The Hot Stove League these last few days have been as cold as a Florida night(stop laughing people from New York. All I know is I was chilly walking around EPCOT the other night). About the only pieces of news have been contract extensions and the World Baseball Classic. Two totally different topics, right? No wrong. Both topics are all about risk. Lets take contract extensions first. I don't know who or when started the trend of giving players who are not eligible for arbitration or free agency long term deals. Since the average raise in arbitration is 120% it makes sense to buy those years out. And recently teams are buying out the first couple of years of free agency. We saw this in the past week with Kevin Youkliss and Nick Markakis. The players make more in those first couple of years and have financial stability in case of injury or if something goes wrong. And the teams get players for below market value in the back part of their deals. The Mets deal with Jose Reyes and David Wright was a fantastic deal. The Rays really took a chance when they signed Evan Longoria to one of these kind of deals after only 1 week in the bigs. For hitters with a stable personality and a history of durability these contracts are truly a win-win situation. Teams can actually keep the key young players together. About the only losers are free agents who are looking for a huge payday. If Kevin Youkliss is averaging about 10 mil per. Guys like Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn may now have to settle for 1 year contracts. Its no accident most of these deals are given to hitters. The Phils signed Cole Hamels to a 3 year deal for about 20.5 mil. They bought out his arbitration years. The Phils were smart only going 3 years. Pitchers in general get injured. Its very rare for pitchers not to go on the DL in a three year span. Also in a young pitcher we have found out its critically important for long term success to limit the amount of innings a young pitcher throws. So lets take Hamels as an example. He already has spent time on the DL 2 out of the past 3 years. So while it makes sense to give Markakis six years you'd NEVER give 6 years to a pitcher. For those of us old enough remember Doc Gooden in 1984-5. He looked like they would have to built him his own wing in Cooperstown. But alas things happen.
Now lets talk about the WBC. As a fan I like the idea of the WBC. Seeing meaningful baseball in March is better than watching 3rd stringers for the Braves and Astros battle it out. But if I was a GM it might be another story. If I'm Omar Minaya I'd give my blessing if David Wright wants to play for the US or If Jose Reyes wants to play for the DR. Those players will get their ABs one place or another. I'd just make sure they are not over aggressive. Now if Johan Santana was totally healthy I'd still tell him no way. If I had any starting pitcher I'd never let him participate. I'd be skeptical for relievers but I would not forbid it. Mike and I totally agree that Scott Kazmir pitching for the US is doing both himself and the Rays a disservice. During the course of an important WBC game its not hard to imagine a pitcher over throwing and injuring himself. Then what???? Its definitely not worth it for MLB teams. See like long term deals to pitchers its got to be about minimizing risks to your pitchers. And as we've seen this off season starting pitching is still VERY expensive.
As a last note about the WBC I'd love to see an infield for the DR that has Pujols at first, Reyes at 2nd, Han Ram at short and A-Rod at 3rd. That would be fun.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Read This
I like to read, Thats no secret to anyone. My favorites are political thrillers, biographies and baseball books(are you stunned). The problem is most baseball books are like frozen pizza, mildly satisfying when your going through it but forgotten about five minutes after your done. But every once in awhile I read something really good. I just finished something that was really good which I'll talk about later. So an idea popped in my head as a public service I'll list 10 of my favorite baseball books. This way if anyone either gets any time or makes anytime they will know what to get. They will be listed alphabetically by the authors last name. So without further ado here is my version of the New York Times Book Review.
1.Eight Men Out-Eliot Asinof (1963)-If your reading this your probably familiar with the story of the 1919 Black Sox. Hollywood made a movie based on the book and actually did a nice job. As they stayed pretty close to the facts. But what truly separates the book is the details. Its impossible to get everything into a two hour movie. Reading this you get a good sense of who these 8 guys were as both players and people. You talk about a fractured clubhouse, these guys made the Bronx Zoo Yankees seem like a love in. Most of all you come to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson. Not as DB Sweeney or Ray Liotta but the real man. And at the end of the day Joe was an illiterate, ignorant guy who did not want to upset the players in the clique he was a part of, led by southerners Chick Gandil and Swede Risberg. We will never know if Shoeless Joe played 100% of not. We know he did take the money and then tried to return it and was talked out of it. As I type this another interesting part of the book was how justice in Chicago was proved to be an illusive thing. Well with current events with the Illinois Governor it seems the more things change the more they stay the same.
2.The Long Season-Jim Brosnan(1960)-Brosnan was a average, nondescript pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in the late 50s and early 60s. Someone no one would know about 40 years later except he wrote 2 fantastic books, The Pennant Race and The Long Season. To my knowledge The Long Season was the first honest book that was taken from a diary. And to this day I'd sat it is still the best. Ball Four was written about 10 years later but probably would not have been published if it weren't for Brosnan's books. What make this book so good is it does a fantastic job making you see what it is really like to be a major league baseball player. Both the good and the not so good. Through the diary entries to go thro
ught slumps, disagreements with managers and coaches, crisis's of confidences, missing of family and trying to keep sane in the bullpen through the 154 game season. The book was not ghost written. And I'd be willing to bet even with all the money now in baseball the experience of being a player and going through the season in probably very similar. And reading this book is about as close as we will come to it.
3.Real Grass, Real Hereos-Dom DiMaggio(1980)-DiMaggio's book centers around baseball in that magical year of 1941. That was the incredible season when Joe DiMaggio had his 56 games hitting streak, Ted Williams hit .406 and the World Series had the famous Mickey Owen dropped third strike game. All this was occurring with the international situation as it was called in the day was going on(World War 2). Dom had a unique perspective on the years events as he played next to Ted Williams and obviously was Joe DiMaggio's brother. But while Dom talks about these events in some detail the best part about this book is his description of what baseball was like for both fans and players in 1941. The talks about how he believes travel by train helped team unity. His stories about road trips were very entertaining. He talks about the advent of night baseball. And the sameness in other words how you know who was playing where because players did not move around nearly as much as today. Also it was always the same cities. For the fans he talks about how radio was king and you could walk the streets in Brooklyn and hear the game on radio and not miss a pitch going from house to house. DiMaggio made it seem that the game is essentially the same but the players of that era enjoyed playing Major League baseball alot more than the players of today.
4.Bill James Historical Abstract-Bill James(2001)-Bill James is the father of modern sabermterics. I truly believe Bill James belongs in the Hall of Fame. The argument can be made he has done more to change the way baseball than other who was not officially connected to baseball with the probable exception of Marvin Miller. James taught us how to evaluate stats logically. And know the batting average is not the end all be all stat. But what I love about the Historical Abstract is not so much the stat head part of it. The first section takes each decade and gives it a decade in a box, He has great lists like the best offensive, worst uniforms, best baseball book and movie that should be made. It goes on and on. The lists are alot of fun to look at. Then he gives a very detailed essay on how the game was played during each decade. The second part of the book takes each position and ranks the players all time in that position. And he gives a detailed description of each player's accomplishments. While this section is a little stat heavy it is VERY readable. One thing about Bill James he is a very good writer. The above description really fails to do it justice. Simply put if I was stuck on a desert island and only had one book to have this would be that book. An all time classic. Anyone the least bit interested in baseball history should get in ASAP.
5.The Boys of Summer-Roger Kahn(1972)-One of baseball's all time classic books. Kahn a native New Yorker went back and interviewed the remaining living members of the Boys of Summer and came out with this amazing book. The names of the players on those teams are legendary. Start with HOFs Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and of course Jackie Robinson. And a supporting cast that included guys like Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and Don Newcombe. New York in the 50s was the time of Willie, Mickey and the Duke. Reading this you got the impression that the current Met-Yankee rivalry was nothing compared to these three teams. Who you rooted for defined you. I loved how Kahn talks about how much baseball meant to the people of New York in the post WW 2 era. As for Dodgers these incredible players were just guys who lived in the neighborhood. Players who would barbecue with neighbors. I'd be willing to bet never in the history of baseball has a team been more interwoven and important to a community than the Dodgers to Brooklyn. Like 8 Men Out what I also loved about this book is you get to know the players as people. In an era now when we put players on a pedestal it is refreshing to read about these average guys who just happened to be great players but were not the least bit spoiled . They really seemed to get along with each other also. Think of how easy it would have been to have attitudes on that team but there were none. The best book I've ever read about one team and one time period.
6.Moneyball-Michael Lewis(2003)-This is the very controversial book that deals with Billy Beane and the economics of baseball. Lewis is not a sports writer, he is a business writer. So he takes a different approach than most sports writers. His basic question was this, why do the Oakland As with one of the smallest payrolls in baseball consistently have teams in contention. With that basic premise he spend a season with Billy Beane. Most of you know I'm a big Billy Beane fan(even though he traded my guy Rich Harden). What Lewis found was that Beane and his chief assistants JP Riccardi(now GM of the Blue Jays) and Paul DePodesta used statistics much more than tradional subjective scouting reports. Beane is much more interested in what a player has done and not what he looks like or what a scout might think he might do. The now famous Moneyball draft produced Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton for the As. Beane says to survive and compete he needs to find the things that the market undervalues that help you win games. For a very long time the thing was On Base Average. Now everyone is familiar with OBA. The portrayal of Beane is very interesting. He is an ultra competitive kind of guy. His success using sabermetrics has spawned a whole new movement in baseball to hire young GMs that are good at interpreting stats. Not former players or managers. Other than Beane and Riccardi two of the best GMs in the game Theo Epstein of the Red Sox and Andrew Freidman of the Rays come from this school. While some out there still are not on board with this new way of looking at how to run a franchise the results are clear. A great read for anyone interested in what its like to be a GM.
7.Crazy 08-Cait Murphy(2007)-This was the best baseball book I read last year. Murphy like Michael Lewis is not a baseball writer. As a life time baseball fan she wanted to write a baseball book and her grandfather keep telling her that the 1908 season would make a great topic. The 08 season was the season that featured Merkle's boner. Murphy does an amazing job taking you back to 1908 and putting you right in the middle of probably the wildest pennant race ever between the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. You have to shake your head as you read it so say I can't believe this really happened!! Baseball at the turn of the century truly was a different game played by some truly different people. No TV, no radio. only John McGraw of the Giants and Frank Chance of the Cubs doing about anything to beat each other legal or otherwise. One interesting thing Murphy does is every couple of chapters she writes about something going on in pop culture at the time so you really get a sense of being in that time. It reads like fiction but this race really went down like its described. A terrific read.
8.Rob Neyers Big Book of Baseball Lineups-Rob Neyer(2003)-There is no plot in this one. What Neyer does is he takes each team and gives a lineup for the team all time 1st team,2nd team single season,all rookie,home grown, traded away, gold glove and iron glove. He gives little snippet of info for each player. His is a great book if you just want to pick something up for 5 minutes at a time. Over the years I crack it open every one and then. Its great especially if you love baseball history and comparing players from different eras.
9.I Was Right On Time-Buck O'Neil(1996)-Anyone who saw the Ken Burns baseball series came away with the feeling that Buck O'Neil stole the show. O'Neil was an above average player from the Negro Leagues in the 30s and 40s. He later became a scout and first black coach in the majors. He enthusiasm is incredible. He knew and played against everyone from the 30s to the 80s. His stories of the Negro Leagues and especially Satchel Paige have you laughing out loud. But when they got on the field it was no joke. This is the only autobiography on my list because O'Neil is such a different kind of person. Positive people like him are very few and far between in the world today in all walks of life. This is a is pretty quick read that will stay with you for a long time. As an afterthought if I was a big league manager I would make it required reading for all the black players on my team so they could see they are getting an opportunity to make millions of dollars because of the sacrifices of people like Buck O'Neil.
10.The Glory of Their Times-Lawerence Ritter(1966)-What Ritter did was go around the country and interviewed great players from the early part of the 20th century. He then devoted a chapter to each player. Some players include Smokey Joe Wood, Edd Roush, Lefty O'Doul, Paul Waner and many others. The powerful part of this book is hearing the players actual words descibing what baseball was like in another time. Its funny, sad and very informative. The best book about baseball in its early days.
1.Eight Men Out-Eliot Asinof (1963)-If your reading this your probably familiar with the story of the 1919 Black Sox. Hollywood made a movie based on the book and actually did a nice job. As they stayed pretty close to the facts. But what truly separates the book is the details. Its impossible to get everything into a two hour movie. Reading this you get a good sense of who these 8 guys were as both players and people. You talk about a fractured clubhouse, these guys made the Bronx Zoo Yankees seem like a love in. Most of all you come to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson. Not as DB Sweeney or Ray Liotta but the real man. And at the end of the day Joe was an illiterate, ignorant guy who did not want to upset the players in the clique he was a part of, led by southerners Chick Gandil and Swede Risberg. We will never know if Shoeless Joe played 100% of not. We know he did take the money and then tried to return it and was talked out of it. As I type this another interesting part of the book was how justice in Chicago was proved to be an illusive thing. Well with current events with the Illinois Governor it seems the more things change the more they stay the same.
2.The Long Season-Jim Brosnan(1960)-Brosnan was a average, nondescript pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in the late 50s and early 60s. Someone no one would know about 40 years later except he wrote 2 fantastic books, The Pennant Race and The Long Season. To my knowledge The Long Season was the first honest book that was taken from a diary. And to this day I'd sat it is still the best. Ball Four was written about 10 years later but probably would not have been published if it weren't for Brosnan's books. What make this book so good is it does a fantastic job making you see what it is really like to be a major league baseball player. Both the good and the not so good. Through the diary entries to go thro
ught slumps, disagreements with managers and coaches, crisis's of confidences, missing of family and trying to keep sane in the bullpen through the 154 game season. The book was not ghost written. And I'd be willing to bet even with all the money now in baseball the experience of being a player and going through the season in probably very similar. And reading this book is about as close as we will come to it.
3.Real Grass, Real Hereos-Dom DiMaggio(1980)-DiMaggio's book centers around baseball in that magical year of 1941. That was the incredible season when Joe DiMaggio had his 56 games hitting streak, Ted Williams hit .406 and the World Series had the famous Mickey Owen dropped third strike game. All this was occurring with the international situation as it was called in the day was going on(World War 2). Dom had a unique perspective on the years events as he played next to Ted Williams and obviously was Joe DiMaggio's brother. But while Dom talks about these events in some detail the best part about this book is his description of what baseball was like for both fans and players in 1941. The talks about how he believes travel by train helped team unity. His stories about road trips were very entertaining. He talks about the advent of night baseball. And the sameness in other words how you know who was playing where because players did not move around nearly as much as today. Also it was always the same cities. For the fans he talks about how radio was king and you could walk the streets in Brooklyn and hear the game on radio and not miss a pitch going from house to house. DiMaggio made it seem that the game is essentially the same but the players of that era enjoyed playing Major League baseball alot more than the players of today.
4.Bill James Historical Abstract-Bill James(2001)-Bill James is the father of modern sabermterics. I truly believe Bill James belongs in the Hall of Fame. The argument can be made he has done more to change the way baseball than other who was not officially connected to baseball with the probable exception of Marvin Miller. James taught us how to evaluate stats logically. And know the batting average is not the end all be all stat. But what I love about the Historical Abstract is not so much the stat head part of it. The first section takes each decade and gives it a decade in a box, He has great lists like the best offensive, worst uniforms, best baseball book and movie that should be made. It goes on and on. The lists are alot of fun to look at. Then he gives a very detailed essay on how the game was played during each decade. The second part of the book takes each position and ranks the players all time in that position. And he gives a detailed description of each player's accomplishments. While this section is a little stat heavy it is VERY readable. One thing about Bill James he is a very good writer. The above description really fails to do it justice. Simply put if I was stuck on a desert island and only had one book to have this would be that book. An all time classic. Anyone the least bit interested in baseball history should get in ASAP.
5.The Boys of Summer-Roger Kahn(1972)-One of baseball's all time classic books. Kahn a native New Yorker went back and interviewed the remaining living members of the Boys of Summer and came out with this amazing book. The names of the players on those teams are legendary. Start with HOFs Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and of course Jackie Robinson. And a supporting cast that included guys like Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and Don Newcombe. New York in the 50s was the time of Willie, Mickey and the Duke. Reading this you got the impression that the current Met-Yankee rivalry was nothing compared to these three teams. Who you rooted for defined you. I loved how Kahn talks about how much baseball meant to the people of New York in the post WW 2 era. As for Dodgers these incredible players were just guys who lived in the neighborhood. Players who would barbecue with neighbors. I'd be willing to bet never in the history of baseball has a team been more interwoven and important to a community than the Dodgers to Brooklyn. Like 8 Men Out what I also loved about this book is you get to know the players as people. In an era now when we put players on a pedestal it is refreshing to read about these average guys who just happened to be great players but were not the least bit spoiled . They really seemed to get along with each other also. Think of how easy it would have been to have attitudes on that team but there were none. The best book I've ever read about one team and one time period.
6.Moneyball-Michael Lewis(2003)-This is the very controversial book that deals with Billy Beane and the economics of baseball. Lewis is not a sports writer, he is a business writer. So he takes a different approach than most sports writers. His basic question was this, why do the Oakland As with one of the smallest payrolls in baseball consistently have teams in contention. With that basic premise he spend a season with Billy Beane. Most of you know I'm a big Billy Beane fan(even though he traded my guy Rich Harden). What Lewis found was that Beane and his chief assistants JP Riccardi(now GM of the Blue Jays) and Paul DePodesta used statistics much more than tradional subjective scouting reports. Beane is much more interested in what a player has done and not what he looks like or what a scout might think he might do. The now famous Moneyball draft produced Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton for the As. Beane says to survive and compete he needs to find the things that the market undervalues that help you win games. For a very long time the thing was On Base Average. Now everyone is familiar with OBA. The portrayal of Beane is very interesting. He is an ultra competitive kind of guy. His success using sabermetrics has spawned a whole new movement in baseball to hire young GMs that are good at interpreting stats. Not former players or managers. Other than Beane and Riccardi two of the best GMs in the game Theo Epstein of the Red Sox and Andrew Freidman of the Rays come from this school. While some out there still are not on board with this new way of looking at how to run a franchise the results are clear. A great read for anyone interested in what its like to be a GM.
7.Crazy 08-Cait Murphy(2007)-This was the best baseball book I read last year. Murphy like Michael Lewis is not a baseball writer. As a life time baseball fan she wanted to write a baseball book and her grandfather keep telling her that the 1908 season would make a great topic. The 08 season was the season that featured Merkle's boner. Murphy does an amazing job taking you back to 1908 and putting you right in the middle of probably the wildest pennant race ever between the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. You have to shake your head as you read it so say I can't believe this really happened!! Baseball at the turn of the century truly was a different game played by some truly different people. No TV, no radio. only John McGraw of the Giants and Frank Chance of the Cubs doing about anything to beat each other legal or otherwise. One interesting thing Murphy does is every couple of chapters she writes about something going on in pop culture at the time so you really get a sense of being in that time. It reads like fiction but this race really went down like its described. A terrific read.
8.Rob Neyers Big Book of Baseball Lineups-Rob Neyer(2003)-There is no plot in this one. What Neyer does is he takes each team and gives a lineup for the team all time 1st team,2nd team single season,all rookie,home grown, traded away, gold glove and iron glove. He gives little snippet of info for each player. His is a great book if you just want to pick something up for 5 minutes at a time. Over the years I crack it open every one and then. Its great especially if you love baseball history and comparing players from different eras.
9.I Was Right On Time-Buck O'Neil(1996)-Anyone who saw the Ken Burns baseball series came away with the feeling that Buck O'Neil stole the show. O'Neil was an above average player from the Negro Leagues in the 30s and 40s. He later became a scout and first black coach in the majors. He enthusiasm is incredible. He knew and played against everyone from the 30s to the 80s. His stories of the Negro Leagues and especially Satchel Paige have you laughing out loud. But when they got on the field it was no joke. This is the only autobiography on my list because O'Neil is such a different kind of person. Positive people like him are very few and far between in the world today in all walks of life. This is a is pretty quick read that will stay with you for a long time. As an afterthought if I was a big league manager I would make it required reading for all the black players on my team so they could see they are getting an opportunity to make millions of dollars because of the sacrifices of people like Buck O'Neil.
10.The Glory of Their Times-Lawerence Ritter(1966)-What Ritter did was go around the country and interviewed great players from the early part of the 20th century. He then devoted a chapter to each player. Some players include Smokey Joe Wood, Edd Roush, Lefty O'Doul, Paul Waner and many others. The powerful part of this book is hearing the players actual words descibing what baseball was like in another time. Its funny, sad and very informative. The best book about baseball in its early days.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
MLB mock Draft-By Mike
The powers that be at MLB.com and elsewhere have posted the first two rounds of a mock draft, so I thought I would offer a few comments and see what others might think. The draft results were as follows:
Pick
1.Hanley Ramirez
2.Jose Reyes
3.Alex Rodriguez
4.Albert Pujols
5.David Wright
6.Grady Sizemore
7.Ryan Howard
8.BJ Upton
9.Ryan Braun
10.Chase Utley
11.Jimmy Rollins
12.Miguel Cabrera
13.Josh Hamilton
14.Mark Teixeira
15.Justin Mourneau
16.Ian Kinsler
17.Johan Santana
18.Cole Hamels
19.Evan Longoria
20.Tim Lincecum
21.Carlos Beltran
22.Matt Holliday
23.Alfonso Soriano
24.Carlos Lee
I agree with the overall #1 pick. I was a little hesitant on HanRam a year ago but I'm a full believer now and this guy will hit in any ballpark in any condition (usually empty for him). I believe you can justify selecting ARod, Pujols, or Wright with the 2, 3 and 4 picks but there is no way Jose Reyes is a top 5 pick. Heck, I'm not even sure he is a top 10 pick.
As for the rest of the top 12, I'm down on Upton, Utley, Rollins and Cabrera this year. Is BJ Upton the guy who was mediocre for three-fourths of the season or is he the post season power hitter with a .500 batting average that everyone saw on television? The answer is neither. BJ Upton is a guy who I project to hit .280 with 15HRs, 90 runs scored and 45 stolen bases with RBIs being virtually nonexistent. With that said Upton at #8 is a reach. This draft was taken with the announcement of the Utley injury and if he's back in May then he is a top 10 pick but if threes any hiccups in his recovery process and he doesn't come back until June or the All Star break, you've wasted a top 10 pick. Rollins and Cabrera are due for a bounce back year years but there are guys in the second round that I prefer to have over them
Josh Hamilton and Mark Teixeira are two guys I would rather have than Rollins or Cabrera. Kinsler and Longoria are the real thing bit I don;t know if I take them that early. Matt Holliday was a top 10 pick over the last few seasons and the move from Coors Field may have an impact as will all the foul ball territory at McAfee Coliseum but don't sleep yet on Oakland's offensive prowess. If Daric Barton finds himself and Eric Chavez relives past glory days thanks to the arrival of Giambi, Oakland could be ok and Holliday would hit third in a lineup that features Holliday, Giambi and Cust. I guess I'm trying to say he was a steal @#22. We've already had the Lee, Soriano and Beltran discussion earlier in the blog so I guess that's it for now.
Pick
1.Hanley Ramirez
2.Jose Reyes
3.Alex Rodriguez
4.Albert Pujols
5.David Wright
6.Grady Sizemore
7.Ryan Howard
8.BJ Upton
9.Ryan Braun
10.Chase Utley
11.Jimmy Rollins
12.Miguel Cabrera
13.Josh Hamilton
14.Mark Teixeira
15.Justin Mourneau
16.Ian Kinsler
17.Johan Santana
18.Cole Hamels
19.Evan Longoria
20.Tim Lincecum
21.Carlos Beltran
22.Matt Holliday
23.Alfonso Soriano
24.Carlos Lee
I agree with the overall #1 pick. I was a little hesitant on HanRam a year ago but I'm a full believer now and this guy will hit in any ballpark in any condition (usually empty for him). I believe you can justify selecting ARod, Pujols, or Wright with the 2, 3 and 4 picks but there is no way Jose Reyes is a top 5 pick. Heck, I'm not even sure he is a top 10 pick.
As for the rest of the top 12, I'm down on Upton, Utley, Rollins and Cabrera this year. Is BJ Upton the guy who was mediocre for three-fourths of the season or is he the post season power hitter with a .500 batting average that everyone saw on television? The answer is neither. BJ Upton is a guy who I project to hit .280 with 15HRs, 90 runs scored and 45 stolen bases with RBIs being virtually nonexistent. With that said Upton at #8 is a reach. This draft was taken with the announcement of the Utley injury and if he's back in May then he is a top 10 pick but if threes any hiccups in his recovery process and he doesn't come back until June or the All Star break, you've wasted a top 10 pick. Rollins and Cabrera are due for a bounce back year years but there are guys in the second round that I prefer to have over them
Josh Hamilton and Mark Teixeira are two guys I would rather have than Rollins or Cabrera. Kinsler and Longoria are the real thing bit I don;t know if I take them that early. Matt Holliday was a top 10 pick over the last few seasons and the move from Coors Field may have an impact as will all the foul ball territory at McAfee Coliseum but don't sleep yet on Oakland's offensive prowess. If Daric Barton finds himself and Eric Chavez relives past glory days thanks to the arrival of Giambi, Oakland could be ok and Holliday would hit third in a lineup that features Holliday, Giambi and Cust. I guess I'm trying to say he was a steal @#22. We've already had the Lee, Soriano and Beltran discussion earlier in the blog so I guess that's it for now.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Best Season Ever
The MLB Network continues to deliver great programming. One of my favorite regular programs is Prime 9 which counts down the top 9 in any given baseball category. The catch phrase is it does not end arguments it starts them. The episode I watched tonight dealt with the greatest pitching season ever. Third was Bob Gibson in 68, Second was Walter Johnson in 13. Number 1 was Pedro's 2000 season. That's the season when his ERA was 1.74 while the league ERA was 5.07. A few weeks ago I did a comparasion of Pedro and Randy Johnson in their primes and was reminded of just how dominant they both were. The research was eye opening and was reaffirmed by the program.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Braves Keeping It On the Down-Lowe
Not a good day for Met fans as Derek Lowe has agreed to a deal with the Braves. Lowe will get 60 mil for 4 years. Thats considerably more than the Mets offered. The signing of Lowe comes one day after they signed Kenshin Kawakami. The starting rotation which was the major area of concern for the Braves is now the best part of their team. While Lowe, Vazquez and Jurjains are not Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz they are a very good trio. And if Kawakami is as good as advertised they will have 4 strong starters. With Jorge Campillo rounding out the rotation. Derek Lowe has been an above average pitcher since becoming a starter in 2002. He has won 12+games every year. His ERA has been under 4 each year for the past 4 years. And one other factor that can't be overstated his he does not get hurt. He has never been on the DL. Last season his K/BB ratio was a very good 3/1. He he was 20/34 in Quality Starts. And his sinker was as good as ever as shown by his G/F ratio of nearly 4/1. Some may question giving a 4 year deal to a 36 year old but sinkerballers tend to age well. Also Lowe has been a terrific big game pitcher. All those Brave fans that wanted Frank Wren's head after the John Smoltz controversy should be very pleased today. Unfortunately the rest of the team still has quite a few major holes. With the exception of Chipper Jones and Brian McCann the rest of the offense is weak. They have little power at key power positions like corner outfield and first base. And the bullpen is in need of more good arms. As of now the best they have is Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano both pitchers who are very injury prone. But even if they do nothing for the rest of the off season they will definitely improve from last years finish.
Welcome to Cooperstown Rice and Ricky
Unlike the Veterans committee the Baseball Writers of America got it right yesterday with the election of Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice to the Hall of Fame. In addition Andre Dawson, a player I was on the fence about received 67% of the vote which means the chances are very good next year. As for Ricky its hard to believe 20 something writers out there do not believe he belongs in the HOF. These must be the same people that don't vote for anyone on the first ballot. Henderson is the gold standard for leadoff hitters. Simply put he is the best leadoff hitter in baseball history. No one created havoc like Ricky. And he was not shy about telling everyone just how good he was. As for Jim Rice it took him until his last year of eligibility to get voted in. He has a good point when he said my numbers have not changed in 15 years. He must be more relieved than happy. I definitely think he belongs. So we close the book on the class of 2009. The top four players who become eligible in 2010 are Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
HOF Ballot
First of all I hoped you guys enjoyed my Hall of Fame Series. Thinking about those players brought back alot of memories for me. Also it was interesting to see if my memories of how good players were matched the numbers. So after thinking long and hard if I was to have a vote the following players would get my vote
1.Ricky Henderson
2.Mark McGwire
3.Jim Rice
If Mark Grace had a shot I'd vote for him just to her his induction speech.
Now its YOUR turn. PLEASE leave a comment to this post with who would get your vote. Since Mike and Howie are 40+ and saw these guys play I'm especially interested in your opinion.
1.Ricky Henderson
2.Mark McGwire
3.Jim Rice
If Mark Grace had a shot I'd vote for him just to her his induction speech.
Now its YOUR turn. PLEASE leave a comment to this post with who would get your vote. Since Mike and Howie are 40+ and saw these guys play I'm especially interested in your opinion.
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