers really, but reliable whispers, somewhere round about August of last season the veterans (at least some of them) in the Reds' clubhouse got tired of what they perceived as special treatment for Hamilton. And it led to the tuning out of Jerry Narron (someone who really was not good as a manager anyway). Now, I have never been in a major league clubhouse, so I don't know the dynamics that normally exist, or what having a babysitter on staff for a player does to those dynamics, but I do appreciate that it is something that is outside the norm.

Either the Reds organization did a bad job selling Johnny Narron's presence to the team, or the Reds were full of assholes. Could go either way, I suppose, or maybe a little bit of both. Or perhaps there will inherently be tension in the kind of arrangement necessary to keep Josh Hamilton clean. At any rate, the Rangers would be well advised to pre-sell what Hamilton needs in terms of Johnny Narron's presence with their team early in the spring, to head off any kind of in-clubhouse jealousies or what not. Because, if Hamilton can stay clean, he really is a special talent.

Houston Astros mini-camp.

Although he isn't sure he will attend next week despite the invite. Course, that may be because he is busy learning the finer points of dancing around perjury, given his looming day before Congress, so he's got a decent excuse.

Back on Tuesday, Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune mused:

Are the Twins overplaying their hand in the Johan Santana Trade Talks?

Um, yes?

The background for the piece was the news that the Mets had offered a boatload of talent, but the Twins asked for one more piece, causing New York to pull back. It's a familiar scenario that everyone saw played out in the winter meetings with the Red Sox and Yankees. The Twins continune to bet that one of the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets will finally blink and offer that last piece to make it all worth Minny's while. The problem? No real incentive for any of those teams to blink and Minnesota goes to spring training with a built-in distraction and teams that don't feel compelled to make a deal.

I just don't see the Twins' hand getting stronger as time passes. At all.

...I can't accuse the Reds of standing pat this off-season. Hired Dusty Baker to be the manager for better or worse, and shelled out big bucks to do so. Shelled out even more big bucks to get the best closer on the market in Francisco Cordero, stealing him away from Milwaukee in the process. Reputed to have made every effort to talk Erik Bedard out of Baltimore, and continue to be rumored to be near those talks. And now? Hired former St. Louis GM Walt Jocketty as a special advisor to owner Bob Castellini.

Interesting.

The knee-jerk reaction is that GM Wayne Krivsky must be in trouble. But the early indications from the club are that is not the case. The relevant quotes:

""I'm still the GM," Krivsky said. "I still report to Bob. Everyone under me still reports to me. Nothing's changed in that regard."

Said Jocketty: "We should be fine. I report to Bob. Basically, I'll be involved in every aspect, working with Wayne."

OK, so there may be some tension there. In any event, good. Having a second baseball man as a sounding board is not a bad thing. And, for too many years where baseball folk were completely missing from the Reds' front office, having a few extra kicking around, especially with Jocketty's experience and track record of success, well, that's not a bad thing.

At any rate, it is clearly not business as usual for the Reds anymore, and that in and of itself is a very good thing.

I guarantee you it will surprise you. If you enjoy baseball, John Walsh's piece on outfield arms at Hardball Times is required reading. It is, without a doubt, the most interesting and informative baseball article I've read throughout what has been the most interesting offseason in baseball history.

Walsh's piece is SABR-writing at its best: he doesn't overwhelm you with the genius of formulae, but he makes you feel much more informed about the game. Some of the more interesting names to look up when you get there, for better or for worse:

B.J. Upton
Torii Hunter
Shane Victorino
Willy Taveras (really?)
Nick Swisher

Clemens sues McNamee! For defamation! Why? Quoth Clemens' mouthpiece:

"We don't know what McNamee told (Mitchell). We don't know what vetting he did," Hardin said."

Well, my read of the Mitchell report reveals that McNamee told Mitchell he shot steroids into Clemens' bare ass.

Is Hardin's copy different from everyone else's?

So the city and state is getting fucked around a little on another stadium deal. Wha else is new? When will the government learn they can't negotiate a contract?

The Yankees and hundreds of their VIPs will get free valet parking for the next 40 years, courtesy of New York taxpayers.

Game-day parking prices for the general public will more than double from $14 last year to $29 in 2010. They could hit $35 by 2014. You have to find some extra elt to pay for A-Rod.

So the city and state is getting fucked around a little on another stadium deal. Wha else is new? When will the government learn they can't negotiate a contract?

The Yankees and hundreds of their VIPs will get free valet parking for the next 40 years, courtesy of New York taxpayers.

Game-day parking prices for the general public will more than double from $14 last year to $29 in 2010. They could hit $35 by 2014. You have to find some extra elt to pay for A-Rod.

One of my favorite courtroom maneuvers is asking a witness a question knowing it will be objected to and then the judge instructs the jury to make believe they didn't hear the question to begin with question.

Here in Iowa, the center of the American universe until Thursday evening, Huckabee did something very similar. He said he wouldn't run a negative ad against Romney and then proceeded to show the media the ad, thereby having parts of the ad run for FREE. Pretty sharp.

So what does this have to do with sports you may be wondering. Well a first time HOF voter wrote a column about his experience being a first time voter. During the course of his column he rang the big ass bell which of course contradicted his previous statements.

So here is my response to Dave Buscema of the Time Herald Record, serving the Hudson Valley and the Catskills (where the corned beef is really, really lean).

So I noted the time at 12:52 p.m. yesterday as I typed a message to a colleague, confidently announcing an end to the chaos, along with the names of the players who would be checked on my first Hall of Fame ballot.

In the end -- after I had allowed myself to be lobbied into a vote for Tim Raines before frantically re-opening the case to change my mind -- I discovered a thought I will now use as my guide:

If a player's status somehow came down to my vote, he has to make me feel worse for keeping him out of the Hall than inducting him.

Raines' name was removed from my ballot at the last possible moment.

When he was in his first full season with the Expos, Raines admitted cocaine use, sought help and is thought to have been drug-free ever since making a mistake when he was a "young, young, young 20," as he said in one interview. The rest of his career and status as a great teammate and leader was enough to make me consider overlooking the offense because cocaine is an addiction more than a performance enhancer, but three things finally tore at my gut enough to take him off my ballot for now:

1. He admitted sliding headfirst the year he used because he kept coke in his uniform pocket and didn't want it to fall out -- which is an act as disrespectful of the game as you can imagine.

2. As a player whose key Hall of Fame attribute was his speed, I want to examine a little further whether the use of a stimulant could have enhanced his performance whether he used it for that purpose or not.

Ok Dave, if coke enhanced your speed performance you can be sure Marion Jones would have taken it. She took everything else. It is obvious you don't know shit about drugs. Fortunately I do. There was a time that my urine not only had a street value but would have broken some of Dick Pound's machines.

How can you "consider" overlooking something and then two paragraphs later make it the basis for your decision? Is Peter King your editor?

Raines is a more murky issue for me than a straight cheater, but going back to the rule I created for myself, at this moment I can live with Raines not having a plaque.

That doesn't mean I won't reconsider after more time to ponder and research.

How can you wonder if cocaine can be used as a PED without a single phone call to a doctor or addiction specialist or Michael Ray Richardson? The only thing I ever did faster on coke was talk. I talked faster than the guy in the FedEx commercials. I remember some comic's joke about coke (back in the days when you could do drug humor).

"My friend said you should try some coke. All it does is enhance your personality.... Really? Well what if you're already an asshole?"

Remember tip the wait staff and stay away from the veal.

No worries, class tattletale/whistle-blower Jose Canseco has your back.

"One-time big league slugger Jose Canseco will name more names in a sequel to his 2005 steroid memoir "Juiced," according to published reports Sunday. The new book, with the working title "Vindicated," will arrive in bookstores on opening day 2008, Canseco's lawyer Robert Saunooke told the New York Post and the Daily News. Saunooke said the book would accuse ballplayers not named in former Sen. George Mitchell's report of using performance-enhancing drugs."

Let the besmirchment begin. And, as before, I will wait for one of Canseco's accused to sue him into oblivion. I am still waiting from last time around...

Fuck you.

Well, that's a paraphrase.

What he actually said is:

"In the event there's a lawsuit (from Clemens), we've planned for that," Ward, who represents McNamee, told the Daily News. "We think it would be frivolous, but we're planning for that. With regards to the federal investigation, we're confident that (McNamee's) done everything he's legally obligated to do. It's unfortunate that this whole situation had to go down the way it went down. (McNamee) was friends with Roger and I think he hopes Roger understands that he had to tell the truth. Brian wants him to know that what he did, he was legally obligated to do. He's got a wife and kids. He's not going to go to jail for Roger Clemens."

Oooh, lawyer snap.

And snap from Barry Bonds to Roger Clemens. As unlikable as Bonds supposedly is, he at least could find someone to go jail for him. One for Bonds.

After a fashion, at least.

"The lead attorney for Roger Clemens said Tuesday night that he and other attorneys working for his firm have begun their own investigation into allegations that link Clemens to the use of steroids and human growth hormone."

Presumably they will start with Brian McNamee and show him pictures of butts that look like Clemens', and ask him if he might be mistaken with regard to his Mitchell testimony.

Also, in a PR move that I don't think will have the, um, juice that Clemens hopes it will, the details on the corpse of Mike Wallace handling Clemens' interview for 60 Minutes are coming to the front. This quote from the 89-year-old Wallace is instructive:

"When we went down there to profile him, we went to his home, I watched him exercise, I watched him work out and he became my friend," Wallace said. "He trusts me and is going to talk to me and I hope he can answer all the questions on my mind."

Gee. THAT sounds like the prelude to one mother-fuckin' hard-chargin' take-no-prisoners interview...

Let's meet someday.

"But McNamee, whose work Clemens credited for years as one of the reasons he was able to dominate into his 40s, would like to one day discuss the matter with Clemens, McNamee's lawyer, Earl Ward, said Sunday. "Brian would be open to it, certainly," Ward said in a telephone interview. "I don't know if Roger would. But Brian would be open to it because he knows what he's been saying all along is honest and truthful and he'd want Roger to understand he was obligated to tell the truth."

Strong. Because Clemens has finally found his "I'm ouraged and shocked" voice regarding McNamee's story. Although the recent YouTube offensive in front of a "Roger 300 Wins" banner is kind of fun in a "Mission Accomplished" sort of way.

It's just that, Roger, I am having trouble believing that the guy would make up the part about sticking a needle in your ass. Guys will make up a lot of things. Anything dealing with another dude's rear end though? Not usually where make believe takes one.

And not by me. You probably wouldn't want to read that.

But the list put together by Jon Weisman at si.com, that is worth reading. He's got a system, and it puts the Angels at the forefront. Interesting stuff therein? The Rays come in 4th overall in the AL in his rankings, ahead of the Yankees among other teams.

If you are jonesing for some baseball chatter as winter deepens, it's well worth a look.

Some very interesting news from the Associated Press:

"Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa were accused of using steroids by former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley in a federal agent's affidavit unsealed Thursday.

Grimsley also accused Chuck Knoblauch of using human growth hormone; David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs; and Rafael Palmeiro and Pete Incaviglia of taking amphetamines, according to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky's sworn statement.

Four names, including that of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, were not mentioned in the affidavit, despite a newspaper report last year that singled them out."

That newspaper they refer to is the Los Angeles Times, who refused to retract the story after Clemens denied it. These inaccuracies are interesting and point to the short-sightedness of acquitting or convicting any players based on speculative evidence. Clemens' lawyer is threatening legal action. Normally, I'd say that this is nothing more than blowing smoke (see Bonds, Barry), but a judge is practically encouraging a lawsuit by Clemens:

"In a separate two-page order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward C. Voss in Phoenix cited the newspaper for 'abusive reporting' in its article that linked Clemens to the affidavit ... At best, the article is an example of irresponsible reporting,' Voss wrote. 'At worst, the 'facts' reported were simply manufactured. ... Hopefully, any reference to the Times article as authoritative will now cease.'"

Also of note, even without Pettitte, a lot of members of the World Series Champion New York Yankees in 2000 are named (Grimsley, Canseco, Knoblauch, Watson, Hill). And there are more unsealed documents that will be unsealed as a part of the gradual unraveling of names that promises to take place in coming months.

Man, the Red Sox need to learn to hold onto their balls. Especially World Series balls. First, Doug Mientkiwicz didn't want to give the ball to the Sox, and now this happens to the ball from the final out of the 2007 World Series:

"My dog ate it," Papelbon told the newspaper. "He plays with baseballs like they are his toys. His name is Boss. He jumped up one day on the counter and snatched it. He likes rawhide. He tore that thing to pieces.

"I'll keep what's left of it."

Of course, this makes his legend grow.

Unintended consequences and all that. Do something high-profle in baseball and stupid quotes from Pete Rose can't be far behind. Quoth the original cheat:

"I never thought anybody would make me look like an altar boy,"

Don't worry. Hasn't happened yet.

"I've been suspended 18 years for betting on my own team to win," he added. "I was wrong ... but these guys today, if the allegations are true, they're making a mockery of the game."

Seriously? You're trying to win a game of worse-off between what you did and what the steroid cheats have done? Let's be clear, you're worse. Far worse. Worse times one million worse. Have no illusions about that.

Back to your home under a rock somewhere, Pete.

I am a few days late to this, but, it is well worth shining a light on it, if only to see a cockroach doing whatever it is a cockroach does. Swamp all-timer Costumed Vigilante pointed out the stupidity of the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti in the second of the Swamp's Mitchell threads, and it is well worth highlighting here for others who may have missed it. Sometimes, you have to glory in one's ability to plumb the depths of dumb. Wrote Massarotti:

"As for the rhetoric that dominated the airwaves yesterday, please. Baseball officials, players, agents, critics and fans all had chances to help fix the problem a long time ago and ignored it. Clearly, it was never that important to anyone. Whatever was said in the wake of the Mitchell Report, we've heard it all before a thousand times. And chances are we'll hear it again."

Yeah. Fucking take what's coming to you, fans. It's time you, the fan, stopped ducking blame for the steroid era. Many was the morning when Joe/Jane Fan would wake up, full of regret, for his/her role in jamming a needle teeming with HGH or the latest designer steroid into the ass of their favorite player. Who amongst us didn't lovingly spread BALCO cream on the star of our favorite team? And, at the least, every fan clearly knew, from our unimpeachable access to locker-rooms, that syringes and bottles were just another piece of equipment during that time.

So, yeah, stop ducking blame, fans. Because your responsibility is clearly on a par with players and ownership for this.

Oh, and Tony Massarotti? The funniest part of your ridiculously dumb sentence? Your exemption of the baseball media from what went down. Then again, it's not like you were just sitting at home with no access to the inner workings of baseball locker-rooms or access to GMs, scouts, and trainers and therefore access to finding and reporting the story. That must have been fans with that access. Damn. I am easily confused.

From baseball news and notes December 9, 2007:

Eric Gagne signs one-year $10 million dollar deal with Brewers

From the Mitchell report released December 13, 2007:

When the Boston Red Sox were considering acquiring Gagné, a Red Sox official made specific inquiries about Gagné's possible use of steroids. In a November 1, 2006 email to a Red Sox scout, general manager Theo Epstein asked, "Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?" 425 The scout, Mark Delpiano, responded,

Some digging on Gagne and steroids IS the issue. Has had a checkered medical past throughout career including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay healthy, maintain body and re invent self. What made him a tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff . . . Mentality without the plus weapons and without steroid help probably creates a large risk in bounce back durability and ability to throw average while allowing the change-up to play as it once did . . . Personally, durability (or lack of) will follow Gagne . . .

Ouch. What's the sound of $10 million dollars being set to burn? That's one regrettable contract for Milwaukee on the morning of December 14. Then again, it should have been for them the moment it was offered and accepted.

And, in case anyone was still confused, consider the contract that an obviously questionable in baseball circles Gagne signed with Milwaukee. The goodness is still flowing for him financially from his cheating years.

And, Milwaukee's stupid.

"2:18: Mitchell says that Bud Selig shouldn't punish players for past transgressions. Interesting.

2:24: So this is odd: Mitchell is basically undercutting his entire report. He seems to see it more as an historical document that has little to do with the actual game today. Hmm."

"According to the notes of an internal discussion among Los Angeles Dodgers officials in October 2003 that were referred to above, it was reportedly said of Lo Duca during the meetings:

Steroids aren't being used anymore on him. Big part of this. Might have some value to trade . . . Florida might have interest. . . . Got off the steroids . . . Took away a lot of hard line drives. . . . Can get comparable value back would consider trading. . . . If you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you he can have a good year. That's his makeup. Comes to play. Last year of contract, playing for 05.

"On June 26, 2004, Lo Duca wrote a check to Radomski for $3,200. On July 30, 2004, the Dodgers traded Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota, and Juan Encarnacion to the Marlins.420 On August 7, 2004, Lo Duca issued another check to Radomski for $3,200. In January 2005, Lo Duca signed a three-year contract with the Marlins.

Do you have a person that is usually difficult to find a holiday gift for? May I suggest the Nutty Buddy.

Former Royals pitcher Mark Littell, who has slightly lost his mind, has designed a new athletic cup that he says is ahead of the competition. So the next time the boss gives you a cup check make sure your nads have the protection they need. I'm wearing mine right now.

DTTW+JPD/BA = death threats toward wife plus joints per day divided by batting average.

This is a small part of Jeff Passan's "Elijah Dukes Experiment" which is a part of his winter meetings wrap up.

I firmly believe that bloggers are responsible for keeping most sports journalists on their toes and increasing the quality of their writing.

Apparently alive and well. And waiting on only on SF GM Brian Sabean to sign off on it.

Whether Sabean does or not largely depends on if one of his assistants can convince him Rios is old, I would suppose...

Bottom line, good players and good managers have hated each other before, and still found ways to do their respective jobs. The Post Dispatch's Bernie Miklasz drives that point home in a solid read, framed around this story illustrating the long-standing hatred that Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver had for each other during the great run of the Orioles in the 70s and early 80s. Writes Miklasz:

"Many years ago, a Maryland State trooper pulled over Earl Weaver, the Baltimore Orioles' manager, as Weaver made his way home after a night game. Weaver was swerving. The trooper wanted to check to see if Weaver had been drinking.

The trooper asked Weaver if he had any physical disabilities. "Yeah," Weaver barked. "Jim Palmer." The trooper was confused. Palmer? "Yeah," Weaver said. "He's a giant pain in my --."

Funny. And illustrative that managers and players don't have to be best buds to be effective. Miklasz makes the point that if Rolen is healthy, he's a damn fine ballplayer. If he's not healthy, he's not so much a damn fine ballplayer. With health, a lot of the bitching will recede. Or, at the least, will allow the focus to be on the field. At any rate, Miklasz also makes this very fine point:

"A source close to Rolen tells me that Rolen is feeling great, physically, after undergoing relatively minor cleanup surgery on his left shoulder in September. If that holds up, Rolen will help the Cardinals in 2008. And they need him to be effective, because the free-agent market is lean, and the Cardinals are short on trade pieces.

That's why GM John Mozeliak would be crazy to give Rolen away in some stupid deal. You don't trade a player because he doesn't like the manager. Or if you do trade him, you must receive fair value in return. But to give Rolen away, and agree to pick up a chunk of the $36 million owed to him? Mozeliak would be certifiably looney-tunes if he did that."

True dat. But a Reds fan can hope...

A whole lot of not much broken up by that still wonderfully audacious Tigers/Marlins swap. Two days later, a grateful baseball public still lauds those organizations for giving everyone something real to talk about. As for the winners and losers (as there apparently must always be) from the meetings, Jon Heyman of si.com with a take here.

A sample from the Losers list:

"Marlins fans. If there are any left, they were weeping this week when at least a third bona fide fire sale in 10 years commenced with a double hit. GM Larry Beinfest suggested they'd still compete, ignoring the fact that they have a roster without any experience or nearly enough talent. On the bright side, they may have knocked the payroll below $20 million, meaning owner Jeffrey Loria will get to continue to line his pockets."

That's one take.

Here's a different one. Setting aside the degree to which Jeffrey Loria is lining his pockets, the Marlins remain almost singularly talented at engaging in this kind of tear-down and then re-build. And they came out of the deal with the Tigers with two major-league ready talents (in Maybin and Miller) and, if history is a guide, at least two of the next four prospects who will be difference makers in the next few years. Dontrelle Willis himself waves "hi" as a prospect acquired from the Cubs in a similar deal years ago. And I wouldn't be so quick to slag on Florida's line-up in 2008. I bet they come in north of 75 wins, even with their line-up of baseball infants. A bunch of teams wish they were that bad.

Minaya thinks the Mets have the players to get a Johan Santana deal done:

"We have some pretty good prospects," general manager Omar Minaya said. "We have the players."

Uh, no, you don't. No matter how much you try and sell the world that Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber live in the same prospect world as Phil Hughes or Clay Buchholz. At least, the world won't be on the same page with that thesis (and, presumably, the Twins) if they are not popping the pills that you are apparently popping. But, enjoy the trip.

Thanks to Detroit and Florida for putting a hop in every baseball fan's step this morning. A true blockbuster deal with top players headed one way for top prospects heading the other way. At its heart, two philosophies, each defensible in this instance.

From Detroit's perspective, no matter how highly thought of Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller might be (or the other four minor-leaguers in the deal for that matter), there are no guarantees when it comes to their development or what they will eventually be. Particularly with regard to Andrew Miller, as top prospect pitchers are, at best, a crapshoot in terms of development. And, in return, they get the extraordinarily projectible Miguel Cabrera at 24-years-old and entering his prime. A no-brainer. Add in what is left of Dontrelle Willis (fully capable of a bounce-back year in a new league not used to his deceptive delivery) and they made out about as well as you can.

From Florida's perspective, we are used to this by now. Why are people no longer quite as critical? Because by doing this they put themselves in a position to win in fairly short order, and then tear it down again. It's what they do.

Since prospects are such a crapshoot, why does it work for Florida? On one level, because they have shown themselves more capable than a lot of teams at identifying, acquiring and developing talent on the cusp of stardom. On another level, because they appear fully aware of the arbitrary and capricious nature of getting prodigies to develop and acquire as many of them as possible. From a stockpile of potential talent, they have the one or two who develop. With Florida, it is about numbers of prospects in many cases that is important, as it is who the prospects are (to a certain point).

So, really, good aggressive move by both organizations, for reasons that make a ton of respective sense.

The view from Detroit is favorable (Mitch Albom makes more sense than usual).

The view from Miami? Used to this. As well they should be. Hell, in three years they may be World Series champs again. And, as Dan Le Batard notes, it's not like all that many people in Miami care.

At least with regard to the language? Perhaps.

Robert Edwards Auctions, an auction house apparently specializing in baseball collectibles, has come into posession of a document from 1898 entitled "Special Instructions to Players" and regarding the use of inappropriate language. Some favorite examples of mine from the document with regard to inappropriate language?

"A dog must have fucked your mother when she made you."

"You cunt-lapping dog."

The second link gets you a view of the document itself. From the document, it would appear such colorful turns of phrase were being uttered plenty close enough to offend the delicate sensibilities of people attending such games and was becoming a concern to those who ran the sport. The request from a player to a guy in the stands that he "go fuck himself" prior to one game for asking who was going to pitch seems to have been an impetus for the effort to stop the cussing.

History is sometimes fun.

Still a Twin. But perhaps not for much longer.

The late night/early morning reports are that the Twins and Red Sox are exchanging information and medical reports on Santana and Jon Lester.

Jeebus. If Jacob Ellsbury, at a minimum, is not a part of the package along with Lester and a few others, that really would be a heist for Boston. The rumored package? Coco Crisp, pitcher Justin Masterson and infielder Jed Lowrie plus Lester.

Good lord.

I have been searching out his stuff based on garyclark's front page recommendations in these spaces, and I have not been disappointed. Since we have not (sadly) heard from gc as much recently in these spaces, allow me to point you to Cafardo's latest in the Boston Globe as everyone heads to Nashville. As usual, it will not disappoint. Among the goodness:

---Baltimore has a chance to be uber-active, with the right "knock socks off" deal getting a prize like Miguel Tejada, or, more interestingly, Erik Bedard. Beyond that, Carfardo thinks plenty of other aged Oriole vets are available (including Mora, Huff, Ramon Hernandez). For a team needing to fill short-term holes, the Oriole shop appears open.

---The White Sox need outfielders, and are trying to talk teams into $4.5 million dollars of Juan Uribe in a potential return. Good luck with that.

---Cleveland is in on Jason Bay, and Bay would be absolutely devastating in that line-up. Will Pittsburgh under-sell their prime asset? Does the sun rise in the east?

---Detroit may be in on the "Rehab 3" (Carfado's term for Jason Jennings, Matt Clement, and Kris Benson. Heh. Nice work there.) and is looking for set-up help to replace the wildfire damaged Joel Zumaya.

There is more. Much, MUCH more. Great read, and far better and informative than pretty much anything on the national sites.

If you care about baseball at all, I commend it to you. Enjoy.

The Marlins to the Miguel Cabrera suitors: pay up or we will be happy to hold him.

The Twins to the Johan Santana suitors: add some sugar or he ain't going anywhere. Do the Yankees really want to add another top prospect to a Hughes/Melky package? Do the Red Sox want to go to a Buckholz or Ellsbury in addition to what they are offering? If the Twins are to be believed, that is what it will take to finish a deal for Santana.

There's a big game of trade chicken being played, and fun part about it is that there are enough suitors involved that there are multiple cars racing toward each other on darkened streets with their lights off. Someone will blink first. Again, it should be a fascinating winter meeting.

Happening in what will be relatively balmy Nashville (Opryland Hotel---a Country Christmas in full effect) this year. Other than the well-chronicled Johan Santana pursuit by the Yankees/Red Sox/countries-with-equivalent resources, what else might be popping next week?

Scott Miller at sportsline.com says:

---Forget Santana...what about the potential movement of Miguel Cabrera, Dan Haren, Erik Bedard. What even, of Miguel Tejada? All potentially available for the right price. The Santana deal, should it occur in the next 48 hours, will go a long way toward setting the market for Bedard and Haren.

---Free agent movement? The top names that might see some deals include Andruw Jones (trying to make everyone forget his borderline disastrous 2007), Aaron Roward (will run into a display case in the lobby just to remind GMs he doesn't mind walls), and then a devil's brew of free agent pitchers: Livan Hernandez, Kyle Lohse, and Carlos Silva. Blech. No wonder the A's, Orioles, and Twins are enjoying the trade market for their aces. Not a lot of options otherwise.

Another outstanding read/preview of what might be in the offing among over-priced country themed Christmas trinkets comes from foxsports.com's Dayn Perry with thoughts on all of the above along with additional musings on the Mets, whether the Twins will be on a modified fire-sale even after moving Santana, whether the Dodgers will snap out of a coma and come up with a plan (and it better not involve trying to foist Juan Pierre on the Reds, Dusty or no Dusty), and a final guess as to Alex Rodriguez's new deal (still has a shot at being near Beelzebub's $300 million mark).

The meetings have a real shot to be entertaining and active this time around. Always a good thing.

The above word, barely, captures the reaction of Swamp all-timer Mr. Delaware to the news that the Yankees have added Philip Hughes to the apparent package to go retrieve them some Johan Santana.

It's a classic deal, should it come to pass. The uncertainty of youth versus the apparent certainty of what Santana is now. Then again, at 29, even with a good level of usage prior to now, there are, as always, NO guarantees when it comes to health and pitchers. So, yeah, it would be a steep price.

And, there are other pitchers available on the market, including Oakland's Dan Haren and Baltimore's Erik Bedard. Could NY get one of those for a package that did not include Hughes? We will apparently never know. Course, if Santana is remotely healthy and able to pitch like he has the last several years in Minnesota, he will be the best left-hander (with a few apologies to Andy Pettitte) in the bronx since the heydey of Ron Guidry.

That said, if it were me, I would make the deal. Unless Santana's arm snaps in the next few years, he could very well be the anchor the Yankees need (and have needed) to make a deep run in the playoffs. At the least, he gives them a more legit shot against the kinds of pitching staffs that have denied them a return to the Series or a title since 2000.

Like a hemopheliac in a razor blade factory so goes Mike Hampton and a baseball diamond. He does seem to have the guts of the Black Knight from Monty Python's as he keeps coming back, or is it that huge contract?

It's a familiar refrain, this time from south of the border: Mike Hampton is hurt again.

The Braves left-hander injured his right hamstring in the first inning of his first start in the Mexican Winter League last week. He left after one inning, and it's uncertain if he'll pitch again this winter.

"We don't know when he'll come back [in winter ball], if at all," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "There's only four weeks left in the season, and hamstring injuries usually take a while."

And for those of you to young to remember the Black Knight:

Steve Serby of the New York Post had a chance to do a Q&A with the new Yankees boss. Of course he is only the new Yankees boss because his ex-brother-in-law got a DUI on Valentine's Day evening. Some of the highlights. Snarky comments in italics.

Q: What's it been like being George Steinbrenner's oldest son?

A: When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money. There were a couple of times he was even bankrupt, which is well-documented. When I was a kid, it was a basic middle-class upbringing in Bay Village, Ohio, before he started making big money. I also worked at the farm, having been in horseracing since I was 13 - mucking stalls, baling hay, that stuff.

Poor bastard. And I had to walk to school every day. Uphill, both ways.

Q: Will this be a fun role for you?

A: It's the family business, is what it is. Winning is always fun; we want to win. It's a necessity. If you want to be a leader, you gotta step up. You can't hide in a room somewhere just because there's a controversy over the Joe Torre thing or this, that and the other thing. I'm a horse trader, I'm a horse bettor, I'm a horse breeder. You learn a little something when you're in that business. If you can do horseracing, you can do baseball.

As a Yankee fan I am reassured. Now we can get a soda a hot dog and a quinela ticket at the window. And next time A-Rod goes 0-for the playoffs maybe he can be put down.

Q: New Yorkers?

A: New Yorkers are pretty amazing, I think. I'll never forget that blackout. The entire city was walking together across the bridge to go home. Not an ounce of trouble. I don't think that could happen in any other city. It was almost like something you'd see in Japan where everybody works together.

Which blackout is he talking about? I remember the looting, which has been a New York tradition before the Yanks even existed.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Ok I know she has a SAG card, but is she really an actress?

Temporarily accessible to all, Buster Olney breaks it down for espn.com on his very fine blog.

Option 1: The Twins keep Santana in his last year on his deal. A possibility, since teams dealing for Santana would know that his asking price on a new deal may be in the $150 million dollar range over six years. That would limit potential suitors significantly. And, if they keep him, they get comp picks when he walks next off-season.

Option 2: Keep him and deal him for what they can at the deadline, in a two-month rental for some team.

Option 3: Talk one of the rich guys into paying a ransom for him now. Boston? New York (AL and NL version)? Los Angeles? Anyone else?

Of those three, Olney thinks the first is most likely. At least, in that scenario, Santana anchors one last run at a pennant for the Twins, with a rehabbed Liriano giving them a one-two punch in the rotation the equal of any in baseball.

That would make sense. Then again, I expect that baseball's cold war may very well resume over Santana, with the Yankees and Red Sox playing a quiet game of chicken over whether the other will meet Minnesota's (and Santana's) respective demands. That is still my best guess on how this will play out this off-season.

He, at the very least, is an arm worth fighting over. At least until a ligament snaps.