Chico Harlan presents Lastings Milledge in his own words. Milledge is talking about the Mets here:

You know, there's always a thing where, Oh, rookies have to be here 2-1/2 or three hours before stretch. No. I'm not gonna be here three hours before stretch. If you're here and you get your work in, it shouldn't matter how early you're at the field. You know what you need to do. That's fine. You don't have to be at the park three, four hours before the park if you don't want. You don't see nobody clocking in three or four hours before they have to show up to work. So, I mean, some people feel like they have to get here to read the newspaper or do crossword puzzles or get their mind ready. I feel like I come to the park, I have 45 minutes of stuff I have to do to get prepared for practice and get ready for the game. Five minutes might be watching videos. Fifteen minutes might be going in the cage. And then getting whatever other work I need.

Basically, Milledge didn't want to go through the initiation of being a rookie. He may very well be right, but it didn't sit well with the veterans.

Anibal Sanchez won his arbitration case. The Marlins are so cheap they need to screw with service time for one of their players? In general, I like the way the organization tries to rebuild itself, but when they cheap out like this I find it very difficult to like this team. I would be very happy to see this ownership go. Is it too much to hope for that they have a Dominican Republic scandal brewing?

Pat Burrell took out ads in the Philadelphia newspapers thanking fans for their support. Given that he was not always treated kindly by the Philly fanatics, it's a very generous gesture.

Home Run Derby presents the All-13 team in honor of Friday the 13th.

A woman accused Bernie Williams of hitting her while she tried to take his picture. I hope this isn't true, Bernie always seemed like one of the good guys.

Cardinals Best News Links looks at the St. Louis players participating in the Winter Leagues.

So far so good for Jeff Francoeur this spring:

And there are the strikeouts, or lack thereof. He has four walks and no strikeouts in 22 at-bats in Grapefruit League games, and no strikeouts in 28 at-bats including games with Panama and Venezuela.

This from a guy who has 430 strikeouts with only 115 walks in 2,149 major league at-bats.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if he can walk four times for every 30 at bats during the regular season.

Michael Young is very good at hitting line drives. That's a good skill, as line drives tend to fall for hits.

Vlad Guerrero inadvertently revealed he is one year older than his age in the media guide:

In a morning interview session with reporters, Scioscia said Guerrero's October surgery to clean out scar tissue and repair cartilage damage in his right knee could "point to a guy maybe turning back the clock a couple of years."

Relayed that quote through an interpreter, Guerrero smiled and said, "I feel good. I can't say [like] 25, because, you know, I'm 34. But I feel a lot better. That's where I'm at right now."

The Angels list Guerrero's birth date as Feb. 9, 1976, which would make him 33. Guerrero admitted to a team executive later in the day that he was born on the same date in 1975, making him 34.

Readjust your databases and your projections for 2009. The revelation will make it more difficult for Vlad to land another lucrative contract. We saw little interest in teams this winter for older players.

The final session of the day looks at quantifying the value of superstars. Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics, Carla Christofferson, owner of the LA Sparks, Greg Via of the Gillette Company, and Brian Jennings, EVP of marketing for the NHL discuss the issue with Ric Bucher of ESPN the Magazine.

Update: Christofferson defines an icon player as someone people not even interested in the sport know. They help bring in new fans.

Update: Via says Gillette only uses players that have won the highest championship in their sport. They use three players globally, and 19 that are used locally.

Update: Via says they do extensive background checks of the athletes they hire. Bucher asks Allen if he's gone through that, and he says someone was sneaking around his house the other day. :-)

Update: Are icons born or made? Christofferson believes fans make the icon.

Update: Allen is asked if there is a conflict between an icon and the team concept of sports. Allen says a great player is the best teammate, and you need to have someone with a big ego, someone who is a little cocky.

Lone Star Ball looks at Andruw Jones awful spring and concludes:

All the armchair hitting coaches who were convinced when this signing came down that his inability to hit was somehow tied to his being fat last year might be wanting to re-think their positions.

Jones also compares well to a few players whose careers were over by their early 30s.

Joel Sherman posts on players the Yankees might try to acquire if they need to replace Alex Rodriguez long term at third base.

The more Alex Rodriguez talks, the more I think he should adopt the Steve Carlton approach to the media.

I find this a lame excuse:

Jose Reyes now has added incentive for the Dominican Republic to advance far in the World Baseball Classic. Jerry Manuel said Sunday that a lengthy absence from camp, such as reaching the March 23 finals at Dodger Stadium, wouldn't leave enough time to consider lineup alternatives such as Luis Castillo leading off and Reyes hitting third.

What exactly is Manuel going to learn about Jose batting third in spring training? Either his batting stats work there, or they don't. His play in exhibition games isn't likely to tell Manuel a thing.

Please donate to the Baseball Musings Pledge Drive.

Brandon Phillips isn't getting a lot of love from the Reds Blogoshpere right now. Both Redleg Nation and Red Reporter pick up on this story:

"I don't believe that on-base percentage stuff. That's overrated to me. If you get hits, you'll be on base. That's what it's about."

As I said in the story, that will set the Sabermatics people off. I'm not surprised Phillips said it. My guess is half the players in the baseball wouldn't know what OPS. Batting average, homers and RBI are the numbers they look at it.

The good ones know what it is.

Nationals Journal gives us an early look at Sunday's Boswell column, focusing on Adam Dunn:

Baseball has Dunn backward. On the outside, he may have no image. "I wish I had one," he said. He's just jeans and semi-combed hair, a guy lying on the clubhouse floor because the stools are too small, joking with new teammates, looking like a beached sea mammal.

On the inside, he's a student of hitting, a man who plays hurt, averaging 158 games the last five years, and a Texan who's too proud to show he's hurt. His hitting statistics at age 29 resemble Reggie Jackson and Harmon Killebrew, surpass Mike Schmidt. But his words show how much the last few weeks have lit his fire.

"So far in my career, I have not even come remotely close to what I can do. I know I'm so much better than what I've done," Dunn said. "Between now and the end of my career, I have a lot of work to do."

The article continues with a comparison to Frank Howard, and notes Dunn's exquisite selectivity at the plate. I think Boz understands that Dunn can be a special hitter for Washington.

Joe Brescia runs down the players who lost significant weight this off-season.

Center Field posts a photo in which David Ortiz looks downright slender. He's not skinny, but fit and trim. That should scare the opposition a bit.

No team wanted to pick up Andy Marte, so Cleveland gets to keep him and send him back to the minors.

Furman Bisher speculates on what led Andruw Jones to the Rangers:

You have read, of course, of Jeff Francoeur's reconstructed batting form this spring. He has kept to himself about how he went about it, with whom he worked and how he went about the project with such confidence and secrecy. He had his personal reasons, all critical to reviving his career after the dismal season just completed. There is a hitting coach with the Rangers, Rudy Jaramillo, who has developed quite a colony of followers around the major leagues. Jaramillio is in his 19th season with the Rangers, and in his time he has been a factor in the development of Alex Rogriguez, Rafael Palmiero, Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and other major leaguers who have blossomed there.

My conclusion: Francoeur could have opened the door for Jones, put him on line with Jarmillo and thus, set him on the road to Surprise. Something along the line of magic has taken place. Both Jones and the Rangers are so pleased with developments that they have settled on a contract. Andruw has signed for a base salary of $500,000, with incentives that could lead to $1-million.

Andruw is still young enough to recover from his horrible 2008. Maybe this will be the steal of the winter.

The Brewers first round draft choice made the switch from catcher to second base. Milwaukee isn't trying to preserve his offense, Brett Lawrie asked for the switch so he could get to the majors quicker:

He has noted that there is a lot more preparation into making the big leagues as a catcher, and despite how much he loves the position, the 19-year-old Canadian sees a quicker jump to the "bigs" as an infielder.

With a few real good second basemen in the Brewers system, plus the struggles of Rickie Weeks, Lawrie sees this to be the easier competition than the likes of catchers Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy.

I don't really think the competition has anything to do with it though. Personally, I think this is the case of a young kid wanting to have as long of a career as possible, who sees more benefit in playing the infield than roughing up his knees behind home plate.

Weeks is pretty good for a player who struggles. Still if Lawrie can hit, he's very valuable either as a catcher or a second baseman. If he's that good, he'll either push someone out or end up in a trade to a team that needs his strengths at one of those positions.

The Boston Herald writes about Stephen Drew's great second half of 2008:

Getting it going last season took a while, but after the All-Star break, the left-handed batting Drew hit .313, mostly from the leadoff spot. The highlight came last Sept. 1, when he hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals.

For the season, Drew became the first shortstop since Robin Yount to hit 40 doubles (44), 10 triples (11) and 20 homers (21).

He credited his success to simply "seeing the ball well."

If second half success is any indicator, then Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Bartlett should have great 2009s, too.

Could the Washington Nationals be so bad that Odalis Perez doesn't want to play for them? He never showed up to camp, so the Nationals released him:

"He would not return our phone calls, and after talking internally with [Manager] Manny Acta and [pitching coach] Randy St. Claire and the organization, we all feel it's important that we want players here than want to be here and want to help us win, so we made that decision this morning," General manager Jim Bowden said, according to the Washington Post..

Perez has expressed his dissatisfaction with his contract since he gave his agent the OK to sign a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington on Feb. 5 that would pay him $850,000 if he makes the team, the same stipulation he faced last year.

Why bother with the contract in the first place? I also wonder if this makes him a free agent, or does not showing up preclude him from signing with other teams?

Tony Pena, Jr. took care of his eyes after a really poor season hitting in 2008:

Three days after the season ended, Pena had Lasik eye surgery.

"It helped a lot," Pena said Friday. "Sometimes I couldn't recognize pitches when I was at the plate. It's one of those little things that gives you a better feeling when you're up there.

"Playing with glasses felt a little uncomfortable so I just decided to do that and I heard it was good idea," he added. "I wasn't seeing the ball good, just being able to tell depth perception. It is something that I feel like I'm doing again, just recognizing everything."

Two and half weeks after the surgery, Pena starting playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. In 46 games, he hit .275 with a .347 on-base percentage, drawing 18 walks. By contrast, he had walked only 16 times in 247 games with the Royals the previous two seasons.

Tony has no where to go but up.

Detect-O-Vision notes there are some situations in which it makes sense to start Griffey in leftfield instead of Endy Chavez.

Brad Wilkerson describes himself as estatic to be with the Red Sox. I thought Texas made a good deal to get him from Washington, but that certainly didn't turn out to be the case. The Red Sox, however, have a philosophy of recognizing a player's strengths and putting them into situations where they can succeed. The allowed David Ortiz to be a pull hitter again, and he flourished. While Brad won't ever come close to big Papi, if he can return to his Washington form, getting on base at a good clip, he'll help the Red Sox.

The Indians are thinking of playing Ryan Garko in the outfield:

Ryan Garko stepped on the scale Monday for his physical and weighed 226 pounds. That's 10 pounds lighter than he was last year. It's a good thing because Garko is going to have to be as streamlined as possible if manager Eric Wedge actually plays him in the outfield during the regular season.

Garko, built like the catcher he once was, made the transition to first base when he reached the big leagues. After driving in 90 runs last year, Garko has a lot of bench time staring him in the eye if Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner can stay healthy and reclaim their spots in the middle of the Indians lineup.

Martinez is going to be bouncing between first and catcher. If Hafner rediscovers his swing following October surgery on his right shoulder, he'll take the majority of the at-bats at DH.

So the outfield might be a welcome refuge for Garko.

Offensively, Garko would be an improvement over the 2008 Cleveland rightfielders. The Indians showed good range collectively in right, in 2008, however, so they may be trading offense for defense at that position.

They're planning on playing him in left, however, where the offense was closer to Garko's and defensively they were one of the best teams in the majors. That doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Getting Paid to Watch gives his thoughts on why A-Rod is disliked by teammates.

It turns out one of the gems of the Washington farm system used a phony name and is four years older than believed:

According to a report on SI.com from Melissa Seguar, the shortstop once known as Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonzalez has falsified his name and age. His true identity: Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. His true age: 23, or four years older than the Nationals believed. According to current data, the Nationals list Gonzalez's birthday as Sept. 21, 1989.

Do the Nationals send him packing and ask for their money back? Or do they look at him as someone who might be ready to help them sooner than they thought?

Chico Harlan describes the negotiations going on between the Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman, as he fails to show up for camp early as he awaits a long-term contract or an arbitrtation hearing.

Alfonso Soriano says he's fine with moving out of the leadoff spot, but my guess is that he'll stay there. His skills are better lower in the order, but he seems to perform his best there. With lineups making little difference, the Cubs are better off maximizing Soriano's performance than losing some offense by moving him down in the lineup.

Mike Lowell talks about the possibility of the Red Sox signing Mark Teixeira:

"You feel hurt, but I think that's a normal human reaction that anyone would have. It just kind of shows you that sometimes this sport is really a business and you have to treat it that way and you go from there. It doesn't take away any excitement or how I like the guys who I play with on the field. I'm on a team that has a chance to win the World Series. I don't know too many people who can say that, even in the big leagues that each year you're on a team that has a chance to win the World Series. I'm still really excited about that, but it wasn't the greatest process in the world."

If a trade was needed, the Red Sox would not have been able to move him until he proved to other clubs that he was healthy after the surgery, especially at his age. That means he would have had to arrive in camp with an unsettling feeling.

"I envisioned a very awkward scene with me and Youkilis taking ground balls at third," Lowell said. "I'm glad that was avoided."

The Red Sox trying to sign Teixeira also makes me wonder just what the Red Sox think of Lowell's ability to bounce back. Right now, I'm sure they're very supportive, but we'll see how long that will last. We'll also see who gets the opening day start at the position, since Lowell doesn't think he'll be ready.

Via BBTF, Albert Pujols is starting to make noises about leaving the Cardinals after the 2010 season:

"It's not about the money all the time," the first baseman said. "It's about being in a place to win and being in a position to win.

"If the Cardinals are willing to do that and put a team (on the field) every year like they have, I'm going to try to work everything out to stay in this town. But if they're not bringing championship caliber play every year, then it's time for me to go somewhere else that I can win."

It's almost always about the money. FanHouse wonders if Albert is making noise now because the Cardinals didn't sign Manny Ramirez.

What should the Cardinals do? Albert is one of the game's great players, but he will be 31 going into the 2011 season. That was the brilliant thing about his long term contract, it locked Pujols in through his prime years. It's likely a 31-year-old Albert is worth more than the great majority of 27 year olds, but for how long? If a player is trying to dictate to a team, maybe the money is better spent looking for his replacement.

The Cardinals have won a World Series, after all, and are playoff contenders nearly every season. Yes, they didn't go all out in 2008 and appear to have done little to improve the team in 2009. While they don't make a splash, they do get a lot of mileage out of marginal players. I suspect they're reloading, and Albert will likely want to be part of the 2011 team.

Barring a major injury, the Cardinals will find a way to keep Pujols around. Like Gwynn or Ripken or Yount or Brett with their career teams, Albert is the face of the Cardinals. I suspect they'll find a way for him to finish his career in St. Louis.

Hanley Ramirez added close to 25 pounds of muscle this off-season:

Ramirez stepped on a scale, calibrated his weight, and smiled.

''224,'' he said. ``Close.''

Ramirez, who was listed at 200 pounds in last season's media guide, dedicated himself to a strict conditioning program over the winter to help him feel and play stronger over the course of a 162-game schedule.

That meant spending at least an hour a day, five days a week, working out in a gym in the Dominican Republic and another hour at home swimming laps in his backyard pool.

The weight training added bulk and muscle to Ramirez's torso while the swimming program was designed to strengthen his weak left shoulder, which has caused him problems in the past.

''I don't feel heavy,'' Ramirez said. ``I feel good.''

Ramirez is a young man, but whenever I hear a story like this, I'm reminded of how it's impossible to gain 15 pounds of muscle in an off-season.

Jorge Posada's shoulder is holding up well so far:

Posada believes he will be ready to catch on April 6 in the Yankees' season opener in Baltimore. "I'll be there," Posada said Saturday after the team's pitchers and catchers had their first official workout of spring training. "Shoulder-wise, I know I'll be ready.

"I'm very happy, very positive. Every time I throw, I feel the improvement and I'm happy with the results."

Posada had surgery last July - he described it as "a major operation" - and has endured grueling rehab since. He feels no twinges when he throws, nor when he takes batting practice. Saturday, he made 90 throws during drills, he said, piggybacking for the first time on an intense session of 140 throws on Friday. "There were no restrictions on me throwing the 90," Posada said.

Posada's offense from behind the plate is what helps give the Yankees an edge. He makes it much more difficult for pitchers to find a break in the New York lineup.

LyfLines find a great example of how players value loyalty.

Both Brett Myers and Ryan Howard lost weight over the off season. There seems to be no resting on their laurels for the Phillies this year.

The last eight World Champions failed to defend their title. That's starting to approach the longest streaks. From 1979 to 1992 no team successfully defended a title, 14 seasons. There was a ten year streak from 1963 to 1972, an eight year streak from 1954 to 1961 (it only seemed like the Yankees won every year) and a ten year streak from 1940 to 1949. If the Phillies fail to repeat this season, we'll be tied for the third longest streak since the modern World Series was instituted in 1903.

Alex Rodriguez faced a crowd at the University of Miami last night, and according to this report, the crowd received him very well:

Despite Rodriguez's admission that his name was on a list of 104 players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003, everyone seemed in a forgiving mood at the dedication of the baseball stadium for which the Yankees third baseman donated $4 million.

"I think Alex Rodriguez should be in the Hall of Fame," said Jim Berlin, a Miami football and baseball season ticket-holder who paid $75 to attend the sold-out shindig. "He has done so much good that it outweighs the little bit of bad."

Confession seems to have been the right way to go for Alex. Of course, he hasn't had to deal with road crowds yet.

I wonder if A-Rod's PED confession is going to cut down on his ability to get two women at once? :-)

Hat tip, Deadspin.

Halos Heaven looks at the worst season Bobby Abreu might post for the Angels.

It's sort of sad, however, that he is making less money than Gary Matthews, Jr.

Roberto Alomar reponds to his former girlfriend's lawsuit at RobertoAlomar.com.

Not to be outdone by Ichiro, Akinori Iwamura can pitch, too.

Gaslamp Ball posts a very funny story about A-Rod's life coach.

Ichiro's awesome quotient just went up.

Pat Lackey discusses why the Red Sox have not offered Jason Bay a contract extension:

So what gives? There are likely a few factors at play. In the linked article, it's mentioned that Matt Holliday and Vladimir Guerrero will both be free agents next winter as well. As good as Bay was last year, he turned 30 before the end of last season and he's still only a year removed from an injury-induced .247/.327/.418 year. His basic skill set, power and a knack for getting on base, are widely referred to as "old player skills," which could be an indication that his peak may not last long enough for the Red Sox to justify signing him to an extension.

It's also hard to ignore that Bay is making $7.5 million this year while guys with similar skill sets, like Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu, are having a hard time pulling down a number even with that in free agency. As strange as it sounds, there just may not be many benefits for Boston in locking Bay up to any sort of long-term deal right now.

The Red Sox would be paying for Bay's decline. Unless the player is coming off a very high peak, those deals are usually not worth it.

New York Baseball Hack Dan Graziano offers his take on A-Rod:

A-Rod is actually an interesting guy to talk to about baseball. He loves the game and works so hard at it that he has a great deal to offer in terms of analysis -- of his own game and other people's. I have had many one-on-one conversations with him about baseball, and they're almost always educational. We've discussed technical aspects of playing third base and of basestealing. We've talked about the perception of him as a poor "clutch" player, what he thinks of that and how he copes with it. When you ask him a good question about the game, he can help educate you about the game. The hardest part is finding him. Or getting him to take those stupid headphones off and talk to you.

Are we really surprised to hear, from Torre, that A-Rod "needs people to make a fuss over him?" This couldn't be more obvious to anybody who watches the guy. Every movement is measured, every ounce of attention absorbed. When all the Madonna stuff was going down last year in late June and early July, I talked to a person in the Yankees' clubhouse and asked how he was handling it. The answer: "Are you kidding? He loves this stuff. He loves being a big enough star to be on the cover of US Weekly. This isn't going to bother him one bit."

The sense I get is that A-Rod is trying to put on a front. If the real A-Rod needs attention all the time, isn't he better off not being himself?

South Side Sox relates optimistic reports about Josh Fields coming from the White Sox coaching staff.

The Royals will try Mark Teahen at second base. He started as a third baseman and played the outfield in 2008. This is an unusual move because it's to a tougher defensive position. At least the Royals are trying to think a bit outside the box here.

Joe Posnanski (in a post about Jeff Kent that's well worth the read) likes the move:

And so, I have to admit, I'm kind of excited that the Royals are going to try Teahen at second base. I mean, hey, I don't know how seriously they will try. And I don't know if it can work. But I think this is precisely the sort of risk-reward thinking the Royals should be doing right about now. Teahen doesn't really have a place on the Royals at the moment. He doesn't fit in the outfield. The Royals are overloaded with first basemen. Alex Gordon needs to be at third base every day -- he looks to me poised for a breakout season. And the Royals even have their super sub (hopefully) in Willie Ballgame, who plays seven positions, including all three outfield spots.

But second base -- hey, why not, right? Teahen's a good athlete. He has a good and accurate arm. He likes playing the infield. And -- this is just my opinion -- I've always felt like if the Royals would just give him a role and leave him alone and not expect him to be things he ain't, he could really emerge as a good offensive player.

So far, the offense he's generated in his career works better at second than at third or as a corner outfielder.

Kat O'Brien gets a look at the slimmer Robinson Cano:

Cano looked very trim for all of you concerned about him after a poor 2008. He said he's at about 208 pounds right now after playing last year at 213. He may have wound up at 213 last year but I would guess he began a good bit heavier. Anyway, he looks slim and said he's been working hard. Playing winter ball helped him, as did having Kevin Long down for a week to work on his hitting stance. He's also excited about playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

"I've just been working on my new stance," Cano said, "just getting ready mentally and physically. ... I know that I have to start in April, not in May or June."

Jeff Kent announces his retirement today. Kent starts his Hall of Fame clock, and presents good credentials for his induction:

Kent's 351 career home runs as a second baseman are 74 more than Ryne Sandberg's total.

Kent spent 17 years in the majors -- the last four with the Dodgers -- tying for 20th on baseball's all-time list with 560 doubles, while ranking 47th with 1,518 RBI and 62nd with 377 home runs.

When Kent's name first came up as a Hall of Famer, I was a bit surprised. A reason for that is Jeff's early career was good, but not overly impressive. Through seasonal age 29, the 1997 season, Kent's career OBA came in at .327 with a .450 slugging percentage. That was good for a second baseman, but not Hall of Fame numbers. Coming out of his peaks years, he didn't look like someone destined for enshrinement. The last eleven seasons were a different story, however.

The next year, 1998, saw about a 30 point jump over Kent's career OBA and an 80 point jump in his slugging percentage. He maintained that high level of performance for most of the rest of his career, with an OBA of .370 over his last 11 seasons and a .520 slugging percentage. For a second baseman, those should get the attention of voters.

This is a highly unusual career. There have been players who hit better in their 30s than their 20s, but most crossed that decade at a point where the game changed; think of Paul O'Neill turning 30 just as offense explodes in the majors. Kent's career pretty much covers the entire offensive explosion that started in 1993. I suppose this insulates Kent from charges of PED use:

Kent was known for his intense approach to the game and he endorsed improved testing, criticizing players who used performance-enhancing drugs.

So what happened? This article suggests it was maturity.

Kent--the oldest kid, the cop's son, the ultimate problem-solver--went to work on solving what was perhaps his most difficult problem: remaining calm. And once he conquered calm, the RBI just started coming.

"Jeff learned to control his temper," Baker says. "When the bases were loaded, Jeff tried to get all of them in with one swing. He changed his approach. He doesn't frustrate himself as much as he used to at the plate."

Kent is the first to admit that. In describing his emotional makeup in crucial plate appearances, Kent offers an answer that might seem surprising, given his intensity.

"I don't care," says Kent. "I don't care if I strand a runner. It doesn't phase me."

Meaning: Kent won't tear up a clubhouse anymore. He cares, but not so much now that he becomes unglued, making the poor, innocent water cooler a victim. "I wasn't as mature (in New York) as I am now," he says.

The other interesting thing about Kent's career stems from his similarity scores. He matches Hall of Famers, but Hall of Fame catchers. His top five comparisons are five of the great offensive catchers. Fisk, Berra and Bench are in the Hall of Fame and Ivan Rodriguez made a good case for himself. The only second baseman on the list, Ryne Sandberg, is ninth.

In a way, Kent doesn't fit the mold of a Hall of Fame second baseman. Hornsby, Morgan and Sandberg were as slick with their gloves as their bats. Kent was a good second baseman, but not an outstanding fielder like the three above.

Kent also wasn't afraid to take on his teammates. I don't make too much of that, as sometimes the large egos of great ballplayers do collide. However, Kent won't get points for lying about a motorcycle accident, or dissing Vin Scully.

Jeff was never boring. We'll see how his positives and negatives sit with the Hall voters. He may end up like Jim Rice, waiting for the sports writers of his day to get diluted by writers who just see the numbers.

Rocco Baldelli thanks the Tamps Bay fans for all their support.

The two Indian pitchers signed by the Pirates meet Barry Bonds to talk about Pirates City. I'm not sure if that's the spring training facility or Pittsburgh.

We going on computer and seeing many Pirate players. We learning Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Roberto Clemente. We learning coaches.

We liking Barry Bonds best.

That's very cool that these players have an interest in the history of the team.

Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira have something in common: each plays where his wife wants him!

Tim Sullivan wastes no time getting to the toughness of David Eckstein.

Though his arm is barely adequate, Eckstein was twice an All-Star shortstop in St. Louis. Though he has hit only 32 major-league home runs, he led both leagues with three grand slams in 2002. He has made a career out of making do, compensating for his physical limitations through competitiveness and craft, toughness and tenacity.

I love Eckstein since we share a name and height, but at this point, he's just not that good.

Red Reporter does a nice graphical breakdown of Jay Bruce's swings and power.

Michael Young accepts the move to third base:

While the 32-year-old Young said Thursday he doesn't think it's the right time in his career to switch positions again, he said he's ready to focus on preparing for next season and he didn't want the pending switch to be a distraction to him or the team.

"After some careful consideration over the last month or so and in an effort not to let this thing drag out," Young said during a conference call, "I decided to put an end to this and start bearing down on playing third base."

That's good. When someone is being paid millions of dollars, they should be very willing to make moves like this. As much as I dislike Pete Rose, he played anywhere the Red decided to place him. If he were in the lineup, it didn't matter what glove Pete wore. More players should be that open to these types of moves.

Jamey Newberg offers a thoughtful take on the Michael Young situation.

Lone Star Ball pens an excellent column on how the Rangers treated Michael Young differently than most of their players:

And from Young's standpoint, I have to think that part of the frustration is that he doesn't understand why now, all of the sudden, after everything that's gone on historically with this franchise, he's the one they draw the line in the sand with.

I'm sure he remembers when he first was coming up, and had to move from shortstop to second base because of the Alex Rodriguez signing. He remembers when Mark Teixeira came up, and had to DH because Rafael Palmeiro was here and wanted to be the first baseman. He remembers how the Rangers wooed Carlos Delgado, promising that if he'd sign with Texas, the organization would make Teixeira go back to DHing again. He remembers how Alfonso Soriano threw a fit over moving to shortstop, and how he defused the Soriano situation by volunteering instead. And how the organization went ahead and simply traded Soriano two years later, rather than force the situation by making him change positions. And how the organization seemingly decided that, since Jarrod Saltalamacchia didn't like playing first base, they weren't going to make him play first base anymore, but would just let him catch.

I'm sure he looks at this past season, and sees Milton Bradley, who played when he felt like it, didn't play when he didn't feel physically up to it, but refused to go on the d.l. and forced the team to play short-handed, sees a guy who was here only one season that the manager catered to. I'm sure he looks at Vicente Padilla, and sees a guy who couldn't be counted on to go take the mound every fifth day, whose neck was hurting or who had a twinge or who otherwise couldn't be counted on, but who again was catered to and not put on the d.l.

I'm sure he sees this organization as historically, during the time he's been here, bending over backwards to cater to and coddle players, particularly (but not always) veterans. And I'm sure he's now wondering why it is that, all of the sudden, they decide to take a hard-line position with him, the guy who has sacrificed and done all the right things and played hurt and played hard and done everything the team wanted.

Alex Rodriguez is now dating Kate Hudson.

Ben's reaction: "Dammit. I want to date Kate Hudson." Mike's reaction: "You know, i never (thought) that she was all that hot." I'm definitely siding with Ben on this one.

I'm more in Mike's corner here. Kate and Gwyneth Paltrow are both pale comparisons to their mothers.

Bobby Tolan's son Robbie was shot by police at the end of 2008, for no good reason:

Tolan happens to be the son of a former major league baseball player, and is in the early stages of his own pro baseball career. The police department initially denied racial profiling played a role, but has now stopped talking about the case publicly, saying only that "they're investigating how the officers on the scene mistakenly determined that the SUV Tolan and his cousin were driving had been stolen."

Even if there had been an SUV reported stolen that night that looked like the one Tolan's cousin was driving, you first have to wonder why the cops wouldn't run the plates before ordering everyone out of the truck at gunpoint. And that's before you start looking at the shooting, and the confrontation with Tolan's mother.

If there wasn't an SUV reported stolen that resembled the one Tolan was in, this is going to get really, really ugly.

That goes along with this shooting of a handcuffed suspect in Oakland the same night. What is going on?

Chipper Jones is a bit miffed at the Braves over John Smoltz leaving:

Q. Fans are questioning why the Braves didn't offer Smoltz more money when this is an offseason when the Braves have said they had money to spend. Do you agree?

A. For Smoltzy! That's what I don't understand. That's what's frustrating. I'm trying to be as diplomatic and as upbeat as I can possibly be and it is being made very hard on me to be that way. John Smoltz has been one of the faces of this franchise for 20 years. There's no reason for him at 41 years old to be playing anywhere but here.

Q. How was he when you talked to him last night?

A. He was upset, as well he should be. You can liken it to a breakup. This organization is all we have ever known. We all have these dreams of playing our last game in this uniform and it goes back to what I've said all along. Every dog has his day. And everybody's got that day that's coming when a shot of reality sets in. The business of baseball goes on, and no matter how loyal you are as a player, no matter how much you sacrificed as a player for a particular organization, there comes a time when that organization wants to go a different direction. And that time is now for Smoltzy, and I would imagine that my time is not too far off in the distant future.

Chipper has the realities of the game down.

Kat O'Brien attended Mark Teixeira's news conference and liked what she saw:

Mark's extremely well-spoken. I knew that from Texas, but seeing it at a big press conference is reassuring that he can continue that in a larger media market. He's not going to embarrass anybody. Brought much of his family, including wife Leigh, parents John and Margie, and sister Liz and her husband (who live in Hoboken). I think it's going to be a good fit. Mark wanted to be here, is an excellent offensive player and a superb defensive player, a positive force in the clubhouse and will turn 29 in April. As for how he comes across to the media and through the media to the fans, I'd say it's some combination of Derek Jeter, David Wright and Andy Pettitte. Not controversial, available to talk, rational and articulate thoughts, and very clean-cut.

Thinks keep getting worse for Andruw Jones as he's asked to leave winter ball. Hat tip, Sabernomics, who thinks Andruw may have something left.

Players with three years of service can file for arbitration starting today. The Phillies have quite a few who are likely to get big raises this season:

Players can file for arbitration starting today, and seven Phillies are eligible to make more in 2009 through this process (Eric Bruntlett and Clay Condrey have already agreed to extensions). The heavy seven are Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Ryan Madson, Greg Dobbs, Joe Blanton and Chad Durbin. And each of the seven can write his case on why he deserves the money he seeks.

Luckily, the Phillies are now a successful team, putting plenty of fans in the ballpark. Now's the time to control their costs by buying out arbitration and a year of free agency as much as they can.

Matthew Carruth notes the Phillies are getting good value out of Ryan Howard, but also thinks a long-term deal is a bad idea:

This is not to say that a long-term contract for Howard would be a good idea; the Phillies have an incredible opportunity thanks to Howard's advanced age at premier to squeeze most, if not all, of his fruitful years out while under team control and then let him become some poorly-run team's mistake during his mid 30s. This is, however, to provide yet another illustration of just how valuable getting team-controlled players is.

I think there is an impression that Howard is a young player because he hasn't been on the scene that long. He's the same age as Albert Pujols, however. Albert came up three years earlier than Howard, and played another full season before Howard won the Rookie of the Year. For Albert, a long term contract was a no-brainer, because he would have become a free agent in his prime. That's not the case for Ryan. A four-year deal last season would have been fine for the Phillies first baseman, but now the Phillies are just fine playing out the arbitration game.

It appears the Dodgers will pay Andruw Jones all the money he is owed, just over a longer period of time.

The agreement will allow Jones a fresh start elsewhere after a nightmare of a first season and provide the Dodgers with additional payroll flexibility that could be used to re-sign free-agent outfielder Manny Ramirez.

The Major League Baseball Players Association approved the unusual agreement because Jones will receive his entire salary, as well as the possible benefit of free agency should he be released.

So what team is going to take a chance on Jones? I would not pay him much, as the Dodgers are being more than generous.

The LA Times reports that the Dodgers are working on a deal to unload Andruw Jones, possibly by buying out his contract. I don't see how that is possible. A player's contract is guaranteed, so the Dodgers owe him what the contract says. Remember how the union nixed the A-Rod to Boston deal because Alex would make less money than guaranteed? They won't let this happen to Andruw, either.

SportingNews.com interviews Chipper Jones. He criticizes both the Mets and Phillies for their trash talk:

We won for 14 consecutive years, and you never, ever saw any bulletin board material. And now that these two teams are on top of the division, they can't keep their mouths shut. Just go play baseball. It's Cole Hamels now. It was Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran the past couple of springs. These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game.

For 14 years, Atlanta was the most boring champion around. When I was at the World Series in 1999, the Yankees fans at Turner Field, greatly outnumbered, still managed to be louder than the Braves fans. Let the Mets and Phillies talk trash, and let them go down to the wire every year. Fans love this.

Sox Machine notes A.J. Pierzynski's better hitting against lefties the last two years, and wonders if that would allow the White Sox to carry another left-handed hitting catcher.

The million dollar arms post video of them eating at the food court. I'm really enjoying their blog, by the way. It will be fun to watch their English improve with time.

Peter Abraham notes some encouraging numbers from Robinson Cano:

Robinson Cano has driven in 15 runs in 17 games in the Dominican and has nine extra-base hits. He actually has more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five). Considering he walked 26 times in 634 plate appearances all last season, that's a good sign.

Indeed, if he can do that against major league pitching.

Raul Ibanez knows about statistical fielding models:

"I have to say a number of things,'' he said. "Number one, with sabermetrics in general, it's a statistical probability thing,'' he said. "And the way they come up with the defensive measurements, or ratings, is flawed. It's as flawed as the Gold Gloves. One of the reasons is, they don't consider things like ballpark factors, defensive positioning or allignement for certain hitters.''

Actually, PMR builds the park right into the model. In addition, if a player positions himself well, that helps his score. Still, it's nice to know Raul gets the gist of the idea.

Hat tip, Bleeding Blue and Teal, which has much more.

There are talks going on between Kevin Youkilis and the Boston Red Sox on a long term contract. Kevin's agent has the right attitude:

Youkilis, Bick said, would be comfortable repeating what he did last offseason: avoid arbitration and sign a one-year contract. Youkilis, who will turn 30 in March, has a little more than four years of major league service time, meaning he will be able to file for free agency for the first time after the 2010 season.

"Kevin is perfectly content to do it one year at a time," Bick said. "There's no urgency whatsoever. If we are presented with a multiyear deal, he's fine with it either way. We're all pretty confident that Kevin is going to remain an outstanding player. He is not the kind of guy that is going to be antsy if he has to do a one-year contract."

Would the Red Sox pull an Arroyo and sign Kevin to a long term deal at a good price in order to trade him? Kevin doesn't have much service time, but that doesn't make him young. He's a better pickup for another team if his salary is fixed for a while.

Geoff Young on Joey Gathright:

I've got nothing against Joey Gathright; it's just that, well, he adds no value to a baseball team. He'll be 28 in April and his career line is .263/.328/.304 in nearly 1300 big-league plate appearances. That's a 68 OPS+. That's Juan Pierre without the batting average or power.

Curtis thinks about the situation when he's batting, not the spot in the order he occupies.

One of my favorite players was released by the Marlins. Craig at FishStripes also bemoans the loss of Matt Treanor:

One of the joys to me about watching the game is seeing a good defensive catcher perform his craft. There is something special about having a catcher quietly move behind the plate, lookup and see if the hitter is trying to gain an advantage by checking the catcher's location and then blocking a ball in the dirt that by all rights should be headed back for the screen. Treanor did all of that and more. He was the go to guy in the clubhouse when the young players had questions about darn near anyhing. He was great with the fans and genuinely just loved playing the game.

He'll a great back up for some team.

Cardboard Gods remembers Frank White:

All I know for sure is that Frank White was, as this 1980 baseball card reports, an All-Star. In my mind he was as constant a presence in that annual game as anyone from his era, and since he was not a magnetic superstar such as Pete Rose or Reggie Jackson there was something even more solid about his presence in the midsummer classic than other more well-known perennial all-stars.

One of my favorite All-Star games was the 1986 contest at the Astrodome. Roger Clemens pitched three perfect innings and the American League picked up a win, 3-2. The three AL runs came on two home runs, one by starting second baseman Lou Whitaker and one by substitute second baseman Frank White. Both were good power hitters for their positions, and I thought it cool that the only long balls in the game, in a park known for knocking down home runs, came off the bats of second basemen.

Peter Gammons posts an excellent column comparing players more concerned with their inner scorecards than their outer scorecards:

Someday another Shakespeare will come along and pierce through the insecurities that caused Barry Bonds to need to be more than Barry Bonds, Clemens to need to be more than Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez to need to be more than one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. Someone will paint their human conflicts between their inner and outer scorecards.

Which leads to an interesting thought; will the tragic players live in history, while the good guys like Sizemore and Mauer survive mostly in the memories of baseball researchers?

Tim Sullivan analyzes Khalil Greene:

Keenly intelligent, diligent and detailed, yet flagrantly flawed, Khalil Greene does not play baseball so much as he labors at it, sharpening his reflexes through draining repetition, practicing plays he might never encounter, preparing himself for every contingency except failure.

For a second there I thought I was reading another A-Rod story.

Rob Neyer defends Jeter against Steve Goldman, but agrees Derek shouldn't move to second base. I've thought for a while that the right move for Derek is to centerfield. The question gets more moot as time goes on, however. The only way Jeter moves to another position is if he volunteers to do so, and I don't think that's going to happen. As Neyer closes his post:

Do you think the Steinbrothers will have the courage to let him become less and less valuable for some other team?

No, but it's not a question of courage. Jeter is going to go into Yankees history like Gehrig and Mantle, playing only for the Bronx Bombers. If that means a few years while Jeter drags the team down, so be it. I suspect, however, that Jeter will at least get on base enough to be useful through age 40.

Ian Kennedy and Robinson Cano continue to perform well in winter ball.

Bruce Markusen explores John Ellis's 1972 In Action card. Ellis shares the card with Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. The card looked familar, and 1972 was one of the few years I bought cards. I looked through the pile, and sure enough there's not only the In Action card, but John Ellis's regular card as well. Thanks for the memory!

Nick and Nick wonder why Justin Morneau gets so much more MVP respect than Joe Mauer.

Arn Tellem issues this statement on Mussina:

Mike will be making a decision on his intentions shortly. Given the significance of this to Mike, I would hope you can respect his desire to be the author of any such announcement consistent with his own time table. A decision of this magnitude should not be the subject of unconfirmed rumors and speculation. Accordingly, I am not going to make any further comment until Mike has made his final decision.

Ken Rosenthal reports Mike Mussina will retire later this week. I'll wait for the official word.

Will the Boston Red Sox sign Dustin Pedroia to a long term deal?

Pedroia's agent certainly can go into any negotiations with a bit more confidence, but the Sox will go about their business the same way. They aren't against long-term deals for young, controllable players as long as the numbers make sense to them.

In other words, they'd do it if the long-term numbers wind up favoring the team - just as Evan Longoria's potential nine-year deal with Tampa Bay (which includes three option years) favors the Rays. But the Sox aren't afraid to go year to year with the probability they'll have to pay out more money just before free agency if they decide they want to keep the player.

The long term deals save money in two ways. They tend to understate salary inflation, and they save the cost of arbitration. These contracts also make players more tradable, since if the future value is really lower than salary inflation, teams can get a good deal in a trade. With economic conditions uncertain, however, the Red Sox may be better off going year-to-year with Dustin.

YFSF notes a rumor that Tim Wakefield may retire due to pain in his shoulder.

If true, that leaves the Red Sox with a big hole -- you cannot replace a starter who consistently posts a 100-115 ERA+ over 200 innings with a salary of just $4 million. On the other hand, it would eliminate the need for a specialized Wakefield-only catcher, making perhaps more possible a Varitek-Saltalamacchia semiplatoon as the one passes his baton to the other.

Luckily, his replacement is in Japan!

It appears the Red Sox came very close to suspending Manny Ramirez late in July.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd. The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Suspensions in baseball are not unusual for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or who are involved in fights during a game. It is extremely rare for a player to be suspended, or threatened with such a suspension, for refusing to play.
Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

If the story is correct, the threat appeared to work.

It appears the Upton brothers make a good impression:

You begin to tire of it, really, all the marketing people whispering in your ear about how accommodating B.J. and Justin Upton are.

"They always show up on time."

"I'm not used to athletes being this polite."

"Not one complaint while they've been here. Not one."

It's sad that it's special when people do the right thing. Shouldn't punctuality and politeness be the norm? I sometimes get complimented when someone finds out I've been married for a long time, but that's normal for me. My parents and all their brothers and sisters were or are married forever. It shouldn't be special to be married a long time, or polite and helpful to people, or just plain civil. I'm glad the Uptons act this way, but I also hope we get to the day when that's not news.

We've Got Heart brings us the latest in their Women in Baseball series. This week they profile Cheryl Zimmerman, mother of Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Cheryl suffers from MS.

Sean Kirst gets Rachel Robinson's reaction to the Obama victory.

Elmer Smith writes on why Chase Utley's obscenity was so surprising.

Jon Weisman ruminates on the turnaround of Willy Aybar.

Brian Heman explores Bernie Williams's new life as a music student, composer and performer.

Joe Maddon credits B.J. Upton's post-season success to fewer batting practice swings:

"We've cut back on the number of swings at batting practice and I think that's helped. You've got a stronger guy right now getting the bat out a lot better," said Maddon, whose viewpoint carries a lot of weight since he's seen Upton play on a daily basis and knows a tender shoulder was plaguing the 24-year-old righthanded hitter.

"The first half of the season, most of the balls [Upton hit] were heading over to the right side of second base. Now, you're starting to see the ball in the left-center gap, which is what he did last year when he hit all those home runs."

This makes sense if the injury causes Upton's shoulder to fatigue faster.

ESPN the Magazine traces the origin and development of the phrase "Manny being Manny."

It's nice to see B.J. Upton fulfilling his baseball potential. It looked like he put things together in 2007, hitting .300 with a high OBA and a slugging percentage over .500. The Rays decided he wasn't a shortstop and moved him to the outfield, and the result was a powerful offensive player at an important defensive position. Although a shoulder injury dropped his slugging percentage 107 points this year, the time off he received in September appears to have healed that, as he's slugging .794 this post season with five home runs. If you are wondering about the future of the Rays, note that the seasonal ages for Upton and Longoria are 23 and 22 respectively. They're two or three years away from the peak periods of their careers and already seem like polished power hitters.

Lookout Landing compares the stats and ages of Jacoby Ellsbury and Adam Jones and concludes Jones holds the better upside. He's also a bit upset the Mariners traded away the young outfielder.

Adam Kilgore notes Jason Bay's excellent post-season stats, and Bay's reaction to those:

"I mean, so far, so good," Bay said.

Bay also compares playing in Pittsburgh and Boston, and talks about how taking over for Manny Ramirez helped prepare him for the pressure of the playoffs.

Jeff Conine complete the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. I'm even more impressed that David Samson completed the course two years agao.

Mike Jensen charts the unusual path to the majors for some of the Phillies.

Sam Donnellon writes about the hate-love relationship the fans in leftfield at CBP share with Pat Burrell:

And so there they were again last night, as Burrell trotted to his spot after his sixth-inning laser of a home run into those very seats provided the winning run in the Phillies' 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in Game 1. Some were cheering. Some were downright worshipping. The guy 12 rows back was probably doing what he always does, cracking funny.

"You see that?'' asked Jimmy Rollins, laughing. "They've been doing that for a while. They get the Pat Burrell standing ovation going every time he does something spectacular. But at the same time when he isn't doing something spectacular, I turn around. Because some of the things they say make me laugh.''

"And he's just sitting there putting his hands up like, 'What can I do?' ''

]

Right now Pat is feeling the love, right at the time his contract is up. Does he go out on a high note? Or does he stay around, hoping a great post-season earns him enough good will to carry him through the declining phase of his career?

This is very funny.

One hit does not bust a slump.

Manager Terry Francona pointed out that, given Pedroia's regular season, pitchers had begun to work him differently. There weren't quite the same opportunities, nor was he seeing the same pitches he had seen in the season. Pedroia agreed with his manager, to a degree. Not that he thinks it should stop him.

"A little bit," Pedroia said. "I'm walking a little bit more. I'm making my adjustment. I'll find a way to get it done. I don't really care what I hit in the postseason, as long as we win. That's the biggest thing."

So the opposition found a way to get Pedroia out. I suspect Dustin and the Boston staff will figure out the new pitching pattern at some point. We'll see if Joe Maddon and the Rays have something different in store for Pedroia as well. I suspect Joe still has friends in the Angels organization that might let him in on Dustin's weaknesses.

Dustin Pedroia, in two division series, now stands at 2 for 26 with three walks. That's an A-Rod like performance for a potential MVP. Of course, Alex is a career .258 in the LDS, so Dustin has a way to go to catch up. :-)

In the mail, Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back. Josh Hamilton tells his story of failure and redemption to Tim Keown.

The Soxaholix on Manny's interview about his time in Boston:

TAKE YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME YOU DAMN DIRTY FANS!

ESPN posted a new application that allows you to listen to the theme songs for major league players.

The Marlins are off to a 3-0 lead over the Reds in the second inning. Cameron Maybin just picked up his 11th hit in 22 at bats this year. He's still waiting for his first extra-base hit, however.

Patrick Reusse sings the praises of Joe Mauer:

Mauer has started 128 games at catcher, and Sunday's game was his fourth as DH. Consider this:

• He has reached base with a hit or walk in 42 of his past 43 starts. The game in which he didn't reach base -- Sept. 9 vs. the Royals -- he drove in two runs.

• He has reached base with a hit or walk in 123 of the 132 games he has started. The only back-to-back starts in which he did not reach base were April 11-12 against Kansas City.

Mauer is an excellent MVP candidate. He doesn't offer the power of some of the other candidates, but his great OBA and his excellent defensive skills should push him near the top of the voting.

Jack Cust will work on improving his vision this winter to cut down on his strikeouts:

"I'll dedicate part of my offseason to training my eyes," Cust said. "You train your body and everything else, but you really don't train your eyes. Hopefully, this will help. I feel I swing and miss pitches I should be hitting. My eyes aren't telling my brain the right location to go to.

"I'll be working on correcting some of my deficiencies I've had as far as depth perception. My swing is my swing. I've been doing it for 25 years. Mostly, it's just seeing the ball."

He'll be working with an optometrist who praised Barry Bonds's eyes as the best he's ever seen.

Then again, maybe Cust should just choke up on the bat with two strikes. :-)

Colby Cosh notes a bit of trivia about the catchers drafted by the Montreal Expos in 1995. They've all had pretty good careers.

Jon Shields is not jumping on the Yuniesky Betancourt bandwagon:

Yuni put up a vital line of .279/.289/.405 over the first 70 games of the season under the tutelage of hitting coaches Jeff Pentland and Lee Elia. In the 74 games since Castro arrived on the scene Yuni has put up a line of .261/.290/.348. What improvement?

Betancourt is showing more plate discipline but not hitting the ball as hard. One would hope that if his plate discipline continues to improve, the power will come from swinging at batter pitches.

Manny Ramirez's batting average stands at .404 since his trade to the Dodgers. Statistics are reported for each league separately, so if Manny maintains that level, he'll hold most league at bats for a .400 average since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941:

League .400 Hitters, 1942-2007

Player	Season	League	AB	Hits	BA
Bob Hazle	1957	NL	134	54	0.403
Ted Williams	1953	AL	91	37	0.407
Mike Davis	1982	AL	75	30	0.400
Todd Haney	1995	NL	73	30	0.411
Phil Clark	1992	AL	54	22	0.407

Manny accumulated 171 at bats with the Dodgers so far. Manny should have about 25 at bats left. That would give him 196 at bats in the National League. He'll need 79 hits total to hit .400 with that number of at bats,so he needs to go 10 for 25. Given that he's a .314 career hitter, he has about a 23% chance of making it.

The Tigers and Indians brawled last night after a throw to first base:

Shortly after Cabrera hit his second home run, starter Fausto Carmona pegged Gary Sheffield on the left elbow with a fastball. Sheffield glared at Carmona as he walked to first base, bat in hand.

Once Brandon Inge stepped to the plate, Sheffield took a modest lead at first base. Carmona threw over. Sheffield barked at Carmona for a moment, then started toward the mound, igniting the most ferocious in-game confrontation during Jim Leyland's three seasons as manager.

Usually these fights get the emotion out of the players' systems, but not in the case of Sheffield:

Carmona also hit Sheffield with a pitch April 17. Sheffield said he believes Carmona has hit him a total of three times.

"Three strikes, you out," he said. "And if there's a fourth, it gets more violent. Trust me."

After the pickoff throw, Sheffield said he told Carmona, "Throw the ball to home plate." Then he said Carmona gestured toward him.

"He called me out," Sheffield said. "I answered the call. If you call me out, I come. That's the way it is."

Of course, given Sheffield's poor performance this year, it's not clear how much he'll get to play in 2009.

Joe Koshansky homered for the Rockies to produce the only run of the game through six innings. He now has five hits on the season, four for extra bases, including three home runs. He's hitting .172 with a .517 slugging percentage. That's isolated power.

Update: That's the final. Seems 1-0 games are suddenly common at Coors. This is the third one this season and the second in less than a week. The Rockies won all three.

My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at why the Carlos Quentin projections were so far off two years in a row.

Derek Jeter passes Lou Gehrig for the most hits at Yankee Stadium. He does it in the first inning, with more one career at bat than Columbia Lou.

Taylor Teagarden knocked out two more hits Monday night, including a grand slam home run for five RBI. That gives him 17 RBI in just 12 big league games. It's not difficult to see why. Ten of his 13 hits went for extra bases, including six home runs.

With Teagarden at catcher, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler in the middle infield and Josh Hamilton in center, the Rangers are looking very strong up the middle for 2009. All they need to do then, is put competent hitters at the corners to have a great offense. The trick for Texas, as always, is finding a pitching staff that can hold the opposition to four runs.

Via Peter Abraham, Joba Chamberlain's mother tells her story to the Journal Star. It doesn't quite mesh with the stories we've heard about his family.

Purple Row examines Troy Tulowitzki's first losing season. Can he post a Jeter like BABIP for his career?

With one swing, Alex Rodriguez scored and drove in his 100th run. He hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first, taking both his run and RBI total to the magical 100 level. That gives A-Rod 13 straight seasons of at least 100 runs and 11 straight seasons of at least 100 RBI. Over the eleven year streak of 100 of both, Alex leads the majors in runs scored and has scored over 100 more runs than Derek Jeter. He also leads in RBI with about 30 more than Manny Ramirez.

South Side Sox says Crede's Chicago career crumbled.

The Tampa Bay Rays call up David Price for the stretch run. He'll be used out of the bullpen but might start in a double header in Baltimore. He's had a very rapid rise, and excellent minor league numbers.

YanksFan on Robinson Cano:

The bigger problem, of course, is that he simply does not get on base. Steven Hawking walks more often.

It reminds me of the way we used to end our ragging on the opposing goalie at hockey games, "You're not a black hole, you just suck!"

Brian Giles reached base three times Monday night and scored twice as the Padres downed the Dodger 4-0. Looking at Giles career, it's clear he's posted a great one. Twenty years ago a .404 OBA and .510 slugging percentage would make him a hall of famer. In the mid 1980s, there were only a handful of players with career slugging percentages over .500. Now, as in the case of Bobby Abreu, it's a nice career.

Giles career also shows the advantage of being multi-talented offensively. At his peak, he hit for average, drew walks and hit for power. When the power faded, he remained a valuable player by remaining good at the other tasks. If power were his only tool, he likely would have been done two years ago. Instead, At age 37, he still has some playing time in front of him.

On the night of a big milestone home run, Mark Saccomanno makes his major league debut pinch hitting for Alberto Arias of the Astros and connects for a home run. The solo shot gives Houston a 1-0 lead over Pittsburgh, and the Astros go on to add a second run in the inning. Saccomanno showed decent home run power in the minors, but not great power overall.

The Yankees lose to the Mariners today, falling behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the standings. So Alex Rodriguez makes is asked something about Toronto, and says this:

"Toronto's playing really well," he said. "I'll tell you what, a lot of people should be happy they're not in the playoff race, because they'd be the scariest team, with the 1-2 punch they've got over there with Halladay and Burnett."

So reporters follow up:

But, Alex, if the Blue Jays are ahead of your team, and they're not in the playoff mix, what does that mean about your chances to make the playoffs?

Said A-Rod: "I'm too tired to answer that; you confused me."

When the question was repeated, pointing out that the .Yankees can't be in the playoff race if the Blue Jays -- ahead of them in the standings -- are not, A-Rod tried to backtrack. "What I'm saying is if Toronto was to get in the playoffs, they would be the scariest team to face, by far, with those two," he said. "I'm not saying anything else."

The Yankees were out of the race once they failed to sweep Boston. If losing two out of three to the Mariners doesn't drive that point home, nothing does. Is the media really going to vilify Alex for failing to put up a good front in a lost cause?

Mark Teixeira picked up two more hits today, including a double as the Angels down the Tigers 7-1. The two LA teams made great moves at the deadline, with the Teixeira trade greatly improving LAnaeheim at first base. He first played for the Angels on 7/30. Before that, Angels first basemen batted .282/.325/.436. Teixeira's line is now .380/.469/.645. The Angels are 19-14 with him in the lineup, however, a bit down from their .612 overall winning percentage.

Hanley Ramirez hit home run number 29 this afternoon, temporarily giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead. That equals his total of 2007, so his next will set a new career high. Only Grady Sizemore hit more out of the leadoff slot in 2008.

Hunter Pence stands a home run short of the cycle with the Astros and Cubs tied at seven in the eighth inning. The Cubs out-homered the Astros so far 4-0, all solo shots. Zambrano pitched decently in a short outing, going five innings and allowing three runs.

This whole Dustin Pedroia in the clean-up slot is getting ridiculous. Kevin Youkilis couldn't play due to a bad back, so Dustin took the clean-up mantle again. He collected three hits, a single, double and home run, driving in five runs. In the four slot this season Pedroia is 9 for 14 with two doubles, a home run, and six RBI. He also drew two walks.

I think he needs a theme song:

Victor Martinez finally hits his first home run of the season. This is his fourth game back after not playing since June 11th. He averaged 21 home runs the last four years, but came into the game with 207 AB without a dinger. The Indians lead the White Sox 4-0 in the fifth.

My latest column at SportingNews.com looks at what Dustin Pedroia's height means for his career. The data that surprised me most in the article is how height determines batting order.

The Tampa Bay Rays extended their AL East lead to 5 1/2 games with a 10-4 win over the Orioles. Rocco Baldelli went 3 for 3 with two doubles. I don't know what kind of treatment he received for his mitochondrial disease, but it seems to be working. Baldelli's averages now stand at .351/.442/.622 in 37 at bats. He's more than replaced Carl Crawford's offense.

Jason Bartlett came into the game with no home runs in 366 at bats this season. That was second only to Chone Figgins with 385 at bats. Bartlett let Juan Pierre take over second place as he hit his first home run in over a year. I guess he hits one very August if he needs to or not.

Despite the injuries (including Dioner Navarro), the Rays posted their best month ever, 21-8.

Update: The Angels lost to the Rangers 4-3, extending the Rays lead for home field advantage as well. Chone Figgins went 0 for 4 and now has no home runs in 389 at bats.

Jayson Werth did more damage against the Cubs today:

Werth hit a two-run double in the first and a solo drive in the fifth for his 21st homer of the season. Werth, who went deep twice and drove in four runs in Philly's 5-2 win Saturday, is 11-for-21 with four homers and 10 RBIs against the Cubs this season.

It's unlikely the Phillies would play the Cubs in the first round. Philadelphia is more likely to win the NL East than the Wild Card, so they would probably have the second best record among the division champions. If the teams did meet in the NLCS, I wonder if Charlie Manuel would play Werth more against the Cubs than he would normally?

Cristian Guzman picked up two more hits Sunday afternoon as the Natoinals extended their winning streak to six games, downing the Braves 8-4. Guzman delivered his six straight multi-hit game and leads the Nationals with 16 hits during the winning streak.

Washington only has to go 11-14 the rest of the way to prevent a 100 loss season.

Miguel Cabrera drove in all four Detroit runs today as the Tigers came back to defeat the Royals 4-2. That gives Cabrera 104 RBI on the season and a good chance of topping his career high of 119 set in 2007. However, Cabrera has only scored 66 runs this season. In his four full seasons he scored between 91 and 112 runs. His drop in OBA this year makes him a less useful player. Before, he could start or finish a rally. Now, he much better at the end than at the beginning.

While his slugging percentage improved as the season progressed, his OBA hasn't. We'll see if this is a one-year aberration or if this trend continues.

Last night, Adrian Beltre helped the Mariners win a game with his body, this afternoon he did it with his bat. Beltre knocked out two home runs and a single, driving in three runs as Seattle beats the Indians 6-4. With 23 home runs going into September, he has a good chance of topping his Seattle high of 26.

Willy Aybar hit a home run as part of a three-hit effort as the Rays down the Jays 3-2. That puts them at 81 wins, guaranteeing their first .500 season in their eleven year history.

In the three weeks since Longoria went down, Aybar is batting .306 with a .569 slugging percentage. It's the luck of the Rays this season. Their best hitter goes down with an injury, and his replacement produces a great stretch of hitting. The Rays now lead the Red Sox by 4 1/2 games, five in the loss column.

Ty Wigginton hit two solo home runs today, including the game winner, as the Astros defeated the Reds 3-2. At age 30, Ty is having the best season of his career. He's always been okay. His career .331 OBA and .459 SPCT are useful, but not outstanding. This year, however, Ty is putting up number not so easy to replace. After his two for four afternoon, Ty's OBA stands at .364 and his slugging percentage is a healthy .551. He's five short of his career high in home runs. Despite being around since 2002, Ty will still need another season before he's eligible for free agency. The way he hit this season, he'll certainly make a good deal of money in arbitration, and if he can repeat the season, lock up a nice piece of change in free agency.

Correction: I meant OBA and slugging percentage.

Waiting for next year notes that Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach is the best hitting catcher in the majors since the All-Star break.

Damion Easley is three for three for the Mets tonight with a single, triple and home run. He just needs a double for the cycle, and with the Mets lead 7-3 in the fifth inning, he should get two chances to at the two bagger. He came into the game with a .344 slugging percentage, making him an unlikely candidate for a cycle.

Update: Easley gets a single in the sixth. The Phillies cut the lead to 7-5 before being retired in the fifth.

Jim Thome sandwiches himself between Foxx and Mantle with his 535th career home run. That give him eight for the month of August. It's his best of the year so far in terms of home runs, but with a 1 for 4 tonight, he's only batting .239 on the month. Eleven of his 17 hits have gone for extra so far, so he's doing damage. His shot proved to be the game winner as the Orioles fell 4-3 in the regularly scheduled game.

After getting off to a good start with the Cubs, Jim Edmonds was 0 for 17 over his last seven games. That ended tonight with three long hits, two doubles and a triple. He scored two and drove in one.

Kosuke Fukudome was just 2 for his last 18, but picked up three hits as well against the Pirates. He drove in four as the Cubs easily defeated Pittsburgh 12-3.

Robinson Cano went four for five this afternoon to help the Yankees to an 8-7 victory over the Orioles. Lately, the Yankees fortunes seem to be following Cano's hitting.

Dates	Cano BA	Yankees Record
July 18-26	.514	8-0
July 27-Aug. 13	.210	5-12
Aug. 13-24	.351	6-3

Pat Burrell picked up three hits and drove in five runs this afternoon as the Phillies defeated the Dodgers 9-2. His 30th home run gives the team three players at the level as he joins Howard and Utley. A good argument can be made that Pat is the MVP among those three. He leads Utley by 18 points in OBA, while Chase has Pat by six in slugging percentage. Utley, however, drives in and scores more runs and plays a tougher defensive position. If Pat carries the Phillies down the stretch, however, his bat might be enough to get him some votes.

Cody Ransom came in as a late inning defensive replacement for Jason Giambi. With the Yankees knocking around the Orioles bullpen, Ransom came to bat in the ninth with two on and two out, and delivered a three-run homer to make the score 8-4 New York. Xaiver Nady hit the next pitch out of the park for the final run of the game.

For Ransom, it was his second time to the plate this season. He homered in his other appearance. That gives Cody a perfect 1.000/1.000/4.000 batting line. He should quit the season now so he can see how much his 5.000 OPS can bring in a contract. :-)

Rocco Baldelli hits a home run over the leftfield fence to extend the Rays lead of the White Sox to 4-2 in the eighth. It's Rocco's first home run since returning from his illness. It was also his first extra base hit, having gone 4 for 16 coming into this game.

Update: A double later Ben Zobrist goes deep to give the Rays a four-run cushion.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter on his 2500th hit. If Jeter can play six more seasons, through age 40, he needs to average 150 hits a season to reach 3400. He needs 3315 to tie Eddie Collins and join the top ten of all time.

The Braves place Casey Kotchman on the bereavement list to attend to his ailing mother. My best wishes go out to Kotchman and hope his mom gets well soon.

My latest SportingNews.com column looks at Denard Span's success in the majors.

Josh Hamilton has been promoted to the status of Jim Rice and Barry Bonds. The Rays, up 7-3 in the ninth, loaded the bases with two out. According to the STATS play by play, they intentionally walked Hamilton to prevent him from hitting a grand slam. It pays off, and Byrd strikes out to end the inning and the Rays win 7-4. As if Marlon Byrd was incapable of hitting a grand slam to win the game.

Grant Balfour causes most of the trouble for Tampa Bay living up to his name by walking three of the four batters he faced. Dan Wheeler comes on to get the final out. The Rays lead in the AL East goes to 4 1/2 games over the Red Sox.

Update: According to the comments at ESPN, Jim Rice was not walked intentionally with the bases loaded.

Update: I just looked through the Day by Day Database at Rice's games against the Brewers. The only one he drew an intentional walk and had an RBI was on 7/27/1977, and it was not with the bases loaded.

Update: In looking at that game again, Rice did walk with the bases loaded, however, it's not listed as the intentional walk. My guess is that either:

• Some one, in compling the play by play, thought the events were confused and assigned the IBB to the more likely scenario.
• A sports writer at the time confused the two events and reported that Rice was intentionally walked.

I don't know how Retrosheet put together the play by play for that game. It's possible they had a fan score sheet that didn't distinguish which was the intentional walk, so they assigned it to the fifth inning when first base was open. I remember hearing the story told by the Milwaukee manager of why he walked Rice with the bases loaded. Of course, I've misremembered enough things in my life to not trust that.

Melvin Mora remains on a multi-hit game tear. He collected five hits in six at bats today, including two home runs and two doubles. He just needed the triple for the cycle. That helped the Orioles to a 16-8 drubbing of the Tigers.

Over his last 23 games, Mora has 15 multi-hit games, including a streak of six in a row and 11 of his last 12. He's hitting .434 with nine doubles, six homers and 34 RBI. Despite his hot hitting, the Orioles are just 12-12 over the stretch.

Albert Pujols hit two home runs in the Cardinals 9-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. That gives Albert 308 home runs for his career. At age 28, he's nine home runs away from entering the top 100 of all time. (George Brett currently holds 100th place with 317.)

His consistent greatness impresses on most about Albert Pujols. In his eighth season in the majors, he's never hit below .300. Only once has his OBA dipped below .400, and only twice has his slugging percentage dipped below .600. During his sophomore slump in 2002, his average line came in at .314/.394/.561. He scored 118 runs and drove in 127 that season. He's never failed to drive in 100 runs, and 2007 was the only year he missed 100 runs scored. He scored 99. With 328 doubles (more than 40 per season) he's well on his way to 600 for his career. How many great all-around hitters go through their careers without a major down years? Ted Williams comes to mind. I always thought Frank Thomas would be the right-handed Teddy Ballgame, but it looks like Albert will take that title.

Alex Rodriguez just struck out with the bases loaded and no one out. Giambi follows with a double play grounder to keep the team off the score board. Damon had second base stolen at one point, but Jeter interfered with the catcher, which sent Johnny back to first. The two singles that followed loaded the bases instead of plating a run.

A-Rod's strikeout was his 54th with men on base:

Alex Rodriguez, 2008, through his second AB on 8/16

Stat	None on	Men on
At Bats	188	192
Strikeouts	29	54
K Pct	15.4	28.1

That table makes me understand why fans are so frustrated with Alex. He's not even giving the runners a chance to advance 1/4 of the time. The Royals lead 1-0 in the fifth inning.

Not only is Jason Varitek not hitting in the final year of his contract, he's also getting divorced:

Jason Varitek had nothing to say today, at least to us, about his divorce. And there are few details in the documents filed in Gwinnett County, Ga. Seems the Sox catcher and his wife, Karen, split June 7 and are living separately. In his complaint, filed at the end of July, the team captain contends the marriage is "irretrievably broken" and there are "no prospects for a reconciliation."

I have a friend who Varitek tried to pick up a few years ago, despite the fact she was on a date with her future husband. Sometime after that encounter she saw Varitek's wife on TV and realized they looked alike. Seems Tek used the Roger Clemens MO of dating women who looked like his wife so people who just glanced at the couple would think that indeed was his spouse.

Chris Dickerson, a 26-year-old rookie, takes Adam Dunn's place in leftfield for the Reds, and so far he's making the fans forget Adam. Chris collected three hits in five at bats tonight, two doubles and a home run. In his two games he's banged out four hits, all for extra bases. That gives him a slugging percentage of 1.000.

The Red defeat the Pirates 3-1.

Gary Sheffield cleared waivers and can be traded to any team. I wonder why no one blocked him? Do teams really not want to take a chance on the slugger? His stats are pretty poor this season.

Update: Commenters point out that Sheffield is owed a large amount of money for next year.

Jim Edmonds collected two more hits for the Cubs this afternoon, a double and a home run. That raises his Cubs batting average to .279 and his slugging percentage to .620. I heard on the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast that Edmonds stopped taking drugs for the concussions he's suffered. I hope he's not sacrificing his long term health to hit better, but so far the results are great.

Geovany Soto follows up two walks with a double to drive in both runners. That gives him 65 RBI on the season and raises his slugging percentage to .494. I'm a little surprised Soto doesn't have more RBI given the Cubs ability to get on base, but most of the catcher's power comes with the bases empty.

Jeff Passan lists his 25 least probable success stories in major league baseball.

There were stories today that Gary Sheffield was placed on waivers. It's August, however, and everyone gets placed on waivers. Sheffield upped his trade value tonight, hitting two home runs against the Blue Jays. That wasn't enough as Toronto wins the game 6-4. The Tigers waste a good performance by Zach Miner. He allowed just one run over six innings. The bullpen allowed six walks after Miner allowed just one, leading to five runs.

After providing the catalyst for the Indians 2007 surge that took them to the division title, Asdrubal Cabrera's had a disappointing 2008. It looks like he's doing better lately, however. His three for four tonight gives him eight hits in his last fourteen at bats with two doubles and a home run. The Indians won all four games, including a 7-5 victory over Baltimore tonight.

Adam Dunn strikes out in his first plate appearance with the Diamondbacks. The broadcast showed a graphic that Arizona now has three of the top five batters with the most strikeouts in the National League.

While strikeouts for an individual batter don't matter that much, strikeouts for an offense probably do. It takes away opportunities to get hits because so many batters are striking out so often.

South Side Sox decides that Ken Griffey, Jr. can't play centerfield.

Bob Melvin penciled in Dunn to start in right tonight, but that won't last with Upton returning to the majors soon.

It's unlikely that the Diamondbacks would leave Dunn in right field once Upton is healthy. They could put Dunn in left and move Conor Jackson back to first base or put Dunn at first base. Either of those scenarios would involve Chad Tracy moving to the bench.

A more complicated maneuver: Dunn to left, Jackson to first, Tracy to third and Mark Reynolds to second base to take the place of the injured Orlando Hudson.

Melvin wouldn't rule out moving Reynolds to second, but added, "At this point right now, he's playing third base."

Dunn's defense hurts the least at first base. Chad Tracy had his chance to hit his way into the job, but continued to show declining power as he entered his prime years. Putting Dunn at first is probably the best combination of increasing scoring without doing too much damage on the runs allowed side of the equation.

Manny Ramirez came home to Dodger Stadium with his dredlocks intact. He just doubled with the bases loaded to drive in the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the third, so maybe Joe Torre will continue to cut him some slack. :-)

Update: The Dodgers end up with six runs in the inning. Blake hit his 14th home run of the season to cap the inning.

Chase Utley hits his 29th home run and makes it count as it gives the Phillies a 5-3 lead over the Pirates and Philadelphia goes on to a 6-3 win. Chase is now three homers behind the leaders Dun and Howard. Utley hit 19 home runs in the first two months of the season, but only ten since. He's off to a better start in August with two so far. He hit four in each of June and July.

Troy Glaus went 0 for 5 this afternoon against the Cubs. That brings him to 0 for 29 on the season against Chicago. He's headed for a record if he doesn't get a hit soon.

Most AB against an opponent in a season without a hit, 1957-2008

Batter	Opponent	Season	At Bats
John Lowenstein	TEX	1974	35
Andruw Jones	PHI	1998	33
Troy Glaus	CHN	2008	29
Marty Cordova	OAK	1998	29
Jerry Kenney	CAL	1970	27
Jose Cardenal	NYN	1971	27
Mike Ryan	SFN	1968	27

The Cardinals still have eight games to play against the Cubs. I can't imagine Glaus going hitless in all of those games. The probability of a .267 going 0 for 32 (four at bats a game in the remaining games) is .000048. Still it will be fun to see how long he goes before he gets a hit against the Chicago this season.

Miguel Cabrera helps the Tigers to an 8-3 win over the Chicago White Sox as the Tigers try to stay alive in the hunt for a playoff spot. With a three for three night and a home run, Cabrera is now batting .353 with a .612 slugging percentage since the All-Star break. It looks like Miguel is starting to meet the Tigers expectations.

The Dodgers defeat the Cardinals this afternoon 4-1 behind the pitching of Clayton Kershaw and the hitting of Jeff Kent and Manny Ramirez. Kent went three for four and scored twice, while Manny hit his fourth home run since joining the Dodgers, driving in two more runs. Manny now has a .615 OBA and a 1.130 slugging percentage. If he had gotten off to that kind of start with the Red Sox, maybe the whole ugly series of incidents leading to the trade doesn't happen.

Denard Span hit well again today, driving in four runs with three hits, including a triple. He was part of an eleven hit attack that ended in the Twins winning 7-3 over the Mariners. The bullpen was back to it's fine form, too, pitching three scoreless innings, although they didn't strike out a batter.

Lyflines looks at the history of David Ortiz batting with and without Manny in the lineup and finds a result the opposite of the common wisdom.

Jason Bay keeps up his hot hitting, going 4 for 5 with two doubles tonight as the Red Sox beat the Royals 8-2. The doubles bring Bay's full season total to 25, equally his level of 2007. Bay holds a .520 OBA and a .762 slugging percentage since joining Boston.

J.D. Drew batted leadoff. He doubled and drew two walks, but did not score a run. Still, I like that move as Drew's ability to get on base works well as long as Ortiz, Youkilis and Bay form a powerful heart of the order.

Prince Fielder apologies for his attack on Manny Parra:

"It's not like we hate each other," Fielder said. "I don't. It's just a little disagreement. I apologize for the way it went down, but I don't apologize for the passion and intensity. I definitely could have handled it a little better, but just at that moment, that's how it went down. I can't take it back. The way I handled it probably could have been dealt with better."

Jason Giambi shaved his upper lip, and picked up hits in his first two at bats. His RBI single in the first and Giambi's solo home run in the fourth plate the only two runs in the game.

Via Extra Bases, Joe Torre did tell Manny Ramirez to cut his hair. Now T.J. Simers has a bet with Joe it won't happen:

If Ramirez returns to Dodger Stadium a week from today to open the team's next home stand with all his hair, Torre said he would make a donation to Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA.

As part of the deal, Torre agrees he will say nothing more to Ramirez about his hair, believing Ramirez heard him the first time they talked.

If Ramirez shows up to Dodger Stadium without the dreads, Page 2 will make a donation to the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation.

As part of the deal, of course, I will say nothing more to Ramirez about his hair.

As Simers notes, there's not financial incentive, since the Red Sox, not the Dodgers are paying Manny. If Torre pushes this, he's likely to trigger the evil Manny the Red Sox were so anxious to trade.

Jason Giambi shaved his moustache.

Manny Ramirez is 3 for 3 this afternoon with a single, double and home run. He's driven in three runs and the Dodgers lead 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth. His homer in this inning got back the run Stephen Drew scored on a homer in the top of the inning.

Update: Neither Manny, nor anyone named Ramirez, has ever hit for the cycle.

Update: Ramirez hits an infield single in the eighth to go 4 for 5 on the game. Pablo Ozuna follows with the triple Manny needed, hittng the ball over Chris Young's head to straight away center. The Dodgers lead 9-3.

The trade for Xavier Nady looks good for the Yankees right now. He drives in five with a double and a home run as New York comes back from a 5-0 deficit to take an 8-5 lead.

Edwar Ramirez comes in to hold the lead after the Yankees score four in the seventh. He loads the bases with two out and then gives up a grand slam to Mark Teixeira. It's his first home run for the Angels. They grab back the lead 9-8.

The Royals are up 6-0 on the White Sox after three innings. Mike Aviles is 2 for 2 with a homer and two RBI. It seems every time I look at a positive Royals boxscore, Aviles seems to be doing something good. They Royals come into this game 27-24 when Aviles plays, 24-36 otherwise.

The pitch by Mariano Rivera that earned Mike Lowell an ejection was indeed a ball, according to QuesTec.

Jason Bay continues his good start for Boston with a home run off the Volvo billboard above the Green Monster. He's two for four with seven total bases for a 1.750 slugging percentage with the Red Sox. Eveland hasn't recorded an out as the Red Sox turn a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead.

Jason Bay and Manny Ramirez had their first games with their new teams end very differently Friday night. After walking twice and reaching on a hit by pitch, Bay came up with two out in the twelfth and tripled, scoring the winning run on a Jed Lowrie infield single.

Manny started his game by grounding out to shortstop, but busted down the line, something not usually seen in Fenway. He picked up two singles before coming up in the bottom of the ninth in a 2-1 game with none out. He grounded into a double play and the Dodgers lose 2-1.

Randy Johnson pitched a strong six innings for the win. He walked none and struck out six, earning a short shutout. Johnson is benefiting from the Baseball Musings reverse jinx that helped Jose Reyes and Justin Morneau so much in 2006. Since writing this post, Randy is 5-0 with a 1.39 ERA. He's walked two and struck out 25. I should start selling "X is done" posts to hitters and pitchers in major slumps.

Jason Bay walks and scores in the second inning, a good start to his Red Sox career. Boston leads 1-0 after a Drew single and a Lowrie sacrifice fly.

Game On offers the top five replacements for Manny Ramirez. I'm surprised they didn't include Ted Williams's severed head.

Carl Crawford at age 27 is having a poor season at the plate. Both his OBA and slugging percentage are not only below his career averages, but poor for a corner outfielder. Crawford continues to excel at one stat, however. He tripled in the first inning to put the Rays up 1-0. It was the ninth triple of the season for Carl and the 83rd of his career. Since he started playing in the 2002 season, Crawford collected 10 more triples than any other player in the game (if Rollins doesn't triple today).

The Cardinals keep pace in the NL Central with an 8-3 win over the drained of talent Braves. Albert Pujols homers and doubles, driving in one and scoring three times. After a long home run drought, Albert has three dingers and two doubles in his last four games, bringing his slugging percentage back over .600.

Chase Utley hit his first home run in 15 games. His fourteen game home run slump was more than just a power outage. His OBA was just .306 and his slugging percentage was even lower at .304. Philadelphia leads Washington 2-0 in the fourth.

I notice Ken Griffey, Jr. isn't in the Reds lineup tonight. Is he just getting a night off, or is he on the move? I don't see any stories on the net.

Don't I write this post every year? Jose Guillen is not happy with his situation:

Left fielder Jose Guillen wants out of Kansas City pronto, according to a source who spoke to ESPNdeportes.com on condition of anonymity.

Guillen feels the Royals have not kept the promises made when he signed for three years and $36 million during the offseason, said the source. But the main reason he is in "living hell in Kansas City" is a foul relationship with manager Trey Hillman.

"Guillen and Hillman are not on speaking terms, they don't talk," said the source. "Guillen is definitely not happy, he's not comfortable and he would do anything he can in economic terms to ease his way out of Kansas City."

Would either side do Jose Guillen for Manny Ramirez straight up?

JA Happ seems to be the center of the Phillies trade speculation right now. He is going somewhere, either to the major league roster or away in a trade. We just don't know where yet. Happ owns great K and HR numbers in the minor leagues.

The Pirates defeat the Rockies 8-4, helped by a 3 for 5 night by Doug Mientkiewicz. That raises his OBA to .388 and even though he offers no power, he's having his best offensive season since 2003. He's seeing righties almost exclusively, but he's also posting a .370 OBA against lefties.

Mike Aviles hit his fifth home run for the Royals today, part of a 6-1 win over the Rays. Since the start of the 2007 season, Kansas City has 10 home runs from their shortstops, four of them from Aviles in 41 games.

Texas takes another game from the reeling Athletics, 9-4. Josh Hamilton drives in three more runs with his 24th home run, bringing his RBI total to 103 in 104 Rangers games.

Damaso Marte makes his Yankees debut, coming in to face David Ortiz with men on first and second. New York was up 7-3. Marte strikes out Ortiz, doing his job as a LOOGY.

On a separate note, did David Ortiz lose weight? He seems to be a less big Papi.

It seems the members of Red Sox Nation are upset with Manny taking himself out of he lineup in what turned out to be a 1-0 loss. He's in the lineup today and wasn't welcomed fondly by the crowd. He's 0 for 2 but did drive in a run. The Yankees lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth.

J.C. Bradbury posts his thoughts on Mark Teixeira.

Correction: Fixed the link.

Gordon Edes points out that the Boston offense performed just as well with David Ortiz on the DL as they performed before Ortiz's injury:

Consider the numbers, before and after Ortiz's injury:

Batting average: .280 before; .279 after.

Runs per game: 5 before; a hair over 5 after.

Home runs per game: 1.05 before; 1.15 after.

On-base percentage: .353 before; .360 after.

Slugging percentage: .441 before; .450 after.

Boston designated hitters posted a .308/.425/.496 line during David's time on the disabled list. That's not quite vintage Ortiz in power, but they obviously didn't lose much. Of course, a lot of that come from giving Manny most of his at bats at DH during that time. With Manny moving to left (if he knee allows it) and Ortiz returning, I suspect the Red Sox offense will get better but the defense might get a little worse.

Jimmy Rollins was benched Thursday for showing up late to the game.
Still, the pattern troubles - and it is a pattern now. On June 5, manager Charlie Manuel benched Rollins in the middle of a game for failing to run out a fly ball. This past weekend, there was concern about another base-running lapse on a play where Rollins should have scored but didn't. Now, this.

The word "leadership" gets tossed around all the time in sports, and Rollins has had it tossed into his lap plenty. He has accepted it. He has to understand what it means, and that the last thing this struggling team needs right now is drama, especially leadership drama.

Of course, it's easier to be a leader when you are having a good season. Rollins BA slipped 30 points, and his slugging percentage slipped 100 points from last year. That, more than his attitude, is what needs to be corrected.

Adam Dunn knocked out two hits this afternoon, including a grand slam as he drove in five of the Reds nine runs in a 9-5 victory over the Padres. Dunn continues a great month. He's now 18 for 59 in July, a .305 BA. With nine home runs, he's tied Ryan Howard for the major league lead and is slugging .780. Of course, the Blue Jays couldn't use that kind of performance.

This is priceless.

Adam Jones went 2 for 4 Monday night in an 8-3 Orioles win over the Blue Jays. The acquisition from Seattle got off to a rough start. Through the end of May he was hitting just .245 with an OBA below .300 and an OBA in the mid .300s. Since, however, he's hit much better. With tonight's game, he's batting .327 with an OBA over .360 and a slugging percentage in the .480s. The Orioles are starting to get the value they hoped for in the young player.

Austin Kearns is batting cleanup for the Nationals tonight. His slugging percentage is lower than his OBA, and his OBA is just .314.

Chris Iannetta singled and homered for the Rockies tonight, driving in three runs in a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He now owns a .380 OBA and a .544 slugging percentage. Is his defense so bad that the Rockies can't afford to have his bat in the lineup every day?

Manny Ramirez isn't exactly endearing himself to the Red Sox front office:

"I want to know what's my situation." Ramirez told Bradford, which is a little puzzling when you consider even casual Sox fans know his situation. The club holds two one-year options on Manny's contract, each of which, if exercised, amount to $20 million. If the Red Sox exercise the option for 2009, Ramirez remains in Boston for at least one more season. If they do not, Ramirez is free to sign with a new team.

It's just Manny's situation being Manny's situation.

"I want no more (expletive) where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing," Ramirez said. "I think I've earned that respect for a team to sit down with me and tell me this is what they want, this is what they want to do."

John Henry's response is here.

Manny is still a very good hitter, but he's no longer a .600 slugger. Despite the big off-season workout regimen, Manny's averages are very similar to 2007, an off-year for Ramirez. Given the inflation in salaries recently, a .390 OBA/.500 slugging could very well be worth $20 million a year, but if would be a lot easier to exercise the option if Manny wasn't accumulating some negatives.

David Ortiz playing in Pawtucket may be the biggest thing ever at McCoy Stadium:

David Ortiz will be in Pawtucket for the next four days, and Joe McDonald reports: "Nothing can compare to [it]." Says PawSox vice-president Bill Wanless: "As soon as the news began to filter out, the buzz grew and the momentum kept building. We've had some big ones, but this one ranks up there as the biggest." Which is really saying something.

All four games of the series are sold out, even though all of them will be televised -- the first three on Cox Cable in Rhode Island, Sunday afternoon's on NESN -- and only a limited number of standing-room tickets are available for each game. Can't get there? Don't have Cox? Check in right here. We'll be blogging live from McCoy.

This should be a big weekend for the Providence Journal's Projo Sox Blog, one of the best in the business.

Anthony Witrado details the trials and tribulations of Prince Fielder's season. I thought this was an amusing turn of a phrase:

"Things" like distractions swirled around Fielder to this point in the season. The first came when he announced he had become a vegetarian starting in February. He was hounded with interview requests all of spring training and through the first month of the season because of it.

Then came the contract beef.

Reminds me of this:

Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don't eat no meat?

[the entire room stops, in shock]

Aunt Voula: Oh, that's okay. I make lamb.

Alyssa Milano will no longer date baseball players:

ALYSSA MILANO has sworn off dating baseball players, because they are too childish.

The actress admits she is a huge fan of the sport, and even dreams of being a star slugger.

But, after dating Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny and Atlanta Braves star Tom Glavine, she's determined to court more mature men, like her current mystery beau, known only as "David".

All I can say is she has good taste in first names.

Bugs and Cranks wonders why there are no more Dicks in baseball. Interestingly, the dirty version of the name goes back well over 100 years.

Chipper Jones loves Shea Stadium and would like a piece of the place:

"I was like, 'You've got to hook me up - whether it's a seat, whether it's a sign, something that I can put in Shea's room,'" Jones said. "I'm going to try to get him up here this summer and walk him around before they tear it down.

"I hit my first major-league homer there," he continued, referring to a blast 13 years ago off Josias Manzanillo. "The Mets and the Braves have had so many epic battles over the years. It's just been a special place. It's been a place where I've really enjoyed playing. It just made sense. I love the name."

I guess the success makes up for the constant chants of, "Larry!"

Kevin Youkilis is batting 6th tonight, his most common spot in the Red Sox lineup. He took advantage of all the batters on base in front of him to drive in six so far this evening. He collected a grand slam, a single and a sacrifice fly to plate the runs. The Red Sox are all over the Orioles tonight, 12-1 in the top of the ninth.

Hanley Ramirez capped a five-hit night with a home run to defeat the Dodgers 5-4 in eleven innings.

Ramirez, the starting shortstop for the NL in next Tuesday's All-Star game, was 5-for-6 and raised his average to .317. The Marlins' leadoff hitter singled his first three times up and doubled in his next at-bat. His 23rd homer of the season came off Brian Falkenborg (1-2)

I still wonder if the Ramriez trade was the right move for Boston. Beckett's had one great year. Lowell's been terrific, but would Youkilis at third have been so bad? Hanley is likely to be smacking the ball around long after Lowell's career is over. Given the results in Boston, no Red Sox fan is going to complain I can imagine a Boston roster with Ramirez being just as potent and possibly a bit less expensive.

Update: The Marlins have to be happy with Josh Johnson as well. In his first start in a year, he pitched five innings, walking none and striking out six.

It seems Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi disagree on how much Jorge should be catching:

Posada said that Girardi knows how he feels about playing behind the plate, but it seems that when the Yankees play speedy teams such as Boston or Tampa Bay, the manager's preference is to keep Molina's arm on the field. Asked if he thought he would get the nod behind the plate based on the opponent, Posada barked: "I don't know. Ask him. I have no idea."

Presented with the same question, Girardi was non-committal about his plans.

"It's more how he's continuing to improve, then you look at matchups and that's how you make up your lineup," Girardi said. "When you want to get both righthanded bats in the lineup, you're not going to DH Molina or put Molina at first. You would probably go the other way. You look at everything involved and then you make your decision."

This same thing happened when Posada was young and Girardi was the defensive catcher. Torre often started Girardi's glove instead of Posada's bat. For example, Girardi started games 3 and 4 of the World Series in 1998, despite the Yankees losing the designated hitter in San Deigo. During the season, Posada caught the bulk of the games.

Do you know what I love about the picture of Manny on his cellphone in the Green Monster? He's framed by the word "LOST."

Another non-denial of interest in Bonds turns into interest in Bonds.

Oakland recently called up Wes Bankston to play first base. He went 2 for 3 Monday night including his first major league home run. The shot tied the game at three as the Athletics went on to a 4-3 win over the Mariners. Bankston is 9 for 23 in his six games with four extra-base hits. So far, his major league career has been much more impressive than his minor league career.

With three players going on the disabled list for the Braves, Jeff Francoeur is back from the minors. He had seven hits in his three games in the minors. I guess the demotion was the wake-up call he needed.

Joe Posnanski notes the Rays don't like useless stats much. While the Rays hold a run the bases day, they show baseball cartoons on the big screen. One of them have super hero Rays chasing down Dr. Stat:

But, believe it or not, that's not the hilarious part. No, the hilarious part is this: The villain they were trying to catch was someone named "Dr. Stat." No, really. It seems that Dr. Stat -- and I'm quoting from the cartoon now -- wants to "use his knowledge of useless statistics to destroy the game."

Yes, I'm completely serious here -- I saw the thing twice. This Dr. Stat them appears on the Superfriends monitor, and he asks them who was the highest paid umpire in 1888. The Rays, of course, don't know, and they make it clear to him that it is a stupid and pointless question. Dr. Stat then says, "Wrong answer," and he says as punishment he will point his stat ray direction at Tropicana Field in order to make it impossible for people to enjoy the games.

OK, timeout here -- what is a stat ray? How would that work? I should ask the guys at Baseball Prospectus if they have one. A stat ray. How great is that? I wonder what would happen if we would point the stat ray at some of my baseball writing friends. I'd love to aim it at my buddy Rick Morrissey up in Chicago, just to see what happened. Would he explode? Would he start talking about VORP and Eqa? I need to get me one of them.

Anyway, the cartoon Joe Maddon, realizing that this stat ray could destroy what the game stands for, started burning copies of the book Moneyball. No, wait, that's not right. No, what he did was turn his Rays into superheroes and send them after Dr. Stat. They landed in Dr. Stat's lair, and Dr. Stat being a fairly uncreative and unimaginative villain type sent some robots after them. I have no idea why he thought this would work, nor do I know what robots (and I mean they were the most boring looking robots you ever saw) had to do with his love of meaningless baseballs statistics. Maybe if they were, like, robots who invented new run matrixes, that would have made sense. But, in all honestly, wouldn't it have been more realistic if Dr. Stat had sent, I don't know, Pete Palmer and Voros McRacken after the heroes? The Rays would try to come after them, but they would be helpless against the power of linear weights and DIPS.

Some of those useless stats predicted the Rays would have a pretty good year.

The other half of the column notes that Grady Sizemore is no longer a leadoff hitter. His ability to both get on base and hit for power make him more of a number three hitter. With both Martinez and Hafner injured, moving Grady down in the lineup might help the team.

No, here's what we are saying: Eric Wedge doesn't seem to adjust very well. He seems to think that Grady is still the player he was two years ago. He seems to care a lot about keeping his players comfortable. He seems content to keep things as they are even when they are not all that sensible. I have absolutely no idea if the Indians would score more runs, fewer runs or precisely the same amount of runs to the 10th decimal point if Grady hit third (or second or fourth or whatever). I don't know, and as mentioned a time or two, I don't care. I just care that the Indians have a manager whose team came within one game of the World Series and is now buried in last lace, a manager who is hitting the American League home run leader leadoff and Ben Francisco third.

I put the lineup used by the Indians on Sunday into the Lineup Analysis Tool, and it has Sizemore batting second. That makes sense as his high OBA does best at the top of the order, but his power needs to be behind some others who get on base. However, the difference between the best lineup and the Sunday lineup is just 0.12 runs.

My guess is the best Indians lineups have Sizemore batting ahead of a slugging Hafner and Martinez. Unlike Soriano, Sizemore does a great job of getting on base. As long as there are slugger behind him, he's fine at the top of the order. Right now, however, Joe is right. Grady should be at least moved down to the two hole.

A-Rod's wife is going to sue for divorce:

Cynthia Rodriguez, 35, who wed the Miami-bred slugger in 2002, claims the marriage is over because of Rodriguez's extramarital affairs. The couple own a waterfront home in Coral Gables.

So it's not just Madonna. I would have thought the stripper in Toronto would have been enough.

Chipper Jones homered and tripled today to give him 1/2 a cycle. Like Pedroia the other day, he looks like he's going for the reverse cycle as he homered, then tripled. The two for two brought his batting average up to .389.

Despite the hits, the Astros lead 5-3 in the fifth.

The Daily News is having lots of fun with the A-Rod/Madonna story, but I thought this quote from the comments was priceless.

Maybe she could use the kabbullsh1tt on him to hit with runners in scoring position

Jeff Francoeur returned to the minor leagues after being booed by Braves fans:

Francoeur was booed at home Thursday night when he went 0-for-4. He hit .206 in June and is 1-for-12 in three games this month.

"It seems I can't catch a break, or when I feel I start to roll I just can't get things to keep rolling my way," Francoeur said.

The Braves hope Francoeur can relax at Double-A Mississippi and sharpen his mechanics. The plan is for Francoeur to rejoin the team following the All-Star break.

Francoeur has always been an out machine, with a career OBA of .313. He's only drawn 96 walks in 1884 career at bats. In 2007, it looked like he made progress, drawing 42 free passes. With both his batting average and power abandoning him this season, the few walks he draws don't help much. I really wonder if pitchers finally figured out how to exploit Jeff's tendency to swing at pitches. Why throw a strike to a batter who doesn't care to take a ball?

It's on the gossip page, not the sports page. A-Rod and his wife are breaking up.

I was watching the Red Sox/Rays game while doing my radio show. Pedroia hit a home run in the first, then I noticed him triple, and he just doubled. If he singles in his next at bat, he'll have accomplished the cycle in reverse. That would be pretty cool.

The Red Sox lead 4-1 in the top of the fifth, so Dustin should have a couple of chances to get the single.

Update: Pedroia flied out in his fourth at bat.

Where would the Dodgers be without Russell Martin? He's three for three tonight with a walk, picking up a double and a homer. The Dodgers lead Houston 6-4, and Russell either scored or drove in five of the runs. Of the starters in the lineup tonight, Martin has both the highest OBA and the highest slugging percentage. He just needs a triple for the cycle.

Update: Furcal may not be coming back any time soon.

Chipper Jones is back manning third base for the Braves tonight. He's 0 for 1 so far.

The Padres find a second baseman who can hit, and he's a 30-year-old rookie. Edgar V. Gonzalez put up good minor league numbers for a long time. It's amazing no one found a place for him sooner. Kudos to the Padres for realizing he might be useful after five organizations failed to call him up.

John Delcos discusses Jose Reyes's antics on the LoHud Mets Blog:

He does these things because the Mets let him. He loses focus because the Mets don't do anything about it when he does.

Some players have said Willie Randolph wanted to lean on him harder, but the front office wouldn't let him.

He's 25 now and time is running out on reeling in his behavior.

John is talking refering to this:

With two outs in the seventh inning, Melky Cabrera sent an easy grounder to Reyes, who threw high toward first, pulling Carlos Delgado off the bag. It seemed Delgado would be able to catch the ball and tag Cabrera, but the ball glanced off the tip of his glove and then bounded into the Mets' dugout, giving Cabrera second base. Reyes was charged with the error. What followed was a Little League-like temper tantrum.

As the next batter, Jose Molina, was flying out to right field to end the inning, Reyes threw his glove and sunglasses to the ground, letting everyone at Shea witness his lack of self-control.

I was watching the Yankees broadcast, and David Cone excused the actions because Reyes is young. Ken Singleton called him on that, pointing out that Jose spent five years in the majors (he's actually in his sixth season), and if he's not grown up by now, when is it going to happen?

Reyes has posted good numbers the last three years, but they aren't superstar numbers. When he starts posting .400 OBAs and .500 slugging percentages, then he can act like a spoiled diva.

The Mariners spanked the Padres this afternoon, taking the game 9-2 for a sweep of the team from the opposite end of the west coast. Ichiro Suzuki knocked out five hits. That brings his total for the season to 100, right as the Mariners reach 81 games, the halfway point of the season. Ichiro cracked 200 hits in each of his first seven seasons, his lowest total being 206 in 2005. He's halfway to an eighth straight 200 hit season.

Jermaine Dye will wind up with a good June as his 2 for 3 this afternoon raises his BA for the month to .330. He's 32 for 97 with nine home runs and 26 RBI in 25 games. Half of Dye's home runs came in this month.

The White Sox win a squeaker 6-5.

Evan Longoria picked up four hits in five at bats tonight to lead the Rays to a 10-5 victory over the Pirates. He drove in three runs and scored three with two singles, a double and a home run. In his last five games, Evan is 12 for 23 with five doubles, four home runs and 11 RBI. He's making that long term contract look like a very good deal.

J.C. Bradbury joins Joe Posnanski in wanting a team to give Barry Bonds a job. Sabernomics pulls for the Braves to take a flier on Barry.

The ruling comes down on Coco Crisp's suspension. Coco will miss five games, but:

Crisp will begin serving the suspension Saturday, and thus will miss all three games of the Sox' series in Tampa Bay next week.

It's almost like the commissioner's office waited so they could keep Coco out of Tampa Bay.

Derek Jeter picked up his 400th double in the bottom of the third today. That puts him alone in 152nd on the all-time list. There are three players with 401 doubles and three players with 399, but Jeter is it at 400. He needs 40 more to crack the top 100.

Update: The double starts a three-run inning and the Yankees take a 4-3 lead over the Mets.

Joe Posnanski wants the Royals to sign Barry Bonds:

You know what? I think they should do it Why not? They tried to trade for Milton Bradley last year. They signed Jose Guillen in the offseason. They've shown they're not afraid to take on a little attitude. Take away the emotions and steroid talk, and Barry Bonds is one of the three or four best players in the history of the game, he's on Mount Rushmoreno. I'm not saying he really WOULD come to Kansas City for the minimum (and give the money to kids for tickets!). I suspect that if it is Kansas City making the offer, he may suddenly have a lot of excuses ("Oh, I'd love to, but there's the spider web in the corner of my garage, and I've just GOT to get rid of that thing").

But if he's serious, I'd do it. Absolutely. Yes, the commissioner's office would howl behind the scenes (I suspect there is no way that Royals owner David Glass would ever do this ... he's close with Bud Selig). Other teams would grumble about the collusion that is really, really not happening. But I wouldn't care. Baseball has kicked the Royals in the teeth for about 20 years now. I would sign Barry Bonds. I would kick back.

I agree. As Joe says earlier in the article, Kansas City can use a circus.

Alexei Ramirez collected two hits today and a GWRBI as the Dodgers fell to the White Sox 2-0. The Cuban defector started slowly, but he's doing a good job of picking up the Major League game:

Alexei Ramirez, 2008, Through June 26

Stat	Through April	May	June
Batting Avg.	.121	.295	.366
On-Base Avg.	.147	.312	.395
Slugging Pct.	.182	.433	.512

A few more months like June and he might get some MVP consideration.

Bugs and Cranks notes that Shawn Chacon's antics left the great state of Alaska without a major league player.

The Minnesota Twins extended their winning streak to eight games, defeating the San Diego Padres Wednesday night 9-3. They're rolling through Cy Young award winners:

Randy Johnson. Brandon Webb. Jake Peavy. Greg Maddux.

When it comes to National League pitching, that's Mount Rushmore.

Between them, they've won 11 Cy Young Awards. But in a span of five games, the Twins have handled all four, without taking a loss.

One reason for the Twins surge is the play of Brian Buscher. The veteran minor leaguer started playing regularly on June 14, and posted excellent numbers since. He's turned an offensive hole at third base into a positive:

Twins Third Basemen, 2008

Stat	All Twins 3B	Buscher as 3B
Batting Average	.273	.405
On-Base Average	.307	.415
Slugging Percentage	.369	.541

It's a very small sample size for Buscher, but his recent years in the minors show a big upturn in his OBA numbers. If he does nothing else but put up an above average OBA the rest of the season, that will be a big boost to the Twins offense. He scored three runs last night, and ten in eight games since being recalled. Overall for 2008, Minnesota is 9-3 when Buscher plays.

Jerry Manuel gave David Wright Tuesday night off, and he responded with two home runs this evening as the Mets downed the Mariners 8-2. Wright drove in three of the runs, and Reyes added a three-run shot of his own. Maine and three relievers held the Mariners to six hits, all of them singles.

Thanks to Joe Posnanski for linking to the Lineup Analysis Tool in this blog entry. He uses it to look at what might be the best Kansas City lineup.

He also notes Jose Guillen's walkless streak and how amazing it is:

The second point, though, is that I would suggest that Jose Guillen is doing something that is probably pretty close to unprecedented -- he is about as hot as you can possibly be and at the exact same time he has now gone 156 plate appearances without walking. I mean, that's just flat incredible. Over that time, he's hitting .359/.365/.634. But he has not walked even once. He's had Miguel Olivo, Mark Teahen and Mark Grudzielanek hitting behind him. And he has still not walked. It's an amazing streak, much more amazing than other great non-walk streaks like Tony Pena Jr.s' or Mark Quinn's or Pudge Rodriguez or whoever. There is absolutely NO REASON for pitchers to pitch to Jose Guillen. And they still can't walk him.

I could imagine Joe Carter or Kirby Puckett having such a streak. (Carter did not draw a walk until his fortieth game.) Here's a pretty good 98 AB streak by Joe Carter in 1985. I don't think Joe had much behind him in that lineups, either.

Casey Kotchmann has never hit like a first baseman. Through 2007, his .267/.341/.415 line just wasn't impressive. In 2008, his .299/.349/.448 is an improvement, but still not the kind of power you'd expect from that defensive position.

The improvement this season comes from his play on the road. In the past, Kotchman played better in Anaheim, but in 2008, he's actually hitting like a first baseman away from his home park. With his home run today that proved the winning margin in a 3-2 game, Kotchman's road line this season stands at .326/.387/.519. That's how a first baseman should hit.

Jose Reyes tripled against the Rockies this afternoon, his 8th of the season. It's also the 60th of his career. That ties him with Ichiro for 10th on the active triples list. Johnny Damon leads active players with 90, but Rollins is still young enough to gain on Johnny. Jimmy has 82 for his career.

The Royals picked up a victory tonight, defeating the Giants 5-3. Shortstop Mike Aviles picked up three hits, raising his batting average to .339 in his short major league career. Eleven of his twenty hits went for extra bases, including a double tonight.

The Royals have received very little from shortstop this season, so the offensive pop from Aviles is quite welcome. It's taken him a while to get here. He hit AAA in 2006 and hit poorly. He improved some in 2007 with his power coming back, and hit very well this season in Omaha.

He's 27, however. That's peak age for most players. It could just be that the Royals are simply taking advantage of a player at his best. I don't expect him to be a great player, but it's certainly possible that he could have a great year.

Aviles thinks all the time at AAA helped him as a hitter:

"You get your guys that go up and down, up and down and you play against a lot of veteran guys, a lot of guys that know how to pitch," Aviles said.

"And, honestly, I think playing the two-plus years in Omaha really helped me become a better hitter in the sense that I kind of learned more about what a pitcher wants to do to try and get me out instead of just going up there and swinging. ... You watch how they pitch and understand the concept of what they're trying to do to you."

So far the lessons are paying off.

Joel Zumaya returned to the Tigers Friday night, pitching in his home town of San Diego. Despite hitting 100 MPH on the radar gun, Joel gave up a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning of work and allowed two inherited runners to score. The Tigers bullpen, however, now resembles it's old self with both Zumaya and Rodney back in relief.

Chase Headley hit his second home run of the season. He's 6 for 16 since his call up, and three of those hits went for extra bases. He's giving San Diego the power boost they need.

Vlad Guerrero kept up his hot hitting tonight. He hit .246/.308/.424 through the end of May, well below his career averages. He seems to have found his stroke in June, however. He came into tonight's game with a .417 BA and a .667 slugging percentage in the month, and added a 3 for 5 with a home run this evening, driving in three. He's batting .434 in the month and has four home runs and 12 RBI in fourteen games. The Angels down the Phillies 7-1 with a great performance by Ervin Santana.

Happy 100th birthday, Bill Werber!

Hat tip, Projo SoxBlog.

Chipper Jones is 0 for 1 so far today, bring his batting average under .400. He'll need a couple of hits, or a hit and a couple of walks to get back over .400 today.

Chipper Jones homers in his first at bat to put the Braves up 1-0. It was a shot over the centerfield fence. The hit also prevents Jones from falling below .400 for the moment. He's hitting .402.

J.D. Drew's power streak continued today. He raised his slugging percentage over .600 with a four for five game at the plate, picking up a double and a home run. The Red Sox take the game 7-4, and Drew now has 15 RBI in his last eleven games.

Chipper Jones was 0 for 1 with a walk, lowering his batting average to .400. He came up the second time with the bases loaded and delivered a single to plate two runs. That ended a scoreless game, and the Braves pick up another run in the inning to take a 3-0 lead. Jones is now hitting .403.

Update: Aaron Cook pinch hits for the pitcher Jimenez in the bottom of the fifth and singles.

Update: Chipper comes up in the seventh with a man on first. With two strikes, he reaches out and punches a ball into short center for a base hit. He didn't hit it hard, but elevated it enough to get the ball into the outfield. He always seems to get the two hits when he's about to fall below .400. He's up to .405 now.

Shin-Soo Choo got a start tonight and delivered for the Indians. So far, he's 2 for 2 with a walk, home run, three runs scored and three runs driven in. God bless him!

Twins rookie Matt Macri is one for two with his first major league home run. He's off to a good start, batting .391 so far. He's never hit that well in the minors, so it's likely just a hot start.

Eric Patterson takes Soriano's place in leftfield. He was in his third year at AAA, where he put up a decent OBA and good doubles power. The Cubs trail 2-0 in the fourth. Chipper Jones is 1 for 2, now hitting .420.

I've read about Ty Cobb's ability to place a hit. Before the long ball became the way to score runs, players like Cobb were very good at, if you will, hitting the ball where they ain't. Most players today just seem to swing as hard as they can and hit the ball so hard no one has time to react and field it. But after a leadoff triple by Iwamura, Carl Crawford singled throught he shortstop hole to plate the run. The way he swung, it appeared he was looking for an outside pitch that he could place in that very spot.

The Rays now have the bases loaded with two out as Lackey has walked two.

Update: Lackey gets out of the inning with no more damage.

With the Braves down two runs in the seventh and a man on second, Chipper Jones comes up to pinch hit. Ted Lilly issues a walk, and Chipper comes out for a pinch hitter.

Just before Chipper came up, Lou Piniella came out of the dugout, I assume to take out Ted. Lilly glared at Lou, but instead of being upset, Lou mugged back at Lilly, walked to the mound and asked Ted if he wanted one more. Lou said, "You got it," and allowed Lilly to pitch to Jones. I remember Ted got into trouble in Toronto for something like that. I guess Lou likes the fire.

Vernon Wells came back from the disabled list Saturday and appears to be in fine form. He's five for seven in his two games back, including a solo home run that started a three run sixth for the Blue Jays this afternoon. That inning gave Toronto a 5-4 lead, and they finally convert five runs into a win against the Orioles.

Here's video of Manny five RBI from Thursday night.

There's still no word on what caused Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis to go after each other in the dugout last night. I don't think it was a bad thing, however. My two favorite dynasties, the Oakland A's and New York Yankees of the 1970s had this sort of thing happen often. Players don't need to love each other to play well

J.D. Drew steps into David Ortiz's batting slot and delivers two hits in three at bats with a double and a walk. That helps Boston to a 5-1 win over the Rays and the Red Sox retake first place in the AL East. All the starters for Boston reached base by either a hit or walk in the game. The Red Sox continue to be nearly unbeatable at home.

Hideki Matsui went 2 for 3 with a walk as the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays 5-1. Godzilla's been a bright spot in the Yankees offense, and extended his lead over Josh Hamilton in the batting title race. Matsui raised his batting average to .337. With a one for three so far tonight, Hamilton is at .329.

Mussina pitched a strong six innings for the Yankees, walking one and striking out six. Ohlendorf, Farnsworth and Rivera combined to allow one hit and no walks in three innings of shutout ball.

Via Fire Joe Morgan, Jason Varitek complains about his fellow base runners:

"We haven't been able to cash it in very much," catcher Jason Varitek said, "but it puts an extra amount of pressure on the other team, which we haven't been able to do. We've got a lot of big donkeys who clog up the bases."

Varitek may have a valid point here. The Red Sox are hitting well with runners in scoring position, .275 versus .283 overall. The runs created formula, however, says they should be scoring 5.4 runs per game. They're scoring 5.0 per game, second in the AL. Maybe a lack of speed is causing them the leave men on base who should otherwise score.

Bobby Crosby lost a chance at his third double of the night Monday when his game winning hit was ruled a single, because that's all that was need to drive in the winning run. Crosby hasn't returned to his 2005 form, when the 25 year old looked like he would go into his prime on an up note. However, his OBA is over .300 for the first time since then, and his slugging percentage is approaching .400. It looks like he won't be a star, but at this point he's not an offensive millstone, either.

Joe Mauer goes deep in the seventh inning off Andy Pettitte to tie the game at five. That was Mauer's first home run of the season, have gone 184 at bats without a long ball. His teammate, Delmon Young leads the majors with no home runs in 215 at bats. Jason Barlett is second with 185 at bats.

Update: The Twins take a 6-5 lead in the 8th and win the game by that score. Farnsworth gives up three hits and the opposition is now hitting .316 against him on the season.

Beyond the Boxscore looks at why Nick Swisher is hitting so poorly this season and finds nothing really wrong with him.

Swisher's underlying stats suggest that he is not any different of a player than he has been throughout his career. He is still extremely patient, and his walk and strikeout rates are in line with his career rates. His actual BABIP is over 100 points below his expected BABIP, leading to his miserable batting average. Although he only has four homers, he has hit a lot of fly balls and has hit at least 13 balls that were caught on the warning track. Thus, it appears that Swisher has been extremely unlucky so far this year, and if he continues to play like he has thus far, his statistics will drastically improve.

So maybe Ozzie just needs to wait for his offense's luck to change.

I set up a page where I'll update the Chipper Jones probability graph on a daily basis.

Here's a graph of Chipper Jones's probability of hitting .400 after each day the Braves play. The X axis show day number, of if the Braves play a double header, both games are rolled into that day. For example, 50 isn't the 50th day of the season, it's the 50th day the Braves played. Putting the dates didn't fit well, and my software left gaps when Atlanta had a off day.

Also, for some reason Excel keeps putting the X axis at the top of the graph when I try to switch to a logarithmic scale. Still this should give you a good idea of how hot Chipper was before the 0 for 5 Friday night. Click on the graph for a larger view.

Update: Brian Harper was able to convert the data to a log graph. Many thanks! Each step up represents a ten-fold increase in the probability.

Our long national nightmare is over.

Update: Jay Bruce walks his first time up to remain perfect at reaching base, 6 for 6.

Update: The Reds are on fire in the first inning, getting off to a 6-0 lead on the Pirates. Ross just hit a two-run homer, his first of the year, and that chases Gorzelanny. Tom lasts just 2/3 of an inning.

Waiting for Next Year hopes that Andy Marte is not the next Brandon Phillips.

Richard Griffin makes David Eckstein's return to the lineup seems like a good thing. Griffen refers to Eck as "gritty" and a "sparkplug." Of course, he misses the significance of this:

The Jays were a remarkable 12-7 with Eckstein out of action. The majority of shortstop play was handled by Marco Scutaro. The former A's bench player, making his first appearance back at McAfee Coliseum since being dealt to the Jays, entered last night batting .323 with nine RBIs in 19 games as a shortstop.

"I did this for the last four years in Oakland," Scutaro said of his standout stand-in job for Eckstein. "I pretty much know my role. I'm just ready for any situation. It's always nice when the staff, the manager has confidence in you to play every day when somebody gets hurt. It's always a nice feeling when you know they feel that way."

Griffin fails to mention the Blue Jays are 13-18 when Eckstein plays. You night think the Jays would use David as the backup from this point on.

Definition of Jeterate here.

Via the ProjoSoxBlog, Joe Posnanski coins a new word, Jeterate:

Jeterate (verb) meaning "to praise someone for something of which he or she is entirely unworthy of praise."

Example: "The father could not but jeterate his daughter for coloring on the wall because she looked so cute."

...

See, the thing is Derek Jeter is such a good baseball player -- I mean, we are talking about a no-doubt, first ballot Hall of Famer here -- that people don't need to jeterate him for his fielding. The guy sucks as a defensive shortstop, OK? He's brutal out there. Every detailed defensive number shows it. He's back near the bottom again in zone rating and range factor and, I'm sure, the Dewan plus/minus. Plus every scout who pays attention knows he can't go two steps to his left and his arm is subpar. It's OK! Really! He doesn't have to be Mark Belanger. He's a great hitter! He plays every day! He's makes up for some of his flaws with his awareness and mental stamina! I wouldn't be bothered by his defensive liabilities, I really wouldn't, except, well, you know, so many people don't think he HAS defensive liabilities. They give him freaking gold gloves. They knight him Sir Derek of Defensive Wizardry because 238 years ago he tagged Jeremy Giambi and jumped into the crowd on a foul ball.

The whole article is well worth the read.

Update: On a related note, Peter Abraham wonders if Jeter is hurt:

Given the slump and how he's been throwing the ball from shortstop the last few days, you have to wonder if he's injured. His quad seems to have healed up. Maybe he has a shoulder issue or something. Something to keep an eye on.

Jeter's seasonal age is 34. In nine of his twelve season, he's played at least 150 games, and just missed that mark in two others. He's played a demanding defensive position the entire time. It's quite possible he's just wearing down.

Henry Schulman asks the following question about the Giants veterans Winn, Durham and Aurilia:

For fans who believe that everything the Giants do on the field in 2008 should set a foundation for 2009 and beyond, manager Bruce Bochy's lineup decisions are maddening.

On the other hand, how can Bochy bench the older guys when they are playing so well?

Schulman points to their May numbers, but the overall stats tell a different story. Winn has an OPS of .773. Durham is at .738. Aurilia comes in at .724 with a paltry .319 OBA. In what universe are these numbers good? Winn and Durham at least get on base an above average amount of time, but none of these players generate any power. This is a reporter that used to see Barry Bonds all the time. He should be able to tell when a player is good.

Evan Longoria picks up his first multi-home run game, going deep in his first two at bats and driving in five runs. Both were off Trachsel, who lasts just 1 2/3 innings and has allowed nine home runs in 33 2/3 innings

Josh Hamilton hit his twelfth home run today, coming in extra innings and proving to be the winning margin as the Rangers defeated the Twins 8-7. With 53 RBI in the Rangers first 49 games, he's off to a similar start to Juan Gonzalez ten years ago.

Through 49 Rangers Games

	Gonzalez '98	Hamilton '08
Batting Ave.	.312	.335
OBA	.347	.378
Slug	.589	.614
HR	13	12
RBI	61	53

Gonzalez ended the season with 45 home runs and 157 RBI.

The Tigers continue to smack around the Seattle Mariners, defeating them by a score of 9-2 this afternoon. In the three game series, the Tigers outscored the Mariners 30-14.

Matt Joyce went two for three today with a single and a home run. That gives Joyce ten hits in 13 games, five for home runs. Half his hits are home runs, and he's hitting a longball every 7.2 at bats. To put that in perspective, he'd hit 83 home runs in 600 at bats at that rate.

Big League Stew saw a picture of Chipper Jones in pain last night and thought his run at .400 might be over:

Jones sat out a game with a sore groin last week, so I can only assume the inevitable injury is creeping closer. But here's to his continued (good) health. Of all the things I'd like to see this season, an extended run at .400 is at the top of the list for individual achievements.

Actually, an injury might help Chipper stay near .400. In 1980, George Brett only played 117 games and recorded 449 at bats and hit .390. An injury that's not too severe reduces the sample size of at bats for Chipper, increasing the odds of a high batting aveage. At his current rate, Jones will get 585 at bats this season. The probability of a .309 hitters (Jones's lifetime BA) hitting .400 in 585 at bats is 1.9* 10E-6, or .0000019. If we reduce that to a 117 game season, however, he'd only get 422 at bats, and the probability of .400 goes up to 4.3* 10E-5, or .000043, about 22 times higher.

However, Jones is quite a ways towards the goal. The probability of Jones getting at least enough hits to hit .400 in 422 at bats is .0023. In 585 at bats, it's .000095. So you see, an injury could take the injury from highly improbable to merely implausible.

Here's a spreadsheet you can use to calculate the probability of Jones hitting .400. Just change the "Total Braves Games" to see how being on the DL changes his chances.

Here's a scouting report on David Oritz'a four year old son:

Ortiz is tossing the plastic balls in overhand from about 20-25 feet. Unlike his dad, D'Angelo is a right-handed hitter, and he also throws right-handed. He has a fierce upper-cut swing and isn't getting cheated on his hacks.

When Jason Varitek got off to a slow start with six strikeouts in his first two games I was a bit worried he was getting old and losing his offensive punch. After a two for three with a home run tonight, however, Varitek now owns a .372 OBA and a .519 slugging percentage. Instead of fading offensively, Jason is experiencing a bit of a renaissance.

He also caught Bartolo Colon's return. He allowed two runs over five innings to walk away with the win walking two and striking out four. He gives Boston even more depth on the mound.

The Mariners are not making public why they suspended prospect Carlos Triunfel. I wonder if they have a Dukes/Young situation developing?

The Braves defeated the Mets this afternoon 6-1 in the first game of their double header. Chipper Jones finished the game 1 for 4, dropping his average to a Ted Williams like .406.

The Braves are tied with the Mets, 1 1/2 games behind the Marlins. A sweep of the double header and a Phillies loss puts Atlanta alone in second place. They are now 17-5 at home versus 6-16 on the road. They've outscored their opponents 128 to 74 at Turner Field. They've been outscored 90 to 83 away, but lost a large number of one run games on the road.

River Ave. Blues makes a good point about the New York teams trying to replace their first basemen with Mark Teixeira:

But the problem is that Teixeira will be a breath of fresh air only until he too starts getting old. I don't think Teixeira will sign for anything less than seven years, and while I'm not opposed to the idea, his contract will eventually be as problematic as Jason Giambi's and Carlos Delgado's are right now. While "in with the young, out with the old" is a sound philosophy, the young grow old quickly.

Geovany Soto hits a three run homer to put the Cubs up 3-0 in the fourth. The gives Soto an average line of .324/.429/.627. His age 25 season is looking like Mike Piazza's age 26 season. Given Piazza's career accomplishments with the bat, Cubs fans could have a great star developing here.

The Cubs lead 3-1 in the top of the fifth.

Update: Soto's home run was inside the park.

Peter Abraham straightens out the Giambi thong story:

Meanwhile, you've heard the tawdry tale of the "thong" that Giambi sometimes wears for good luck.

It was a good story - 10 years ago.

Giambi was given it as a joke by an equipment rep when he played for Oakland. It has been hanging in his locker ever since. The Boston Globe did a story about it once, as have a lot of papers.

But Conde Nast Portfolio magazine decided it was a "secret" and put together a story based on old quotes. Giambi said the writer never spoke to him. Then the New York tabloids got involved and pretended it was a new story. ESPN, of course, hopped on board.

So yesterday the clubhouse is full of clueless TV types (and a few clueless newspaper types) who were under the impression the Yankees all dress in lingerie.

It's a strange business sometimes.

Thanks Peter, it seemed like a silly story to me.

The Yankees lose 11-2 and Wang and Ohlendorf get pounded for nine hits and two home runs.

Mike Napoli hit two home runs this afternoon as the Angles pounded the Dodgers 10-2. That raises Mike's slugging percentage to .607. For his career, Mike gets on base at a .347 clip and slugs .462. He's not getting on base as much this season, holding a .310 OBA after play today. However, his increased slugging percentage is more than making up for the greater number of outs.

Jose Guillen continues his hot May hitting with a double in the first that drives in two runs. That gives Jose 13 RBI in 14 games this month. The Royals lead the Marlins 2-0 in the second.

In 2006, Hanely Ramirez won the Jackie Robinson Award for best rookie by four points over Ryan Zimmerman. The two were very close, with Ramirez a slightly better hitter and Zimmerman the better defender. Since then, however, Ramirez continued his development as a hitter while Zimmerman goes backward:

On-Base + Slugging Percentage (OPS)

Season	R. Zimmerman	H.Ramirez
2006	.822	.833
2007	.788	.948
2008	.698	.928

In Zimmerman's defense, halfway through May last season his OPS was .669. That meant, however, he really needed to play well to close to where he finished his rookie season. The same thing needs to happen this year. His slugging percentage is picking up. Saturday night he hit his third home run in five games. He's still not getting on base however.

Zimmerman and Ramirez are both young players. Neither has reached their prime age for hitting. Ramirez, however, is developing as a young star should, and helping the Marlins to a surprising season. Zimmerman should be star on Washington, but two years in a row slow starts are hampering his development. Playing well for only 120 games out of the year does not propel a player into super stardom.

Lance Berkman is 2 for 2 so far tonight with his 16th homer of the season. The two hits raised his batting average to .401, so he and Chipper may end up battling for the batting championship this season.

Blake DeWitt keeps hitting like he wants to stay at third base. Not only did DeWitt knock out two hits against the Angels today, they were both for extra bases. He's a 300/400/500 hitter right now, with his BA/OBA/Slugging all above those levels. It's going to be difficult for the Dodgers to move him off the position when their injured players return. The Dodgers took down the Angels 6-3.

Ryan Ludwick seems to have found himself at age 29. He hit two home runs today, including the game winner in the bottom of the tenth. He now has ten on the season; his career high is 14. His career slugging percentage of .481 indicated he had some power, but this season he's added the ability to get on base, .406 after this game. His career OBA is just .331. He's one of the reasons the Cardinals are in contention this year, but his likely regression to his mean may keep St. Louis from staying there.

In regards to Delmon Young, a Rays fan says, "I told you so."

Jim Souhan has a very telling headline in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Muscular singles hitter is not what we had in mind".

Young has the 17th lowest slugging percentage in the majors.

Here's a video for Denard Span fans.

I went to the see the Twins AAA team in Rochester tonight. Their centerfielder, Denard Span, started the season in Minnesota but he's here on the Red Wings right now. I thought you might like to see a clip of him stealing 2nd in the 8th tonight. He's currently batting .364 with a .462 OBP and has scored 22 runs in 23 games. I expect the Twins to recall him soon. He made this steal look really easy... and he did it on the first pitch.

After getting off to a slow start, Jose Guillen put together eight great games in a row. Starting May 7, Guillen is 16 for 30 with six doubles and a homer. However, it appears that not much is going on around him as he's only driven in nine runs. Two of those came this evening as the Royals downed the Marlins 7-6.

Chipper Jones keeps hitting. He goes 2 for 3 against the Athletics, raising his batting average to .423. He also scored the winning run as the Braves picked up their second one-run win, 3-2. They are now 2-9 in those close contests.

The MLBPA filed a grievance over the collapse of talks between Yorvit Torrealba and the Mets.

Scott Rolen sparked the Blue Jays victory with a double in the eleventh inning versus the Twins. It's his eighth double in 19 games; that would work out to 68 over a full season. With two out and the bases loaded, Scott scored on a single by Inglett. Rolen is the only players on the Jays slugging over .500 right now.

The 3-2 loss by the Twins drops them 1 1/2 games behind the Indians in the AL Central.

Carlos Quentin continues to make his case for AL MVP. Installed in the third slot in the White Sox lineup for the first time, Quentin hit a grand slam off hapless reliever Scot Shields. That broke a 1-1 tie and the White Sox went on to win 6-1. It also spoiled a triumphant return by John Lackey, who pitched seven strong innings.

Quentin ranks 5th in OBA in the AL,2nd in slugging percentage, 1st in home runs, 4thin runs scored and 2nd in RBI. At 25 years old, Quentin is hitting his prime and doing everything well offensively. He's another argument for the AL hitting poorly because of age. Here's a young many having no problem handling American League pitching.

Chris Young of Arizona went three for four Tuesday night against the Rockies, raising his OBA to .343. Young seemed a bit miscast as a leadoff hitter in 2007, posting a .295 OBA for the season. In 2008, he's raised his batting average a bit, but increased his walks. Less than a quarter of the way through the season he's already drawn half as many free passes as he did in 2007. In addition, he's accomplished this without hurting his power. His slugging percentage is 14 points higher than his final 2007 mark, and he's on his way to another 30+ home run season. Just the kind of improvement you want to see from a young Young.

Ryan Howard went two for four in the Phillies 5-4 win over the Braves tonight. He picked up a single and a double to give him six hits in his last five games. Howard also struck out twice. However, with half of the hits in the streak for extra bases, Howard appears to be getting his stroke back. Maybe it just takes him six weeks to warm up.

Chipper Jones stayed hot with three hits to raise his batting average to .415. I'd love to see him go deep into the season with a .400 average.

The Mets DFA'd Nelson Figueroa today, and the Washington Nationals get a good chuckle:

If he reads an account of his reaction to the Nats razzing of him from the dugout, he mocked their lowly position in the standings by saying "they are who they are," it must be particularly painful. The Nationals may be bad but they're major leaguers, something Figueroa isn't anymore.

Today seems to be the day to complain about antics. First, old fogey Goose Gossage complains about Joba Chamberlain:

"There's no place for it in the game," Gossage told reporters Monday during a tour of the Hall of Fame, according to MLB.com. "I will stand by that and I love Joba Chamberlain. I'm with him down in Spring Training. He's a great kid, but no one is passing the torch today. Nobody talks to them. When I broke into the big leagues, I didn't say two words all year."

Chamberlain's antics again drew attention after he celebrated after striking out the Indians' David Dellucci last Thursday. Two days earlier, Dellucci hit a game-winning pinch-hit home run off of Chamberlain.

Nelson Figueroa is miffed!

After getting the third out of the third inning, Figueroa turned toward the Nationals dugout and made a mock clapping gesture into his glove in response to what he perceived was the Washington bench's rhythmic clapping for his walk and error during the inning.

Figueroa was not happy afterward.

"They were cheering in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls," he said. "I am a professional, I take great offense to that. ... They won tonight, but in the long run, look who they are, a last-place team."

Milledge defended his teammates: "We didn't try to rattle him. We're trying to get our guys going."

Gossage has a point, but I always thought the respect your elders aspect of rookies was silly. Goose didn't say two words because when he came up, the veterans pitchers on the team saw him as a threat to their jobs and wouldn't talk to him. With long term contracts, it's easier to see a rookie as someone to help the team win, and therefore nurture. That's what Mussina tried to do with Hughes and Kennedy. Still it's never a good idea to anger your opponents. Joba will learn that eventually.

As for Nelson, that's just sour grapes. And you know the softball quote is going up in the Nats locker room. It sounds to me that the Nats are a team, and that's a good thing.

Here's the latest Ryan Howard slump story. He does have a hit in each of his last four games, including a triple and homer, so he may already be breaking out. However, I like this story about Branch Rickey and Duke Snider:

My personal theory - hey, I was a high-school gap hitter - is that like a lot of tall hitters, he doesn't have a good knowledge of his very large strike zone. I'd like to see Manuel and batting coach Milt Thompson set up a simple drill that former Dodgers GM Branch Rickey devised to teach a flailing young outfielder named Duke Snider the strike zone. In "We Would Have Played For Nothing," Snider tells about Rickey bringing him to Vero Beach in 1948 for special instruction. There would be a pitcher, a catcher, an umpire, Rickey and several coaches, including the great George Sisler. Snider would be in the cage without a bat. His job was to call each pitch. Then the umpire would call it.

"I had to call every pitch," Snider said, "and it was amazing how many times I was wrong, [whether it was] a strike or a ball." He did it every day until his judgment improved enough that Rickey let him hit. But he had to tell Rickey where every pitch was after he hit it. Again, he was amazed at how many pitches he still called wrong. But Snider had demonstrated an ability to kill a lot of pitches just out of the strike zone. He was no longer swinging at balls too high, wide or inside to reach. Rickey's compromise was this: "Be ready to hit every pitch until you see it's a pitch you don't want to swing at."

Ryan draws a good amount of walks, so either pitchers throw so far off the plate it's obvious to anyone it's a ball, or Ryan already has pretty good judgement. Still, I'd love to see the results of this drill.

The Yankees acquisition of Randy Johnson looks particularly bad tonight. Dioner Navarro is two for two with two RBI tonight. He raised his OBA to .389 and his slugging percentage to .441. At seasonal age 23, he has plenty of time ahead of him to make up for a slow career start. If New York had kept Navarro, they'd have the perfect player to replace Jorge. The Yankees could have started moving Posada to first last year, for example. You never know how prospects that young will turn out, but right now it looks like one got away.

The Rays lead the Yankees 6-0 in the top of the sixth.

Chipper Jones picked up two hits, a double and a single in his first two at bats this afternoon. He was in danger of falling below .400 for the first time in a month, but the two hits bring him up to .409 and likely make the .400 average safe through the first game.

Orlando Cabrera went four for five today, raising his OBA to .299. That's a sad number. The Chicago Tribune lets Cabrera tells us, however, that he wasn't hired to get on base:

"The way I look at it is my whole career I was brought into places when they have something to fix, and once the problem is fixed, they move me on because someone else requires my service," Cabrera said Sunday.

"They needed a guy that could relax things when they went wrong and show the kids with a lot of ability how things should be done so they can use their talent. Then I move on to another place."

With enough time, Cabrera believes he can improve the Sox's leadership.

"I think these guys last year, they didn't handle it well because [look at] all of the talent they have here," he said. "It was just a matter of putting it all together and knowing how to win ballgames without having to score a lot of runs.

"I don't think I'm the only one [who could help], but you can ask me that same question in a couple more months and we'll see where we are."

Because, you know, Thome and Dye and Konerko and Buehrle never played for winners and have no idea how to win low scoring games. With an on-base average like that, Cabrera is doing his part to keep the score low.

Ryan Braun smacked two home runs today as the Brewers defeated the Cardinals 5-3. Ryan picked up nine doubles and three homers in April in 105 at bats. In May, his two dingers today bring his total for the month to four. Add in four doubles, and that gives him eight extra-base hits for the month in just 43 at bats. He's also walked three times in the current lunar cycle, versus four all of April.

Kevin Youkilis hit his eighth home run tonight, lifting his slugging percentage over .600. That's the way a first baseman is supposed to hit. Youkilis owns a .447 career slugging percentage, okay for a third baseman but not what you really want at the other corner. Nick Cafardo uses tonight's home run to wonder about Kevin's contract status:

In my national baseball notes column tomorrow I'll tackle the issue of why the Red Sox haven't extended Youkilis with a multi-year deal while so many teams have tied up their young players. Youkilis should benefit by not signing long-term as some of the following players have elected to do.

Kevin isn't exactly young. He's 29, meaning his decline phase is close at hand. I could see extending him three years, buying out his first year of free agency. The Red Sox still control him for two more seasons, however, so they may just let him play out his time with Boston then let someone else pay through the nose for Kevin's decline.

Jimmy Rollins made a successful return to the Philadelphia lineup Friday night:

The reigning NL MVP came off the disabled list and hit a two-run homer, an RBI double and also singled, sending the Phillies past the struggling San Francisco Giants 7-4 on Friday night.

"It was great. It makes you smile," Rollins said, doing just that, smiling. "Hopefully I can give you guys a good story. It ain't going to happen all the time."

Phillies shortstops hit decently with Rollins out, posting a .333 OBA and a .400 slugging percentage. For his career, Rollins has a .331 OBA and a .453 slugging percentage, so mostly the Phillies lost some power.

While Miguel Cabrera is happy in Detroit, he misses his Marlins teammates, and even the small crowds and rain delays. He didn't want to leave:

But, since he's asked, yes, he misses the Marlins. And, since he's asked, he never wanted to leave. And, since he's asked, he still doesn't believe they had to part with him.

"They called when they traded me and said, 'We don't have the money to pay you,' " he said. "...That's the excuse they give. They have money.

Yep. He's also happy the team is doing well:

"I said two or three years ago if they let us play together, we'll win," he said. "We grew up together. Now those guys have been around and know how to win. And look at them.

"They don't need me. They're better without me. Amezaga and Hanley talk to me and say, 'Roomie, come on back here.' I say, 'You don't need me.' Look at them. They're in first place."

They would be more likely to stay there with Miguel in the middle of the lineup.

Chipper Jones picked up two more hits tonight, raising his BA to .429. Just to show how precarious .400 is, an 0 for 8 brings him into the .300s. Still he's going in the right direction, and he helped the Braves defeat the Padres 5-2.

The Rockies fell again tonight, losing to the Cardinals 6-5. Chris Iannetta, however, continued his hot hitting, adding a double, homer and three RBI. That raises his OBA to .426 and his slugging percentage to .681. Yes, it's a small number of at bats, but with Torrealba posting a .287 OBA, how can the Rockies not play Chris four out of five games?

Lance Berkman is certainly making a bid to be included in this year's MVP voting. He unleashed five hits tonight, including two doubles. That set up Lee and Pence to drive him in four times as the Astros overcame three Washington home runs to win the game 6-5. Lee doubled in Tejada and Berkman after both singled with two out in the eighth to ice the victory. The Astros win their fifth game in six tries, scoring at least six runs in all six games.

Garrett Anderson is off to an awful start. He came into tonight's game against the Royals with a .258 OBA and a .349 slugging percentage. Tonight he took a step toward turning that around. Anderson record three of the Angels fifteen hits and drove in all five runs with a three-run homer and two singles. That raised his OBA to .270 and his slugging percentage to .382, still horrible numbers for an outfielder or DH. He'll need a few more games like this to look good again.

It's somewhat impressive that Bannister allowed 13 hits in 6 2/3 innings, but was only charged with five runs. KC only turned one double play. If it wasn't for Anderson, the Angels might have wasted all those hits!

Nate McLouth smacked two home runs tonight to help the Pirates to a 12-1 lead over the Giants in the seventh inning. That makes Nate's line for the season .336/.420/.656. His twenty three extra-base hits are more than half his 44 hit total. He hit for power well last season, but at age 26 he's taken his game to a whole new level. With 28 RBI he's now ten behind last year's total, accrued over 137 games.

Should the Pirates trade him? His career averages indicate he'll fall back from these lofty numbers. On top of that, Pittsburgh is a long way from being ready to compete. Maybe the Pirates can trade him to one of the weak hitting AL teams for prospects and restock the farm system a bit.

WaitingForNextYear notes the Indians signed a player with an extremely long middle name.

In what will likely be lost in the shuffle of Bronson Sardinha is his own middle name.

Full Name: Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha

That won't even fit on a Scrabble board!

Wladimir Balentien hit his second home run in six games last night, helping the Mariners to a 7-3 win over the Rangers. At the moment, Wlad is showing himself to be an all or nothing player. While his two home runs in 21 at bats are great, he's yet to draw a walk and he struck out eight times. He showed decent selectivity in the minors, so I'm guessing this will change. If the home runs continue, pitchers will start to be more careful with the twenty three year old. That should move him toward walking more as well. Right now, it looks like he's trying to show just how hard he can swing the bat, but swinging at the right pitches is important, too.

(I assume here that he's not watching the ball go by for strike three. If I'm wrong, please let me know.)

The Angels held on to defeat the Orioles 6-5 Sunday afternoon. One reader sends along these comments:

Would appreciate it if you could get Baltimore writer to comment on Brian Roberts horrendous base running. Today he was thrown out at plate by V. Guerrero trying to score on hit in 1st, and in ninth, down a run, he singles to lead-off and gets picked off.

I don't have statistics on players being put out on base besides caught stealings. However, Roberts has reached base fifty times this year and scored sixteen runs, or 32% of the time on base. Among regulars, players with at least 70 plate appearances, the median value is 35%. Sitting at the top of the lineup, he has the power hitters coming up behind him, so he should be scoring lots of runs. If anyone has data on Roberts making outs on the bases, please pass it on.

Chipper Jones was a big part of the Braves 14-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. He picked up three hits, including a double and his ninth home run, driving in five. That gives him 27 RBI in 28 games played. He raised his slugging percentage over .700, second only to Chase Utley.

At 36 years old, Jones has never had a bad season. The closest was in 2004 when when he posted a .362 OBA and a .485 slugging percentage. That was the only time since 1998 where his OBA was under .400 and his slugging percentage under .500. He's had a remarkable career. The injuries he accrued only slowed his counting stats, not his averages.

Curtis Granderson homered leading off the game against the Twins this afternoon. It was Granderson's twelfth hit in eleven games and his fifth home run. A total of nine of his dozen hits went for extra bases, and the leadoff hitter is slugging .821. That dinger started a very bad inning for Boof Bonser as the Tigers scored six runs, five of them earned.

Julio Franco retired today. However, if no one wants you are you really retiring?

Cristian Guzman drives in six runs today for the second time in his career. He got the day off right for the Nationals with a two-run home in the first, then broke a 5-5 tie with a bases loaded double in the sixth. He's now slugging .458 on the season, following up 2007 in which he slugged .466. Given that his career slugging is .377, this is a pretty impressive run of power for the middle infielder (he did only play 46 games last year). His three home runs surpass his 2007 total of two.

The Cub Reporter makes a much needed addition to WPA.

Jose Reyes almost hit an inside the park cycle Friday night:

Reyes had his 15th career game with at least four hits, a franchise record. When he crushed a shot off the center-field wall in the eighth that ricocheted back toward the infield, Sandy Alomar Sr. waved him home for an inside-the-park homer attempt, but Reyes (three runs scored) was out by plenty at the plate. It was the fourth career two-triple game for Reyes, who is the last Met to hit for the cycle - he did it on June 21, 2006, against the Reds.

"It's always nice when Jose makes a statement early," Willie Randolph said.

The Mets won the game 7-2, hanging the first loss of the season on Micah Owings, who walked in his two plate appearances. Maybe the opposition is afraid to pitch to him. :-) New York has now won 14 of their last 15 games at Chase Field.

Miguel Tejada promised a child with muscular dystrophy that the shortstop would hit a home run. Miguel delivered. Sounds like something out of Pride of the Yankees.

The Dodgers won their seventh game in a row Friday night as they scored eleven runs from the sixth inning on to defeat the Rockies 11-6. Rafael Furcal played another great game, picking up three hits and his fourth home run of the season. Furcal, with a .380 batting average, collected 46 hits this season with twelve doubles, two triples and four home runs. With an OBA of .464 and a slugging percentage of .612, he's certainly the Dodgers MVP, and may be the league's MVP so far as well. It's a tough choice between Furcal, Pujols and Utley right now. Albert's having a Bonds like season, but the two middle infielders are showing power and the ability to get on base from positions prized for their defense. It's a tough call.

Carl Crawford singles in two runs in the top of the seventh inning to give Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead over Baltimore. Crawford is having a good year late in the game. With that single, he's now 13 for 34, .382, with seven of his sixteen RBI from the seventh inning on.

Update: Tampa Bay wins 4-2, and they are all alone in second place. A loss by the Red Sox tonight puts the Rays in first by percentage points.

Who knew Scott Rolen was a deep thinker? He put the two tough Jays losses into perspective:

"I was actually encouraged by the loss we had," Rolen said of Tuesday's effort. "I had encouraging thoughts. There were some people pissed off. There were some people fed up. I didn't see anyone waiting for the next shoe to drop, or whatever the cliché is.

"Down on the field, it wasn't, `How are we going to lose this one?' What I saw was a very strong, competitive game. We had a shot to win in the ninth inning. We were pissed. I saw emotions that a lot of people were angry. I'm not a yeller or screamer, throw-my-helmet, slam-my-bat guy, but there was, to me, good intensity. I think a lot of guys wore that one a little bit," Rolen said.

He goes on quite a bit more, and praises Gibbons for building a winning mentality on the team. Rolen's contributing two, with six hits in five games, five of them for extra bases.

The Mariners released Brad Wilkerson today. Brad represents an important reality check for me. I thought Texas got the better of the deal when they acquired Brad from Washington for Alfonso Soriano. I couldn't have been more wrong. The lesson, there, of course is that all the predictions we make exist in a cloud of probabilities, and we should never be too sure as to which part of that cloud turns out to be closest to reality.

The Cardinals defeat the Reds 5-2 this afternoon to ensure they will at least share first place in the NL Central at the end of the day. Rick Ankiel is on a nice tear as he picks up three hits today and is 8 for his last 13. He had been in a bit of a slump, drawing walks but not hitting. He looks good on the season after today with a line of .290/.372/.520.

Skip Schumaker has turned into a very good leadoff man for the Cardinals. He goes four for five tonight with two runs scored as St. Louis defeats Cincinnati 7-2. He nows sports a .409 OBA. He's scored twenty two runs in twenty seven games, and while not a prolific base stealer, he hasn't been caught in three tries. He's doing a good job setting up the power in the middle of the Cardinals order.

Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman are scuffling this season, but they're both off to a good start this evening. They each have a single and a solo home run as Washington lead Atlanta 2-1. Glavine returns to the mound and the home runs cost him a lead.

MLB FanHouse compares Nick Johnson to Charlie Brown.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that Carlos Delgado not taking a curtain call isn't the biggest problem facing the Mets right now.

Frank Thomas missed the cycle last night -- by a home run! Yes, the Big Hurt tripled for the first time since 2002. The whole night was like that for the Angels as the Athletics moved into first place by themselves with a 14-2 win.

Daric Barton picked a good time to hit his first home run of the season. It came with two on and gave the Athletics a 4-1 lead over the Angels. It's the fifth home allowed by Garland so far this season.

Barton, like former Athletics Nick Swisher is getting on base at a great rate but not hitting for power. Why throw anything out of the strike zone to these players? They don't hit that well when they see a pitch they like, so why not reduce their OBA to their batting average by putting the ball in the strike zone?

It's not a good year to be a Hernandez on Baltimore. Luis, the shortstop came into the game hitting .233, although with some walks his OBA was a simply poor .314. Ramon Hernandez didn't start today, nursing a .181 batting average, but with a few extra base hits to make his slugging percentage .347. Ramon pinch hit for Luis at one point and stayed in to catch, and that proved good for the Orioles as he launched a home run in the top of the eleventh to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Eight of his fourteen hits have gone for extra bases.

Update: Juan Uribe gets your RBI as he leads off the bottom of the eleventh with a home run off Sherrill. That's George's first blown save of the season.

Update: The infield is in awful shape right now. You can see the puddles, and when Cabrera reached on an error and slid into second, he left a rut of mud.

Update: The game is now delayed in the twelfth.

Update: The game was suspended. I'll see if I can find information about finishing it. This is where I miss the old tie rule.

Update: No date announced yet. The Orioles do not play the White Sox in Chicago again, although they do play in Baltimore. Both teams have an off day on 6/23. The White Sox play the Cubs on the 22nd, and the Orioles are in Milwaukee. Then the Orioles come to Chicago to play the Cubs, while the White Sox fly out to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. It's possible they could finish the game then, but I bet it happens in Baltimore.

Under the tie rule, they could wait until the end of the season to see if they need to play the game.

Joe Christensen links to a Jayson Stark piece on Delmon Young. Here's Gardenhire on Young's free swinging ways:

"I watched Torii Hunter for like 10 years," Gardenhire said. "You think Torii hasn't swung? You know what? There's nothing wrong with swinging. That's why they give you a bat. This kid's 22 years old. He's got everything ahead of him. So let it fly. Learn as you go. He'll learn the strike zone.

"To start telling a guy to just 'take, take, take,' sometimes that's just not human nature. You don't get to the big leagues, and you don't become a big league player, by 'take, take, take' and get walks. Some people are paid to drive in runs. You think David Ortiz goes up there to walk? He's paid to drive in runs. He walks because we walk him. On purpose. And that's what's going to happen to Delmon as he goes along, too. Right now, they know he's going to chase a little bit, but that's OK. I'll take my chances with him letting it fly."

There are people who get away with batting like this. Kirby Puckett, Joe Carter and Torii Hunter come to mind. I always wonder how successful these players would be if they didn't swing at pitches outside the strike zone. They'd have better hitters counts, they'd force pitchers to come over the plate more, and probably hit for a higher average and more power. They were good, but not as good as they could be.

Alex Rios missed the cycle Sunday afternoon by a home run, picking up two singles, a double and a triple. He scored three of the five Blue Jays runs as the team snaps a six-game losing streak, defeating the Royals 5-2. Rios is doing a great job of getting on base with his OBA now over .400, but he's not coming around to score that often. He now has 16 runs in 24 games. With that kind of OBA, however, you'd expect him to be closer to one run per game.

Nate McLouth swatted two home runs today as the Pirates downed the Phillies 5-1. Adding in a walk, Nate raised his OBA to .414 and his slugging percentage to .627. Those numbers might actually be better served in the middle of the order, although their is something to be said for having your leadoff man have the best OBA on the team.

What the Pirates lack right now is someone who can get on base that isn't a slugger. Bay, Doumit and Nady are all middle of the order hitters, and everyone else in the lineup has an OBA under .300. McLouth in the #1 slot is probably the best deal for the Pirates right now.

Paul Maholm throws a two-hitter. He was a bit wild, issuing four walks, but the Philies couldn't get good wood on the ball as they were 2 for 24 putting the ball in play.

Carlos Delgado broke out this afternoon, walking twice and hitting two home runs as the Mets defeated the Braves 6-3. Delgado's strengths as a hitter are his selectivity and his power, so to see both showcased in one game is a positive sign for the slugger. His averages are still very low, but fixing his bat makes the Mets a much more competitive team.

Update: Paul Konerko combined for the same number of walks and home runs. Like Delgado, his averages remain low, but there's been less concern about Paul's numbers since the White Sox are:

1. Playing well as a team.
2. Not in New York.

Adam Wainwright threw behind Brad Ausmus Saturday after a Cardinals player was hit by a pitch. Since MLB recently established that offense requires a suspension, will Adam have to ride the pine? Also, since Wainwright is a starter, shouldn't the suspension be ten days, so he has to miss two starts? It would be silly to suspend a pitcher for three games, since he'll appeal, then drop the appeal the day after a start.

I know it's just seventeen at bats, but can Curtis Granderson be any hotter? He not only went 2 for 5 today, but homered and doubled. That give him three home runs and four of his six hits for extra bases. If the Tigers needed a spark, he's certainly supplied it as they defeat the Angels today 6-4. He's earned his way on base ten times and scored eight runs, exactly what you want from a leadoff hitter.

David Ortiz was in the original Boston lineup, but was later scratched.

Via MLB Fanhouse, a great column by Doug Glanville on veterans stepping aside for younger players.

In theory, I had come to the Yankees ready to play ball "from Day One." The idea that my history didn't give me the benefit of the doubt was disconcerting. Because there was this younger kid, who played a little better than I did that spring and who would certainly be less expensive. I'd had a bad week, and he'd had a good week, and that made all the difference.

I understood that I was now entrenched on the other side of the bell curve. I was sliding downward into the "long in the tooth" spiked pit. My competition's relatively minimal major league experience had become more valuable, in a way, than my library of experience. Somehow I had missed the transition point in my career where my value to a team had intersected with the value of a new kid on the block.

Doug is very realistic about this, and even says for the good of the game vets should step aside when timeless players (like A-Rod) come along.

I'm quietly enjoying the start of Melky Cabrera's season.

Miguel Tejada may be older, but he's hitting better. With his conscious clear of the age lie, the Houston shortstop picked up four more hits tonight as the Astros defeated the Padres 11-7. Since confessing his real age on 4/17, Tejada is 14 for 27 with two home runs and eight RBI.

Eric Hinske is due up second in the bottom of the eighth in Orlando. He needs a single for the cycle.

Update: Hinske strikes out, but he's helped the Rays to a 6-4 lead over Toronto.

Correction: They're playing at Disney tonight.

Alex Rodriguez and his wife are the proud parents of a baby girl. I hope they name her Alexa and keep her away from hawks.

Dave Cameron suggests Carlos Delgado is a more worrisome player than Frank Thomas.

Felix Pie, off to a dismal start, picked up his first extra-base hit tonight. He hit a three-run homer in the eighth to cap a five run innings and send the Cubs to a 7-1 victory.

It was a close game for seven innings as Maine pitched well through six, striking out six as he allowed just two runs. His only mistake was to Aramis Ramirez, who followed a Lee single with a two run shot. That was all the Cubs really needed as Zambrano held the Mets to one run over seven innings. Carlos's ERA drops to 2.57, and Marmol and Wood combine to throw two perfect innings to ice the game. Only the Diamondbacks own a better record than the Cubs in the majors.

Barry Svrluga offers a good analysis of Ryan Zimmerman's problems:

But I'll go back to a point Acta made last week: Zimmerman is too often satisfied to swing at a strike, even if it's a pitcher's pitch on the low-and-outside edge of the zone. Zimmerman, at this point, sees himself driving those balls to right field and thinks it's a good at-bat. Acta's point is that the balls you truly drive go where players aren't - either over the walls or to the gaps. My scorebook has only two lineouts on this road trip for Zimmerman.

Some other interesting Zimmerman facts:

He has 86 plate appearances, and has had two strikes on him in 40 of those appearances.

He is 6 for 40 (.150) with two strikes on him.

He is 0 for 7 with a full count.

He has taken a ball one 27 times, or fewer than one in three plate appearances.

What does this mean? Pitchers are attacking him early in the count, and then - and this is my observation - getting him to chase after that. To this point, he's been too willing to chase.

Selectivity is a tough think to teach a major league player. Sammy Sosa learned it late in his career, but few do. He wasn't bad his first two years, drawing 61 walks each season. He's on a pace to draw about half that in 2008, so he needs to make some kind of adjustment.

U.S.S. Mariner does a good job of explaining Old Player Skills.

Update: In a related post, The Baseball Crank looks at attrition rates of players.

Out in the Desert wonders what kind of deal the Diamondbacks might get for Chad Tracy.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with keeping Tracy on the team. You never know when one of your regulars is going to go down with an injury, and Chad gives you flexibility on the bench.

The Brewers took the Reds 5-3 in extra innings this afternoon. Jason Kendall went two for three to raise his batting average to .360. This likely makes him the greatest number nine hitter in the history of the National League. :-)

Torii Hunter spent some of his free agent wealth on a new car. It's not so new now:

The accident took place about 2:15 local time while Hunter was waiting for the light to change on Katella Avenue.

"I saw him in the rearview mirror, but I didn't know what he was doing," Hunter said. "He put his signal light on to go into the right lane, which was stopped already, then he turned around and looked to see if anybody was coming from behind. Then he turned back around and had to jam on the brakes, and I caught the tail end of the stop.

"His bumper hit my bumper and messed up my rims," Hunter added. "My Bentley's pretty much in bad shape. She's going to have to go in the hospital for a while. You would think some lawyers would pull up after seeing a Bentley on the side of the road. It would be like, 'Aw, hell, let me go represent him.' "

He's feeling a little stiff but okay.

Connor Jackson comes up in the bottom of the sixth needing a double for the cycle. He hits one deep to center. Jim Edmonds runs back looks like he's going to reach it, but it just ticks off the top of his glove. Jackson doesn't stop running and ends up a third with his second triple of the game! He could have stopped, but with one out he gains the extra base and scores on a sacrifice fly. That's a serious ballplayer!

With the score 9-0 in favor of the Diamondbacks, Greg Maddux is taking one for the team. With the rest of the pitching staff gassed, Maddux is just taking a pounding. He's about at 100 pitches at the end of six, so we'll see how much longer he stays in.

Prince Fielder is off to a slow start, but he picked up his eighth RBI this afternoon. He blooped a double down the rightfield line, which given his low batting average, he'll take them anyway he can get them.

Fielder has hit in one situation, however, with men in scoring position. With Weeks on second for the hit, Fielder is now 7 for 13 in the situation. Given that he only has twelve hits on the season, he's really making them count.

Miguel Tedaja admitted he lied about his age.

Miguel Tejada told the Astros today that he's been lying about his age, and that he's actually 33, not 31. And he's telling the Astros this himself because he didn't want them to find it out from someone else.

Like someone else who? The Feds? Because they're investigating him for perjury?

A lot ages were corrected when immigration restrictions were put in place after 9/11.

Tejada's career trajectory looks pretty normal, I would not have guessed he was two years older.

Dave Cameron is very excited that it was Chris Snelling who ignited the Phillies rally Tuesday night.

However, the inning started with a comeback of its own, and one that won't get nearly as much attention. Chris Snelling hit a home run to right field to make it a 3-1 ballgame, starting the rally that would lead to the Phillies win. And while a solo home run might not seem like much, it was a triumphant moment for people like me who have been rooting for Snelling for the better part of ten years. And really, anyone who knows any part of his story should be rooting for this kid. The former Mariner prospect's career has been derailed by injuries, but he hasn't lost the quirky personality or love for baseball that made rational analysts form the Cult of Doyle.

Chone Figgins went two for four with a walk today to raise his OBA to .507. In his career, Chone's OBA was pretty tightly linked to his batting average. He would walk about the same amount every year, so a good or bad OBA depended on how well he hit. For his career, coming into this season, Figgins walked once every 14.1 at bats. This season, it's every 4.3 at bats. At little more selectivity has gone a long way for Chone as he helped the Angels to a 7-4 win over Texas today.

Kurt Suzuki just picked up his second hit of the game to put the Oakland Athletics up 1-0 in the top of the fourth. That raises his batting average to .341 and his OBA to .420. He posted a high OBA in the minors with a good average. It looks like he's improving in the majors. He doesn't have much power, but if he's on base that much, he'll be a productive hitter, especially as a catcher.

6-4-2 Links to a list that makes playing Matt Kemp a no-brainer.

Sabernomics points out there may be more than small sample size to Kelly Johnson's slow start.

Jon Weiman on Juan Pierre:

In the fourth inning Saturday, Pierre walked and stole second. With Ethier at the plate, Pierre broke for third - he had the base stolen easily. But Ethier launched a rocket toward Academy Road.

Pierre popped up from his slide to see the ball in air. He took a couple of steps back toward second base, on the theory that if the ball were caught, he'd need to go back. But in the next second, he realized that he was getting a free ride to home plate. He bowed his head and began the slow jog home.

I'm not going to begin to project what Pierre's reaction was - for all I know, he could have been doing cartwheels in his mind that Ethier had just knocked Young out of the game. I'm just talking about the image I saw, the image of a home run being hit and the basestealer looking disappointed.

I actually heard someone describe Tony Gwynn as selfish because he would swing when Roberto Alomar was trying to steal, rather than letting Alomar earn the SB. Of course, Gwynn would get hits on lots of those swings. With the infielders moving, it's a great time to hit.

Howie Kendrick went three for four today in a 10-5 rout of the Seattle Mariners. He's now 18 for 36 on the season, a .500 batting average. He's two plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting average race, but he's still off to a great start. With Figgins hitting .404 after his 2 for 5 day, the Angels boast two of the highest average hitters in the league. Two of Howie's hits were doubles, raising his slugging percentage to .694.

Update: Looks like Kendrick pulled a hamstring.

Justin and BJ Upton are both off to great starts. BJ is doing a great job of getting on base this season, and his three-run homer today gives him eleven RBI in twelve games. Justin is tied for the NL lead in home runs and drove in eleven in eleven games. With their seasonal ages 20 and 23, these two have a chance to be one of the great bother hitting duos of all time. Who do you think is the best? Joe and Dom DiMaggio or Paul and Lloyd Waner? Or George and Ken Brett? :-)

The Baseball Zealot notes that Jacoy Ellsbury has a great vertical leap.

When I was a freshman in high school (Central HS, Bridgeport, CT) out basketball team won the state championship. Our tallest player was 6' 3", but they all could out jump taller players. This was the era before possession arrows, so there were plenty of jump balls. Our players would coil themselves close to the floor, which gave them extra power (think of the way Rickey Henderson generates power uncoiling from his crouch). They easily won jumps against players two or three inches taller.

They also won the states on a buzzer beater after trailing by 10 with five minutes to go in the game.

Andre Ethier goes three for three against San Diego's Chris Young, knocking him out of the game with a two-run home in the bottom of the fourth. Ethier's three hits raises his stats against Young to nine for nineteen with four home runs and two doubles. The Dodgers lead 7-1.

The five and six hitters for the Diamondbacks, Mark Reynolds and Justin Upton are lighting up the scoreboard. With his fifth home run today, Upton ties Reynolds and Mike Jacobs for the NL lead in long balls. They've combined to drive in 26 runs, over one-third of the runs scored by the Diamondbacks. Offense hasn't bee a problem for Arizona this season, and these two are a big reason why.

Bleeding Blue and Teal wants the Mariners to bench Kenji Johjima over his pitch calling. He makes the argument that Seattle pitchers give up fewer hits when Jamie Burke catches, and the same was true when Torrealba was the backup.

Jon doesn't go far enough in his article to show that the defensive versus offensive tradeoff really hurts the team. Since the start of 2007, however, the Mariners are 72-65 when Johjima starts, a .526 winning percentage versus 21-15 when Burke starts, a .583 winnings percentage. Now, 21 wins in 36 games for a team with a .526 winning percentage is well within the 95% confidence interval. So there's a bit of evidence the Mariners are better with Burke, but if I'm in charge of the team, I spend the time teaching Johjima to call a better game, or correct the flaws that may be tipping batters.

Raul Ibanez just hit his second home run of the night off Jered Weaver to give Seattle a 2-1 lead. Ibanez is now 12 for 21 with four home runs, two doubles and two walks against Weaver. Yes, it's a small sample size but it makes you wonder if there's something about Weaver that just matches Raul's strength as a hitter.

Correction: Someday I'll get my Weaver's straight.

Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke picks apart the logic of Doug Mientkiewicz.

Dave Magadan discusses David Ortiz's slump:

"He's just frustrated right now," hitting coach Dave Magadan said. "He started getting outside the strike zone, which is something that he doesn't normally do. He showed a good sign tonight, last two at-bats, took some pitches that are outside the zone. When he's doing that, he's at his best. It doesn't matter who you are, if you're swinging at balls, you're not going to get hits."

I always liked Magadan as a hitter, and that last sentence is a good philosophy to bring to a club.

Geovany Soto led the Cubs to victory tonight, 7-3 as they sweep the Pirates. Soto singled, homered and hit two doubles. Maybe we should call that the catcher's cycle, because they're just too slow to triple. :-) That moves the Cubs into a tie with Milwaukee for second place in the NL Central.

More evidence that players peak at age 27.

Mets pitchers just hit Chase Utley for the third time today. Since he became a regular in 2005, only Aaron Rowand has been hit more. That loaded the bases. Howard ground to first, and he hits Utley in the back as he goes for the double play. Two runs score on the error and the Phillies and Mets are tied at two in the top of the seventh.

Update: Werth singles in Utley to give the Phillies the lead 3-2.

Manny Ramirez hits a ball into the triangle in center than just misses landing in the bullpen. He ran hard out of the box however, and tried to stretch it into a triple. The play would have been close, but a throwing error by Polanco on the relay throw allows Manny to score. It's a triple for Ramirez, and the Red Sox lead 2-0.

Manny's picked up one triple in each of the last three seasons. Don't expect another this year. :-)

Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre combined to go 0 for 8 in the Dodgers 9-3 loss to the Diamondbacks Monday night. They are bringing up the rear of a poorly performing offensive team, combining to go 4 for 41 with two walks, nine strikeouts, one RBI and no runs scored.

Nick Swisher led off the White Sox first with a double that led to his scoring a run. With that hit, Nick's OBA from the leadoff spot stands at .500. He's doing a great job setting the table, and he's score six runs so far. If he keeps this up, he might score a run a game during the season.

Stephen Drew is off to a poor start this year and did not get the start today. However, he did come in due to a double switch and picked up the game winning RBI when he homered leading off the tenth. He only has five hits on the season, but three of them are for extra bases. That gives him a great slugging percentage to make up for his poor batting average. The Diamondbacks sweep the Rockies with a 5-2 win. They held Colorado to just five runs in the three game series.

Gerald Laird came into today's game against the Angels with just one hit and no RBI. He made his first week look pretty good by going 4 for 5 with two home runs and six RBI today. That gives him a .313 BA, a .421 OBA and a .688 slugging percentage on the season. One good game at this time of year can take a player from miserable to great. The Rangers defeated the Angels 10-4

A reader left this comment yesterday:

Hey Pinto, how bout a little love for the Cubs on this board? Fukudome's got a .600 OBP and is slugging .875. Maybe he's for real...

The Cubs aren't exactly off to a great start. The did do a job on Roy Oswalt yesterday (no strikeouts for Roy strikes me as unusual). The rest of the team is hitting just .230, however, and Kosuke drew better than 14 of the team's walks. There's not much to love about the Cubs right now.

As for Oswalt, I found three instances where he went seven innings and struck out one, but no instances of his going deep in a game without striking out any batters. Given that he walked just one batter, it's tough to imagine the umpire was squeezing him. Roy wasn't perfectly healthy:

"I felt OK early," Oswalt said. "Just got to the fifth inning and felt my biceps kind of pinch me after that. I don't know if it's just a nerve, but I didn't make it through the seventh."

The Astros don't have much of a rotation behind Roy. If he's seriously hurt, they're in real trouble.

A.J. Pierzynski continues his good start with a three hit day. He started with two doubles, and just added a three-run homer to put the White Sox up 8-5. With nine hits on the season, five are for extra bases putting his slugging percentage well over 1.000.

Bill Chuck notes that Steve Garvey and Kevin Youkilis are a baseball odd couple linked by the their errorless streaks at first base. Chuck makes a number of comparisons, the best being:

When Kevin makes an appearance, you can't help but yell "Yooook!"

When Steve makes an appearance, you can't help buy yell, "Ewwww!"

For the second time in three games, a Ryan Zimmerman home run makes the difference for the Nationals. They defeat Cole Hammels and the Phillies 1-0. Hammels pitched well, striking out six in eight innings of work. But Tim Redding didn't allow a run, allowing just one hit and three walks in seven innings, giving way to a perfect bullpen. Redding found himself in his fifteen starts with Washington last year, and so far it's carried over.

Fukudome walks his first time up to keep his OBA at 1.000. I wonder how long he'll go before making an out?

Unfortunately, his OBA isn't enough to get the Cubs on the board as they're losing 3-0 to Milwaukee in the top of the fourth.

Lookout Landing is very high on Josh Hamilton:

I mean, ten years from now, the possibility exists that when people talk about Josh Hamilton, they'll be talking about his performance instead of his remarkable backstory. And that, to me, speaks volumes.

It would be nice if that turns out to be the case. Paul Molitor and Tim Raines put their drug probelms behind them and went on to great careers. Let's hope Hamilton can do the same.

Evan Grant points out that there was more to Josh Hamilton's game than the game winning home run:

Even before he drove the first pitch he saw from Mariners reliever J.J. Putz into the right field seats with one out and Ian Kinsler on first in the ninth inning, he first kept the Rangers in the game with two running catches and then helped give the club the lead by beating out a rally-starting infield hit.

"When I'm not having a good game at the plate, and I wasn't having one early in this game, I still want to be able to do everything I can to help the team win a game," Hamilton said. "I love playing the outfield. I love it even more than hitting."

Also note that Hank Blalock hit two doubles last night and is two for six with a walk so far. A return of anything close to his all-star form would give Texas a big offensive boost.

Don't you hate it when you write a long, well researched blog post on why Melky Cabrera isn't very good, and then he hits a homer and makes two great catches?

Daric Barton receives plenty of praise from his teammates. He's reached base in every MLB game he's played. Jack Cust is quite eloquent on the subject:

"Obviously, Daric has a great idea what he's doing up there," designated hitter Jack Cust said. "He's a lot older hitting-wise, more mature, than other guys his age. He has confidence in his ability to handle the bat, make pitchers work and not going out of the zone. He's not going to get himself out. I enjoy watching him hit."

Mark Teahen hit a triple in the eighth inning. That's the 20th of his career. He plays in a good park for triples in Kansas City, and Detroit is another fine park for three-baggers. He's not Granderson, but seven or eight triples a season is a pretty good total.

Derek Jeter recorded Bob Shepard last season:

"One of the things I had him do was record him introducing me," Jeter said a few minutes ago, "so I'll always come to the plate with Bob Sheppard."

The Brewers are trying to sign Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder to long term contracts. I think it's a great idea, and I hope the negotiations go well.

I wonder if Prince still feels hurt and insulted, knowing he has an offer worth tens of millions of dollars on the table.

Red Reporter sees the cutting of Mike Stanton as proof that Cincinnat wants to win this year.

Update: Red Reporter also uses my favorite word in the title of another post.

Hideki Matsui married his girlfriend yesterday, setting off a wave of bet paying on the Yankees.

Nick Markakis brought the "wrath" of Dave Trembley on himself by taking grounders at second, and then at short. Obviously, the manager doesn't want the hitting star of the team injured on a bad hop.

Markaksis may have the right idea, however. The Orioles are going to have no offense at the position this year. Nick probably played short coming up through high school, why not give him a chance? He can't be much worse than Jeter, and it's a lot easier to find a slugging outfielder than a good offensive shortstop. Plus, his botching balls at the position will really give the Orioles pitchers the incentive to strike out a lot of batters!

The Folks at DRays Bay want him for Tampa Bay. It's absolutely amazing to me that the Cubs can't find a place for this hitter. I expect Billy Beane to swoop in and grab him.

Hat tip, THT.

Update: USS Mariner likes the idea of Murton in Seattle.

The White Sox decide to go with Joe Crede and Juan Uribe instead of Josh Fields and Alexei Ramirez. They're going for the known rather than the unknown. We'll see if it turns out to be the best choice.

Rays of Light feels Tampa Bay's management lied to the fans about Longoria:

But it goes back to being able to put the best team possible on the field. That's what we've heard - essentially - from the front office all off-season. Who among us really believes that Willy Aybar rather than Evan Longoria is the third baseman on the best possible team? And that, again, goes back to the feeling that we were lied to - at least a little bit. 2008 ISN'T the year in which "one day" becomes "now." 2008 is just another building year to some season in the future. And FriedCo. is going to have to deal with the backlash that comes from that.

The Star reports that Alex Rios is on the verge of signing a six-year, $65 million contract with the Blue Jays. That would buy out his first four years of free agency. That seems about right for Alex's talent and his age, maybe a little low.

The Dirtbag-O-Meter just hit 0. The Rays assigned Longoria to AAA.

Nobody should be surprised by the move at this point. We admit, we thought this would bother us more, but it really doesn't. The loss of Scott Kazmir at this point hurts a lot more. Longoria could have eased that pain a bit, but let's face it. As long as the Rays rotation includes Edwin Jackson and Jason Hammel, the Rays are in trouble.

I understand the move, but I don't agree with it. I'll see if I can get the Baseball Musings Durham bureau to report on his progress. (You'll notice in the picture Dan hasn't shaved in a week.)

Via FishStripes, Jorge Cantu underwent a vigorous pool training program his winter and now he's tearing up spring training.

''We have our own techniques,'' trainer Dennis Fay said of the Texas Sports Medicine facility in Houston. ``We use water exercises, breathing-underwater drills, extreme yoga. We work on a player's bat speed with a series of chains. The chains are on a handle, and they swing the chains to build up their speed.''

Unconventional?

''It works,'' Cantu said. ``That was the key for me being really strong this spring, Dennis Fay. He pushed me to the max to see what was my strength level.''

I remember touring New Comiskey in the early 1990s, and they showed us the tub Bo Jackson used to rehabilitate his hip. He started running submerged up to his neck. As he grew stronger, they raised the floor so he was supporting more of his own weight. The next year, Ozzie Guillen used the tub to rehabilitate his knee and I believe cut his time on the DL by 1/3.

The Blue Jays released Reed Johnson. In a five year career, Johnson posted one great season and one decent season. At seasonal age 31, we've probably seen the best from him. He might work as someone's fourth outfielder, however.

We can only hope Hu plays third whenever Vin Scully does a game.

I've been playing with trying to map player relationships by the number of seasons they spent together on a team. I've come up with some interesting graphs, and the PNG viewer that comes with the version of pylab I'm using let's one drill down deep into dense data. Unfortunately, I can't find a program like that for a web browser. If anyone knows a plugin that allows you to view png files like that in a browser, let me know.

In the mean time, here are the players who were teammates for five seasons or more on the Yankees during the Joe Torre era. The closer they are to one another, the longer they were teammates. Click on the graph for a larger image.

As you can see, right at the center is the quartet of Williams, Jeter, Posada and Rivera. The group to the lower left represents the champions of the late 1990s. The group at the top represents the late free agent additions, and the group to the lower right the transition between the two. I'll be playing with these more as I find better ways of displaying the data.

The Dirtbag-O-Meter, predicting the probability of Evan Longoria breaking camp with the Rays, suffered a huge drop yesterday. It's down to 30%, after standing at 80% the previous day. It's quotes from his teammates, who want him on the team but seem to be resigned that he'll start in the minors that caused the big drop. Maybe the Federal Reserve can save the day!

I'm sure Tom Tango is going to catch a little heat for this post, but I understand his point:

Why are MLB teams treating Bonds like the US Women's soccer team treated its star player? Has the totality of the personal experience of Barry Bonds crossed over the murderer, rapist, wife-beater line? Really? I mean, really? That's my argument here: really?

Tom is confusing players with management. If some team plopped Barry Bonds down on the field right now, none of his new teammates would have a problem with that. The problem is that GMs and owners aren't quite as committed to the W as the players. They need to make money, put fans in the seats, and try to win at the same time. Since Barry Bonds spent most of the last two years getting booed in every park except in San Francisco, those GMs might think that paying a high price for a player the fans don't like isn't a good deal. Maybe if Bonds were willing to pay for a low salary, some team would take a flier on him.

Via BBTF, John Romano discusses the economics of keeping Longoria in the majors or sending him to the minors to delay his free agency for a year. If he plays the full year in the majors, the Rays might lose him after the 2013 season. If the Rays let him play a month at AAA, then they get an extra year of control, but he'll go to arbitration four times.

I like the solution John offers near the end of the article:

Of course, there is another scenario. The Rays could sign Longoria to a long-term deal right now. They probably won't buy out his free-agent seasons, but they could get some cost certainty during his arbitration seasons and they could keep him happy by giving him a big raise today.

I don't agree that sending Longoria down now doesn't make a difference because the Rays are not going to contend. There's no way of knowing that. This is the best team the Rays have ever put on the field. Too much good luck can happen to propel a team to the playoffs during a season, and good luck is more likely to come about if they put their best players on the field.

I'd take the route the Rockies did with Tulowitzki. Start Longoria in the majors, and if he has a great season, sign him to a long term deal. That makes everyone happy, and give the Rays the best chance to compete in 2008.

The odds are pointing to Rick Ankiel batting cleanup for the Cardinals (emphasis added):

"I think he can have good at-bats wherever he goes. He's such a special guy," La Russa said, later adding, "You can read between the lines. He's an impact guy. You can hit him in a lot of key spots."

The take represents a modification in La Russa's thinking from earlier in camp. The manager then thought the pitcher turned outfielder too early in his evolution as a major-league hitter to assume a vocal leadership role or to provide protection for Pujols. However, Ankiel's strong spring and third baseman Troy Glaus' better career numbers in the No. 5 spot have intrigued La Russa enough to revisit where Ankiel is placed in the batting order.

Does this make Ankiel Pujols's condom?

The Pirates signed Ian Snell to a three-year contract with an option for two more years. I really like what this deal says about the new regime in Pittsburgh.

• They recognize that Snell is their best player, and were willing to sign him long term.
• The contract is not so long term that it will cost them a lot of money if Ian ends up with a career ending injury.

This is just another reason to be optimistic Pirates management will move this team in the right direction.

Dave O'Leary writes in regard to this article on Shelly Duncan in New York Newsday:

I assume this was intended to paint him in a positive light. As a Met fan, I went into the piece liking him, his style, dirty play from last week aside. This gives me reason to reconsider:

"While playing for Class A Greensboro in late 2002, Duncan broke his hand and was told he could go home for the year. Instead, he surprised Chris, who was playing in the Class A Midwest League.

After a late night, the Duncan brothers were awakened by kids playing "Marco Polo" in the pool at Chris' apartment/hotel complex. When the kids didn't quiet down at Chris' urging, Shelley called out to them, using an expletive in the process, which brought the hotel manager to their door to investigate. She was upset, and told the kids to keep playing - and to be louder.

The Duncans still were trying to sleep, so the 6-5, 225-pound Shelley decided to show Chris how to handle it. He did a giant cannonball into the pool, then joined in the game of Marco Polo, splashing water on the kids' parents and frightening the kids. The hotel manager didn't find Shelley very funny and called the police, but when they showed up, they could only laugh at his antics.

In recalling the story, Duncan grinned, but that, he insisted, was a low-level prank for him. He could come up with a book full of humorous stories from his and Chris' childhoods."

That anecdote about the hotel is questionable. As one who travels often, I've been awoken by late night partiers far more often than kids in a pool. The cursing and apparent physical intimidation lead me to believe he's a typical meathead with the jock sense of entitlement. Funny, the piece is intended to frame him well, this is how he wanted to come off? If Duncan thinks that story portrays him well he is badly mistaken. Keep in mind this was his version of events, not the family's, not the hotel manager's. Hard nosed blue collar players are easy to root for, this guy is apparently the exception to the rule.

Cecil Cooper believes Miguel Cabrera can win the triple crown:

Cooper made that clear last week, when he assessed how Miguel Cabrera would do in the American League as he joins the Tigers from the Marlins.

"He looks like he's made a conscious effort to do some things physically," Cooper said. "He's a specimen now.

"To do that with the talent that he (has) offensively, I'll tell you: He's going to wreak some havoc in that league. And now he's got some older guys around him who know what to do. He's going to be dangerous. He might hit .340.

"If nobody has a monster year with home runs, he could be a Triple Crown threat, because he drives in those runs. Not only does he hit homers, but he drives in runs with base hits. He's a clutch hitter."

No one won the triple crown in the last forty seasons. It's even difficult to win it on your team. For example, last year Alex Rodriguez hit .314, led the league in home runs and RBI, but finished third on his team in batting average.

The Tigers did have a team triple crown winner last year in Magglio Ordonez, albeit with a low home run total of 28. It's not hard to imagine, with that lineup, Polanco posting the best batting average, Ordonez driving in the most runs, and Cabrera hitting the most homers.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Ivy Chat lays into Soriano for his comments on batting second. Alfonso didn't feel comfortable batting with someone on base.

Always great to have a 30 home run guy who hates having men on base. Just think of all the RBI opportunities he can avoid!

Since 2000, which represents all but a few PA of his career, Soriano is ever so slightly worse with a man on first than with the bases empty. So the idea that a man on first bothers him doesn't really hold water. However, I believe most batters do better with a man on first. In the National League in 2007, a man on first added sixteen points to a player's batting average, twelve points to a player's on base average and eighteen points to his slugging percentage. This is usually attributed to opening up the field because the first baseman holds the runner while the shortstop and second baseman play closer to second to try for a double play. Soriano does not appear to be taking advantage of the bigger openings.

Nick Cafardo reporters that something is going on with Doug Mirabelli.

Update: The Red Sox released Mirabelli, but I'm not sure why. It looks like they're just trying to save money:

Wakefield endorsed Cash last season when Cash caught him and at that point it gave the Red Sox the thought that Cash could be a cheaper way to address the backup catcher role. Brown has caught minor league knuckleballer Charlie Zink.

Assistant GM Jed Hoyer was assigned this winter by Theo Epstein to find the team a backup catcher. But after a long and thorough search, Mirabelli was brought back at a salary of $550,000 which also included a $275,000 roster bonus, a $150,000 conditioning bonus and the possibility to earn $1.25 million in performance bonuses based mostly on games. Mirabelli, a member of the Red Sox since 2001, was hitting .273 with one RBI in 11 spring at-bats, while Cash is hitting .250 in 16 at-bats. Mirabelli was briefly dealt to San Diego in 2006 but reacquired when catcher Josh Bard struggled catching Wakefield's knuckleball.

Since no one else is likely to pick up Doug, we may see him back at Fenway before the year is out.

The funniest thing I read this morning:

Young Yankees pitcher Ross Ohlendorf has "a lot of natural cow sense." That's good to hear. After all, how many promising pitching prospects have we gotten excited about over the years, only to see them fall short at the Major League level due to a tragic lack of cow sense? Never again!

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Clay Buchholz's private life just got a little too public:

Buchholz's dad confirmed to WZLX yesterday that his boy has spent some quality time with the 23-year-old centerfold.

"I know he's met her, gone out with her, but I don't know if you consider that dating . . . but hey, a boy could do worse," Skip Buchholz told 'ZLX's Karlson & McKenzie yesterday.

Apparently Erica also spilled the beans - somewhat - to Howard Stern the other morning, telling the satellite shock jock that she was sleeping with someone on the Sox.

"It doesn't surprsie me any," said Clay's dad. "Last year up in Boston he was dating a Victoria's Secret model, so he's moving up the ladder . . . . I mean, he's got pretty good taste."

I'm not sure Penthouse models are a step up from Victoria's Secret models. I don't remember good taste and Penthouse going together. How embarrassing, however, is it for your dad to be talking about your sex life? I know my dad would be really proud if I were dating someone like this:

And during a visit to the Stern show earlier this week, Erica stripped down with fellow Penthouse Pet Bree Olson and made out on the Stern sofa.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Ichiro Suzuki is using his 0 for 21 slump as a learning experience:

"To tell you the truth, some of this is kind of fun," Ichiro said, speaking through translator Ken Barron. "To be in a situation this early in spring training, and have this bit of an intense environment, it's something I couldn't experience before.

"Basically, it's a situation where I need to battle within myself mentally. That's something I haven't experienced this time of year, and I get to experience that right now. That is something that is great for me."

So rejoice, Mariners fans. Ichiro, as usual, is in full control of the situation. The more outs, the merrier. All hail the weak grounder! Power to the pop fly!

"Once I get a hit, it might actually make me sad this experience isn't going to be there anymore," he said. "At the same time, I understand I need results."

Seattle fans will be happy if he goes 0 for 40 in spring training and those twelve missing hits show up in the regular season.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

The LoHud Mets Blog asks:

Will anybody miss Barry Bonds this year?

I will. Barry generates news and stats, two of the things I enjoying writing about. As much as I don't like him personally, I'd love to see him have one last shot at baseball redemption. To do that, he needs to play for a team on the edge of contention and take them to the top. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave many options for Bonds. Given that he most likely needs to DH, I'd limit his teams to:

• Tampa Bay Rays
• Minnesota Twins
• Seattle Mariners
• Oakland Athletics

The Angels, Blue Jays, Indians, Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees and White Sox don't need him, since they all have designated hitters. The Orioles, Royals and Rangers aren't close to competing yet. My guess is that the Mariners would give him the best shot at getting to a World Series, but they would need to eat Vidro's contract. Playing for Tampa Bay would be a great story. He'd bring in the crowds, he'd improve the offense, and if he can lead the team past Boston and New York into the playoffs, he'd end his career on a positive note. Maybe he should make Tampa a deal they can't refuse. Play for a $1 million base salary, with incentives up to $15 million if the make the playoffs, the LCS, the World Series and win the trophy. Someone needs to think outside the box when it comes to hiring Bonds.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Steve Howe helped a young Mariano Rivera:

While reporting Sunday's story about Mariano Rivera and his willingness to mentor his teammates, I asked him if anyone had helped him out when he was a young Yankee. Rivera surprised me with the first name he mentioned: Steve Howe.

Howe basically put himself up as an example of how not to deal with the temptations of big league stardom.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Kevin Frandsen will not be the Giants opening day shortstop:

The Giants moved Frandsen to short when Omar Vizquel had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week. The transition to the most difficult position on the infield did not go smoothly for the 25-year-old infielder, who made three errors in five Cactus League games. With Vizquel progressing nicely in his rehabilitation, meaning he might not miss much of the regular season, the Giants decided to return Frandsen to second base.

"That was a lot to throw at him, and he was only going to be at short for the first week of the season," Bochy said. "He's still going to get some time at short, but he's going to concentrate on second and third."

Which means the competition with second baseman Ray Durham is back on. Frandsen played second base in Wednesday's game against Kansas City and is scheduled to start at third base against the Angels today.

I guess this kills the idea of the Giants starting a young infield.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Manager Trey Hillman and coach Quilvio Veras are getting through to David DeJesus about upping his on-base average:

At first glance, DeJesus emerges as a poster boy for Hillman's philosophy. DeJesus ranked second among the club's regulars last season with a .351 on-base percentage and was even better, at .358, when serving as the leadoff hitter.

Dig just a little deeper, though, and a need for improvement screams out.

DeJesus' .358 OBP placed him 10th among 22 AL players last season who got at least 150 plate appearances while serving as a lineup's leadoff hitter.

"There are so many little things that I just took for granted in my first few years," he said. "So many of these little things that coaches are pointing out are things that I never really thought about.

"It all comes down to on-base percentage and runs scored. Those are the two things a leadoff hitter wants. That's your job; get on base and score runs."

I really can't wait to see how all this plays out in Kansas City. Reading the various articles about Trey during this spring, I'll ask a question I've asked before. Why don't the Moneyball GMs hire managers who agree with their philosophy? Hillman should be managing the Athletics or the Blue Jays. Good for Dayton Moore for hiring someone who actually believes in OBA and doesn't mind talking about it.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Jacque Jones helps Curtis Ganderson.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Jeff Francoeur sat down with Ken Rosenthal and he's saying the right things:

Q: Why did you put on the weight?

A: Home runs. To be able to drive the ball. I think I've given up on the idea that I'm going to steal 30 or 40 bags a year. I'm really looking to put my last two seasons together and have a big year this year. I don't think there's any reason I can't.

I made huge strides offensively last year in (plate) discipline. Talking to Glav (Tom Glavine), we were playing golf down here, he just said how differently the Mets pitched me in the last two years. Compared to 2006, last year they said, "We've got to start throwing him strikes. We've got to pitch him. We just can't throw it up there."

For me, that's good. I'm making pitchers think more, forcing them to throw strikes. I don't think there's any reason I shouldn't hit 30 to 35 home runs.

Q: How much are you still focused on improving your plate discipline?

A: My goal has been to go 10 or 15 walks up in the next two or three years, every year. Last year, I had 42 (up from 23 in '06). This year, I want to get to about 60 or so and keep moving up.

I would love to walk about 80 times a year. I know I'm too aggressive to get into the 100 range. But to be able to do that would be something that would be big for me. And that's when I will be able to hit .310, that kind of average.

The history of baseball is littered with players who never came to appreciate what selectivity at the plate can do to improve their game. It's great to see Jeff understand this weakness in his game and work to improve it.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Jason Giambi likes facing creative pitchers and tells a good David Cone story:

Giambi recalled how he socked his first career homer off Cone's fastball in 1995. After that, Cone was stingy with fastballs to Giambi. During one game, Cone threw four straight breaking pitches to walk Giambi and force in a run. "I asked Coney afterwards why he didn't throw me a fastball," Giambi said. "He told me he wasn't giving me a fastball with Tejada on deck."

With the free-swinging Miguel Tejada batting behind Giambi, Cone decided to sacrifice a run and go after Tejada. "Coney threw him three straight high fastballs and struck him out," Giambi said.

At bats like that were probably a reason the Athletics let Tejada walk when he became a free agent. To his credit, Tejada did bring his strikeout rate down after hitting a high of 102 in 2000.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Redleg Nation notices a nice story about Jay Bruce.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

With Alex Gonzalez going down with a broken knee, Paul Janish gets a chance to start for the Reds:

So far, so good for the 25-year-old former shortstop for the Dayton Dragons. With Alex Gonzalez bogged under a fractured left knee for at least three weeks, Janish is getting early playing time, and his flashy glove is blinding the eyes of manager Dusty Baker right through his sunglasses.

"I guess that's a plus that good thoughts are in his mind when my name is brought up," Janish said when told of Baker's attention.

Janish's fielding always has been big-league caliber, but many wonder if he'll hit major-league pitching. Baker, though, noted that Janish has worked hard to sharpen his bat work.

Janish showed a good eye for the strike zone in the minor leagues, posting a .355 OBA despite a .263 batting average. He has no pop, but a slick fielding shortstop who can get on base decently is a valuable player.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Jason Kendall is seeing the ball better after laser surgery:

"I feel like I'm 18 again," Kendall said of his vision improvement. "I'm picking up the rotation on the ball like I used to."

That's good news for the Brewers.

Brian Roberts put on a show for the Cubs scouts on Thursday:

Roberts, who hit .290 last season with 12 homers, 57 RBIs and 50 steals, led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second and third, and then scored on Melvin Mora's chopper to the left side that was booted by third baseman Jorge Cantu.

The sequence, which was taken in by Cubs special assistant to the general manager Ken Kravec along with another Cubs scout, is an example of what makes Roberts so attractive to Chicago officials.

Looking for a leadoff hitter to jump-start their offense and get on base ahead of sluggers Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee, the Cubs have targeted Roberts for months and there is a sense in the industry that the uncertainty with second baseman Mark DeRosa could accelerate the trade talks. DeRosa underwent a procedure yesterday to correct an irregular heartbeat.

Roberts also doubled later in the game.

Kosuke Fukudome reached base three times today using each element of on-base average:

The Japanese newcomer was plunked on the first pitch he saw in the first inning, walked in his next turn and then hit an RBI single to help the Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 12-6 Thursday in an exhibition opener.

That's a perfect way to start his Cubs career.

Jon Weisman muses on the retirement of Shawn Green.

But though I wish the Dodgers and Green had faced up to his declining play sooner, I always liked Green. It's probably been a couple years since I've even thought about it, but remember the joy of waiting to see him cross home plate at Dodger Stadium after a home run and toss his batting gloves to a kid in the stands? He was a good guy who, for a significant stretch, could slam the ball. I hope, as he settles down in Irvine, he isn't shy about coming by Dodger Stadium for a game and getting some well-deserved applause from the fans - including the daughter of one reader here in particular.

Shawn shares some similarities to Don Mattingly, in that he lost his power suddenly due to an injury. Mattingly was a bit better before the injury, but Green kept his power two years longer than Don. Both were done at age 34 and decided to move on rather than linger in the majors. I doubt, however, if anyone will ask me if Green belongs in the Hall of Fame.

I didn't hear about the story of Brett Boone's alcoholism until today, and I wasn't really paying attention to Boone at all. At his age and spending two years away from the game, I didn't think there was much of a chance for him to make the Nationals squad. Good for him, however, that he stopped drinking and is giving baseball a try again. I wish him the best of luck in remaining sober.

The Rays haven't committed to Evan Longoria breaking camp with the major league team because he's never slumped. Rays Index believes this is a good thing:

This is not the first time that the team has stated their concern over the fact that Longoria has yet to experience a slump as a professional. Let's gloss over the fact that Longoria actually did struggle a bit when he was first promoted to AAA Durham last year.

If this is the biggest concern the Rays have with Longoria, then they have no concerns. "He has never slumped" is not a reason to keep somebody in the minors. "He can't handle curveballs" or "He smokes too much weed" are reasons to keep somebody in the minors. "He is too good" is not.

With luck, he won't slump until sometime in his 30s.

Emma at Eephus Pitch comes up with a great one for her name of the week.

Ryan Zimmerman wants David Wright money, but the Nationals want to pay him Troy Tulowitzki money. I think that's a pretty gusty request from Zim coming off a season in which his OBA dropped twenty points to an unimpressive .330. Yes, he's a great defensive third baseman, but Wright is a true star. If Ryan posts a monster year in 2008, he can probably get a better deal from Washington as they would then face a huge arbitration salary increase. At this point, however, I believe Bowden is right to not sign Ryan to a Wright deal. He just hasn't proved he deserves it.

Players make fun of Travis Hafner for owning a tiny dog:

Blake then went on to say that while he doesn't have a dog, if he did get one it would be "a manly dog."

We also own a small dog. When she was a puppy, my wife dropped her at a friend's house while we went on vacation. The husband looked at her and said, "That's not a man's dog!" When we returned a week later, he wanted to keep her.

Chase Utley answers questions posed by fans. His priorities are in the right place:

Q: There are two cages over a pit of lava and both are descending. In one cage, there are blueprints for revolutionary emissions-free technology. In the other is Shane Victorino. You can only save one. Which one do you save?

- Greg G., Washington, D.C.

A: OK . . . I'm going to have to save my centerfielder. I'm saving my centerfielder, yes. I have his back. Hopefully, he'd do the same for me.

There's only one Shane Victorino. The technology can be reinvented!

Francisco Liriano's visa woes are coming to an end:

Twins general manager Bill Smith said Friday he thinks Liriano will pick up his visa in the Dominican Republic on Monday, which would mean the pitcher likely wouldn't get to spring training until at least Tuesday.

...

Liriano has been stuck in the Dominican Republic for more than a week, delaying the left-hander's return from elbow ligament replacement surgery. Because of a new U.S. law, people who have a recent DUI on their records are required to attend an alcohol assessment before getting their visas to enter the country.

Liriano, who had a DUI in 2006, and the Twins were unaware of the development, and the former All-Star has been scrambling to meet the requirements ever since.

He's been working out at the Twins academy in the DR, so he shouldn't be too far behind. Besides, coming off Tommy John surgery, the Twins will want him to take it slow anyway.

Carl Crawford and Delmon Young conduct a war of words in the press. Delmon gets in a IIWII.

I guess Ryan Howard's arbitration hearing will end in a true result:

Tal Smith, who prepared and presented the case for the Phillies, said the hearing was not contentious. "It doesn't need to be [contentious]," Smith said.

Howard wasn't so sure. "I don't know about that," Howard said. "We'll see tomorrow. I'm always upbeat, you'd think I'd be anything different? Regardless, we went in, we had a process and we find out tomorrow how it goes. But either way, it is what it is."

Nationals Journal liked what they saw at the Elijah Dukes press conference:

Your new Washington Nationals outfielder just finished an approximately 20-minute press conference here at Space Coast Stadium, and I have to say it was an impressive performance, relative to the expectations. He was composed, confident, introspective at times, and seemed genuinely thankful for the opportunity and the support the Nationals are giving him.

Has anyone noticed the Nationals are taking the opposite approach of the Colorado Rockies? The Rockies go out of their way to sign players with good character. The Nationals, with Dukes, Fick, and Young are a repository for recovering jerks. I wonder if one approach is better than the other. Sometimes the jerks are really good players.

Call the Braves shortstop "Hand Crusher."

We've already spent more than enough time commenting on the improved strength and conditioning of several Braves during this offseason, but please allow me just one more case. It's worth it.

Because the Braves shortstop is ripped. Seriously. If there is a stronger shortstop outside of the Bronx, I'm not aware of him.

And I wasn't the only person who noticed how much muscle Escobar added since October. You know how when you shake someone's hand sometimes and they get all fingers, but you can usually adjust and recover to make it a real handshake and not quite so embarrassing?

Reliever Blaine Boyer said he shook Escobar's hand this morning and had that happen, only he couldn't get his fingers out to adjust. Escobar squeezed and Boyer said he just about broke his fingers. I'm sure Boyer was exaggerating, too, but you get the point.

We'll keep our eyes on Escobar's hitting this season. He's already off to an impressive major league start.

C.C. Sabathia doesn't want his contract status to be a distraction. AOL FanHouse points out a distraction is unavoidable:

If the Indians come out of the gate slowly, everybody will want to know if Sabathia's going to be traded. If the Tribe start off hot, and C.C. is giving an encore performance of 2007, everybody's going to want to know if he's going to go the route of Johan Santana and take the big bucks and bright lights of New York City.

The only way this story wouldn't be a distraction is if Sabathia and the Indians can come to terms on a new deal. Until then, he's just going to have to deal with it.

It may be a distraction for the Cleveland fans, but my guess is that Milliliter didn't want to get in a situation in which he became upset at Cleveland management. Contract talks can be contentious. This way, C.C. can relax. The worst thing that can happen after the season is he has an off year and gets Zito money instead of Santana money from some team.

U.S.S. Mariners posts a long and thoughtful piece on Alex Rodriguez's Mariner legacy.

Was Alex greedy to take the offer with the most money? Greed's used because it has such a negative connotation, but really, there are two questions: was greed his only motivator, and is it bad for him to be greedy?

The post is well worth the read.

Eric Byrnes has a Shaggin' Wagon.

The Rangers are looking to sign Ian Kinsler to a five-year deal.

According to a source, the framework of the deal is for five guaranteed years worth a little more than $20 million. The clubs have also been talking about an option for a sixth year that, if exercised, would carry the value to more than $30 million.

That seems like a good deal for the Rangers. Kinsler is a good hitter for a second baseman, and he's just entering his prime period. He'd likely do much better than that deal over three years of arbitration. This is the John Hart influence on Texas. Sign your players young, then don't worry about arbitration and free agency. When the contract is up, they're past their prime and the club can say goodbye.

Update: Here is the latest on the deal.

Over at AOL FanHouse, Barry Zito changes his mind about Barry Bonds.

Ken Rosenthal examines why Dustin Pedrioa beat the projections of the Red Sox scouts.

Epstein marvels at the way Pedroia squares up pitches in batting practice, getting the barrel to the ball, hitting one line drive after another. It's difficult to imagine Pedroia improving much offensively over last season, but keep in mind that he was hitting only .172 on May 1 and played the final two months -- and the postseason -- with a cracked hamate bone in his left hand.

Yet, his hitting is only part of the package. Pedroia isn't fast, but Francona describes him as a "heads-up baserunner." He lacks range, Epstein says, "but his range plays above his quickness. He makes all the plays at the extremities of his range. A lot of guys will get to balls and can't make the play. He makes every play."

Dustin rated a little below average in range using PMR in 2007.

Joe Christensen meets Carlos Gomez and comes away impressed.

Jeremy Brown retired from baseball:

Catcher Jeremy Brown, one of the central subjects in the book "Moneyball" that chronicled Billy Beane's unconventional methods as Oakland general manager, told the Athletics he's calling it a career.

The A's said Friday that Brown would not report to spring training after telling them Tuesday he planned to retire for personal reasons. In response, they agreed to terms with free agent catcher Matt LeCroy on a minor league deal to help fill the void of Brown's departure. He was due to arrive at spring training Saturday.

It's too bad he never made it as a major leaguer. His was a great story. He did post a .370 OBA in the minor leagues, so Beane's was right about Brown's ability to get on base.

Aramis Ramirez joins Pedro Martinez on the list of major league cock fighters. I can just see the two in a confrontation at the plate yelling, "My cock is better than your cock!" at each other. :-)

This is taking love of Joe McEwing just a bit too far. :-)

Emma Span brings you the name of the week, Cody Ransom!

Here's another Manny Ramirez workout story. This is about the fourth one I've seen, and I expect Ramirez will hit 100 home runs this season. :-)

However, we do get one new piece of important information:

Ramírez's uncle Rico accompanies him to every workout, and serves as an extra assistant. He's the only guy who knows how to stuff Manny's dreads back into his kerchief.

U.S.S. Mariner observes that the Red Sox and Mariners value players differently:

Every other team in baseball looked at this skillset and said "not interested". The Red Sox looked at this skillset and said "useful bench player if he'll play for nothing". The Mariners looked at this skillset and said "Starting DH, $6 million salary, #2 hitter".

Garrett Broshuis gets in touch with his inner Ron Weasley:

A few days ago, I thought spring had arrived in St. Louis. It was 70 degrees and I was walking around without a jacket, frolicking through a meadow while chasing butterflies. (OK, so there weren't really butterflies and I wasn't really frolicking, but I was walking around without a jacket). Then the wind picked up, the clouds became gray, and two hours later it was 20 degrees and sleet was pelting my forehead like a woodpecker pelting a sapling. An ominous message from Mother Nature: Spring is still far away.

Garrett goes on to describe how where you live effects a player's off-season training.

Ryan Howard makes the cover of MLB '08: The Show.

"It's definitely an honor, because I remember when I was 15 and playing video games, being in college and playing video games, making yourself up as a character on the actual game," said Howard, the NL Rookie of the Year in 2005. "I always thought that if I made it to the big leagues, I'd actually be in a video game. I thought that was the coolest thing that when I got called up in '04, in '05, the next year, I was in a video game.

Two articles on catchers caught my eye. The first is about Matt Tupman, a career minor leaguer in the Royals system. He is a good defensive catcher who can get on base, but produces no power. The second is a story that notes the Nationals are close to signing Johnny Estrada. Estrada still has some pop, but his OBA went in the tank in 2005 and never recovered. Since Acta is a big fan of OBA, and since defense behind the plate is very important, maybe the Nationals should try to work a deal for Tupman. He's going to cost a lot less than the $1.25 million they'll pay Estrada, and might actually contribute offensively.

I have a tough time feeling sorry for Brandon Inge. He's actually in a good position. As the super-sub on a potentially great team, he gets to play an important role. With Inge's versatility, Leyland gets to rest his starters regularly, keeping them fresh for the stretch drive and the post season. Inge can go in as a defensive replacement at third to protect leads in the late innings. He'll see plenty of action. I appreciate that he wants to start. I like players who want to compete like that. Inge, however, has a much better chance of winning a World Series ring as a role player on the Tigers than starting for another team.

Jason Bay wanted to see more player moves this off season:

"I think that, for a championship-quality team, you need to make more moves. And I'm not talking about the .500 team we can be. I don't think anyone in this room is going to tell you we're a championship-quality team. There still needs to be more moves. And you know what? I'm not trying to tell people anything they don't already know."

GM Huntington responded:

Told of Bay's comments about the Pirates' offseason, Huntington did not sound at all displeased.

"We aggressively pursued many pieces for the 2008 team," Huntington said. "We can't sign free agents just to appease the public. We can't make trades when players are at their lowest value just to make ourselves feel better."

I'm glad Bay is showing a little fire. And I'm equally as glad Huntington is not making moves just to look good.

Over at MLB FanHouse, Matt Watson picks up on a Keith Law comment that Vicente Padilla has a drinking problem. This issue was actually addressed back in 2004 by Kevin Roberts. Padilla was involved in a car crash:

Padilla was already in the major leagues before he really started getting guidance and structure from the Phillies. Has he made some missteps along the way? Sure. What young kid hasn't?

The thing is, not every young kid has the kind of lightning arm hanging from Padilla's right shoulder. He can be legitimately great, and the Phillies need him to be great. So they're looking out for him.

That doesn't mean Padilla is a bad guy, or that the story in El Nuevo Diario wasn't totally unfair. It was. It absolutely doesn't mean Padilla has a drinking problem. It just means that he's going through just exactly the normal cultural adjustments for a Latin American kid who rushed into the big leagues maybe before he was the finished package mentally and emotionally.

So this is an old story that hasn't been talked about for a while.

Peter Abraham reports that the Yankees and Robinson Cano are close to reaching a multi-year deal.

With Ryan Howard's contract status in limbo, The Good Phight wonders if now is the time to trade the Phillies first baseman:

The other option would be to try and trade him now, again probably to Boston or the Yankees. But that's an overreaction, unless either of those teams were willing to move, say, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and three other young players or solid prospects. And the Phillies are built to win now; as TGP commenter MattS put it on another site (after I raised the possibility there, actually), trading Howard now is "the kind of move that would turn the current 90-win team into an 85-win team and turn 2012's 75-win team into an 80-win team. I'd rather make moves that turn the current team into a 95-win team and the 2012 team into a 70-win team."

My latest column at SportingNews.com examines Troy Tulowitzki's potential deal to see if he's making the right decision.

Baseballgirl compares the hopes of Bobby Crosby's Athletics teammates vs. the reality of Bobby's stats. Crosby amassed over 1500 plate appearances in his big league career with a .310 OBA. I'd bet he's not very good.

The Red Sox are looking to add another left-handed bat:

The Red Sox are hoping to obtain a player who can give Youkilis more rest. Because of the hard-nosed nature of Youkilis' play, the Sox are concerned he wears down at the end of the season...

Maybe Youk should learn to lighten up when the Sox have a big lead. :-)

One person they are considering is Sean Casey. Sean and I have a common friend through six degrees of separation. A close classmate of mine from Harvard is the older brother of Sean's priest. Sean and Father Paul do a lot of charity work together, so bringing him to Boston would certainly make that easier.

Ducksnorts discusses the problems Khalil Greene poses for the Padres. He doesn't appear to be interested in a long term deal, but not for monetary reasons. Geoff quotes Kevin Towers:

With Khalil, it might have nothing to do with the money. It might be family.

Greene was born in Pennsylvania but graduated from a high school in Key West, Florida, where he still makes his home. If indeed Greene wants to go east to stay near his family, the logical place would be Miami. Hanley Ramirez will be arbitration eligible next year, and given the way his career is progressing, Hanely might set a record for a first year player. Greene, meanwhile, will earn between $4 million and 4.9 million based on the numbers submitted for arbitration. It strikes me that with the right deal, the Padres and Marlins could swap shortstops, saving Florida money while still putting a good player at the position.

The Cardinals are about to hold a news conference to announce a multi-year deal for Yadir Molina.

Update: Here's the details on the Molina deal. He gets four years, $15.5 million. Yadir's OBA took a big leap forward in 2007 at seasonal age 24. He got on base at a .340 clip. If he can keep that up for the length of the contract, this will be a very good deal.

Purple Row offers some thoughts on the new contract for Troy Tulowitzki. This had not occurred to me:

For Rockies fans, especially the die-hard cynics as well as the casual fair-weather types that weren't paying close attention until late last season, this move -along with Cook's deal- quiets fears that the team will become a farm to big-market clubs. It remains to be seen how much good comes of this aspect to the franchise's ticket base, but considering the state the fanbase was in last May, the role these deals have in the turnaround shouldn't be overlooked.

No one wants their team to turn into the Marlins, or what the Royals were a few years back. Oakland fans must be wondering if that's where they are headed as well.

Olenanders and Morning Glories makes the case for Nick Johnson starting over Dmitri Young for the Nationals.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz is in the Domincan Republic to file stories on the Astros new acquisition, Miguel Tejada. He's blogging between stories, and notes Tim Tolman was fired after losing the first three games of a best of nine series for the Dominican winter league championship. That's harsh.

Fragile Freddy and WasWatching try to gauge Jeter's impact on pennant races. Freddy claims the Yankees would have missed the playoffs only twice without Jeter, and Lombardi puts the number at six. However, I would argue that their analysis is one sided. They are looking at the races in terms of the Yankees not having Jeter. But if the Yankees don't have Jeter, he's playing somewhere else. What if Jeter is playing shortstop in 1997 for the Angels instead of Gary DiSarcina? In 1997, Gary posted 6.3 win shares. Jeter put up 19.3 That a difference of 13 win shares, or four wins. If you trade the two two players the Yankees wild card lead goes from twelve games to four. They still make the playoffs, but the wild card race is competitive.

Metstradamus presents the Brady Bunch theory to explain the signing of Jose Valentin. If Jose Reyes is Greg, does that Make David Wright Marcia?

MLB relased the average salaries for 2007, and designated hitters were the highest paid position:

Designated hitters had the highest average at $8.49 million, followed by third basemen ($5.75 million), first basemen ($5.68 million), outfielders ($5.54 million), shortstops ($4.96 million), starting pitchers ($4.26 million), second basemen ($2.91 million) and relievers ($1.66 million).

Teams still pay for hitting. However, DHs are overpaid. They don't hit that much better than left and right fielder nor first basemen. A designated hitter is almost always an older player, who has the benefit of arbitration and free agency behind him. A lot of money is wasted on designated hitters, which is a good reason to eliminate the position.

The Red Sox are holding an orientation session for their potential rookies. It sounds like a great idea.

The orientation, in its third year, isn't just about handling the major aspects of Boston baseball. Players also learn smaller details, such as how to treat clubhouse attendants and hotel workers. To minimize distractions, the Red Sox want their players to know all about big league life before they actually live it.

It's based on a Cleveland Indians program. I wonder if things like this, where players are made to feel part of a family, make players want to stay in that city.

Aaron Gleeman notes the Twins made little progress in signing Justin Morneau to a long term deal. I agree with this:

At one point last season Morneau said that he'd be willing to sign a five- or six-year extension to remain in Minnesota, but reportedly turned down an offer from the Twins that was similar to the four-year, $33 million extension that Joe Mauer agreed to last winter. As good as Morneau has been and can be, his .276/.340/.498 career hitting line is just slightly above average for an MLB first baseman and paying that type of player something like $12 million per season would be risky for a team like the Twins.

It's equally risky for Morneau. If his seven great months of hitting prove to be the height of his career, he'll have wished he took that four year extension.

The Toronto Blue Jays introduced Scott Rolen yesterday, and the new third baseman showed his happiness at moving to the Great White North:

Yesterday, Rolen rolled into his introductory press conference like a starburst of personality.

He seemed visibly excited to be out of St. Louis and on a new team in a new town in a new country. He warned that his parents will be tooling around Toronto during 81 home games next year in their RV and that his two young kids will be running wild throughout the city.

"We're going to storm this place and tear a lot of stuff up," Rolen said.

When the Phillies traded Rolen, I blamed Larry Bowa and Dallas Green for being too hard on their superstar. A few Phillies fans at the time took a contrary stand, that it was more Rolen than management. Given Rolen's problems with La Russa, I know believe those Phillies fans were correct. By the time Scott's contract is up in three years, I would not be surprised if he wore out his welcome in Toronto as well.

The Padres are trying to fill their outfield holes by converting third base prospects:

Headley, 23, will be joined by Matt Antonelli, Scott Hairston and Chad Huffman for a series of drills this week as the club tries to convert its top position prospect.

The Padres' second-round selection in the 2005 amateur draft hit .330 with 20 homers and 78 RBIs last season at Double-A San Antonio and had two briefs stints with the Padres.

But with Kevin Kouzmanoff coming off a successful 2007 campaign, Headley's path to the majors is blocked. Additionally, the Padres lack a proven, everyday left fielder and seek an additional left-handed hitter -- Headley is a switch hitter -- for the lineup.

The organization is also toying with the idea of moving Antonelli to center field. The Padres used their first-round pick in 2006 to draft Antonelli, then a third baseman from Wake Forest. He was converted to second base last year.

The nice thing about being heavy with players at the defense end of the defensive spectrum is that it's easy to move them toward more offense minded positions.

Joe Sheehan looks at players who might break out in 2008, and Yankees blogs are surprised at Joe's prediction for Melky Cabrera. My Baseball Bias, Yanksfan vs. Soxfan, and River Ave. Blues all are skeptical.

I tend to be more positive on Melky than most people I read, due to the fact that he's getting a lot of playing time at a young age. The 2007 season lowered my expectations for him as he appeared to take a step back, but a decent centerfielder with a .340 to .350 OBA is still a useful player. Given that he still has time to develop, he could turn out to be a good to very good player. I sometimes wonder if because he doesn't project to be a Williams/Mantle/DiMaggio if people are overly tough on Melky. After all, Bernie Williams hadn't played that much or that impressively through age 23. A year younger, Melky is ahead of him in major league service.

Miguel Cabrera is happy to be on the Tigers:

"I'm excited," said Cabrera, who helped the Marlins win the World Series as a 20-year-old rookie in 2003. "I'm going to be part of a good team with good players and a good lineup."

He and Rodriguez were teammates in 2003, and he is good friends with Guillen.

The only concern about Cabrera was his weight. He reportedly played at about 260 pounds last season, but appeared much lighter than that on Saturday. He's been working out with a trainer and said he didn't know how much weight he has lost, but did say "I feel more comfortable."

"He doesn't look heavy at all," said general manager Dave Dombrowski.

Did anyone go to the fan fest and see Cabrera or take pictures? Did he really look thinner?

The Detroit Free Press notes the Tigers are trying to sign Miguel Cabrera to a long-term contract. The article puts a lower limit on Miguel at $20 million per year. I think that's too low. Not only is Miguel already one of the best hitters in the game, but if he waits for free agency, he'll hit it at the start of his peak period, just like Alex Rodriguez did. Miguel on the market in two years time would likely fetch close to $30 million a season. Let's say he signs a six year deal for $30 million per, and earns $25 million in arbitration for 2008 and 2009. That's $205 million over the next eight seasons.

The risk in waiting, of course, is that Miguel gets hurt. So how much is that risk worth to him. If they Tigers offer six years, $20 million per year, I think he'll take that. He makes $120 million, and can become a free agent at age 30, where he'll likely get a six-year deal in excess of $30 million a season. He might actually end up making close to the same money by signing now for $20 million a year! Both the team and the player make out well at that price.

Dodger Thoughts links to a piece on Jeff Kent and the Dodger youngsters, citing this quote:

"Last year I might offer a one-line comment at the batting cage about hitting the curveball, and I'd get scoffed at, and a 'What the hell do you know?' in return. ...

"I don't get paid to take rookies out to dinner. I'm not a baby-sitter. I don't coach."

I'll bet the one-liner was offered in a less than constructive manner. Still Kent presents the right attitude:

"I'm here to give the fan who is paying $50 a ticket a Dodgers win. Do you think those people who were paying $50 a ticket the last two weeks of the season came to watch us lose? I have no problem with our young players; I have a problem with losing."

...

And so, in a few weeks, Mr. Holly Jolly will join the Dodgers caravan, happy to schmooze with fans and see both young and old teammates, or as happy as a grump can ever be.

"I don't want to leave the game a grumpy old man," he says, "but if we don't win, I'm going to be grumpy."

Ronnie Paulino worked out this winter:

Ronny Paulino, speaking yesterday from his home in the Dominican Republic, said he has lost 10 pounds, added plenty of muscle and is prepared to show that his richly criticized performance in 2007 was the exception and not the rule.

"This season means a lot to me," Paulino said. "It's going to be a new start, a new chance. I'm going to work hard and prove that what I did in 2006 was the way I can play."

It appears the new regime in Pittsburgh is coming down harder on poor performance. That motivated Paulino to come into mini-camp in better shape. It's a small improvement for the team, but one in the right direction.

Bleacher Banter thinks there is a high probability of Nick Johnson getting traded. I would think some team can pick him up rather cheaply at this point, given his injury risk and that he missed an entire season. I wonder if the Yankees try to acquire him again?

Evan Grant starts a series at his Dallas Morning News blog on the top twenty Rangers prospects. He says he has a different problem than in the past:

We're going to try to fill some of the January void by counting down our _ er, my _ top 20 Rangers prospects. It's always a difficult exercise, but this year it was difficult for a different reason than in years past. In the past, it would have been hard to come up with 20 guys to fill out the list. This year, it's difficult to hold the list to just 20.

That's certainly good for the Rangers. His number 20 prospect looks like a good pitcher so far.

Jon Morosi profiles Brandon Inge. The Tiger's third baseman is extremely popular with fans, as he's very involved in the community. Inge did a good job marketing himself; he's not a great player, but he built a fan base by being a great guy.

Although he doesn't want to be a backup, the price and length of his contract seems to be keeping other teams from making a deal for Inge. Would it really be so bad to be a well paid backup on a great team? Injuries happen all the time, and Inge would get significant playing time in front of fans who love him, in addition to staying in a town where he's a big celebrity. Maybe Brandon should drop his trade request.

Roger Clemens will speak at the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association.

The new management team in Pittsburgh rates Nate McLouth higher than the previous regime. Some of the stats cited in the article are a little too specialized to mean anything real, but they do show McLouth is a patient hitter who gets on base better than most of the people coming through the organization over the last few years. He never showed much power in the minors, but he did show an ability to get on base. As Nate enters his peak years, it's nice to see the Pirates poised to take advantage of what Nate can do.

My Baseball Bias asks a question:

Did you know that Robbie Cano was only supposed to play six games with his DR team? I guess that was the deal he made with Cashman before he split for the winter, but he proceeded to play in another four games. Cash said he won't be reprimanded, but the question needs to be asked - Why didn't the organization have someone down in the DR keeping an eye on just such a thing?

Maybe because Robinson Cano is an adult and should be expected to keep his word.

Via Voros McCracken, the people at Flostsam Media managed to quantify grit. I think Don Baylor had a little too much talent to be a truly gritty player, but the top nine all time look right on.

Roch Kubatko clears up any rumors you might have heard about Brian Roberts being traded to the Cubs.

Melissa Lockard looks at the long term rewards of drafting Mark Mulder.

That is quite a lot for one draft pick, especially when one considers that all of the above-mentioned talent has thus far only cost the A's roughly $20 million over a 10 year span.

Just in case you thought Moneyball was dead.

Francisco Arcia is working out well so far.

Kevin Kernan travels to Lincoln Nebraska to visit with Joba Chamberlain and his dad, Harlan. It's a nice story in the middle of the steroid mess.

Teams needed to non-tender players by midnight Thursday morning. The most famous name on the list is Mark Prior. The Astros let Adam Everett go, and the Angels released former prospect Dallas McPherson.

The Diamondbacks might play Micah Owings at first base next season:

Owings, who last season made 27 starts out of the Diamondbacks' rotation and posted a 4.30 ERA, could find his way onto the field, perhaps at first base.

"It's potentially, depending on how our roster looks, an option," manager Bob Melvin said Tuesday during a Q&A session with reporters.

He's probably too valuable as a pitcher to do that often, but in an age when teams might carry a dozen pitchers, Owings ability to hit and play first gives Melvin some flexibility.

Two weeks ago Miguel Cabrera said he would be working out this winter.

''This winter, I'm really going to work on my physical condition in order to be in the best shape possible for spring training,'' Cabrera told LasMayores.com. ``I've been at it for four weeks now at a gym that specializes in professional athletes, and I'll be there until the spring."

Others are reporting that the third baseman is seeing results:

"He looks good," said Los Angeles Angels catcher Mike Napoli, who has been training with Cabrera for the last three weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times. "He's starting to slim down, and he's getting real strong."

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who saw Cabrera in Miami on Sunday, said the third baseman "has lost about 15 pounds, maybe a little bit more," according to the Times. "If you see Miguel Cabrera now, you will be surprised."

Miguel put up very good numbers in 2007 despite playing at 255 pounds. Babe Ruth played poorly in 1925 due to his excessive habits taking a toll on his body. After that season, he hired a personal trainer (although I'm sure they didn't call it that in his day), started eating right, weight training, and hit 302 home runs over his next six seasons. If this training works, whoever trades for Miguel might see a huge leap in his power. That's something the Marlins should keep in mind as well. Maybe they want a superstar hitter on their team.

Update: Seems the Giants are interested in Cabrera as well:

The second baseball executive in two days questioned the Marlins, saying their trade demands for All-Star third baseman Miguel Cabrera are unrealistic.

''I hate to speak to somebody else's business, but you wonder if they really want to trade the player or if they absolutely, positively have to win the deal in such a one-sided fashion,'' San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean said during a conference call Thursday with reporters. ``Maybe they're not going to get something done. I don't know.''

The report is that the Marlins want Lincecum or Cain in a deal for Cabrera. Getting one of those seems perfectly reasonable to me. The question is, what else are they asking for.

And by the way, if Hank Steinbrenner is tampering, Moreno and Sabean are coming close to doing the same thing here.

Batgirl returns with a post at MN GameDay. She looks at how Delmon Young might interact with his new Twins teammates:

"Hey, Delmon!" said Cuddyer, "Nice uniform! We were just having a stoic-off. Do you want to join us?"

Morneau, singing quietly: Ahhhh,ahahaaaaaaa....Close to Youuuuuuuuu.

"Man," said Young, "you guys are dull. Come on, I'll show you how to have a good time!"

Lastings Milledge and Melky Cabrera are both seasonal age 23 in 2008. Lastings career MLB line is .257/.326/.414 in 115 games. He's stolen four bases in eight attempts. Cabrera's career MLB line is .275/.340/.388 in 286 games with 25 SB in 35 attempts. Why are Mets fans so upset with Milledge leaving, and why are Yankees fans so willing to let Melky go?

Other teams weren't that interested in Milledge:

Since the Mets' season ended in a historic collapse, Minaya has been seeking a front-line starter. The Mets have had trade talks with Minnesota about Johan Santana, with Oakland about Dan Haren and Joe Blanton, with Florida about Dontrelle Willis and with Baltimore about Erik Bedard.

In each dialogue Minaya offered a package of players and prospects. He said dealing Milledge, who hit .272 with seven home runs in 184 at-bats last year, would have no impact in any of those ongoing discussions.

"Before we made this trade, we checked around with some of the teams and said, 'Will this compromise or hurt the possibility of getting the trades done with the players we're talking about?'" Minaya said. "They said, 'No, you have enough players to do a deal without that player involved.'"

The Yankees recovered one of the players traded for Bobby Abreu for a very interesting reason:

The Yankees signed C.J. Henry to a minor league deal after their No. 1 pick in the 2005 draft asked for and was granted his release by the Phillies. He was dealt to Philly in 2006 as part of the Bobby Abreu deal.

"He came to us," scouting head Damon Oppenheimer, the man who drafted the 21-year-old Henry, who batted .184 for Lakewood (Single-A) this past summer. "He told us he wanted to play for us and asked would we want him back? We made sure he wanted to play baseball and we found out the last month of the season he was fitted for contacts and hit .300."

Maybe the contacts made the difference and maybe it was just luck. One month of batting isn't a big sample size. But if the contacts do make a difference, the Yankees might get a decent player for very little investment.

Halos Heaven follows Athletics Nation lead and names his Most Despicable Team. Both select David Ortiz as the DH. Halos Heaven:

Take the armor off, take the juice out and you have a gap-toothed Double-A strikeout king.

Athletics Nation:

I want to know when David Ortiz turned into Derek Jeter. And by that I mean every single time someone calls a strike on him he gives the ump a look or bitches about it. I really used to actually have a fondness for David Ortiz, but it's gone out the window the last year or so as he's gotten more and more progressively whiny about strike calls. I can barely watch a game with him now without screaming "Shut up!" at the TV.

I guess the Teddy bear image doesn't play that well outside of Boston. :-)

Via MLB Trade Rumors, Miguel Cabrera is working out so he's in shape for his new team:

''This winter, I'm really going to work on my physical condition in order to be in the best shape possible for spring training,'' Cabrera told LasMayores.com. ``I've been at it for four weeks now at a gym that specializes in professional athletes, and I'll be there until the spring.

''I'll keep at it in order to get to spring training in the best shape possible, to have the best season possible for the team I end up on,'' he said.

He also says he's willing to move to the outfield or first base. I'm guessing he wants out of the Marlins as soon as possible, and is doing everything to raise his value.

The St. Louis Cardinals are willing to make a deal for Scott Rolen:

General manager John Mozeliak confirmed Tuesday meeting with Rolen's agents and discussing the Gold Glove third baseman's availability for trade during last week's GM meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Numerous industry sources had spoken of the Cardinals' apparent willingness to deal Rolen in the week since the meetings concluded, but the club had downplayed the combustible issue while readying itself for Tuesday's opening of the free-agent market. With no thaw predicted in the famously frosty relationship between Rolen and manager Tony La Russa, Mozeliak on Tuesday conceded willingness by all parties to at least explore "other options."

Third base is the most interesting position of the off season. Teams that are looking to acquire a player for the position have numerous options, from great glove men like Crede to superstar players like A-Rod. That tends to drive prices down. Alex Rodriguez and Mike Lowell might not get the deals they are hoping for, simply because there are other options, like Rolen and Cabrera and Blalock. I assume the Red Sox will offer Mike Lowell arbitration, as the Yankees did A-Rod. One or both might accept that, play for one year and try to get more money in a possibly tighter post-2008 market.

James points out in the comments to this post that the Yankees have catching prospects, but they are very young. Jesus Montero played very well for a seventeen-year-old in rookie ball, posting a .366 OBA and a .421 slugging percentage. Maybe the Yankees take their time developing him, but maybe like Ivan Rodriguez before him, Jesus is ready to take over the position at a very young age. In that case, we can think of part of Jorge's salary as a lifetime achievement award, and he helps Montero ease into the role as Girardi helped Posada ease into his job.

Jon Daniels detailed the money Texas still owes Alex Rodriguez:

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Wednesday the team must fund the original $9 million in deferred payments Rodriguez was owed for the remainder of the $252 million, 10-year contract he signed with the team before the 2001 season.

That money, $3 million for each of the next three seasons, was reconfigured into an assignment bonus at the time of A-Rod's 2004 trade to the New York Yankees.

"Anything that was part of the assignment bonus is considered earned at the time to the trade," Daniels said.

That means Rodriguez walked away from $72 million when he opted out of the contract: salaries of $24 million owed by the Yankees in each of the next three seasons.

Texas did save $21.3 million because of A-Rod's decision to opt out, according to Daniels. As part of the payment schedule agreed to at the time of the trade, Texas agreed to pay the Yankees $8,116,000 in 2008, $7,101,500 in 2009 and $6,087,000 in 2010.

My latest SportingNews.com column discusses why the Marlins made a mistake by not signing Miguel Cabrera to a long term contract. It's also the reason why the Yankees should be willing to give up a front line pitcher to own Miguel. He has a very good chance of producing a Hall of Fame career and is just entering his most productive phase. In fact, if I were running the Red Sox, I'd be willing to trade Ellsbury and Lester to get Miguel, providing he would be willing to sign a long term contract. In the Yankees case, he would go a long way toward replacing A-Rod's power, and for the Red Sox, he would take Manny's spot when Ramirez's contract is up.

Players like Cabrera are rare. Acquiring one for prospects is more than worth it.

Aaron Gleeman runs down the options for the Twins in centerfield. The good news is that there are a lot of options!

David O'Brien notes that the Braves have a centerfield prospect tearing up the Arizona fall league after a great season at A-Ball. However, O'Brien has a worry:

He just turned 21 and hasn't played above the A-ball level, but Jordan Schafer is showing folks that he could be ready for the majors sooner than later -- and perhaps sooner than most of us expected.

...

Could Schafer replicate Escobar's rapid rise to the bigs? Well, yes, you can't rule anything out in this day and age, when even mid- and large-payrolled teams are relying more than ever on their homegrown talent (see: Boston Red Sox and Jacoby Ellsbury, 24; Jon Lester, 23; Dustin Pedroia, 24).

Still, it seems far more likely (at least to me) that 24-year-old Braves prospect Brent Lillibridge would fit that bill, if the Braves decide to move him from the shortstop position he's played in the minors to center field, where he played as a college freshman in 2003.

He's three years older than Schafer, who just turned 21 in September. That's really, really young for an every-day position player to be considered for major league duty, especially with no experience above A-ball. I just can't see the Braves seriously considering Schafer as an option to replace Andruw Jones this spring, despite the stunning success Schafer's had during 2007.

I'm sorry, how old was Andruw Jones when he took over in centerfield? How old was Ken Griffey, Jr., another player under consideration to fill the hole left by Andruw? Twenty one is not too young to become a regular major league player. In fact, becoming a regular at that age or younger is a leading indicator of career greatness. If Schafer can handle the position, let him play.

FishStripes reviews what newspapers are writing about Miguel Cabrera. I'm amazed at how much people are commenting on his negatives. The man hits for average, gets on base and hits for power! Maybe his bad attitude come from playing for an organization that doesn't want to pay him. I mean after his 2005 season, most sane teams offer him 10 years, $100 million. So instead of paying him $10 million in 2010 when he's worth $30 million, the Marlins will be rebuilding once again.

Manny appeared on the Tonight Show Friday:

Appearing on "The Tonight Show," Ramirez called Boston "one of the best cities ever," and said he and his teammates - winners of two World Series in the past four years - never believed in the Curse of the Bambino. "The new ownership that came in did awesome," said Manny, looking sharp in a pinstripe suit, white shirt, and sunglasses. (He took off the shades when he sat down.)

Winning changes everything.

Brian Cashman doesn't sound too high on Wilson Betemit:

"I want Robinson Cano at second base, that's what I want. ... I'd rather not have to make (a third baseman) out of a second baseman," Cashman said after yesterday's Joe Girardi press conference. "I said, 'Robbie, I love you at second,' was playful with him. I told him, 'I know you can play third base. I know it.'

"I said to him, 'I'd like to keep you at second, so I need you to make sure that Wilson Betemit shows up here in tip-top shape next year. If you want to stay at second base, make sure your countryman is up for the challenge.'"

Cashman added that "right now" the only internal possibility to replace Rodriguez is Betemit, whose lack of conditioning displeased the Yanks after they acquired him from Los Angeles at the trade deadline. Still, Cashman also said to "remember when I said Bubba Crosby was going to be our center fielder a couple of winters ago."

Betemit has a golden opportunity here. He'll be seasonal age 27 in 2008, and should be at his physical peak. He doesn't need to be A-Rod to do well in New York, he just needs to be Scott Brosius. Betemit should be on the phone to Cashman and Girardi, finding out exactly what he needs to do to be the Yankees opening day third baseman. One good year from him will result in a very good payday.

Gerry Fraley at the Rocky Mountain News compares Troy Tulowitzki favorably to a young Derek Jeter:

In one aspect, Tulowitzki has outdone what Jeter accomplished as a rookie.

Jeter joined an experienced club. He watched and learned from esteemed veterans such as Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams. It was not until several seasons later that Jeter took the mantle of team leader.

By force of personality, Tulowitzki took on that role almost from the start of this season.

Whether the target was an inexperienced player or a veteran, Tulowitzki has agitated, poked, prodded and anything else needed to help motivate the club.

Hurdle described Tulowitzki as the piece that made the rest of the puzzle come together.

When the Rockies were at their low point at nine games under .500 in late May, it was Tulowitzki who stood up and delivered an impassioned "enough is enough" message.

He'll be the first rookie shortstop in a World Series since Jeter in 1996.

6-4-2 Links to a great Troy Tulowitzki quote.

Gerry Fraley notes the Rockies started winning when Seth Smith arrived:

With the Rockies down 1-0, Hurdle removed starting pitcher Franklin Morales for a pinch hitter. Seth Smith, the human good-luck charm, responded with a two-run opposite-field double that keyed a six-run inning that led to a 6-4 victory over Arizona at Coors Field and a sweep of the National League Championship Series.

This marked the second time in the postseason that Hurdle pulled Morales in the fourth inning of a one-run game. In the second game of the Division Series sweep of Philadelphia, Smith reached on a two-out infield single ahead of Kazuo Matsui's winning grand slam.

Smith has led a charmed existence with the Rockies. He spent much of the season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, joining the major league club on Sept. 16. The Rockies started their 21-1 run the same day.

Smith managed five hits in eight at bats during the stretch drive, scoring four runs. In the post season, he's two for four with two runs and two RBI. Given how instrumental he's been in the Rockies success, this may go down with Francisco Rodriguez as one of the great late season call-ups.

Garrett Atkins discusses how he turned around his performance against Brandon Webb:

The key for Atkins was getting ahead in the count. He did not get into the difficult spot of having to swing at one of Webb's darting pitches.

In the second inning, Atkins grounded a 2-1 sinker through the left side of the infield for a single that moved Todd Helton to second. A walk to Hawpe loaded the bases, and the Rockies tied the score 1-1 on Troy Tulowitzki's double-play grounder.

"You don't want to get behind against him because you don't want to have to think about his off-speed stuff, too," Atkins said. "At least if you know the sinker is coming, you've got some kind of chance."

Atkins' typified the Rockies' approach against Webb. The hitters were comfortable going into deep counts against him. That ran up Webb's pitch count. He threw 23 pitches in the second, a workload that might have contributed to his poor showing in the third.

Of course, it helped that Webb missed the strike zone early in counts. But it does demonstrate how successful hitters can be if they force a pitcher to throw strikes.

Teammates and coaches aren't surprised Stephen Drew hit well in the NLDS. Drew, according to them, hit well all year:

"It's a crazy game, that's all you can say," injured Diamondbacks second baseman Orlando Hudson said. "It's got nothing to do with pressing. It was unbelievable. That was the hardest .230 from a young man I've seen, hitting balls like that on the screws consistently at people. It was like, 'Are they putting 25 guys out there?' because that's what it seemed like."

Throughout Drew's struggles, manager Bob Melvin never lost faith. He repeatedly told reporters that Drew's average was due more to misfortune than performance. Watch, the manager said, one day Drew will be an All-Star, not once, but several times.

"I never saw a guy that would suggest (.238)," Melvin said. "He's always had better at-bats than that. I think toward the end, especially against Pittsburgh, and leading into when we were able to clinch a spot in the playoffs, that Stephen Drew was elevated and it's kind of moved right into the playoffs, so it's not unexpected."

This should be something we can test with the Probabilistic Model of Range, to see if he collected fewer hits than expected given the parameters of the balls he put in play. But he didn't have a very high line drive percentage this season, so I'm not sure I'm buying the explanation.

Soccer Dad reviews the early career of Manny Ramirez, and the special hand-eye coordination exercises that keep his batting eye sharp.

Gary Sheffield's shoulder turned out to be more damaged than expected:

Monday's new development was that Uribe found Sheffield also had a torn labrum. Uribe repaired the tear and told the Tigers that Sheffield's arm would need to remain in a sling for the next month.

"It was a little more severe than the doctor expected," president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said in a telephone interview. "The doctor was amazed that Gary played with that much (pain) in the shoulder."

They expect Sheffield to be able to hit in the spring, but they're not sure about his ability to play the outfield.

Baseball Digest Daily sent out an email that the Tigers picked up Ivan Rodriguez's option, but I haven't found a news story with the information. I'm a little surprised by that. I-Rod's offense is in decline. His OBA was under .300 in two of the last three years, and his slugging percentage declined three years in a row. At this point, he's on the team for his defense only.

Update: Here's the story on Pudge.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on sports, then buzz. My latest looks at the comeback of Carlos Pena.

Khalil Greene came into the game in Milwaukee with a .510 slugging percentage on the road. He lived up to that as he doubled earlier and then homered in eighth to extend the Padres lead to 6-3. His home runs are pretty even home and road, but he's collected nearly twice the doubles. The Brewers are staring elimination in the face.

From Billy Wagner:

Asked if he was surprised to see Hernández in the bullpen, Wagner quipped, "No, I think they're bringing back Tom Seaver tomorrow." Then, walking away, he added, "Whoever can get three outs."

Jimmy Rollins picked up three hits tonight, including his 19th triple. He needs one more to become the second player this season with 20 doubles, triples and home runs. It's never been done twice in one season before. The Phillies win 5-2, eliminating the chance for a six way tie. Ryan Howard didn't strikeout out, so he still needs one to set the record.

I knew that Prince Fielder didn't get along with his father Cecil, but I didn't know it was this bad:

Don't get him wrong. Prince Fielder is plenty pleased with becoming the youngest player to hit 50 homers in a season.

But he really wants to hit 52 - especially if it helps Milwaukee reach the playoffs.

Fielder connected twice Tuesday night to help the Brewers beat St. Louis 9-1, bringing Milwaukee within two games of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. It also allowed the typically jovial slugger to surpass Willie Mays as the youngest to reach that single-season milestone.

But Fielder was serious when he talked about hitting two more. His estranged father, former major leaguer Cecil Fielder, hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990 - and surpassing that total would be especially sweet.

"That's why I'm so passionate about playing,'' the younger Fielder said. "Hopefully one day, whenever they mention my name, they won't have to mention his.''

That's a far cry from the Griffey's homering together for Seattle back in 1989.

Moises Alou picked up four hits tonight, and is hitting .345/.396/.529 on the season. His season age is 40 but he turned 41 in July. It's a remarkable career in that Alou is playing at this level despite a ton of serious injuries in his career. He suffered one of the ugliest broken legs I've seen in 1993 when his spike caught in artificial turf. I'll never forget the second baseman and umpire turning away in horror at the compound fracture.

Then after the 1998 season, he tore his ACL in his left leg and missed the entire season. In between both shoulder underwent surgery. And through it all Moises kept coming back and playing very well. Imagine what he would have accomplished with better health.

Kevin Youkilis pinch hits for Eric Hinske and stays in to play first. That makes the Red Sox line up complete, good news for Red Sox fans. Boston leads 7-1 in the eighth as Ortiz hit a two run homer in the inning.

There's good news for Red Sox fans as Manny Ramirez returns to the lineup. He bats second, singles and scores in the first as the Red Sox and Athletics are tied at one. They just need to get Youkilis back to complete the offense.

Michael Axisa sends this story about Mark Buehrle missing his last start by winning a bet:

The deal was if Mark Buehrle got his bear, he was out of the starting rotation for the rest of the season.

Saturday night, the White Sox left-hander kept up his end of the bargain.

Sometimes the bear gets you, however. Buehrle was 0-1 vs. the Cubs this season.

Early in my days at ESPN I had a discussion with a producer about Rickey Henderson. The producer didn't like Rickey because he was inconsistent. The problem was the producer was only looking at Rickey's batting average. If you looked at his OBA instead, you saw an extremely consistent ballplayer. It was just some years Rickey collected more hits, and some years he drew more walks.

Looking at Rickey Weeks' stats, I'm seeing the same thing. His batting average is down about 50 points from last season, but his OBA is up ten points. He has 12 fewer his but over 40 more walks. He walks to lead off the first tonight and scores. I'll take the fluctuating batting average as long as the player keeps his OBA consistently high.

ESPN reports on a New York Magazine report (I can't find the original on-line) that Boras is working on an ownership deal in the Cubs for Alex Rodriguez:

According to the magazine, Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, has already identified the leading candidate to buy the Cubs and has begun negotiations on a mega-deal. The publication's sources say that the deal could reach $30 million per year over 10 years, with part of the contract deferred toward an eventual stake in the franchise.

I've thought for a long time that a player would eventually become an owner. Alex should think of buying the Cubs outright. If he was smart, he should have at least $100 million invested by now, which is a nice down payment on the franchise. He and Boras could put together a syndicate to raise the rest of the money, and A-Rod could play for what he makes off the franchise. And then he has this great money maker for the rest of his life.

Of course, this would be tampering if true, as the Yankees point out:

"It's a silly story, and we don't believe it," he told ESPN.com's Buster Olney on Sunday evening. "However, if it was true, it would be grounds to disqualify the applicant even before he went through the process, because it would demonstrate a disregard for major league rules and procedures, and we're confident the commissioner would feel the same way."

Levine later said he spoke to Bud Selig, and the commissioner agreed with Levine's interpretation of the story, and its possible implications. A player can neither have part ownership of a team nor negotiate for future ownership.

So I doubt it would go down the way described here. But I wouldn't be surprised if A-Rod tried to buy a franchise at some point.

Chin-Lung Hu just picked up his first single, prompting Vin Scully to joyfully report, "I can finally say Hu's on first!"

Update: Hu scored.

Melissa at Athletic Supporters voices her displeasure with the progress of Dan Johnson:

My gut tells me that there is no place for Johnson on the A's next season. Johnson is one of the hardest hitters to watch because he seemingly always does the same thing (pull the ball to the right side). If you take a look at his hitting chart on MLB.com, it appears that Johnson almost always hits groundballs to the right side, but that when he gets the ball in the air, he does have a tendency to spray it a bit more. Still, there is a lot of red around the second baseman on Johnson's hit chart, which somewhat confirms my gut's suspicions.

However, my head recognizes that there are a number of good aspects to Johnson's game, as well. He has a good eye at the plate, takes his walks and while he has his share of strikeouts, he is nowhere near the level of a Jack Cust or a Nick Swisher. He is a decent first baseman, and while he doesn't have much range, he stretches well and generally catches everything that comes to him. And he certainly has one of the better power swings of any player on the A's. Projected over 600 at-bats, Johnson would be on-pace to hit 27 homeruns this year, a very nice total for a team that doesn't have much homerun power to speak of. Certainly, I think most people would be surprised if Travis Buck or Daric Barton reached those homerun totals next season.

And yet, despite those good attributes, I still don't see a place for Johnson on next year's team. Maybe it is Bobby Crosby fatigue. Like Crosby, we have watched Johnson play over the last few years and he has seemingly made no adjustments or improvements. Whatever good aspects there are of both players' games, you are always left with the sense that they could be so much better.

Both players are seasonal age 27 this season. Both had their best years at age 25, then regressed and haven't bounced back. Johnson suffered eye problems in 2006, but getting those fixed didn't seem to make much of a difference. Crosby, too has suffered a number of injuries the past few seasons.

But that doesn't explain the lack of adjustments. It's almost as if the A's don't have a hitting coach. You would think with all the data processing Oakland uses, they could point out these things to players.

Chris Young leads off the bottom of the first for Arizona with a home run, his thirty second of the season. That gives him a .241 BA for the season and a .483 slugging percentage. Slug/BA = average bases per hit, meaning that Young's average hit this season is a double. Now, he just needs to work on getting hits more often. The Diamondbacks lead the Dodgers 2-0 after one.

We've been out celebrating with my friend Jim Storer and his lovely wife Linda on their anniversary. We went to see Blue Man Group, where we got to wear these cool tissue paper head bands:

I hear Barry Bonds won't be returning to the Giants. Tim Kawakami sums up the reasons the Giants parted ways with Barry:

The Giants are still angry he held them up for ransom last year. Ridiculous action by Bonds. Hope he's happy with the $16M he got this year, but it cost him any shot at 2008.

(Plus the angry reaction from fans after the Giants caved to him last year shocked the heck out of management and told them that the Bonds love affair is over. That's why they signed Barry Zito, and that's a whole other problem.)

Will any team pick him up? Bonds is old, he's not playing much, but he's still very good when he does play. Would an AL team be willing to take him on as a DH? Or will 762 be his final home run total? I'm guessing the latter.

J.R. Towles made a strong bid to become Houston's starting catcher next season. He set a franchise record in his sixth major league game:

Towles set the franchise record with eight RBIs to help Wandy Rodriguez and the Astros rout the St. Louis Cardinals 18-1 at Busch Stadium.

"I can't even describe it," Towles said after going 4-for-4 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, a single, two doubles and a two-run homer to break the previous record of seven RBIs in a game. "This is the last thing I thought would happen. Coming up to the big leagues was pretty impressive. This is beyond words, I think, right now."

He's posted very good OBAs in the minors, but spent two full years in A-Ball, although it looks like he was hurt in 2005 as he only played 45 games. He's five for five with runners in scoring position, which might make him the greatest clutch hitter of all time!

The game was so lopsided that Aaron Miles made his second relief appearance of the season and his career. Even though he allowed two runs in his inning of work, he was the best pitcher for the Cardinals last night. St. Louis certainly went from contenders to pathetic very quickly.

Alexei Ramirez migrated to the Dominican Republic and will apply to be a free agent.

Baseball agent Jaime Torres told ESPN that Alexei Ramirez, who led the Cuban league in home runs this season as an infielder/outfielder for Pinar del Rio, has left Cuba and intends to file for residency in the Dominican Republic.

Torres, who also represents White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras, said Ramirez expects to apply to Major League Baseball for free agency.

Alexei posted a .389 OBA and a .500 slugging percentage in the WBC.

Carlos Beltran hit home run number 30 tonight, helping the Mets score four runs as they are tied with the Nationals in the top of the fifth. Beltran was hitting poorly before hitting the disabled list in late July. His average stood at .263/.340/.483 BA/OBA/Slug. But the rest and recuperation did him well. The home run tonight was his eleventh in thirty five games since returning, and he came into the evening with averages of .339/.418/.694 in that time. Those are numbers worth a big contract. With both Beltran and Pedro making successful returns from injury, the Mets are looking stronger heading into the post season.

The Detroit Free Press picks up a Boston Globe article comparing Curtis Granderson and Grady Sizemore going into tonight's Detroit-Cleveland game. They present both a pro-Sizemore expert and a pro-Granderson expert. Both make good points, but I would note that Sizemore, in terms of seasonal age is actually two years younger than Granderson, not one. On top of that, while Granderson improved his OBA in 2007, Sizemore's last two years each top that. Granderson does get the edge defensively, however. The Free Press breaks the tie by asking Torii Hunter.

Michael Young picked up three hits today to bring his 2007 total to 186. His slow start in April may cost him a chance at five straight 200 hit seasons. He's hitting for a high average in September, 23 for 61 after today, .377. With thirteen games left for the Rangers, he'll need to get better than a hit a game to keep the streak alive.

James Loney's bat is traveling on Thunder Road right now. He's hit a double and a homer in two at bats tonight, driving in two runs and scoring two. That gives him sixteen hits in his last ten games with five homers and five doubles. The Dodgers lead the Padres 4-1 in the fifth.

Brandon Phillips hit his 29th home run and stole his 30th base tonight, leaving him one home runs shy of the 30-30 club. Now, I don't really care about the stolen base home runs combinations. If you hit thirty homers, I don't care how many bases you steal. But Phillips is a fantastic thief. Over the past two season he's stolen fifty five bases while getting caught ten times. So his running is really adding runs to the Reds offense.

Given tonight's performance, Vlad Guerrero appears to be pretty healthy. He homered twice to lead the Angels to a 10-5 win over the Orioles. It's his fourth multi-homer game of the season, all since August 1st.

Wily Mo Pena blasted two home runs for the Nationals so far tonight. That give him seven homers in seventy one at bats for Washington, or about one every ten at bats. If he can keep that up next season, he'll be looking at sixty dingers on the year. The Nationals lead the Marlins 4-2 in the sixth.

Joba Chamberlain's father Harlan attended the Yankees games in Kansas City this weekend. If you haven't heard the story, Tyler Kepner provides a glimpse into Harlan in this post. There's more at Bronx Banter.

The shoulder roll explained.

Pat Burrell hit a double and a home run today as the Phillies defeated the Marlins 8-5. Burrell got off to a rough start this season, hitting poorly during the first three months, although he did a good job of getting on base. The turning point was Independence Day, and he's been hot since:

Pat Burrell, 2007	Through 7/3	Since
Games	78	57
Batting Average	.202	.337
OBA	.369	.447
Slugging Percentage	.376	.684
Home Runs	9	18
Runs Scored	28	39
Runs Batted In	33	54

He's doubled his home run output in about twenty fewer games. The optimist sees the Phillies push for the wild card attributable to Burrell's comeback. The pessimist sees the Phillies not in first place in the east and blames Pat's first half. I lean toward the former, as even during Burrell's resurgence, the Mets have a better record than the Phillies, 34-25 to 32-25.

Curtis Granderson hit his twentieth home run tonight, becoming the sixth player to collect twenty doubles, triples and home runs in a season.

Rick Ankiel keeps on keeping on and getting on. He picked up three hits and a walk this afternoon to raise his OBA to .409. And those weren't singles either. Two home runs and a double accounted for the three hits, raising his slugging percentage to .765. In 23 games, he's driven in 29 runs and scored 22. I can't wait to see what he can do over a full season. The Cardinals lead the Pirates 16-4 in the top of the ninth.

Ian Kennedy might have a conflict with the ALDS, should the Yankees make it.

Kennedy is scheduled to be married on October 6th at Westborough Country Club in Kirkwood, Missouri. The problem? Should the Yankees continue leading the Wild Card, they'd be in the midst of the ALDS during that time. The solution should be simple - push back the wedding. Therein lies the problem.

Delaying the wedding isn't quite as easy as you might think. Kennedy's fiancé is Allison Jaskowiak, a basketball player for USC. Her season begins in the middle of October. Two people, two different seasons. Talk about a scheduling nightmare! That, and the 200-250 people who have already received invitations.

That's an off day for the ALDS. With all the appropriate ifs, the easiest thing to do would be to schedule him for game 2 of the series. That way, he can pitch, get married, have a short honeymoon!

Vegas Watch details the new LDS schedule here.

Jayson Werth picked up a two-out single with the bases loaded to put the Phillies up 3-0 on the Braves in the first. Jayson is now 18 for 46 on the season with runners in scoring position, a .391 batting average.

Paul Lo Duca drives in seven runs for the Mets tonight as he helps them to an 11-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. That represents a new career high for Paul beating the six he drove in on 6/26/2001. Six of the RBI came on a pair of three run homers. Better than 1/6 of his season RBI came tonight.

The series is working out well for the Mets. With the Mets winning the first two and the Braves and Phillies splitting a pair, the Mets are gaining on both their NL East opponents. At this point, they've pretty much locked up the division.

WasWatching links to an article on Alex Rodriguez's older half brother. The strength of genentic traits never fails to amaze me.

Ichiro Suzuki did it again, collecting 200 hits for the seventh time in his seven year career. Since he joined the Mariners in 2001, Suzuki knocked out over 200 more hits than any other major league batter. It's quite impressive.

Note, however, that Ichiro gets all those hits by trading away other opportunities in which he might get on base. Despite leading in hits by over 200, Ichiro ranks fifth in that period in Times on Base (hits+bb+hbp). Todd Helton, with 2008 times on base over that time leads Ichrio by 98, with Abreu, Pujols and A-Rod also ahead of Suzuki.

David Wright hit his twenty fifth home run this afternoon, a two run shot that made the difference as the Mets downed the Braves 3-2. It's the third straight year Wright reached that home run plateau, hitting 27 and 26 in his two previous seasons.

Wright's averages on the season are .317/.411/.536. In his three full seasons in the majors, his batting average came in between .306 and .317, his OBA between .381 and .411, and his slugging percentage between .523 and .536. He's a wonderful player to employee, high returns with low volatility.

The Twins won Saturday afternoon, defeating the Royals 6-4. Morneau walked and scored a run, but went 0 for 3. His season averages are now .280/.346/.518, good numbers, but I wonder if Twins fans expected more? Those are all very close to his career averages, but given his great four months of 2006, and that he's twenty six years old, I really thought there was a good chance he'd carry that great finish over to 2007. It's a good year, it's better than the average AL first baseman this season (.269/.348/.447), but it's not the kind of season that carries a team. It also makes me believe his 2006 finish was a fluke, not a real improvement. I'm curious to have Minnesota fans weigh in. It doesn't look like the lung injury hurt him, as he played very well in July.

Hunter Pence returned to the Astros lineup on 8/21, but as is often the case with wrist injuries, he wasn't 100%. He only produced two extra base hits in his first nine games, a double and a triple. He doubled that today, hitting two home runs from the leadoff spot and driving in five.

Wandy Rodriguez, who is challenging Ervin Santana for worst road pitcher in the majors, gave the Astros six shutout innings today. Houston leads the Cubs 6-0 going to the top of the seventh.

Curtis Granderson homered in the fifth inning today to help the Tigers to a 5-1 lead over the Royals in a game they really need to win. That's the eighteenth long ball of the season for Curtis to go along with 34 doubles, and 21 triples. Only five players have ever gone 20-20-20 in each category of extra-base hits before:

Player	Doubles	Triples	Home Runs
Jim Bottomley, 1928	42	20	31
George Brett, 1979	42	20	23
Willie Mays, 1957	26	20	35
Jeff Heath, 1941	22	20	24
Frank Schulte, 1911	30	21	21

It's always impressive to get your name on a list with Willie Mays and George Brett.

Correction: Fixed the years on Heath and Schulte.

Update: Granderson hit his 20th home run on Sept. 7, 2007.

Chris Ianetta was supposed to be part of a rookie dynamic duo with Troy Tulowitzki for the Rockies in 2007. Troy worked out just fine, but Chris just didn't hit and went back down to the minors at the beginning of August. He's playing in his third game since returning, and he homered and walked today. That gives him four hits in seven at bats since his return. It's a real small sample, but he's moving in the right direction. Maybe the Rockies just brought him up a year too early.

For Baseball Prospectus subscribers, my latest column takes a look at the growth of international players in Major League Baseball and draws some lessons for lessening the future costs of acquiring amateur players.

The Cleveland Indians defeated the Twins last night 6-5, thanks in part to a hit by Asdrubal Cabrera:

Travis Hafner hit a two-run homer off Boof Bonser (6-11) and Grady Sizemore added a solo shot for the Indians, who are 9-3 since Aug. 15 - the day Cabrera replaced Josh Barfield in the starting lineup.

To paraphrase Bill James, is there a Cabrera factory in the sunbelt, somewhere? Miguel Cabrera is one of the great young hitters in baseball. Melky Cabrera is turning into a solid centerfielder for the Yankees. Orlando Cabrera has been surprisingly good since joining the Angels. Fernando Cabrera strikes out tons of batters for the Orioles. Daniel is the black sheep of the family, lots of promise but no results.

Add to that Asdrubal, who is hitting for a high average (but low OBA) at the age of 21, and you have the core of a pretty good team, strong up the middle with a corner power hitter and a power reliever. Time to corner the market on Cabreras!

Sean Casey is turning on the after-burners tonight. Earlier, he scored from first on a ball just out of the reach of Melky Cabrera in right center. Cabrera tried to trap it, but it got away from him and Abreu threw to second instead of home. Just now, Casey hit a shot to deep center and motored all the way around to third for a triple. It's his first three-bagger since 2004.

J.D. Drew homers for the first time in two months. He's hit well and gotten on base, but supplied very little power during the drought.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz tries to make a case for Carlos Lee as NL MVP. In doing so he makes a logical assumption:

Consider that Lee is playing for a team that entered Thursday night ninth in the 16-team NL in runs and 11th in hits, so you have to understand that it's not like he has had more opportunities to drive in runs than guys on contending clubs.

We can check this, however. Lee is tied for eighth in the majors in most runners on base when he comes to bat. Only Andruw Jones and Garrett Atkins came to the plate with more runners on in the National League. Now, Carlos still drives in a high percentage of runners on base, but lots of runners in front of a power hitter usually lead to tons of RBI.

The Carlos comes to the plate with lots of runners is that he bats fourth, and the #3 hitters own a .383 OBA. And with the #3 slot not hitting for a lot of power, that leaves men on base. Carlos is really in a sweet spot for RBI this season. But that doesn't make him an MVP.

Home Run Derby examines the reasons behind Raul Ibanez's hot streak.

Mark Reynolds of the Diamondbacks gets hit by David Bush to break his streak of nine straight strikeouts. That ties a major league record for a non-pitcher. The Diamondbacks have tied the game at two in this inning, and the HBP loads the bases with one out for Upton, who strikes out looking on a pitch at the knees on the outside corner.

Update: Bush gets Montero to fly out to end the inning and the game remains tied at two.

Update: Hall and Estrada hit back-to-back doubles to start the seventh, putting the Brewers back on top 3-2. Hardy singles to chase Livan Hernandez from the game.

Update: Gabe Gross goes deep with the bases loaded to put the Brewers up 7-2 on the Diamondbacks. Another blow out of Arizona is brewing.

David Ortiz picked up his first triple of 2007 as the Red Sox defeated the Devil Rays 8-6. That gives him twelve for his career, and he's collected at least one every year since 2000. Ortiz is listed at 230 pounds, and it made me wonder who is the leader in triples among players weighing 230 pounds or more.

Most Triples, Players 230 lb. or Heavier

Player	Career Triples
Dave Orr	108
Dave Parker	75
Bobby Bonilla	61
Bob Fothergill	52
Frank Howard	35

Orr played in the 1800s, mostly in the American Association. Parker's total is much more impressive, given the era in which he played. And I guess Frank Howard could motor.

The Rocky Mountain News brings us this interesting fact from last night's Rockies loss to the Pirates:

After Troy Tulowitzki homered in the seventh for a 2-1 lead, reliever LaTroy Hawkins gave up a tying home run to pinch hitter Josh Phelps in the eighth. It was the fourth time Tulowitzki has hit a go-ahead home run, and in the next half inning, the bullpen blew a save.

Maybe they should let Troy pitch next time. :-)

Jeremy Hermida hit his eleventh home run of the season in the first inning today, a three-run shot that helped the Marlins to a 4-3 lead over the Giants in the fourth inning. At age 23, Hermida still has plenty of room to improve, and he's now slugging 100 points better than last season at .469. He's already topped his doubles total from 2006 and more than doubled his homers in fewer at bats. More improvement over the next couple of seasons and the Marlins could be looking at a .500 slugger in rightfield.

Dr. Manhattan is guest blogging at The Baseball Crank, and chimes in with his thoughts on Bonds and the home run record.

Carlos Beltran knocked out two home runs and drew a walk today as the Mets crushed the Nationals 8-2. With five home runs and thirteen RBI in nine games since returning from an injury, Carlos once again playing up to his contract. He's done a good job of continuing the roll he was on when he got hurt. In the five games before he went down he hit three home runs and posted a .381 batting average.

Akinori Iwamura is 2 for 2 with a walk against Daisuke Matsuzaka today. On the season, the third baseman has the advantage, going five for nine with a double and a walk. Dice-K has struck him out three times, however. Iwamura scored twice in his three times on base, helping the Devil Rays to a 5-0 lead in the sixth.

Ducksnorts notes that Khalil Greene is the best home run hitter among shortstops when playing on the road. However, if you take Coors out of the equation, his AB/HR goes up to 26.5. That would still put him in first, but not quite as dominating.

Jack Cust homered twice last night as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-3. That gives Cust twenty home runs in eighty three games. With a .404 OBA and a .550 slugging percentage, Cust is having a great half season. As I've said many times, if you have a problem at first base or DH, it should be easy to fix. There's always a Jack Cust sitting out there.

Correction: The A's played the White Sox last night.

Carlos Beltran was 1 for 10 since coming off the disabled list, but tonight he picked up two extra-base hits. He homered in the fourth to put the Mets up 3-2, then doubled in the eighth to put men at first and third and set up Alou for the game winning two-run single. The Mets take the game 5-4 and maintain their lead over the Phillies.

Russell Branyan plays his first game for the Phillies and makes his impact felt with a game winning two-run homer. Neither the Nationals nor the Phillies could score until the seventh, when Washington put a two spot on the board. But Jon Rauch wasted a fine start by Shawn Hill as he gives up three runs in the top of the eighth, the last two on the Branyan homer. Hill lowers his ERA to 2.41 with the six shutout innings.

Darren Heitner offers a brief account of the tough personal times Rick Ankiel encountered, and how Scott Boras helped him through some of those.

Balls, Sticks and Stuff is a fan of Dan Meyer, called up after two years of dealing with a shoulder injury.

Geoff from Ducksnorts sent the following note:

Brian Giles has hit two more homers today, giving him five in the last three games and seven on the season.

Giles was one of the premier power hitters in the game from 1999 to 2002. Then his home runs fell off, and the Pirates made the smartest move of Dave Littlefield's tenure, trading him to the Padres for Bay and Perez. It was never clear to me why Giles power took a hit. He maintain a good eye for the strike zone, his doubles power and his batting average. If somehow he's gotten his home run stroke back, the Padres will in very good shape heading down the stretch.

It seems to be multi-homer day as Geoff Jenkins goes deep twice for Milwaukee, accounting for the only two runs so far in their game against Houston.

Jack Cassel made his major league debut last night for San Diego. STATS, Inc. assigned him ID number 8088. That is, of course, the number of the Intel processor that ran the first IBM PCs. But it's also Jack's birthday in YYMMDD format, as he was born 1980-8-8. Now, if had just debuted two days earlier...

Adrian Gonzalez hit his third home run of August tonight, helping the Padres to a 5-4 lead over the Reds in the top of the sixth. Gonzalez hit very well the first two months of the season, then fell off tremendously in June and July, hitting just four home runs over the two months. Looks like he had the power swing back so far in August, however.

Rick Ankiel made his debut as a major league outfielder tonight, and delivered a home run in his first game. With St. Louis leading 2-0 in the seventh, Rick came up with two on and sent a ball into the rightfield stands for a 5-0 Cardinals lead. La Russa jumped for joy, and the announcers commented they've never seen Tony so happy. Ankiel just turned 28, so he won't be setting any career home run records. But it's nice to see someone put in so much hard work to re-invent himself as a ballplayer.

The other night at the game in Pittsburgh, my former roommate David Aceto and I checked the OBAs of the starters in the Pirates lineup. Four of them were under .300. One player who might have made a difference for them is Rajai Davis, who now toils in San Francisco. The Giants were smart enough to install him as a leadoff man, and he's rewarded San Francisco with a .417 OBA. The player has no power, but the Giants concentrated on what he can do. What he does is get on base, something the Pirates needed more than an old starting pitcher. David reached base three times in six plate appearances last night, scoring the first run for the Giants after a leadoff walk, and getting hit by a pitch in the thirteenth to put the winning run at third. The Giants took the game 3-2.

I guess 2007 will go down as the year of the catcher confrontation.

Catcher Johnny Estrada and manager Ned Yost nearly tangled in a dugout tunnel late in Thursday's 12-4 loss to the New York Mets, the Brewers' 10th defeat in 14 games.

"There was frustration expressed on a number of different sides about our style of play and about the way we've been playing," Yost said. "We handled it and took care of it like good teams do."

Both parties seemed to have settled their differences.

Miguel Cabrera misses the cycle by a triple tonight picking up three hits to raise his batting average to .341. His 26th home run equals last year's total and leaves him seven short of his career high. He's now slugging .623 as he looks to raise his slugging percentage for the fourth year in a row. His two runs scored help the Marlins take home a 4-3 victory against the Rockies.

Teixeira makes his mark in his first start the Braves. He's done two things Braves first basemen did poorly this year, get on base and hit for power. He drew a walk and hit a home run in four plate appearances, driving in four and scoring two runs. The Braves are up 11-3 on Houston in the bottom of the sixth.

Johan Santana lashed out at management yesterday:

"It's not just about hope," Santana said. "In a realistic world, you have to really make it happen and go for it.

"You always talk about future, future. ... But if you only worry about the future, then I guess a lot of us won't be part of it," Santana said.

He's right. Sometimes you have to trade the future for the now. Thanks to Jeff Protzel for the link.

Alex Rios hit a triple and double in three at bats tonight, giving him fifty four extra-base hits on the season. He collected fifty six all last year. He's increased his extra-base hit total every year since his rookie season. The Jays lead the Rays 3-2 in the top of the sixth.

Tadahito Iguchi homered and walked in three trips to the plate so far tonight as he continues to do a good job replacing Utley. If he can stay hot for just a month, the Phillies can weather Chase's injury very well. The Phillies lead the Cubs 4-0 in the top of the fifth. Shane Victorino strained a calf muscle and is out of the game.

Felix Pie is staying put:

General manager Jim Hendry put an end to speculation that the Cubs would deal their top prospect, telling reporters before Monday's game against Philadelphia that he has no intention of dealing Pie.

"Felix Pie has never been talked about," Hendry said. "He's not going anywhere in any deal. There will be no trade of Felix Pie to anyone."

That's too bad, I was hoping the Cubs could get 3.14159 prospects for him. :-)

Update: And yes, I think he should wear π on his back. :-)

Tadahito Iguchi has only played two games for the Phillies, but he's fit right in at second base. He's three for seven with a double and a walk. Sounds like a good two games from Chase Utley. More importantly, the Phillies won both games he played, and all three without Chase in the lineup.

Deion Sanders visits Jered Weaver in the latest installment of AT&T Home Turf.

Tom Elia thinks Barry Bonds should offer to help Bob Costas.

For the second day in a row, Curtis Granderson hits a home run and a double. With his two for three so far today, he's slugging .676 for the month of July. Despite his offense at the top of the lineup, the White Sox are ahead of the Tigers 5-3 in the seventh. Paul Konerko's two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a 3-3 tie.

The Tigers lead the White Sox 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh. Curtis Granderson picked up three hits and a walk so far, and sits a triple short of the cycle. Given that he leads the majors with sixteen three baggers, he in a good position to complete the rare feat.

Rollie Stiles who was over 100 years old, died Sunday. He was believed to be the oldest living major leaguer. I love this bit of humor from him:

Born Nov. 17, 1906, in Ratcliff, Ark., Stiles pitched for the Browns in 1930, 1931 and 1933, compiling a 9-14 record with a 5.92 ERA. Babe Ruth was among the hitters he faced.

"I had a great game against him," Stiles recalled in a 2006 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I held him to three hits."

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Mark Grudzielanek isn't a great player, but he keeps refusing to decline. He picked up four hits today to bring his average to .300 (although is OBA is a less than impressive .339). With a .436 slugging percentage, this is the fifth year in a row Grudzielanek is performing above his averages. He didn't score or drive in a run today, but the Royals did defeat the Tigers 5-2.

Magglio Ordonez is doubling again, picking up his 38th today. He's on a pace for 64. Utley leads the majors with 41.

Mike Fontenot picked up two more this today, batting third with Lee suspended. He's now hitting .339, but he's also sporting a .373 OBA and a .524 slugging percentage. It's unfortunate that at age 27 he's getting his first full shot at the majors. The Cubs gave him a shot in 2005; he played seven games, scored four runs and had a .600 OBA. He good minor league numbers in 2004, 2005, and 2006. While Cubs second basemen have been okay over that time, Fontenot had a chance to be better and much cheaper. It's too bad so much of his career was wasted in the minors. Right now, he's helping Chicago win, as they did 6-2 over the Diamondbacks this afternoon.

Sam Donnellon pays a backhanded tribute to Barry Bonds and suggests he's helped the game, especially connecting people to the history of the sport.

WasWatching links to a story on how Melky Cabrera is following A-Rod's workout regimen. A-Rod's calling Melky his "little buddy." I hope they don't fight over Ginger. :-)

Koyie Hill is doing his best to earn a spot as the Cubs first-string catcher. He homered in his last start, and so far today he's knocked out two doubles and driven in five runs. The Cubs are up 9-0 on the hapless Giants in the sixth inning.

Ichiro doesn't appear to be too badly injured. He's the DH tonight, and is two for two with a double and a stolen base.

Firebrand of the American League wonders if A-Rod to Boston is a real possibility. He figures the Red Sox can afford the contract. He does point to this as a reason Alex would leave New York:

Ken Rosenthal is 100% sure A-Rod is gone. Of course, the Yankees could still work out an extension with Rodriguez after he opts out, but leaving the constant front-page harassment and intense scrutiny of New York is a plus for Rodriguez. Always hounded by the media and the baseball world for one verbal slip and under the spotlight of being a 25 million dollar man for the Yankees can get old fast. For A-Rod to escape and find a new start in a new city could reap major benefits.

Having spent most of my life living in either a New York or Boston media market, I have no doubt the media would be worse in Boston. The New York media (for the most part) is about what the player has done lately. Alex gets good press when he does well, lousy press when he doesn't, and the gossip is gossip. But the Boston media is about liking or disliking personalities. If they don't like you, it's a rough ride no matter how well you perform.

That, of course, assumes Alex actually cares about the press. My guess is Rodriguez is more concerned about having the biggest contract in the game, and that's what will land him.

Miguel Cabrera's line today was full of twos. Two AB, two runs, two hits, two home runs, two RBI and two walks. He's just shy of a 1.000 OPS with a .398 OBA and a .598 slugging percentage. The home runs bring Cabrera's total to 125 for his career. He's in his age 24 season, and while that total is not historic, he's off to a nice start. If he makes a move to a better hitter's park when he becomes a free agent, we could easily see him threatening the top ten in his career. The Marlins win 5-3.

Edgar Renteria collected four hits in five at bats today as the Braves defeated the Pirates 5-1, leading to series sweep. The big day by Edgar raises his averages to .327/.388/.481, just off his career highs of 330/.394/.480 set in 2003. His 2006/2007 is shaping up to be his best two-year stretch ever. Considering the Red Sox are paying part of his salary, that trade turned out to be a pretty good move for Atlanta.

Curtis Granderson picked up a home run and a triple last night in a 6-4 loss to the Mariners. The sixteen triples puts him on a pace for 29. That would break the American League record but fall short of the major league record.

Granderson is an interesting choice for a leadoff hitter, because his strength is power, not getting on base. But he score both times he reached base yesterday, driving himself in with a home run and scoring on a ground out after the triple. Granderson's been on base 128 times and scored 66 runs. This makes me wonder if players with power score as much from the leadoff spot as players with high OBAs. I'm going to try to research this later today.

Gary Sheffield feels Joe Torre treats black and white players differently. However, Sheffield lacks a bit of credibility:

Sheffield said Friday night before the Tigers' game in Seattle that he felt disrespected when he arrived in New York, claiming Torre said the Yankees should have instead acquired Vladimir Guerrero.

"When you're hearing that from your manager when you are out there busting your butt for him, that's disrespectful," Sheffield said. "But no one came to my defense to say it was disrespectful."

Last time I looked, Vlad was still black. (Please don't give me the Vlad is Hispanic nonsense. Black/white racism has nothing to do with your country of origin.) And then there's this:

Kremer pointed out to Sheffield that the Yankees' most prominent player is black. Sheffield responded, "Who?" Told Derek Jeter, Sheffield said, "Derek Jeter is black and white."

Jeter's father is African-American and his mother is white. Sheffield said of that, "There's really no significance. You just ain't all the way black."

Both Torre and Jeter refused comment.

Although the Yankees indicated they'd be willing to renegotiate A-Rod's contract, Boras won't. It's a good strategy on his part, forcing the Yankees to bargain in a tight window between the end of the season and the time that Alex must declare free agency. It's similar to the tactic Cashman uses, making a free agent a great offer and providing very little time to accept it.

Bugs and Cranks laments the possible loss of Torii Hunter:

Make no mistake, despite Santana's Cy Young's, Mauer's batting title, and Morneau's MVP -- this is Torii Hunter's team, and it would be hard to imagine baseball in Minnesota without him. And the dilemma sits squarely on the desk of GM Terry Ryan, a man whose brilliance has had quite a little bit to do with four division titles in five years. That said, the decisions aren't easy for a small market club whose owner is a billionaire that won't spend any of his own money on the club -- Carl Pohlad.

Oh please. Hunter's career OBA is .324 and his stolen base percentage is barely break even. If Hunter's not around, it quickly becomes Morneau, Mauer or Santana's team. Torii's a good centerfielder, but I'll take a little less defense for more times on base. Minnesota fans shouldn't sweat this.

USS Mariner does the math and decides that $20 million per year for the next five years is a bargain for Ichiro Suzuki.

Correction: Yes, I meant $20 million.

Home Run Derby looks at what shorter hair meant for Nick Swisher.

Art Thiel explains why Ichiro deserves the big bucks:

Although Mariners officials said no deal and no announcement is imminent, the sides have been working quietly toward a new deal during the season. If the reported total of $90 million to $100 million is accurate, it represents a figure for a singles hitter that is astounding even by baseball's bloated standards.

As important, it means the Mariners' big money is again good.

More complete players have taken a pass on Seattle cash -- Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr., to name two of whom you may have heard. Griffey in 1999 turned down an eight-year, $138 million offer to take less from the Cincinnati Reds, his hometown team.

This time, the Mariners are buying more than a great player.

They are buying credibility.

One of their own believes in them.

That's nice, but unless credibility helps them bring in better players in the future, it won't convert to wins. In many ways, this is a typical Bavasi deal, over paying for an aging star. But it takes pressure off Bill with the fan base (here too). He kept the star in town, it's up to Ichiro to produce.

On top of that, Ichiro is one of those players you just love to watch. I used to feel this way about Bo Jackson. Bo wasn't a great players by any means, but I'd pay to see him play, because he might do something amazing. Ichiro has that quality. Who else takes balls in the dirt and turns them into base hits? Who else combines range and arm like Suzuki. Fans of all teams want to see him play, and that makes him more valuable.

So the Mariners bought an icon, a great player who is likely to decline over the term of his contract. Now it's up to Bavasi to put the right players around him to build a winner.

Here's the article from the Seattle Times on Ichrio's contract negotiations:

The club is on the verge of locking up Ichiro, its All-Star outfielder whose contract was set to expire after the season, to a five-year contract extension, The Seattle Times has learned. Indications are the deal will approach $100 million and could be announced Friday.

An agreement is said to be imminent. Though it is not yet signed, all sides appear to be in agreement in principle on the parameters of the deal, which would run through the 2012 season.

Ichiro would neither confirm nor deny the report today, dancing around the question of whether he had agreed to an extension.

"In this business there are some things you can't say or are not allowed to say," Ichiro said before playing in the All-Star Game. "At the same time, you don't want to lie, either."

He'll be signed through seasonal age 38. At age 33 he's not showing signs of slowing down. He's having one of best seasons in the majors.

Balls, Sticks and Stuff links to video of the Phillies helping the Coors grounds crew with the tarp on Sunday, in case you missed it.

There are times when you have to wonder why you follow the Phillies and root for them night after night. Sometimes I struggle for answers, but sometimes I just think it's because there are so many likeable players on the team -- Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chris Coste, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Aaron Rowand, Shane Victorino... the list goes on and on. The team's effort in Colorado yesterday to corral the infield tarp did everything to confirm that fact.

AZ Snake Pit notes that the press was impressed with Justin Upton in the futures game. He wonders, however, where he's going to play:

The obvious question is - and both articles address this - where about is he going to play? He's currently in CF, but I think Chris Young is more likely to play there. I can certainly see an outfield of Quentin, Young and Upton next year, but would we move Quentin or Drew to left?

Given that the Diamondbacks offense hasn't really gelled this year, it shouldn't be difficult to find a place for someone who can hit.

In the race to see which Shea is out of the the major leagues first, the player takes the lead on the stadium.

Chin-Lung Hu won the MVP of today's futures game:

The 2007 Futures Game turned out to be quite a growth experience for Chin-Lung Hu.

The Dodgers' little shortstop prospect from Taiwan became a bigger prospect in his organization's eyes by being named Most Valuable Player of Team World's 7-2 victory over Team USA in sun-splashed AT&T Park on Sunday.

I thought Hu was on first!

Kenny Lofton reached base four times Sunday afternoon with a single, two walks and a home run and scored both Texas runs as they defeated the Orioles 2-1. He finishes the first half with a .386 OBA, fourteen points above his career average. At 40, he's in the top five in the American League in leadoff OBA. He's only had one truly bad year getting on base in his career, in 2001. While he's not a Hall of Famer, Lofton certainly ranks as one of the great leadoff men of his generation. He consistently gets on base, he consistently steals with a high percentage and he scores runs. It's too bad he didn't become a regular until he was 25, he might be among the all time leaders.

Gary Sheffield took Daisuke Matsuzaka deep in the first inning today to put the Tigers up 1-0 early in the game. Sheffield got off to a slow start, but since May 2nd, he holds the third best slugging percentage in the majors. Note that teammates Guillen and Ordonez aren't far behind him.

Khalil Greene hit his fifteenth home run of the season this afternoon as the Braves and Padres are tied at five in the bottom of the seventh. Greene hit exactly fifteen home in each of his first three seasons. It looks like he'll get out of the rut this year.

Maybe San Diego would be an attractive place for Andruw Jones to settle when he test the free agent market:

Jones hit a two-run homer off Justin Germano (5-3) in a three-run fourth and added an RBI single in the four-run fifth, when the right-hander was chased without getting an out.

It was Jones' 15th homer this season and ninth overall at Petco Park, the most by any visiting hitter at the stadium, which opened in 2004.

Last July 15, Jones hit a 453-foot shot, at the time the longest at Petco Park. San Diego's Russell Branyan hit a 453-foot homer on Sept. 24.

"I like it," Jones said. "I don't know, I just feel comfortable seeing the ball. Guys make mistakes and you take advantage of it."

The Padres would make themselves younger in centerfield, as Cameron is four years older than Andruw.

A few weeks ago I wrote about why I was optimistic about Melky Cabrera. He's continued to hit well, and with a three for four so far today, he's 10 for 21 in July. After a slow start, he's improved all three averages every month this year. His .332 OBA/.390 slugging for the season isn't impressive, but it's usable. AL averages for those stats are .336/.419. He's certainly better than a replacement player, especially given his defensive skills. Given his still young age, it's too early to write off this player.

Pittsburgh Lumber Co. disagrees with Adam LaRoche about fans booing Jason Bay.

We want results, and we want them yesterday. The black and gold nation is driven by performance. We'll boo Big Ben when he tosses five interceptions in a game. (We probably won't boo the Kid; he doesn't have off nights.)

Still, fans should recognize that even good players go into slumps (see A-Rod, 2006). Do you think booing him now will make him want to stay when it's time to be a free agent?

YES just showed a nice side by side comparison of Morneau's swing with John Olerud. The finish is a bit different, but the stance and start of the swing is very similar. The Twins and Yankees are tied at two as they go to the bottom of the sixth.

Hunter Pence delivers again. He collects three hits and a walk last night in seven plate appearances, the last one a walk-off home run leading off the thirteenth inning to send the Phillies to defeat 5-4. Pence is now batting .345, and according to my calculations should be on the leader board. However, neither STATS nor MLB has him there. What am I missing? The Astros played game 84 last night. At 3.1 PA per game, Pence needs 260.4 PA to qualify, which rounds to 260. Pence as of this morning has 249 at bats, 10 walks and 1 hit by pitch, which adds up to 260. I guess the programs that calculate these ranks don't round down the required PA. He'll need 263.5 at the end of play tonight, so if he comes up four times, he'll be on the board tomorrow.

Prince Fielder flied out to deep center with a man on first and none out in the third inning. He hit the ball well, but it just didn't carry. When he got back to the dugout, he paced the length a couple of times, then whaled on the Gatorade carboys, landing solid punches on both. At least he didn't punch a wall and break his hand. The Brewers lead 1-0 in the bottom of the third despite picking up five hits in three innings off Shane Youman, making his 2007 debut.

July 2nd marked the 82nd game game for the Toronto Blue Jays, the start of the second half of the season. Vernon Wells certainly didn't live up to his new, long-term contract, posting a .303 OBA and a .409 slugging percentage in the first 81 games. Now why Gibbons puts a player like that in the leadoff spot is beyond me, but last night it paid off as Wells collect four hits and a walk in six plate appearances to help Toronto to an 11-7 win at Oakland. He also homered twice. What's odd, however, is that despite a total of sixteen hits and four walks by the team, the homers were the only runs scored and driven in by Wells. Right now, Vernon is 45 points below last year's OBA and 110 points below last year's slugging percentage. He'll need a lot more nights like Monday in the second half to catch up to his 2006 numbers.

Damien Miller is on a roll. He last played on 6/27 and hit a game-winning, three-run home run. Tonight he collected four hits, including two more home runs, one a grand slam. All-in-all he drove in seven of the Brewers ten runs as they easily defeated Pittsburgh by seven. Masumi Kuwata pitched well in relief up to this point, but allowed seven runs in 2/3 of an inning tonight, allowing the Brewers to break open a tie game. Milwaukee maintains their lead over Chicago, which defeated Washington 7-2 behind seven strong innings by Ted Lilly.

Aubrey Huff hit for the cycle last night, and the two of the hits held extra special meaning:

"Obviously for me, that's probably one of the most special days of my baseball career," Huff said. "The triple was my 1,000th hit, the double was my 200th double. The homer, we were lucky enough to get that back from a fan. And the single, I got it back. So I got all four balls. That's going to be a pretty good memento."

The last Oriole to accomplish the feat was Cal Ripken in 1984. The only other Oriole to do it was Brooks Robinson in 1960; Huff is the first Baltimore player to hit for the cycle at home.

Carlos Delgado just picked up his third hit of the afternoon, a single to go along with a homer and a double. He hasn't hit a triple all year, so a cycle doesn't look like a good bet at this point.

Alex Gonzalez rediscovered the power he showed with the Marlins in 2003 and 2004. He just hit his thirteenth home run of the season to give the Reds a 7-6 lead over the Phillies as the teams go to the bottom of the 8th. It's the fifth home run of the game and the third for Cincinnati.

Update: It's starting to pour at CBP, and some guy sitting behind home plate is on his cell phone waving. An usher ran over and told him to stop. It's not like there's a ton of fans being bothered by the guy at this point.

Update: Rollins triples in the bottom of the eighth to drive in Nunez, and the Phillies tie the game at seven. It's the eleveth extra-base hit of the game.

Update: The broadcast just pointed out this is the fifth season that Rollins is in double figures in doubles, triples,home runs and stolen bases.

Khalil Greene certainly did not live up to the promise of his 2004 season. In his first full season, he posted an OBA of .349 and a slugging percentage of .446. It was something a 24 year old could build on. That hasn't happened. In 2005 and 2006, his OBAs were much lower, although he did maintain his power, hitting fifteen home runs all three years.

In 2007, he batting average and OBA are the lowest they've been in his career, but he's picked up his power. He hit his fifteenth home run of the season to tie the Giants at one this afternoon. He's not getting hits often, but he's already exceeded his triples total from last year and is very likely to exceed his doubles and home runs total as well. He's become a player that works at the end of a rally, supplying power to drive runners around. Just don't ask him to start one.

River Ave. Blues wants to see Robinson Cano go back to hacking at everything, rather than trying to be patient. His argument is that Cano is just not a patient hitter, so why try to make him one?

I'll just point out that Robinson is a player who's value lies heavily in his batting average, and batting averages can vary quite a bit from year to year. So if you assume for a moment that Cano is a .300 hitter, years he hits .330 are going to be great, and years he hits .270 are going to be awful. Compare that to Rickey Henderson, for example. Since Rickey had a number of weapons in his arsenal, his low batting average years were often very good seasons, since he could make up for the lack of hits by drawing more walks. From 1989 to 1997, Rickey's batting averaged varied from a low of .241 to a high of .325, but he maintained a .400 OBA in each of those years (low .400, high .439). It didn't matter what Rickey hit. It matters greatly for Cano.

Brendan Ryan hit his first home run for the Cardinals, and made it count. He led off the eleventh inning of a 3-3 tie with his first shot to provide the game winning RBI. Brenden was off to a shaky start, going just three for nineteen in his first seven games. But he picked up three hits and a walk tonight to raise his batting average to .261 and his OBA to .320. The Cardinals defeated the Mets 5-3.

This post at Athletics Nation makes it sound like Oakland developed a glut of left-handed talent at first base. I wonder if Brian Cashman is calling Beane?

Ken Griffey, Jr. would like to finish his career in Seattle.

Hunter Pence came into tonight's game seventeen plate appearances short of qualifying for the NL leader boards. With two hits and a home run tonight, Pence is hitting .348 with a .603 slugging percentage. Those numbers would rank him third in each cateogry. He should gain at least one PA per game, so by the middle of July we should start seeing him among the league leaders. The Astros are up 7-3 in the fifth inning over the Rangers.

You'll know it's gotten really bad when Smoltz starts calling him Larry.

I think there's nothing wrong with this. A little clubhouse discontent never hurt the A's or the Yankees of the 1970s. It's good to see someone in Atlanta is still a fierce competitor.

Alfonso Soriano led off today's game against the White Sox with a home run, the second day in a row he accomplished that feat. That's his tenth home run in June and seventeen of his thirty two hits went for extra bases. The homer helped the Cubs to a 2-1 win. They're doing better lately in one-run games as the win raises their record to 8-15. The White Sox are also suffering in close games as the loss leaves them at 6-11 in one-run contests.

Ryan Rowland-Smith debuted last night for the Mariners in a 16-1 loss to the Reds. Rowland-Smith pitched a very nice 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing one hit while striking out two. He is, I believe, the first MLB player with a hyphenated name. There are none listed in the Lahman database.

Miguel Tejada goes on the DL.

Tejada last missed a game on May 31, 2000. He had started all 558 games since signing a free-agent contract with the Orioles before the 2004 season.

It's still an impressive accomplishment.

Redleg Nation rounds up reactions to Ken Griffey's return to Seattle this evening.

Hunter Pence recorded three more hits last night, including a double and a home run, to lift his batting average to .344 and his OBA to .367. His on-base average is good, but it's made up almost entirely of hits. Now, that's a good thing. It doesn't matter how you get on base, and hits do more damage in general than walks. What's odd is that this doesn't fit into Hunter's minor league career very well. Coming up, Pence hit for a good average and drew walks at a rate of better than 1 every 10 at bats. This season, he's drawn just six walks in 189 at bats, or worse than 1 every 30 at bats. In a way, He's repeating Jeff Francoeur's rookie season, but Francoeur never walked much in the minors. I wonder, if because he's a rookie, that pitchers are challenging him more. If he's the type of hitter who sees a good pitch and hits it, great. At some point, however, pitchers need to pitch to this rookie more carefully. We'll see if his walk rate goes up then.

Chone Figgins picked up six hits against the Astros last night, missing the cycle by a home run. His biggest came in the bottom of the ninth when he tripled with a man on first to win the game 10-9. The six hits represent one eighth of Figgins' total for the season.

The Angels got off to a 4-1 lead, but then the Astros scored eight runs to lead 9-4 at the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, the Angels scored five runs, and Figgins drove in the tying run with a single. All in all he drove in three and scored once, making up for what has been a dismal year.

There's a roundup of six-hit games at 6-4-2.

Update: I love this quote from Figgins:

"I don't think I ever went 6-for-6 in a video game," Figgins said.

Carlos Guillen picked up a double and a homer through four innings against Washington so far tonight. He already has four triples this season, so he might be a good bet for the cycle.

Update: Guillen picked up the single. Can he get the triple? The Tigers are slashing the Nationals by a score of 9-1 in the top of the sixth, so Guillen may get two more chances to bat.

Hunter Pence hit the fifth triple of his career today, giving him 25 extra base hits out of the 58 hits he's earned so far. He's not much of a home run hitter, but his twenty doubles and triples gives him a rate of 69 combined per 600 at bats.

Sean Casey and Ivan Rodriguez are not having great seasons. Ivan has a very low OBA for a .300 hitter, and Casey's slugging percentage is low for a first baseman. But tonight they've combined for seven hits and eight RBI. Casey knocked out two singles and two doubles, while Ivan picked up three hits and a three run homer. The Tigers lead the Phillies 11-3 in the bottom of the sixth.

Jose Reyes had no trouble figuring out Roger Clemens. He picked up three hits, including a solo home run and drove both Mets runs. He also stole two bases. Roger must feel like he's back in Houston as the Yankees aren't scoring for him through five innings.

Update: The Mets win 2-0. Perez pitches 7 1/3 shutout innings, and the bullpen retires all five batters they face to close out the win.

Derek Jeter singled in the first inning today. Derek always seems to be getting a hit, and it made we wonder in what percentage of games Jeter picked at least one base knock. Here's the highest percentage of games gathering a hit since 1957, minimum 1000 games played:

Player	Games with a Hit	Games Played	Percentage
Ichiro Suzuki	819	1020	80.3
Derek Jeter*	1357	1743	77.9
Nomar Garciaparra	959	1257	76.3
Tony Gwynn	1838	2440	75.3

So if you want to see a hit, attend a game with Jeter playing!

* Includes tonight

Julio Franco starts for the Mets tonight vs. Roger Clemens, probably one of the oldest batter/pitcher matchups of all time. I remember a great at bat between the two in Clemens' one hitter. I was at the game with a friend from England; it was his first baseball game. At one point, Clemens got ahead of Franco 2-0. He then threw a curveball that just missed the outside corner. Julio flinched at the pitch, and I turned to my friend and said, "He won't let that pitch go by again." The next pitch, Clemens busted him high and inside for ball two. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Roger repeated the third pitch, except this time it broke about a foot off the plate. But Julio couldn't let it pass again, and swung and missed by a mile. A great example of setting up a batter by Roger.

The Angels continue their hot play, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 9-7 this afternoon. With both Oakland and Seattle playing well, the Angels needed to keep their winning percentage high to prevent those two teams from catching up. Two big reasons for the Angels success are Casey Kotchman and Orlando Cabrera. Since the start of May, the two are are taking pressure off Guerrero to supply all the offense. Kotchman is finally hitting like a first baseman, and may be going through a transformation similar to Justin Morneau last season. The two combined to reach base five times today, scoring three runs and driving in two.

Bill Hall continues to be a thorn in the side of the Tigers. He drew three walks in his three plate appearances last night. Tonight he was 2 for 2 with a walk when he came up in the eighth down 2-1 with a man on first. This time, he homers to give Milwaukee their first lead of the series, 3-2. He also has two doubles.

I find it interesting that Melky Cabrera engenders so much debate. My good friend Jim Storer called me earlier this season to basically tell me, "I told you so," about Melky's poor performance. You can see the debate in the comments to this positive post about Cabrera. My feeling is, someone who posted a .360 OBA at age 21 should be taken seriously. Playing often and well at an early age is an indicator of future success. For example, here's a list of everyone in major league history who posted an OBA of between .355 and .365 at age 21, with at least 400 at bats:

Name	OBA
Adrian Beltre	0.360
Jerry Browne	0.358
Melky Cabrera	0.360
Gary Carter	0.360
Orlando Cepeda	0.355
Willie Randolph	0.356
Ron Santo	0.362
Lou Whitaker	0.361

That's a pretty good list. If Cabrera turns out to be the Governor, he'll be a decently useful player. If he turns out to be Randolph, the Yankees will be very happy. I don't think Cabrera should be dismissed out of hand.

With Joe Crede going down due to back surgery, Josh Fields gets a chance to shine at third base for the White Sox. Fields made good progress through the minors, improving as he moved through the system and was having his best minor league season in 2007 at AAA. I've never been a huge Joe Crede fan. His career OBA is .305. This is an opportunity for Fields to push Crede out the door.

There a fascinating post on the genetics of whippets at John Hawks Antropology Weblog. It turns out, we now know what makes whippets fast.

It worked. "Bully whippets," as the heavyset dogs are known, turn out to have a genetic mutation that enhances muscle development. And breeders may not want to eliminate the "bully" gene after all. The scientists found that the same mutation that pumps up some whippets makes others among the fastest dogs on the track.

If a whippet receives two copies of the mutation, the whippet is muscle bound and slow. If it receives no copies of the mutation, it is thin slow. But if the dog gets one of each, then whippet is a racer. If you keep a stock of slow think whippets and slow muscular whippets and breed them together, you'll always get a litter of fast whippets! And it turns out, humans have the same mutation.

Moreover, the prospect of races being won by dogs intentionally bred to have a genetic advantage may bring new attention to the way that genes contribute to canine -- and human -- achievement, even when the genetic deck is not stacked. Inborn abilities once attributed to something rather mystical seem to lose a certain standing when connected to specific genes.

A mutation similar to the one that makes some whippets faster also exists in humans: a sliver of genetic code that regulates muscle development, is missing.

"It would be extremely interesting to do tests on the track finalists at the Olympics," said Elaine Ostrander, the scientist at the National Institutes of Health who discovered that the fastest whippets had a single defective copy of the myostatin gene, while "bullies" had two.

"But we wouldn't know what to do with the information," Ms. Ostrander said. "Are we going to segregate the athletes who have the mutation to run separately?" For the moment, it is whippet owners who find themselves on the edge of that particular bioethical frontier.

This of course, opens up a whole new way to cheat at sports that will leave steroids in the dust. A little generic engineering, and out emerges a fast athlete. Parents can test for the allele and decide to train their child for sports at an early age. The possibilities are endless.

In this light, steroids actually balance the playing field. Why should some players be rewarded just because they produce more testosterone? Sports will ban the shots, but they'll have a lot more trouble detecting genetic manipulation to achieve the same result.

Seattle's Raul Ibanez hit one home run in April and none in May. Three games ago he hit number two, and he doubled his total for 2007 tonight. Twice he's hit two-run shots off Paul Byrd, and Jose Lopez added another to put the Mariners up 7-0 over the Indians. Byrd has not issued a walk nor struck out a batter. The Mariners are 11 for 23 tonight when they put the ball in play against Byrd.

Paul has only thrown 66 pitches to the 23 batters, so Seattle is seeing less than three per plate appearance. A more selective team might make Paul throw more, but they would also be working down in the count a lot. The Mariners aren't letting that happen.

Paul Konerko continues to recover his stroke as he homers, doubles and singles today to help the White Sox to a 6-3 victory over Houston. He's now hitting .344 in June after batting just .229 through the end of May.

Bobby Abreu found his batting stroke again. He picked up three more singles today to make him 18 for 37 in June. His latest base knock sets up a three run homer by Alex Rodriguez which gives the Yankees an 8-6 lead over the Pirates in the bottom of the fourth. The long ball gives Rodriguez 61 RBI in 61 games. He's also just six home runs behind McGriff and Gehrig for 22nd on the all-time home run list.

Update: Abreu walks in the sixth, and once again A-Rod follows with a home run. That number 488 for Alex's career.

Aaron Boone homered for the Marlins today, helping them to a 7-4 victory over the Braves. Boone also picked up a single and two walks, raising his OBA to .383. At age 34, he's found a second wind and turned into a good replacement player at third and first for Florida. He's yet to ground into a double play this season.

Dave Stewart wants Bud Selig to attend Bonds record breaking home run.

"Tell your Barry story."

The Marlins defeated the Braves 6-4 tonight, by Yunel Escobar keeps hitting. Chipper Jones' replacement picked up four hits today, including a double and his first home run. In three games he's batting .500 and slugging .917. It's Yunel's chance to make an impression, and so far he's making the most of it.

I wondered yesterday if the Yankees had an out in Rogers Clemens contract. It appears they do, although they have no plans to use it:

If the Yankees wanted to walk away from their deal with Roger Clemens, they could do so with no more money exchanging hands, the New York Post reported Monday.

However, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the Post: "It's not something I'm thinking about right now."

Clemens has a minor-league contract, so Cashman told the Post that either the Yankees or the Rocket could exit the deal at any time with no financial penalty.

Every day Roger spends in the minors saves the Yankees money. If they're more than 15 games out on Saturday, however, is it really that wise to bring Clemens to the majors? Once he's there, I believe New York is on the hook for the contract.

The Dodgers came back for a win today, 5-4,, tagging Salomon Torres for the loss and his fifth blown save of the season. Nomar Garciaparra went one for five today and continues to bat third, despite a low OBA and a low slugging percentage. His current OPS of .685 is well below his career mark of .899. He's over 200 at bats into the season. I appreciate Grady Little sticking with Garciaparra high in the lineup, but at some point he might want to move him down until he shows he's back to normal. Looking at the order used today, Grady has his best OBA and slugging players separated by poorer ones. He might get more bang for the buck by bunching these batters and moving Nomar down.

Shane Victorino continued his late inning heroics with a walk off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. He's now 21 for 64 (.328) from the seventh inning on, with three of his four home runs coming in that time frame. The Phillies won the game 9-8 on four home runs.

I'm watching the WGN broadcast, and they're playing clips from Zambrano and Barrett. Zambrano took responsibility, saying it was his fault. Barrett said he loved all his teammates, and he loved Carlos Zambrano. Both looked and sounded sincere, so it appears they put the fight behind them.

Dmitri Young picks up his fourth hit of the night, and his eighth in a row. That sets a Washington Nationals record, and ties the franchise record held by Andre Dawson. The Nats and Padres remain tied at three in the bottom of the eighth.

The Tigers are looking at using more Marcus Thames and less Sean Casey.

Dan Lewis wonders which team will win Kosuke Fukudome. With a name like that, he should be pretty good friends with A-Rod. :-)

Alex Rodriguez seen with a woman not his wife! Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle must be turning over in their graves. When did baseball players become such louts? It must be the influence to that Dale Murphy guy. First he goes to Philadelphia and corrupts Dykstra and Kruk, and since this behavoir has spread like wildfire. Next thing you know, we'll discover ballplayers using performance enhancing drugs!

I assume this story is what brought the NY Post website's responses down to a crawl.

The Dodgers are up 3-0 over the Nationals in the top of the seventh. Juan Pierre knocked out four hits this evening, three doubles and a triple. Given that he had only picked up six extra-base hits all season prior to this game, that an amazing performance. He raised his slugging percentage from .307 to .343. Still it's poor that own a slugging percentage that's lower than the OBA of many players.

Update: Pierre winds up four for five, and the Dodgers win easily 10-0. Penny goes 6 1/3 to lower his ERA to 2.06 and extend his homerless streak to 70 innings.

Melissa Lockard at Athletic Supporters suggests a logical move for the Athletics once Mike Piazza returns to the lineup:

Fortunately for the A's, they will have plenty of time to assess how good Jack Cust will be by the time that Piazza is healthy. If Cust is still reaching base at a clip of .400 and hitting with some power, then he should be kept in the line-up as much as possible when Piazza returns. Urban seems to agree with this assessment as well, albeit in a smug manner (quick aside -- why is it that he always has to answer these questions in a tone that makes it seem like the question was beneath him? He is choosing the questions to answer. He doesn't need to mock the poor souls who were nice enough to ask him the question).

What strikes me as odd about Urban's answer, however, is that he suggests that Cust would need to learn how to catch to stay in the line-up when Piazza returns. While I understand that Urban is being flippant, I find it odd that Urban would suggest that Cust would need to learn to catch when Piazza is himself already a catcher.

I have watched Piazza catch a lot of games over the years and he is not a good defensive catcher. He can't throw very well and he doesn't have great mobility behind the plate. However, the value that Piazza gives you offensively at the catcher position is the best in baseball history and goes a long way towards mitigating the damage he does behind the plate. And he has always struck me as a smart catcher in terms of pitch selection, for whatever that is worth. Besides, it isn't like Jason Kendall is threatening Pudge Rodriguez for any Gold Gloves behind the plate. Kendall has reverted back to being one of the worst catchers in baseball at throwing out runners and it seems to me that he has let a number of blockable pitches get by him for wild pitches lately.

My proposal is not a unique one, but I think it bears some consideration: if, when Piazza returns, Cust is still contributing offensively and Kendall is still managing to out-hit only Barry Zito, the A's should have Piazza start behind the plate at least four days a week with Cust at the DH slot. Kendall could be used as a late-game defensive replacement and pinch-runner. I think this is a solution which will give the A's their best possible offensive production and I don't think their defense will take that much of a hit. If it does, it is always a reversible solution.

Makes sense to me.

The Oakland Athletics inched closer to the Angels last night with a 5-3 win over the Rangers. Driving in three runs was Eric Chavez with what's become an unusual night for him, going 2 for 4 with a home run. Eric's batting stats are pitiful this season. His hit total isn't great but with 45 hits in 47 games, it's okay. What's awful is his walk total. This is a player who led the American League with 95 walks in 2004. So far, about 1/3 through the season, he's drawn 15. That gives him a .290 OBA.

Through 2004, when Chavez was 26 years old, his career OBA was .354 and his career slugging percentage was .502. Since then, at what should be the peak of his career, that's dropped to .332/.446. I don't think this is what Billy Beane had in mind when he let Tejada go and signed Chavez to a long term contract. In 2005, his walks dropped. In 2006, the walks came back but his power dropped. Now in 2007, both are way down. He's suffering from tricep tendinitis, but that doesn't explain his drop in walks. He lost significant time in both 2004 and 2006 due to injury, so maybe this is just the cumulative effect of those.

J.C. Bradbury writes a counter-argument to Jayson Stark's assessment that Andruw Jones is overrated. J.C. argues that Andruw's defense is still very good, despite what the scouts say. Here's Stark on Andruw:

Then an old scout friend said the words that led me here: "I'll tell you the guy who isn't the player people think he is anymore -- Andruw Jones." Again, my first instinct was: no way. Then I took a closer look. And couldn't believe what I learned.

I'd like to agree with Bradbuy, but turn Stark's argument on its head. I'd argue that Jones was overrated until recently. Look at Andruw's similarity scores by age. From age 21 to age 25, he's Ruben Sierra. Now, in my mind, when you look up "overrated" in the dictionary, you find a picture of Sierra. Since that age, Andruw matched more closely to Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson. So it seems to me Andruw was overrated early in his career, but the last few season he's lived up to his potential.

B.J. Upton went four for five today to raise his road batting average to .384 (28/73), one of the best in the American League. Overall this year he's hitting over .300, his OBA is over .400 and he's slugging over .500. That's a great year for any player, especially for a middle infielder. He helped the Devil Rays to an 11-5 victory over the White Sox today. Coupled with the Yankees loss, they are now just one game behind New York.

Ryan Howard homered today, along with new third baseman Greg Dobbs. One positive to come out of Howard's injury was Dobbs proving he could hit. As a first baseman he posted a .362 OBA and a .545 slugging percentage. So when Ryan returned, Wes Helms went to the bench and Dobbs moved to third.

I guess this make Charlie Manuel Captain Parmenter. :-)

Barry Bonds fails to tie his NL record of drawing a walk in eighteen consecutive games as he goes 0 for 4 last night against Aaron Cook. The Rockies starter went the distance, allowing just one run on five hits and four walks. Barry didn't get the ball out of the infield, grounding out four times.

Mark Reynolds played his tenth major league game for the Diamondbacks last night, going five for five with two homers, a triple, four runs scored and four RBI. That raises his batting average to .459 and his slugging percentage to .882. Mark's minor league number through 2006 were good but not spectacular. He was off to a good start at Mobile, and he's just caught fire since coming to the majors. The Diamondbacks just keep getting stronger.

The other day during my radio show I went over all the teams, trying to pick out the weak link among position players, the one who was really pulling the team down. And it wasn't just someone in a slump, but someone who wasn't playing well and had a history of decline. Arizona was one of the three teams (the Mets and Braves being the other two) where is was difficult to find a regular who met that criteria. The fans of Arizona have a great team emerging.

Willie Randolph moves Carlos Delgado down to the sixth slot in the order for the first time this year, and Carlos responds with two hits. The two for three, however, just raises his batting average to .217. He'll need a few more of these night before it's worth moving him higher in the order. The Mets lead 3-0 in the seventh behind another fine performance by Oliver Perez.

We rightly make a big deal of the great shortstops in the NL East, but there are a couple of pretty good second basemen there as well. Dan Uggla and Chase Utley each hit his ninth home run of the season. The difference in the game is that Chase's was good for two runs, while Dan hit a solo shot. The Phillies lead the Phish 4-3 in the sixth.

Four Brewers appeared on a soap opera yesterday. Another big upside to winning, people want to know you.

Seth Mnookin harshly criticizes A-Rod for breaking up a double play last night. I saw the play, and my initial thought was the ump would call interference. Unlike Seth, I was watching the NESN broadcast, and Remy noted that since A-Rod had the bag, that probably saved him. (Remy, by the way, defended the famous Rodriguez slap, saying he would do the same thing.) I disagree. It's one thing to slide into someone, it's another to come up after you're out and throw an elbow.

The other thing I noticed in the late innings last night was how alone the Yankees were as they attempted a comeback. Once the lead went to 7-2, the fans started leaving. The box seats were pretty empty in the eighth and ninth. The Yankees threatened in both innings, and 50,000 screaming fans might have helped. Fans leaving early, especially against the Red Sox, is a sign the fan base gave up on the team. Maybe it won't be that difficult to get Yankees tickets the rest of the year.

The Houston Chronicle baseball blog publishes some cute pictures of Chris Sampson's new baby.

Chronicles of the Lads wonders if Reggie Willits can sustain his walk rate. He also offers this observation:

But you know what? If he just sustains a little, he can still push Shea Hillenbrand out of the lineup once Garret Anderson returns. And that potentiality, which becomes more and more likely every day, is cause for celebration.

The Schuylkill, that is. Rowand continues to post numbers out of line with his career. Today he helped the Phillies defeat the Blue Jays with his seventh home run of the season. He picked up two hits on the day, putting his OBA at .406. Not bad for a player with a .339 career OBA. He's also slugging .515, sixty five points above his career average.

Jhonny Peralta homered in the fourth inning to tie the Reds at two. Peralta reaches double digits in homers with the shot, after falling to just thirteen homers in 2006. His current .543 slugging percentage is now higher than the .520 he posted in 2005. Peralta's success is contributing to the Tribes resurgence as well. They're now up 4-2 on the Reds in the bottom of the fourth.

Tony Clark, while not a great player, certainly fills a need nicely. Last night he delivered a pinch-hit grand slam to tie the Pirates, and Arizona went on to win the game. He fills the role of "pinch hitter who can actually hit" well, the role once the domain of aging veterans who didn't have the stamina nor the fielding skills to play everyday. Most of them now become designated hitters. Clark can still play first, and he's four for twelve as a pinch hitter this season with two homers and two walks. He's a nice weapon to hold on the bench.

Despite two losses to the Tigers in two night, there's good news for the Cardinals. Albert Pujols appears to have his batting eye back. In the two games so far, Albert reached base five times via a hit, and four time drawing a walk. He still has a ways to go back to the old Albert, but this is a good sign.

Reggie Willits went two for five last night from the leadoff spot. In 135 career at bats so far he has drawn 24 walks and owns a .421 OBA. Given that he put up fine OBA numbers his entire minor league career, why did it take until age 26 to make him a full time leadoff man? He got on base in college, he got on base at every level of professional ball. At some point, shouldn't a team decide that this kid can play? I'd hate to think they kept him down because he didn't fit the "contact" mold of an Angels hitter.

The Mets don't approve of Lastings Milledge's rap lyrics.

The song, "Bend Ya Knees" was on the Web site www.souljaboirecords.com, the record label the 22-year-old outfielder founded. Milledge can be heard using a racist term for blacks and language derogatory to women.

I'm glad the Mets are out in front on this. We wouldn't want lyrics like this spreading to the rest of the rap community. Nip it in th bud now, I say!

Astros rookie Hunter Pence knocked out four more hits tonight, including his fourth home run. That gives him 22 hits in 62 at bats, with 10 of them going for extra bases. I don't know what his defense is like, but my guess is that his bat is more than making up for Taveras' speed and glove. The Astros defeat the Giants 2-1.

As I've been writing my Games of the Day posts, I keep noticing pitchers performing well do to a lower number of home runs allowed. Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis come to mind. With a lower run environment this season, especially since the ball is not leaving the park as often, pitchers who died by the long ball are having a Renascence. But LaRoche occupies the other end of the spectrum. He was a marginal power hitter, and with the ball not carrying for whatever reason, his hitting's been curtailed. Despite a three hits and a home run tonight, he's batting just .197 and slugging .339. It would be interesting to compare where his fly balls landed last year and this year.

The Braves put Edgar Renteria in the third slot again tonight, and he hit like a slugger this time. After going 2 for 13 in that position, he knocked out three hits tonight, including two home runs. The DBacks put Orlando Hudson in the three hole and his power blossomed. Maybe that's all a team needs to do; put a hitter in the three hole and he becomes a masher! It's the seventh multi-homer game of Renteria's career.

6-4-2 Thinks it's time to send down Ervin Santana.

Who cares that Ervin Santana didn't get the loss? The important thing is the weak Angels offense gave him a showering of homers -- including two by Gary Matthews, Jr. -- a gift of six runs, and he proceeded to squander it. Enough. With Joe Saunders wasting away at Salt Lake, the Angels have better options for a number five starter. Let Santana be inconsistent on the road in the minors.

Maybe they should platoon him home/road.

Ken Griffey, Jr. started the year slowly, hitting just one home run in the month of April. But he's hot in May delivering home run number six on the month. He's tied with Jack Cust for the most in the majors for the month. Unfortunately, the Dodgers offense took advantage of the Red bullpen to score five runs in the eighth, breaking a 5-5 tie to take the game 10-5.

With home runs by Griffey and Kent, the game contributes $20 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. With the afternoon games over, a total of 23 home runs from those contests means $230 from Baseball Musings is going to breast cancer research. We'll how many the Tigers and Twins add to that.

The Royals have a choice at second base, Mark Grudzielanek or Esteban German. German received the start today and went two for four with two walks from the second slot. His OBA for the season is now .411 with a .474 slugging percentage, decent for a second baseman. Grudzielanek, with more plate appearance, holds a .304 OBA and a .371 slugging percentage. What's more, for their careers, German's OBA is about 60 points higher than Mark's. So why would the Royals play Grudzielanek at all?

Esteban helped the Royals to an 11-1 victory over the White Sox. Jorge De La Rosa pitched another great game at home. Teahen hit the only homer of the game, a three run shot, and that's good for a $10 donation to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation from Baseball Musings.

It's only the seventh inning, but Fred Lewis already hit for the cycle for the Giants. The twenty-six year old centerfielder came into the game with seven major league hits, but he's gone four for five so far with a double, homer, triple and single. The Giants are just killing the Rockies today, leading 15-1 while still batting in the top of the seventh. Lewis' dinger is the only home run hit in the game, however.

Update: Fred singles again, and the game ends with the Giants winning 15-2. Lewis's cycle was the 24th for the Giants, and his home run means another $10 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Backup catcher Jesus Flores continues to play a good rookie season. Never getting above A ball for the Mets, Flores went two for three today with two RBI to help Washington to a 6-4 win over the Marlins. He's now hitting .321 with a .424 OBA. He's 22 and never posted a good OBA in the minors. However, in 2006 he knocked out over 50 extra-base hits for an isolated power over 200. Just maybe the Nationals found a hidden gem here.

No home runs in the game, so no contribution to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Braves down the Pirates 4-1 as Jeff Francoeur picks up three more hits (one a home run) to bring his total to 41 for the season. The three hits bring his OBA up to .360, well above his .311 career average. He's also drawn eleven walks this year, almost half as many as his entire 2006 season. He's on pace to increase his hits+walks by about 40 over 2006, a year in which he threatened the outs record of Horace Clarke.

Adam Dunn hit a triple and homer in his first two at bats. That's the tough half of the cycle, and given that the Reds picked up eight hits in three innings, he'll probably get three more chances for the double and single. Griffey also homered as the Reds lead Houston 7-0 in the fourth.

Update: Dunn is three for three, picking up the double. They're in the bottom of the fifth, and Houston came back to close the score to 7-5 in favor of the Reds.

Update: Dunn grounds into a double play to end the sixth. With the Reds up 9-5, he's not guaranteed of getting another plate appearance.

Update: Adam doesn't get another chance. Still, not a bad day as the Reds win 9-5 and Adam raises his slugging percentage to .635.

I just gained new respect for Vernon Wells. He's both clever and funny.

The Twins stage a comeback to send the game against the White Sox into extra innings tied at four. Morneau comes up with two on and two out to deliver his second home run of the game to send the Twins home with a 7-4 victory. It took him a while to get going in 2006, so this may be the start of something big.

Dan Johnson corrected his vision during the off season, and the results keep paying off. He went two for three this evening, scoring a run in the 6-1 victory over the Devil Rays. Johnson is now hitting .333 with a .458 OBA. He batted a mere .234 last season.

Josh Hamilton continues his assault on the National League. He launched two home runs today to bring his season total to eight. He's averaging a hit a game with a total of 26 safeties, and 14 of those went for extra bases. He finished the day with a .671 slugging percentage which should put him in the top five in the NL. His shots were part of a four homer attack that led the Reds past the Rockies 9-3. Cincinnati stays in third place, seven games back of the Brewers and two behind the Cubs.

Curtis Granderson and Craig Monroe eached picked up three hits today and each missed the cycle by one. Granderson missed the double and Monroe the triple as the Tigers crushed the Royals 13-4. The Tigers knocked out 17 hits, 11 for extra bases, including four home runs.

Julio Franco homered off Randy Johnson last night:

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson, making his third start, was roughed up for five runs but managed to last seven innings. He allowed two more home runs, the fourth and fifth opponents have hit off him in 18 innings this season.

One was to Valley product Paul Lo Duca. The other was a two-run shot by 48-year-old Julio Franco. The specs on the Franco-Johnson matchup: Combined age: 91. Total major league experience: 43 seasons.

Franco showed he still has some jump in his step when he added a stolen base in the ninth inning.

In the last four seasons, Franco stole 15 bases in 18 attempts.

Via Dodger Thoughts, Bill Plaschke interviews a former Dodgers clubhouse manager about how these people protect players:

Dickenson said he would pour a cup of beer and place it in the dugout bathroom. The star player would sneak there between innings for a drink, and continue drinking throughout the game.

"The guy couldn't play with a hangover, so we had to keep him going," Dickenson said. "Hey, he played great, and nobody complained."

Such is the motto of baseball's minimum-wage, major-impact clubhouse attendants.

Keep them going, and nobody will complain.

In other words, baby the players. The article is well worth your time.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia entered the record books last night as the major league player with the longest last name, 14 characters. If you include spaces, William Van Landingham and John Van Benschoten would also qualify, but for pure alphabetic characters, Saltalamacchia is the one. I was watching the Braves game with the mute button on while I was doing my radio show, and they seemed to be making a big deal at the end of his first plate appearance. I didn't know why at the time, but it must have been for the record. They showed his family in the stands cheering, including what looked like a new born baby.

Jarrod also had the distinction of debuting on his birthday.

Gary Sheffield picked up four hits today, including a home run, to help the Tigers to a 3-2 win over the Orioles. Over his last nine games, Gary went 14 for 34, a .412 batting average.

What's most interesting about Sheffield this year, however, is that he's performing like a leadoff hitter. Despite a low batting average, his OBA is .383. On top of that, he scored 23 runs in 26 games. He's even stolen five bases, being caught twice. Given the .341 OBA of Tigers leadoff hitters this season, maybe Gary should bat first. He only has 10 RBI, so why not let him set up the rest of the offense from the first slot?

The Royals called up Billy Butler yesterday:

The gee-whiz quality in Billy Butler is rarely hard to spot. So it's no surprise he spent his first major-league moments Tuesday afternoon veering about the Royals' clubhouse simply "because I can."

Or that he referred to the call earlier in the day informing him of his promotion as the "greatest moment so far in my life." The "so far" part carries emphasis.

He singled in his first at bat and ended the night 2 for 4 in a losing cause as the Royals fell 7-5 to the Angels. KC leftfielders were hitting .192/.236/.303 through Monday's games, making the position a huge offensive black hole. We'll see if Billy can turn the position into a positive for Kansas City.

Placido Polanco picked up four hits tonight to extend his American League lead to 41. He scores one and drives in two as the Tigers defeat the Orioles 5-4. Miguel Tejada was second with 34 hits, and he picked up two more himself.

Chad Durbin's line from tonight is pretty amazing. He only last 3 2/3 innings, throwing 95 pitches. He walked six and allowed three hits, but only two runs.

Reggie Willits picked up his tenth hit of the season in the first inning, raising both his batting average and his slugging percentage to .370. That made we wonder who knocked out the most hits this season without one for extra bases. It's Tony Graffanino with eleven. Of course, with many fewer at bats he's hitting in the low .200s. Jason Phillips also lacks a long hit among his 10 safeties.

Derrek Lee doubles and scores in the Cubs first, his fourteeth double of the season. The Day by Day Database goes back to 1957, and Derrek is only the fourth player in that time to pick up at least 14 doubles by the end of April. In 2002, his teammate Mike Lowell knocked out 15. That same year, his current teammate Alfonso Soriano collected 14 doubles, as did Garret Anderson in 2003.

Ian Kinsler started a slow move up in the batting order:

2B Ian Kinsler moved up to the 6th spot in the lineup. Washington said he'd likely hit Kinsler sixth against lefties. Kinsler hits seventh vs. right-handed pitchers.

At the moment, he' hitting both sides pretty well. With his high OBA, he needs to be in one of the top two slots. Right now, Texas #1 hitters post a .330 OBA, #2 hitters a mere .291. Kinsler can help up there.

Aaron Rowand led off on Saturday with Jimmy Rollins batting third. Given their torrid starts, that seems appropriate. Aaron currently holds a .460 OBA. What strikes me the most about that number is that he's drawn eleven walks in 86 at bats. In 2006, he drew just 18 walks in 405 at bats. He doesn't appear to be more patient at the plate as his 3.6 pitches seen per plate appearance jibes with previous years. Maybe he's just hitting the ball so hard pitchers are being more careful with him. He's slugging .640 on top of everything else.

Michael Young and Mark Teixeira combined for a five for ten day with five runs scored as Texas pulled out an extra-innings victory over Toronto 9-8. The two big guns for Texas haven't hit, yet Texas game into the day 9-13, just 2 1/2 games out of first. I'd expect if today represents a turning point for these slumping stars, that Texas' prospect might be looking up.

Joe Mauer knocked out three hits today, including a home run to help the Twins to an 11-3 win at Detroit. Mauer's averages now sit at .388/.485/.538, and for his career he's batting .324 win an OBA over. 400. Being a catcher, however, he's likely to see his offense decline quicker than other players. Should the Twins move him to a different position as the Astros moved Biggio? Joe's a good defensive catcher, which makes the decision tougher. But should the Twins think about moving Joe to leftfield where they can take advantage of his batting skills longer? Or should they get his best years as a catcher, then let him walk as a free agent?

Dave Stewart analyzes Barry Bonds' season so far.

Did anyone notice that the players ranked two, five and six in National League slugging percentage are all shortstops from the NL East? Rollins, Ramirez and Reyes are all off to great starts. Rollins leads the league in home runs. Ramriez and Reyes are in the top ten in OBA. Reyes leads the league in steals. I'm impressed that Jose and Jimmy really improved their ability to get on base, although I'll be more convinced about Rollins when he does it for a whole season.

So is this the Nomar/Jeter/A-Rod trio of this generation?

Jeff Albert does his usual fine job of using video comparison to analyze the changes in Alex Rodriguez's swing from 2006 to 2007.

My first search for some insight into what mechanical changes were being addressed turned up a simple comment that A-Rod's mechanics were "firmer" and that new hitting coach Kevin Long had helped right the ship that is A-Rod's leg kick. According to a recent NY Times article, Long believed that a lower leg kick and faster hip rotation would help A-Rod quicken up his swing. After looking at the upcoming side-by-side that I will show, I have to extend a pat on the back to Mr. Long. Nicely done and way to earn your welcome to the Bronx!

I must admit, the change is very subtle, and I had to watch the video many times to catch it. See what you think.

Correction: Forgot the link.

Barry Bonds hit his seventh home run of the season last night. He's now getting on base at a .470 clip and slugging .808. I'm totally amazed by this. Watching him play last April, I thought he was through. But as the season wore on he adjusted to his knees and elbow, and now he's approaching the averages he posted earlier in this decade. So what do we make of this fantastic start?

We're in the third year of serious drug testing, and no steroids or other PEDs turned up in Bonds. He allegedly tested positive for speed, but most don't put uppers in the same category as steroids. There is the possibility that Bonds uses something that isn't detectable. (Other than HGH. I hear now that HGH doesn't build strength.) But we also need to consider the possibility that the test are correct, and Bonds is free of perfomance enhancers.

In other words, we have to consider that a forty-two year old man with two surgically repaired knees and a surgically repaired elbow can still hit with the all-time greats. If this is true, if he can put up numbers like this old and disabled, how much did performance enhancers really help him? I'm not excusing Bonds for being a Baseball Jerk. But for the next few years there will be debates about Hall of Fame voting on people suspected of using steroids. If Bonds hits forty plus home runs with a .450 OBA and a .700 slugging percentage with his physical problems, and does so cleanly, that should be a positive for the suspected cheaters. It indicates that skill as a player might be a bigger factor in success than the extra strength gained from PEDs.

Of course, a reasonable person might say that someone couldn't accomplish this level of performance with those physical problems unless help came by way of chemicals. Given Bonds' history, that's a logical conclusion. But if he indeed is clean, then we need to step back and rethink if there's a real difference between clean records and tainted records. It may be tiny.

This sounds pretty definitive:

"I want to stay in New York, no matter what," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez's statement sounded even stronger in the context of the question that preceded it. Rodriguez, who is batting .385 with 14 home runs and 34 RBIs in just 19 games, was nearing the end of a dugout interview with reporters when the opt-out clause in his contract was brought up. This is the seventh season in Rodriguez's 10-year, $252-million contract that he signed with the Rangers, who are picking up a significant portion of the money remaining. After this season, Rodriguez can opt out of the remaining three years and $81 million on his contract if he chooses.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman previously has said he does not plan to renegotiate Rodriguez's contract. He did not return a phone call yesterday afternoon.

Considering the hefty contracts given this past offseason to less accomplished players (Alfonso Soriano got eight years and $136 million, and Vernon Wells got seven years and $126 million), several teams likely will be willing to offer Rodriguez a contract worth far more than $81 million this winter. So Rodriguez was asked, after raving about how much he loves New York for a couple of moments, how hard it would be to turn down larger offers if the Yankees insist on sticking to the contract he has now.

That's when Rodriguez said: "I want to stay in New York, no matter what."

We'll see what happens at the end of the year. This doesn't mean he won't opt-out and renegotiate. But he can't be much clearer about his intentions.

Chase Utley picked up his eleventh double of the season tonight. That leads the NL and is one behind Torii Hunter for the ML lead. While Alex Rodriguez makes early runs at home run and RBI record, the single season double record of 67 has stood since 1931. The closest anyone's come in the last 60 years is Todd Helton's 59 in 2000. Both players hit doubles in the high 30s, so making a leap of 30 more is unlikely. But if they're going to double their way to fame, they're both off to a good start.

Redleg Nation notes a connection between working hard and winning in Dayton.

Last night I wondered if Wily Mo Pena was the heaviest man to play centerfield. Since 2000, he's the heaviest man to bat as a CF.

Center Fielder	Weight
Wily Mo Pena	245
Lyle Mouton	240
Austin Kearns	235
Jermaine Dye	235
Larry Walker	233
Joe Borchard	230
Raul Mondesi	230
Robert Perez	230
Hideki Matsui	230
Sammy Sosa	230
Matthew Kemp	230

I'll see if I can dig up more data on the subject.

I have to agree with Deadspin on the Hank Blalock picture.

Not to make too much of 63 at bats, but there's no sign of improvement from Hank. This was one of Washington's big projects, getting Hank hitting again. So far, no change. And there's no high pressure management from Showalter this season.

Adam Dunn started out the season making contact. He struck out just eight times in his first nine games. Now that sounds like a lot, but for Adam it was a huge reduction in his career rate. He normally strikes out in 33% of his at bats. In those games, it was under 25%. Then things changed. In his last nine games, Dunn struck out every game, eight times more than once. And his averages plummetted. Putting the ball in play works for Adam. He's eight for 17 in this streak when he doesn't strike out. He can survive with a 33% strikeout rate, not a 50%. And if he can get it down to 25% again, he might win the MVP.

MLB.com lists Willy Mo Pena at 245 pounds. Is he the biggest fielder to play centerfield? Watching him tonight, he moves like a big, heavy man.

Dan Uggla came out of his slump yesterday and the Marlins came out of their losing streak. Saturday he picked up two hits and two walks in a 9-3 Marlins win. Sunday, he repeated his three runs scored, this time with two home runs and a single. He also added six RBI. With Cabrera raised from the dead and hitting his fifth home run, the Marlins went on to a 12-6 win over the Nationals.

Jim Thome drew his twenty second walk today. He's played fifteen games. It seems that the White Sox offense is so bad, teams feel they're better off pitching around Jim than pitching too him. I don't buy the strategy, but Thome's OBA is over .550 and the White Sox came into today with a .319 mark.

The Marlins find themselves on a six game losing streak. They depend on their infield for much of their offense, and while Hanley Ramirez keeps getting on, the other two big bats went silent. Miguel Cabrera is out with an injury, but Dan Uggla can't buy a hit. He's just 3 for 26 during the losing streak, but with 12 strikeouts. He's striking out at a rate 1/3 higher than last season. Either pitchers found a weakness, or there's something wrong with Dan as well.

Alex Rodriguez sits in the sweet spot. He's combining timely hitting with lots of men on base to deliver a large number of RBI for the Yankees this season. In the majors this year, only Bobby Abreu came up with more men on base, and Alex ranks sixth in RBI perecentage among players with at least 25 runners on base. The Yankees are creating opportunities and Alex is taking advantage of them. It reminds me of Juan Gonzalez's 1998 season. At the All-Star break that year he came to bat with the most runners on base, and drove in the highest percentage. He entered the break that year with 101 RBI.

The first link also shows the Phillies big problem this season. The team is doing a very good job of setting up Utley and Howard, but the big bats are just not taking advantage of the situation.

When my eighth grade algebra teacher saw us on the golf course, he'd tell us, "Hit 'em far and not too often." That seems to be Jason Lane's approach this season. He picked up two hits in the Astros 7-2 win over Cincinnati, a double and his third home run. That makes four extra-base hits out of five total, including three home runs. He's hitting just .227 (with the same OBA), but slugging .682. No word on how well he putts.

After getting off to a good start, Gary Matthews, Jr. continued his slump today with a 1 for 4, making him 3 for his last 24. And that looks as bad as it sounds, as none of the hits went for extra bases, he's drawn zero walks or contributed any sacrifices of any kind. His OBA for the season is .302.

Yes, it's all small sample sizes. But I find it interesting that the two big leadoff men signed over the winter are starting off with OBAs more in line with their careers than their career years (the other being Soriano).

David DeJesus played a very good game in Kansas City's 7-6 loss to Detroit this evening. His 4 for 5 raises his OBA to .422, an excellent level for a leadoff man. He's 27 this year, peak age for a hitter. He's a very solid ballplayer, and it looks like the Royals played his contract status right, as he won't become a free agent until after his prime years.

It's too bad the Cubs aren't playing the Tigers today.

Update: I'm also looking forward to the eventual matchup against Oscar Villarreal.

Home Run Derby names their "All 42 Team."

Ben McGrath profiles Manny Ramirez in the latest issue of the New Yorker. He evens lands a rare interview with the player. In looking into what makes the future Hall of Famer tick, we find that Manny simply wants to play baseball.

"They say, 'Manny being Manny,' but we used to say, 'That's Manny,' " Steve Mandl, the baseball coach at George Washington High School, on Audubon Avenue at 193rd Street, said recently, as he stood sentry by the locker-room door before a midmorning gym class. "It wasn't crazy stuff--it's just that he didn't really care about anything other than playing. Even team pictures--it wasn't important to him. You had to drag him by the hair. But if you said we had a game at three o'clock he'd, like, want to sit out there at seven o'clock in the morning, waiting."

The other thing I learned is that Manny doesn't keep track of the count. He wants to know if he has two strikes, but he doesn't care how many balls are in the count. That's why you see the umpire telling him to take a base when he walks.

Duquette had been following Ramirez's career since high school, but he now concedes that he had no idea "exactly how unique" his new left fielder was. "When Manny first came to the Red Sox, he would stand in the batter's box, and the umpire would call ball four, and he would get back in the batter's box," Duquette, who is now the president of the fledgling Israel Baseball League, told me. "He did this in his first series at Fenway Park and again on his first road trip." After the third such incident, Duquette ventured down into the locker room. "I said, 'Manny, let me ask you something. I was just wondering why you get back in the batter's box after ball four.' He said, 'I don't keep track of the balls.' He said, 'I don't keep track of the strikes, either, until I got two.' Then he said, 'Duke, I'm up there looking for a pitch I can hit. If I don't get it, I wait for the umpire to tell me to go to first. Isn't that what you're paying me to do?' "

It's a fascinating read.

Wilson Valdez knocked out three hits so far tonight, raising his average to .455 through five innings. But this is also a typical 2007 game for the third baseman as all he has to show for it is one RBI. Despite all the ten hits and two walks in 22 at bats, Valdez scored just three runs and drove in the same. He's hit well with men on base but not in scoring position. He's advancing runners, but no one is advancing him.

Carl Crawford sends a ball into the left field corner and never slows down as he comes all the way around the bases for an inside the park home run. So far, Kazmir is outpitching Santana as the Devil Rays lead the Twins 4-2 in the seventh.

Jimmy Rollins takes Glavine deep again, putting the Phillies back on top 3-1. That's two home runs in two innings for the leadoff hitter, and he now leads the NL with five on the season.

Jimmy Rollins leads off the game against the Mets with his fourth home run of the season. That ties him with Dunn and Cabrera for the NL lead.

Update: The Mets tie the game on three straight singles off Moyer. The last was on an unusual hit and run, as Reyes tries to steal third, and Beltran hits the ball through the spot vacated by the third baseman.

Eric Wilbur at NESN wants the Red Sox to sign Alex Rodriguez if the Yankees third baseman opts out of his contract:

OK, so Red Sox fans love to hate him almost as much as Yankee fans do, but that would certainly pass. After all, besides the whole infamous slap (which never hurt Boston in the first place) where does the hatred stem? If the Red Sox couldn't work out a deal and Rodriguez ended up with say, Detroit, would Boston feel the need to have a boiling ire every time his name comes up?

By signing with Boston, Rodriguez would finish what the two parties tried to accomplish back in 2003, which seems like an eon ago. Rodriguez would get to play in an atmosphere perhaps even more intense than the Bronx, without the added pressure of 86 years hovering over his head. And if he proves he can do it here, the reward it twofold, not only will it define his baseball legacy, it will be the ultimate middle finger to the fans in New York who have had an irrational hatred for him the last three seasons, mainly because he isn't Jeter.

Cashman may have already sealed New York's fate by declaring they won't re-negotiate with Scott Boras if they decide to opt out. Maybe that makes it easier for the Red Sox to swoop in and steal him away without getting into a bidding war between the two highest payrolls in the game. One hundred eighty million for six years? It sounds preposterous, but it could be the money A-Rod gets come next winter.

Eric forgets the Varitek fight. I think he's also mistaking Cashman's intent. Brian's not going to re-negotiate the contract now, just like he's not going to re-negotiate Rivera's contract. But if A-Rod puts up great numbers and does become a free agent, there's no reason to believe the Yankees won't be in the mix of teams trying to sign him. If nothing else, they'll push his price to Boston as high as they can.

Dice-K starts off Ichiro with three diving pitches. The first one is called a strike, the second one is fouled off, and the third one is wasted low and inside. Matsuzaka then tries to hit the inside edge of the plate twice, but Ichiro takes to run the count to 3-2. Finally, a sinking fastball induces Suzuki to bounce back to the box for the first out. Round one to Matsuzaka.

Update: Matsuzaka gives up a single, but no runs in the first inning.

Update: Felix Hernandez can pitch, too. He retires the Red Sox in order on eleven pitches, two grounders and a pop out.

So far today, Albert Pujols came to bat four times with nothing to show but a walk. He's now batting .152, 5 for 33. That's the worst start of his career through April 11.

Pujols	BA through April 11
2001	.345 (10/29)
2002	.314 (11/35)
2003	.281 (9/32)
2004	.320 (8/25)
2005	.250 (5/20)
2006	.304 (7/23)

His slow start is one reason the Cardinals are scoring under three runs a game so far this season. They lead the Pirates 2-1 in the seventh.

Ichiro Suzuki on the hype surrounding tonight's game against Daisuke Matsuzaka:

Ichiro says he can tell it's a big deal "because I can look out in center field and see a Dunkin' Donuts sign in Japanese.' "

Time to make the donuts.

Ian Kinsler continues to beat the sophomore slump. Kinsler homered for the third time this season and his slugging percentage now stands at .895. My question is, how long do you wait before moving the second baseman up in the lineup? When do you decide he's for real and start batting him fifth?

Jamie Mottram found a new favorite Oriole.

Aki Fever is spreading. I got mine last night.

Scott Hatteberg tells his manager when he doesn't see the ball well against a pitcher:

"The one thing I appreciate is that if there is a left-hander in the game, if it is a guy he doesn't see well, Hatteberg says so," manager Jerry Narron said. "He wants to win, he wants to bat, and it isn't that he doesn't have confidence in himself. It's just that he isn't afraid to tell me if he isn't seeing the ball well."

Hatteberg doesn't think it's a heroic attitude.

"Hey, I want to play as much as anybody," he said. "But when he asks me how I hit certain pitchers, I give him an honest answer. I'm at the point in my career where personal goals don't mean much. I want to win. I don't need to prove anything. If there is a guy I can't hit, we have some capable guys behind me who might do a better job."

Hatteberg quickly cited two pitchers, "Damaso Marte (Pittsburgh) and Brian Shouse (Texas), guys against whom I've never got a hit."

In fact, Narron sent Hatteberg to pinch-hit against the Pirates on Sunday, but when Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy brought in Marte, Narron pulled Hatteberg for Juan Castro, who drilled a run-scoring double.

I'm surprised this is spun in a positive way. Wade Boggs used to do this (although he would say he had the flu) against tough lefties and was criticized for not wanting to hurt his batting average.

I've been doing a twice weekly column on sports at the AT&T Blue Room, under the blue room Buzz. They also host a feature there on athlete's homes and the latest visits Ivan Rodriguez. Enjoy.

Craig Counsell picked up a single, double and triple today and drove in three as the Brewers defeated the Cubs 9-4. Counsell's only picked up four hits on the season, but three of them went for extra bases. His batting average isn't stellar, but he's slugging over .500.

Matt Treanor picked up his second career triple today, part of a four-run Marlins second. I love to see Matt do well, since he's someone who really loves playing the game.

Ryan Howard breaks his slump with a two-run double in the bottom of the first for the Phillies. It's the big slugger's first extra-base hit of the season and helps Philadelphia to a 3-0 lead after one.

Jose Reyes picked up his fifth walk of the season leading off for the Mets today. In 2004, Reyes picked up five walks for the season in 53 games. It's been a huge area of improvement for Reyes. Yesterday, the Fox team was comparing him to Rickey Henderson. That's a little premature. By the time Rickey had completed his age 23 season, he posted three OBAs over .390 and set the single season stolen base record. But if Reyes keeps drawing walks at this rate, he could come close to Rickey for the rest of his career.

I wondered if any of the New York tabloids would use Mr. April for a headline about A-Rod's grand slam yesterday. A-Rod makes both the front and back page of the Daily News with positive banners. For some reason, the NY Post page won't load. If anyone sees it, let me know.

But the back page of Newsday comes through for me. Yes, it would be too much to ask to drop the negativity for one day.

On another note, Hideki Matsui strained a hamstring and will be out until the Oakland series. Torre doesn't want him playing on the artificial turf in Minnesota.

Update: Positive headlines on both the front and back pages of the New York Post as well.

After Daisuke's performance this afternoon, the Japanese contingent in the Tampa Bay/New York game comes through as well. Iwamura singles and walks, and Hideki Matsui just picked up his second hit of the night, a two run single that ties the game at six after seven innings. Matsui did a nice job of pulling the ball hard past Upton.

Update: Iwamura leads off the 8th with a double into the left center gap.

Update: Iwamura comes around to score on a wild pitch. It's been a poor defensive game for the Yankees tonight.

Update: And Iwamura's run is the difference as the Devil Rays pick up their first win of the season 7-6.

Grady Sizemore makes an early bid for the AL MVP award as he leads off the game against the White Sox with his third home run of the season. His early season slugging percentage is 1.273.

Jeff Baker pinch hit for the third time this season this afternoon, and picked up his third hit. The homer and two singles givens Jeff a 1.000 BA, a run scored and two RBI. If he keeps this up, they'll need to find a starting job for him.

His hit was part of a big day for the Rockies offensively as they knocked out five doubles in an 11-4 victory over the Diamondbacks. Todd Helton went 2 for 5 to lower his batting average to .417. Looks like he's healthy again.

I'm not sure what the Rockies saw in Rodrigo Lopez. Someone who allowed that many home runs doesn't seem like a Coors pitcher. But he showed good control today, striking out five and walking none in his seven innings of work. He did allow a homer, but the solo shot did little damage and he's now 1-0.

Miguel Cabrera keeps up his demolition of the Washington Nationals pitching staff. Through three innings today he's already picked up two hits, including his second home run of the season. That raises his batting average to .778. He's raised each of his three averages for three straight seasons, and he's off to a good start to do it again. The scary thing is that at 24, he's still a few years from his peak. In fact, he'll become a free agent right at the top (like A-Rod), so we should see a record breaking contract at that point. The Marlins lead the Nationals 5-0 in the third.

Orlando Hudson asked for an autograph from Peter Coors yesterday:

A flattered Coors not only signed a ball, he went into the Diamondbacks' clubhouse to meet Hudson. Said Coors: "I don't ever remember an athlete doing that before. It was pretty cool."

I guess we know the brand of Hudson's favorite beverage!

New York Magazine profiles David Wright and wonders if he's a little too perfect. I just want his video room:

When asked a question almost mandatory for wealthy, modern athletes--how many flat-screens do you have?--Wright uses both hands to count. "A lot," he says, unable to remember exactly. "I was at the ESPN Zone--you know it? In Times Square? Anyway, I based my media room on how they do their TVs. I've got five in there so I can watch every football game."

If his baseball career falls apart, he can always open a sports bar in his apartment!

Richard Owen describes teaching his two grandsons to fish and hunt, Brian and Marcus Giles.

The Baltimore Sun publishes a good story on Nick Markakis' background. It includes a bizarre accident that killed Nick's best friend:

Taylor Scott Randahl died April 14, 2000. An avid mountain biker, Randahl was riding home when a car going in the opposite direction hit a deer. The deer went across the road and knocked the 16-year-old off his bike. Markakis said Randahl died about two hours after the accident.

"I never did get to see him again," said Markakis, his quiet voice filled with regret. "I was with him earlier that day, but he was cremated."

Nick plays in memory of his fallen friend. The whole article is well worth the read.

Joe Christensen touts Twins pitching prospect Jeff Manship.

The Twins stole Manship in the 14th round of last year's draft and convinced him to sign out of Notre Dame. Some scouts think he'll be an even better pitcher than former Notre Dame pitcher (and wide receiver) Jeff Samardzija, whom the Cubs signed for something like a quarter-billion dollars. Manship's stock wasn't as high because he was injured in college, but he threw some eye-opening curve balls and hard fastballs. The Twins plan to start him at Class A Beloit, but my amateur scouting eyes tell me this guy is going to skyrocket through the system, Matt Garza-style.

We'll see if this ship sails.

Now that the Nationals set their roster and named Cristian Guzman their starting shortstop, Harper Gordek makes a pledge to hold off on criticism for a while. It's a pretty complicated pledge, and includes this:

If I read an article that I feel misrepresnts Cristian Guzman's current or past performance, and he is currently meeting the above requirements, I promise to attempt to respond to said misrepresentations without resorting to phrases that are less than factual. These phrases include, but are not limited to, "worst player ever", "punishment from God", and "doesn't deserve to be even a boil on the ass of Honus Wagner's festering corpse"

Personally, I'm waiting for Guzman to play so poorly that Harper gets to use that last phrase.

Project A13 wants to convince you to cheer for A-Rod.

Hat tip, WasWatching.

Nomar Garciaparra became the father of twin girls on Tuesday:

Former soccer star Mia Hamm, wife of Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, delivered twin girls late Tuesday.

"Both are healthy and over five pounds," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said, adding the births took place in the Los Angeles area

.

They should name them Josephine and Johanna. :-)

John Beamer notes that Jeff Francoeur's spring batting average and OBA indicate he still hasn't learned to take a pitch.

Chop-n-Change notes that Scott Thorman went through an adjustment period each time the Braves promoted him in the minors, so Thorman's struggles in the majors last year might be a good sign for 2007.

The projections for Thorman's 2007 numbers vary greatly from one to the next. His Minor League Equivalent for last season was a very respectable .270/.324/.466 with 14 HRs in 309 ABs. Stretch that out to around 500 and you are talking about 23 HRs. This is around where I see Thorman performing this year. Bill James is probably the most optomisitc about Thorman's ability. In the 2007 Bill James Handbook, he has him listed at .287/.334/.494 with 8 HRs in only 178 ABs. Again, if you stretch those numbers out to a conservative guess of 500 ABs, we come up with around 23 HRs. I would be very happy to have that kind of production out of Thorman considering that would be just about average for NL firstbasemen (.290/.372/.507).

James Loney offers his opinion on being sent to the minors:

For the second day in a row, the normally agreeable Loney, who leads the team with a .455 spring batting average, made his feelings clear.

'I came here to work hard to help the team win and I can't do that in Las Vegas,' he said.

Yes! I want this man on my team. He wants to win, not do his best or whatever's good for the team. That's the ego of champions.

Without a need for the infielder, the Padres will release Todd walker today, saving themselves nearly $3 million. However:

But the issue may not end there. The Padres' representative with the players' union, Chris Young, has said the union could file a grievance on Walker's behalf and would have a good case.

I'm not sure I understand the grievance. Is it that arbitration with a free agent implies a binding contract? If someone with more knowledge of these contracts could fill in the details, I'd appreciate it. On the important dates page, there's this entry under March 28:

Last date to request U.R. waivers by 2:00 p.m. ET, if you will hand, telephone, or fax notice to player, without incurring full season salary. (Owe 45 days termination pay). {Art. IX (B)}

Does anyone have a link to the current CBA? I haven't been able to find one.

Travis Lee, it appears, is done with baseball:

First baseman Travis Lee asked for and was granted his unconditional release by the Washington Nationals , who made three other roster moves before Sunday's exhibition game against the Atlanta Braves .

Lee told general manager Jim Bowden he doesn't want to play anymore, the Nationals said. Lee had been competing with Dmitri Young for the starting job at first base while Nick Johnson recovers from a broken leg.

I'm surprised anyone wanted Lee to play anymore. He never lived up to his promise as a hitter. He didn't get on base, he didn't hit for power, all he could do was pick up throws at first base. And yet he parlayed that into a nine year career and made about $11 million dollars. Lee always struck me as someone who possessed talent for the game but not a passion for the game. When Leo Durocher said nice guys finish last, he was talking about Travis.

Barry Zito is eating an areospace diet:

What fuels Barry Zito?

Is it his desire to excel? Or the pressure of living up to a $126 million contract, the richest ever given to a pitcher?

Well, literally, what fuels Zito is a chocolate cherry muffin, one baked by an aerospace physiologist, to be precise.

Zito leaves nothing to chance in his preparation, and that includes his diet. In November, he started on a nutrition program formulated by Precision Food Works, a Manhattan Beach company founded by former NASA consultant Chris Talley.

Every other day this spring, Zito arrives at Scottsdale Stadium to find a large cardboard box at his locker. It says "refrigerate upon opening" in large block letters under the next-day air label.

Inside are frozen, vacuum-sealed containers of everything from blackberry custard to spinach flour pasta to mandarin Danish toast. Every ingredient of every preservative-free dish is weighed to the gram. The meals contain a balance of vitamins, nutrients, fat, protein and carbohydrates customized to Zito's specific body chemistry.

And then there are those muffins.

"So good," Zito said. "It's one of my favorite things."

I wonder if this guy bakes the muffins? Maybe Talley becomes successful enough that anyone can buy his food, not just rich athletes.

Justin Morneau and the Twins broke off long term contract talks:

Morneau left a four-year deal worth between $30 and $33 million on the table, the Star-Tribune reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiations. The deal would have included an option for a fifth year, the newspaper said.

It's the right move by the Twins in my opinion. After all, that number is based on four really good months of hitting. I'd want a little more assurance that those four months represent the true value of this player before I go for a really large amount of money or a very long term. If Morneau does well in 2007, he'll get an even bigger offer next year. If he doesn't, however, the Twins avoid making a big mistake.

Ryan Langerhans tapped his foot to a better spring:

Jones and 2006 All-Star catcher Brian McCann each have used a foot-tapping timing device as a key for hitting success with the Atlanta Braves. Jones suggested Langerhans, who hit .241 last season, might try the same move as he competes for the starting job in left field this spring.

The chat with Jones convinced Langerhans, who says he received the same advice from McCann late last season.

"I was talking with McCann about it because I wasn't staying back on the ball," Langerhans said. "Then I talked to Chipper about it when we were hunting, even though we try not to talk about baseball when we're out there."

Langerhans, 27, practiced the tap step through the winter so he'd be ready to put the timing mechanism to use in spring training.

Ryan is hitting .378 hits spring and slugging .595. However, he has struck out 15 times in 37 at bats. That rate would set a record for strikeouts in just 500 at bats.

Where's Kernan? speculates on where Alex Rodriguez might end up if he opts out of his contract at the end of 2007:

One quick point though. For all those dreaming that A-Rod could wind up a Met and what position would David Wright move to if that became true, I got one question: Are you kidding me?

Do you really think Rodriguez would leave the Yankees to stay in New York where who knows what Yankee fans would say to him in public? Come on, get a grip.

If he leaves the Yankees he will get out of town to one of three places - Anaheim, L.A. or Wrigley, to be reunited with Sweet Lou, who loves A-Rod like a father. Anaheim, though, is the most likely landing spot.

A-Rod is at that point in his career where he needs to do what is best for A-Rod. Anaheim would be the perfect fit because Southern California is the perfect place to play baseball. Same, of course, goes for Dodgers.

One other thing to factor in is his chase for the all-time home run record, what ever it is. I'd want to go to a good park for homers. That might make Wrigley a better choice, but Arizona has the warm weather and a very good management team. And the ball flies out of there. Over the last three seasons, it's tied with Philadelphia for the highest HR Index in the National League.

The Texas Rangers added Sammy Sosa to the 40-man roster:

By making the 40-man roster, Sosa -- fifth on the career home run list -- is officially a big leaguer again.

"The reason why I took the chance to come here is because I know I can compete," he said. "I believe that putting myself in that situation, coming here knowing I have to fight for a spot, is something that I liked, something that I'm proud of."

Sosa's home run on a 1-0 pitch from Edgar Gonzalez was his third in 10 spring training games. Although he struck out in his other two at-bats, he's hitting .452 with seven RBIs.

"I still have a ways to go," said Sosa, the 1998 NL MVP with the Chicago Cubs. "Because I made the team doesn't mean I've got to slow down. No way."

At this point he's going to make the opening day roster as well. We'll see if he can keep this up once the games get real.

Harper Gordek expresses his displeasure with Cristian Guzman playing short for the Nationals:

He's back. The worst everday [sic] player in major league baseball in 2005. Arguably the worst everyday shortstop in major league baseball from 2002-2004 is back in the field. Guzman played short yesterday. Perhaps this is the season where everything changes for him. Perhaps laser-eye surgery works like that episode of "Future Lawyers" where the guy had a bionic eye and it made him a great hitter. Or maybe the nearly 4000 ABs Cristian has had so far are more of an indication on how he'll do this year. I don't know. Just a thought.

I feel your pain. This is one of those cases where I'd rather see the 22-year-old AA shortstop get the job. He's going to earn a low salary and at least he has a chance of getting better.

Ducksnorts looks at Khalil Greene's extreme home/road splits. While managers platooned players based on handedness for decades, I've often wondered if home/road platoons might be appropriate in extreme parks. If the Padres found a shortstop with great OBA skills at PETCO, they could play him at home and Greene on the road. I've often thought that sort of thing would work for Rockies pitchers as well.

Mark Teahen discusses his move to right field:

He hit .355 in his last 46 home games for Kansas City, and made only 14 errors during the season. He became just the third player in franchise history to steal 10 or more bases without getting caught and had a combined on-base percentage and slugging percentage of .874. Only one AL third baseman's was higher - the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.

His reward for that production was a shift to right field when the Royals decided to make room for Alex Gordon, who could become the team's finest homegrown player since Carlos Beltran.

"We had to talk through some things," Teahen said. "When you work hard your entire career to become the best third baseman you can possibly be, then you get told you're going to the outfield - it was tough initially. But at the same time, I understand the situation. And I understand a lot of guys have changed position early in their careers and gone on to become great players. It's no huge deal."

Teahen's range at third as measured by PMR was average last year. If Alex Gordon has the better glove, it's the right move to make. It also show the advantage of being deep at tough defensive positions. If you have two good hitters, put the better fielder at the more demanding position and use the other to fill a hole. The Diamondbacks are going through this with Drew and Upton right now.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

The Colorado Rockies just got a little younger:

Rookie Chris Iannetta received an indication today he has claimed the Rockies' No. 1 catching job: Veteran Javier Lopez was released.

"The Rockies told me from the beginning that I would have to make the team,'' Lopez said. "When the Rockies signed me they thought Chris Iannetta might need another year at Triple-A. He came to spring training ready to play int he big leagues. From the Rockies' perspective, they would rather have Iannetta start his long career with the Rockies.''

Iannetta doesn't have anything left to prove in the minors. If his major league number come anywhere close to his minor league numbers, he'll give Joe Mauer a run for his money as the best hitting catcher in the majors. Bill James projects him to play half the games for the Rockies this year with a .391 OBA and a .500 slugging percentage.

Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke notes that Jeromy Burnitz is the latest player to end his career after the Pirates decided they didn't need him. Still, it wasn't a bad career for Burnitz. He played parts of 14 seasons. His main problem was that he didn't become a regular until age 28, so what should have been his peak period was lost. His seasons from 1996-2000 were very good, as he posted a .368 OBA and a .510 slugging percentage. He wasn't a superstar, but he was a player who could help a team win. I hope he enjoys his pension.

Pat Burrell is trying to get used to contacts:

Aided by his pal, non-roster catcher Jason Hill, Burrell finally got the contact lenses on his eyeballs yesterday morning. He exited the bathroom cursing and blinking, his eyes tearing.

An hour later he tore through a splendid batting-practice session, still uncomfortable.

"This sucks," he said.

I hope Pat keeps it up. When I was his age, I need to get corrective lenses for astigmatism, and it really helped prevent headaches. If it helps him see the ball better, he should go through the pain and get used to them.

The early signs from Sammy Sosa are very good:

But you can't watch the Rangers go through the first week of spring training and not begin to wonder what the club may have fallen into with their signing of the 38-year-old Sosa.

On Sunday in his second spring game, Sosa did what he is famous for. He delivered a home run to left field, crossed home plate, kissed his fingers and pointed to the sky.

In his third game Tuesday, he struck a sharp single to left.

In his fourth game Wednesday, a 9-8 victory over Arizona, Sosa struck a fastball from Diamondbacks starter Livan Hernandez with such authority that the only question for anyone watching at Surprise Stadium was: How far?

The three-run shot landed at the back of the hill in left-center, maybe 425 feet from home plate, giving him five hits and two home runs in 12 spring at-bats.

The negative is that Sosa struck out four times so far, meaning he can be fooled. Washington realizes this but thinks that will improve:

"We're giving him the opportunity to get some at-bats, and he is taking advantage of it," Washington said. "Pretty soon he'll be staying back on the off-speed stuff and they'll stop throwing it to him. Because he'll be knocking the hell out of that, too."

So far, the $500,000 looks like money well spent by the Rangers.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

J.D. Drew disagrees with Ned Colletti's assessment of the former Dodgers outfielder:

"The things that disappointed me were some of things Ned said. He called me not a man of my word, a hypocrite, those things," Drew said. "I could have very much understood if I had ever looked him in the eye and told him I would never explore the option in my contract. At the time I talked to Ned, and I still feel this way greatly about LA: I loved playing there, I loved where I lived and would have loved to have stayed if we had come to an agreement. I never once brought up the option to Ned, we never ever talked about the option. He never once said, 'Hey, you've got an option in your contract. Are you happy here?' "

Drew said he would like to have stayed with Los Angeles, but they showed little interest in him once he opted out of his contract.

It looks like the Devil Rays won't be getting Josh Hamilton back. Of course, with their abundance of good outfielders, it's not clear there was room for Josh on the Tampa Bay roster.

Jon Weisman notes the serious surgery Dioner Navarro's son is facing, and the numerous medical crises he and his family suffered. I'll add my best wishes for a successful outcome.

Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog makes a good case for extending Carlos Guillen through 2011:

Most importantly, the Tigers have a window of opportunity right now. They have a mix of secured veteran talent who have a couple years left in them, as well as some young talent under club control for the next couple years. There is $66 million already committed for 2008 and $58 million for 2009. But after that existing contracts lighten as the Tigers prepare for the impending free agency of Bonderman in 2011 and Verlander in 2012. I know the Tigers don't want to hurt themselves with a bad contract, and that they already have one in Magglio Ordonez, but they will have flexiblity come 2010.

The Tigers need to capitalize on the next few years. If it means paying Carlos Guillen in 2010 and 2011 to keep him a part of the team in 2008 and 2009 I think it the Tigers have to do it. There just aren't alternatives available, unless you want to put all your eggs in a potential Alex Rodriguez basket.

The other option would be to find a team that's willing to trade a prospect that's close to major league ready for pitching, similar to the deal the Marlins and Red Sox made last year. Of course, the result of that deal may make teams a little gun shy about pulling the trigger on such a deal again.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

Alex Belth finds some Yankees nostalgia at YouTube. However, in the video of the Yankees promo, there's a great slow motion shot of Chris Chambliss' swing. Chris won Rookie of the Year honors for the Indians before being traded to the Yankees (Gabe Paul moved from the Indians front office to New York and traded for all of the Indians' good players). Notice in the video how Chris keeps his eye on the ball. Pause the video when the bat meets the ball and you'll see the classic straight line from the head down the arm to the end of the bat.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

David Wright commented he'd be happy to move to another position if A-Rod wanted to join the Mets. Although it's nice to see somebody appreciating Rodriguez's talents, isn't that a bit against the rules? Does a statement like this have to come from management to be considered tampering?

Lisa Gray reviews the career of Jason Lane. It just goes to show how much luck and management play in someone's success. A team that was willing to give Jason a full-time shot at age 24 might have developed a pretty good ballplayer, and saved some money down the road.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

One of the reasons cited for Michael Young's long term contract is his consistency in generating hits. He's generated over two hundred hits four years in a row. That's really good. Hitters generated two hundred hit season 450 times since 1901. They've repeated that level 26% of the time (120 seasons). In other words, Young beat the odds three years in a row.

If you look at the distribution of hits players get in their post 200 hit season, the mean comes out to 174.3 and the standard deviation is 41.88. This gives us a nice way to look at the probability of Young repeating again. In other words, the chance of Young producing another 200 hit season in 2007 is about the same as his coming up with less than 150 hits. I'm going to try to play with this more later today.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

It appears that Frank Thomas did not report to camp in shape:

Frank Thomas won't start during Toronto's first week of exhibition games because his legs aren't in shape.

"I've just got to get my legs under me because I didn't do any running during the off season," Thomas said Thursday.

I can understand the Big Hurt wanting to save his feet, but a couple of weeks of working out before camp starts might be in order.

Update: Please see the comments for links to articles saying that this is what the Blue Jays expected and they're fine with Frank.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

Harper Gordek laments the lack of interesting nicknames in baseball today.

Most modern baseball nicknames aren't cool. They are just "gym coach" type names. A bunch involve shortening the last name. Sometimes you don't add anything (Ryan "Zimm" Zimmerman), sometimes you add an "s" (Jeff "Bags" Bagwell), sometimes a "y" (various "Jonesy"s). Other ones involve combining the first and last names "A-Rod" or "Man-Ram". All these variations have onething in common. They suck. Oh they are fine for the clubhouse because you aren't going to use a bulky nickame like "Hammerin' Hank" every time you want to talk to someone. For the fans though they're awful. These types of nicknames offer no imagery, no stories, nothing of interest. 30 years from now, no one is going to wax poetic about Austin "Kearnsy" Kearns. (I'm willing to bet that's his nickname. Come on, how much? A dollar?)

Access to images probably cut down on the use of nicknames. Most of the famous nickname, from "Three Finger" to "Hammerin' Hank" convey an image of a player that very few people got to see. Maybe you saw a picture in a newspaper. Later, you might see a player in a news reel. But now we live in an age where we can pretty much see every player doing everything we can do. We don't need a nickname to tell use Joe DiMaggio sail over the grass like a ship across the sea, or that Jay Hanna Dean was a little crazy. We see it for ourselves.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

Was Watching looks at A-Rod's weight loss, and notes that it worked for Jorge Posada last year.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

The Blue Jays players grew their hair over the winter:

At least five regulars, and a host of other minor leaguers and major league hopefuls, are sporting long hair, scruffy beards, mutton chop sideburns, goatees and general scruffiness.

The hairstyles of the rich and Blue Jay has never been, well, more hairy.

"It's something, more than anything else, to have fun with ... everyone takes things so seriously," said Tallet, who is a fan of TV's That '70s Show.

Indirectly, it was Johnson's fault.

Johnson, who had several versions of goatees last season, told Vernon Wells and others at the end of the 2006 season that he was going to put away his razor during the entire off-season. One thing led to another, and the challenge was on.

I sported mutton chops my freshman year of college. Anything lower than that just didn't grow in well.

Steve Yozwiak reports that Barry Bonds looks like he's ready to break Hank Aaron's home run record:

By all accounts, Bonds is healthy and in top shape. He looks great, and his manner is more relaxed than in recent years. He says he is unconcerned about the continuing federal investigation into the use of steroids in baseball. If he stays healthy and focused, he would need to average just over one home run per week during 162 games this summer.

The various projections I've seen are a bit conservative. BIS put his home runs at 32, the highest out there and I think closest to reality. Bonds appeared to regain his health and his stroke at the end of 2006. To me the big thing was that he was able to move in the outfield without a lot of pain. While his injury risk remains high, forty home runs from Bonds would not surprise me.

Manny Ramirez arrived at the Red Sox camp today:

Rest easy, Red Sox fans, Manny Ramirez has arrived -- and three days earlier than expected. Sporting a new 'do, with interspersed Red Sox-colored red dreadlocks, the Sox slugger showed up at the team's spring training facility today. Ramirez emerged from the training area of the Sox clubhouse at 8:52 a.m., walked over to his locker, shooed away reporters, and sat down. By 9:15 a.m., Ramirez was in a comfortable place, taking soft tosses from staff member Ino Guerrero in the batting cage. New hitting coach Dave Magadan was observing.

Given that players are not required to report before Feb. 27, Manny, in a way, is a day early!

Around the Majors links to an excellent article on Nick Swisher's winter training regimen. He's also working on a charitable donation:

Although Kielty still has the most famous hairstyle on the team -- bushy and red -- Swisher is quickly catching up. He did not get a haircut during the off-season, in part because he wants to help create wigs for cancer patients.

Swisher said he would grow his hair until May and then shave it off, donating his brown locks to charity. He got this idea after his grandmother Betty Lorraine Swisher died of cancer last summer.

Doesn't cutting off your hair negate all the body building?

Jerry Brewer looks at the upside and downside of Jose Guillen. Turns out it's the same thing:

Yep, the Mariners' new right fielder is one of those types. Lazily, we call them misunderstood, but really we understand them quite well. These people are genuine, right down to their negatives.

People like Guillen won't change, so forget that daydream. Of all the intricate projections the Mariners are banking on to be a winner, this one is among the toughest. They are forecasting Guillen can stay healthy and happy enough to suppress his volatile nature.

You also sense management wouldn't mind if a small dose of Guillen's fire singed a tepid team. That's a dangerous hope. But that's how desperate the Mariners are for some form of passionate leadership.

"Trust me, if I see something wrong with what's going on with this team during the season, if somebody's not doing what he's supposed to be doing, I don't care who it is -- I'm going to step up and get in your face and tell you whatever I need to tell you," Guillen said. "Like it or don't like it. Get mad at me, whatever. But I'm going to tell you. And if we need to get into an argument, we'll get into an argument."

Guillen dropped that tidbit amid a pleasant conversation. He said it matter-of-factly. No venom, just the truth. That's who he is.

Exactly. If you want the talent, the team needs to accept the personality and hope Guillen stays away from the destructive aspects of his psyche.

Justin Morneau found his motivation for 2007:

"If anything, I'd say I probably worked a little harder this offseason," Morneau said. "I've got something to prove this year. Some (fans) didn't believe it was right. People are sitting there waiting to say last year was a fluke. I'm going to go out and prove them wrong again."

To many in the Twins' clubhouse, Morneau seems hungrier entering this season. His teammates and manager Ron Gardenhire are impressed that all the attention the 25-year-old first baseman has received since winning the award hasn't seemed to create even an inkling of an ego.

Good for him. It's a bad idea to rest on your laurels.

This is scary. David Ortiz arrived at camp in better shape than he was last year:

Even though he established a team record by clobbering 54 home runs last season, the Red Sox designated hitter heeded the advice of manager Terry Francona, who suggested in late September that he try a different direction with his offseason workouts to relieve stress from his knees. Ortiz arrived in Fort Myers with less weight around the waist and more muscle in the chest and shoulder area. "I turned 31 this offseason and now it's a whole different process with your body," Ortiz said.

Sounds like he's shooting for Maris' AL record of 61 homers.

Chris Young of Arizona talks about cutting down on his strikeouts:

"Last year I kind of stayed aggressive, but aggressive and in control," he said. "I started understanding that when I have two strikes, (the pitcher) still has to get another one on me. I'm not going to just give it away to him like I have in the past. Just settle down at the plate and focus harder."

The result: He struck out 71 times in 402 at-bats in Triple-A, or once every 5.7 at-bats, a huge improvement over the previous two years, when he averaged one every 3.4 at-bats.

At the previous rate, he'd strikeout about 176 times in 600 AB. At the lower rate, that's cut to 105. Does a player cut his strikeout rate often when he's young, and does it help?

I looked at strikeout rates for players up to age 25, and then age 26 to 30. Players had to earn at least 500 at bats in each age group. I also only considered players who turned 25 by 1905, pretty much catching the modern era of baseball. There were 62 who had a K percentage ratio of 1.6, the ratio Young is exhibiting right now. Of those, 52 had a better OPS after age 25 than before.

Unfortunately, this is a tough study. Many of the players showing up turned 25 around the time of a major change in baseball. One group hits the age at the end of the spit ball era. A cleaner ball was easier to see and easier to hit. Another group centered around the lowering of the mound in 1969. On top of that, you would expect improvement after age 25 as players reach their peak around age 27.

So one player to note is Brian Downing. Through age 25, Brian posted a .678 OPS. From age 26-30 that number rose to .781. And his young strikeout rate was 1.7 times his older rate, similar to Young's.

One good thing came out of Joe Beimel cutting himself during the playoffs last year:

"I quit drinking because of it," he said. "It was enough of a problem that I missed the playoffs _ I don't get to play because of something like that.

"It was a bad thing when it happened, but it ended up being a really good thing. Just to quit drinking _ I didn't do that for anybody else but me and my family."

Andruw Jones wants market value from the Braves, and Home of the Braves would like to see the centerfielder's wish granted.

Johnny Damon received permission from the Yankees to attend to personal matters away from spring training:

Damon was given permission to leave camp after talking with Torre and general manager Brian Cashman following Friday's workout.

"He spoke to Joe and me about it, so obviously he's not in camp with permission," Cashman said. "When he returns, he'll be able to talk about it to whatever degree he wants to."

Maybe he's helping take care of Manny's mother. :-)

Update: Meanwhile, Carl Pavano takes a line drive off his foot. No word if this will keep him out for the entire season. :-) Cashman gets off the quote of the day:

General manager Brian Cashman was sitting with Torre when Pavano was hit.

"He seems to be a heat-seeking missile," Cashman said. "But thankfully at this point all appears well."

The Tigers are teaching Marcus Thames to play first base in hopes he can platoon with Sean Casey. For his career, Thames shows the same power vs. righties and lefties, and just gets on base a bit better vs. southpaws.

Best Jeter-ARod photo captions ever. Here's an example.

Alex and Derek were once so close they autographed each other's balls.

You'll have to see the others for yourself.

Jeff Albert at The Baseball Analysts offers a video comparison of Todd Helton's swing from 2004 and 2006. It seems he's lost his hitch.

The Red Sox decided not to extend Curt Schilling's contract:

"Theo and I talked yesterday and Theo was upfront and honest," the Boston right-hander said on WEEI-AM radio. "It was a very quick meeting. It was easy."

...

"The request of Curt came as a bit of a surprise," Lucchino said Thursday, "but out of respect for him, we met and discussed it, considered it and thought at this age and stage it was probably more appropriate to make that contract decision at the end of the season."

It's absolutely the right decision here. There's no way of knowing how much Schilling has in the tank at this point. If he pitches well, he'll do a lot better than he'd get in an extension.

Yankees hater Jim Caple finally realizes A-Rod is a pretty good player. Now if we just need to get NY talk radio hosts to realize it. Hat tip, Baseball Primer Newsblog.

Juan Uribe reached an agreement with a Dominican Republic judge that allows the White Sox shortstop to attend spring training:

Under the judge's ruling, Uribe will no longer have to appear in court twice a month for the remainder of the case. Instead, he must put down a $15,400 deposit guaranteeing he will make his next scheduled court appearance, slated for March 17.

"I am going to training tomorrow," Uribe told The Associated Press late Wednesday. "I feel satisfied with the court's decision and I am ready to present myself when it's necessary."

Given the international exposure of baseball, it will be pretty easy to determine where Uribe is at any point.

Jeter offers his side of the non-story about his friendship with A-Rod. And there's not much he's telling.

"Has our relationship changed? I've had a lot of relationships change over the years. But what we do away from the field, how much time we spend together really makes no difference when we're playing."

Jeter insisted there is no "rift" between them, saying, "Let's get that straight. We go out and work together. This is our fourth year we're playing together. It's annoying to hear about it all the time. Everybody assumes they know what our relationship is."

I think the best way to end this is for Derek and Alex to do something really funny, like make out in the dugout. While someone is interviewing Jeter, Rodriguez should just come up and start with, "Derek, we've been apart too long. I need you now." Sort of like Bonds in the dress last year. :-)

For those of you interested in the relationship between Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, A-Rod spoke about it with reporters. It's pretty much a non-story.

Did you know that baseball batters were never taller than they were in 2006? This chart show average height weighted by plate appearances. So the more a player bats during a season, the more his height counts in the average. Click on the chart for a larger view.

As you can see by the trendline, the growth in height of hitters leveled off starting around 1987. It's still growing, but very slowly. In 2006, hitters averaged 72.8 inches. I was curious if the growth of players had anything to do with the explosion in hit by pitch numbers, but they've skyrocketed while heights leveled. It's also interesting to note that during two eras of HBP falloff, height of batters increased along the trendline.

Jay Jaffe is back blogging at Futility Infielder and comments on why the Yankees shouldn't keep Bernie Williams on the roster.

Ty Wigginton added catcher to his resume of positions last December:

According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, Wigginton's wife, Angela, went into intense labor two weeks early. Against the clock, Ty was forced to deliver the baby in the bedroom closet of the their new North Carolina home.

Talk about clutch.

"He was out in less than a minute," Ty told the Times. "One or two pushes, and he was ready to see the world."

The birth wasn't quite as easy as Ty makes it seem. According to the Times, Ty listened to step-by-step instructions from the 911 operator as the couple's 3-year-old son Chase screamed, "Is Mommy o-tay?" With the healthy baby safely out, Ty handed Angela the phone so he could tie the umbilical cord with his shoelace.

"I think adrenaline took over. It's kind of all a blur," Ty told the newspaper. "It was unbelievable."

No error on that play. And they named the baby Cannon!

This sure makes it sound like Roger Clemens wants to hang up his spikes:

"I don't want to play," added Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

Seems pretty direct to me.

Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano end their cat fight.

Carl Pavano walked into the clubhouse attendants' room, across the hallway from manager Joe Torre 's office at Legends Field. Three minutes later, Mike Mussina entered and shut the door.

Twelve minutes after that, the pair emerged, smiling. Peace and understanding had been achieved.

Here's exclusive video of what went on inside:

Royals Authority explains why Mike Sweeney's career would make a perfect Warren Zevon song.

Mike Mussina isn't sticking up for a teammate:

Carl Pavano insisted today that his reputation and standing in the Yankees clubhouse is fine, and that any mention to the contrary is a creation by the media.

A few lockers away, Mike Mussina disputed that notion with shocking honesty, questioning Pavano's will to pitch for the Yankees.

"I'm just looking at it from the way each thing happened and the timing of each, and you form your own evaluation," Mussina said of Pavano's past injuries. "It didn't look good from a players and teammates standpoint. It didn't look good. Was everything just coincidence? Over and over again? I don't know."

Mussina said he did not think Pavano deserved the benefit of doubt, at least not from him.

"I want to see that he wants to do it," Mussina said.

He went on to detail all the Yankees, including himself, who pitched or played hurt over the last two years. I find this highly unusual. There's been plenty of teammates who hated each other over the years, but they tried to keep it private until it boiled over. Mussina going on the attack here makes me think Pavano's days with the Yankees are numbered.

Barry Zito wants the locker next to Barry Bonds:

Barry Zito wandered into his new spring training clubhouse carrying an Oakland Athletics duffel bag and plopped into Barry Bonds ' chair.

Oops!

"I probably don't know better yet," Zito said, chuckling.

It might have been a first in San Francisco franchise history. Zito requested that he dress next to the slugger back home this season, too.

"Barry and I have a good relationship," Zito said. "If I can somehow lighten the load off of him, so you guys can just take a hard right when you're going to his locker and start talking to me."

Maybe Zito wants to compare training regimens:

Zito reported to the Giants ' spring training complex at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday sporting his signature relaxed style - jeans and a T-shirt. He looked the same, save for the 10 extra pounds of muscle he says he added to his lower body this winter.

Maybe Zito will do to Bonds what I do to my daughter, constantly torture him with nonsense. Sitting in the chair is a good way to start.

Via MetsBlog.com, Pedro Martinez worked out this winter with a black-listed trainer:

Pedro Martinez continues to stand by controversial fitness guru and massage therapist Angel "Nao" Presinal. And Presinal, in turn, promises to deliver something sure to brighten the New York Mets' pennant hopes come late summer -- a return of the vintage Pedro.

Presinal was caught along with Juan Gonzalez trying to take steroids into Canada in 2001. Although neither was ever charged (authorities couldn't confirm who owned the bag), Presinal lost his status with major league baseball. The news took Mets officials by surprise:

Asked what role Presinal played in his star pitcher's rehab, Minaya responded: "There is no -- as far as I know, there is no connection between Nao and the Mets and Pedro. That is news to me."

As for Presinal working with Martinez, he said: "I don't know. I don't know that."

Interestingly, Nao's training has Pedro ahead of schedule, and Presinal says Martinez will be like new again. Looks like some eyebrows are going to be raised this season if Pedro looks that strong again.

FishStripes notes Miguel Cabrera's absence from the Marlins' Fan Fest last week:

Do the players really want to show up and sign autographs all day? I doubt it and most would opt out if given the chance. But in order to get them to attend the event all teams use either a contractual obligation or moral suasion.

Which makes Cabrera pulling a No Show Jones troubling to me. Miguel has displayed the tendencies towards a Prima Donna attitude in the past and I would hate to see that resurface again. It isn't good for him and it's a detriment to the team. Hopefully, that isn't the case and he or his agent just did a poor job of articulating the reason for his absence.

Maybe Miguel wanted to be involved in his arbitration case. The Marlins haven't exactly treated Cabrera contractually as well as some other young stars in the game. For someone who's one of the best hitters in baseball, he's been paid pretty close to the minimum the last three seasons. The Marlins just took him to arbitration. Did the Marlins try to settle? Did they try to offer him a long term contract? I understand this is how baseball operates, and the Marlins are within their rights to pay Miguel as little as possible. But it might be worth their while to attempt to make him a bit happy so these fan fest dust ups don't happen.

Goat Riders of the Apocalypse things there are two many Perezes in the Cubs camp.

Bernie Williams won't accept a minor league deal from the Yankees:

Williams, speaking with reporters before a concert in Connecticut, said he would prefer to stay at home, stay in shape, and wait for a guaranteed offer from the team rather than attend spring training and attempt to play himself onto the roster.

"I think if they wanted me, they would have signed me already," Williams said, according to the Times. "The option to go to spring training and see what happened -- I don't think at this moment it is something I want to consider."

It looks like the end of his career with the Yankees. We'll see if it's the end of his career in general.

Albert Pujols became a US citizen on Wednesday. Congratulations, Albert!

Vinny Castilla retired yesterday after Mexico picked up their only win in the Caribbean Series.

Castilla played first base in Mexico's 4-3 victory over Venezuela on the last day of the Caribbean Series. He went 1-for-4, with a double and a run scored.

"I knew it was my last game, but I got emotional when I came to the park and all my teammates came to congratulate me," the 39-year old slugger said while trying to hold back tears after the game.

"When the players from the other countries hugged me after the game, I couldn't hold back the tears. I felt very emotional and proud for all my accomplishment."

Castilla is Mexico's all-time leading home-run hitter in the majors, with 320 homers in a 16-season career with Atlanta, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Houston, Washington and San Diego.

Colorado claimed him off waivers last season so he could retire in a Rockies uniform.

During his five seasons as the staring third baseman for the Rockes (1995-1999), Castilla ranked third in hits in the majors, beaten only by his teammate Dante Bichette and Craig Biggio. It's not surprising he wanted to go out as a Rocky.

The Cubs top two prospects are named after foods, and number sixteen sounds like an ice cream flavor. This could be a delicious team in a few years!

Nick and Nick note that Joe Mauer could be looking at a big payday:

Charley Walters of the Piooner Press reported Sunday that the Twins are believed to have offered Mauer a four-year contract worth $33 million. Such a deal would average out to $8.25 million per season. That seems like a lot when you consider that Mauer is only asking for $4.5 million in arbitration this season, but it would almost certainly end up being a good deal when you consider that it would allow them to avoid the rest of his arbitration years and would also lock him up through his first year of free-agent eligibility. Mauer would be 28 by the end of that contract, and when it concludes the Twins would be in a new stadium with (presumably) a higher payroll which would allow them to potentially offer a massive contract that would keep Mauer in a Twins uniform for the rest of his career.

It would be a very good deal for both sides. The Twins get Mauer's best years at a very reasonable price. However, the contract may go to arbitration and Nick and Nick think Mauer will win. I've found predicting arbitration results to be very iffy. The Twins will argue that Mauer isn't as valuable as Morneau, who received $4.5 million, the amount Mauer is seeking. I don't agree with that, but presented properly, I can see where an arbitrator might. However, given that Joe is a catcher, and he's had an injury history, a guaranteed $33 million is an offer well worth his while.

Correction: Fixed the amont of Mauer's contract in the last paragraph.

I wonder why Pavano hasn't been disciplined by the Yankees yet?

Pavano, 31, is trying to put the past two years behind him, though that won't be possible until he meets with GM Brian Cashman to discuss potential disciplinary action for concealing the car accident from the club. Pavano's agent, Gregg Clifton, said he hopes the meeting will take place during the early part of spring training, if not sooner.

I assume the Yankees would fine. It would be pretty counter productive to suspend Carl at this point. Does he have to be on the active roster to be charged a fine?

Via 6-4-2, Mike Matheny retires. He could not recover from a concussion inflicted last May:

"This is not a shoulder, a knee or an elbow," Matheny said on a conference call. "We're talking about the brain. ... I didn't expect this. I don't think anybody did."

Let's hope that he gets better eventually.

The Yankees pulled Melky Cabrera from finishing the winter league season:

Cabrera played the last part of the winter league season in the Dominican Republic and participated in the playoffs, said Mark Newman, the Yankees' senior vice president of baseball operations. "We've asked that he shut it down at this point. It's been a long year for him," Newman said Tuesday on a conference call to discuss the team's top prospects. "We thought he needed some rest."

I wonder if this means the Yankees are thinking of using him quite a bit this season. If his time was going to be limited to just fourth outfielder duties, you'd think New York would want him getting as much playing time as possible. The four outfielder rotation seems like a real possibility.

The New York Times offers a nice history of the Molina brothers. The headline is terriffic:

3 Weeks to Pitchers and Molinas

In terms of championships, they're the most successful brothers of all time:

The three DiMaggio brothers had superb careers and featured one of the most famous Joes to ever hit or throw a ball. The three Alou brothers combined for strong careers during a collective 47 seasons. But only the three Molinas all ended up behind the plate and only they, of all those 18 other groups of brothers, can each claim a World Series championship. "To see your other two brothers in the major leagues with you, it's an amazing feeling," Bengie Molina said. "It's unbelievable. It's something you can't put into words."

6-4-2 Argues against the idea that strikeouts are positive to neutral for young power hitters. I've been fascinated by the strikeout paradox for a number of years. High strikeouts are a positive sign of pitching ability, but not a negative for hitters. The reason, I believe, is that the truly high strikeout batters never make it to the majors. So when we saw Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson or Sammy Sosa or Adam Dunn strike out a lot, we're seeing the edge of what's acceptable, just as when we see a pitcher post a 4.7 K per 9, we're seeing the edge of acceptability.

Billy Butler, hitting prospect for the Kansas City Royals, blitzes the home town media as a AA player. Butler's agent wants his future star to be comfortable with the off-field aspects of the game:

Rogalski has never heard of a Class AA prospect doing a media tour like this. He knows it looks awfully presumptuous for several reasons.

He says the motivation was to get a lot of this media stuff "out of the way," that past clients at their first big-league camps have complained of being overwhelmed by non-baseball stuff.

He wants to keep that from happening to Butler.

"He's a little bit shy the first time he gets in certain social settings with people he hasn't met before," Rogalski says. "His ability to establish a comfort level, once he does that, he becomes much more open and more himself. Just like he has to work on his defense, he has to work on his exchanges."

It also creates a buzz. Royals fans will now know Billy Butler's name, and be looking for him if the major leaguers ahead of him falter.

The Seattle Times catches up with short lived Mariners sensation Bucky Jacobsen.

6-4-2 Notes the 44th birthday of Cecil Espy, probably the only player with a .301 career OBA with an award named after him. :-)

The post also notes that the Angels farm system is ranked #4 by Baseball America:

making the Angels the only team rated in the top five for five straight years.

I often wonder about the validity of these rankings. Certainly, if the farm system was that well ranked for five seasons, you'd expect a team of home grown talent to rival any in baseball. Since the start of the 2002 season, the Angels certainly had their share of winners come off the farm (K-Rod, Lackey, Jered Weaver, Figgins), but also a few duds on the hitting side (McPherson, Kotchman, Mathis). Is this what Angels fans really expected from a top five farm system?

Update: Dallas McPherson goes on the DL for most of 2007 with a herniated disk that requires surgery.

Rich Braasch sends this story:

Jeff Samardzija, whom the Cubs selected in the fifth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, will forgo the National Football League Draft and commit to a baseball career.

"I am pleased to announce that today I have reached an agreement on a five-year Major League contract with the Chicago Cubs," Samardzija said in a statement. "Consequently, I will devote my full time and attention to professional baseball and forgo a potential career in the National Football League."

It's my bias that baseball is always the right choice in these situations. A star in baseball is likely to have a longer, higher paying career than one in football. However, I don't find his strikeout rate at Notre Dame very compelling.

Tony Womack's career refuses to die:

Tony Womack and the Washington Nationals have agreed to a minor league deal that would pay the veteran infielder $600,000 if he makes the 40-man roster.

...

The 36-year-old Womack has a .273 career batting average over 13 major league seasons. He started 2006 with the Cincinnati Reds, who released him in May after 18 at-bats. He then signed with the Chicago Cubs, who designated him for assignment in June after 50 at-bats.

With the Nationals, he might just break 50 at bats.

WasWatching suggests a way to handle Bernie Williams:

At this point, the Yankees should consider bringing Bernie to Spring Training as a non-roster invite. Let him go about his business the way that Al Leiter did last season - get your work in, have one last fun stay in sunny FLA on the Yankees tab, and have a chance to mingle (and say good-bye?) with some of the diehard fans.

It's a good idea, and then sometime during the season you hold Bernie Williams day and retire his number. That will give the Yankees sixteen retired numbers. The Yankees also lose 42 when Rivera retires, whether or not they retire it for Mo due to the Jackie Robinson rule. Number 2 goes when Jeter leaves, and six gets retired with Torre, so that leaves no single digits.

That's two bad. A single digit was a sign of a good player. Number were originally assigned based on your spot in the batting order (that's why so many catchers wore 8). That quickly changed, but a low number used to mean something good. Maybe the Yankees should implement other numbering systems to signify their good players. Maybe famous constants! I'd want to be Avogadro's number (N_A) but I'm sure there would be a lot of competition for Pi. Fast runners would compete for c, but my guess is pinch runners would avoid i. That's just too intangible.

Here's the full list of players exchanging figures for arbitration. Eight teams avoided the process all together, with six teams keeping the number down to one. The upper mid-west must be arbitration heaven, since the Twins lead the majors with six players exchanging figures while the Brewers post five. A loss of all six case by the Twins would raise their payroll another 4.8 million dollars.

Carlos Zambrano is trying to take advantage of the big contracts handed out to pitchers this year:

Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano asked for a raise to $15.5 million while batting champions Joe Mauer and Freddy Sanchez also sought big hikes in salary arbitration Tuesday.

AL MVP Justin Morneau and Florida star Miguel Cabrera looked to cash in, too, as 56 players exchanged figures with their teams.
Zambrano, who went 16-7 for the Cubs last year and made $6.65 million, was offered $11,025,000 by Chicago. Both his request and the club's offer were the highest numbers traded this year.

I wouldn't be surprised if Carlos loses the case. That's the kind of money that goes out to free agents. And while Zambrano is certainly good enough, he's not a free agent yet. That also would be a huge jump from Soriano's award last season, and a 2 1/2 times increase over Carlos' 2006 salary. We'll see if the Cubs split the difference, or try to give him a multi-year deal.

Rays of Light sheds light on the disapperance of Dewon Brazelton.

Jeff Nelson wanted to retire as a Yankee, and the Yankees were happy to oblige.

Jeff Nelson wanted to retire as a member of the New York Yankees, so he agreed yesterday to a minor league contract and then said he wouldn't play anymore.

"I enjoyed a fulfilling 15-year major league career, and each season brought experiences and friends that I will cherish forever," the 40-year-old relief pitcher said in a statement released by the Yankees, for whom he played from 1996 to 2000.

It wasn't that long ago that people didn't want to play for the Bronx Bombers. I remember Greg Maddux turning down a better offer from New York to pitch in a better environment in 1993. The team was bad, and you had to put up with Steinbrenner. Luckily for the team, Steinbrenner was suspended over the Dave Winfield scandal, allowing Gene Michael a free hand to rebuild. That led once again to players wanting to be associated with the Yankees and winning.

Will Leitch remembers the things about McGwire's 62nd home run.

ON a September night in 1998, Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run of the season, breaking Roger Maris's record in front of a frenzied crowd in St. Louis. The moment was perfect.

People forget now, but much of the joy of that night revolved around not McGwire, but Maris's family. When Maris had broken Babe Ruth's record in 1961, he had been showered with scorn and derision. The fanfare McGwire received 37 years later was, indirectly, an affirmation of Maris: his children, who were in Busch Stadium that night, were able to finally receive the accolades that had been denied their father. When McGwire hugged his rival Sammy Sosa and hoisted his cherubic son to the heavens, it wasn't just a celebration; it felt as if something had been healed, a mistake corrected.

Yes, it was a glorious moment. I'll never forget how fast the ball left the park. A friend of mine was vacationing in England at the time and I remember e-mailing a description the moment the event happened.

But while fans got it wrong on Maris and made up for it, sports writers believe they got it wrong on McGwire and are now making up for it. The response to Maris in 1998 was correct. I'm not going to argue that the response of the Hall of Fame voters is any less correct.

Update: Daniel Drezner points out this contrasting article by Jon Heyman.

Jay Buhner holds very low expectations for the Hall of Fame vote:

Jay Buhner has no delusions of grandeur, no pretensions of Cooperstown.

Ask him if he expects to get a Hall of Fame vote when the results are announced today -- a single vote, mind you; not actual election -- and he snorts.

"No. Come on. Let's be serious. You've got to be realistic. The chances of me getting a vote are slim and none."

Buhner, who retired from the Mariners after the 2001 season, is on the ballot this year for the first time, but virtually all of the focus will be on three other first-timers.

Specifically, the burning issues are how close Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. will come to unanimity, never achieved by any inductee, and how much the steroids cloud over Mark McGwire will hurt his candidacy.

Buhner considers it a major victory just to be on the ballot. To do so, a player must have been retired five years, played in at least 10 seasons, and pass the muster of a six-member screening committee.

"I didn't even know I was on the ballot until someone sent it to me on an e-mail two weeks ago," he said. "Truthfully, it's flattering to be even mentioned with the names on there, for God's sakes."

Now I can't wait to see if Buhner actually got a vote!

Evan Grant talks to Hank Blalock about his career and how he's planning on turning around his offensive decline:

"Are you going to ask if I'm at a crossroads?" says Blalock, who is only six weeks past his 26th birthday. "Yeah, I am. I've just been so stubborn that I put a shield up on a lot of things. I've been a little uncoachable. I've looked in the mirror. I'm at a fork in the road. I can be the same guy I've been and just keep going down the same path, or I can take full advantage of opportunities and give myself the best chance to be the player I can be."

I came away from the full article with the impression that Blalock is/was a somewhat immature person who needs to be told in plain language every so often to shape up. He's finally starting to realize that. Unfortunately, he's already wasted some of the best years of his career, and now he's recovering from surgery on a torn rotator cuff. He's on the edge of having an extremely promising career fizzle to nothing.

U.S.S. Mariner looks at how much moving to DH might help Jose Vidro's offense, and finds very little evidence that it will. I'd like to add one more thing to the discussion. Players tend to move from the field to DH when they are older. We'd expect them to be in an offensive decline. When DMZ does his full study, it might be useful to factor that in. Do players that move from the field to DH decline more slowly than players who stay in the field?

Ryan Howard fired his agent, Larry Reynolds. Larry is the brother of Harold Reynolds. It's not unusual for players to fire their agents once they turn out to be stars and are looking for a big pay day. Agents go after this type of players, saying that so and so never got a big deal but I have. Howard hasn't decided on a new agent yet, but he's close to Albert Pujols and Jimmy Rollins, and both use the same agency.

Amazin' Avenue amazes me by starting off his top 50 Mets with Rey Ordonez at #50. While he makes his case for Ordonez's contributions with his glove, I'm wondering if this is really possible. I mean, without even getting into hitters, I'm pretty sure the following will be in the top 50:

• Tom Seaver
• Jerry Koosman
• Jon Matlack
• Dwight Gooden
• Tug McGraw
• Sid Fernandez
• Ron Darling
• John Franco

Then, again, off the top of my head and in no particular order, from the position players:

• Darryl Strawberry
• Cleon Jones
• Tommie Agee
• Jerry Grote
• Duffy Dyer
• Donn Clendenon (unofficial record holder for n's in a name)
• Ron Swaboda
• Rusty Staub
• Ed Kranepool
• Lenny Dykstra
• Mookie Wilson
• Ray Knight
• Howard Johnson
• Gary Carter
• Keith Hernandez
• Hubie Brooks
• Tim Teufel
• Wally Backman
• Kevin Mitchell
• Kevin McReynolds
• Mike Piazza
• John Olerud
• Jeff Kent
• Robin Ventura
• David Wright
• Carlos Beltran
• Cliff Floyd
• Jose Reyes

That's over 30 players right there, and I'm sure there have been bit players over the years like Richie Ashburn, Roger Craig, Wayne Garrett, Nolan Ryan and such that contributed somewhat more than Rey Ordonez. If very interested to see where he puts Bud Harrelson in that list. The Book Blog appears to agree with me.

Hat tip, MetsBlog.com.

Update: Added Jerry Koosman to the list of pitchers. I don't know how I forgot him.

This is why you sign the good, young players to a long term contract. As for this:

The Marlins can't complete [sic] in an all out auction against the larger market clubs. Even if a stadium deal gets done and is built in that length of time, he will be moving on. If you are thinking, why don't they sign him to long term contract now, he has indicated he won't do it.

Of course he won't do it now. Any contract he signs now is going to be too low, given the direction of salaries. But do you really think he would have turned down a team-year, $100 million dollar contract after the 2004 season? That would have looked real good. The Marlins could have owned an impact player long term below market. Instead, they'll see him set records every year in arbitration, then lose him to free agency.

Major League baseball salaries were up nicely in 2006.

The average salary shot up 9 percent this year to $2,699,292, according to final figures released Wednesday by the Major League Baseball Players Association. The increase was the highest since a 12.8 percent rise in 2001 and makes it likely the $3 million mark will be broken next year or in 2008.

That's based on August 31 rosters. Obviously, that's going to be up again in 2007. I thought this was very interesting, however:

Third basemen had the highest average among positions ($5.87 million), followed by first basemen ($5.78 million), designated hitters ($5.59 million), outfielders ($4.88 million), starting pitchers ($4.87 million), shortstops ($4.06 million), second basemen ($2.79 million) and relievers ($1.43 million).

A-Rod is likely the reason for the highly paid third basemen. I'm surprised designated hitters do so well. All they do is hit, and for the most part, they don't that so well. But basically, offense is much more highly prized than defense (catchers don't even make the list).

Brad Radke retires tomorrow:

"It'll be a sad day because he's not going to be pitching for us anymore," manager Ron Gardenhire said Sunday. "And it's also going to be a great day because he's done so much for our organization. He started with us, and he never left us. That's something our organization is very, very proud of."

Radke, 34, privately has planned to retire since spring training. The pain in his right shoulder was simply too much. To pitch again, doctors said, Radke would require surgery to repair his torn labrum, and the recovery would likely keep him out for much of 2007.

Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson occasionally spoke to Radke about delaying his retirement.

"I gave him one last pitch a couple days after the season," Anderson said. "My last thing was, 'Hey, Rad, don't announce anything. Why don't you see how you feel? And come January or February, if you get the urge to do it again, maybe come on down [to spring training] and see what you've got.'

"He said, 'You know, I've made up my mind.' "

Radke's strength as a pitcher was keeping free pases to a minimum. He issued just 445 walks in 2451 career innings. Over his career, his BB per 9 is third in the majors among pitchers with at least 1500 innings. On the downside, he allowed home runs at a high rate, tied for ninth in the majors over the same period. He was not a great pitcher, but on better Twins teams early in his career he likely would have won a lot more games.

I thought Doug Mirabelli's career with the Red Sox was over, but I guess as long as Tim Wakefield pitches, Doug will be catching. May be Boston should carry ten pitchers and three catchers this season so they have a backup who can hit a little.

If you were wondering how the Jays were going to spend all the extra money they budgeted for the team, this may be the answer:

The Blue Jays apparently are serious about keeping budding superstar Vernon Wells in the fold.

Wells, who can become a free agent after next season, was offered a seven-year, $126 million extension by Toronto. No deal has been agreed to, however.

Wells, who will make $5.6 million next season, confirmed the offer in an interview with The Globe and Mail, but wouldn't confirm the amount.

That's $18 million a year to you and me. And that's a lot of money for someone whose career high in OPS is .909. He's basically played two very good seasons in his career and four okay ones. That's not a superstar to me. The Manny and A-Rod contracts look better every day, and Derek Jeter is downright cheap.

The question now is, does Wells take the offer and guarantee his security for the rest of his life, or does he try to have an even better year in 2007 and see what he can get on the open market?

Brew Crew Ball notes that with the Rangers on the verge of signing Kenny Lofton, the Brewers will most certainly move Bill Hall to centerfield.

The Korea Herald sees 2007 as Hee-Seop Choi's last chance to establish himself as a major leaguer:

The thing about being in Choi's position is that once he gets an opportunity, he must hit right away.

Managers can no longer say that he is maturing as a big-league hitter or that he just hasn't found his stroke yet.

Choi needs to understand that he isn't a wide-eyed pup anymore. In fact, if he doesn't raise some eyebrows this year, he may be calling the Korea Baseball Organization home for the rest of his career.

Producing in spring training wouldn't hurt, either.

Dontrelle Willis marries today. Congratulations, and many happy years!

WasWatching notes that Alex Rodriguez can void his contract after the 2007 season and become a free agent. He postulates that with today's inflated prices, it makes sense for Alex to treat 2007 as a walk year:

Think about this for a minute. Say Alex has an MVP type year for the Yankees in 2007. Would not that be great for him - to hit the open market, with the money being thrown around now, with two "MVP-type" seasons in the last three years under his belt? On the flip side, say that Alex has a terrible time next season in the Bronx. Would not the option to void come in handy - to get away from the Yankees and go to a team that he would choose? And, based on the money out there now, he would not have to move to the poor house to make that happen.

Maybe he'll be the first $30 million a year player.

Dallas Green wants Pat Burrell to change his lifestyle:

Not that this makes him a bad guy, but Burrell has a reputation for enjoying the Philadelphia nightlife.

"Probably well-earned," Green said. "I've been out with him a couple times in Florida. We have a secret [watering] hole every now and then.

"There's nothing wrong with that. There are tons of guys in the Hall of Fame that were like that.

"It's neat to have money, it's neat to have good looks, and it's neat to have broads all over you. Every place I've managed, I've talked to kids about the same thing. It's a hell of a life. But there comes a time in every player's life when he needs to get his act together."

Let's see:

• Excellent OBA? Check.


• Good slugging percentage? Check.


• Lots of money? Check.


• Good looking? Check. (I'll take Dallas' word on this.)


• Popular with women? Check.

Seems to me Burrell's lifestyle is just fine. But of course, that's Dallas Green. He doesn't publicly go after the mediocre players on the team. He doesn't blast Jimmy Rollins for not getting on base enough. He helps drive Rolen out of town, and now goes after another productive player. Why this man is still with the organization is beyond me.

Rays of Light notes the new faces on the Devil Rays, minor league signees invited to spring training. One of them is Hee-Seop Choi and the author is upset the Rays are spending money on him:

Now with every move I find myself crunching the dollar figures as they pertain to the product. Back in the day, simply knowing that the Devil Rays were apparently acquiring Hee-Seop Choi would disappoint me plenty just because he is not a good baseball player. I know this statistically and in that he does not excite me in any way and I will not like it when he is on the field. I liked it when it was this simple.

But now I can't help weighing his statistics against the Rays' sickeningly-famous, limited payroll. I try to rationalize the $1.95 million the organization is accused of paying for him. But this one for me, even as one of the thousands of self-appointed team accountants, is a stumper. Why is Choi, who made $725,000 in 2006 as a backup first baseman, who got hurt and was sent down to AAA for the season where he hit .207, in line for such a raise? Stumped.

On the bright side, if this rumor does hold, I think that admitting I am stumped at this point may be the first step in the liberation from my self-inflicted immersion in the speculative and masochistic world of Devil Ray finance.

While I have to agree that the amount of money paid to Choi is way too high given his history, I was surprised by Hee-Seop being described as "not a good baseball player." If you look at his career, he basically had 95 good games for the Marlins in 2004. At that point, he was 25 and entering his peak years. But in the middle of that fine season the Dodgers acquired him and he did not perform well for them in 1 1/2 seasons. My feeling is that Los Angeles didn't give him a chance, but Choi also did not make the most of his opportunities, either.

He'll be 28 going into the 2007 season, so he's passed the point where he'll have a great career. But, if he can play every day and draw 80 walks, post a .370 OBA, he improves the Rays. He's worth the chance. But if he fails to make an impact again, I'll have to agree with Jon Wolfson that Choi is not a good player.

Nomar Garicaparra is going to be the father of twins:

Soccer legend Mia Hamm her husband of three years, Los Angeles Dodger first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, are expecting twins, Time reports.

I assume one will play forward and the other shortstop. :-) Congratulations!

Stan Grossfeld of the Boston Globe catches up with Jeff Reardon. The pitcher is still fighting depression over the death of his son.

There's Reardon and Shane riding in the Twins World Series parade in Minneapolis.

"He loved to go in the clubhouse, and Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven loved him," Reardon remembers. "Carl Pohlad, the owner of the Twins, used to have a table of candy -- it was like trick or treat every night. Bert used to pick up Shane and turn him upside-down and shake him and all the candy would come out. Shane had the look to him, that smile and all.

"All of this really meant so much to me, and now to me it doesn't really mean anything at all."

Dave Perkins notes that one of the big beneficiaries of this off-season will be Vernon Wells.

A year ago, Wells' value seemed constrained by the seven-year, $119 million deal given Carlos Beltran by the Mets two years ago at age 26.

Now along comes Soriano, who is good but not in Wells' class and will be 31 on opening day. He gets an eight-year deal and who would you rather have, Soriano or Wells, who will be 28 next opening day and is a Gold Glove outfielder? It's not really close.

Matthews, who is 32, took a career average of .249 into this past season and parlayed that into five years and $50 million. Pierre, 29, is one of those waterbug-type outfielders, useful but nowhere near the five-tool man Wells is.

Every baseball contract reflects on every other contract and they all add up to one thing: Wells' price, already well beyond the stated means of the Blue Jays, keeps going out of sight. His time in Toronto is extremely limited and don't blame him. How could anyone not wish to take a kick at the financial can that's available?

I'm not sure I agree with this. Wells, for his career, owns a .336 OBA and a .492 slugging percentage. That's not exactly the best in the business. Considering he's played in a good hitter's park for his career, those number might even be worse than they look. Soriano has a lower OBA, but a higher slugging percentage. Wells' edge is in defense. That doesn't make closer to Beltran than Soriano. He should expect a payday in line with Alfonso's, but if there are a number of outfielders available next year, I suspect his salary will be at the lower end of the scale. After all, if you get to choose between Andruw Jones and Vernon Wells, I suspect Andruw will get the megabucks first.

The St. Louis Cardinals extended Jim Edmonds' contract through the 2008 season on Friday. He'll make a little more money in 2007 than if the Cardinals picked up his option, but not right away:

The deal pays Edmonds $11 million next season, including $3 million deferred without interest to be paid out from 2010-19. He is due $8 million in 2008.

Three hundred thousand dollars a year for ten years is a nice way to start one's retirement.

It seems his post-season performance made the difference between a buy-out and an extension:

Once into the postseason Edmonds contributed 10 RBIs in 16 games. He contributed two home runs in the team's seven-game win over the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.

Jocketty said Edmonds' play in October "absolutely" factored into the team's decision to offer the extension. "There were some concerns about how long his (post-concussion) condition would persist," Jocketty said. "As we saw, it's a very difficult thing to get a handle on. Fortunately, Jim was able to be a major factor during the postseason. I don't think we win it without him."

Edmonds, of course, suffered through other injuries besides the concussion. Although the Cardinals are not paying Jim superstar money, it's still a good chunk of change for a player likely to decline and likely to pick up more injuries. It's tough to change gears after a championship, but if the Cardinals owned a young player capable of playing center, this was a good opportunity to make the switch. I assume they'll be looking to do just that in 2009.

The Astros plan to announce today that Craig Biggio will go for his 3000th hit as an Astro. He's not the hitter he used to be, but he's not getting superstar money, either. He'll be a good draw for Houston as he heads for the milestone. Look for him to reach the mark in early June.

The Baseball Analysts names the most Overrated Offensive Players at each position for 2006. The fact that the list pulls in Shea Hillenbrand, Mark Grudzielanek and Garret Anderson gives it much credibility. Rich points out the mistakes some teams made with these players:

Melvin Mora was 19th in OPS among 22 qualified third basemen. He will be 35 in February. His three-year, $25 million extension that includes a no-trade clause isn't looking too swift for the Orioles at this point. Similarly, the Angels are still choking on a $48 million, four-year contract extension given to Anderson during the 2004 season that lasts through 2008. The deal also includes a team option for 2009 with a $3 million buyout. Pierre led the NL with 204 hits, but he also topped the circuit in outs with a career-high 532 (the 11th most ever and the second-highest total since 1982).

But as long as you hit for average, you'll get good press.

Carlos Delgado decides to stay with the Mets.

But because the Mets acquired Delgado during a multi-year contract, the lefty-hitting slugger had that very right. Yesterday, Mets GM Omar Minaya quashed any fears Delgado would be wearing another uniform in '07.

"I'm very pleased to say, we did talk to Carlos' agent, David Sloane, and Carlos has notified us that he is very happy to be here. He enjoys being with the New York Mets and everything about this organization. He will not exercise the right to demand a trade," Minaya said on a conference call. "He wants to be a Met for the rest of his career. Hopefully he'll not only win a World Series here, but he can get to 500 home runs. I think there's a very good chance that he has a chance to be Hall of Famer. My wish is that he will be with us for the rest of his career."

I don't think Mets fans were too worried about this.

Sammy Sosa wants another chance at 600 home runs:

"I feel good physically, and after a year of resting we are optimistic about making a decision soon about returning to baseball," the Dominican slugger told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The 37-year-old slugger did not play in 2006 after rejecting a non-guaranteed offer of $500,000 from the Washington Nationals. But the outfielder, perhaps best known for his epic home run duel with Mark McGwire in 1998, said he is motivated to return.

"I still have a lot of passion for the game and I'm in shape. I want to get to 600 home runs before saying goodbye," said Sosa.

I don't quite see why he'd be more valuable this year. A year off from baseball (as opposed to a year in rehabilitation) erodes skills. Given that Sosa's abilities were already declining, I'm not sure who'll take a flier on him.

Tom Peyer and Hart Seely, the authors of O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, take a satirical look at the trade Alex Rodriguez debate.

The Hardball Times notes some good and bad performances by top prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Note that the sample sizes are very small.

For some reason, the Yankees are reported to have picked up Gary Sheffield's option:

"This will not work, this will not work at all," Sheffield told the newspaper. "I don't want to play first base a year for them. I will not do that."

...

"I don't know what they're (Yankees) going to do," Sheffield said. "Maybe they picked it up just to trade me. If they do that, if I just (go) to a team for one year, there's going to be a problem."

Does Sheffield's contract contain a no-trade clause? If not, there's nothing he can do about a trade, since he's only been in New York three seasons. It seems to me the Yankees are either taking insurance against Giambi's wrist surgery taking longer to heal than expected or the Yankees have a trade in mind that will send Gary away or open up playing time for the veteran. With the way salaries are going, a healthy Sheffield is probably cheap at $13 million for one year.

I had assumed all along the Yankees would let Gary walk, making them younger and freeing some money for pitching.

Correction: Tried to fix the grammar.

Bleed Cubbie Blue links to a comprehensive study on immigrant ballplayers. It breaks down foreign born players by team, by country, and also provides historical information. One of the most interesting things about the study is that an increase in the number of foreign born players hasn't dampened the rise in salaries. The demand for talent is still outstripping the supply.

The New York Daily News explores the family links between the 1986 and 2006 playoffs:

The Mets spent the summer celebrating the 20th anniversary of their accomplishments in the fall of 1986. Now, thanks to Mookie Wilson's stepson, they're on the brink of elimination. Preston Wilson's RBI double in the fifth inning off Tom Glavine put the Cardinals ahead to stay on the way to a 4-2 win in Game 5 of the NLCS last night. In a scenario that might be eerily reminiscent of 1986, the Mets need to win Game 6 tonight to force a winner-take-all finale tomorrow.

They faced a similar plight the last time there was a Game 6 at Shea - Oct. 25, 1986, when they had to beat Boston to keep hope alive in the World Series. Mookie Wilson hit the grounder that turned Bill Buckner into a New England goat and let the winning run score, setting up the Mets' Game 7 victory. It is their last World Series title.

Preston Wilson wasn't reading anything into last night's big moment and wouldn't ascribe it to Wilson family fortune or fate. He preferred to simply enjoy the moment.

"If anything, it's just nice to know my father and I each had a chance to do something in the postseason," said Wilson, who was the Mets' first-round draft pick in 1992 and played eight games for them in 1998 before being traded to the Marlins in the deal that brought Mike Piazza to Shea.

Red Reporter is starting discussion threads on each of the Reds players. He starts at the beginning of the alphabet with Rich Aurilia.

The Good Phight finds a replacement for Pat Burrell.

It appears Juan Uribe was involved in a shooting, with him on the trigger side of the gun. A reader who saw the article writes:

Juan Uribe and his brother reportedly shot and injured two people in the Dominican Friday. I don't speak Spanish; Rotoworld apparently has someone who does. They say it may have been self-defense, and that the two injured men have already been released from the hospital.

If anyone can translate, I'd appreciate you leaving a comment.

Update: Here's the Google translation. It doesn't sound good for Uribe.

Alex Rodriguez is involved in an airplane mishap:

A private jet, carrying Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and six others, overran a runway at Bob Hope Airport on Friday and was brought to a halt by an arresting system. "I spoke to Alex. He's fine," agent Scott Boras said.

None of the seven people aboard were injured, federal officials said.

The Gulfstream G-II carried five passengers and two crew members, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement from Washington, D.C.

The twin-engine jet was stopped by an Engineered Materials Arresting System, a 200-foot-long stretch of pavement injected with air bubbles designed to collapse under the weight of an aircraft as large as a Boeing 737 jet traveling as fast as 50 knots, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

If I'm on the Yankees, I'm not flying for a while.

With Stephen Drew looking great at shortstop for the Diamondbacks, Arizona converted Justin Upton to a centerfielder:

Drafted as a shortstop, Upton underwent a crash course in center field and said he began to feel more comfortable at the position as the season wore on. Howell says one of Upton's main focuses this fall has been his routes on fly balls.

Upton knows he wore down during the season. He said he came in weighing 218 pounds and ended the season at 205.

"I'll be the first one to admit that around mid-August I got real tired," he said. "I just couldn't get the bat going. That's something you learn, like what kind of shape I have to come back in to play outfield. It's tough carrying that weight and having to run such long distances in the outfield."

If Upton develops as they expect, it looks like the Diamondbacks will be strong up the middle for a long time.

WasWatching wonders how many wins Alex Rodriguez added to the Yankees this season.

Therefore, according to this study, having Alex Rodriguez play 3B in New York last year helped the Yankees get 8 wins. This margin, in 2006, is the difference between winning the A.L. East by ten games versus winning the A.L. East by two games.

I think he's being a bit generous here. The Win Shares page of The Hardball Times gives Alex 12 win shares over bench. With three win shares per win, that's four wins. That makes a lot more sense. The best players in a season might add five or six wins over a bench player. Still, four wins would decide a lot of divisions, and this was a bad year by A-Rod's standards. So the WasWatching question:

It's an interesting question - for Yankees fans: What would you prefer, winning the division by 10 games, coupled with the A-Rod "stuff," or, winning the division, barely, without A-Rod?

Is still legitimate.

Drexel University and the New York Mets teamed up to make earning a college degree easier for their players:

Enter Richard Astro, the Drexel University English professor who proposed the online option as a way for players to continue an education even as they pursue their lives in baseball. With their tight schedules, players' ability to structure their own virtual classroom time was essential, Astro perceived. Murray, married and the father of a young daughter, couldn't agree more. "This is a blessing," he says from his off-season home in Prairie Village, Kan. "It's going to benefit me and my family for the future, and that's a huge, huge deal."

So far, more than 20 players have taken courses or are signed up to begin soon. About a dozen will get degrees from Drexel; others will apply the credits to schools where they've already done coursework.

Another great use of the internet.

Peter Schmuck proposes the Orioles trade for A-Rod.

The Orioles are continually criticized for being reactive instead of proactive, but this is an opportunity to change that perception and change the direction of the organization in one dynamic stroke. They need to offer the Yankees what the Yankees need most, a young pitcher who can become one of the cornerstones of the starting rotation that eventually will replace the broken-down bunch that was overmatched by the young guns from Detroit last week.

This is going to hurt, but the Orioles need to present the Yankees with a package that features either Erik Bedard or Daniel Cabrera and hope that the desire in the Yankees front office to move A-Rod is so strong - despite general manager Brian Cashman's comments yesterday to the contrary - that it would be willing to accept one top-flight young pitcher and the $16 million per year he'll get back in available payroll.

Orioles officials love to talk about their budding pitching talent, largely because there isn't much else worth talking about right now, but one of the reasons you stockpile young pitching is so that you have it to deal when the time comes to make a critical trade. The acquisition of the best all-around player in the game - even if he isn't the best all-around postseason player in the game - is reason enough to make a major player development sacrifice and hope that the real Hayden Penn will stand up next spring.

While $25 million may be too much to spend on A-Rod, his actual cost to a team, $16 million, isn't. It's nice to see someone in Baltimore realize that.

It was a meeting between Gardenhire and Morneau that turned around the slugger's season:

Dig a little deeper, and Morneau admits the significance of the conversation. The pregame meeting allowed the manager to tell his young slugger that the team had confidence in him; that he had confidence in him. That the Twins had faith he could become a great player if he started focusing more on baseball.

Because, without him, they weren't going to win anything.

``Just him pointing out to me that I can do a lot of things not a lot of people can do," said Morneau, a candidate for the American League's MVP Award. ``He was just trying to help me see that. You know, it took me a minute to kind of figure it out. I either could have took it one way, gotten mad, and said he's just mad at me or whatever. Or I could see it as him trying to help me, which he did. He tried to help me see that I can help this team win."

And that is exactly what he did. Before and including that game, Morneau had batted .236 with just 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, and a .747 OPS in 53 games. In the 104 games that followed, Morneau batted .362 with 23 home runs, 92 RBIs, and a 1.023 OPS. After the 10-9 loss that night, the Twins were 24-33 and, essentially, treading water. But they went 71-33 the rest of the way and headed straight for the playoffs.

I thought this post turned him around. :-)

Barry Bonds won the NL OBA crown despite not having enough plate appearances to qualify. What they do is recalculate your average giving you an 0 for the missing plate appearances. If you would still lead, you get the title. Tony Gwynn won a batting title this way.

Joe Mauers doubles to raise his average to .347. Jeter is 1 for 4 at .344, Cano is 2 for 3 at .343. It looks like Mauer will win the title at this point.

Robinson Cano is two for two today to raise his average to .344. Jeter is 1 for 3, still at .345, and Mauer is 0 for 1, still at .346.

Freddy Sanchez came into the day with a three point lead in the NL batting race over Miguel Cabrera. He's two for two so far, raising his average to .345. Miguel is 0 for 2, so that likely gives the title to Sanchez. What a gem in an otherwise awful season for the Pirates! He also knocked out 53 doubles, which leads Luis Gonzalez by one. A great season for someone the Pirates didn't tag as their regular third baseman.

Jeter is 1 for 2 so far today, keeping his average at .345. The Twins start in about 15 minutes. Mauer is in the lineup as the designated hitter.

Freddy Sanchez is 2 for 2 tonight, raising his league leading batting average to .346. His second time on base leads to a run as the Pirates tie the Reds 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

Curtis Granderson continues his power hitting in the month of September. His leadoff home run put the Tigers up 1-0 in their quest to hang on to the division lead. It's his 5th homer of the month and his 13th extra-base hit. He's slugging .525 in the month, .436 for the year.

Update: Granderson leads off the third with a home run as well. The Tigers add three more runs to move in front of Kansas City 5-0.

Peter Schumck suggests the Orioles sign Barry Bonds for 2007:

Bonds may need a place to play and the Orioles are one of the few franchises in baseball that would not damage its national reputation by signing the insufferable slugger. In that regard, there's no place to go but up.

Ouch.

Was Watching looks at pairs of shortstops and second basemen who hit over .340 in the same season, regardless of team. It doesn't happen that often in the majors, let alone for teammates. Jeter and Cano are close to accomplishing that feat.

Rays Index notes an article claiming the Devil Rays are going to actively pursue a trade of Carl Crawford:

If Carl Crawford is available, what would it take to pry him off the hands of the Rays? Keep in mind that C. C. is young (25), on the verge of being a perennial All-Star, and is signed to a modest contract through 2010. Carl Crawford is The Perfect Storm for an organization. And that makes him an extremely valuable commodity. MLB Trade Rumors came up with a list of several of the top pitching prospects that could be used to try and obtain Crawford. Would one of these can't miss prospects be enough to land Crawford? It is hard to imagine the Rays would part with a proven player before his prime for a prospect or prospects. If there is anything we have learned, is that there is no such thing as a can't miss prospect. Would a team be willing to part with a proven young pitcher for a left fielder? The name that comes to mind for us is Justin Verlander of the Tigers. A young proven pitcher on a team with pitching depth. Jim Leyland has clamored all season for more speed on his team.

Crawford is a fascinating player. The numbers over his career show a steady improvement. He's posted over 20 win shares for the third year in a row, a sign of a quality player. For his career, his stolen base success rate is over 80%, exactly what you want from someone who runs. He's exactly the kind of ballplayer who can add three or four wins to a team that's close to contention.

But there's a downside to Crawford as well. The first is that he's a high average, low on-base player. There's nothing wrong with that as long as he maintains the high average. If his batting average drops to .260 however, his OBA of .300 would not be helping the team. The other thing is that over his career he's been helped by his ballpark. It's added 30 points of OBA and 40 points of slugging percentage. Moving to a park like Comerica might not make Carl look all that good. (The slugging difference disappeared this season, but the OBA difference still remains.)

Overall though, I agree that Carl should bring a good pitcher to the Rays if they go in that direction, although a pitcher who is capable of 20 win shares a season is even more coveted than a left fielder of that caliber. And do you really want to trade him for prospects? I agree with Rays Index that the likelihood is that Tampa holds on to Carl.

It's my dad's 86th birthday, and I wish him many happy returns. Deadspin reports on a former Negro League player, who's about to celebrate his 111th birthday. He was playing before my dad was born! You'll never guess what's keeping him alive. I assume he's the oldest living professional player.

Jim Edmonds bats for the first time since August 26th, and hits a pinch-hit, three run homer to tie the Padres at five. Nice to see Edmonds back from his concussion, even if it is just pinch hitting duty.

Robinson Cano is 2 for 4 tonight and is now batting .242. With his fourth plate appearance tonight, Cano now qualifies for the batting title and moves into second place in the AL. Jeter is 2 for 3. He's hitting .341, Cano .342. Mauer leads them both. He's 1 for 1 tonight and is now batting .348.

Despite a gammy leg, Nomar Garciaparra hit two game winning home runs in the space of a week:

If this were July, Nomar Garciaparra probably wouldn't be playing because of a sore left quadriceps that has bothered him for more than a week.

Fortunately for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he's helping them battle for a playoff berth.

Garciaparra provided the heroics for the second time in a span of seven games, hitting a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth yesterday to giving the Dodgers a much-needed, 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I tried to get a good pitch, was able to get one. I'm just glad and thankful I was able to do this," said Garciaparra, who hit a 2-1 pitch from Luis Vizcaino over the left-centerfield fence for his 19th homer.

By winning their regular-season home finale, the Dodgers remained 1 ½ games behind the NL West-leading San Diego Padres and a half-game back of the Phillies in the wild-card race.

Just last Monday night, Garciaparra hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to give Los Angeles an 11-10 victory over San Diego after the Dodgers matched a major league record by hitting four consecutive homers in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game.

"He could barely run," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "With what he's giving us out there in his condition is just outstanding."

He's only hitting .224 in September, but 10 of his 17 hits went for extra-bases, and he's driven in 21 runs in 20 games. He's 7 for 18 with men in scoring position (.389) and seven of his ten extra-base hits came with men on base.

I just finished the Sports Ilustrated piece on Alex Rodriguez. Tom Verducci paints an accurate picture of what went on this season, and unlike ESPN's spin, I don't get the feeling there is dissension in the club house. Rather, Alex is just an eccentric personality that's tough to understand.

The thing I learned that I didn't know was that Rodriguez couldn't hit in batting practice during the slump. That it took Alex so long to correct flaws when it was obvious that something was wrong is the biggest indictment of A-Rod in the story. It was the tongue lashing from Torre that got it done.

There's an article on ESPN.com about an article that is going to appear in Sports Illustrated about Alex Rodriguez's teammates "criticizing" him during his slump. Alex says the story is true, but it really seems like the Yankees were trying to snap him out of his slump rather than making him look bad.

Alex of course, digs himself a hole.

"[Mike] Mussina doesn't get hammered at all," he told SI. "He's making a boatload of money. Giambi's making [$20.4 million], which is fine and dandy, but it seems those guys get a pass. When people write [bad things] about me, I don't know if it's [because] I'm good-looking, I'm biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team ..."

Winning in the playoffs again will make that all go away, of course.

Update: Josh found the link to the full SI piece. I'll read it after my show.

Was Watching touches on what can only be described as a good problem; what to do with Gary Sheffield. He quotes a Ken Rosenthal article:

Thus, the return of Gary Sheffield would muddle the equation for the Yankees, even if Matsui is cleared to play the outfield coming off his broken left wrist. With Bobby Abreu in right, Sheffield could get at-bats at DH and first base. But the Yankees would suffer defensively if he were in the field.

A Sheffield-Jason Giambi platoon at first is not without appeal -- Giambi is batting only .210 against left-handers. Then again, it's difficult to imagine the Yankees trusting Sheffield at first, a position he has never played, in the post-season.

Melky Cabrera in left makes the Yankees a better team defensively. But why not just platoon Sheffield and Matsui at DH? No matter what lineup you put out there, the Yankees are going to have as their worst OBA Robinson Cano's .363. So you say to Matsui and Sheffield, we don't want to risk the long term health of your wrists by your playing the field. Platooning at DH allows the other to step in when a pinch hitter is needed. And with that kind of offense, why not put a better defensive team on the field?

Do you think Frank Thomas had a message to send to the Chicago White Sox this year? Frank hit home run number 38 today, driving in three runs against his former team, and giving Oakland the lead for good. Against the White Sox this year Thomas hit .368, 7 for 19 with four home runs and nine RBI. He also drew five walks. The Oakland A's sweep the White Sox, leaving them five games back in the division and four in the wild card. If the Twins can maintain that lead over the next three series, the closing weekend against the White Sox won't matter to them.

Delmon Young knocked out two hits in four at bats today, making him 30 for 75 on the season, exactly .400. Since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, the most at bats for a player batting .400 or better is 134 by Bob Hazle in 1957. Hazel went 54 for 134, good for a .403 batting average. If Young stopped today, he would tie for third. Mike Davis also went 30 for 75 in 1982. Second on the list is Ted Williams, who hit .407 in 1953 in 91 at bats. Young could catch that spot.

Robinson Cano takes Beckett deep to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the second. Since the start of June, despite the injury, Cano owns the highest batting average in baseball. He's only five points behind Jeter in the batting title race now. The problem for Cano is plate appearances. He came into today with 443 times up, leaving him 59 short of qualifying. If he gets four in each of the 17 remaining games, that will put him over the top.

Alex Rodriguez is hot. He's also hitting very well in September (rim shot). With a homer and two singles last night, he's knocked out six home runs, sixteen hits and fourteen RBI in ten games. He's also scored thirteen runs while hitting into just one double play.

My question to Yankees fans: Would you rather see A-Rod with an MVP season then sputter in the playoffs, or A-Rod peak in September and October?

We didn't get a perfect game today, but Will Li writes me that Gary Matthews hit a natural cycle. He singled in the first, doubled in the second, tripled in the fourth and homered in the sixth. He even walked in the eighth for good measure! The Rangers lead the Tigers 11-3 in the bottom of the eighth, with Matthews scoring or driving in five of those.

Ortiz backed off his comments from the other day.

``What is this [expletive]?" he said. ``That's not me, bro. That's not what I'm about. This makes me look stupid."

He'd heard about the uproar his comments caused in New York, where the back page of the tabloid New York Post featured a headline that read, ``Papi Disses Derek."

Ortiz shook his head.

``I try to be cool with everybody," he said. ``All the media. I don't want to be like Manny."

Manny of course, is oblivious (and in this case, correct):

Oddly enough, Manny Ramírez, who has spent the balance of this season looking through reporters, weighed in on this controversy, though in typically inscrutable fashion.

Standing near a group of reporters, Ramírez, unprompted, made eye contact with one and said, ``I'm gonna be the MVP, but I've got to play."

The quotes from the other day did seem out of character for David. However, Jeter gets it right:

Those comments were run by Jeter here Monday night, and the Yankees' shortstop responded by saying, ``I'm not thinking about the MVP. No one's focus here is individual awards. We've still got something to play for this season."

Knife. Ribs. Twist.

With Soriano on the verge of a 40 home run, 40 stolen base season (he did not steal a base last night), Mark Zuckerman and Frank Robinson extol Alfonso's MVP credentials:

There is the 40-40 club, and that's exclusive enough as it is. Only three players in major league history have hit 40 home runs and stolen 40 bases in a single season.

Alfonso Soriano, though, has his sights on even loftier numbers. Yes, he was only one stolen base shy of 40 as the Washington Nationals prepared to play the Arizona Diamondbacks last night. But he's also on the verge of 100 RBI, 40 doubles, 20 outfield assists and perhaps even 50 homers.

That, according to manager Frank Robinson, deserves consideration both for National League MVP this season and as one of the greatest offensive years in baseball history.

"It should be," Robinson said. "It would have to be because the numbers say it would be. If he gets his 100 RBI and 20-plus assists and 40 doubles, that would be a terrific offensive line."

Somehow he's turned into Magic Johnson. Twenty assists is phenonenal, but last I looked that was a defensive statistic. Still, according to win shares, his defense doesn't come close to Carlos Beltran's.

Tony Jackson looks ahead to the Dodgers first base situation next year. He recognizes that James Loney might be the most cost-effective solution, but:

And therein lies the issue with Loney. Corner infielders are supposed to hit for power. And despite the fact he began his third callup of the season by homering to the opposite field in his first at-bat against Colorado's Manny Corpas on Sept. 2, Loney hasn't shown enough of it.

Yet.

I remember hearing the same things about Don Mattingly. If he hits anything like he did at Las Vegas this year (he won the PCL batting title), it's worth taking a shot with him to see if the power develops.

ArmChairGM notes that Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano may make history with their batting averages this season.

Scott Spiezio hit two home runs last night to bring his total for the year to eleven. Three came in the first week of September, account for 3/4 of his hits this month. Scott played one outstanding year in his career, helping the 2002 Angels to a world championship. But otherwise he's been a low OBA, low power third baseman. But in limited time in the NL this season, he's found his power stroke. He's slugging .482 which would be a career high for season in which he's had at least 100 at bats. It looks like it might just be smaller ballparks. Seven of his eleven home runs have come at Chase Field, GAB and Minute Maid.

Wow. Adrian Beltre was dropped to eighth in the Mariners lineup last night, and he's back there this afternoon. He hit well in August, but he's off to a terrible start in September. This deal continues to be an embarrassment for Seattle. I wonder if they'll try to trade Beltre?

Jason McAdams passes along this fascinating article on how Ichiro and Johjima became close teammates. Ichrio didn't think it was going to happen:

"I only had a bad impression of him," Ichiro says, laughing heartily as he explains what he now considers a long-standing misperception. "When we played against each other in Japan, as an opponent, I found him brash and cocky. Honestly, I was upset when I heard the Mariners had signed him. I thought, 'What?' I didn't think we could coexist here."

In fact, they've become very close and now hold deep respect for each other.

One thing that can help put the Giants over the top in the wild card race is the re-emergence of Bonds as a feared hitter. Barry is 2 for 3 tonight with a walk and a double. It's his fifth multi-hit game in his last eight starts. He's 13 for 24 with five extra-base hits.

Matt Morris also picked a good game to pitch well again. A win by Atlanta would tie the two teams in the wild card race, but Bonds and Morris have the Giants up 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh.

Update: Matt Morris' good start doesn't last. He gets chased in the seventh getting charged with four more runs. Correia, Kline and Chulk faced four batters with only one out, loading the bases. Stanton comes on to strike out LaRoche to end the inning.

Delmon Young is certainly making his case for staying in the majors. He's 3 for 4 today, making him seven for ten in three games with the Devil Rays, He picked up his second double this afternoon, and also has a homer for a 1.200 slugging percentage. The Devil Rays trail Chicago, however, as the rest of the team is five for twenty three.

Update: Dioner Navarro just tied the game at three with his fifth homer of the season, the third since joining the Devil Rays.

Update: Extra innings in Chicago, and Young will lead off the tenth.

Update: Young singles. He's 8 for 11 in his major league career.

Update: Young follows up the hit with the first stolen base of his major league career.

Update: McCarthy loads the bases with one out and an intentional walk follow by an unintentional one. Cantu gets the chance to be the hero.

Update: Cantu can do as he lines a single to left, driving in two runs. The Devil Rays take a 5-3 lead and are still threatening in the tenth.

Update: The White Sox get out of the inning with no more damage. Anderson, batting 9th,is scheduled to lead off in the bottom of the tenth.

Update: McClung gets the White Sox in order in the ninth, wisely leaving Dye on deck.

It's a good day for the Twins, as they gain on both Chicago and Detroit. They're now 1/2 game out of the wild card and five games out of first place.

Earlier in the year I questioned the long-term viability of Justin Morneau and Jose Reyes, and both went on tears. The other day, I wondered what was wrong with David Wright. In the three games since that column, he's 6 for 12 with a triple, grand slam and 10 RBI.

Maybe teams should start paying me to note poor performance by young players. :-)

With a .379 OBA and a .530 slugging percentage, should Grady Sizemore continue to lead off? He leads the AL in extra-base hits. It seems if he's going to hit for that kind of power, he might do better lower in the order.

On the other hand, the Indians lineup is strong enough that they can use his OBA at the top of the order. What do you think? Soriano seems miscast as a leadoff hitter to me due to his power, but until this year, Soriano's OBA wasn't that good.

Freddy Sanchez is another bright spot in the Pittsburgh lineup. With his three hits so far tonight he's raised his NL leading batting average to .350. How can a team have a batter who gets on base like Sanchez and a power hitter like Bay and still be 15th in the league in runs per game?

David Wright certainly cooled off after the All-Star break. As far as Wright and Randolph are concerned, however, there's nothing wrong.

"I'm confident that I can go out and get the job done," said Wright, who was in his usual No. 5 spot in Sunday's lineup. "I'm going to get it turned around soon. You have to just relax and let the game come to you."

Although manager Willie Randolph has been very supportive of his struggling third baseman, that's a mantra he's been trying to preach to Wright for awhile, with varying degrees of success. Randolph has indicated that he believes there's nothing mechanically wrong with Wright's swing. The manager feels that Wright just isn't swinging at enough good pitches.

"He wants to do so much," Randolph said. "Sometimes you get overanxious."

Randolph also believes people forget that Wright is only 23 years old.

"Everyone always wants to anoint someone as great," Randolph said, adding that Wright isn't great yet, but "is a real good young player. What he's going through is natural. He's a young player and he's trying to make adjustments. He's going to go through ups and downs. If I was concerned [about the slump], I'd say it."

Randolph is right here. It's a small sample size. On top of that, Wright is still selective, drawing 17 walks in 137 at bats. If he's still like this at the end of September, however, it might be time to worry.

Jon Heyman notes the double standard in treating Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield statements:

Let's get this straight: Alex Rodriguez gets ripped like Dean Martin at closing time for casually mentioning that he has played hurt this season -- and those close to A-Rod say he weathered a nagging groin injury and food poisoning in Detroit -- and yet his long-sidelined teammate Gary Sheffield gets a pass for publicly pledging he won't play through pain?

A-Rod's history shows he almost never takes a day off, while Sheffield has missed about three years with injuries.

I've wondered from time to time if A-Rod was hurt. It's the most logical explanation for the trouble fixing his mechanical problems. He's just unable to execute due to pain. It sounds very similar to what happened to Carlos Beltran last year. Still, it's a pretty good season for someone playing hurt.

Alex isn't in the lineup tonight vs. Seattle. Maybe with the 6 1/2 game lead the Yankees feel they can give him some time off to heal.

Sean Casey's strength as a hitter was his ability to get on base. His weakness was that his position, first base, required more power than he had to offer. But in his few games with Detroit, he's turned that around. He's two for three tonight with a double. He's sporting a lowly .308 OBA, but he's picked up six extra-base hits for a .435 slugging percentage. Still not great for a first baseman, but he's used that power to drive in 16 runs in 20 games. With three RBI tonight, he's helped the Tigers to a 7-1 lead over the White Sox in the sixth.

Derek Jeter predicted the Yankees final run total in the middle of game 2.

Freddy is one for two so far this afternoon as the Pirates lead the Brewers 1-0 in the fifth inning. That hit keeps his batting average at .345, the best in the National League. It's strange to look at the NL leader board and see the names behind Sanchez; 2-5 are among the best players of their generation, while Sanchez is a 28-year-old in his second full season of work.

The one thing that stands out when I look at the Hardball Times stat line for Sanchez is his improvement in hitting line drives. He's up to 28 percent from 23 percent in 2005. More hard hit balls, more balls falling for hits. And, it appears, more doubles as he leads the league in that category as well. His major league numbers are pretty much in line with his minor league numbers. Why did Boston and then Pittsburgh keep him in the minors so long? His lack of walks? A .380 OBA is still good, no matter how you get there.

Matt Diaz tied an NL record last night with 10 hits in his last 10 at bats. I've always felt this record was a little strange, since you can get a sac fly or execute a sacrifice bunt without the streak stopping. But still, it's an impressive feat.

Correction: The article makes it sound like Diaz went four-for-four last night, but he went four for five. The streak is over.

Kevin Baxter writes on the great season and streak by Miguel Cabrera:

His two hits Sunday gave Cabrera multiple hits in seven consecutive games and 49 multihit games this season, most in the National League.

He's batting .556 in his past seven games, raising his season average to .340, second-best in the NL.

And his four RBI on Sunday gave him 82 for the season, moving him into the top 10 in the league and leaving him well ahead of pace for his third consecutive 100-RBI season.

And while the RBI don't seem too outstanding, he's done well with the opportunities given him. He's hitting very well with runners in scoring position, helping him to rank high in RBI percentage.

Jorge Posada continues to slump:

Posada said he has reviewed his swing on video and with others, but has found no clues. No one could identify anything mechanically amiss in his swing.

"I'm just going out there and trying to see the ball and react to it," he said. "I'm not trying to do too much. I'm trying to minimize the amount I'm thinking out there."

Let me suggest that Posada is simply tired. His OBA tends to fall off in August, and much more in September. The best treatment might be letting Fasano catch two or three games in a row.

Sam Mellinger details the adjustments Mark Teahen made to his swing in his stint at AAA:

Teahen's strength had always been on the outer half of the plate. Big-league pitchers knew this, so they stayed inside. Teahen now admits this got in his head. He thought too much about the inside pitch, stopped laying off it, and then started missing the outside pitch, too.

Omaha hitting instructor Terry Bradshaw made a video of Teahen's good at-bats from last year. What better way to teach a stubborn student than to let him learn from himself? The mechanical changes were subtle. They shortened Teahen's swing, kept his hands back, and made a minor adjustment with his hips that allowed him to hit inside pitches better.

Once he did that, the Royals had no choice but to call him back up. He was 28 for 56 with a 1.107 slugging percentage and .606 on-base percentage in his last 17 games in Omaha.

"I want you to know it's nothing that I really did, it's what Mark did," Bradshaw says.

Teahen's adjustment now gives the Royals depth at third base, something they should be able to exploit to their advantage.

Nick Markakis went two for three in a losing cause for the Orioles this afternoon. The rookie is having a fine season and keeps getting better. Since the start of June, he has more hits than games played (60 in 53 games) and an on-base average well over .400. Maybe it's time for the Orioles to move him out of the ninth slot.

Carl Crawford picked up his 12th triple of the season and the 61st of his career. Since he joined the Devil Rays in 2002, Crawford is way in front of everyone else in the triples category. He also has more triples than homers, something I thought was unusual, but there are a number of them among the leaders on the list.

With the signing of David Wright, The Sports Dude wonders what Joe Mauer is worth?

Baseball players, models, adultery? Metsblog.com has the story.

Update: Sorry, Deadspin did post on this. I was skimming for the story and the Utah Jazz title threw me. I thought it would be a post about, you know, the Utah Jazz.

Brew Crew Ball wants someone to dig up Corey Hart.

There are five men at the Mets game dressed as a construction worker, an Indian, a cop, a cowboy and a soldier. They're holding a sign that proclaims they are The Milledge People. Their player just came through as Lastings singled with the bases loaded to drive in the Mets third run of the game. After Maine strikes out, Reyes hits a grand slam to make the score 7-0 New York. It's the second slam of Jose's career.

Jason Bartlett picked up five hits today to help the Twins to an 11-5 win over the Kansas City Royals. That's Bartlett's third multi-hit game in a row and the fifth in his last seven games. He's now batting .377 with a .443 OBA. Since Bartlett was recalled on June 14th, the Twins have the best record in the majors, 36-11, 2 1/2 games better than the Tigers.

Barry Bonds hit his fifteenth home run of the season, but argued a strike call in the ninth and got tossed:

The Giants' frustrating season reached a boiling point Friday night after Barry Bonds was ejected during an at-bat in the ninth inning of a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park.

Bonds, who had hit career home run No. 723 earlier in the game, got into a verbal exchange with home plate umpire Ron Kulpa after a 2-1 pitch from Rockies closer Brian Fuentes was called a strike. Bonds argued briefly before Kulpa took his mask off, walked in front of home plate and began jawing at Bonds. When the exchange escalated, Bonds was ejected.

Things quickly turned ugly as fans began hurling debris onto the field. The game was halted for 11 minutes until the mess was cleaned up, during which Rockies manager Clint Hurdle had pulled his team off the field.

"There were two unprofessional people out there at that moment," Bonds said. "He was very unprofessional and so was I. What happens on the field stays on the field, and that's all I have to say about it."

I thought San Francisco patrons were classier than that.

Royals Authority takes an indepth look at Mark Teahen's transformation.

Bronx Banter finds Sal Fasano talking about catching in the scorching heat.

Jason Beck sends this link that shows David Ortiz really does come through almost every time!

John Sickels wonders if there is hope of Eric Duncan. While his view is positive, let me add a caveat. I saw Duncan play last week in New Britain. He's already been moved from third to first defensively. From his play at first base, it's clear why. He played the position poorly. Now, I'm not one for wanting a lot of defense at first base, but you at least need to be competent at the position. I remember one play in particular. It was a slow roller down the first base line. It was going foul. He picked it up anyway, but the runner was blocking the throw to first. The second baseman didn't set up in foul territory to take the throw, but Duncan threw the ball anyway. It ended up in rightfield. Maybe he's just learning the position, but he has a lot to learn.

Hector Luna makes an immediate contribution to the Indians, doubling and scoring a run in the second. Shoppach doubles in Peralta and Luna to give the Tribe a 3-2 lead in the top of the second.

Alfonso Soriano is playing for Washington today and is 0 for 2 so far.

Major League Baseball saw two players go five for five today (so far). Tomas Perez and A.J. Pierzynski each belted out five hits without making an out. The Day by Day Database goes back to 1974, and this is the 24th time that two players in the same day batted 1.000 in a game with at least five hits. It happened twice last year, but this is the first time in 2006. Pierzynski drove in four runs to help the White Sox to a 13-11 victory. With the Yankees losing, Chicago is back in first place in the Wild Card race.

Astros rookie Luke Scott hit for the cycle last night.

The 28-year-old rookie hit for the cycle and drove in five runs, but Luis Gonzalez doubled in the 11th inning off Andy Pettitte and scored on Johnny Estrada's sacrifice fly to lift the Diamondbacks to an 8-7 victory. Scott became the first Astros rookie to complete the cycle, a feat that included a three-run homer. He was the sixth Astros player to do it and the first since Craig Biggio in 2002.

"It's a pretty awesome thing, now that I think about it," Scott said. "I enjoyed it, but I would've really enjoyed it more if we had won."

It figures that the night the Astros get some offense, their pitching takes a break.

Shin-Soo Choo makes his Cleveland debut (against his former team, no less) and hits his first major league homer for the only run in the game. Andy Marte is batting ninth and playing third, and is 0-3 so far.

If both Choo's get traded to Boston, then Choo Freeman can marry Shin-Soo Choo and be Choo Choo!

Carlos Lee rejected the Brewers offer of $48 million for four years. While that sounds like a generous offer, consider this list. Lee is younger than Johnny Damon, and producing more wins. With Damon at $52 million for four years, I suspect Carlos will be looking for something around $60 million for that time span.

Of course, it's not clear that he's really worth that kind of money. He had career years in 2004 and 2006, but most years he's an outfielder with a low OBA and some power who plays every day. Looking at his career, the Brewers offer of $48 million seems very fair.

Update: That didn't take long. Lee was traded to the Texas Rangers.

Update: Left field was the weakest outfield position for the Rangers. I guess the team is comfortable with DeRosa in right. Still Mench and Cordero seem like a lot to give up for Lee. Cordero, despite a high ERA this year still has great strikeout and walk numbers. Mench is a good hitter and younger than Lee. On top of that, the Brewer get two more players. Not a bad deal at all for Melvin.

It appears the Rangers are trying to win now. Nothing wrong with that. They're #4 on the list of longest time without a World Championship, and never even got to the World Series.

Update: I missed Nelson Cruz in the first story I read. The Rangers getting Cruz certainly evens out the trade somewhat. However, Cruz is old for a rookie, seasonal age 25, and he just turned 26 on July 1. Despite playing in professional baseball since 1998, he didn't play 100 games in a season until 2004, and missed all of 2003 with an injury. He certainly may turn out to be a good player, but he's coming up at his peak, so the number of great years out of him is likely to be small.

Austin Kearns went three for four today to raise his on-base average with Washington to .417. He's not hitting for much power at the moment, but if he's going to get on like that, maybe Robinson should move him ahead of the heart of the order. Switching Kearns and Lopez might lead to more runs for the Nationals.

Washington takes the game from San Francisco 6-5.

Aramis Ramirez hits a home run off Tom Glavine in the top of the first inning at Shea to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. If the Cubs are looking to sell off and rebuild, now appears to be the time to trade Ramirez. With seven home runs in six games, I doubt his price will get much higher. Could they get some prospects from San Diego?

Nevin follows with a homer of his own. The Cubs lead the Mets 2-0 in the middle of the first.

One of my favorite baseball writers, Joe Posnanski, delivers a wonderful portrait of how Dee Brown went from prospect to bust.

This is not a bad time to take stock. Dee Brown is 28 years old. He was once one of the top prospects in baseball. He's been released five times. He plays Class AA baseball at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. There are a few hundred people in the stands, and many of them are demonstrative in the late innings of "Beers 4A Buck Night." The Wichita Wrangler mascot stands in foul ground and seems too tired to lead cheers. Dee Brown looks even more tired. He digs in.

Think about 1999. Was it that long ago? Yes. A lifetime ago. "Last time I had any fun playing this game," Dee Brown says. He was 21. He hit .331 in the minor leagues. He had 25 home runs, 30 steals and 107 runs. He played in the first Futures Game. Baseball America ranked him the No. 11 prospect in baseball -- the three previous seasons the 11th prospects were Matt Clement, Todd Helton and Paul Konerko. All three are All-Stars. All three are multi-millionaires.

A couple of guys in the upper deck scream for a rally.

"Why are we shouting?" one yells.

"I don't know," the other one yells back.

Dee Brown hits a ball to left-center. When he connects he thinks the ball has a chance to drop for a hit. The ball is caught by the center fielder.

It's a story of ballplayer mistakes, poor management, personal tragedy and injuries. I encourage you to read the whole story.

Barry Bonds knee wasn't hurt that badly, as he's in the game tonight and singled so far. The Giants lead 3-1 in the top of the fourth. A win puts them in first place in the NL West.

Alfonso Soriano knocked out a double and an RBI triple in today's game against the Cubs so far. That bring him to 23 for 61 in the month of July, a .377 batting average. Fourteen of those 23 hits are for extra-bases. He started well, bottomed in May and June, and is blasting the ball again. He's 12 for 27 since the All-Star break with two doubles, two triples and three homers, including his first two at bats today. He's hitting at just the right time for Jim Bowden to make a trade.

Mo Vaughn is giving back to the community in a substantial way:

The hulking first baseman, who retired from baseball because of a wrecked knee, is fixing up run-down low-income housing as his second career.

A hero for the Red Sox in Boston, the southpaw slugger decided to start his post baseball life here, to make amends for his Big Apple struggles.

"I owed it to people to rectify things," Vaughn told the Daily News.

Just two years after launching his company Omni New York with mergers and acquisitions lawyer Eugene Schneur, Vaughn's on his sixth renovation project - a pair of apartment buildings at 1971 and 1975 Grand Ave. in Morris Heights in the Bronx.

The story doesn't really go into how Mo's business model works. They're not throwing out tenants to collect higher rents, nor do they appear to be flipping the buildings (at least it's not clear from the article). I take it they're building up equity; the repaired building is likely worth more than the dilapidated structure they purchased + repairs. I also suspect they're getting low cost loans. But more power to them. I wish some had come up with an idea like this in my home town of Bridgeport.

Miguel Cairo drove in the first two Yankees runs tonight. He's a horrible offensive player coming into tonight's game with a .291 OBA and a .324 slugging percentage. However, he's getting timely hits. With the single this evening, he's now 13 for 38 with men in scoring position, a .342 batting average. He hits nothing with the bases empty, but he gets the bat on the ball with ducks on the pond, and good things are happening. The Yankees lead 3-1 in the top of the fourth.

Getting Paid to Watch notes David Wright did a promotional sport for a faith healer.

But there is a chance Wright and the Mets were hoodwinked into doing the spot for which I'm doubtful Wright was payed. Its highly unlikely the people who filmed the spot went through Jat [sic] Horwitz, the shrewed and highly protective publicist. When the Mets return to Shea, we'll hear more about this. If this was something that Wright didn't realize he was doing, it will be pulled from being shown.

I don't quite see why there should be any controversy involved in this at all. Wright is free to believe anything he wants. And people are free to think negatively or positively about him because of it. His play on the field is going to have a lot more to do with those feelings, however.

There's quite the doubles race in the NL, with four players coming into today tied with 29 two-baggers. Two of them went head-to-head tonight as Nick Johnson and Freddy Sanchez faced off in the Washingon-Pittsburgh duel. Both stroked a two base hit to remain tied with 30 as the Pirates won 7-4. Matt Holliday failed to deliver in the Rockies 3-1 loss to the Reds, and Rolen is unlikely to bat again the Dodgers/Cardinals game.

Mark Teahen picked up two extra-base hits for the Kansas City Royals tonight, a homer and a triple. He scored two and drove in two. But dueces were wild for the third baseman tonight as he made two errors in the fifth inning, allowing three unearned runs to score. That was the difference in the game as the Tigers keep winning, taking a 6-4 victory.

Correction: Teahen hit a homer, not a double.

Was Watching finds a link between Alex Rodriguez and Roger Maris.

Sabernomics introduces the Francoeur Meter, measuring Jeff Francoeur's progress in chasing Horace Clarke for most outs made in a season. I find this particularly interesting since Horace Clarke was one of the first players I watched in baseball. In 1969, Phil Rizzuto made a big deal about Horace getting 20 stolen bases (he stole 33 that year) and had the best OBA of his career, .339. Still bad for a leadoff hitter. In 1970, the year in question, he once again batted lead off, but only posted a .286 OBA. Despite that, the Yankees had their best year since 1964.

It was later I came to realize that Clarke was an awful leadoff hitter. It turns out that whoever played second for Ralph Houk led off, regardless of the hitter's ability. Whenever I see a middle infielder, weak on offense hitting at the top of the order I think of Houk and Horace and know someone is screwing up.

The fact that Francoeur may catch him from the middle of the order is quite impressive.

Chris Cron experiences Joe Crede's generosity:

"I'm a golfer and I knew from the shape of the package that it was a sleeve of Callaway golf balls," Cron said. "So I set it aside on my desk while I went about my work."

As Cron began sorting paychecks for distribution to his team, his curiosity got the best of him. What had Crede, the Chicago White Sox's star third baseman, sent him and why?

So he opened the package to find a walnut case with the Sox's world championship logo embossed on the top above Crede's name.

Inside the case? Not a single solitary golf ball.

Instead, there was a sparkling, Tourneau watch, with 10 diamonds on each side of a black face featuring another Chicago World Series logo in silver.

On the inside of the watch was an inscription: "Thanks, Crony -- Joe."

Ever seen a 42-year-old man weep?

There's a picture with the article. It's a stunning watch.

Jose Guillen just flied out with the bases loaded to leave the Nationals trailing 7-5 after six innings. With a one for four today, Guillen's OBA is a miniscule .269. With men in scoring position this year, he'd been especially poor, batting just .196 coming into today. He's 0 for 3 today to lower that to .161.

Update: A sports writer tells me that flied out is correct, flew out is incorrect. The latter implies the batter had wings. So noted!

I just saw Joe Mauer get his first hit of the night on an amazing swing. On a three two count with men on second and third and two out, Duckworth threw a ball that looked like it was going to be in the strike zone. Mauer committed to it, but the ball dipped. Joe adjusted his swing, and wound up golfing the ball for a base hit. The slow motion replay showed his great concentration, keeping his head on the ball. He drove in both runners to tie the game at three.

Mauer is 1 for 3 tonight. He's batting .391.

Albert Pujols collected two hits so far tonight, a double and his 28th home run. That gives him nine hits in his last 13 at bats. But you can see how poorly the Cardinals are playing behind him as he's only scored three runs, two on his own homers. Despite his performance tonight, the Cardinals are losing to the Braves 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth.

Joe Mauer gets the day off. Redmond is catching and Shannon Stewart is the designated hitter.

Alfonso Soriano is not in the lineup for the Nationals this afternoon. I assume Robinson is giving him a day off after this tremendous slump.

Joe Mauer went 2 for 5 last night to maintain his .392 batting average. The media is paying attention. Kevin Kernan at the New York Post speaks with Tony Gwynn, Bob Feller, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and even quotes Baseball Musings! Tony Gwynn talks about his conversations with Ted Williams:

Gwynn became friends with Williams and the two would talk hitting for hours. So what were Williams' innermost thoughts on that magical .406 season?

"He told me, 'Tony, I didn't think hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal. If I had known it was going to be this big a deal, I would have done it more often.'

"We both laughed," Gwynn said before adding, "Now it' s a huge deal."

Even if the Twins don't gain another game on the Tigers or the White Sox, it's going to be a fun summer in Minnesota. The last member of the Twins to win the batting title was Kirby Puckett in 1989. The Twins own eleven batting titles in 45 seasons playing in Minnesota, winning 10 between 1964 and 1978 (three by Oliva, seven by Carew). That's pretty good company for Joe Mauer.

Thanks to Kevin for the mention!

Mark Teahen spent some time in the minors in May. Since his recall he's been hitting like the Royals hoped when they traded Carlos Beltran to acquire the youngster. Since his return, he's posted a .352 OBA and a .463 slugging percentage. He continued that stroke tonight, going 1 for 2 with a double and two RBI as the Royals are off to a 6-0 lead on the Cardinals in the third inning.

Update: The Cardinals come back to send the game into extra innings. Teahen hits the game winner in the top of the 11th, his sixth of the year to give the Royals an 8-7 win.

Sidney Ponson is reverting to form. His ERA is up over 5, having given up 14 earned runs in 11 interleague innings.

Mike Napoli hit two home runs this afternoon as the Angels defeated the Dodgers 9-2. It's his second two-homer game of his 42 game career. Napoli raises his slugging percentage to .629. His .652 slugging percentage as a catcher leads all at that position with at least 100 plate appearances.

Lyle Overbay found a very good home in the stadium formerly known as Skydome. With his two home runs tonight, Overbay now has eleven home runs at home, three on the road. He's slugging .577 at home; that for a career .458 slugger. His road numbers are pretty close to his career averages.

I remember something similar happening to Devon White. He didn't seem like much of a hitter when he played for the Angels, but got a lot better with the Blue Jays. His road number didn't change. He just went from a park that was poor for him to a park that was great for his abilities. Overbay is seeing the same effect with his power hitting.

Rays Index notes that the Devil Rays first pick in the June draft already received a promotion.

He is being moved to the high-A Visalia Oaks, in the process, bypassing the low-A Southwest Michigan Devil Rays (The Devil Rays tend to send hiting prospects to the hitter-friendly California League and pitching prospects to SW Michigan). At Hudson Valley, Longoria batted .424 (14-33) with 4 home runs and 11 RBI in only 8 games. Is Longoria on the fast track to the major leagues?

Longoria is 20 years old; baseball history is full of 20-year-olds who reached the majors quickly and became long term stars. He'll rise to a level where he can learn something new, and if that's the major leagues, so much better for Rays fans.

Ron Musselman pens a story about Marcus Thames and his disabled mother. It's a great story about how families pull together during adversity.

Omar Vizquel drove in the go-ahead run for the Giants this afternoon as they defeat the Texas Rangers 2-1 in San Francisco. Vizquel is having his best year offensively since 2000. That's the last time his OBA was in the high .300s. With his 2 for 4 today, his OBA stands at .388. He's also equaled his totals from last year in triples and home runs. At 39, it's nice to see this great shortstop finishing his career on a strong note.

It took Kenji Johjima a couple of months, but in June figured out how to hit for power in the United States. He smacked two home runs last night and drove in five as the Mariners took Arizona 11-7. Johjima has eight doubles and five homers in the month. That's more extra-base hits than he had in April and May combined. All five homers came during his eight-game hitting streak. He's 16 for 32 during that stretch with a 1.094 slugging percentage. He's helped Seattle to become the hottest team in the AL West. The Mariners are back to .500 after winning three in a row and eight of their last ten. They trail Oakland by just three games.

Remember when the Angels let Bengie Molina go to make room for their young catcher Jeff Mathis? Jeff lasted all of 12 games before returning to AAA. Luckily for the Angels, that boy wasn't their last hope. Mike Napoli burst on the scene and is now the biggest catching sensation in LA since Mike Piazza.

Fans were begging, "Na-po-lee, Na-po-lee, Na-po-lee." But, then, there has been a lot of pleading at Angel Stadium this season -- mostly from Angels pitchers who crave run support.

This time Mike Napoli, the Angels' fireplug of a catcher, answered the call.

He drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth, and scored the eventualy game winner as the Angels scored five that inning to defeat Colorado 5-4. In 105 at bats, Napoli has shown he can hit for average (.295 BA), take a walk (24 so far) and hit for power (.581 slugging percentage). It's always good to have another plan.

I complain about Derek Jeter's defense a lot, but on the 32nd anniversary of his birth, I'd like to extol his virtues as a hitter. Jeter debuted on 5/29/1995, a month short of his 21st birthday. In that time, no one has more hits than Derek Jeter. (Interestingly, four of the top seven currently play for the Yankees.) He doesn't lead the majors in any average categories, but his BA, OBA and slugging percentages are all very good, especially for a shortstop. Look at his stat line, and there's not a weakness there. He gets on base. He has excellent doubles and triples power, and can still pop a home run. He's a high percentage base stealer. He can lay down a sacrifice bunt.

And he's consistently good. His worst year was probably 1997, and he still hit .291 with a .370 OBA, but with no power. In 2004 he posted a .352 OBA but still managed 44 doubles and 23 homers. There are strong feelings on both sides of aisle about Jeter, but he's truly an exceptional offensive shortstop and we should appreciate watching baseball in an era when someone as good as Derek isn't even the best hitter at his position.

In general, I like players who want to get in the game. What I don't like are the ones who act disgruntled when they've done nothing to show the deserve to play. Jay Payton is pulling this again. He hasn't been a good hitter since he left Colorado, but he gets upset when he doesn't start. That's why the Red Sox got rid of him. Jay ought to think about improving his play before he gripes.

With all the power on the Chicago White Sox, it's Tadahito Iguchi who brings the south siders back from the brink of defeat. After Roy Oswalt leaves with a 9-2 lead Iguchi hits a three-run homer off Springer in the eight to close the gap to 9-5, then slams Lidge in the 9th to tie the game. They're in the 11th now, and Astros fans are starting to think they'll never beat this team.

Signing Johnny Damon this off season looked like a good move for the Yankees today as the centerfielder drove in both runs in a 2-1 victory over the Marlins. There were a lot of comments on this blog after the Crisp trade that the moves would favor the Red Sox long term. That may turn out to be true, but it's not this year:

Through 6/24

Centerfielders, 2006	Red Sox	Yankees
Batting Average	.267	.296
On-base Average	.315	.365
Slugging Average	.368	.465

This is with Damon playing hurt. Crisp suffered a bad hand injury, and I would guess he's still recovering. But so far this is a slam dunk win for the Yankees. They're paying a lot more money for their centerfield production, but this is a case they're getting what they paid for.

Jose Reyes is 2 for 2 today with a leadoff home run against the Blue Jays. That raises his June batting average to .422 after hitting .250 in both April and May. His OBA and slugging percentage are equally impressive. He's now knocked out 17 extra-base hits in June, after collecting 20 in April and May.

So what's changed? This Metsblog.com entry from June 15th gives the best explanation.

"I'm learning. I talked a lot with Rickey[Henderson] in spring training. I look for my pitch now. With two strikes, I used to swing at pitches in the dirt. Now if I'm looking for a fastball, I'm going to wait for a fastball."...

...sure, it's that, but it's also the way he is allowing the ball to come to him...he is not lunging at the ball as much, and though he still rotates at the ball too much, he is doing so a lot later and, as such, is driving the ball more, especially the other way...more than anything, this just means he is seeing the ball well and is confident in what he's doing, which allows him to be a better two-strike hitter...unconfident hitters overreact and confident hitters stay back...

I'm not convinced yet. We've had a much longer track record of Reyes hitting like he did in April and May. I'd like to see a few more months of a .350 OBA before I'm willing to say he's turned his career around. But if Rickey Henderson really accomplished this, someone should hire him as a full time coach.

Orlando Hudson homered in the second inning to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead over the Angels. Since the current team slump started on June 5th, Orlando's been the best hitter on the team. And that's fascinating, because before the slump he was easily the worst hitter on the team. Maybe the key for the Diamondbacks to get back to winning is the have Hudson go on an extended slump! :-)

Jose Reyes just singled in the bottom of the 8th to complete the cycle. He homered leading off the game for the Mets, then doubled, tripled before getting the single to complete the feat. It's the 9th cycle in Mets history according to the broadcast. Reyes' four for five raises his batting average to .283 and his OBA to .347. That's still low for a leadoff hitter, but it's moving in the right direction.

Update: Unfortunately for the Mets, Billy Wagner can't hold the 5-4 lead. With two out in the ninth he walks two and gives up two singles to give the Reds two runs and a 6-5 lead. The Mets are coming up in the bottom of the ninth.

Correction: Changed 9th triple to 9th cycle.
Update: Coffey gets Wright to ground into a double play to end the game. The Reds win in dramatic fashion 6-5. It's Wagner's fourth blown save of the season.

In the article on Adrian Beltre linked in this post, there was a suggestion that seeing Manny Mota again might help the former Dodger:

If nothing else, pitcher and former teammate Odalis Perez says Beltre could benefit from reuniting with Dodgers coach Manny Mota.

"Since Adrian came to this organization, Manuel Mota has been like a father to him," Perez says. "When he went through difficult times, Manuel was the one who got him going again."

Mota, a Dodgers fixture for 37 years, believes leaving such a familiar environment might have prompted the sensitive Beltre to put extra pressure on himself.

"I might talk to him and try to enhance his confidence level, remind him of the things he did to become such a good hitter in late 2003 and 2004," Mota says.

"More than anything, encourage him, tell him to relax."

If he talked to Mota before the game, it worked. Adrian is two for two with two runs scored and two RBI. His two hits are a double and a home run. The Mariners lead the Dodgers 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

Justin Morneau hits a solo home run in the top of the 10th inning to give the Twins a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros. Ten days ago I wrote:

The Twins version of the M&M boys never developed. Joe Mauer put up a three for five to raise his batting average to .384, but Morneau's batting and on-base averages are right where they were last year, low. While his power rebounded a bit, he's not hitting like a first baseman, and it's time for the Twins to find another answer at the position.

Morneau had homered twice the previous night. Including that game, he's now hitting .439 over that stretch with four doubles, six homers and 19 RBI in 10 games. Is there anyone else Twins fans would like me to criticize? :-) Minnesota fans stretch their winning streak to 8 games and 10 of the last 11.

After an 0-1 tonight, Neifi Perez's OBA stands at .220. That's his on-base average. That's 122 at bats with a .220 OBA. That's over 110 points lower than the league average. There are pitchers with better OBA's than that. Can it really be true that there is no second baseman in the Cubs minor league system that is capable of a better OBA? How long does Neifi have to be this bad before the Cubs do something.

The team can't score. It seems replacing Neifi with almost anyone would make the offense better.

USA Today details Adrian Beltre's fall as a high-priced free agent. The interesting thing is no one can put a finger on what's wrong with Beltre. They keep saying he needs to relax. Maybe he should take a shot of whiskey before the game (or a beta blocker, for a more high tech solution).

Bavasi comes in for criticism as well:

General manager Bill Bavasi is taking heat in Seattle for the club's moves, which might explain why he speaks in clipped sentences when answering not the $64,000 question but the $64 million one: Why can't Beltre hit?

Bavasi says it's unrealistic to expect Beltre to duplicate his 2004 season, even though Beltre, at 27, is at the start of what is typically a player's prime years.

Bavasi says the more reason-able expectation would be production between those outstanding numbers and his average previous season.

Asked why Beltre hasn't come around yet, Bavasi responds, "He will. ... He has ability. He's a young guy that has upside."

(Twenty-seven is actually the peak of a player's ability, not the start of his prime years.) Bill certainly hopes so. His job may be gone if Beltre continues to struggle.

DOJ's SportingBlog notes that Edgar Renteria admitted yesterday that the Boston fans got to him in 2005.

Andy Marte is heating up with the weather:

The Herd's hottest hitter belted another home run Sunday in a 6-5 loss to the Indianapolis Indians before 10,122 in Dunn Tire Park.

It's the fourth straight game Marte has gone deep - one shy of the all-time franchise record set by Bisons legend Ollie Carnegie in 1938 and equaled by modern-era stars Carlos Garcia (1992) and Bill Selby (1998).

Marte didn't have a home run in his first 117 at-bats this season but Sunday's blast was his 10th in the last 132 times to the plate. He has homered in seven of the last nine games and hit safely in 19 of his last 22, raising his average 33 points to .265.

Marte's season is the opposite of Aaron Boone's. Marte got on base well in April and is hitting for power in June. Boone had a great May but his April and June leave a lot to be desired. Maybe the Indians can set up a month by month platoon!

Elijah Dukes becomes the latest Tampa Bay minor leaguer to run into trouble this year:

Elijah Dukes, the troubled outfielder who played with the Biscuits last season, has been indefinitely suspended by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Dukes was with the Class AAA Durham Bulls when he was suspended Saturday.

The league slapped Delmon Young with a 50-game suspension earlier this year for throwing a bat at an umpire. B.J. Upton was arrested the other day for drunk driving. It's as if the Rays draft players no one else wants because of their personalities. I suppose you sign them cheaper that way. With new management in place, maybe that will stop.

Michael Young picks up the third five-hit game of his career and the second of the season. He's the first to record two five-hit games in 2006. With the three singles, double and homer, Young drives in three to help Texas to a 10-7 win over Arizona.

The Norwalk Advocate lists all the sons of major league players active today. I didn't realize Robinson Cano's dad played in the majors.

Alex Rodriguez's slump reached a new low tonight. He's struck out in his last two at bats, first with runners at 2nd and 3rd (one out) and the Yankees trailing by two. A minute ago, in the bottom of the eighth, he struck out with the bases loaded and two out. Of course, Cano followed the first strikeout with one of his own, and Giambi preceded the second with a pop out with the bases juiced. He's not the only one failing tonight as the Yankees scored just five runs on 13 hits and four walks, but he's looking the worst doing it. The game is tied at five in the bottom of the 8th.

Bronx Banter links to a fawning piece on Alfonso Soriano in the New York Times. Before I get into my complaints about that article, let me admit I'm too tough on Alfonso. I don't think he's a bad guy (except, of course, he lied about his age). I do think he's a good player, even a very good player in his best years. But I strongly disagree with this:

"He reminds me of Albert Pujols with the way he goes about his game," said Mitchell Page, the batting coach for the Nationals and the former batting coach for Pujols's St. Louis Cardinals. "He wants to be great, like Pujols. He doesn't want to be an average ballplayer."

I don't think Albert strikes out on pitches in the dirt too often. Albert waits for a pitch he can actually hit. I think Stanton pegs him perfectly:

Reliever Mike Stanton, who, like Johnson, is a former Yankees teammate of Soriano's, said that the only difference in Soriano's game from past seasons was that his confidence was greater.

"He's still streaky," Stanton said. "You can still get him out with good pitches. But if he's swinging the bat well, you might as well walk him."

And that confidence is waning:

There is much to adore. Though Soriano is 4 for his last 27 and has not homered in six games, he is batting .294 with 23 homers, 47 runs batted in and 15 steals. He is on pace for 56 homers and 36 stolen bases.

Soriano went 0 for 5 today as the Rockies won 8-1. His 4 for 32 (.125) with 10 strikeouts lowered his batting average to .289, his OBA to .350 and his slugging percentage to .585. Still good numbers, but he's quickly regressing to his mean.

Is he worth a trade? Sure. Is worth a top prospect? At age 30, he's not likely to get better. If some team is going to give up the farm for Alfonso, they better be sure they have a chance to win this year.

Chris Duncan takes over for Pujols at first base and has a Pujols like day. He's three for four through seven innings with a single, double and triple. He's now six for fifteen in his four starts at first.

Update: With a 6-5 lead and the a man on first with none out, La Russa pinch hits for Duncan with Miles so Miles can bunt. No cycle for Chris this afternoon. Miles bunts too hard and the lead runner is thrown out at second. Good move, Tony.

When they love you in New York, you can do no wrong.

Orlando Cabrera continues his career year with a 3 for 3 through four innings tonight. At age 31, his OBA and slugging percentages are 50 points above his career averages. This is a player that had one year where his averages were okay for a shortstop (2003). Otherwise, he's been poor to mediocre. He's the second best hitter on the Angels this season.

LAnaheim is up 4-0 in the fifth, and Kansas City just earned their first hit off Magic Santana. McPherson is 2 for 2 with 2 RBI, and he's starting to hit to his potential.

It's nice to see a player figure out the game. Jose Bautista moved from pillar to post in 2004, spending time with four teams, finally settling with the Pirates. He only played in 11 games in 2005, but at age 25 he's getting a chance and playing well. His average is still low; the difference is he's drawing walks and hitting for power. His two for five included a double and a home run today, including the game winning grand slam that gave the Pirates a 7-5 victory over the Giants. His batting average is down at .235, but his OBA + Slugging is .885. He's a productive player despite the lack of hits.

Dan Johnson picked a good time to break out of his slump. He hit two home runs today, his second in the eighth providing the winning margin against the Yankees (6-5) as Oakland sweeps the series. Johnson is 10 for 24 in the month of June, a .417 batting average. Four of those ten hits went for homers. Given his horrible April and May, he'll need to keep that level up for a while if he's going to put up decent numbers for the season.

Orlando Cabrera drew a walk today, the 38th straight game he's reached safely. That's an Angels record. They indicated today that the all time record is 84 by none other than Ted Williams. What's surprising to me is that this seems really low for the team record. On base streaks are easier to maintain that hit streaks, since OBA are higher than batting averages, meaning the chance to reaching base in a game is higher than the chance of getting a hit in a game. I would have thought that Brian Downing or Bobby Grich would have gone over 40 at some point.

David Ortiz to Manny Ramirez after Melky Cabrera robbed a home run:

"That," David Ortiz told Ramírez after the game, "is why when I hit my [homer], I hit it 500 feet."

Chris Shelton started the season hot, hitting 10 homers in April. But he didn't hit 11 until May13th and he just reached a dozen tonight. It reminds me of the season Nettles set an April record with 11 and didn't hit another one until June. Despite the home run outage, Shelton still has a slugging percentage well over .500. The Tigers lead the White Sox 3-1 in the fifth.

Brian Cashman has a great quote in the New York Daily News on Melky Cabrera and his type of player:

"There was all this talk after that, did we hurt the kid?" Cashman said. "You know, by running him out there the way we did. I never looked at it that way. I always looked at it that this kid had put himself in the position at 20 to play center field for the Yankees. His chance just came six months too early, or whatever it was. But I have this theory that the good ones always find a way. The ones who aren't good enough, they always find excuses. I wasn't ready. The manager doesn't like me. The hitting coach didn't help me. The good ones, though, they find a way."

The fact that the Yankees thought they could call him up at age 20 said a lot about his skills. He's going to cause a good problem for the Yankees next year, too many outfielders.

Prince Fielder legged out the first triple of his career tonight. His father, Cecil, picked up seven in his 13 year career, once going three straight seasons without one.

MetsBlog.com rounds up the reaction to Lastings Milledge high-fiving fans. Not surprisingly most don't think it's a big deal. I'm always amazed when I read a negative reaction to something like that. If you don't want someone celebrating in front of you, do your job! To the Giants credit, only Kline seemed to be upset by this, and he even stepped back from his original remarks. For a historical prespective on how ugly these things can get, check out Getting Paid to Watch.

Miguel Cabrera isn't getting much attention, but now with Albert Pujols on the disable list the MVP race is also wide open. Cabrera went 3 for 5 with a run scored today to put his averages at .361/.450/.614. At twenty-three years old, he's raised his batting, on-base and slugging averages every year. Right now the Marlins are a last place team, but with the 4-3 win today they've won 9 of their last 12. He's been a big part of that as he's driven in and score 12 runs in the streak while hitting .500.

I notice Derek Jeter is back in the Yankees lineup tonight, but Alex Rodriguez is missing. Does anyone know if he's hurt, or is he just getting a day off?

Frank Thomas went deep tonight to give the Oakland Athletics an early 1-0 lead. That's three homers in the last four games for Frank. Over the previous 10 contests, Frank was batting .406 with a .537 OBA and an .812 slugging percentage. That's more like the old (young?) Thomas. He's giving the team a needed offensive boost. After not playing much the previous two seasons, maybe Frank just needed some time to get back in the swing of things.

Was Watching wants to know the story behind Melky Cabrera's first name:

I cannot find anything out there on it. Is "Melky" short for something? Was he named after something or someone?

Is there another person on the earth with the first name "Melky"?

I can answer the second question. There is a singing group named Melky Sedeck. The female member of the brother/sister duo is named Blandinna Melky Jean.

The brother of the Dodgers Jose Cruz, Jr. and son of Houston coach Jose Cruz, Sr. went missing. (Hat tip Dodger Thoughts) The story doesn't give much hope for a happy outcome.

Getting Paid to Watch notes a couple of parallels between Lastings Milledge and Darryl Strawberry. Let hope for Lastings sake only the good ones continue.

It was a good day for the AL ERA leaders. Jose Contreras returned to form tonight, allowing just one run over seven innings, lowering his ERA to 1.83. Unfortunately, despite a blown save by B.J. Ryan the White Sox lost to the Blue Jays.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, Justin Verlander matched Contreras' night with a one run, seven inning outing, lowering his ERA 2.55 and moving past Mark Buehrle for second place in the AL. His outing was good enough for Detroit to take a 3-1 victory and extend their lead over the White Sox to 3 1/2 games.

The Phillies are facing a very good problem. Shane Victorino is playing lights out while Aaron Roward is recovering from his broken nose. He's creating about two more runs per 27 outs than Aaron did, and his defense in center is very good. When Rowand comes back, does Victorino become trade bait for a pitcher? Or do you keep him around, spelling Abreu and Burrell defensively and filling in when someone's injured? He reached base twice in five tries today, keeping his OBA at .400. At age 26, he's at the peak of his abilities. He seems he would be valuable to someone in a starting role.

Beyond the Boxscore does an in depth job of explaining why Casey Blake won't finish where he's starting. Marc sees a lot of small sample size luck issues involved in the fast start. I tend to agree with this, especially when I read what the manager is saying:

There is no easy way to explain the transformation of a player who was barely a blip on the big-league radar screen into someone who ranks near the top of the list in hitting.

"It's a long year," said manager Eric Wedge, speaking to reporters who might have a tendency to get carried away.

"Casey has settled in up here," Wedge added. "He's done everything we've asked him to do, and he's really come into his own as an offensive player."

If Wedge said something like, "The hitting coach made an adjustment and it's working really well for Casey," I'd put more credence into the transformation being real. Blake is old, his major league career isn't that impressive and he's only had 158 at bats.

Two big howevers, however. One is that Blakes current batting is highly unlikely given his career performance. The probability of a .263 hitter getting at least 56 hits in 158 at bats is .004. The 95% confidence range is 31 to 52 hits. That's enough to make me wonder if there isn't a real improvement here. He's hitting a lot more line drives, and Blake himself provides an explanation. From the above story:

"In another year, if I was scuffling and had a game like (Tuesday) night," Blake began, "I'm not saying I would have been in panic mode, but I would be kind of unsure of myself.

"Yet I came in here today and still had confidence in my approach. Just confidence is a good explanation (of his hot start). It's the difference between having success early and digging yourself a hole."

And from an earlier one:

Blake says he made a conscious effort to relax and forget about his troubles during the offseason.

I'm not a competent athlete. It took me many years to realize why, however. I'm not a relaxed person. If I'm playing a sport that requires swinging an object, I grip too hard and bad results ensue. Could it be that Blake finally learned to relax, and that relaxation led to better mechanics and more line drives? If that's the case, and he continues to be able to let his bad nights go, we might see a very impressive season.

Melky Cabrera is playing decent baseball. He's shown no power yet, but his OBA after thirteen games this season is very good, .413. So I have to ask, were the Yankees too impatient with the youngster? Before it looked like the Yankees could sign Damon, I thought a Crosby bridge to Cabrera would work fine. It turns out Melky was ready to make that bridge very short. The Yankees could have saved a lot of money and made themselves younger.

It's going to work out anyway. Melky got a little more AAA seasoning, and he's not under pressure since he's coming in as an injury replacement, not as the next Bernie Williams. Eventually, you'll see an outfield of Cabrera, Damon and Sheffield, or Sheffield will move to DH and Bernie will be out. It seems reports of the demise of the Yankees offense were a bit premature. And a poor farm system will have produced two pretty decent hitters in consecutive years.

At least no one injured his hand.

The current longest hit streak in baseball belongs to Ichiro Suzuki. Over the last sixteen games Ichiro is hitting .426 with a .473 OBA. Like most of the Mariners hitters, Ichiro started the season in a slump. Through May 4th, he was hitting just .262, seventy points below his career average. But since he's been hitting like the old Ichiro, bringing his BA to within 12 points of his norm.

Seattle's standing has improved as well. The 8-6 win over the Orioles last night brought the team's record to 10-6 during the streak. Even though the Mariners are four games under .500, they're just three out of first place. Now if they can get Beltre and Sexson to hit (Sexson did have a grand slam last night, but is hitting .189 in May).

Update: Fixed a typo.

MIchael Young went 3 for 3 with a walk tonight as the Rangers beat the Angels 3-2. Young raised his OBA to .392. If he can maintain that level for the rest of the year, he will have raised his OBA every season he's played in the majors.

All three hits were singles, however. The power he showed last year (24 home runs) disappeared, as he's only hit one homer so far in 2006. However, his doubles are up; he's hit 17 in 1/4 of a season vs. 40 all of last year.

Craig Biggio went four for five tonight with a double to help the Astros to 10-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. He also drew a walk and scored four of the five times he reached base. Biggio's OBA came down after the 2001 season, as did his power. I thought he might be done after 2003. But his power came back the last two years, and with tonight's game his OBA is up to .362. Maybe he's not the greatest leadoff man anymore, but he's certainly putting up good numbers for a middle infielder. He's 154 hits away from 3000 right now. With 46 in 43 games played, he has an outside chance of reaching the milestone this year.

Alex S. Gonzalez, the former shortstop for the Blue Jays and Cubs retired after Saturday's game. What's amazing to me is that he had a 13 year career from which to retire. Gonzalez was an impressively bad offensive player. The only good year he had average-wise was a season in which he only played 38 games. His highest OBA in a full season was .323 last year. For his career, he hit .243 with a .302 OBA and a .391 slugging percentage. That just doesn't help your team.

Why was he on a major league roster at all? My friend Jim Storer and I talked about this subject in reference to Miguel Cairo the other day. Because teams carry so many pitchers these days, they're in need of someone who is a super-utility player. You don't carry multiple back up infielders anymore, so you need a guy who can play anywhere. And since salary is locked up in the starters, you need to get a guy cheap. Hence, lousy offensive players with good gloves have a seat on major league benches.

Now, you could do better bringing up a kid from the minors, but he's probably a prospect and the team wants him playing every day. He's the one who gets called up with the star middle infielder gets hurt, so you need to have him ready to go. All that together creates opportunities for players like Gonzalez get to hang around past their usefulness.

Alfonso Soriano is having a very strange May. He homered tonight, driving in two runs and tying the game at three. But it seems all he's done in May is homer. His batting average comeing into today was just .229 in the month. He has no other extra-base hits besides his homers, and just one walk to go with 20 strikeouts. He's in the leadoff spot where his job is to get on base, and it seems that he's just swinging for the fences.

Alfonso Soriano and Brad Wilkerson both homered today to help Washington and Texas add one to the win column. At this point, who would you rather have?

2006	Soriano	Wilkerson
Batting Average	.276	.270
On-base Average	.317	.355
Slugging Average	.535	.482
OPS	.852	.837

Right now, Soriano gets the edge as he has better numbers in the tougher park. That's reflected in the win shares as Soriano has five and Wilkerson just three. But Alfonso's OBA is falling while Brad's is on the way up. We'll see how this looks in another month.

Instapundit notes this article, and the amusing headline, "Fading slugger hurting team by playing, but S.F. even worse without him."

Bonds is helping the team offensively. His OBA and slugging percentages are very good. As long as other teams are afraid of pitching to him, as long as they don't throw strikes, Barry will be an effective offensive player. How much of that effectiveness is being diminished by his slowness on the bases and in the field, I'm not sure. But my guess is that the high OBA is worth a lot. I'm guessing his OBA would need to get down to around .380 before the tradeoff really hurts the Giants. Note that Bonds is still doing fine in Win Shares despite a poor defensive number.

Mike Lowell hit his 20th double of the year in the Red Sox 37th game. I'm glad Lowell proved me wrong about his offensive decline. There was a very high probability that last year was real, but Lowell is hitting better than ever. If he hit like this last year, the Marlins would have made the playoffs.

For the last decade or so, it's looked like someone would threaten the single season doubles record. There's been any number of people who got off to a hot start, only to tail off as the season wore on. I used to have a day by day log for Earl Webb's 1931 season, the year he legged out 67 two baggers in 151 games, but I can't seem to find it.. Right now, Lowell is on a pace for 88. He's in a good park to take on the record, the same one Webb used. I doubt Mike will come close, but if sluggers can pass Ruth, Maris and McGwire, then 67 doubles shouldn't be out of the question.

Aaron Rowand earned himself revered status crashing into the wall in Philadelphia to catch a shot by Xavier Nady. He cemented that with his news conference.

''Going out and playing hard, you're not trying to be an example,'' he said. ''You're trying to play your game. If it's me and I see a guy bust down the line, and I know in the back of my mind I'm not giving everything I have, I'm going to step my game up. That rubs off. You'd be kidding yourself if you thought that it didn't.''

It has become popular to contrast his MO with that of Kenny Lofton, the Phils' semi-regular center fielder last year. Lofton didn't want to be on that wall, didn't need to be on that wall, and said so. Asked about that, Rowand steered clear. He played with Lofton in Chicago, and wasn't about to trash a former teammate.

Then the name of another ex-Philly athlete was invoked: Former Eagle Ricky Watters, of for-who, for-what fame.

''For who?'' Rowand asked. ''My teammates. For what? To win. That's what it's about.''

Geez. At this rate, this guy will never have to buy another meal in this town.

By the way, the Phillies finally installed padding on the fence.

Jeff Francoeur drew a walk tonight as Atlanta defeated the Marlins 10-2. Brian Moehler gets the distinction of not being able to fool Francoeur with pitches outside the strike zone. Maybe that's why his ERA is 9.76.

Blez notes that Jeremy Brown is now in the major leagues.

Chris Chambliss adjusted Austin Kearns hands in spring training with excellent results:

"We worked at getting his hands away from his body a little bit," said Chambliss. "He seems to be getting more and more comfortable with it."

Kearns agrees.

"I always kept my hands pretty close to my body, sometimes too close and tied myself up," he said. "I've worked with Chris on keeping them away and it works."

Seventeen of Kearns' thirty nine hits this season resulted in extra bases. He's scoring and driving in runs (22 each), the mark of a good all-around hitter.

Kevin Frandsen just took his fifth hit by pitch in his 10th major league game. It took Biggio 134 games to get plunked five times.

When does a slump become a sign of the end of a player's career? Juan Pierre went 0 for 4 in the Cubs 6-3 loss to the Padres this afternoon. That lowers his batting average to .240 and more importantly his OBA to .287. He's coming off the lowest OBA of his career, and his slide continues into 2006. He's only 28, so he should be near the top of his game. Can something be done to correct the slide?

Pierre hasn't missed a game since 2002. At six feet, 180, he's not exactly a big guy. Maybe the strain of playing every day has taken its toll on the centerfielder. He's in a huge slump, he's not helping the team offensively. Maybe it's time to give Juan a couple of days off.

Freddy Sanchez took a ball and scooted down to first place. Unfortunately, it was ball three. Sanchez gets to first and the ump send him back to derisive cheering by the Washington fans. Freddy made up for the mistake, however by getting a base hit on the next pitch, a triple that drives in two. The Nationals lead 5-3 in the fourth.

The same thing happened yesterday in the Oakland game, but Jay Payton, who was on first, ended up with a stolen base because no one on Tampa realized it was ball three either.

Chase Utley continued his hot hitting tonight. He extended his hit streak to six games, and the last five are all multi-hit affairs. Like last night, all his this were for extra bases as he stroked a double and homer against the Giants. He scored once and drove in two as Philadelphia took home a 4-1 win against San Francisco.

Vlad Guerrero continues his strange season. The Angels defeat the Tigers 7-2 as Vlad drives in three runs. He went four for four with three singles and a home run. That gives the rightfielder 37 hits on the season; 29 singles and 8 home runs. He usually has quite a few doubles in April.

Was Watching points to a poorly constructed poll that shows players think Jeter is overrated. That study screams for a Borda count.

Bill Hall continues to be a good problem for the Brewers. They're playing him everywhere, and he keeps hitting. His three for four in the Brewers 4-2 victory over the Astros raise his average to .348, his OBA to .405 and his slugging percentage to .773. Do you give him a permanent position, or do you keep spot starting him to give the others a day off?

Dan Uggla is a big part of the Marlins 5-1 lead against the Phillies tonight. He's knocked out a single, double and home run so far, scoring two and driving in two. He should get at least one more at bat to try for the triple.

Update: Uggla doesn't get the triple in his next plate apperance, but the Phillies tied the game at five, so he may get another chance.

Damon was introduced to a mixture of cheers and boos. You could hear the boos, but you could see a number of Red Sox fans standing and clapping. Damon doffed his cap to the crowd, which brought out a few more cheers. The boo-birds were more vocal, the clapper quiet. Damon flies out for the first out of the game.

Update: The Yankees go 1-2-3 in the first as Giambi just misses a home run to the triangle in center.

Update: With Damon in the center field in the bottom of the first, the fans are taunting him with, "Trader, trader!" He must have made some bad moves with stocks or options at some point.

Jim Thome strikes out on a 1-2 count in his return to Cleveland.

After getting off to a very slow start, Ichiro Suzuki is hitting again. Since April 19th, he's 20 for 46, a .435 BA. Despite all those times on base, however, he's only scored six runs, showing how weak the heart of the Mariners order remains. Even with the 4-3 win over the Orioles today, the Mariners are just 5-6 during Ichrio's hot streak.

Corey Sullivan continues to hit the long ball. He tripled for the fourth time this season, raising his season total to four. That matches his triples from last year. Sullivan now has 15 extra-base hits on the year in 24 games; he had just 23 last season in 139 games.

In addition, most of Sullivan's extra-base hits came on the road so far 2006 (13 of the 15). Imagine what his total will look like when he starts swinging like that at Coors.

Scott Downs infant daughter is ill in the hospital, and he's taken leave from the Blue Jays. It sounds serious. Let's hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Miguel Tejada's consecutive game streak is in danger as he's nursing a bad knee. It's part of a spate of injuries the Orioles suffered over the last couple of days:

Having already scratched Javy Lopez before the game due to back spasms, the Orioles lost first baseman Kevin Millar in the second inning when he was hit by a pitch on the right hand. They were forced to take out shortstop Miguel Tejada in the sixth after the star shortstop hobbled into first base on an RBI single, the left knee he injured the night before hampering him all day long.

Second baseman Brian Roberts , the player who scored on Tejada's RBI single, cutting the Mariners' lead to 7-5, also was removed after the inning as he hurt his groin stealing third base.

None of the four players are certain to be available today for the finale of the three-game series with Seattle. Tejada, who played in his 943rd straight game yesterday, the longest active streak in the league and the seventh longest all-time, said that he'd volunteer to DH, but likely won't be able to play the field. The others are considered day-to-day.

Given the daily grind of playing shortstop, I'm impressed with how many are in the top seven in consecutive games played. Ripken holds the record, and Everett Scott held the mark before Gehrig became the ironman.. Number six on the list is Joe Sewell, a shortstop from the 1920s. That's four of the top seven from a very demanding fielding position.

Jose Reyes drew his eighth walk of the season in the first inning off none other than John Smoltz and game around to score on a Wright sacrifice fly. That's eight walks in twenty two games for Jose; at that rate he'll get close to 60, more than double the 27 he drew in 2005. Maybe Rickey had an influence after all.

Derek Jeter is 2 for 2 with a walk so far tonight, raising his batting average to .400 for the month. It looks like he'll have the best April of his career. His previous high in BA was .378 (31/82) in 1999.

Jeter not only is hitting well, his OBA sits at .511 and he's slugging .667 with a dozen extra-base hits.

Sabernomics does a good job of explaining why Jeff Francoeur hit much better than he should have in 2005, and why it took so long for major league pitchers to exploit his weaknesses:

And why is it that minor league pitchers figured him out? Well, look at the incentives for the pitchers in double-A versus those in the majors. If a double-A pitcher wants to move up, he has to get outs. The best way to do that is to prepare for the guys you’re going to face, especially the best players on the team. These pitchers saw he liked to swing at everything—a friend of mine who watched him in high school said this was no secret then—and they stayed away from the zone without fearing the free pass. But for major league pitchers, Francoeur was just another rookie. Why worry about him when you’ve got to face the Jones boys? And that’s when Frenchy’s window for success opened.

Hat tip, Baseball Think Factory.

Julio Franco just singled in two runs to put the Mets up 6-4 in the top of the 8th, then steals second. He's 4 for 10 with four RBI.

Juan Encarnacion comes up in the seventh, and tries an apparent sacrifice on the first pitch. It goes foul, and the scoreboard lights up to let everyone know he's a single short of the cycle. He then swings away, and hits into a double play. With the Cardinals winning 5-3, it doesn't look good for Juan to come to the plate again.

Juan Encarnacion is trying to make up for his slow start in one night. Will Li points out that the Cardinal is 3 for 3 with a double, triple and homer. He's driven in four of the five St. Louis runs as the Cards lead the Pirates 5-3 in the seventh.

Oliver Perez upset Albert Pujols last week when Perez did a dance on the mound after getting the St. Louis slugger on a comebacker. Perez danced before after a Pujols strikeout, and Albert had enough:

"He struck me out last year and did all his dancing and I remember that," Pujols said. "That's what happened in Pittsburgh. I hit that ground ball back to him (in the first inning) and he did his little dance again and I got real upset. I went to the video room and told my guy Chad (Blair), 'I'm going to hit the next ball and I'm going to hit it a long way. But don't look at the ball. Look at where the bat is going to land.'"

When Pujols kept his promise, he provided fodder for talking heads in both cities. Pujols' wife, Deidre, informed him Monday of the ongoing debate on local sports talk.

"He got a little cocky out there, and so am I," Pujols said, adding, "If he does strike you out, you need to respect the game and not show people up. ... I respect the game so much. I'm sorry if I disrespected the game that day, but that's the way I feel."

So last night, he just hit another home run off the pitcher. I don't really care about the bat flip. I'm impressed that a batter decided to take a ball out of the park and did so. The moral of the story: don't get Albert upset! I suppose Perez is lucky Albert didn't decide to line one off Oliver's head.

Via Deadspin, Ray Liotta is pitching in the White Sox minor league system. Through 2005, Ray's only given up seven homers in 228 2/3 minor league innings.

Chris Burke doesn't play everyday for the Houston Astros, but when he does he hits. He raised his batting average to .400 with a three for four outing, knocking out three doubles. He was even 1 for 2 against lefties coming into today!

Jim Thome failed to score in a game for the first time this season this afternoon. He's scored 22 runs in 18 games this season. We like to think of run scorers as the fast, leadoff men, but six of the top ten in runs scored were known more for their power than for their speed. In fact, most had the deadly combination of a high OBA and power. The OBA means they're on base when their teammates hit. The power means they score on their own (home runs) or get themselves on base in scoring position. Thome's showing both of these attributes in excess this season.

Garret Anderson helped the Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Athletics this afternoon with his 25th game of four hits or more. His four for four day raises his average to .333. Anderson came up in 1994, and his 25 games with at least four hits ranks tied for 12th with Moises Alou and Ichiro Suzuki. Dante Bichette, with 33 such games has the most in the time frame, and among active players, the vowel-Rods are tied with 30 such game since 1994. I-Rod has 33 for his career, which leads all active players.

Robinson Cano did not draw a walk all season until today, when he took free passes twice. Last year, he walks about once every eight games, so two walks today puts him on pace with last season. He is hitting well, however, and his 1 for 2 puts him at .339 with a .361 OBA.

The Yankees drew a total of seven walks in the game. Along with their seven hits, they defeated the Orioles 6-1. Of the 24 batters to reach base in the game, only Matsui with a bases loaded double initially got past first.

Fishstripes finds the correct way to pronouce the name of the Marlins' second baseman. I ususally butcher pronunciation (one reason I prefer writing), but I actually had this one right.

Bonds is out of the Giants lineup again tonight, but Felipe Alou says he's just giving Barry an extra day of rest. It hasn't hurt the team as they've gotten off to a 5-0 lead after the top of the first. The first four batters reached base, and with one out Ray Durham hit a three-run triple.

Eddie Perez is 1 for 2 with a home run against Erik Bedard today as Perez continues to pound lefties. He's now 6 for 21 with three homers against southpaws this year.

Kevin Youkilis doubled off the centerfield wall to drive in two runs and give the Red Sox a 6-4 lead over Tampa Bay in the bottom of the eighth. Mark Loretta followed with a single for another insurance run. Both hits came with two outs.

Coming into tonight's action, Youkilis was getting on base at a .429 clip since moving into the leadoff spot for Coco Crisp. He's 2 for 4 with a walk, so that average will go up some more. I wonder if this keeps up if the Red Sox will leave Kevin at the top of the order when Crisp returns? Youkilis has a much better career OBA than Crisp.

Ryan Church hit two home runs against the Marlins today. Coincidence?

While the last decade brought us a fantastic crop of star shortstops, the Baltimore Sun notices the next wave of great players is developing at third base.

So the halos soon may have to be passed on. The potential new baseball deities, however, have taken a few steps to the right of shortstop while rising in the National League. By the end of this decade, we might be witnessing a new baseball trinity.

The Florida Marlins' Miguel Cabrera, the New York Mets' David Wright and the Washington Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman. All three play third base in the NL East.

Cabrera, who switched back to third from the outfield this year, turns 23 on Tuesday and likely will hit his 100th homer this season. Wright, 23 in December, has one full season in the majors, but he batted .306 with 27 homers and 102 RBIs.

Then there's Zimmerman, 21, who was at the University of Virginia this time last year. He isn't projected to have the same power as the other two, but scouts say he is a .300 hitter and Gold Glove winner in waiting.

Add to that a number of prospects for other teams and the hot corner may describe the bats of the fielders as well as the balls hit toward them.

Scott Broduer posts about a rock and roller persuing his baseball dreams.

Finagel A Bagel recently introduced the cocoa bagel in honor of the Red Sox. It was inspired by the new centerfielder, Coco Crisp:

The flavor, which will be offered for the next 60 to 90 days, is made with Dutch cocoa powder, liquid chocolate flavoring, chocolate chips, and a coating of crispy cereal. And it's been selling out daily at all of Finagle's 20 Boston-area locations since being introduced last week, which means each store is selling between 50 and 100 a day, according to Finagle's owner, Laura Trust.

Finagle A Bagel is my favorite bagel store in Boston. Whenever we're in Cambridge for a visit my wife and I usually stop there for breakfast. Of course, nothing compares to Kimmel's Bagel Shop here in Longmeadow.

Scott Podsednik leads off the White Sox/Tigers game with a double. It's the second hit for the left fielder in 27 at bats this season. Given that he's only struck out three times, that's real bad luck on balls in play. About 30% of balls put in play go through for a hit or an error. With 24 in play, I'd expect him to be a lot closer to six hits than one at this point. Which is good news. Unless he's swinging weakly, those balls in play will eventually find holes.

Jeffrey Maier made one of the more famous catches at Yankee Stadium, snagging Jeter's flyball in the 1996 playoffs that the umpire called a home run but was really interference. He's been playing at Wesleyan University, and in his senior year is about to set the school's hit record. And he's talking again. A couple of years ago I wanted to talk to the young man, but his coach told me he wasn't doing interviews. Now he's opening up, and hopes to get drafted. It appears some of the things said in the wake of the Jeter home run motivated him as a ballplayer:

In the days following Game 1 of the 1996 AL Championship Series, Maier was pictured on the front pages of newspapers and he appeared on morning talk shows.

His exposure was too much for some media members, particularly those in the Baltimore area. Maier can still recite the words of a column that, at the time, was particularly painful.

"Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post wrote something like, 'This is the pinnacle of this young man's life; it's all nostalgia from this point forward,' " Maier said. "I heard that and I thought, 'Wow, don't people think I'm any better than that?'

"From that point forward, I had to go out and prove I was more than just a black glove and black T-shirt and a fan-interference play at Yankee Stadium. I always used that as motivation to excel."

If he doesn't make it as a player, he'd like to be a GM. In a perfect world, however, he'll be drafted by the Yankees and someday make a catch in right field.

Austin Kerns showed a ton of promise as a twenty two year old rookie in 2002. Since then, injuries kept his offense and playing time low. He's healthy again, and he's in his prime. His three for five today helped beat the Pirates 11-9, and his fourth double and first homer raised his slugging percentage to .714. The Reds offense didn't need that much improvement coming into the season, but a great season by Austin may mean they win the high scoring games instead of losing them.

Jose Reyes drew just one walk so far, but his OBA is .400 after tonight's 9-3 win over the Marlins. It doesn't matter how you get on base, as long as you set the table. He also had a double and a homer, so maybe he's picking up some of Henderson's power, too.

They've been booing Carlos Beltran at Shea this week, as Carlos was 0 for 9 on the season. He just launched one into the left-center seats to extend the Mets lead to 8-5. After he returned to the dugout, the fans wanted a curtain call! Carlos wasn't going out. They started chanting, "Carlos Beltran, Carlos Beltran!" and Julio Franco went over and made Carlos take a bow. It was the right thing to do. Carlos doesn't want to end up like Ted Williams in Boston.

The Giants held on to defeat the Braves 6-4. Barry Bonds went 0 for 2 with two intentional walks. His batting average is at .143, and his OBA is .455. Let him prove he can still hit! He can't run well. Any ground ball with a man on first is going to be a double play.

Scott Proctor's one-month old daughter underwent heart surgery and was released from the hospital today. It looks like the prognosis is good. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Scott and his family.

Ryan Zimmerman hit 10 doubles in his 58 at bats last season, but no home runs. He fixed that tonight, knocking his first ball out of the park to tie the Mets at four. The Mets have the bases loaded with two out in the 9th.

Update: Lo Duca lines to right to end the inning. They play extra-innings in the cold tonight.

The X-Man just went deep, a solo shot to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. That gives Xaiver five straight hits to start the season.

Kenji Johjima is off to a great start as a North American major leaguer. Two games, and two home runs. His solo shot is part of a three-run second against John Lackey.

Johjima is a free swinger. He puts every fiber of muscle into his swing. At first he reminded me of Piazza, but later I saw Sheffield swing, and that's the better analogy.

Update: The Mariners end up with five hits and five runs in the second. That's a nice cushion for Pineiro.

Phil Nevin picked up five RBI so far tonight for Texas as the Rangers lead Boston 10-2 in the top of the eighth. In 29 games for the Rangers in 2005, Nevin only drove in eight runs.

Aaron Boone is off to a good start. He's 3 for 3 today and 4 for 7 on the season. You might think there's some hot prospect ready to take his place in AAA. :-)

Update: Boone just hit a solo home run to make the score 8-1 Cleveland in the 7th. Boone's now 4 for 4 with 4 RBI.

Barry Bonds grounds out to the shifted second baseman for the second out in the ninth. He did jogged to first. It looks like Barry is not going to make the effort unless it's necessary.

Bonds popped out to the third baseman in his second at bat. The San Francisco broadcast took a good shot of his legs, and you could see the outline of his knee braces. They look pretty cumbersome.

The comments are flooding in that Jimmy Rollins doubled in the 8th inning. That either extends the hitting streak to 37 games or starts a new one, depending on how you look at hitting streaks. The Phillies have also worked their way back a little. It's now 13-5 Cardinals.

David Ortiz hits his first home run of the year, a two run shot. However, since the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead at the time, we won't count that when considering him for the MVP at the end of the season. :-)

ESPN just showed a very nice replay of David Wright's swing on his home run. His head was on the ball through the swing, and the Mets have a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Glavine's at 100 pitches, so he may be done for the day.

Nady gets his third hit as Soriano starts back on the ball that's hit to shallow left.

Tony Womack and Alfonso Soriano both walk in their first plate appearances? I'll need to check the temperature in Hell. Womack comes around to score on a Dunn sacrifice fly in the first, and the Reds are still threatening with two outs.

Update: Zambrano issues his third walk of the inning, putting Hatteberg on first to load the bases.

Update: Kearns gives a 3-2 pitch a long ride, but Murton makes a leaping catch at the left field wall to end the inning. It was a few feet close of a tie game.

MetsBlog.com reports that Kris Benson's wife is divorcing him. I'll leave the rest to Deadspin.

The good news for the Orioles is that Kris can now concentrate on pitching. :-)

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Marquis Grissom retired today. I was never impressed with Marquis, and frankly am surprised he lasted in the majors this long. His defensive prowess in centerfield no doubt kept him in the league, but his batting average hid an overall inability to get on base and a lack of power. Surprisingly, he did start hitting for power late in his career. His best season came at age 36, with averages of .300/.322/.468.

He's thinking of a career as an astronaut or a crime scene investigator. :-)

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

The Red Sox took a look at Venezuelan prospect Jesus Montero yesterday, who is just 16 years old:

The player is not a secret among ballclubs expected to bid at least $1 million and possibly more for Montero, who according to Sox VP of player personnel Ben Cherington is 6 feet 3 inches, 225 pounds. Montero already has been in the camps of both New York teams, and is expected to work out for other clubs as well.

He'll be able to sign with clubs July 2.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Matt Treanor is crediting shoulder surgery with changing his swing for the better:

''[Because] I couldn't go out there and just start taking some huge hacks, I had to be more mechanical,'' Treanor said. ``Just taking some easy swings at first kind of helped me. And once I started taking live batting practice and the easy swings were producing line drives and the ball was getting some carry on it, I realized that I don't have to take a huge swing.''

A splendid defensive catcher, Treanor has been held back in the past by his bat. He played 10 full seasons in the minors, hitting just .243, before he finally got a shot in the big leagues in 2004.

Two things strike me about this:

1. It's a real small sample size, so we don't know if the change is real. Once he starts facing major league pitching in real games, who knows what's going to happen.


2. What does this say about coaching in the minors? Did someone ever say, "Matt, you're swinging too hard, ease up a bit." All spring long I've been reading stories about a coach telling a player something basic, and the player acting like he's never heard it before. How do teams go about hiring people to teach their prospects?

I hope it's a real improvement for Treanor, since he has a real love for the game. He's hit well enough that it looks like he'll be the starting catcher and Willingham gets placed in left.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Frank Thomas had a good day, playing in a real game and sandwiching a home run between two strikeouts.

Thomas won over fans with that one swing. It mattered little that he struck out again in his third, and final, at bat.

"It was great hearing Oakland fans behind me already," Thomas said. "I'm going to give them everything I've got this year. My goal is to play as much as possible. I'm not a hundred percent, but I've seen enough pitches."

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Friar Faithful is doing their best Casey Kasem impersonation and counting down the top 100 Padres of all time. They start with a long distance dedication to Akinori Otsuka. Tim Worrell and Mark Thurmond also make the tail of the list.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Rock Around the Clock reports that Corey Patterson's days with the Orioles may be numbered:

It's becoming more likely that Markakis starts in center field. And I heard again how the Orioles have grown disenchanted with Corey Patterson and would like to move him, though his contract and brief stay in the organization make it difficult.

Patterson came to the Orioles expecting to start in center field, but it looks like Markakis has moved ahead of him. Starting in left field today, Patterson couldn't run down Carlos Delgado's towering fly ball near the left field line, and it dropped in for a single.

Baltimore, where Cubs outfielders go to die.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Carlos Pena received his release from the Tigers today. Pena was a hot prospect at one time. He certainly showed power for his low batting and on-base averages. If some team is looking for a player than can finish an offensive sequence, Pena might be their man.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Great title for this article on the tragic poet of MTV.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

From Robin To Rickie takes an in depth look at the blog's inspiration.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Sports Law Blog suggests that the Soriano situation might lead to new language in contracts:

Although the Soriano story appears over, the larger issue remains: Should players be forced to forfeit their salaries if they refuse to play a position? If the answer is "yes," then players need to communicate these position preferences to their agents, so that they are negotiated in the contract. Soriano, through his agent Diego Bentz, presumably could have negotiated a position clause in his contract, but I have not read that he did so. Rick Karcher has written extensively about the failure of agents to maximize their clients' preferences, and it is a subject very relevant in this discussion.

Up until now, it's been assumed that teams dictated the position fielded by a player. And it's worked because up until now, players were willing to move rather than be benched or released. And, in general, star players don't publicly get asked to move.

But if language starts appearing in contracts saying that a player can't be moved without his permission, doesn't that tie a manager's hands? What if some aging player doesn't want to DH? Right now, you solve that problem by going to the National League, as Mike Piazza did. What if there's a game where the manager is running short of players, and the best move is to switch a player to a different position? Does the player have the right to say no at that point? Next thing you know, agents are going to be dictating what innings relievers can enter the game, a hitter's position in the batting order and how often a runner is expected to steal! Let's leave something for the manager.

(Hat tip, The Volokh Conspiracy)

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Marc Lancaster shares some interesting stats from Buster Olney's blog on Willy Mo Pena. It seems he was totally over matched by the best pitchers in the league.

Of course, it would be great to see what the overall number for these pitchers, and how much the average player went down against them. In that light, Willy might not look so bad. His batting average was pretty close to where it was all year, there was simply a great reduction in power and a lot more strikeouts.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

It continues to be the spring of AWOL players, the latest is in Cincinnati.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Yesterday post on Kaz Matsui noted that Anderson Hernandez showed more offensive talent with the Mets than he did with the Tigers. Now we know why:

Hernandez came to the Mets in January 2005 as a slick-fielding shortstop with a .258 career minor-league average, but he's taken off at the plate since arriving from the Tigers for Vance Wilson. Crediting more selectivity, he hit .326 in 273 at-bats at Double-A Binghamton, then .303 in 261 at-bats at Triple-A Norfolk, while swiping a combined 35 bases. The switch-hitting Hernandez followed those results by batting .307 in winter ball, earning rookie of the year honors in the Dominican League. He hit .455 in seven postseason games to lead Licey to the Caribbean Series.

"I swing at better pitches now," said Hernandez, who played second base for Licey, with the Angels' Erick Aybar at shortstop.

I guess the Mets don't need Soriano if they have someone who can learn to swing at better pitches.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Frank Thomas hit in a game for the first time this spring. He doubled, walked three times and struck out looking. That's sounds like a Frank Thomas day.

He didn't run out the double. That's going to be the next big step, getting Frank to the point that he can run to first when he gets a hit.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

I'm wondering why Hee Seop Choi is playing in the US. According to Korean professional rules:

Players who have 7- year experience in Korean Baseall League will be able to play foreign league.

Which leads me to belief Choi was never a professional ballplayer in Korea. I know he was signed by Leon Lee, Derrek's father. So are US clubs allowed to "raid" Korean prospects like that? Japan has a similar rule as well. Given the success of those two teams in the World Baseball Classic, are North American scouts going to start traveling in Asia, competing for talent before it's under contract in those countries? Wouldn't you rather see Ichrio and Godzilla in their early twenties than their early thirties?

The competition would be very good for Asian players overall. If they need to compete with the US for the best players, salaries are going to go up. I hope we're close to seeing the trickle of Asian players turn into a gusher.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

The Florida Marlins are trying to correct a flaw in Reggie Abercrombie's game:

''He could be an impact player if he cuts down on his strikeouts and puts the ball in play,'' said John Mallee, the Marlins' minor-league hitting coordinator.

Mallee said ''pitch recognition'' has been Abercrombie's biggest problem.

As a result, the Marlins have put in extra hours trying to correct his most glaring weakness.

''We spent every day with the breaking-ball machine, slider machine, working on pitch recognition and changing his approach, making him more selective,'' Mallee said. ``Consequently, he's hitting better and striking out less.''

The common wisdom is that plate discipline is difficult to teach. The Marlins recast this as a pattern recognition problem (pitch recognition). Maybe Abercrombie won't ever walk much, but if he gets on base via hits a lot, the walks won't matter too much.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Steve Visconti donated $50 or more to the March Pledge Drive and gets to dedicate this post:

"To Lauren Lo Bue, to whom I owe practically everything."

Nick Johnson received his security today, extending his contract through the 2009 season.

He signed a $3.2 million, one-year deal in January, avoiding arbitration. That contract stays in effect this season, followed by the extension, which will pay $5.5 million each season.

For all my criticism of Bowden, he does do the right thing every so often:

"If he doesn't have the injuries, he's in the $8-$10 million a year range," general manager Jim Bowden said. "But he's been hurt, so we hope he gets healthy, and if he's healthy he has a real good deal. And if he doesn't get healthy, we still have a good deal for what he brings to the table."

He's the second National signed to a long-term contract since January. I'm a bit surprised this is happening without a new owner in place. Or maybe the decision's been made and approval's been granted behind the scenes.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

This is just too funny. Of course, if Showtime does pick him up, we're bound to see some nudity. :-)

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Royals Authority are very happy that David DeJesus and the Royals just agreed to a five-year contract.

The Royals just signed their leadoff hitter to a deal that will pay him on average $2.7 million a year. That should tell you something right there. DeJesus wants to play in Kansas City. This isn’t a Johnny Damon or Carlos Beltran we’re talking about. Those guys were biding their time, waiting until they could get out of town. The next time I see DeJesus, I’ll probably try to give him a hug. This is the guy that can, along with Mike Sweeney, become the face of the franchise.

DeJesus will be 26 this season. The contract means that the Royals have tied up one of their best players through the peak years of his career. He’ll be 32 before he is eligible for free agency. How great is that, after an off-season when the Royals went the opposite direction, overpaying for veterans who are past their prime?

DeJesus is not a superstar, but he's a very solid player. He's a perfect complement if the Royals are able to bring up a couple of MVP type players over the next couple of years. His salary isn't outrageous, which also means his contract is tradable. A nice, forward thinking move by the organization.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

The reporters at the Kansas City Star did some digging and found that Zack Greinke's departure from camp was due to psychological problems.

Royals pitcher Zack Greinke is undergoing counseling from a sports psychologist near his home in Orlando, Fla., as part of a treatment program for longstanding emotional issues, The Star has learned from multiple sources.

Club officials declined to confirm that Greinke is undergoing such treatment, and efforts to contact Greinke and his family were unsuccessful.

Club officials did say Greinke, 22, appears to be making progress in dealing with what they still term “personal matters,” but they remain leery of predicting any timetable for his return.

“I’ve talked to him quite a bit,” manager Buddy Bell said. “He seems to be doing better, but I don’t have any expectations on when he’s coming back. He’s dealing with it as best he can. I hear a little energy in his voice.”

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

John Flaherty retired today.

The 38-year-old Flaherty was competing with Josh Bard and Ken Huckaby for the backup spot and to become knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's primary catcher. Jason Varitek is the starter.

Flaherty, who signed in December as a free agent after three seasons with the New York Yankees, did not give a reason for his decision.

Fourteen years catching is a long time. Maybe his body just told him he can't do it anymore.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Marcus Giles is back with the Braves after the premature birth of his child. The baby is doing better.

Giles said doctors at Atlanta's Northside Hospital hope Sawyur Rae, who struggled with lung problems following the birth, can go home Wednesday. Giles said the baby's progress the last two days convinced him it was time to return to the team.

"She's definitely out of the woods," Giles said. "That was my thing with coming here. I wouldn't be here until she was out of the woods."

Let's hope she continues to grow stronger.

Gookie Dawkins is on the field for the Pittsburgh Pirates today. Gookie is only 27, but hasn't played in the majors since 2003, despite having opportunities with the Cubs and Tigers.

Maybe he needs a better follow through. :-)

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

I didn't know Melvin Mora and his wife had quintuplets! We have a set in town here.

Of course, the point of this post is Richard Hidalgo. You would think that someone who had a tough time getting a contract wouldn't want to miss too much of spring training.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

The Marlins agreed to terms with Miguel Cabrera:

Florida Marlins slugger Miguel Cabrera agreed Thursday to a one-year contract that will pay him $472,000 in the majors, meaning he'll likely be one of baseball's best bargains again this season.

For the moment, I'm assuming the Marlins were not interested in offering Miguel a long term contract. That's short sighted of the team. Once Miguel goes to arbitration, he's likely to be the best player in his comparison group, meaning he'll be getting the most money. With major league salaries on the rise again, he'll do well. I wouldn't be surprised if three years of arbitration net Miguel $25 to $30 million dollars.

So why not offer him a $20 million, four-year contract? The positives of that contract are:

• The team is likely to save money in the long term.
• The team insulates itself from salary inflation.
• Cabrera gets rich even if he gets hurt.
• The fans (of whatever city) see that the team is committed to winning.
• There will be no acrimonious arbitration hearings, so maybe Miguel will stay with the team when it's time for free agency.

A deal like this can still happen this year. It's quite possible the Marlins just wanted to get him under contract. It's also possible that Cabrera is willing to risk injury to get the big arbitration bucks next year, and doesn't want to be tied to a long term deal. That's the approach Albert Belle took while the rest of the Indians were securing their future.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:39 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

The Franco Diet
Permalink

Ben Shpigel details Julio Franco's regimen for staying in the game:

If, as Franco desires, he is to play until he is 50, he will not diverge from a regimen that includes ingesting about 5,000 calories daily, lifting weights six days a week and attending weekly sessions with his chiropractor, masseuse and rolfer to align his spine and restore his balance.

A religious man, Franco obeys the Ten Commandments and three personal rules: eat hard, work harder, rest hardest.

"There are no magic pills," Franco said.

Franco is, in many ways, a walking anachronism, and he knows it. He belongs in another era, when fast food, soda and preservatives did not exist. Why else, he said, would he drink a liquid concoction made from beets, cauliflower, celery, broccoli, garlic, onions and an apple (to mask the unsavory tang)?

"It tastes nasty, but it's so good for you and 100 per cent natural," Franco said. "That's all that I care about.''

I'm sorry, if I'm going to eat 5000 calories a day, there's going to be a couple of chocolate brownies thrown in there. Still, one can't argue with the results.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:41 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Lean to the Left
Permalink

Adam LaRoche believes facing more left-handed pitchers will improve his hitting vs. right handers as well:

Ultimately, he says facing left-handers will help his overall approach at the plate.

``I think it will help me against righties, too,'' LaRoche said. ``Facing lefties and staying in there, it helps me with my mechanics.''

LaRoche said consistent at-bats against left-handers ``reinforces me going the other way'' and helps him to hit to all fields.

``I faced so many righties I got pull-happy,'' he said. ``I know when I face lefties it keeps me back to my old self going the other way. I used to never pull the ball. I'd take a pitch inside and hit it up the middle, a lot like (Marcus) Giles. That's the way I used to be and I'm really anxious to get back into that mold.''

Lenny Dykstra was a player who platooned against righties who blossomed when he was allowed to face all pitchers. Maybe Adam's on to something here.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 01, 2006

Boone Retires
Permalink

Bret Boone hung up his spikes today:

Boone said he discussed his decision with family, friends and former teammates. He missed New York's first intrasquad game Tuesday because of personal reasons, and said he woke up Wednesday morning with a decision that was "crystal clear."

"Physically, I think I can still do it. It wasn't as easy as even three or four years ago, but I had lost the edge. I couldn't look in the mirror and think that I would get that edge back," Boone said.

Boone will be remembered as completing the first three generational family in baseball history. Early in his career, he did not live up expectations, but in 2001 moved to the Seattle Mariners, pumped himself up and helped the team to a 116 win season. His fall was just as quick.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:32 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)

The Long, National Nightmare is Over
Permalink

Manny Ramirez reported to camp today.

"My main focus, like I say, is getting prepared for the season to help Boston win," Ramirez said. "I'm here. I don't live in the past, I live in the present."

Asked about offseason trade rumors and whether he's happy still being with the Red Sox, Ramirez said he had no problems with Boston.

"I especially like the attention," he said. "I know that I'm one of the top guys in this game and all the attention is on me, I got a lot of people on my shoulder, but I'm human. I like to go. I like to have fun. I like to do this and that but I got to represent Boston and the Red Sox in every way that I do outside this game."

Well, I'm sure Red Sox fans are thankful they went through an off-season of doubt when there was nothing wrong. Of course, his presence means Boston will continue to be one of the most dangerous offenses in the league, even if Manny jogs to first too often.

Manny also confirmed he won't be playing in the World Baseball Classic.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:04 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Zoning in on Patterson
Permalink

The Zoner wonders about Corey Patterson's hitting zone:

The problem is the "pitch in your zone". I've long argued that Patterson thinks he is above the methods used by good hitters spanning the years. He just refuses to believe there are pitches he can't hit. I wonder if that will be different now.

Patterson spent six seasons in the majors so far, and in four of them his OBA was under .300. He won't last much longer if that doesn't change.

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tim's Return
Permalink

It's nice to see Tim Salmon is healthy and playing again.

Veteran Tim Salmon, playing his first competitive game in a year and a half, had three singles in the intrasquad game, including one off 19-year-old right-hander Nick Adenhart, who was 6 when Salmon broke into the big leagues in 1993. "It's been a long time since I've been in a game situation," said Salmon, who sat out 2005 after undergoing shoulder and knee surgery, "but I'm encouraged."

Baseball Musings is conducting a pledge drive in March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 28, 2006

New Steroid Scandal
Permalink

It looks like Barry Bonds switched from testosterone to estrogen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Win for Winn
Permalink

Randy Winn is going to make about twice as much money over the next three seasons as he's made during his major league career:

Winn, acquired before last season's trading deadline from Seattle, batted .359 with 14 home runs after joining the Giants last season. The 31-year-old is on the U.S. roster for the World Baseball Classic.

"He's a leadoff hitter with a lot of dimensions," general manager Brian Sabean said. "We signed him longterm because of the type of player he is. A center fielder with run-producing potential is a rarity. The fans warmed up to him. There's a lot to like about Randy Winn."

The switch-hitting Winn, slated to be the team's leadoff hitter and starting center fielder this season, will get a $3 million signing bonus and salaries of $4 million in 2007, $8 million in 2008 and $8.25 million in 2009, according to agent Craig Landis.

Winn performed well above his career averages last year, especially when he was traded to San Francisco. He'll play as a 32-year-old this season. Sabean continues to throw money after older players likely to decline. Given the salary structure in baseball right now, it's not an outrageous amount of money. What bothers me is that the Giants plan is to keep buying veterans, and we saw what that did to the orange team on the east coast over the last few years.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:39 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Burroughs Future
Permalink

John Sickels wonders if there's any hope for Sean Burroughs. I tend to think of him as the next Ben Grieve, although Grieve at least had a couple of very good years.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 26, 2006

Greinke Gone
Permalink

Zack Greinke returned to his home in Florida this weekend. He has the team's permission to be away on a personal matter:

Baird and Bell declined to elaborate on the nature of Greinke’s “personal matters” beyond saying it was not a disciplinary issue matter, a legal difficulty or a physical injury that would prevent him from pitching.

“If it was a physical injury,” Baird said, “he’d be here getting treatment.”

Sources declined to characterize the situation as a “family matter,” which suggests the issue directly concerns Greinke and not a member of his family. Sources also said Greinke has not lost his desire to play baseball.

But Baird and Bell each acknowledged it could be an extended period before Greinke returns to the club.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 25, 2006

A Great Big Hand
Permalink

Tom Krasovic reports on Mike Piazza's hand strength:

When the Padres recently measured the hand strength of all their players, the team's ancient catcher showed the whippersnappers a thing or two.

Mike Piazza, using his right hand, clenched a silver metal handle to send a needle spinning clockwise.

Click.

The needle screeched to a quivering stop. Piazza had maxed out the device, a dynamometer, which measures up to 200 pounds of force.

“I can't recall anyone ever doing that here,” said Todd Hutcheson, the team's head trainer since 1997.

In the show of hands, no other Padre matched Piazza save Mike Cameron, his former Mets teammate. Cameron, a 33-year-old who, like Piazza, is new to the Padres, maxed out the device with each hand.

Piazza's always had great hand strength. Since Cameron did the same thing, I wonder if the Mets emphasized this in training?

Update: I forgot the link.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:55 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Attention to Detail
Permalink

Mark Teixeira felt he had a poor season from the right side in 2005:

Teixeira hit 43 homers in 2005, the fourth highest season total by a switch-hitter. He drove in 144 runs, the highest-ever season total for a switch-hitter.

And yet Teixeira basically did it all one-handed. Teixeira has been a switch-hitter since he was 13 and has always been more of a power threat from the right side.

The trend was reversed last year. He hit 37 homers from the left side and just six from the right. He averaged an RBI every 4.1 at-bats from the left; but just one every 5.9 at-bats from the right.

"Everything I did right-handed last year was unacceptable," Teixeira said. "It's one place I know I can improve."

Teixeira has very high standards. By his previous two seasons, he was down as a right-handed hitter. But most hitters would take a .359 OBA and a .491 slugging percentage over a full season. To Mark's credit, that's not good enough for him.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:15 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

February 24, 2006

Great Encyclopedia Entry
Permalink

Adam Greenberg hopes to make the majors again:

Adam Greenberg is resigned to the fact he always will be known as the player who got hit in the head in his first major-league at-bat.

Now Greenberg is trying to ensure it won't be his only major-league at-bat.

Greenberg will probably be more famous if he never makes the majors again. His encyclopedia line will the the subject of trivia contests for years, plus he'll retire with a 1.000 OBA!

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 23, 2006

A-Rod, Bad-A
Permalink

Larry Dobrow at CBSSportsLine.com picks up on the idea that Alex Rodriguez should get surly:

When Ozzie Guillen rips you for taking 17 weeks to decide between playing for the U.S., the Dominican Republic or Istanbul in the World Baseball Classic, the correct response is not, "The apology has been accepted. We've moved on from there," as you said upon reporting to training camp this week. The proper response is "tell that little pissant I'll stomp him until his kidneys liquefy."

Larry's conclusion:

I want to like you. We all do. But I want to do so without shame, which is where your behavioral modification comes in. So get stupid, surly and bent, not necessarily in that order. Remember -- we don't need another superperforming robot in the Bronx. We've already got Rivera.

One more with this opinion and they'll think it's an organization. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:48 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Metaphorically Speaking
Permalink

Just wanted to point out this excellent mixed metaphor by Barry Bonds:

Before arriving in spring training, Bonds caused a stir in the past week when he gave two conflicting interviews — telling USA Today he was ready to retire at the end of the season and MLB.com that he felt good enough to play 10 more years. He did little to clear that up Wednesday.

"I've played a long time," he said. "I've had a lot of fun doing it. We'll tackle that bridge when it happens. I'll sit back and talk with my family and take a long, long vacation and see how I feel. I could do that and get in the wintertime and say, 'That's enough,' and somewhere in January wake up and say, 'That's not enough.'"

Being a bus and a football player, Jerome Bettis is the only person I can think of who might be able to tackle a bridge. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Teaching Each Other
Permalink

Seattle sports two new catchers and both men are learning from each other:

Rivera knows what it's like to live and work in a foreign country without command of the language. He knows what it's like to try to adapt his game to a new country.

He's passing on what he knows.

It's hardly a one-way street. Johjima more than holds up his end of the bargain. He is, after all, a Gold Glove-winning catcher with a reputation for defensive artistry. He's been a hitter with power who can also hit for average. He's been an All-Star.

Clearly, he has something to contribute to the relationship.

"He's already helped me so much, especially on defense," Rivera said. "We talk a lot about the game. His English is pretty good and getting better. We do all our work at the same time.

"I know these pitchers a little from the last couple of years. I can help him with that, but he picks things up very quickly."

Sounds like the start of a beautiful friendship.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 22, 2006

Tejada Contrite
Permalink

Miguel Tejada made up for his off-season problems yesterday:

Later, in a 15-minute news conference with about a dozen reporters, Tejada said that he will no longer use vitamin B-12, reiterated that he didn't want to play anywhere else but Baltimore and that he was embarrassed by the attention his trade demand drew.

"I feel really embarrassed because I am not that kind of man," said Tejada, who was subdued while answering questions. "I'm not that kind of person to make some trouble. Everything is over. Everything is straight. What I think right now is think forward and what you can do better this year to be in a better position."

Dan Connolly, however, notes the inconsistencies in the story. It's really tough to know what to believe on this one.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:23 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

February 21, 2006

Could be Out in the Cold
Permalink

I wish I had the same first name as this ballplayer, so when anybody called me I could say, "Gesundheit!"

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

No Show
Permalink

Why is it news that a player doesn't report before the required date?

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 20, 2006

Bonds' Brain
Permalink

I love this description of the inside of Barry's head:

So you see, Bonds is playing mind games with himself. Imagine, if you will, two super villains sitting in giant leather chairs and stroking their pet cats, each plotting against the other to destroy the world. You just kind of throw up your arms and wait to see which freaked-out maniac prevails.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Inside Milton Bradley
Permalink

Joe Roderick in the Contra Costa Times pens a balanced piece on the complicated man that is Milton Bradley.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Boodle and Doodle
Permalink

Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times looks at the Cleveland minor league system to see who's the future Coco Crisp.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 19, 2006

Platoon in Detroit?
Permalink

Bilfer likes the way the Nook Logan/Curtis Granderson battle is shaping up.

Maybe I’ve got my happy glasses on, but here’s what I take from that quote:

• Recognition for what Logan can do, which is run and wreak havoc
• While the job isn’t necessarily Granderson’s, it sounds more like Logan will have to play his way in.
• There are other options than one or the other. There could be days when both play
• Recognition that Logan can’t hit as a lefty

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2006

Praise for McCann
Permalink

Bobby Cox is very positive about Brian McCann:

Cox said once he saw McCann's presence behind the plate and his ability to work with veteran John Smoltz, he knew he had a keeper.

"He was our starter the day he stepped in and did the job for us," Cox said. "He also did it under pressure. He had a good year and he's always been a hitter, and our pitchers love throwing to him, even Smoltz. He's ready to go."

Does Smoltz have a history of conflict with catchers? I knew Maddux didn't like to throw to Javy Lopez, but I never remember complaints from the rest of the staff.

As for McCann being a hitter, he showed good power for a catch in the minors and an acceptable OBA. If he catches as well as Cox indicates, his bat will be a bonus.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 17, 2006

Darren Off the Deep End
Permalink

I was thrown out of N.Y.U. my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final, you know. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

--Alvy Singer in Annie Hall

Darren Daulton is babbling nonsense.

A popular Phillies player during his baseball career, and the leader of the 1993 World Series team, has become a metaphysics advocate, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Daulton reportedly has described metaphysics as anything beyond sight, smell, touch, sound and taste — living in different dimensions, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences and numerology.

As the Daily News says, it has nothing to do with the world around us.

Daulton sees the future as well:

But there's more ... Daulton is convinced that the day of reckoning is coming. Specifically, on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11:11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, he told the Daily News that the chosen will simply vanish from this plane of existence.

This Annie Hall quote applies, too:

Duane: Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist,I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving... on the road at night... I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The... flames rising out of the flowing gasoline.

Alvy Singer: Right. Well, I have to - I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.

Still, it's better than threatening to kill someone.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:13 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Synchronized Reporting
Permalink

Kenji Johjima is attracting quite a crowd, and handling it well, by all reports. I would have loved to see this:

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said he likes Johjima's take-charge approach. He also appreciates the way Johjima handles the media horde, which on Thursday numbered about 40, most of them Japanese reporters and photographers.

It's not as enormous as the Ichiro Suzuki swarm of five years ago. Maybe half the size. Substantial, nonetheless. And the camera-toting part of it is paparazzi-like in its attention to every movement, every gesture.

Johjima didn't seem bothered.

He bent down to reach into his bag, and the lensmen bent with him, creating a human dome that peeled back like a flower as he straightened up again.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Ankiel Available?
Permalink

Rick Ankiel is attempting to make the Cardinals as an outfielder. The intriguing thing is, St. Louis has to put him on waviers if he doesn't make the team:

With Jim Edmonds and former Marlin Juan Encarnacion set in center and right field and a trio of candidates for the left-field job, Ankiel's chances of making the big-league team are remote. Landing in Class AAA Memphis would be progress.

But even that will be tricky. Having exhausted his options, Ankiel must pass through waivers if he does not make the Cardinals. Ankiel could have been claimed for $50,000 had the Cardinals not placed him on the 40-man roster. They now have until March 11 to sign him for the season.

I suspect a number of teams will be watching Rick this spring. There someone out there who could use an outfielder with a great arm in his prime.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:09 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Phil's Feelings
Permalink

Phil Nevin sees the errors of his ways:

Nevin didn't help himself by dragging a poor attitude along after the trade. He occasionally cracked wise about being regularly left out of the lineup over the final six weeks of the season.

"I almost acted like I was the first guy to ever get traded," Nevin said. "I took it a little personally. As much as I wanted to say it didn't affect me, it did, and I was completely wrong. I've still got a heck of an opportunity here, and I want to put myself in position to take advantage of it."

According to the story, he traded some fat for muscle this off-season. He's playing in a ballpark where that will make it easier for his power to come back. At age 35, however, it's an up-hill battle.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:09 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

February 16, 2006

Good Communications
Permalink

There's been speculation about Kenji Johjima's ability to handle the Seattle pitching staff due to a language barrier. That's looking like it won't be the case:

To make sure Johjima understood what Moyer was saying, Ken Barron, one of the club's two Japanese-speaking translators, joined the conversation.

Apparently Johjima's heavy immersion in English (and Spanish) is paying off, because at the end of the session, Barron patted the top of Johjima's helmet and said, ''Bueno, bueno.''

He doesn't need to speak the language perfectly, just convey the correct baseball ideas. It sounds like he'll do just fine.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Another Retirement
Permalink

Brew Crew Ball points out that Brooks Kieschnick retired yesterday. Brooks was the rare two way player, who could be used equally well as a pitcher or hitter. He joins Sammy Sosa in the fellowship of ex-players on the same day.

Of course, they didn't really retire. Very few players actually stop playing intentionally. Mostly, they reach a point in their careers when teams no longer desire their services, and they're out of baseball retirement or not. Kieschnick and Sosa realize they're at that point.

Correction: It's Brooks, not Bruce. I shouldn't watch curling while I'm blogging.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:36 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

February 15, 2006

Sosa to Retire
Permalink

Sammy Sosa is hanging up his spikes. His agent spoke for the former slugger:

"Sammy spent a lot of time ruminating on this," Katz said. "And it basically came down to this: He has such high expectations for himself, and last year was absolute misery for him, the way he under-performed. Sammy just didn't want to put himself through the possibility of going through something like that again. He still thinks he can do it. But there's some doubt there."

There also weren't enough dollars there to help him cushion the fall -- if there was going to be a fall. But Katz flatly rejected any suggestion that Sosa walked because the money wasn't worth his while.

"This was not a money issue," Katz said. "The Nationals were very respectful throughout this thing. Was the money fabulous? No. Was it part of the decision-making process? Absolutely. But it basically came down to the expectations Sammy sets for himself.

"I'm not going to sit here and say money wasn't a consideration in the decision-making process. But by no means was it the only thing involved. In the end, the money was a secondary, maybe even a tertiary, consideration."

That's pretty good spin by the agent, but I'm sure if someone offered Sammy $5 million, a reason could be found to put on the uniform.

So another player not only fails to challenge Aaron, but falls just short of 600 home runs. Remember this as you watch Barry Bonds this season. The fall can happen very quickly. It's not a given that Barry will even pass Babe, let alone catch Hammerin' Hank.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:22 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

February 13, 2006

Changing Sports
Permalink

White Sox bonus baby Joe Borchard doesn't see any opportunities with the White Sox. He's thinking of returning to football.

Borchard said he has talked to both general manager Ken Williams and assistant GM Rick Hahn several times this offseason about being traded. With those requests not being met as spring training camps open this week, Borchard now is entertaining the idea of pursuing a football career he walked away from when the Sox drafted the two-sport athlete from Stanford in 2000.

''This was the first offseason where I did start thinking about things differently,'' Borchard said. ''I talked to an old offensive coordinator friend of mine from college who is now in the CFL [Canadian Football League] and asked him if I had a chance to play in that league still. He told me, 'You've got a spot waiting for you.' So, yeah, you start thinking about it.''

Looking at his minor league numbers, I see why there's so little interest in Joe. There's nothing outstanding there. When a team gives a college player a $5.3 million bonus, he should be in the majors pretty quickly. The deal didn't work for the White Sox. At least Borchard has other options.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

February 12, 2006

Duel Damons
Permalink

Sam Borden of the New York Daily News looks at the complex personality that is Johnny Damon. Johnny's brother asks a good question:

"I'm his biggest fan and his biggest critic at the same time," James says. "You know, sometimes me and my buddies are like, 'Can you imagine if he really took care of himself?' Maybe it wouldn't matter. Maybe it's what he is. . . .(But) I know (Alex Rodriguez), he's got a routine down to a science from what I hear. And Johnny, he just goes out and plays and doesn't care about any routine at all. I've wondered sometimes, would he be even better if he took better care of his body?"

Johnny says no.

"No way, man," he says, "I think my mind would be so focused on baseball I'd just be burnt out. I enjoy myself. I like taking the boat out, I like fishing - I have to have that balance. I love baseball. I love this game. But if you think about baseball all the time, for me, I'd be in trouble."

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:37 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

February 10, 2006

Soriano Gets Smaller Raise
Permalink

The arbitrators ruled in favor of the Washington Nationals, agreeing that Alfonso Soriano should get a $10 million salary for 2006.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:46 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

February 09, 2006

Singing the Praises of Posada
Permalink

Phil Allard reminds us of Jorge Posada's greatness.

In fact, Peter Ridges of SABR computed a variety of updates to Bill James' ranking system from the NHBA. According to Ridges work, Posada currently stands as the 14th greatest catcher of all time.

Now, I am not going so far to say Jorge is THAT good. But some people who are a lot smarter than me seem to think he is…so it bears mention. After all, there is a REASON why Po was on the cover of the 2005 Bill James Handbook.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:36 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Bitter Bengie
Permalink

Bengie Molina expressed his disappointment with the LAnaheim Angels as he was introduced by the Toronto Blue Jays:

"I think I built a good relationship with them," he said. "They never let me know. They just threw me like a piece of trash."

Molina signed with the Angels when he was 17.

"I don't think I did one thing to disrespect them at all for all those years," Molina said. "If anything I went out of my way for them. I even helped them get Bartolo Colon on to that club. I gave him a call. I called a couple of guys for them. And now when I needed a call, they never called me."

They were probably too busy worrying about what name to use this season. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:29 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Burroughs Rebound?
Permalink

Sean Burroughs shows a very positive attitude after a poor 2005 season in this article:

"I'm not one for making excuses, but I definitely wasn't physically strong when I went to spring training last year," he says. "If you recall, I tore up my knee during the final month of the 2004 season at Dodger Stadium, and had to undergo surgery. I was on crutches for six weeks.

"I was unable to do any of the weight training I normally did, and came to spring training camp pretty weak. I wasn't even able to take ground balls until the second week.

"That has all changed this off-season. I've got myself in great shape, and my legs are 150 percent stronger than they were a year ago. I'm really looking forward to playing in Tampa Bay. I hear the park there is a lot more hitter friendly than Petco. And I also hear good things about the new Tampa Bay manager (former Angel bench coach Joe Maddon)."

I don't know how much of a difference the park will make for Sean. In his two seasons at PETCO his slugging percentages home and away were an identical (and low) .342.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:53 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

February 03, 2006

Roll Over Beethoven
Permalink

Javy Lopez withdrew his trade demand yesterday, according to Chuck Berry.

"We've had several additional discussions this week with the Orioles, and we have withdrawn our trade demand," Berry said. "We have decided that Javy will go to spring training with the Orioles."

The change of heart - the second for an Oriole this offseason after shortstop Miguel Tejada's withdrawal of his trade request last month - comes exactly a week after Berry had told The Sun that Lopez was "adamant" that he either wanted to have his contract extended, or he wanted to be traded, before reporting to spring training.

That's three players, Ramirez, Tejada and Lopez who demanded trades this winter who will be playing for the same team. I guess they'd rather report to spring training than not get paid.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 01, 2006

Shelton From the Cold
Permalink

The Detroit Free Press details Chris Shelton's winter workout.

Shelton, a Salt Lake City native, began weight training in November. In December, when many college teams began their preseasons, Shelton joined in with the Utes.

It's a symbiotic relationship: The college guys learn from a major league player, and Shelton gets access to Eccles Field House, an indoor football building converted into a state-of-the-art baseball facility in the winter, complete with full infields and batting cages.

"He comes in and takes ground balls with our infielders," Utes coach Bill Kinneberg said. "We don't have to coach him, we just let him participate. He interacts with the team. They gravitate to him and want to be around him. We want our alumni to come back and share their passion for baseball with our guys."

Nice to see Chris giving back to his college.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:52 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 27, 2006

Javy Be Good
Permalink

I didn't know Javy Lopez's agent was Chuck Berry!

Although displaced Orioles catcher Javy Lopez appreciated meeting with team officials on Wednesday, his thoughts about the coming season haven't changed. He either wants a contract extension by mid-February or he wants to be traded to a place where he can catch more often, Lopez's agent, Chuck Berry, said yesterday.

"Javy's adamant that he wants something done before the beginning of spring training," Berry said. "The ball is in their court at this time."

Lopez wants a three-year extension from the Orioles. I don't believe that's going to happen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:03 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

January 26, 2006

A New Brooks in Baltimore
Permalink

Brew Crew Ball reports the latest on Brooks Kieschnick.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Weighty Bonds
Permalink

Gary Peterson in the Contra Costa Times advances his own theory for Barry Bonds withdrawing from the World Baseball Classic:

Here's a real one: Is it because Bonds, "deep into my offseason workouts" according to his Web site, is something less than satisfied with the way his body is responding to the whip?

After last season, Bonds said he wanted to lose about 20 pounds before the 2006 season. This, he said, would take weight off his knees and help him maximize and extend his athletic twilight years. Yet -- and how unscientific is this? -- film clips from his golf outing seemed to indicate that Bonds has not made many inroads on the weight-loss thing.

It was about this time last year that Bonds began ramping up for the 2005 season, only to encounter a problem with his right knee. Admit it -- aren't you curious to see how his body reacts to the ramp-up process this year? Aren't we all curious to see how it goes for him this spring?

He's probably curious, too. Or maybe he is deep enough into his workouts to know he's in no shape to take on the world.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 21, 2006

Roll Royce
Permalink

Bad Altitude is living in fear of the Colorado Rockes bringing back Royce Clayton:

While Clayton isn't a good enough player to be worth paying the veterans' minimum to ride the bench, what's really scary is the thought that his presence could cause a replay of the Danny Ardoin/J.D. Closser situation from last season. Why are intelligent Cubs fans scared to death of Neifi Perez? Not because he's a completely useless player, although he comes pretty close. They're scared because they know Dusty Baker deeply longs to give Neifi 600 at-bats in the two hole. Clint Hurdle's distaste for Closser's defense didn't really end up hurting Colorado last year because the switch-hitting catcher never really found his batting stroke after a tease in 2004. As far as Colorado's won-loss record was concerned, Ardoin's ascendance to the starter's job most likely had a tiny net positive effect if any. So the only cost to the Rockies really was completely obliterating any chance of J.D. Closser ever becoming a productive player for Colorado. No big deal.

Royce does have great hair, however. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 20, 2006

Tejada Talks
Permalink

Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette met with Miguel Tejada as part of a trip to the Dominican Republic. Flanagan made it clear that Miguel is going to start for the Orioles:

It was Flanagan's first trip to the Dominican as an Orioles official. And it was the first time Duquette had met Tejada. Most important, though, the trip seemingly closed this chapter of the Tejada saga - if not the book altogether.

When asked to characterize his thoughts about trading his shortstop, Flanagan said, "I would say, right now, there aren't any."

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 18, 2006

Royals' Prospects
Permalink

When you have too many third basemen, it's time to switch positions:

Of the Royals’ two top prospects, only one will be at major-league camp next month in Surprise, Ariz.

Alex Gordon, last year’s first-round pick, will start with the big-league Royals while Billy Butler, one of baseball’s best hitting prospects, will try working on his fielding in minor-league camp.
“We want him to play as much as he can in left field,” Royals general manager Allard Baird said. “It’s tough to play in left field in big-league camp when you’re playing for two, three innings. We want to shorten his defensive developmental time.”

Baird said Butler will play left field the entire season after switching from third base in the middle of last year. Gordon, on the other hand, will move back to his natural position, third base, after playing first base during the Arizona Fall League.

And of course, young Mark Teahen is the current third baseman on the team. Again, having too many good third basemen is a much better problem than having too many first basemen. You can move these players to the outfield or first base (or even second if they're good fielders), or trade them for what you need.

Correction: Fixed spelling of Teahen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Tigerfest
Permalink

The Detroit Tigers are holding their annual Tigerfest this weekend, and the big names will be there:

But there seems to be a new commitment to both TigerFest and the caravan. Plus there's an interesting idea the Tigers are incorporating into the tour to give it a new twist. Added together, the combined events have a chance to make a better impression than in the past.

First of all, Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez will be attending. That's important. With all the speculation in the past that Rodriguez didn't like Detroit, wasn't happy here and wanted to play somewhere else, he's taking advantage of this offseason opportunity to show, or perhaps even say, that's not the case.

More important than that, however, is the message he could be sending to his teammates. A year ago, for several reasons -- many of them personal -- Rodriguez created too much distance between himself and his teammates. Granted, it's only January, but for him to come and participate in TigerFest and spend a day on the tour bus is a sign he's not separating himself from the rest of them.

A small sign -- because only small signs exist at this time of year -- but encouraging all the same.

Rodriguez hadn't yet signed at TigerFest time two years ago and didn't attend last year. Similarly, Ordonez also hadn't signed at this time last year. So, if you think of those two players as the core of the Tigers, the core will be there.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:06 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Giles vs. Teixeira
Permalink

Talking Baseball looks at the difference in salary between Marcus Giles and Mark Teixeira and concludes Giles is underpaid. Ben blames the agents.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 17, 2006

Hardy Shortstop
Permalink

Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts is very high on Milwaukee shortstop J.J. Hardy.

Longer term, Hardy profiles a bit like Chris Speier. He has a similar body type with medium speed, a good knowledge of the strike zone, and above-average power for a SS. Speier had better range than what Hardy showed in his rookie year, but the former was eventually hampered by a bad back despite enjoying a 19-year career in the majors. For what it's worth, the former Giant was one of the best players in the league during his second season.

Look for Hardy to avoid the sophomore slump and put up a Bobby Crosby-like .280/.350/.460 line. If so, he could emerge as perhaps the #1 or #2 shortstop in the NL in 2006.

Now all we need is to find second basemen named Laurel and Hope. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Why He's the Captain
Permalink

I love this quote from Jason Varitek on the changes in the Red Sox roster (emphasis added):

“It’s tough to swallow when you win a championship with people,” he said. “It’s tough because you learn how to win with certain people, and you get to know them over time as you play with them. I’m going to miss those guys a tremendous amount because a lot of them were irreplaceable in my mind. But we have new people now, and I’m going to spend a lot of time getting to know them and understand what those new people have to offer and how to properly draw the best out of them.”

It's the perfect combination of positive attitude, team spirit and leadership.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:22 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

January 15, 2006

Wagner, a Life
Permalink

Billy Wagner's tough childhood is detailed in the Daily News.

Billy Wagner is 34, and has lived a lot of life. He dealt with hunger and shame and abandonment as a kid, and cold-blooded murder as a young adult. And people wonder if he can handle the heat of playing in the big city.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

January 12, 2006

Dollar Store
Permalink

Lookout Landing wonders why teams are passing on picking up Russell Branyan for $1:

Maybe someone will pay the $1 it'll take to claim Branyan off the wire, but I doubt it; it's not like $20,000 would've scared off potential suitors. He's probably going to clear waivers, and I'm going to sit here all confused - not because I don't know the reasons why everyone passed on Branyan, but because I don't know why those reasons are still considered so important.

I have to disagree a bit. If you look at longer term splits for Branyan (since 2000), his lefty-righty difference isn't that great. His strength is hitting for power; more than 50% of his career hits are for extra bases. But he doesn't get a hit that often, and although he draws a good deal of walk, his overall OBA is pretty poor.

The problem with Branyan is more of a demographic one. With teams carrying more and more relievers, bench players need to be more versatile. If you send Russ up against a righty, the opposing manager brings a lefty out of the bullpen. You either have to eat the plate appearance by letting Branyan hit, or waste a player sending a righty to the plate. If you have 15 position players, you can afford the luxury of Russell Branyan. With 13, he's not worth the dollar.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:08 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Lowell's Comebacks
Permalink

Gordon Edes pens a nice piece on Mike Lowell in the Boston Globe. I didn't realize Mike's father has a lot in common with Jim Longborg:

There's a dentist in town, whose office is right here on US 1 in Coral Gables, Fla., whose phone has been ringing off the hook lately, mostly with calls from Puerto Rico. A sudden urge for root canals in San Juan?

No, folks on the island have been pressing Dr. Carl Lowell because they want to know if his son, Mike, planned to follow in his father's footsteps. One of the proudest moments in the life of Carl Lowell, whose parents were Cuban but had to flee the island, was pitching for Puerto Rico in the Pan American Games and beating powerful Cuba. He is believed to be the only pitcher of Cuban descent to accomplish that feat, and after the game, Carl Lowell chose to go back and sit on the team bus rather than join his teammates to shake hands with dictator Fidel Castro.

Now, people were asking, would Mike Lowell, the new Red Sox third baseman, represent Puerto Rico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, and, perhaps, have history repeat itself with another win over Cuba, assuming the United States government decides to lift its ban preventing Cuba's participation?

Lowell won't be playing in the World Baseball Classic. He's working too much on being ready for the Red Sox. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what led to his decline last year:

''One big difference I noticed last year is that the last 10 days of spring training, I always get in synch and am ready to go," he said. ''I usually have very good Aprils and Mays. But last year, for reasons I wish I knew, I didn't feel in synch at the end of spring training and the first 10 days of the season.

''I'm not very patient when things aren't going well, and I started making a lot of adjustments. In hindsight, I wish I had tried to stick with one approach longer instead of going for the quick fix.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:22 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

January 11, 2006

Splitting Up
Permalink

Milton Bradley is getting divorced:

Last summer, Redondo Beach police went to Bradley's home on domestic violence calls three times but neither he nor his then-pregnant wife were arrested.

Officers counseled the couple after responding on June 28 and July 30, according to police reports. On July 11, Bradley was not home when officers arrived after his wife ran to a neighbor's home to seek help during an argument, according to the police report.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions here about what was going on between the couple. With Milton's history it would be easy to blame him. We just don't know what happened.

Update: Not all bad news for Milton as he signs a $3 million contract with the Athletics.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:18 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Average Salary
Permalink

There's been a revision to the 2005 average salary.

The baseball players' association revised its 2005 salary average on Tuesday, lowering it by about $2,500 to $2,476,589.

Even players not eligible for arbitration do pretty well, but if you can stick around four years, you're pretty much set for life. Nice work if you can get it.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 09, 2006

Extensions
Permalink

With the Red Sox and David Ortiz talking about a contract extension, Talking Baseball looks at how much money and how long an extension David Ortiz should receive. It can't make Boston fans too comfortable to see that the most similar player is Mo Vaughn. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:13 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

January 05, 2006

Keeing His Sox?
Permalink

Jeremy sends this article in a comment:

According to a report on ESPNdeportes.com (English translation here), it appears that Manny Ramirez has apparently changed his mind again and would like to remain with the Red Sox.

Could someone who reads Spanish look at the original and see if it's an accurate translation?

It could still be the Red Sox will try to trade the slugger if the right deal comes along. Manny has the right to reject any deal, however.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:58 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

January 03, 2006

Sounding it Out
Permalink

Who would have thought Scott Dunn is the new Kent Hrbek.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 01, 2006

Webb Goes Home
Permalink

Brandon Webb ran a baseball clinic in his home town of Ashland, Kentucky:

But, the camp participants weren't the only ones who benefited. Webb didn't learn any more baseball skills, but he was reminded of some other important things.

"I've lived here all my life, and I come back every year," he said. "We never had anything like this when I was growing up. It's great. We do things like this in Phoenix, but to do it in my hometown is special. It feels good to give back."

Correction: It's Ashland, Kentucky, not West Virginia.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:00 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

December 31, 2005

Tejada and Perlozzo
Permalink

Sam Perlozzo is trying to speak with Tejada about Miguel's gripes, but can't get trhough to him:

Whether he stays or goes, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo would like a chance to hear Tejada's gripes first-hand. Perlozzo has twice left messages on Tejada's answering machine, but neither was returned. Since then, at least one of Tejada's Orioles teammates has left a message on the machine and almost immediately received a response from the shortstop.

"My frustration is that I wish Miggy would call me back," Perlozzo said. "My frustration comes in the fact that we don't need to discuss this in the media. I wish he'd call me so I could tell him what we want to do."

Perlozzo said he thought he and Tejada respected each other.

"Lord knows in two years we worked extremely hard together and ... I thought I had a good relationship with him. I wish I had an opportunity to" talk to him, the manager said.

The more I read about the Tejada situation, the more I feel he wants to be traded more than he wants the Orioles to win. He says publicly he doesn't want to be traded, then his agents work for a trade. He talks to the press but not to management.

Billy Sample once told me it's easy to get traded. You just need to get management angry at you. It looks like Tejada is going down that road.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:03 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

December 29, 2005

GM Tejada
Permalink

Miguel Tejada continues to be upset with the Orioles lack of moves:

"If the Orioles don't do anything, I want them to trade me because I am tired of losing,'' Tejada said before a winter league game.

If he isn't traded by the Orioles, Tejada said he would "respect the game as I have always done.''

"I am not asking for a team of superstars, I only want a good group that helps me to win,'' he said.

Miguel, it's supposed to be "help us to win." You're a member of a team. Believe it or not, the Orioles don't exist to get you a championship.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:32 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)

December 26, 2005

What Did a Win Cost?
Permalink

Via the USA Today Salary Database, I calculate the total salary paid in 2005 was $2.135 billion. With that number in hand, we can calculate how much a win cost in 2005. Since there are 15 *162 games, there are 15*162 wins. That makes the cost per win about $880,000 dollars.

We can calculate win shares for each player. Each win share is worth 1/3 of a win, or approximately $293,000 per win share.

I bring this up because I wonder just how much the Yankees are overpaying for Johnny Damon. Damon posted 25 win shares in 2005. That was worth 7.3 million (the Red Sox paid 8.2 million). Damon would need to post 44 win shares in 2006 for his contract to be worth the money in terms of win shares.

Of course, everything balances. Damon is getting over paid now for above average past performances. Jason Bay put up 30 win shares last year, worth 8.8 million but only received $660,000. At some point, he'll be over payed for this season, too.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:04 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

December 24, 2005

Casey Takes an Ad
Permalink

The Dayton Daily News reports on a nice gesture by Sean Casey toward the fans of Cincinnati:

How many professional athletes would take the time (and money) to say, "Dear Reds fans," as Casey did in the ad. "In the middle of this holiday season, my family and I wanted to thank the baseball fans of Cincinnati, the friends we made and the charities and children we worked with over the last eight years. We will cherish those memories for the rest of our lives. ... A piece of my heart will always be in Cincinnati. Bless you all."

Although I've never met Sean, we have a mutual friend who is a priest. It doesn't surprise me that a friend of Father Paul would send a message like this to his fans.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:29 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

December 23, 2005

Sabermetrically Johnny
Permalink

Over at Fire Brand of the American League, Andrew Lipsett tries to convince us that the perception of Johnny Damon's value is greater than his actual value.

Take all of this together, and here’s what we can see about Johnny Damon; as a hitter, his 2005 season was overwhelmingly misleading as judged only by top-level stats. So much of his value was taken up by singles - in BA, in OBP, in OPS, even in SLG - that the true predictable skills he had as a hitter were masked. Johnny Damon was a below-average Major League hitter in 2005. Below Average. He fared somewhat better among center fielders and leadoff men, but not by enough to make his loss a real crime. For $13 million dollars a year, along with the promise of lost speed and plunging production, I want way more for my money than a singles hitter who failed, catastrophically, to do much else.

To sum up the argument, Damon's a singles hitter, and singles have a lot to do with luck, while extra-base hits are a skill.

I'm sorry, I don't buy it. It seems to me that Andrew is looking for stats to make himself feel better about losing Damon. Take a look at win shares. Remember, win shares count everything; they count all hits, walks stolen bases. They count how well you hit in certain situations. They count the effects of the ball park. They count defense, including throwing arm. Take a look at the rank of Damon in win shares among outfielders last year. He's tied for fourth with Matsui, who received a similar contract. He's sixth in offensive win shares among outfielders, and fourth in defense. Only one outfielder had more putout than Johnny Damon in 2005! He catches the ball, which is what the Yankees need.

What about his age and declining? Let's say he declines 10% each year. His win shares would look like:

• 2006 - 23


• 2007 - 20


• 2008 - 18


• 2009 - 16

Bernine Williams was 36 (seasonal age) in 2005, a year older than Damon will be when he finishes his contract. Over the same age, Bernie posted 83 win shares (54 came in the first two seasons). A 10 percent decline per year gives Damon 77. Bernie was earning about $12.3 million per season over that time. Damon is earning $13 million.

To put it simply, Damon is one of the top outfielders in the game. For about the same money they were paying, the Yankees upgraded the position with a better hitter and a much better fielder. Damon catches the ball, and does a decent job of getting on base, even if he does reach by a lot of singles. Selectively pointing out weaknesses in his game doesn't change his over stature.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:23 AM | Comments (30) | TrackBack (0)

December 21, 2005

Brewers Winter Ball
Permalink

Here's a nice story about Nelson Cruz of the Brewers playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. He's leading the league in home runs. It also sounds like a fun place to watch a game:

Ticket prices are more than fair, even on a Dominican's budget. $150 pesos (about $5) buys a good seat, and the stadiums are well-kept up, even for U.S. standards.

And as much as fans enjoy the action, the level of competition is high enough that scouts can get an accurate picture of a player's potential. With most teams in the league retaining more than a handful of active Major Leaguers, players agree that the quality of play surpasses AAA baseball in the states. In fact, it's more like "4A" ball.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:12 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

December 19, 2005

Historical Comparison
Permalink

Bryan Smith at Baseball Analysts compares the trade of Andy Marte to that of the Dodgers trading Paul Konerko.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 18, 2005

Scrabble Points
Permalink

Humbug Journal now has a Scrabble calculator for player names. One of my favorite graphics I researched at ESPN was the all-time list of highest scoring baseball names. Javier Vazquez was 1st at 53. As of this writing, he's still #1 among active players.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:30 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

December 12, 2005

Tejada Talks
Permalink

Miguel Tejada now says he doesn't want a trade.

"I never said I wanted to be traded; I said I want to see a better team," said Tejada, who spoke via phone from the Dominican Republic. "I don't want to keep losing like we have the past two years. Look at the division we're in. It's not easy to win without pitching. It's the hardest division in baseball with the Yankees and Red Sox. And look at what Toronto is doing with their pitching staff. They're going to be tough."

Then what does this mean?

Club officials also talked directly to Tejada on Saturday night, the first time since he told an Associated Press reporter, "Things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery."

Does he want the Orioles to move back to Memorial Stadium? Play their games in Philadelphia or Washington? Come on Miguel, you said if the team doesn't improve, you want to be traded. It seems pretty simple.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:06 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

December 11, 2005

Pierre's History
Permalink

The Chicago Sun-Times posts a nice biography of new Cubs centerfielder Juan Pierre:

Derry is a head-start teacher who made sure her children -- including Juan's brother, Derrick, 35, and his sister, English, 30 -- excelled in the class room.

''He was an average student from a social standpoint in that he was quiet and laid-back,'' said Jim Looper, Pierre's world history teacher at Alexandria High. ''But an exceptional student academically. He was a member of the honor society his junior and senior years.

''Because he was so quiet and laid-back, there was no way I could see him ever becoming the major-league baseball star he became. But I knew that whatever he'd put his mind to do, he could do it because he was such a hard worker and a committed overachiever. He always willingly did more than what was expected.''

It's clear the people who knew Pierre while he grew up loved and respected him.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 10, 2005

Tejada and Hernandez
Permalink

There was some speculation that Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez are engaged in a feud, which is one reason that Tejada wants to be traded. However:

Flanagan found the timing of Tejada's comments especially puzzling, considering that the Orioles reached a tentative agreement with free-agent catcher Ramon Hernandez on a four-year, $27.5 million deal. Hernandez is a former teammate of Tejada's in Oakland and is the godfather of Tejada's 6-year-old daughter, Alexa. Tejada is the godfather of one of Hernandez's kids.

Eric Goldschmidt, Hernandez's agent, said that the two players are friends and that one of the main reasons Hernandez, who arrives in Baltimore tomorrow and will have a physical Monday, signed with the Orioles was because Mora and Tejada were on the team.

So much for that theory.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

December 09, 2005

Walking Off the Island
Permalink

Dan Fox at The Hardball Times, inspired by the Larry Krueger/Felipe Alou controversy, does an excellent historical study on the offensive trends of Caribbean players over the last 50 years. The bottom line is while they have not caught up to non-Caribbeans in walks, less strikeouts and more hits put them ahead of non-Caribbeans in terms of overall production, especially when you add in the fact these players are manning the tougher defensive positions.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 08, 2005

Tejada Wants Out
Permalink

Miguel Tejada is upset with the direction of the Baltimore Orioles and wants to be traded.

"I've been with the Orioles for two years and things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery," Tejada told The Associated Press during a telephone interview in his native Dominican Republic.

Well, that's the risk of signing a six-year contract. The team you sign with might stink. And while a deal with Boston might be fun to think about for Red Sox fans, do you really think the Orioles will trade a star of that magnitude to another team in their division? More likely, Baltimore could send him to the Cubs, the team that lost out on Furcal.

Of course, if I were running the Orioles, I'd be doing everything possible to make Miguel happy. Players like Tejada are difficult to replace.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:14 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)

December 07, 2005

Olerud Retires
Permalink

John Olerud is hanging up his spikes. He was one of my favorites. John had a picture perfect swing; no wasted motion, no wasted energy. When I was working on Baseball Tonight Online, Tom Candiottie was asked to name the nicest guy in baseball. Candiotti said, "Not only would I let him baby sit my children, he has baby sat my children!"

Congratulations to John Olerud on a fine career!

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:45 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

November 30, 2005

Saving Ramirez
Permalink

A Red Sox fan started a web site yesterday to try to keep Manny Ramirez in Boston. For some reason, ESPN.com mentions the name but doesn't give them a link. Do they not realize they're a web publication? Baseball Musings doesn't have that problem. Here's a link to KeepManny.com.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:34 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

November 28, 2005

Wedding Bells
Permalink

Park Chan-ho is getting married. It's not your average wedding:

Ronald Moon, Chief Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court, will officiate at the wedding ceremony.

Moon is the first Korean to head the U.S. state's highest court. Park has been acquainted with Moon since 2003 when they were invited to the Rose Bowl Parade designed to commemorate the centennial year of Korean Immigration into the U.S.

According to the agency, Park will come to Korea early next month to throw the wedding banquet on Dec. 11 for relatives, friends and colleagues who miss the ceremony in Hawaii.

Around 300 people, including Major League colleagues Choi Hee-seop (LA Dodgers) and Seo Jae-weong (New York Mets), will participate in the banquet to be held at Lotte Hotel, Sokong-dong, Seoul.

Is there crying at baseball weddings? :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:02 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

November 27, 2005

Jim Thome Bio
Permalink

Greg Couch pens the personal story of Jim Thome in the Chicago Sun Times. I love this part:

Part of Thome's folksy story is a little off, though. He did build a cabin on land he purchased near Peoria, where he goes deer hunting, which is his passion. But Chuck Thome said his son has several hundred acres with "bedrooms all over the place. He's got lockers there and a batting cage. I thought the batting cage would be the biggest building there, but now he's built one even bigger to hold all his four-wheelers.

"And he's very involved in the conservation end of it. He's not just killing deer up there. He planted about 80 acres of corn just for the deer. The farmers have never heard of that. They think Jim's goofy.''

Yes, but in a gol'dern good way.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:41 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

November 23, 2005

Fashion Statement
Permalink

Was Watching notices a poor choice of clothes by Jason Giambi.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:22 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Lost in Translation
Permalink

Just as the Mariners are acquiring another Japanese player, they are losing their translator.

"It's been a fun six years, but it's not something you do forever," said Turner, 29, who also dressed in uniform as the team's bullpen catcher. "I'll miss the guys, and the baseball, but it's time to do something else."

It turns out this may give the Mariners an incentive to re-sign:

Though still unlikely to return as a free agent, Hasegawa is a year-round Seattle resident and may be willing to sign for less than the $2.975 million he earned in 2005. "It's something that has crossed my mind," said Hasegawa's agent, Joe Urbon. "It makes sense."

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 22, 2005

Lowell's Line Drives
Permalink

Someone pointed out to me that my line drive numbers for Mike Lowell for 2002-2004 don't match the Hardball Times. The 2005 number I took from the Hardball Times. I'm going look into this and post when I have an answer.

Update: My mistake. I used the wrong batted ball type field in my database. Lowell's line drives are down the last two seasons from the previous two seasons, but it's not spectacular. I'm making the change at the original post.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:07 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

November 21, 2005

Happy Birthday!
Permalink

I didn't realize until I saw this post that Ken Griffey Jr. and Stan Musial have the same birthday. With Hank Blalock and Joe Nathan on the list as well, Nov. 21 is a pretty good birthday for a ballplayer.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

November 20, 2005

Defending A-Rod
Permalink

Bill Gallo, the longtime cartoonist and columnist for the Daily News, dissects the silliness of A-Rod criticism.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:43 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

November 17, 2005

Ichiro's Critique
Permalink

Ichrio Suzuki gave an interview to a Japanese newspaper in which he criticizes the way the Mariners approached the game in 2005:

Among his concerns, as reported by the Tokyo Shimbun and interpreted for this story:

He was upset to see his teammates playing cards so frequently, and was dismayed that no coach or veteran scolded them for doing so.

Midway through the season, he felt as though his teammates had given up on the rest of the year. (Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, by contrast, said he was satisfied with the team's approach, though he also indicated there were instances in which the team could have done better.)

Ichiro is disappointed that the team has finished out of the playoffs every year since 2001. He misses playing in postseason games. Amid the losing culture, his pursuit of 200 hits has been one of his few motivating factors. Given a choice, he said he would much rather be compelled by the external influence of a pennant race, rather than individual statistics.

Ichiro's words could resonate through the winter, as the Mariners seek a way out of a cycle of underachievement that has seen 90-plus losses paired with payrolls near and beyond $90 million.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:28 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

November 11, 2005

Fine With Perez
Permalink

Bleed Cubbie Blue chides other Cubs fans who are upset over the Neifi Perez signing.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 29, 2005

Blowing in the Wind
Permalink

Now Manny Ramirez wants to be traded.

Gene Mato, one of Manny Ramirez's representatives, communicated to Red Sox owner John W. Henry yesterday that Ramirez wants to be traded, and will not report to spring training if his wish to be dealt is not met, according to a team source.

Except maybe he doesn't (emphasis added).

Ramirez is a 10-5 player, meaning he has 10 years of major league service, five consecutive with the same team. That seniority entitles Ramirez to block a trade to any team he doesn't wish to join. With that in mind, Mato told Henry that Ramirez might decide during the process of being shopped that he wishes to remain with the Sox.

Next week: Manny wants to pitch.

Stay tuned.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

October 05, 2005

What Would Johnny Damon Do?
Permalink

My good friend Jim Storer pointed out to me today that Johnny Damon finished the season with a .316 batting average. He thinks someone this post season should sit behind home plate with a sign that reads:

Johnny
.316

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:59 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

September 30, 2005

Rollins Still Streaking
Permalink

Jimmy Rollins extends his hit streak to 34 games with a single leading off the third inning. He also puts himself in scoring position with a steal.

Update: Utley drives in Rollins then steals second. The Phillies take a 2-1 lead. Utley looks like the Phillies MVP to me.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 25, 2005

Young Batting Champion
Permalink

It looks like Michael Young will win the American League batting title. He's one for two so far this evening to keep his average at .332. Michael's now gone 34 for 90 in September, a .378 average. He still leads Guerrero by 13 points.

The A's are losing 5-2 in the 8th. They're blowing a golden opportunity to gain on the Angels. Dominguez is pitching an excellent game, throwing 66 of 89 pitches for strikes.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Rollins, Rollins, Rollins
Permalink

Jimmy Rollins extends his hit streak to 30 games, the longest of the season, and gives the Phillies a 1-0 lead with a leadoff home run. The Phillies send eight batters to the plate in the first and score two runs total.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 23, 2005

Lee's Lead
Permalink

Derrek Lee is in the process of extending his lead in the NL batting race. He entered the day just two points ahead of Albert Pujols, leading the St. Louis slugger .337 to .335. Lee knocked out three hits so far this afternoon, including two doubles. His three for three raised his average to .341 and his two runs scored helped the Cubs to a 5-4 lead in a must win game for them.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 22, 2005

Rollins Rolling
Permalink

Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to 27 games this afternoon. He singled leading off the game and doubled in the 6th, where he's now sitting at third with two outs. He's been a doubling machine during the streak. He now has 15 in the streak, along with 3 triples and a homer for a slugging percentage well over .550.

Rollins is left stranded. The Phillies and Braves are tied at 0 in the bottom of the 6th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Leading Indicator Lance
Permalink

Lance Berkman gives the Astros a 1-0 lead with a first inning single. The relationship between Berkman's monthly batting stats and the Astros monthly won-lost numbers is very impressive.

Update: Another single, another RBI for Berkman. Houston leads 2-0.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:56 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

September 20, 2005

Pay Bay
Permalink

The Pirates are working on signing Jayson Bay to a multi-year deal:

The Pirates have opened negotiations with Bay on a four-year deal that would eliminate his three seasons of salary arbitration eligibility. The amount of the contract is not known, but based on precedent in the industry, could be worth about $12 million.

Long-term security would be a refreshing change for Bay, who had his contract renewed at $355,000 in spring training after refusing to sign the one-year offer the Pirates made.

It's good to see the Pirates learned from their mistake with Barry Bonds. Pittsburgh battled Barry three years in a row in arbitration. The Pirates won those battles but Bonds couldn't wait to leave when he became a free agent. By avoiding those conflicts with Bay, maybe the Pirates can keep him around a while.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 19, 2005

Rios Returns
Permalink

Alex Rios was benched by John Gibbons over the weekend after he failed to run out a grounder on Friday.

Ricciardi delivered the message to the talented, but sometimes lackadaisical, sophomore a day after manager John Gibbons pulled Rios from Friday's 11-10 loss to the New York Yankees for loafing down the basepath on a first-inning fly out.

"The guy don't run, you take him out," Ricciardi said. "Gibby did the right thing. It's not real hard."

The message sunk in. Rios is back in the lineup and knocked out two hits in his first two at bats, a triple and a homer. The Jays lead the Mariners 4-3 in the 6th inning.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 18, 2005

Heavy Barry
Permalink

The other day I saw a comparison of Bonds' swing from this year compared to last year. The point of the video was that Bonds' mechanics were exactly the same.

What the video also showed, but wasn't mentioned, was that Bonds gained weight. His mid-section was clearly bigger than last year. Now I read this:

Barry Bonds used to commit any spare time before games to lifting weights, working meticulously to build up his leg strength for long nights of standing in left field and on the basepaths following his many walks.

His bum right knee no longer allows it. He is carrying a few extra pounds around his middle and vows to spend the off-season bringing his playing weight down from more than 228 pounds to about 200.

This surprises me. You'd think doctors would be concerned that a person rehabilitating his knees was gaining weight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:37 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

September 17, 2005

The End for Biggio
Permalink

Craig Biggio homered tonight to help the Astros to a 5-0 lead after three innings. Looking at Craig's stats, however, I wonder if we're seeing the last of the Hall of Fame second baseman. This is his fourth year with a sub-par on-base average, his strength for so many years. He's somewhat making up for it with power, but he's not longer a top of the order hitter. He'll be 40 next year, so it's not clear how much longer his power will hold up. The decision might be easier for him if the Astros can win a championship this year.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 15, 2005

Local Man Makes Good
Permalink

I live next door to Springfield, MA, and one of their citizens hit the big time yesterday.

On Tuesday, Doug Clark was teaching a history class at Central High School in Springfield, Mass.

On Wednesday, Clark was pinch-hitting for the Giants in the ninth inning of his first big-league game.

"I don't think it's hit me yet," Clark said after he drew a walk and was erased on a double play.

When Triple-A Fresno's season ended, Clark, 29, flew home to begin his side job as a substitute teacher. He was in the middle of class, in his second day on the job, when he got a message that Fresno manager Shane Turner called.

And he has a 1.000 OBA!

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

B.J. Market
Permalink

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are upsetting their prospects.

On the heels of being called "cheap" by their top prospect two days ago, the Devil Rays took another hit from the agent of another prized youngster.

B.J. Upton's agent, Larry Reynolds, told The Tampa Tribune he didn't appreciate comments made Tuesday by GM Chuck LaMar that called into question Upton's future position in the major leagues.

"I'm tired of reading about the club's opinion of B.J. Upton in the paper," Reynolds told The Tribune. "If they don't think he can play shortstop, they should seriously think about trading him."

We can only hope they trade him to Baltimore so they can once again corner the market on BJs.

Full disclosure: Larry Reynolds is Harold Reynolds' brother and I've had conversations with him in the past.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:31 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

September 13, 2005

What Happend to I-Rod's Eye?
Permalink

Ivan Rodriguez hit his 14th home run of the season tonight. But in looking at his year-to-date stats, I was flabergasted to see he's walked just seven times! The last two years he had really improved his game by being more selective at the plate, drawing 96 walks in the two seasons with an OBA in the .370s. He's having his worst season getting on base since his rookie year of 1991. Could it be with the weight loss and fall off in hitting that pitchers feel they can challenge him?

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:41 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Lofton's Long Runs
Permalink

Kenny Lofton tripled and scored in the first inning for Philadelphia to give them a 1-0 lead. It was Lofton's 98th triple of his career. Two more and he reaches that rare milestone of 100 lifetime triples. Coming into 2005, only 157 players had reached that plateau.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 12, 2005

Waking Up Juan
Permalink

With his two for two so far tonight, Juan Pierre is now 12 for 33 batting in the seventh spot, a .364 batting average. The move was the perfect wakeup call for the Marlins centerfielder.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 11, 2005

Taking the Extra Base
Permalink

I've never understood this:

Kapler, who went 2-for-5, was on first base with two outs in the ninth after reaching safely on a fielder's choice grounder. With New York playing back and the Sox leading by seven runs, the veteran outfielder violated baseball's unwritten protocol by taking the base on defensive indifference.

The gesture could easily have been interpreted as a sign the Sox were flaunting their large lead. Kapler said it was simply a brain cramp on his part.

``I pride myself on being professional,'' he said. ``I'm not showing anyone up. It was a poor error in judgment. I just want to make sure they all know that I apologize and fell asleep. It was nothing but me not thinking about the situation of the game.''

You're down 9-2, and a team is going to get upset that their opponent is making them look bad? Being down 9-2 looks bad, no matter what your opponent does. If the Yankees started scoring in the bottom of the ninth, were they going to stop at six runs so they didn't make the Red Sox look bad for blowing a big lead?

If the game doesn't matter to you in the ninth, then don't be mad at someone else for demonstrating that fact. Be upset with yourselves for getting in that position in the first place.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:24 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 03, 2005

Powerful Lee
Permalink

Travis Lee is finishing the season on a very high note. He extended his hit streak to 10 games this afternoon with a two-run homer. Lee now has five homers and RBI during the streak.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 01, 2005

Baseball Musings Players of the Month
Permalink

There were nine pitchers with ERAs under 2.00 in August (25 innings pitched), five of them youngsters. Felix Hernandez and Roger Clemens are on that list, and Roger's been in the majors longer than Felix has been alive. But Noah Lowry beat them all, posting a 5-0 record in five starts along with a stellar 0.69 ERA. He allowed just 22 hits while striking out 33. Noah Lowry is the Baseball Musings Pitcher of the Month.

On the offensive side, another youngster had an outstanding month. David Wright is now the best hitter on the Mets. He posted a .470 OBA while driving in 27 runs and scoring 23. Across town, Alex Rodriguez knocked out 12 home runs while posting the highest slugging percentage of August, .733. (It was a good month to be a New York third baseman.) He was the only player over .700 in the month. David Ortiz led the majors in both RBI and runs scored.

It's a tough pick, but I'm going with Wright. The great OBA, the tough park; he even was six for seven stealing. David Wright is the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:57 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

August 31, 2005

Young Keystone Power
Permalink

Rickey Weeks hit his 12th home run of the season today. Rickey's not hitting for much of an average right now, but he's showing good power for a second baseman. If you look at the list of homers as a second sacker this year, you'll see two young players in the top ten without a lot of at bats; Weeks and Jorge Cantu. Keep your eye on these two; as they enter their primes, we should see more fireworks.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 26, 2005

Hitting .400
Permalink

Soccer Dad links to an article about Rick Short, a career minor leaguer who is close to hitting .400 this year. He also has pictures of last night's Orioles game.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

August 25, 2005

Run Milestone
Permalink

Ken Griffey is three for four today with a homer and two runs scored as the Reds lead the Nationals 5-1. The two runs give Griffey 1400 for his career. I don't have an updated all-time list, but that should put Ken in the top 75.

The homer was his 30th, only the 2nd time he's reached that plateau with the Reds. I figured before the season that if Griffey had 30 homers Cincinnati would be in good shape. The pitching wouldn't let that happen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 20, 2005

Choi-cycle?
Permalink

Hee Seop Choi has the single, double and triple in his first three at bats. He just needs the homer for the cycle. Cabrera and Delgado have homered for the Marlins, and Flordia leads Los Angeles 6-5 in the sixth.

Update: Choi was hit by the pitch his next time up. He should get one more chance. The Dodgers scored three in the seventh to take an 8-6 lead.

Update: Choi hits a sac fly in the 8th. No cycle tonight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 17, 2005

Give Me Shelton
Permalink

Chris Shelton continues to be everything the Tigers hoped Carlos Pena would be. He has two more hits today, including a solo home run. Through six innings today, his OBA stands at .399 and he's slugging .550. A righty batter, he's hitting equally as well vs. pitchers of either handedness.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:16 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

August 16, 2005

Winn Again
Permalink

Randy Winn is starting on another cycle. Through four he's 2 for 3 with a single and a double.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Whirl Winn
Permalink

Congratulations to Randy Winn on hitting for the cycle last night.

The Giants turned a 4-3 lead into a 7-3 comfort zone with three more runs in the sixth, and Winn started it all with a cycle-completing triple. His first three hits off Harang came left-handed, and he turned around and batted right-handed against reliever Randy Keisler, tripling to right-center.

"I knew I needed a triple, but a triple is so hard to hit," Winn said. "You hit very few in a year. To hit one in a game when you need it for a cycle, it's impossible to try to do it. If you need a single, you could bunt or do some other things. To hit a triple, usually something funky has to happen, the ball kicking past an outfielder or somebody falling down. It's hard. If you could hit one in the gap every time, you'd be a great hitter. It's a lot of luck to hit for a cycle."

Has anyone seen any data on how many switch hitters got hits from both sides of the plate in hitting for the cycle?

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:17 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 10, 2005

Late Power
Permalink

Orlando Hudson wins tonight's game for the Blue Jays with a walk-off home run in the ninth. Hudson tends to hit his home runs late in the game this season. He now has five in the first six innings, five from the 7th on.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 09, 2005

Two More for Francoeur
Permalink

Jeff Francoeur is two for two so far tonight, raising his batting average to .418. He's 33 for 79, which is still a very small sample size, but the Braves should be happy with the results so far. He's yet to draw a walk, but he's been plunked, so his OBA is higher than his batting average.

In addition, 16 of his 33 hits were for extra bases. He's a much better solution in right field than Brian Jordan.

Update: Francoeur ends the game four for four, all singles. He's now batting .432 with an .827 slugging percentage.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 08, 2005

Leadoff Streak
Permalink

Ebenezer Samuel of the NY Daily News notes that Jose Reyes is hitting better during his 20 game streak, but still hasn't developed selectivity at the plate:

Patience may not be a virtue for Jose Reyes, but that doesn't stop him from getting hits.

After his first two at-bats lasted a total of just five pitches, Reyes finally worked the count in his favor in the fourth inning and singled to center, extending baseball's longest active hitting streak to 20 games last night in the Mets' 6-1 win over the Cubs.

Reyes is batting .374 over the last 20 games, with a .400 OBA. If Reyes can keep his OBA at .400, it doesn't really matter how he does it. My view is he'll be a more productive player and have a longer career if he takes a few pitches, but Ichrio Suzuki shows that you can be successful from the lead-off spot as a hacker.

Randolph is being very patient with Jose, letting him develop in the role of lead-off man. Willie appears to be looking for a long term gain vs. putting the best batting order on the field right now. At the moment, it's paying off for the rookie manager.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 06, 2005

Rare Long Ball
Permalink

Vinny Castilla hit his first home runs since June 30 tonight, a solo shot giving the Nationals a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Since leaving Colorado in 2000, Castilla has .254 BA, a .301 OBA and a .428 slugging percentage (through yesterday). That's bad for a Gold Glove shortstop. He's in his 6th year of living on his Colorado hitting reputation and his good glove.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sheffield Interview
Permalink

A Gary Sheffield interview in New York Magazine appears to be causing some controversy.

Sheffield, however, said the magazine writer made up things to "juice the story." He said he had an assistant with him to make sure the interview stayed positive.

"It's typical. That's the life of being me," Sheffield. "It's tough for me to do interviews when people have pens that have motives. It was supposed to be a positive interview."

"New York magazine stands 100 percent behind Stephen Rodrick's story. Mr. Sheffield's statements are on audio tape," said Serena Torrey, spokesperson for the magazine.

Okay, let's hear the audio tape. New York Magazine has a web site. The interview isn't there. Post the audio. People who don't want to spend the time listening can just read the story. Rather than one word against another, let's hear the whole thing, so we know the context of the questions and the answers. It's real easy to do that today, and I'm sure NY Magazine has plenty of disk space and bandwidth.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:26 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

He is So Taguchi
Permalink

Last year the Cardinals offense had depth of greatness; four super players, any two of which would be capable of carrying the offense. In 2005, St. Louis appears to have overall depth to their lineup. Friday night, without Rolen and Walker, the Cardinals walked all over John Smoltz, defeating the Braves 11-3. So Taguchi, getting more playing time of late has come alive in August with a .412 batting average. He had two hits and drove in three last night. His seventh home run complimented those of Pujols and Edmonds.

John Rodriguez has a .403 OBA in relief of Reggie Sanders. Abraham Nunez has a .380 OBA in relief of Rolen. The middle infielders are having better years than expected. Everything is going right for the Cardinals offense in 2005, even with all the injuries.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 30, 2005

Suzuki Slugging
Permalink

Ichiro Suzuki belted two home runs for the Mariners today. It's the third multi-homer game of his career, and his first since June 17, 2003.

Mike Morse also hit a long ball for the Mariners to account for the third run in their 3-2 victory over the Indians. Morse is someone to keep you eye on in the rookie of the year competition. Mike has an excellent on-base average (.392), much better than Cano. He doesn't have the playing time of Robinson or the power, but Morse is a nice offensive callup for the Mariners.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

July 26, 2005

How Often Do You See It?
Permalink

Johnny Damon pulls the great defensive play to end the inning/leading off with the home run trick. He went deep to the wall in the bottom of the ninth to make a leaping catch and save extra bases. Then, he homered leading off the top of the 10th. And his legend grows.

Update: Trot Nixon also left the game early with an injury on a swing. He has a strained oblique muscle, and it's not clear how long he might be sidelined.

Update: Schilling gives up a run in the 10th, but a nice play by John Olerud ends the game and gives the Red Sox a 10-9 win. The Devil Rays express is temporarily derailed. The top four teams in the AL East all win, so the standings remain the same.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 24, 2005

Make Him Fit
Permalink

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News takes a look at why the Tigers were able to acquire Chris Shelton:

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said Friday they were aware of Shelton's hitting potential. The problem was no one was too sure where they could play him. He was a catcher, but not a good enough catcher to play regularly in the big leagues. He wasn't an outfielder. He wasn't reassuring as a first baseman (those emerging skills have been another Shelton surprise). And, at least in terms of Pittsburgh and the National League, he couldn't become a designated hitter.

The Pirates had young players they judged to be more dimensional players. Shelton, Littlefield said, "fell below" some raw assessments they were obliged to make.

When you have someone that good, an orgainization (especially one that isn't winning much) needs to find room for him. Follow what Oakland did with Scott Hatteberg; teach to play first and live with the consequences. Most of the time, it will work out in your favor.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 20, 2005

Berkman's Bat
Permalink

It's nice to see that Lance Berkman is back to full strength. He's given the Astros a 1-0 lead in the first inning today on a solo home run. He got off to a slow start in May, had an excellent June and is on fire in July. The home run brings his July slugging percentage up to .645.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 18, 2005

Holy LeCroy, Batgirl!
Permalink

In this otherwise amusing post, I'm still trying to get my head around this line:

Now, it's important to note that Justin Morneau is Will's girlfriend Laurie's boyfriend, and--after meeting Will and said girlfriend at Spring Training--that seems to be fine by Justin.

This sounds a little Fritz Peterson/Mike Kekich to me. An the phrase "non-sexual man crush" doesn't help.

Update: I forgot the link to the Batgirl Post. It's up now.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 17, 2005

Damon at 28
Permalink

Johnny Damon extended his hit streak to 28 games yesterday, putting him halfway to DiMaggio's magic number of 56. This is when hit streak get interesting to me; all you have to do at this point is repeat what you just did! :-) Notice Damon has played 29 games during the streak, but he did not bat on 6/22 so the game does not count against the streak.

One thing that helps Damon is the number of plate appearances he's getting. During the streak, he averages 4.8 PA per game. The more you come to the plate in a game, the more likely you are to get a hit.

When I work on hitting streaks, I like to use a statistic I call hit average, hits divided by plate appearance. It's the probability that you'll get a hit once you step to the plate. Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn had very similar batting averages, but Gwynn had a higher hit average than Boggs because he walked a lot less. This season, Damon has 124 hits in 391 plate appearances for a hit average of .317. That means, if Damon gets one plate appearance in a game, his chance of extending his hit streak is .317.

Chance of Johnny Damon Extending His Hit Streak

Number of PA	Probability of Extending Streak
1	.317
2	.534
3	.681
4	.782
5	.851
6	.898

For the season, Damon is averaging 4.8 PA per game. That means, in a 5 game stretch, we would expect Johnny to have four games with five plate appearances and 1 game with four plate appearances. So the probability of hitting in five straight could be approximated as .851^4 * .782 or .41. For 28 games, I'll be a little conservative and use .851^22 * .782^6 (^ means raised to the power). That means the probability of Damon hitting in another 28 straight games is .00657 or about 1 chance in 152.

Remember, the chance of the streak continuing has nothing to do with what's gone on before. At the start of the streak, Damon had a .000043 chance of going 56 games. But every game he extends the chain makes the rest of the streak more likely.

The next milestone is DiMaggio's Boston record; Dom DiMaggio that is. The Little Professor hit in 34 straight for the Red Sox in 1949. Boggs couldn't top that; we'll see if Damon can.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

July 16, 2005

3001
Permalink

Congratulations to Rafael Palmeiro on passing the 3000 hit barrier. His two hits last night bring him to 3001 for his career.

In looking at his history, it's amazing that he's never been hurt. From 1988 on, he's played a full season every year. Except for the strike years, he's never appeared in less than 152 games. That's quite impressive.

Now that he's reached his milestones, the Orioles need to decide if they still want Palmeiro playing every day. His combined 2004-2005 stats are not screaming, "Slugging first baseman." Aging sluggers Palmeiro and Sosa are dragging down the an otherwise good Orioles offense. It would be a shame to see Baltimore lose out on a playoff spot because they couldn't find someone better to play these power positions.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

July 14, 2005

Oh for Boone
Permalink

The Twins must have high hopes for Bret Boone, as they inserted the former slugger into the number three slot of their lineup. Boone went 0 for 4 in a 3-2 loss to the Angels. Until Boone actually shows he can hit, the Twins would be better served batting him low in the order.

Batting 7th and 8th in the Twins order tonight were Ford-Punto. I wanted to name a child Ford, but my wife would have none of it.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:08 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

July 10, 2005

Carlos' Quest
Permalink

It's a good year to be a Guillen. Ozzie's team owns the best record in the majors. Jose is the power behind the Nationals' rise to the top. And Carlos Guillen is going for a batting title.

Carlos knocked out four hits today to raise his batting average to .353. That would be enough to put him on top of the AL batting race. He's lost time to injury, however. Guillen needs 266 plate appearances to qualify for the batting title; he's come to the plate 240 times this season. It will take him about three weeks accumulate enough plate appearances to qualify. Look for his name to pop into the leader boards about then.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 08, 2005

Young Hitters
Permalink

A few years ago I was listening to an interview on Fresh Air. Terry Gross was speaking with a guitarist and she asked him to name a song he thought was cool that most people wouldn't. He said "Dancing Queen" and played and sang it on the air. When asked why he chose that song, one of the reasons was that any song about a 17-year-old girl was cool.

Any time a team starts a 20-year-old hitter, that's cool too. The Yankees called up 20-year-old Melky Cabrera yesterday and started him in center. You can piece together his minor league career here and here.
What you'll find is a player with an OK OBA, improving power, and, based on his triples, speed. He's already hit more home runs this season than in his previous two combined. His stolen base percentage is good.

Someone who can play at the major league level at age 20 is likely to be a great player by age 25. The Yankees built their championship teams of the late 1990's by developing great players up the middle; Posada, Jeter, Williams, Pettitte and Rivera. With Wang, Cano and now Cabrera, they may be taking that path again.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:01 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

July 07, 2005

More of That, Jose
Permalink

Jose Reyes' demotion from the leadoff spot was short lived. He was there yesterday going 1 for 5, but today he got the job done. He actaully drew a walk leading off the game (his 11th of the year), stole second, got sacrificed to third then scored on a ground out. A run without a hit thanks to a good eye and Jose's speed.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

July 06, 2005

Morgan Ensberg Profile
Permalink

Richard Justice offers a portrait of Morgan Ensberg after his all-star snub:

As the men ransacked the rooms looking for valuables, Ensberg and the others lay on beds and floors with blankets covering their heads.

"They were going to shoot us," Ensberg said.

That's when he began inching out from under the blanket. He wanted the men to see the top of his head.

He wanted them to understand what they were going to do.

"I wanted them to know they weren't shooting blankets," he said.

What emerged from that incident is a very tough, very calm, very grateful player. It's a great story.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:05 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

July 05, 2005

Jason Bay Getting Better
Permalink

Jason Bay was a big part of the Pirates offense tonight as he went three for four with a home run, his 16th of the year. Jason's averages have grown nicely this year. He currently has a .313 BA, a .394 OBA and a .571 slugging percentage. That's up from .282/.358/.550 in his first full year with the Pirates. He's developing into the complete offensive player the Pirates had in Giles.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Another Thing to Like About Albert Pujols
Permalink

Albert Pujols stole his 8th base of the season in yesterday's 10-3 romp over the Arizona Diamondbacks. While eight stolen bases is nothing to write home about, Albert's reached that number without getting caught.

Coming into this season, Pujols was 13 for 26 in steal attempts, a poor 50%. If I were Albert's manager, I'd ask him to stop running. He does enough with the bat that stolen bases aren't adding anything to his resume. But 8-0 is very good. The team is 43 for 62, which is okay, but without Albert the Cardinals would have a very bad SB%. Nice to see that Albert learned to pick his spots.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 03, 2005

The Other Izturis
Permalink

Maicer Izturis may be turning Orlando Cabrera into Wally Pipp. Cabrera is down with an injury, and Izturis is getting on base and hitting for power in his stead. Through the 6th inning tonight, Izturis is hitting .343 with a .361 OBA and a .514 slugging percentage. Compare that to Orlando Cabrera who has a career .314 OBA and a .294 mark this season. It's a really small sample size for Maicer, but if he keeps get on base at a rate 70 points higher than Cabrera, why keep sending Orlando out there?

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:54 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

July 02, 2005

He's Got Dave Dellucci Eyes
Permalink

David Dellucci should be the poster child for Lasik surgery. The leadoff hitter went 3 for 5 with a homer today. His OBA is now 70 points above his career average, and his slugging percentage is 110 points higher than his norm. I've always heard stories of Ted Williams having better than 20-20 vision and how that helped him hit. It looks like there's truth to that.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 01, 2005

Berkman's Back
Permalink

Lance Berkman's quietly is returning to form. After a very poor May, he had a .300/.400/.500 June. He starts July well, going 3 for 5 with 3 runs and 2 RBI in Houston's 10-7 victory over the Reds. Morgan Ensberg's solidified himself as the cleanup hitter in that lineup, hitting his twenty first homer and driving in four.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 30, 2005

Hope and Crosby
Permalink

The Athletics won again this afternoon, defeating the Seattle Mariners 6-2. Bobby Crosby batted cleanup today and went 2 for 3 with a walk and his fourth homer. He's now batting .337 with a .400 OBA and a .558 slugging percentage. The A's are 19-8 when Crosby plays, 19-32 without him. It looks like his injury cost the A's quite a few games; with him playing all year they very well might be in the thick of the wild card race.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 29, 2005

Moonlight Becomes You
Permalink

Tom Elia points me to this article on the 100th anniversary of Moonlight Graham's only major league appearance. The movie Field of Dreams it which Graham figures prominently, may be the only tear-jerker that makes men cry and not women.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:34 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

June 27, 2005

Jason Elevation
Permalink

Jason Giambi brought the Yankees back to victory for the 2nd time in 11 days last night, driving in two in the ninth with a single. Giambi drove the ball into the gap in right center, giving ample opportunity for all to score. Like his game winning hit against Pittsburgh on 6/15, and a couple of others I'm seen in this time frame, Giambi is getting the balls in the air, over the infield defense. Earlier in the season, I'd see him hit the ball hard but on the ground, usually right at the shifted second baseman playing shallow right field. Now, he's taking those same pitches and getting more of an uppercut on them. Yankees watchers, can you confirm this is happening? He's been on a mini-tear lately. (One of those hits was a bunt down the third base line against the shift. He was leading off the inning and the Yankees needed base runners. A smart play.)

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:06 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

June 24, 2005

Low Ranking Patterson
Permalink

Ivy Chat makes a good case that Corey Patterson shouldn't be batting any where near the top 2/3 of the Cubs order.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 23, 2005

Give Me Shelton
Permalink

The Minnesota Twins avoided a sweep by the Detroit Tigers today, defeating the Bengals soundly 6-2. Carlos Silva pitched his typical game; he gave up hits, but walked none, going the distance on just 91 pitches. It's the second complete game of the year for Silva.

The bright spot of the game for the Tigers was Chris Shelton going three for four, scoring both Detroit runs and hitting his third home run since his call-up in late May. Shelton is a perfect example of how easy it should be to find a first baseman. Carlos Pena just wasn't hitting. Instead of sticking with the guy, or spinning his defensive abilities, the Tigers pulled a good hitter out of their system. Shelton, in his brief stint with the Tigers this season, has a .362 OBA and a .519 slugging percentage. Here's someone that Pittsburgh left in the rule 5 draft. Some team over the last few years probably could have Shelton for not too much in return. The Tigers picked him up for next to nothing.

Just by being a decent hitting first baseman, Shelton's improved the Tigers offense at an important offensive position. The fact that the cost was extremely low should not be lost on other teams.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

June 21, 2005

More Tales from the Darkside
Permalink

It appears Jose Cruz, not one of his teammates, was responsible for the Darth Vader poster.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 20, 2005

Munson vs. Posada
Permalink

Jon at Coalition of the Dark Side believes that Jorge Posada is the best Yankees catcher in the Steinbrenner era, while other argue Munson. Thurman is one player that Sabermetrics made me see differently. I grew up loving Munson, arguing to people that he was better than Fisk. It just wasn't true. And for the same reasons, he's not better than Posada.

Munson did not walk much for a good hitter. He batted .292 but his OBA was only .346. Posada, on the other hand, only hit .271 but has a .378 OBA. He also outslugs Munson by 64 points. Defensively, I don't see much difference, so Posada gets the nod based on his offensive skills.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:09 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (1)

June 18, 2005

Grand Jeter
Permalink

Derek Jeter just hit the first grand slam of his career. What was most unusual about it was that he hit it to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium. Most of the his homers in the past in Yankee Stadium went to the opposite field.

Update: Jeter hits another home run in his next at bat. This time, he went to right center.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

June 15, 2005

Polanco Paying Off
Permalink

Looks like the trade for Placido Palanco is paying dividends for Detroit so far. Palanco went 3 for 4 tonight, and is now 10 for 20 with the Tigers. He drove in three in the Tigers 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. The Padres continue to pitch badly on the road. They have an ERA under 3.00 in PETCO, over 5.00 away.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Lowell on the Rise
Permalink

Mike Lowell appears to be coming out of his early season funk. He collected three hits, including two doubles in the Marlins 15-5 pasting of the Chicago Cubs this afternoon. Lowell is 16 for 42 in June (.381 BA) with four doubles and a homer. The batting average is back, and with the power in the Marlins lineup, he doesn't need much more than a good on-base percentage to improve the offense.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

June 12, 2005

Spiffy Spivey
Permalink

The Nationals acquistion of Junior Spivey continues to pay dividends. Spivey drew three walks and scored two runs in his first two games with Washington. He hit his first home run for the Nationals this afternoon, giving them a 2-0 lead over the Mariners. He now has three at bats and three runs scored with D.C.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 11, 2005

Run, David, Run
Permalink

David Ortiz just struck out on a wild pitch. He must have lost track of the outs, because with two outs and a man on first, you can run. He would have made it easily, but he never left the plate. He should get a kangaroo court fine for that.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:56 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

June 09, 2005

To Trade or Not to Trade
Permalink

Ken Williams is not trying to trade Carl Everett, but he's not not trying to trade Carl Everett.

A short stroll Wednesday from the hotel to Coors Field gave White Sox general manager Ken Williams an opportunity to let Carl Everett know he's not being shopped to other teams.

"I told him, `No. 1, don't start packing your bags, listening to the rumors,'" Williams said of his talk with Everett, who lost his full-time designated hitter duties with the return of Frank Thomas but started in left field Wednesday.

"`There's nothing on the horizon anywhere. No. 2, if there's something that made sense, you know me. But it would have to make real sense for us, short term and long term."

So if you want Carl Everett, give Ken a call. More importantly, Williams can really try to improve the team:

In assessing the trade market, Williams said he had the authorization to increase the Sox's player payroll, which is slightly above $75 million.

"If there's a special player who comes available and we see him as a fit, and [club Chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf is happy about our start as well as anyone, we're not going to be afraid to go down those roads," Williams said.

The White Sox are one of a handful of teams whose fans should no longer be kept waiting for a championship. They haven't won the World Series since 1917 and have not been particularly cursed. They just never developed any power hitters until Baines and Thomas came along. The time is ripe to great the bank and go for the all the marbles.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 07, 2005

Third to Worst
Permalink

The Mariners-Marlins game is scoreless in the fifth inning. This game features two third basemen having terrible years; Adrian Beltre and Mike Lowell. Both have on-base averages below .300 and slugging percentage below .350. But the Marlins are dealing with this by moving Lowell down in the order where he'll do less damage. He's batting 7th tonight. He started in the 5th slot, spent time in the 6th slot, and now bats 7th. Beltre, on the other hand, bats third every day. He's a huge weight pulling down that batting order. It's time to switch Ibanez and Beltre until Adrian starts hitting again.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 06, 2005

Longball Shortstop
Permalink

Miguel Tejada extended his AL lead in extra-base hits tonight, picking up a double and a homer against the Pirates to give him 36 long hits on the season. It's his eighth multi-extra-base hit game. That ties him with Derrek Lee for the ML lead in that category.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Comparing Shortstops
Permalink

Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) compares Cal Ripken and Miguel Tejada through age 29. To his surprise, Ripken blows Tejada out of the water on both sides of the ball.

That Miguel Tejada isn't a match for Cal Ripken doesn't tell us much more than that I shouldn't get column ideas from half a radio interview. The lesson we can take from this, however, is that the difference between pre-1993 baseball and post-1993 baseball is something to be taken seriously. We pay lip service to the notion that players who played in the high-offense era have to have their accomplishments put into context, but as you can see, the run environment of the two eras is so different that it can make players who weren't comparable seem so.

Their OBA's should have really tipped people off. Ripken had a .347 OBA from the start of his career through 1990, his age 29 year. Tejada's OBA in the same age period (through yesterday, actually) was .337.

More than that, the MLB OBA from the day Ripken started to the end of the 1990 season was .324. For Tejada, the MLB average is .336. So Ripken was well above average in OBA, while Tejada was just average.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:01 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

June 05, 2005

Who Needs Nomar?
Permalink

Neifi Perez has found new life as a batter since he joined the Cubs last September. He's even hitting for power, even homering at PETCO Park last night. That gives him seven for the year. Where did this come from:

Neifi Perez	Before Cubs	With Cubs
At Bats	4128	257
Batting Average	.268	.331
On-Base Average	.299	.356
Slugging Percentage	.377	.498

Neifi's career high in home runs is 12, and that came playing a full season at Coors Field. Eight of the dozen were hit in Denver. His .331 average since joining the Cubs is significant; there's only a .015 probability that a .268 hitters would get at least 85 hits over 257 at bats. At age 31 something changed for the better with Neifi and the Cubs are reaping the benefit.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:43 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

June 03, 2005

The Chavez Method
Permalink

Janie McCauley reports:

Several weeks ago, Eric Chavez decided to quit concerning himself with his results at the plate and focus on having quality at-bats.

The approach is working wonders — and his stroke is finally coming back.

So are the Athletics.

Chavez hit a grand slam and Oakland won its season-best fourth straight game, 5-3 over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Chavez is 8 for 24 over his last six games with a slugging percentage of .583. If the process is good, good results follow.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 29, 2005

Weighty Discussion
Permalink

Lynn Henning of the Detroit News wants to sit down with Ivan Rodriguez and interview him about his weight loss. So far, Pudge has avoded the interview:

When Rodriguez was approached several weeks ago, requesting some chat time during a weekend series against the Angels, he said: "Uh, not today. Later this weekend."

When he was approached later that weekend, he said: "This week sometime," meaning during a series against the Devil Rays.

When approached during the Devil Rays series, he said: "Later. Not now."

And when approached last weekend, at which point he said he couldn't talk today, he was finally asked just when, specifically, he might be free for 10 minutes of conversation?

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head.

At this point it's an important story. When you lose 30 pounds in a few months, then shed 50 points off you OBA and your slugging percentage, people wonder if it was a wise decision. Henning also points out how unusual it is to lose that much weight that quickly:

I remember 22 years ago when Kirk Gibson, following his brutal 1983 season, decided to change his body, his mind, his attitude, his work ethic, the whole shebang. He went on a bootcamp-like offseason program that trimmed 15 pounds in four months.

That was a significant amount of weight for an athlete of his size and scope. And it happened only by way of an intense, relentless effort that began in October and extended into February.

A couple of years ago, Bobby Higginson got busy with a trim-down campaign during the Tigers' offseason. He watched his calories, worked out even more strenuously than had been the rule during previous winters, got busy doing pilates, and voila, showed up at Lakeland, Fla., 10 pounds lighter.

It didn't come easy. But he worked hard to lose 10 extra pounds he didn't believe he needed.

Now we cut to Rodriguez and to a man who lost twice as much weight as Gibson and three times as much as Higginson -- in the same amount of time.

So why won't Ivan talk about it? It's having a negative impact on the team. If he had lost the weight and became an even bigger offensive powerhouse, it would be more of a curiosity. But he's pulling down an otherwise good offense. The fans and his teammates deserve an explanation.

Update: Fixed link.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:21 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 28, 2005

Olerud Returns
Permalink

It's nice to see John Olerud back in the majors, and especially nice to see him go 3 for 6 in his return. His three singles were part of a 27 hit attack against the Yankees today. Amazingly, only four of those 27 hits went for extra bases as the Sox spanked the Yanks 17-1.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 27, 2005

Which Year is the Fluke?
Permalink

Adrian Beltre is off to a terrible start for the Mariners this season. Coming into today, he had a .262 OBA. So was last year the fluke or this season? If you average the .262 and .388 of last season, you get .325, which is very close to his .328 career OBA. Talk about regression to the mean!

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:49 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

May 26, 2005

Walking Man
Permalink

It's nice to see Todd Walker back in the lineup for Cubs. He returned yesterday, and Chicago can certainly use his OBA at the top of the order.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 24, 2005

Streak A's
Permalink

Oakland Athletics fans have to be excited to see Eric Chavez heating up. With a three for three tonight, he's extended his hit streak to seven games and is 12 for 30 in that time period.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 23, 2005

Manny Mania
Permalink

Firebrand of the American League is noticing the decline in Manny Ramirez. Evan sees that Manny is hitting poorly vs. left handed pitchers. I find his home/road numbers more disturbing. Road numbers are a good way of canceling out park effects. It's not a big enough sample size to be meaningful yet, but it's something to watch. Manny's seasonal age is 33 this year, and while it's not terribly old, it's old enough that serious declines can happen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:37 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)

May 17, 2005

Bobby and the Hall
Permalink

Bobby Abreu hit his 11th home run of the year tonight to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead (Burrell followed with a solo shot of his own). Bobby is now hitting .336 with a .453 OBA and a .629 slugging percentage. This is Abreu's 8th full season in the majors, and none of them have been poor. Last July I wondered if we should be thinking about Abreu for the Hall of Fame. Once again, he's putting up numbers that can't be ignored.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

Gunning For Pena
Permalink

It appears a number of Tigers fans want Carlos Pena out of the lineup. I have to side with the fans on this one. Take a look at Pena's career with the Tigers. A .243 BA, .332 OBA and .448 slugging percentage are nothing to write home about for a first baseman. That's in 1300 AB. If he were going to be something special, we'd know about it by now. He turned 27 today; he should be having his best years now. It's unlikely he'll turn out to be a great player, so why not find someone younger and better?

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:05 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

May 16, 2005

BB for DD
Permalink

David Dellucci has drawn three walks tonight, bring his league leading total to 35. Dellucci's career high is 47 set during the 2004 season. At this rate, he'll draw well over 100 free passes. He's a .262 career hitter! Suddenly, he's walking like Barry Bonds (and none of them have been intentional). Pitchers might want to try putting the ball over the plate to David.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Franco File
Permalink

Aaron Gleeman opines on how good Julio Franco plays for an old man.

At the end of this season Franco will join Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Cap Anson as the only players in major-league history to lead their age in RCAA more than once. Normally I'd say being in such elite company is something Franco could tell his grandkids about when they grow up, but in this case they're probably old enough to read about it for themselves.

And, of course, all the others had real competition at the same age. He also includes a piece of the New York Times story on the trade of Franco from the Phillies. The article describes it as a trade where the majors players were Von Hayes and Manny Trillo. As Bill James states in his 1983 Abstract:

Manny Trillo, it should be noted, was strictly a throw-in in what was described in the papers as the Manny Trillo trade. Manny's been a good ballplayer, but he's a 32-year-old glove man who wants a big contract to stay with the team more than a year. Nobody much wants him. The essence of the swap was Hayes-for-Franco, a rare exchange of two true blue-chip prospects.

Hayes had a decent career, but never developed into a home-run hitter. His best years were 1986-1987.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 12, 2005

Descriptive Player
Permalink

Balls, Sticks and Stuff notices that a Phillies slugger has become an adjective.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 10, 2005

Father's Day
Permalink

My dad and I seldom disagree about baseball, but one big point of contention is Tino Martinez. My dad is one of the many Tino fans who feel the Yankees should have never let him go. My feeling was that Tino was getting old, and Giambi was a much better offensive player, so much so that his defense didn't matter.

Tonight, Tino hit his 8th homer of the year. He's now homered in four straight games and six of his last eight. Martinez is still not great, but he's doing a lot better than Giambi. I may not call dad until he goes cold again. :-) The Yankees lead 6-2 in the third and have chased Aaron Sele.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 05, 2005

Adam's RBI
Permalink

Adam LaRoche is starting to show some power. Five of his last six hits have been for extra bases, including a three run homer tonight. The Astros put together a decent looking lineup tonight that scored two in the first, but Backe gave it back and more when LaRoche took him deep in the bottom of the inning.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Overbay Watch
Permalink

Lyle Overbay added four walks last night to bring his total to 24. Only David Dellucci has drawn more. Up until the last two games, however, Overbay had not been walked intentionally. Dusty Baker changed that, issuing four passes to the slugger over the last two games. It's clear that Baker doesn't want Overbay to beat him, as he walked Lyle with men on first and third and two out in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied last night. This loaded the bases for Miller, who then drew a walk to drive in the winning run.

Unlike Dellucci, Overbay has more hits than walks, 29, giving him a Bonds like .519 OBA. Despite this, and despite his hitting well with runners in scoring position, Overbay neither has scored a lot of runs or driven in a lot of runs. I guess that says something about the hitters around Lyle. Maybe it's time to move him ahead of Lee and closer to Brady Clark, who's doing a great job in the leadoff spot.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:10 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

May 03, 2005

Reyes Walks
Permalink

Jose Reyes finally drew a walk. Even more amazing, it came with the bases loaded and gives Jose his first RBI in six games. I didn't see it; were any of the pitches even close to the plate? I see he walked on four pitches.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:16 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

May 02, 2005

The Big O
Permalink

It's nice to see John Olerud getting ready to return to the majors. The Red Sox signed him to a minor league contract, and he'll replace David McCarty as the backup/defensive replacement at first base. McCarty has hardly played this season, and it looks like the Red Sox want a left-handed bat at the position.

The first time I saw Olerud live was at Fenway in the early 1990's. He was wearing #9. While he wasn't quite skinny enough, his swing reminded me of film I've seen of Ted Williams. It was a bit eerie.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:34 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

April 29, 2005

Young Giant
Permalink

Jason Ellison continues to impress. He went three for five and scored the first run of the game. He's made the most of his first 30 AB, accumulating 14 hits, two walks and has stolen four bases in four attempts. We'll see if he can displace one of the geriatric Giants down the road. San Francisco wins in Pittsburgh 3-2.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Still Hitting
Permalink

The homers have slowed, but Brian Roberts is still belting out the hits. He's only hit 1 home run since the 19th, but including his 2 for 2 so far tonight, he has 10 hits in his last five games, and he's hitting .382 with a .461 OBA.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:48 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 28, 2005

Three Base Inge
Permalink

Brandon Inge led off the Tigers game with his third triple of the year. I thought that was pretty good for a former catcher, but Inge has a decent number of triples in this career (16 including tonight). He hit seven last season, and the ten over 2004-2005 ranks 10th in the majors. The Tigers lead 3-0 in the bottom of the first.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 27, 2005

Ouch!
Permalink

Shea Hillenbrand has two more hits tonight and another hit by pitch. He's been hit five times but only walked once. I looked up in the Lahman database players who have been hit at least five times and drew fewer walks than hit by pitches in the same year. It's happened 42 times. Most recently was Mike Kinkade, who was hit 16 times for the Dodgers in 2003 while walking 13 times and Einar Diaz who was hit 10 times that year while walking 9 times the same year.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Cycle the Hard Way
Permalink

Mark Grudzielanek hit for the cycle today as the Cardinals won their 11th game in 12 tries. And he did it the hard way, needing the triple as his last hit. Congrats to Mark! The Cardinals were the one team I felt really confident about calling a division winner. They're playing like they're going to run away with the division again.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Making a Choi-ce
Permalink

Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts makes the case for and against Hee Seop Choi.

Rather than concentrate on OPS, I look at the fact that he's drawn 112 walks in 645 AB. Even though he only has a .355 OBA, the 112 walks tells me he has a good eye for the strike zone. I'd much rather take a chance on him than a Shea Hillenbrand type, who hits but doesn't walk.

Also note, that if Choi were putting up these numbers as a catcher or second baseman, there would be no argument about his playing every day.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:07 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

April 26, 2005

Hit Blizzard
Permalink

J.T. Snow drives in the go-ahead run for the Giants with a triple in the fifth. That give Snow a single, double and triple tonight. He needs the homer for the cycle, but he hasn't hit a dinger this year.

Update: Ramon Hernandez hits the first pitch of the top of the 6th out to right field to tie the score at 2.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Hillenbrand and Reyes
Permalink

Jose Reyes had an at bat tonight that epitomizes what's wrong with his never walking. In the bottom of the 7th, Reyes stuck out swinging at a ball head high. It was the level of his eyes; he had no chance to hitting the pitch. At this point, there's absolutely no reason to throw the man a strike. Twenty games into the season, he has not drawn a walk or a hit by pitch.

Shea Hillenbrand has drawn one walk. But when he puts the ball in play, he gets hits. If you are not going to walk, you better be able to hit in the high .300s. With his 3 for 4 tonight, Hillenbrand is hitting .388. And while he has only 1 walk, he's gotten himself plunked 4 times for an OBA of .422. It doesn't matter how you get on, just get to first.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:06 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

April 25, 2005

Power and Speed
Permalink

With two stolen bases tonight, Brian Roberts is in 2nd place in the AL with 9. Although a few people have had high numbers of home runs and stolen bases in a season, I wonder if anyone ever led the league in both? Especially since Ruth changed the game around 1920.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Fresh Fish
Permalink

Fishstripes uses the Marlins day off to take a look at a couple of Florida prospects.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Line Drive Cintron
Permalink

Given the Michael Lewis piece yesterday, I found this comment on Alex Cintron to be very interesting:

Alex Cintron's work habits have improved over last year when he drew the ire of management, and he's no longer swinging for the fences. Instead, he has returned to being the line-drive, contact hitter that got him to the majors. He's increasing his value more than anything the team could receive in a trade.

Alex is getting on base at a .444 clip this season, vs. .301 in 2004.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

April 24, 2005

Singles and Walks
Permalink

Since we have 5' 7" players on our minds today, let's notice that David Eckstein is having a great season leading off for the Cardinals. He went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI in the Cardinals 8-5 win over the Astros. David now has 17 hits and 9 walks in 16 games for a .408 OBA. Fifteen of those 17 hits have been for singles (with two doubles). With Eckstein on base 26 times, however, he's only scored six runs. The two and four hitters in the Cardinals lineup have not hit well. When Walker and Rolen get rolling, I expect David will be crossing the plate more often.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:37 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

April 22, 2005

Coors' Cory
Permalink

Cory Sullivan, the new Rockies centerfielder, has a double and triple in his first two plate appearances. Given that they're in Colorado tonight, there's a good chance of the single and homer. The Dodgers are losing 4-0 after three.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

No Extras
Permalink

I'm enjoying seeing Jose Reyes having the same BA and OBA in the boxscore everyday. It's not so much that he hasn't walked, but he hasn't been hit by a pitch or even hit a sacrifice fly. This late, to have every plate appearance end in an AB is pretty unlikely.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 20, 2005

Baseball's Future
Permalink

A reader sent this article about a 16-year-old phenom named D'Arby Myers. He sounds too good to be true:

His physical skills are immense. He's 6 feet 3, 170 pounds, and the way he runs, throws, catches and hits would cause any scout to list him as a top prospect.

He also has a 4.0 grade-point average, with A's in chemistry, U.S. history and American literature. A baseball player with brains. What an unbeatable combination.

But what shows that he can make it to the top of his profession is the way he plays the game. There's never a swing in the batting cage that he doesn't enjoy. There's never a moment when he's in uniform that he doesn't feel as if he has found his life's calling.

"It's the sport I feel connected with," he said. "I played all the other sports … basketball, football, even hockey … but there's something about baseball that brings me joy inside. Since I was little, all I've wanted to do was play ball."

Is he the next teenager to make the majors?

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:39 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

Nomar Down
Permalink

Nomar Garciaparra, off to a very slow start, volunteered to hit lower in the order and was dropped to sixth today by Dusty Baker.

No one is quite sure what is causing Nomar's slump. He had a great spring. My theory is the great spring was the cause. This was Nomar's first camp in Arizona. Although not a mile high, Arizona is pretty high above sea level, causing the ball to jump. Garciaparra found it easier to hit in this situation, and may have gotten into a bad habit. Someone's going to need to go back to his Boston batting tapes and see what the shortstop was doing differently.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 15, 2005

Ross Rocks
Permalink

David Ross is turning out to be a very good pickup for the Pirates. He has two home runs tonight, giving him 3 in 17 AB so far this season. He's always had good power, you just had to be able to stand the low batting average. He has a decent eye for the strike zone; he doesn't hit the ball that often, but when he does it goes a long way.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Hot Corner
Permalink

It looks like Alex Rodriguez is a hero off the field:

The New York Yankees star said Thursday he was standing in a crosswalk on Newbury Street near downtown Boston at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when he saw the boy starting to run across the street into the path of an onrushing truck.

Rodriguez reached out and grabbed the boy, pulling him back and preventing a serious accident.

"The kid was going to get run over. I just kind of put my arm out and stopped him," he said.

I didn't see anything about this on the Boston Globe web page nor on the Herald's. Given his popularity in Boston, I half expected to see the headline, "A-Rod Grabs Little Boy." :-)

Update: In the comments, a reader points out that it is in the Globe, just not in the sports section. The Globe article presents many more details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:06 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

April 14, 2005

Keeping Up With the Suzukis
Permalink

Jacque Jones is off to a great start this season. With his 3 for 4 tonight, he's raised his average to .407, 11 for 27. Five extra base hits, including tonight's triple gives him a .778 slugging percentage. He scored 2 and drove in 2 as the Twins have a 10-3 lead over the Tigers in the 7th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Alfonzo Diet
Permalink

Tim Schultz looks at the relationship of Edgardo Alfonzo's weight to his ability to hit.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 13, 2005

Raging Randa
Permalink

Joe Randa is three for three today through six innings, raising his average to .481. All are singles, however, so now only six of his 13 hits are for extra bases. :-)

Randa's always been a pretty good average hitter, and not bad at getting on base. Adding power this year would bring a big boost to a Reds lineup where their power is very fragile in terms of injuries.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 10, 2005

Going for .400
Permalink

Ichiro is off to a very good start on the quest to hit .400. He's gotten 11 hits in the first week in 23 AB. He's also drawn 3 walks; if he can keep that walk rate up, he'll draw around 70; last year he drew 48. Twenty-two fewer AB would have raised his average to .384 in 2004.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 08, 2005

Eye On the Ball
Permalink

YES just showed a great replay of Hideki Matsui hitting a long sacrifice fly. They froze the frame just as his bat met the ball, and you can see his concentration on following the ball onto the bat. Perfect form.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 07, 2005

Hit or Whiff
Permalink

The Day by Day Database is updated through yesterday. I was just using it to look at the batting leaders in strikeouts and see that MLB leader Mark Bellhorn has twelve at bats, five hits and seven whiffs. He either gets a hit or strikes out. The other interesting thing is that he hasn't drawn a walk yet.

Did the Yankees decide that since Bellhorn won't swing at pitches outside the strikezone, to see if they could exploit his high strikeout rate by giving him pitches at which to swing? Take away Bellhorn's walks, and he's not that good an offensive player. It did seem to backfire, as five hits in twelve at bats is a good performance, regardless of how the outs were made.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:59 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 05, 2005

Damon In New York?
Permalink

Johnny Damon was on Regis and Kelly yesterday, and Regis was telling Damon how much Steinbrenner liked the centerfielder:

Damon, the Red Sox's center fielder and leadoff hitter, is a free agent after this season and the Yankees likely will need someone to replace Bernie Williams. The Yankees are unlikely to exercise their $15 million option on Williams for 2006.

Philbin told Damon, "So I'm sitting there with George Steinbrenner in his box last night. You come up to bat. I said, 'George, this guy is a great center fielder.' George loves you. He says, yes, you really are."

Off camera, Philbin kept telling Damon how much Steinbrenner had been raving.

Of course, if Damon moves to New York, he'll have to cut his hair and lose all his powers. :-)

I actually believe the Yankees solution should involve moving Jeter to center, A-Rod to short and finding a new third baseman. Jeter probably won't make the move, but Robin Yount did that and won the MVP. Jeter is better on fly balls than grounders, and he probably has a better arm than Bernie.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:43 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack (1)

April 04, 2005

Brewing Again
Permalink

Jeff Cirillo is making the most of his return to the Milwaukee Brewers. He has a double and a homer, and has driven in two of the three runs Milwaukee has scored today.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I-Rod a Stick
Permalink

A very slim Ivan Rodriguez gets the first hit for the Detroit Tigers, a single down the right field line. Ordonez is getting his first Detroit plate appearance now.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 03, 2005

Better Start
Permalink

Derek Jeter doubles leading off the third. He's already off to a much better start than in 2004.

Update: Sheffield doubles up the gap in left to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The Yankees are making contact and finding holes. They are 5 for 11 putting the ball in play after Sierra grounds out.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 30, 2005

The End of Endy
Permalink

Endy Chavez will start the season in AAA. Frank Robinson and the Nationals tried to get Endy to get on base more so he could serve as the team's leadoff hitter. It didn't happen, so Chavez has lost his spot on the big league club.

Ryan Church will take over the centerfield duties for the Nationals. Church has a career .379 OBA in the minor leagues, but it's not clear that Ryan will be the opening day leadoff man.

Leadoff duty, though, may fall to Brad Wilkerson, who hit first 107 times in 2004, most on the team. Wilkerson, who also can play center, slugged 32 homers but drove in just 67 runs last year. He hit fifth for most of the spring -- and hit a homer from that spot Tuesday night -- and would like to remain lower in the order so he could drive in more runs.

My feeling is to give Church a chance and see if his power develops. If he winds up being a better long-ball hitter than Wilkerson, swap them in the lineup.

Correction: Changed Expos to Nationals. Old habits die hard.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 29, 2005

New Life for the Cat
Permalink

Andres Galarraga has retired. He ends his career with 399 home runs. Interestingly, not reaching 400 home runs might turn out to be good for his memory. People still talk about Al Kaline coming up one short; in 30 years they'll still be talking about Andres quitting with class rather than hanging on trying to get to the round number.

Looking at the numbers, it's amazing how Colorado turned around his career. Andres looked done at age 31. He had a season in St. Louis that would have been poor for a shortstop. A combination of thin air, Don Baylor and the league explosion in offense made Andres a dangerous power hitter. Through 1992, he had hit 116 HR and averaged 1 HR every 29.4 AB. Since, he hit 283 HR and averaged 1 HR every 16.6 AB.

He'll be remembered, too, for his battle with cancer and his comeback from that disease. Every time you thought he was done, he managed to work his way back. Good luck to him in his retirement.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (1)

March 26, 2005

What was Wrong with the Old Stance?
Permalink

I didn't realize that Ichiro Suzuki had changed his batting stance halfway through the season last year. With the new stance, he hit .429 after the break in 2004, raising questions as to whether he can hit .400 for a season. My feeling is that if he were more selective, he'd hit for a higher average.

Of course, feelings can be checked. BIS keeps track of location of pitches in the strikezone. So we can calculate Ichiro's average on balls in the strikezone vs. balls outside of the strikezone:

Ichiro 2004	In Strike Zone	Outside Strike Zone
AB	589	115
Hits	228	34
Batting Avg.	.387	.296

This table indicates two things to me:

1. Ichiro mostly puts balls in play that are in the strikezone. He doesn't put that many bad balls in play.
2. He hits very well when putting bad balls in play, but no where near as well as when he waits for a pitch in the strike zone.

So I have no doubt that even better selectivity would improve Ichrio's average. If he was able to turn some of those bad ball AB into walks, the smaller batting average denominator would also help him achieve a .400 BA.

Update: I just wanted to check vs. someone with a reputation for having a good eye for the strikezone.

Bonds 2004	In Strike Zone	Outside Strike Zone
AB	333	40
Hits	122	13
Batting Avg.	.366	.325

Bonds had AB on balls out of the strike zone 11% of the time. Ichiro had AB on balls out of the strikezone 28% of the time.

Correction:: Fixed row names in tables.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:08 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

March 25, 2005

Maybe He'll Blog about Baseball
Permalink

Doug Glanville was released by the Yankees today. He's one player who is likely to be more productive out of baseball. I'd love to see him blog about the game; as both an excellent writer and a former insider, he'd look at the game from a very interesting angle.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 22, 2005

Hedging his Bets
Permalink

Great quote from Ichrio at U.S.S. Mariner.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Triple Excitement
Permalink

Alex Belth notes his and Rich Lederer's excitement at Jason Giambi's triple. Giambi is batting .294 this spring with a .559 slugging percentage and a .444 OBA. He's drawn nine walks and struck out eight times. If Jason comes anywhere near these numbers in the regular season it would boost the New York offense even higher. It would also call into question how much steroids really help a ballplayer.

Giambi's a test case. Can a clean player perform as well as when he was using? Jason is doing well this spring. I'd like to see him sustain these levels for the whole season.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:54 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

March 21, 2005

Blue Blurbs
Permalink

Jon Weisman has the latest Dodger news at Dodger Thoughts, including news that Choi may bat 2nd.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thinking Ahead
Permalink

At age 35, Scott Hatteberg is starting to think about life after baseball.

The idea of a front-office job piques Hatteberg's interest, too.

"Yeah, I think about life after baseball,'' Hatteberg said. "My career is somewhere close to ending. I think, 'Hell, I've been in school 15 years in baseball,' and the teaching aspect appeals to me, but the front office is even more appealing. It seems cool. I think I'd enjoy that.

"Billy and I have never discussed it, like, 'Hey, do you want a job?' But I'm very interested in what's going on, and Billy tells me a lot about what he looks for (in players). The whole process is like the ultimate video game."

Chavez believes he'd be a great hitting coach:

With the amount of time Hatteberg spends thinking about hitting and analyzing his stroke and watching video-tape of pitchers, one teammate thinks he'd be even better as a batting coach.

"He's definitely a smart guy in a lot of areas,'' third baseman Eric Chavez said. "It seems like he does everything well. I've never thought of him as a GM, but I could see him as a hitting coach, because he's made himself such a good baseball player and has worked so hard to do it. That kind of knowledge he could definitely pass on."

It looks like Scott won't have a difficult time finding a job once his career is over.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 19, 2005

Lance Gets a Lot
Permalink

Lance Berkman no longer has to wish he was a rich man.

Houston outfielder Lance Berkman completed a six-year, $85 million contract on Saturday with the Astros, keeping the three-time All-Star from becoming a free agent after the 2005 season.

"I'm just thrilled to make this type of commitment to the team," Berkman said. "I want to play every game of my career in an Astros uniform. I think this definitely solidifies in my mind that this is the place I want to be, and that this is the organization I love and want to help make a champion."

Of course, the Astros had plenty of money after the Mets signed away Carlos Beltran. Still, a very good signing. Berkman's the rare 3-4-5 guy; .300 BA, .400 OBA and .500 slugging percentage. And while he plays in a good offensive park, his road numbers are just as impressive. The question for Houston is can they find enough supporting players to win with Berkman's skills?

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 18, 2005

Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Permalink

East Coast Agony explores the close bond between mentor Joe McEwing and student David Wright. McEwing's release breaks up two close friends.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 17, 2005

Role Models
Permalink

Just for the record, I don't think ballplayers should be role models. As much as I love the game, the people who play it in general are not the nicest people in the world. I wouldn't let my daughter marry a professional ballplayer. I appreciate their skills, I enjoy their exploits, but outside of that they're not worth emulating. Parents should make that clear to their children.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:18 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

March 16, 2005

Shifting Stance
Permalink

The Washington Nationals are trying to change Nick Johnson's batting stance. They want him to close the stance and eliminate movement in his lower body. I'm not sure Tom McCraw explains it well, however:

"It's going to take a while," hitting coach Tom McCraw said, "because first of all, you've got three different changes to make. You've got the psychological change to make. You've got the physical change to make. And then you've got the mental change to make. . . . First you've got to get him mechanically to where you want him. Then you got to get him comfortable in that slot. Then you go to work on the head -- knowing what you want to do."

Psychological and mental seem like one change to me. :-) The physical change seems a lot tougher. A baseball swing is something that is developed through years of practice. Can it be overhauled in one spring? I'll agree with McCraw here:

"You've got to retrain the muscles," McCraw said, "because right now, he'll start creeping out [to an open stance] . . . and I'll have to remind him to bring it back. That's where his muscles are used to going. They're comfortable there, so they go right back to that area. That's where having more time is going to be effective."

Johnson said he's willing to take that time.

"I think I'm already a lot quicker to the ball," he said. "We'll see."

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 10, 2005

Return to Form?
Permalink

Based on his batting eye, the Baseball Savant believes Giambi will be a productive player in 2005.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Hit Machine
Permalink

The Baseball Crank takes a look at the chances of Ichiro reaching 3000 hits in the majors. If he can keep his speed, he could do it. But it also makes you wonder, if Ichiro had come to the US earlier, he could have made a run at Rose's hit record.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 09, 2005

The Next Yount?
Permalink

Ian Desmond is having a good spring for the Washington Nationals. The teenager has made the first round of cuts and is reported to be very impressive with the glove:

"We've been talking about him, sure," catcher Gary Bennett said the other day. "You don't want to say too much. It's early. But man, that kid has some tools."

They have talked, specifically, because of three plays. Two came Saturday: a high chopper on which Desmond spectacularly threw out a runner at the plate, and a bad-hop grounder that deflected off the third baseman that Desmond calmly grabbed before flicking to first for the out. The other came Monday against Detroit, when, with a runner on first, he ranged behind third to snare a pop fly, then smartly threw to second baseman Brendan Harris, who doubled the runner off.

"He has tremendous poise," Bowden said. "He reminds me of Derek Jeter -- except those were Ian Desmond plays, not Derek Jeter plays."

Keep your eye on this young man. Players who make the majors at an early tend to be the great ones.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 08, 2005

Up or Down?
Permalink

Over the Monster wonders if Kevin Youkilis should start the season in the majors or minors:

With only two spots predicted to be available on the Red Sox bench, the on-base machine known as Kevin Youkilis is on the fence between Boston and Pawtucket.

Maybe the Red Sox should carry one less pitcher to make room for Kevin.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 07, 2005

Team Chemistry
Permalink

I've always scoffed at the idea of team chemistry being very meaningful. I grew up watching the Oakland A's and New York Yankees win with poor team chemistry (it's difficult to have good chemistry with Reggie Jackson on your team). Today, the New York Times has an excellent article on diffuse vs. close-knit teams.

"So much of psychology and sociology emphasizes the importance of communicating and creating strong bonds to improve group performance, but in a lot of situations that is just not how it works," said Dr. Calvin Morrill, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied group behavior in competitive corporate situations and in high schools. "Baseball is an odd mix of an individual and team sport, and an ideal example of where a diffuse team with weak ties to one another may help the overall functionality of the group."

It turns out that winning does more to create chemistry than the other way around:

Winning is more likely to create team unity than vice versa, Torre has said repeatedly, and the evidence backs him up, said Dr. Richard Moreland, a professor of psychology and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Team cohesion is a hard thing to measure in the first place, Dr. Moreland said, and dozens of studies of sports teams find that, although having players who feel team unity helps performance, "it is not a strong effect, compared to the effect of performance on cohesion."

If you want fans in the stands, if you want a team that gets along, just win baby.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 04, 2005

Replacement Watch
Permalink

Ken Stocks of the Galveston Daily News reviews the players competing for the Astros' centerfield job. If it comes down to Luke Scott vs. Willy Taveras, it will be a classic case of power vs. OBA. Luke has good power and a decent OBA. Willy gets on base more. The loss in power with the departure of both Beltran and Kent may give Scott the edge.

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive during March. Click here for details.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:15 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

March 01, 2005

Suzuki Method
Permalink

U.S.S Mariner continues its series discussing the team by position with a look at rightfield today. There's not much to discuss, just superlatives for Ichiro.

Seriously, Ichiro is awesome. He’s a remarkably valuable player, extremely unique, exciting, and marketable, all rolled into one mini package. Ichiro makes going to the ballpark more fun in a way that other great players don’t. The Ichiro experince goes beyond his BA/OBP/SLG and and the tangible value of his production. Ichiro is great for the game. Ichiro is great for Seattle.

There are some players like this, players bigger than their stats. Bo Jackson was like that for me. Before he injured his hip, he was one player I'd pay extra to see. I knew he wasn't as good as the hype, but he might do something spectacular. Ichiro is the same way; watch him and you may be amazed.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 27, 2005

Krash Kendall
Permalink

There's a great Jason Kendall story over at Athletics Nation.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 24, 2005

Favorites of Youth
Permalink

Rich Lederer finishes up his series, Who Was Your Favorite Player Growing Up?

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 23, 2005

Making Mistakes
Permalink

The Japan Times reports that Ichiro Suzuki wants to make less mistakes at the plate this season:

"I feel like I'm a player who makes a lot of mistakes," Ichiro said through a translator on Tuesday. "I make a lot of mistakes and those turn into outs because I made a mistake.

"Last year I made less mistakes than maybe the years past," he added. "I want to go out and make less mistakes at the plate. When I do that, I'll hit for a higher average and get more hits."

Most teams would be happy with the mistakes Ichiro makes. :-) I wish the reporter had pressed Suzuki on what kind of mistakes he made. I wonder if it's in pitch selection?

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

No Limo
Permalink

It appears Sosa didn't use the Limo as transporation to the Orioles spring training camp today.

Upon arriving in Baltimore three weeks ago, Sosa requested that the Orioles send him a stretch limo at the airport. On Wednesday, he found his way to camp without the aid of a limousine.

He emerged from his white Range Rover at 9:38 a.m., slipped into the clubhouse and had a quick chat with manager Lee Mazzilli before joining his new teammates on the back fields of Fort Lauderdale Stadium.

Not exactly downsizing, eh Ms. Vecsey?

Sosa impressed his teammates with his power:

As a way of introducing himself to his new teammates, Sammy Sosa slammed about two dozen baseballs far over the center-field wall during his first workout with the Baltimore Orioles.

Before he was done, nearly half the squad interrupted their tedious drills to watch the show.

And it appears that boom boxes won't be a problem:

Sosa created a stir in Chicago with a boom-box that ultimately was destroyed by a teammate. That won't be a problem in Baltimore; Mazzilli does not allow the players to listen to music before games, except through headphones.

"That's the rule and they all go by it," Mazzilli said. "If I listen to your 50 Cent, then you should be able to listen to my Dean Martin."

Now that's amore!

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Casey in the Darkroom
Permalink

A nice counter point to Barry Bonds' abrasiveness is this post about Sean Casey.

I guess he's not actually in the darkroom. It sounds like they don't use that much anymore. I remember being at the World Series in the late 1990's and walking by the photography room. Rolls of film were hanging from clotheslines, there was a dark room where pictures could be developed; controlled chaos. Now, it's as simple as connecting to your computer and sending an e-mail.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Giles Journeys?
Permalink

The Giles brothers, Brian and Marcus would like to play together.

Word has surfaced that if Giles and the Padres can't reach contractual terms for 2006, he would look into signing with the Atlanta Braves next offseason so that he can align with his younger brother, Marcus Giles, the Atlanta second baseman and fellow Granite Hills High alum.

"He wants to come here," Marcus Giles was quoted as telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this month.

However, it looks like Marcus has changed his story. Last year it appeared he wanted to play in San Diego:

Bochy is aware that the brothers Giles would love to play for the same major league team. But could that team be the Padres? During the Japan Series in November, Bochy said Marcus Giles told him he'd play any position for the Padres, who hold the rights to a superb second baseman in Mark Loretta through 2006. While on the disabled list last season, Marcus Giles even rode the Padres' team bus in Milwaukee.

"Marcus was on me to bring him over here," Bochy said. "He wanted to play here."

After hearing that Marcus Giles envisions his brother with him in Atlanta, Bochy said, "Wait a minute, Marcus, you wore me out, you said that you'd play left field (for the Padres)."

Whichever Giles switches is likely to improve the team to which he moves.

By the way, I love this line about Brian's strength:

Appearing strong enough to hoist a Kharmann Ghia, Giles said he again lifted weights under the tutelage of his longtime trainer, Mike "Mad Dog" Douglass, the Alpine-based former San Diego State and Green Bay Packers linebacker.

My first car was a Super Beetle, but I wish it had been a Kharmann Ghia. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

More Favorites
Permalink

Rich Lederer has part two of Who Was Your Favorite Player Growing Up?

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 22, 2005

Helton Helping
Permalink

In reading this piece on how Todd Helton is emerging as the Rockies leader, I noticed this interesting fact.

Even as he put up potential Hall of Fame numbers, Helton has been a reluctant leader. But he can't escape the responsibility with this roster. At 31, he's the oldest starter. The young players will look to him for guidance.

It's an interesting comparison with the Yankees, who's youngest starter is Alex Rodriguez at age 29.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2005

Autograph Hunters
Permalink

I'm keeping an eye on the reporter blogs to see how they work. This is a nice example of a story you'll seldom see in the paper, but it gives you a nice clue as to what goes on behind the scenes. It's about Ryan Freel signing autographs, and how he's bothered by people who send him cards just to resell same.

"This is what I do -- if you've got four in there, I sign one and keep three."

He puts the three cards on top of a quickly growing stack on the clubhouse table.

"I'd do this all day if I knew they were all going to people who'd put them on the wall in their bedroom and appreciate it."

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:20 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)

February 13, 2005

On a Larkin
Permalink

Barry Larkin has retired. He'll be joining the Washington Nationals front office, which is looking like a home for old Reds:

In the Nationals' front office, Larkin is joining a former Reds' manager, Bob Boone, and teammate, pitcher Jose Rijo, as special assistants to Bowden.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:34 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

February 10, 2005

Makeover
Permalink

With all the steroid talk lately, it's nice to see that some players still do some good in the world.

In December, the Comers came to the attention of Clemens and the people who run his foundation. Clemens' charitable organization learned that Chris — a former Odessa Permian football player recently portrayed in the movie Friday Night Lights — had lost his wife to breast cancer in December 2003. They heard that Chad received a liver transplant in January 2003 and that the Comers' financial situation made it difficult to make ends meet.

The people who make the TLC room-redecorating series While You Were Out contacted the foundation, and a plan was hatched. On Wednesday, Clemens and show personalities Evan Farmer, John Bruce, Leslie Segrete, Andrew Dan-Jumbo and Jason Cameron turned over the keys to the remodeled condo.

The Comers get the condo mortgage free, thanks to the foundation.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 28, 2005

Left Out
Permalink

Sabernomics has noticed an anomaly among Hispanic baseball players; there are fewer lefties and he's wondering why.

Maybe non-Hispanic switch-hitters are more likely to give up batting from the right side than Hispanics? This was my first thought, but the fact that the shortage of lefties occurs among pitchers as well leads me to think its something on the Hispanic side. In fact, due to the shortage of left-handed Hispanic pitchers, there are greater returns to becoming a switch-hitter if you are playing in Latin America (assuming the left-right ratio is the same as in MLB).

It strikes me that to measure actual left-handedness you have to look at throwing arms. I've always thought that handedness was backwards when it came to batting. When you're young, you're told to pull the bat, not push. A righty pulls the bat with his left hand. Maybe that's why it's relatively easy to learn to bat from the other side. Switching makes your dominant side the pulling side.

But it strikes me as rather difficult to learn to throw from the other side. So a good measure of the number of true lefties is a player's throwing arm. Using the Lahman database, and basing the calculation on birth country, I get 12.5% Hispanic lefties in the majors in 2004, 23.0% lefties among all other players.

Is it genetics or culture? These countries don't strike me as so isolated that lefties would be forced out of the gene pool. There is anecdotal evidence that there's a cultural element.

I have a good friend who is a lefty from Puerto Rico, so I wrote to ask him about the Sabernomics post. His reply:

Being a lefty in Puerto Rico was not easy. It was not tolerated very well when I grew up, maybe now it is. All efforts are made to avoid it and this perhaps explains my ambidexterity: I throw and bat righty.

Maybe someone can poll right-handed Hispanics and find out how many are natural lefties. Even just polling the right-handed throwing switch hitters might be enough to explain the difference.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:26 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (1)

Barry Bye-Bye
Permalink

It looks like Barry Larkin is about to retire. Larkin's doing a number of non-baseball activities this winter:

None of those pursuits, you might notice, have anything to do with playing shortstop in the major leagues.

Does this mean Larkin's playing career is officially over? He won't say those words directly, but it doesn't take much reading between the lines to determine the answer to that question.

"I'm doing what I want to do," Larkin said over the telephone from Florida. "I have a lot of oars in the water and there's a lot of things that I'm doing. One thing I'm not doing is sitting around at home worrying about baseball -- or about anything, for that matter."

Larkin has not had a great season this decade. Although it appears that some teams would like to employee him, he's not comfortable playing anywhere but Cincinnati:

But Larkin still expressed a desire to play shortstop every day for someone and vowed to explore his options. As it turned out, most of the discussions he had about playing somewhere other than his hometown were internal.

"I really didn't know where I was on that," he said. "I didn't press the issue, and I kind of waited to see if it would go one way or the other. I never woke up and said OK, I can do it, I can go play for another team and feel good about it, representing another organization.

"I'm a very loyal person, and I just can't accept a salary from a team and not be able to go out there and give 100 percent. I just can't play that way. I can't do it, I won't do it, I haven't done it and I don't see myself doing it."

Larkin is one of a handful of recent retirees who will have spent his career with just one club (Gwynn, Puckett, Ripken, Yount, Brett, etc). It's loyalty that you don't see much from players or management anymore. With any luck, Barry will get a job with the organization. Of course, this doesn't help:

If Larkin sounds relaxed, it's because he is. He takes a tongue-in-cheek poke at the "youth movement that I was told was going to happen" evolving into the Reds signing thirtysomething veterans like Joe Randa, Rich Aurilia, Kent Mercker and David Weathers this offseason. Then again, Larkin turns 41 this April, which would make nearly everyone around him in any baseball clubhouse a relative youngster.

I have to agree with Barry on that one.

Durability likely cost Barry Larkin a place in the Hall of Fame. In 19 seasons, he only played 150 games four times. Injuries cost him around 700 games; since he averaged better than a hit a game during his career, it's likely he would have had 3000 hits playing 150 games a season. He was good at getting on base, showed power for a shortstop (before the power boom of the 1990's) and knew how to steal a base. He stole 379 bases in 456, good for an astronomical 83.1% success rate. If the counters were higher, he'd be going to Cooperstown.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:48 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (1)

January 19, 2005

Exchanging Figures
Permalink

The Transaction Guy has the list of players facing arbitration and what value each side puts on a 2005 contract. Most are pretty close. An interesting one is Casey Fossum. He's asking for $1.35 million, while Arizona is offering $800,000. Fossum was the 2nd unluckiest pitcher in the majors last year according to DIPS. I wonder if Casey's agent is aware of that?

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 18, 2005

Working Back
Permalink

Alex Belth relays a trickle of information on Jason Giambi. There's a good discussion in the comments as well.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

January 14, 2005

KC Kerfluffle
Permalink

Brian Hipp writes:

I thought you might be interested in this article from the Kansas City Star on Mike Sweeney. He's complaining that he was misled by the Royals a few years ago when he signed his big contract. Sweeney accurately points out that the AL Central is the worst division in baseball but the Royals still don't compete.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/10642207.htm

Bugmenot login: lala@mailinator.com

Bugmenot password: lalala

The sports radio guys here are generally all over Sweeney. They and their devoted callers typically say that Sweeney is a big part of the problem and that it's partly his fault that the Royals are so terrible. Lots of anti-sabermetric talk about Mike's failure to lead, make other players better, etc. The prevailing opinion in KC is that Sweeney's contract is an albatross that prevents the Royals from competing.

I feel that the only reason Sweeney's contract is viewed so negatively here is that the Royals refuse to sign any other good players. Er, except Eli Marrero for $3 mil this offseason. I'm not making that up, either. It's true that Sweeney is hurt all the time, but his $11 mil wouldn't criticized so much if the Royals had any other good players. The Royals entire collection of outfielders might not collectively hit 40 HRs this year. I'm with Sweeney.

I thought he was a good signing at the time. Hell, at the time, we had Beltran, Damon, Dye, and Sweeney all tearing it up. We (and Sweeney) didn't know that we'd let all those other guys go. I respect Sweeney for agreeing to sign here when no one else would, and I generally think the Royals are run by a cheap owner and a team of clowns.

It's interesting that a lucky season by the Royals in 2003 forced Sweeney's contract to vest. Without a winning 2003 season, this conversation would not be happening in KC. By the same token, 2004, with all the injuries to the pitching staff, was probably worse than it should have been. You never know. The Royals might bounce back again, and Sweeney will be happy.

Of course, if Mike was tearing up the league as he was in 2002, the Royals might be winning more. But Brian is right; the contract is not the problem. Not signing the young stars long term has hurt this team more.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

November 27, 2004

Back East
Permalink

Hideki Matsui returned to Japan and tells the press he was disappointed in his season.

Matsui returned to Japan for the first time in eight months Friday and said he considers his second season in the major leagues a "big minus" because the Yankees missed the World Series.

"I think about it now and it's still heartbreaking," said Matsui when asked of the playoff loss to the Boston Red Sox that sent the Yankees' archrivals to the World Series and saw them become world champion.

"In my eyes it wasn't a good season. My personal stats improved somewhat, but I've only played (in the majors) for two years. It means I've gotten used to their baseball and learned to adjust," he said.

It's the Yankees attitude; if you didn't win the World Series, you didn't have a successful season.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 24, 2004

Walks or Hits
Permalink

In a comment to this post on Ichiro, a reader writes:

While it's obvious that a higher on base percentage is always a good thing it does not follow that if Ichiro walked more he would have a higher on base percentage. The assumption that it is possible to simply turn outs into walks simply through greater pitch selection is faulty. Along the way he'll also turn some hits into walks, and worse, some hits into outs. Stats are a great way of evaluating the value players produce but I don't think they act as very good prescriptions. If Vlad Guerrero was more selective at the plate he would have more walks but he also have less hits, homeruns etc.

I think there is a common misperception here of what selectivity at the plate means. First of all, Vlad highest walk total was in 2002, which was also his highest hit total. Secondly, the value of becoming more selective is best seen in Sammy Sosa, who made the unusual move of changing his approach at the plate mid-career. Look at Sosa pre-1998 and since. Increased selectivity improved every aspect of his game. And it could do the same for Ichiro.

My favorite exhibit at the Hall of Fame is Ted Williams' model of the strikezone. It different colored baseballs attached to a board. The colors form rectangular zones. On each ball is written a batting average, which Williams claimed was his batting average when the ball was in that area of the strike zone. His BA was very high on pitches in the middle of the zone, and very low the farther you got outside of the zone. While the numbers may change, I believe this model is true for all batters, including Ichiro.

Ichiro has a unique ability to adjust his swing once he's committed, so he does a very good job of putting balls outside the strikezone in play. But his BA has to be lower on those pitches. There is no downside to not swinging at those pitches, since not swinging makes the count more favorable to the batter. By not swinging at those pitches, Ichiro will increase the number of pitches over the heart of the plate, where I suspect his batting average is very high. His walks will go up, and his batting average will go up, because he's swinging at higher percentage pitches. I also suspect his power will go up, since it's easier to hit pitches in the strikezone hard.

Again, look at Sosa's career. He layed off pitches outside of the strikezone. Pitchers were forced to throw over the plate, and Sammy creamed them. Ichiro would likely do the same.

Update: Nate Silver has a related article at BP.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:49 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

September 22, 2004

Ichiro Discussion
Permalink

There is an interesting discussion in the comments of this post on the value of Ichrio Suzuki. The discussion got started from this article on CSBSportsline. Scott Miller tries to pain Ichiro as a selfish player:

More nagging, and more to the point, is this: As his team has stayed far south, has Ichiro's pursuit of the record become self-centered enough to cheapen the record?

Twice in two days earlier this month, with a runner on second base and two out in a one-run game, when Seattle has needed the American League's leading hitter to knock a run-scoring hit, Ichiro has gone against convention and bunted.

The overwhelming conclusion among those who were watching: Ichiro is currently much more concerned with Ichiro than he is with helping his team.

After the second one, Melvin talked to Ichiro and had him stop that. So,without my knowing what is going on in Ichiro's mind, let me say that getting on base is always a good thing. If Ichiro thought that a bunt with the third baseman playing back was the best way to keep the inning going, I'm not going to criticize him. But indeed, if Suzuki was just concerned with his hits, then he needed a talking to and got one.

As to how great he is, one commentor points out his high ranking in win shares. He's done a good job this year getting on base, he's fast and a good base stealer, and he's a top defensive player. He does have weaknesses, however, the biggest of which is plate discipline.

Historically, he has never walked much -- 45 times in 694 plate appearances last season, for example -- which is part of his uniqueness. Other leadoff hitters take pitches, work counts and allow the rest of the lineup to see what kind of stuff a pitcher has on a given night. Ichiro slaps and runs.

But the Mariners asked him this spring to be a little more patient at the plate. He promptly got off to an awful start. In addition to that .255 April average, there was the .309 on-base percentage. Ichiro had become a big part of the reason why Seattle's season was finished before it ever began.

"We talked some philosophy this spring that, over time, some pitchers did not need to throw strikes to get him out," Molitor said. "We talked about getting himself into better pitch counts.

"To be honest with you, it didn't work very well. I talked to Melvin and we set him free, so to speak. He was respectful to what Bob and I tried to tell him, but I think it was more the mental freedom."

The Mariners "set him free" during late April, early May. He batted .400 in May with a .436 on-base percentage and he has been on base pretty much ever since.

In 2001, the Yankees were able to exploit this lack of discipline with pitches up and in. His other weakness is a lack of power, although I keep hearing that he hits monster shots in batting practice. With hitters like Ichiro, Gwynn, Puckett and others, I wonder what their batting average would be like if they learned to lay off pitches out of the strikezone. Ichiro might hit .400.

But those weakness are minor if he has a .400 OBA. He's a leadoff man. His job is to get on base and set up the power hitters. He does that well, but the power hasn't delivered this year. How great you think Suzuki is may depend on how much you value process over results. Ichiro's process at the plate is lousy, but he's so talented that his results are great. It's scary to think how good he'd be if he got the process right.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:57 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

September 17, 2004

Bonds Contract Extension
Permalink

audio post powered by audblog

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 11, 2004

Craig's Crush
Permalink

Craig Biggio hit his 22nd HR of the year to give the Houston Astros a 1-0 lead in the first. That ties his career high. Biggo's offense has fallen off over the last three years, but he has for the most part retained his power. His .475 slugging percentage this year is the highest he's had since 1998.

Update: Jason Bay does Biggio one better and hits his 23rd HR of the year, a three run shot in the bottom of the first, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead. Bay and Oliver Perez each have 15 win shares; Brian Giles has 22. Looks like both teams made out well in this trade, but long term the Pirates made a great deal.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:52 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 07, 2004

Lack of Stamina
Permalink

I think it's safe to lay the blame for the demise of the Texas Rangers at the feet of Michael Young and Hank Blalock. The two looked like superstars in the first half, and have faded greatly since the All-Star break.

2004 OPS	Pre-Break	Post-Break
M. Young	.882	.730
H. Blalock	.941	.668
Rangers Offense	.818	.737
Rangers Opponents	.766	.768

Who would have thought that coming into the season the Texas pitching would be consistent and good? A fading offense appears to have cost the team a playoff spot. Blalock is still young, so I suspect his stamina will get better. But Young is 27, and should be at the peak of his athletic skills.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:02 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 31, 2004

And My Wife Would Not Let Me Name a Child Ford!
Permalink

Chipper Jones has named his son after Shea Stadium:

"I love playing there," Jones said. "Check the numbers."

Jones has hit 17 home runs at Shea, his highest total at a visiting park, and his first major league homer came there on May 9, 1995. He is a lifetime .314 hitter at Shea."

(Repeated word removed in the above quote.)

This reminds me of a joke from Eric Idle's excellent satire of Beatles documentries, All You Need is Cash.

On their second visit to the States in early 1965 they played the world's first outdoor rock and roll concert at Che Stadium (named after the Cuban Guerilla leader Che Stadium).

Update: James Joyner has a much funnier take on this.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:10 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

August 30, 2004

Barry on the Bench
Permalink

Bonds is not in the starting lineup for the Giants today. And I don't remember ever seeing Turner Field so empty.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

August 17, 2004

Missed It by This Much
Permalink

Daryle Ward came very close to the cycle last night. He had a double, triple and homer, but couldn't connect for a single in his other three AB. Ward's having a good power year in his limited playing time; 22 of his 48 hits have been for extra bases. He's a good example of a player who would be much better if he just walked more. He walks about every 15.6 AB. If he could get that down to every ten AB, he'd be playing every day.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:27 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

August 15, 2004

Top Threes
Permalink

You may want to check out the latest win share data from the Hardball Times (AL here, NL here). The top team in each league is led by a dynamic trio. In the AL, Sheffield and Matsui each have gathered 22 win shares to tie for the league lead, while A-Rod is tied for 5th with his replacement, Michael Young, at 20. As good as they are, the Cardinals big three is even better. Rolen (31), Pujols (25) and Edmonds(25) have combined for 81 win shares. Thoese three are responsible for 27 of the Cardinals wins. Again, this is why the Cards wanted to get Larry Walker; too much of the team's ability to win was stored in these three players. Walker gives them depth to protect the team if one of the big three goes down.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:02 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

August 14, 2004

The Grass Is Greener
Permalink

Khalil Greene had four extra-base hits in the Padres drubbing of the Reds last night, two doubles and two HR. So far, it looks like PETCO is masking Greene's power. Look at his home/road split:

Greene 2004	Home	Road
AB	187	194
Hits	45	56
Doubles	5	18
Triples	3	1
Home Runs	2	7
Slugging Pct.	.332	.500

Neifi Perez at home, Nomar on the road.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

August 10, 2004

They Say It's Your Birthday
Permalink

Somebody's birthday is wrong. I can believe he had a child at 13, but not 7.

Update: A quick check of the 2001 Phillies media guide yields different dates for the birth of the children. Yamley was born 1/15/1984, not 1974. However, the Philadelphia media guide does not list Ralph at all.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:33 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

August 06, 2004

Playing Podsednik
Permalink

In the comment to this May post, a reader wrote (emphasis added):

So, in other words, do exactly what the Brewers are doing right now? They have the number one farm system in the big leagues according to Baseball America. They actually have a winning record currently and a team with a shot at adding a good 8-10 wins to last year's total. They made some really good moves in the offseason getting Overbay, Spivey, etc. for Sexson and signing Ben Grieve. They've uncovered diamonds in the rough like Keith Ginter and Scott Podsednik. I could go on. This is a well run organization that writers such as Peter Gammons seem to be noticing and more will soon enough.

A few Brewers fans have been telling me that this organization is turning around; they've had good drafts and the players are developing. I'm willing to buy that. But Ginter and Podsednik have turned out to be more like lumps of coal than diamonds. A diamond in the rough is someone like Scott Hatteberg, who has useful skills that are ignored for other reasons, or David Ortiz who is good but let go for financial reasons. From a post about Podsednik not winning the rookie of the year honor:

Another thing that might have worked against Scott Podsednick is his age. He is an old rooke, age 27. Of the 114 Rookie of the Year honorees, only 8 have been 27 or older. Two of them were Japanese players, and one other was Jackie Robinson, who for obvious reasons didn't have a chance to earn the award when he was young. So you have an old rookie, who is having a year out of line with his minor league career, and two young sharp pitchers to choose from. I would have voted for Webb, but I understand the vote for Willis. They are up and coming stars. We've probably seen the best Podsednik has to offer, unfortunately.

Podsednik's OBA has dropped to .318 this year. Keith Ginter is down to .318 also and he's hurt. Milwaukee got lucky for a year with these two; it wasn't the sign of a smart organization seeing talent others couldn't see.

The Brewers are 7-18 over their last 25 games and have pretty much dropped out of contention. It's too bad, it was nice to see the team competing again. I'd like to believe they are doing things right in Milwaukee; the Sexson trade was a good one. They've been bad long enought that they should be ready to explode with great players coming out of their system, as the Mets did in the early 80's, the A's did in the late 80's and the Twins did a couple of years ago. But unitl I see some sign of that actually happening, I remain skeptical.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 05, 2004

Birthday Double
Permalink

John Olerud hits a 2-run double on his 36th birthday. He needs 13 more to reach 500 for his career.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:48 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

August 03, 2004

Suzuki Method
Permalink

Ichiro went five for five this afternoon to take the lead in the AL batting race. He now stands at .354 to Ivan Rodriguez's .349. Despite his great game, the Mariners lost once again as the Orioles beat them 9-7. Ponson had another poor outing, but the Baltimore bullpen came through allowing no-runs while striking out five over three innings.

In perusing the leader boards, I noticed the Yankees did not have a man in top 20 in batting average, but 3 in the top 10 in OBA.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:42 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

July 28, 2004

Bucky Ball
Permalink

Bucky Jacobsen is certainly making an impression for the Mariners. He hit his 5th HR in 11 games today. He'll be 29 at the end of August, so I don't think he'll be breaking any career HR records. He's getting on base and hitting for power, which is just what you want from a 1B/DH. Soccer Dad has been following Bucky.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

July 26, 2004

Old Man River
Permalink

At 27, Marcus Thames is at the point of his career where he has to make a splash or disappear to the Atlantic League. He's finally doing just that with the Tigers. He's 2 for 2 so far tonight with a HR, giving him 12 extra-base hits out of his 19 safeties. It's only 63 AB, however, so don't get too excited.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

July 19, 2004

Different Set of Wings
Permalink

Jim Edmonds has homered to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead over the Cubs. That gives him 161 of his 282 HR with the Cardinals. Edmonds was a good player with the Angels. Although age 30 when he joined St. Louis, he's been a consistently great player with the Cardinals. His OBA has been .385 or higher every year with the Cards; he never did that with the Angels. His slugging percentage has been above .550 every year with the Cards; he did that once with the Angels. Did he just get healthier? Did he mature as a ballplayer? Did he get a better hitting coach? Whatever the reason, the Cardinals made out like bandits in the deal that sent Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy to the Angels.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:27 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

All Hit, No Walk
Permalink

I always wonder about the long term viability of hitters like Jack Wilson. Through the 4th, he's 1 for 1 with a walk to raise his BA to .334 and his OBA to .357. It was only his 12th walk of the year, and he's never drawn more than 37 walks in a full season. It strikes me that players who hit but don't walk should have a hole that pitchers can exploit. These players are surely swinging at pitches out of the strike zone; it seems to me that pitchers can move the ball farther from the plate and get these guys out.

However, there have been any number of successful hitters with low walk totals; Kirby Puckett, Joe Carter and Tony Gwynn come to mind from recent generations. Now, it doesn't matter where a batter's OBA comes from, and .357 is a perfectly good OBA. But if Wilson can lay off some bad pitches, he'll make fewer outs, have a higher OBA, and possibly an even higher BA. He's having a fine season, but there's still room for improvement.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:28 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

July 10, 2004

Driving Down
Permalink

A nice win by the Braves today to make the NL East race even tighter. The Braves have been hanging in without any contributions from Giles, and with little contribution from Chipper Jones. Chipper was 0 for 3 today with a walk. It's interesting to look at Jones by month this year, as it provides a nice example of how adjustments are made to the ability (or lack thereof) of a hitter.

Jones started out April in his typical strong fashion, before succumbing to a hamstring injury. When he comes back in May, he can't hit, but pitchers are still careful with him, respecting his past accomplishments. He hits .200 in May, but draws 16 walks for a .385 OBA. Since the start of June, however, pitchers have figured out the Jones isn't healthy enough to hit. They're pitching to him, and he's hitting just .182 with only 13 walks for an OBA around .260.

Giles has started his minor league rehab assignment, and at some point Chipper will likely heal. If those two come back from the All-Star break hitting, the Braves are in a very good position to win another division title.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:37 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 09, 2004

Bay-Cycle?
Permalink

It's only the fifth inning, but Jason Bay has a double, single and home run. The Pirates are pounding the Expos 10-0.

Update: He hasn't gotten the cycle yet, but Bay hit his 2nd opposite field HR of the game in the 6th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:34 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 07, 2004

Time to Retire?
Permalink

I don't know how many players actually retire. You have to have been pretty good for a while to actually leave the game and have people notice. Mike Schmidt retired. He came back for one more season, but his skills were gone, so he hung up his glove after a month and went home. Most players, however, believe they still can play, and it's not until no one wants them that they realize it's time for a new job.

I think we're witnessing the sudden descent of a player from useful to should retire, and that player is Rafael Palmeiro. Even discounting the slump he's in (anything can happen in 100 AB), he's no longer hitting like a first baseman. Despite a declining batting average since 1999, Palmeiro has kept his value with great OBA's and very good slugging percentages. But not this year. His OBA has dropped to .354 (not bad, not great) and his slugging percentage is .396. He's going to be in the HR Derby at the All-Star game. That might be a good place for him to announce his retirement. He's no longer helping the Orioles, and it's unlikely he'll help other teams in the future.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:38 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (2)

July 01, 2004

Second Base Slugger
Permalink

Miguel Cairo delivers his 2nd extra-base hit in as many AB to drive in Sierra from first with two out to tie the game. With the pitcher's spot up, Flaherty has to pinch hit.

Update: Flaherty hits a ground rule double to drive in Cairo and win the game. The Yankees sweep and now have a commanding lead in the AL East.

Anyone who tells you baseball is a boring game should be forced to watch this one. Almost anything that could happen in a ball game did. Heroics by hitters, heroics by pitchers, heroics by fielders, managing, manuvering, you name it. Both teams played like the entire season rode on this game; it was much more important to the Red Sox, but the Yankees didn't let up. I wish they all could be like this.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:27 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

June 30, 2004

Simon Sez, "Take a Pitch"
Permalink

Randall Simon just drew his 11th walk of the year. The announcers were commenting that since coming back from his rehab, Randall has been more selective at the plate. Before the injury, Simon drew 2 walks in in 32 AB. Since, he's draw 9 walks in 65 AB. In 410 AB last year, Simon only drew 16 walks.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

June 24, 2004

You Go, Lugo!
Permalink

There is no stopping Julio Lugo. He's 2 for 3 today with 2 RBI, which moves him into the top 20 in the AL with 43. He's batting .357 in June and has scored 19 runs in the month. And the Rays are back on top again, leading Toronto 8-4 in the 6th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

June 23, 2004

Walk Like a Man
Permalink

Rooftop Report notices that Jose Macias ended a dubious streak tonight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:05 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 22, 2004

Javy Who?
Permalink

Johnny Estrada continues to be an effective replacement for Javy Lopez. He's four for four tonight, driving all three of the Braves runs. He's posted a .386 OBA and a .498 slugging percentage through the 8th inning. Lopez is at .356-.457. Both are great numbers for a catcher, but the Braves are getting Estrada at a much lower price.

The Braves trail the Marlins 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

June 13, 2004

Hail Cesar!
Permalink

Cesar Izturis is having an impressive 2004 campaign. Cesar's offense was non-existent during his first three major league seasons, racking up an anemic .246 BA, .270 OBA and .319 slugging percentage. This year, he's improved the on-base portion of his game by learning to hit. After his four-for-six game at Fenway, he's hitting .318 with a .352 OBA. Those are numbers any manager would be happy to have from his shortstop.

Why the improvement? A couple of weeks ago, Izturis said this (emphasis added):

"They're pitching to me now," Izturis said. "They're throwing me fastballs because they don't want me on base with those big guys coming up behind me.

"Right now I feel good at the plate, and every time I go up there I try to do the best I can, have a quality at-bat and get on base any way I can. I guess it's so far, so good."

Someone has him thinking about getting on base, rather than getting hits. Someone has him thinking about having good at bats. Is that the DePodesta influence coming through?

Of course, we really should ask ourselves if this is for real. I'd be more inclined to think so if his walk totals were going up. However, a .246 hitter has only a .007 probability (the p value) of hitting at least .318 in 239 AB. That's significant at the .01 level. My best guess is that we are seeing the maturation of a 24 year old, helped by good coaching. It's unlikely he's a .246 hitter. How could he really is remains to be seen.

Update: Since I've talked about 95% confidence intervals in the past, I thought I should include that here. For a .246 hitter, given 239 AB, we would expect that 95% of the time he would have between 46 and 72 hits. Notice, too, that if Izturis had gone 0 for 6 yesterday, he'd be batting .301, and he'd be in the 95% confidence interval. But his p value would be .03, which would be significant at the .05 level. The case for real improvement would still be strong, but not as strong as it is this morning.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:55 AM | TrackBack (0)

June 11, 2004

Rolen vs. Schmidt
Permalink

Reader Arthur Kyriazis saw this Bill Conlin article comparing Scott Rolen with Mike Schmidt and disagrees with Conlin's conclusion that Rolen, with the glove and bat, is the better third baseman. Arthur writes:

That said, I differ with him on his thesis of June 2 that Rolen is comparable to Schmidt. Mr. Conlin is correct in stating that numerically, Mr. Rolen's statistics appear, on the surface, comparable to Mr. Schmidt's. Batting Average, On base Percentage and Slugging Percentage all appear comparable to Schmidt, at the 9 year point of Rolen's career to Schmidt's. Also, Rolen this year is having a breakout year.

However, there are substantial weaknesses in the argument. Conlin notes that Rolen has substantially fewer homeruns. Rolen has 182 compared to Schmidt's 282. That may not seem like much, but that only projects to an average of 21 HRs per year, and thus if Rolen's career only last until he is 36, Rolen will only hit 324 home runs. Even if he makes it to age 40, he will only barely make it to 400 home runs, compared with Schmidt's 548, so Rolen has little or no chance at the magic 500 mark. Many 3rd baseman with comparable slugging statistics to Rolen, like Ron Santo or Darrell Evans, who have failed to get 3,000 hits or 500 home runs, have failed to enter the hall of fame later on.

A good argument. However, I disagree with Art's methodology in trying to prove this (emphasis added):

Because Rolen plays in a league where the average runs per game is 5.00 and the average home runs per game is about 1.50. He plays in a league where Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire hit 65-73 HRs per year, and have slugging averages in .600s, .700s and .800s. Rolen plays in a league where home runs come easy, runs come easy, where Coors Field and Arizona's home field and other home fields are easy to hit at, and where batting averages, slugging averages and on base percentages are inflated.

Compare that with Schmidt's era. >from 1974-88, when Schmidt played, those numbers were 4.10 runs per >game and home runs per game were about .65/ game. Schmidt would lead the league in HRs with 38, 40, 45 or 48 HRs. Now the league leader has 73, 66, 48, 70, huge numbers, numbers you didn't see in Schmidt's era. The most Home Runs hit in the NL during Schmidt's entire career was George Foster with 52 in the late 70s, and that was considered a monstrous number at the time.

To properly compare Schmidt and Rolen, you either have to multiply Rolen's numbers by 4.10/5.00 or .80 to make Rolen's numbers into 1970s/80s numbers, or you have to multiply Schmidt's numbers by 5/4.10 or about 1.25 to make them into 1990s/2003 numbers.

No. Runs are not linear in the various stats, because there are a finite number of outs. So it's not as simple as just multiplying HR or Hits by a particular factor. But we do have a simple number for comparing careers, win shares. Here's a list of the two players through age 28.

Share at Age	Schmidt	Rolen
21	0	2
22	1	29
23	10	30
24	39	15
25	28	18
26	35	29
27	33	28
28	23	25
Total	169	176

So given that Rolen was good at a younger age, he's ahead of Schmidt. But once Schmidt became great, he did a much better job of staying at a high level consistently. There's a long way to go to Rolen's career; a long way to go before we can truly say he's better than Schmidt. He'll need to put together a few seasons above 30 win shares for that to happen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:04 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

June 07, 2004

Brush with Journeyman
Permalink

Matt Treanor was recently called up by the Marlins. My good friend Jim Storer called the other day to remind me that we've been addressed by Mr. Treanor. A few years ago, when Matt was with the Portland Sea Dogs, Jim and I were sitting in the front row at Dodd Stadium enjoy the contest between the Norwich Navigators and the the Sea Dogs. It was a pefect day for a game, sunny, but not too hot. At some point in the game, a pitch got by Treanor, and with no one on base, he ran to the wall where we were sitting to collect the ball. After picking it up, he looked at us and said, "Isn't it a great day for a ballgame?" then headed back to home plate.

Sometimes I wonder why someone would stick around in the minor at age 28, but it's obvious from that exchange that Matt just loves playing the game. It's nice he finally made it to the majors.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

June 01, 2004

Tough as Nails
Permalink

I was watching the Cardianls-Pirates game in the first inning when I saw Scott Rolen take one in the helmet. Vogelsong got him square in the Cardinal logo with a fast ball. It sounded awful, and my reaction brought my wife Marilyn into the room to see what had happened. To my amazement, Rolen never went down, and walked down to first base as if nothing was wrong. He later came around to score, but did not go out to take his position in the bottom of the first. I don't know if there is anything wrong, or if the Cardinals were just being cautious. But the fact that he walked to first proves that either these helmets are extremely well made, or Rolen is one of the toughest ballplayers around.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:07 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 31, 2004

A Man in Uniform
Permalink

Somehow, Nick Johnson doesn't look like Babe Ruth in an Expos uniform.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

History Repeating
Permalink

Those of you who don't read the Boston Red Sox fan web sites on a daily basis may not be aware of what seems to be a repeat of the 1982 battle for third base in Boston. Carney Lansford won the AL batting title playing third for the Red Sox in 1981. The next year, he broke his ankle, and walk machine Wade Boggs started playing regularly. Boggs was so much obviously better than Lansford that Carney was traded at the end of the regular season for Tony Armas. There were clear advantages in keeping Boggs over Lansford; Boggs walked more, he was left-handed, and he was a year younger. Lansford was a good hitter for the A's. Boggs was a great hitter for Boston.

Now the Red Sox are faced with an injured Bill Mueller, and Kevin Youkilis playing very well. Things are not as cut and dried as they were with Boggs and Lansford. Yes, Youkilis walks a lot, but Mueller is no slouch in that department. Mueller has a .375 career OBA, an excellent number in any era. Mueller is a switch hitter, while Youkilis is a righty. Youkilis wins big in the age department, however, being eight years younger than Mueller.

It's a good problem to have; good hitting third basemen are hard to come by. My guess is that, unlike 1982, Theo will find room for both on the roster.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:39 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

May 27, 2004

Power Pena
Permalink

Carlos Pena went 6 for 6 today in the Tigers trouncing of the Royals today, including two home runs. However, even with the six hits, Pena's stats are still not impressive. At the end of the game, his BA is .236, his OBA is .315 and his slugging percentage is .459. Those aren't too far off his career averages. At 26 years old, it's unlikely that he's going to develop into a great player. At this point, he comes cheap, but isn't it possible to find a cheap first baseman who can hit? The reality of the situation is that the Tigers are in a pennant race. They have an offensive hole at a position where it's fairly easy to find offense. Should they go for it, just be happy to be close to .500. I always feel that when you have a chance to win, you should take it. Just for example, Marcus Thames is tearing up AAA. Why not give him a first baseman's mitt and see if he can hit better than Pena?

The Tigers are playing better than they probably expected. They can be better by plugging an offensive hole at a place where it's easy to fix. I think they should make a move and keep moving toward the division leaders.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:16 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Youthful Ward
Permalink

Daryle Ward hit for the cycle last night in the 11-8 Pirates victory. His father Gary also hit for the cycle, making them the first father-son combination to accomplish the feat. It was Daryl's first triple since 2000.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 24, 2004

Juan Two
Permalink

Juan Pierre was recently moved to the #2 spot in the lineup. I don't quite know why, his OBA this year is much better than Luis Castillo's. But he's responded. His 3 for 5 today brings him to 10 for 24 since making the switch.

Thirteen runs for the Fish today put them 0 games and percentage points behind the Phillies.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:16 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

May 21, 2004

Miked Up
Permalink

Michael Barrett certainly has found his offensive Mojo since moving to the Cubs. He has two HR today to bring his season total to seven. The most he's ever had in a season before is 12. Montreal is a good pitcher's park, but Barrett is hitting as well on the road as at home. Maybe there's a better hitting coach in Chicago? Jeff Petland isn't there anymore. Maybe Gary Matthews is responsible.

Correction: It was Jeff, not Jim Petland.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 20, 2004

Good and Bad
Permalink

Todd Zeile gave the Mets an early lead with a two-run homer in the first. But his defense just cost them the lead. Playing in, with runners on first and third, he had a ground ball hit to him that he couldn't handle cleanly. By the time he had control of the ball, a run had scored and his only play was at first, where he got the out. It's the kind of play the stats just don't capture well. It was a ball in play, and the defense turned it into an out. But we just don't catch the negative of the bobble that let the run score.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:13 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 17, 2004

Baseball Golfer
Permalink

When I was in high school, my friend George Shawah and I used to golf a lot during the summers. One day, we ran into my 8th grade algebra teacher, Mr. DeLorme. As we headed to the first tee he said, "Hit them hard, and not too often!"

Chase Utley seems to have taken this golf wish to heart. Chase has two hits today, giving him six for the season. One of them is a bases clearing triple, which gives him three extra-base hits on the year. While he has a low batting average of .240, he has a pretty good slugging percentage of .480. If you're only going to get a hit every once in a while, it might as well be a big one.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 16, 2004

Growing Infante
Permalink

The 22-year-old Omar Infante is starting to look like a decent major league player. He got the start today, and was two for three with a HR to raise his averages to .293 BA, .400 OBA and a .585 slugging percentage. He's also drawn 8 walks in 41 AB. It's a small sample, but given his age, it's the type of improvement you want to see. He's someone to keep your eye on.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:25 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 15, 2004

Hardly Missing Javy
Permalink

You would think it would be difficult to replace the offense of a catcher like Javy Lopez. But Johnny Estrada has proven to be up to the task. He's 3 for 3 with a HR tonight raising his averages to .343 BA, .400 OBA and .533 slugging. Once more the Braves show they know how to put together a ball club.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Godzilla Returns
Permalink

Hideki Matsui has one of five Yankees HR today, as they are tied 7-7 in the 8th against the Mariners. I'm seeing more of the Matsui I expected when he came over from Japan last year. He's hitting .288, through seven today, one point higher than last year, but his OBA is now .396, much better than the .353 of last year, and much more like the selectivity he showed in Japan. I didn't expect him to hit for power here the way he used to, but I did expect him to draw walks. This year, he' doing that, and is even a more valuable player.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:39 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 14, 2004

Chone Chomer
Permalink

With a name like Chone Figgins, you'd better be good. The young Angel is off to a very good start this year, with a high batting average and OBA. But he hadn't homered in the majors until tonight, when he hit a grand slam against the Orioles. He's filling in well for the injured Angels, but if he keeps playing like this, Scioscia is going to have to find a permanent place for him. With Eckstein continuing to decline, and Figgins being able to play anywhere, it would be logical to see him move to short.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:16 PM | TrackBack (0)

Tiger Trio
Permalink

The Tigers made a number of off-season moves, but three have paid off significantly 1 1/2 months into the season. Coming into tonight, Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez and Rondell White each had OBA's over .390. Last year, Young led the team with a .372 OBA, and only one other player was above .330. The team is now 7th in OBA and 3rd in runs scored. Good moves by Dave Dombrowski.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Orlando Magic
Permalink

It was nice to see Orlando Hudson move into the leadoff spot last night for the Blue Jays, and even nicer to see his reaction to it:

"My heart was pounding when I was told I was going to bat leadoff against Schilling, a Hall of Famer," Hudson said. "He's an outstanding pitcher. The baseball gods were on my side."

They sure were as he scored five runs last night. It also brings up an interesting, and I think, important question. When do you start believing that a player has reached a new level of performance? Orlando Hudson had a career minor league OBA of approximately .350. Not outstanding but perfectly good; in my opinion, a bit low for a leadoff man. His first two seasons in the big leagues he had a combined .326 OBA, which is poor. But after 116 AB this year, he's sitting at .393. Now, anything can happen in 100 AB, so my gut feeling is that Orlando is on a big hot streak. The one thing that stands out against that, however, is that his walks are up. In his major and minor league career, he walks about once every 10 AB. This year, he's drawing a walk once every 8 AB. If he keeps that up, he'll fit nicely into the leadoff role.

The Jays are playing the hot hand right now, with the idea that if Hudson's improvement is real, they've found a new leadoff hitter.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:40 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 10, 2004

A New Citizen
Permalink

William Kelly at the Rooftop Report passes on the information that Manny Ramirez is not in the lineup tonight because he's in Miami becoming a citizen. A great reason to miss a game. Congratulations, Manny!

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 07, 2004

The Terrmel-inator
Permalink

Terrmel Sledge and Brad Wilkerson take Matt Morris deep with a pair of two-run homers in the first to give the Expos a 4-0 lead. Each homerun lifted the slugging average of the two players over .400. A rare power outburst for the Expos.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:50 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 06, 2004

At Least It's Sterile
Permalink

Rooftop Report links to a story on how Moises Alou swings without batting gloves. Telling this story to Gary Miller (who's a friend) seems rather appropriate.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 04, 2004

Catching On
Permalink

The Braves have seemed to do a good job of replacing Javy Lopez. Johnny Estrada went 3 for 3 tonight with three runs scored. He's now batting .347 with a .417 OBA and a .533 slugging percentage. You have to love catchers who hit like first basemen.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:12 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Barry Beltran?
Permalink

This article on ESPN.com asks the question, "Is Carlos Beltran the next Barry Bonds." I'm pretty sure the answer is no. Carlos is at the age that if he were going to be Barry Bonds, we'd already know it (A-Rod, is in fact, the next Barry Bonds). Beltran's seasonal age was 26 last year. Here's a comparison of Beltran and Bonds through seasonal age 26.

Career through Seasonal Age 26	Bonds	Beltran
On-Base Average	.367	.350
Slugging Percentage	.485	.478
Win Shares	160	102

So Bonds had better stats than Beltran through the same age, but that's not even taking into consideration that Bonds earned those averages in the period from 1986 to 1991, when offense had yet to explode in baseball. So the difference in these numbers is greater than it looks, as you can see in the win shares.

The other interesting thing is that at the end of 1991, there was little doubt that Bonds was the best players in the National League. He won the MVP in 1990, and probably should have won it in 1991. Beltran finished 9th last year in the MVP voting, and did not get a vote in 2002. If you are going to be a truly outstanding player, the rare breed that at the top has Bonds, Ruth, Aaron, Mays and Ted Williams, it pretty obvious by the age of 27. The fact that this has not been recognized in Beltran tells me he's not going to have a hall of fame career.

But you never know. I was certainly wrong about Sammy Sosa.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:06 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

April 27, 2004

Cycling
Permalink

Congratulations to Chad Moeller who hit for the cycle tonight. He did it as part of a 9-7 slugfest win for the Brewers, who are now 11-10.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:40 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

April 26, 2004

Clarke Flashback
Permalink

Everytime I see a Toronto boxscore with H. Clark at the top of the lineup, I flashback to my early days watching the Yankees when Horace Clarke led off for the Yankees, and I cringe. Clarke's career high in OBA was .339 and his career OBA was .308. My 8th grade Algebra teacher described Clarke as someone who needed a chest protector to play 2nd base. Howie Clark, the Jays right fielder tonight, appears to be a bit better. He's two for two tonight, giving him a .444 OBA on the season. Just what you want from your leadoff man. He also hit his 2nd HR of his short season.

Correction: It was a double, not a HR.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 25, 2004

Juan More
Permalink

I like Juan Pierre, and I thought it was a good move when the Marlins acquired him, but mostly for his defense. I don't think of him as a great leadoff hitter; he's not Henderson or Lofton in their primes, but he's not Omar Moreno either. However, it seems whenever I watch Juan he hits. He just got a two out triple and scored on a Castillo single. He's 3 for 3 with a run scored tonight. And he's a pleasure to watch.

Update: Pierre just got his fourth hit and third single of the game.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Heads Up
Permalink

Julio Franco is back in the lineup after leaving last night's game with dizziness. One of the commentors mentioned that it was dehydration. That's good news. Julio seems to have his head on straight as he singles in the first for the third hit of the first off Dontrelle Willis.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 22, 2004

Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Permalink

Lew Ford continues to impress when he plays. I saw him for both New Britian and Edmondton in 2002, and had a good time saying Lew, not boo. He hit his 3rd HR of the year today. In 113 ML AB, he's hitting .372. Now, anything can happen in 100 AB, but it's a lot more encouraging to be hitting that well. In his short career he's also drawn 11 walks and is 3 for 3 stealing. The Twins farm system keeps producing.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Lower Omar
Permalink

I think it is time to move Omar Vizquel out of the number 2 spot in the Indians order. He hasn't had a good OBA in the slot since 2000. With his 0 for 3 today, he's down to .319. The obvious replacement is Matt Lawton; he has a decent OBA and not too much power (despite the five HR this year). At this point in his career, I think Omar would be best used 9th, as a potential 2nd leadoff man.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:02 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 20, 2004

Just a Rod
Permalink

Ryan Wilson takes a statistical look to see if the move to the big city is responsible for Alex Rodriguez's struggles.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:37 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 11, 2004

New #1
Permalink

I notice that David Aardsma is pitching for the Giants tonight. With his earlier debut in the majors, he moves past Henry Aaron for first alphabetically in the history of major league players.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 10, 2004

Power vs. Age
Permalink

Julio Franco had a great AB vs. Kyle Farnsworth. Fransworth throws him 100 MPH fastballs, and Julio fouls them off. He throws him sliders and Franco fouls them off. And he keeps fouling them off the other way, where Farnsworth was pitching him. He finally gets the count to 3-2 with the bases loaded and the score tied, and Franco hits the ball over Sammy Sosa's head to clear the bases.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:39 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

April 07, 2004

Cave or Cross
Permalink

Scott Brodeur sends along this link comparing Johnny to a semi-famous cartoon character.

I still think he looks like Jesus, which has an interesting downside. If he doesn't start hitting, how long until fans start yelling, "Crucify him, crucify him!" :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

April 06, 2004

Kaz Mat Team
Permalink

More early dividends from off-season acquistions. Kaz Matsui, has a perfect night at the plate, picking up three hits and two walks in a 7-2 Mets victory. All three hits were for extra bases; two doubles and his first HR. I'm sure there will be plenty of arguments between Yankees and Mets fans over who has the better Matsui. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:00 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

A's Scooter
Permalink

The raindrops liked Marco Scutaro's debut with the A's.

For those of you keeping track at home, that's 20 pitches seen by our main man Marco Scutaro in his four plate appearances, in which he made two outs. Twenty pitches for two outs. Billy Beane will take that every time.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:08 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 05, 2004

Grieveing Cardinals
Permalink

Another winter acquistion comes through on opening day. Ben Grieve homered, singled and drove in three for the Brewers. Scott Podsednik added four RBI from the leadoff spot to lead Milwaukee to an opening day victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Matt Morris was simply lousy, walking five and giving up five hits in six innings. The Cardinals don't have much pitching depth, so they really need Morris to be on top of his game.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:01 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 04, 2004

Biblical Proportions
Permalink

I wonder if there will be fans in centerfield calling themselves Damon's Disciples?

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:10 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (1)

March 30, 2004

Look For It
Permalink

Tino Martinez has made a great play at first to rob Wilson of a double. He's 2 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored. I can't wait to see the first story on how the Yankees shouldn't have let him go. :-)

Update: Giambi just let a pickoff throw go through his legs, and Huff follows up with a single to make it 6-3. The defensive comparison won't be good.

Update: Tino hits a two-run HR off Heredia. This is becoming a blowout. In addition to the Tino story, we'll have to keep our eyes out for the Torre is going to be fired story. :-) It's 8-3 in the bottom of the 7th.

Update: It was Tino's 300th HR.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

New Rey
Permalink

It seems to be a tradition now to replace Rey Ordonez with Rey Sanchez. I guess going from the worst offensive player in the game to the 2nd worst offensive player in the game is considered an upgrade. Sanchez has his second hit of the game, meaning his offense is all down hill from here. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

March 25, 2004

For Sale
Permalink

It appears that Mets fans will go to any length to rid the team of Roger Cedeno. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:13 PM | TrackBack (0)

March 20, 2004

Re-Dunn
Permalink

Adam Dunn is having a great spring, and his success is being attributed to new hitting coach Chris Chambliss. What may be most encouraging is that he's cutting down on his strikeouts. A healthy and hitting Dunn, Kearns, Griffey and Casey would give the Reds the core of a terrific offense.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:51 PM | TrackBack (0)

March 19, 2004

Opportunity Knocks
Permalink

Here's a story on the LSU sports site about former LSU Tiger Mike Fontenot. He's a 2nd base prospect with the Orioles, and the injury to Jerry Hairston has given him an opportunity to play. Hitting coach Terry Crowley has noticed:

With limited playing time since, Fontenot is 8-for-24 (.333) with six RBIs, second most on the team. That's an achievement for a guy generously listed at 5-foot-8 and wearing No. 73 who was considered an afterthought.

"I like his approach," Crowley said. "I like his quick bat. He's got some juice -- the ball flies off his bat. As a young player, he's selective at the plate and that's something you always like to see. If he stays selective -- because he's not a big guy -- he's going to get good pitches to hit."

I like a coach who sees selectivity as a positive, rather than as a lack of aggression. Mr. Fontenot looks promising.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:17 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

March 17, 2004

Bad vs. Bad
Permalink

Stephen at Mariners Wheelhouse asks a deep philosophical question.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 15, 2004

Hill Street Bucs
Permalink

I think it's so cool that the Pirates have a player names Bobby Hill. Bobby Hill was a character in Hill Street Blues, which was based on an area of Pittsburgh.

Reading the rest of the article, however, one is struck by how this is a team of castoffs. Blake Stein, Raul Mondesi and Jose Mesa all saw action for Pittsburgh today.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:26 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

March 13, 2004

Praise and Criticism
Permalink

Torii Hunter criticizes his owner, Carl Pohlad through his praise of George Steinbrenner.

"Steinbrenner knows what he's doing," Hunter said. "You can't hate that guy. He spends the money. I don't hate him. We've got other owners who could do the same thing, but they don't want to be like Steinbrenner."

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

March 09, 2004

The Next Generation
Permalink

I'm not a big Royce Clayton fan, but it appears he's willing to tutor the next generation of players on defense. He deserves praise for that. Looking at Clint Barmes minor league statistics, however, I don't see him ever being any better offensively than Clayton was or is. Unless he's a defensive wizard, I doubt he's the long-term future for the Rockies at shortstop.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

March 08, 2004

Why Inge?
Permalink

Is there something I'm missing about Brandon Inge? It seems everytime I go to the Detroit Free Press web site there's an article about him. Today, it's how he's trying to play centerfield. Does anyone on the Free Press staff understand that this guy can't hit? Why are they devoting so much space to someone who shouldn't be playing in the majors?

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:47 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

March 03, 2004

Jenkins Extension
Permalink

Joe Duellman writes:

Are you planning on commenting on the extension Geoff Jenkins signed with the Brewers today? There seem to be no shortage of Brewer jabs in the media today, but this seems to be good news in my mind. Management shows a committment to one of its best players and signs him to a pretty reasonable deal. It's interesting that he will actually earn less money in each of the three years in this extension than he does this year (8.55 million I think in 2004). He's had problems with injuries his whole career, but they always seem to be strange accidents. He broke a finger crashing into a catcher, dislocated his ankle trying to get back to third on a play, etc. When he avoids such mishaps, this guy can really hit. He's also one of the best defensive left fielders out there, although I'm not sure if you're probalistic model of range would agree. I'll have to look through your archives and check it out.

Anyways, it would be nice to see you say something nice about it - that is if you think there is something nice to say about it...

Chuck Carlson of the Oshkosh Northwestern thinks it's a good move. Looking at Jenkins' career stats, he's good but not great. And what he got was a good, but not great contract. If he plays well and doesn't get injured, it's a good deal for the Brewers. If he's injured all the time, it really isn't that much money to eat. What intrigues me is, however, is that the contract is low enough that if Jenkins plays really well, he becomes extremely tradable. So if Jenkins' numbers are similar to 2003 in July, and the Brewers are out of the race, look for the contenders to offer Milwaukee a slew of prospects for Geoff.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:51 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

March 02, 2004

Stats Geek On Wilson
Permalink

Looks like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a regular column by Brian O'Neill that takes a good statistical look at players. Today he examines Craig Wilson. He even links to baseball-reference.com! I wish my local paper had something like this.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:08 AM | TrackBack (0)

February 27, 2004

Phoenix Rising
Permalink

It's amazing how a big cut in pay can get the competitive jucies flowing again:

Roberto Alomar spent more time than usual getting in shape over the winter, and arrived at spring training intent on a big comeback season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
It will be his 17th season in the majors.

"I think I put on seven or eight pounds. I feel in much better shape," Alomar said as he and the other Diamondbacks' position players reported to spring training Thursday.

"The last few years I didn't do what I needed to do to stay in shape," he said. "I think at my age now, 36, you have to work more than you used to work before so you can stay in shape. This game is not as easy as people think it is."

That last paragraph can't make Mets fans too happy. Alomar denies it's the money, but you I believe not being wanted by other teams hurt his pride. If he is back in shape, I suspect he'll have a good year for the Diamondbacks, and be one of the steals of 2004.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:01 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

February 25, 2004

Dynamic Duo
Permalink

Rich Lederer and Alex Belth team up to give you a rather long history of Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter over at Bronx Banter. One paragraph reminded me of something:

Jeter is a major star, a sex symbol. Williams looks like a bookworm and is a family man. Jeter is Spiderman and Bernie is Peter Parker. Jeter is the cool extrovert and Williams is the thoughtful introvert. Jeter does little things that get noticed while Williams is easy to overlook. Recall the infamous Jeffrey Maier game against the Orioles in the 1996 ALCS which made the rookie Jeter a household name. It was Williams’ home run in extra innings that actually won the game for the Yanks, but who remembers that? Many of us just remember that’s the night that some lucky kid made another lucky kid a star.

As you may know, Jeff Maier is now playing for Wesleyan University. They are hosting Amherst on Saturday, March 27 at 1 PM, a double header. I'm planning on attending, and if I'm lucky, maybe I can get an interview with Jeff.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:24 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

February 24, 2004

Goldman on Giambi
Permalink

Steve Goldman offers an excellent essay on Jason Giambi's contributions to the Yankees over at Bronx Banter.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:40 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

February 23, 2004

Bonds In Camp
Permalink

I've seen a couple of stories about Bonds reporting to camp, but none tell me what I want to know; does he look thinner?

Update: Once again, I've written something that has been misconstrued. I meant this as a smart-alec comment. All winter long I've been reading and hearing about how these ballplayers are going to come back thinner, and we finally see one of the big suspects and the writers don't even put in a line about how he looks! If you read my previous posts on the subject, you'll see I don't really think you can tell the difference between steriods and physical therapy. I agree with John's comment:

Does anybody here know for sure that a steroid user who stops juicing will lose muscle mass? Are the steroids necessary to *maintain* said mass? I find it hard to believe that it's even possible to lose 25 pounds of muscle in 4 months even if you tried HARD, let alone just by laying off of very specific mass-enhancing substances. Ask Roy Jones Jr. about how easy it is to lose muscle and you may have second thoughts about the idea of muscle just evaporating - or being pooped out or whatever.

If you keep up your weight training, you should retain your muscle mass. You don't blow up overnight; you have to exercise with the steroids. And you don't deflate overnight either, especially if you keep up the work. The description of Giambi is just what I'd expect if you had gone through intense physical therapy for the knee. Remember Nancy Kerrigan? She skated her best after going through knee rehabilitation. Don't be surprised to see Giambi have a great year. Sounds like he's lean and mean to me.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:07 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2004

Seven Year Itch
Permalink

It looks like Albert Pujols will avoid arbitration by signing a seven-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. If he's really as young as he says he is, the Cardinals are likely in for seven terrific seasons. He's not near peak performance yet, and he's having MVP type years. It looks like he'll get $100 million for the length of the contract, which is a very reasonable amount for what the Cardinals are likely to receive in return. Congratulations to Albert, and St. Louis fans should be jumping with joy!

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:41 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Older Alfonso
Permalink

Avkash Patel sends me this link to a NY Daily News story on Alfonso Soriano's age.

The Rangers revealed yesterday that Soriano is 28 - not, as originally believed, 26. The Yankees had his birth date listed as Jan. 7, 1978, in their 2003 media guide, but he was born two years earlier.

The Yankees knew about the age discrepancy and GM Brian Cashman told Texas GM John Hart about it as they discussed the trade for A-Rod. The Rangers, obviously, were not put off.

Cashman said he did not know the details, but Soriano and his agent came to him last year and admitted he had once lied about his age.

"Sori's a good guy and it was something on his mind," Cashman said. "He wanted us to know first, before it got out. It would've been updated in our media guide this year.

I guess A-Rod's not the only one who is lying. :-) This story also makes me much more confident of this post. The difference between 26 and 28 is huge. You're approaching the peak of your career at 26. At 28, you're likely starting downhill. Another plus on the Yankees side of the ledger for this trade.

Posted by StatsGuru at 12:03 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Liar!
Permalink

Ken Rosenthal of the Sporting News does not believe that Alex Rodriguez has any credibility left:

No longer should anyone believe a word out of the mouth of Alex "Captain" Rodriguez.

His stated desire to stay with the Rangers was as comical as the Rangers' stated desire to keep him. And if you believe A-Rod will be content moving from shortstop to third base with the Yankees, you probably think Jack Nicholson would be willing to accept second billing to Ben Affleck.

Ken then goes on the make a very good argument why Rodriguez should be the shortstop, and I agree. Is Rodriguez and the Yankees playing politics with Jeter? Probably. I think A-Rod will be the shortstop eventually and Jeter will move positions. But Rosenthal certainly pulls no punches in the story when it comes to A-Rod's honesty.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:12 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

February 17, 2004

A-Rod Beneficiary
Permalink

The first beneficiary of the A-Rod trade appears to be Hank Blalock. Buried in the trade story was the Rangers signing Blalock to a five-year deal. Terms have not been released, but this deal will make Hank very rich and secure, while insulating the Rangers from having to go through arbitration. It's the model Hart used in Cleveland, signing his best players to long term contracts, insulating the Indians from salary inflation due to arbitration.

The only downside to the deal is that it's only for five years, so Blalock will be able to walk at that point. He'll be 28 then, and I suspect he'll be commanding a big salary then. A good move by Texas, however. I wonder if they'll try to do the same with Soriano?

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:00 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

February 15, 2004

Tejada's Home
Permalink

If all you know about Miguel Tejada's background is that he came from the Dominican Republic, this article by Joe Christensen of the Baltimore Sun is well worth the read. My favorite part:

He has a good relationship with Dominican President Hipolito Mejia, and he leaned on him to improve the Los Barrancones area. When Tejada lived there, it was a crowded slum, but now all the potholed roads leading out have been paved.

Tejada also has committed more than $1 million to replace that old field where he started playing baseball with a modern complex, complete with lights. And he routinely ships Mizuno equipment back to Soto to distribute around the old neighborhood.

On the eastern outskirts of Bani, Tejada is building a shopping complex. Closer to downtown, his father runs a new Esso gas station built with Tejada's earnings from baseball.

He's investing in and renewing his home town. Good to see his money is being put to good use.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:43 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

February 13, 2004

You're Invited
Permalink

For your convenience, the Transaction Guy has a post with all the spring training invitees listed by team.

Correction: Fixed a typo.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 11, 2004

Glanville's Getaway
Permalink

Another ballplayer who should be blogging. Doug Glanville writes about his trip to South Africa for ESPN.com.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:22 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

February 10, 2004

Gentlemen's Agreement
Permalink

Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts sent me this post about Raul Mondesi owing Mario Guerrero over $1 million dollars. Seems they had a gentleman's agreement for Guerrero to coach Mondesi. Since I don't read Spanish, it's difficult for me to comment on the story, but I'd love to know more about the case.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

February 09, 2004

Humble or Be Humbled
Permalink

Jody Gerut is still blogging, and in this post talks about avoiding the sophomore slump. He defines sophomore as "wise fool" and finishes with:

Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle once told me 'there are 2 types of player in this game, Jody: those that are humble, and those that will be humbled.' Well I am humble. Being humbled sucks. And I want no part of that again. If I approach this season with a humble heart just as I have in the past I know I will be satisfied with the results, no matter what they are. No wise fools here any longer- that is one thing I can guarantee.

He's a pretty good writer, and it looks like he'll continue posting this year. I hope more players start blogging soon.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

February 07, 2004

South Side Rumble
Permalink

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times rips into the White Sox management for not signing Magglio Ordonez to a long term contract. Part of his screed is due to a fanfest gone bad, where Jay was accused by Hawk Harrelson of being negative.

Is signing Ordonez long term a good idea? Here's what Ordonez wants (from the Jay Mariotti column):

Basically, he wants a contract in line with recent deals signed by comparable players -- Vladimir Guerrero's five-year, $70million deal in Anaheim and Miguel Tejada's six-year, $72 million deal in Baltimore. Considering Ordonez has stayed healthier than Guerrero, never has hit below .300 and is good for 30 homers and 120 RBI every year, his demands are more than fair. He's 30, in the prime of his career and sure to be productive another five seasons. As South Side no-brainers go, keeping Maggs is right up there with ordering the kosher dog without onions at the stand behind home plate.

"I think I have market value similar to that of Vladimir and Tejada,'' said Ordonez, apparently not bummed about his proposed role in the aborted Nomar Garciaparra trade. "It could be even more if you take into account that the market is going up again. I want a five- or six-year contract so I can relax and be in one place for a long time. I hope that can be in Chicago, a city that I like a lot.''

There are some assumptions here that I think are incorrect. First of all, a 30 year-old player is not in his prime, he's just past it. I would think it is more likely that you are going to see Ordonez's production decline over the next five years. Magglio is very good, so that decline may still leave him a productive ballplayer, but you can't depend on his numbers staying this good for that period.

Tejada and Guerrero are two years younger. That makes a big difference. Both are better ballplayers than Ordonez, and they still have a few years before their declines are likely to set in. Given that, I'd set Ordonez below $12 million a year.

Also, I don't understand why Ordonez thinks the market is going up again. I assume he means the market for player salaries. With insurance difficult to get and management realizing the value of flooding the market with free agents, I don't see a lot of upward pressure on salaries.

Given these caveats, however, I agree with Jay that the White Sox should sign Ordonez. I'd make it $40 million for four years. That's a fair price, and it does appear that White Sox fans need something to make them believe this team is committed to winning. Ordonez is an excellent player and a fan favorite, so it's worth the money to keep the base intact. If Jay is right, and Mags remains highly productive during that time, and Mags is right and the market rises, he'll be able to get another big contract when this one is up.

Update: One of commentors below disagrees with my assertion that Tejada is a better player than Ordonez. Bascially, over the last three years, Ordonez is over 100 points better in on-base+slugging than Tejada. He asks the question, "How much is playing SS worth over playing OF?"

Win shares gives a clear advantage to Tejada:

Win Shares by Year	Tejada	Ordonez
2003	25	23
2002	32	26
2001	25	25
2000	23	22

The best that Ordonez has been able to do in the last four years is be even with Tejada. So defense at shortstop can make up for 100 points in OPS.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

February 02, 2004

Henson Gone
Permalink

The Yankees and Drew Henson have parted ways.

Henson and the Yankees have reached a resolution that frees him from the final three seasons of the six-year, $17 million contract he signed with New York in 2001, sources close to Henson confirmed Monday for ESPN.com. Henson will receive none of the $12 million he had been contractually guaranteed between this season and 2006, and the Yankees will not seek any of the money already paid to him.

It essentially was a clean, quick divorce with no alimony involved. The settlement was negotiated by Henson's representatives from the marketing and representative giant IMG.

Money for nothing...

The big question continues to be how the Yankees will fill the gap at third base. As people have pointed out in the comments on this post, Brian Myrow may be the Yankees best option. He's older (seasonal age 27 in 2004), but he's a walk machine. Twenty seven is peak age for ballplayers, so if you are going to get a great year out of a career minor leaguer, this would be the year. Let him bat ninth, set the table for Soriano, and see what happens. If nothing else, the Yankees will save a few million dollars.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:44 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

January 28, 2004

Foot In The Door?
Permalink

The Cleveland Indians may be paving the way for openly gay players in the major leagues:

Indians minor leaguer Kazuhito Tadano is asking for forgiveness for what he called a one-time mistake -- his appearance in a gay porn video in which he engaged in a homosexual act.

I suppose we'll know that MLB has become tolerant when a player only has to apologize for appearing in a porn video, not for what he did in it.

"I did participate in a video and I regret it very much," he said. "It was a one-time incident that showed bad judgment and will never be repeated. I was young, playing baseball, and going to college and my teammates and I needed money.

"Frankly, if I were more mature and had really thought about the implications of what I did, it never would have happened."

Through an interpreter, Tadano added: "I'm not gay. I'd like to clear that fact up right now."

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :-)

The players and management don't seem to have a problem with this:

Twice in the minor leagues last season, Tadano stood before his teammates and confessed to his participation in the video, which Nero said can only be obtained on the black market in Japan.

Tadano received overwhelming support from players at Kinston, N.C., where he started the season and later at Akron, the Indians' Double-A affiliate.

"I wanted to tell the truth to my teammates," he said.

A former starter, he pitched in all three levels of the minors last season, going 6-2 with a 1.55 ERA and three saves. At Akron, he didn't allow a run in his first 28 innings and struck out 78 in 72 2-3 innings.

Outfielder Grady Sizemore said Tadano's speech last year was well received in the clubhouse.

"You could tell he was nervous," said Sizemore, a top prospect who lived with Tadano this winter. "But I don't think it changed anybody's opinion of him. After it was said and done, nobody thought anything more of it. He's a great guy and a great pitcher."

If he pitches well during spring training, Tadano could win a spot in Cleveland's bullpen. Whenever he joins the Indians, pitcher C.C. Sabathia says Tadano will be welcomed.

"This is the right team and the right organization for him," Sabathia said. "We have good guys here. Everybody has done something that they regret in their lives. He's a person just like everyone else."

In the last year you have the Colorado Rockies publicly condemming Todd Jones for anti-gay remarks and the Indians management and players accepting a player who has appeared in a gay porn movie. It seems to me an openly gay ballplayer can't be too far into the future. A team with young players, like Cleveland, may be the right place for the first homosexual ballplayer. After all, these young men have grown up in a much more tolerant society than I did (I was born in 1960), and may not think it's such a big deal.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:08 AM | Comments (19) | TrackBack (1)

January 26, 2004

Hurt Feelings
Permalink

Roger Clemens had his feelings hurt at the New York BBWAA dinner:

The Rocket, who ended his "retirement" after 78 days to sign with the Houston Astros, was greeted with a mix of boos and cheers last night as he picked up the award at the New York Baseball Writers Association of America dinner at the Sheraton New York.

Yankee GM Brian Cashman presented the plaque to his former ace, who spent five seasons with the Yankees.

The reaction from Yankee fans and local media didn't sit well with Clemens, who won his 300th game and recorded his 4,000th strikeout in the same game last season.

"I don't see a lot of papers, but obviously I heard it once I made the commitment to go home," Clemens said. "I heard some of the things that were on the back pages and it was hurtful. It did bother me because I poured my heart out here and did the best I could."

Clemens played for some of the toughest fans around in Boston and New York for most of his career. What did he expect? I'm surprised Steinbrenner didn't fire Cashman for presenting the award!

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:25 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

January 20, 2004

Signing Day
Permalink

Lots of players avoiding arbitration today. The Transaction Guy has all the signings. Start here and work backwards.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:36 PM | TrackBack (0)

Hefty Raise
Permalink

Alfonso Soriano and the Yankees avoided arbitration. Soriano will get $5.4 million this year, up from $800,000 last year. Soriano was 2nd among AL 2nd basemen in win shares last year, making his 2004 salary seem quite reasonable. If he learns the strikezone and stops trying to hit low, outside pitches for HR, the contract will be downright cheap.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:04 PM | TrackBack (0)

November 15, 2003

Double Bonds
Permalink

Barry Bonds is in the news twice today. On the business side of things, he's withdrawn from the MLBPA group licensing agreement, and will negotiate these on his own.

Bonds informed the union that he would not be signing the organization's group licensing agreement next year and would instead pursue licensing opportunities on his own.

Players usually sign the group licensing agreement, which allows companies that obtain MLBPA licenses the right to use players' names and likenesses on their products. In exchange for their rights, the players get a percentage of the sale of the products such as trading cards and video games.

The signing of the agreement is usually a formality. In fact, Bonds will become the first union member in the 30-year history of the licensing program not to sign it, said Judy Heeter, director of business affairs and licensing for the MLBPA.

This is a pretty major deal, and a slap in the face to the union. The MLBPA has always been about the the big contract players; to have one of the best abandon them like that does not bode well for that licensing money to continue to flow in. If Bonds starts landing big deals, how long before A-Rod and Sosa and the other big stars follow suit? I'd be surprised if the union didn't exert a lot of pressure to get Bonds back in the fold.

The second story involves Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson. Anderson has been indentified as the target of the probe into THG. Bonds is going to testify, and it will be interesting to see if Barry is implicated in using THG.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:32 PM | TrackBack (0)

November 05, 2003

Dissing Tino
Permalink

Redbird Nation has some odds and ends posted, and I find this one interesting.

3. Tino packs his bags. Literally -- he put his St. Louis home on the market and seems to have played his last game in a Cardinals uniform. When I ragged on Tino's acquisition a couple years ago, my New York buddies swore that I'd warm up to the guy. Instead he'll go down as one of my least favorite Cardinals of all time. I can forgive poor production, but not when it's mingled with a piss-poor attitude. Will he reunite with Sweet Lou in Tampa? The Devil Rays practically invented themselves as the place where veterans go to die (Greg Vaughn, Wade Boggs, new Chisox manager Ozzie Guillen), so maybe this is a good fit for Tino.

There are still some Yankees fans who wish Tino had stayed. Reading this post, it seems that some Cardinals fans wished he had stayed also.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:43 AM | TrackBack (0)

Playing For One Team
Permalink

Derek Prior sends this qualifying comment on my Edgar Martinez post of last night:

You list Gary DiSarcina as a player who played his entire career with one team. DiScarcina did, in fact, sign a contract with his hometown Boston Red Sox but spent the year in the minors and on IR. He retired as a member of the Red Sox organization. Had it not been for his injury, he probably would have played for the Red Sox that year because I believe it was the same year Nomar missed a good chuck of time.

Thanks, Derek. I was just looking at actual MLB playing time. I'm sure there were players on this list that started in another organization and ended up in the big leagues for another team (like Jeff Bagwell). So take the whole list with appropriate caveats.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:38 AM | TrackBack (0)

November 04, 2003

3 (Million) Martinez Lunch
Permalink

Edgar Martinez signed a one-year deal to stay with the Seattle Mariners today. He'll earn a minimum of three million dollars.

The two-time AL batting champion had a $4 million base salary this year and earned $3.5 million in performance bonuses. He faced a Sunday deadline to file for free agency.

But Martinez wants to finish his career with the Mariners, the only organization he's played for.

"I'm very glad everything worked out and I'm coming back for another year," he said. "I think if we didn't reach an agreement, the chances that I'd stay home were a lot greater than I'd play for another team."

I used to hear a lot about how players don't stay with one team anymore, but it seems a lot of recent stars had their careers in one city. Here's the list of all players who played at least 12 seasons and played for only one major league franchise:

Player                Career
SALMON, Tim          1992 2003
LOPEZ, Javy          1992 2003
WILLIAMS, Bernie     1991 2003
BAGWELL, Jeff        1991 2003
THOMAS, Frank        1990 2003
DiSARCINA, Gary      1989 2000
SMOLTZ, John         1988 2003
BIGGIO, Craig        1988 2003
MARTINEZ, Edgar      1987 2003
PAGNOZZI, Tom        1987 1998
LARKIN, Barry        1986 2003
KARKOVICE, Ron       1986 1997
GREENWELL, Mike      1985 1996
PUCKETT, Kirby       1984 1995
BUSH, Randy          1982 1993
GWYNN, Tony          1982 2001
MATTINGLY, Don       1982 1995
RIPKEN JR., Cal      1981 2001
HRBEK, Kent          1981 1994
SCIOSCIA, Mike       1980 1992
OESTER, Ron          1978 1990
BENEDICT, Bruce      1978 1989
TRAMMELL, Alan       1977 1996
WHITAKER, Lou        1977 1995
STANLEY, Bob         1977 1989
SOTO, Mario          1977 1988
McGREGOR, Scott      1976 1988
GANTNER, Jim         1976 1992
GUIDRY, Ron          1975 1988
LEONARD, Dennis      1974 1986
RICE, Jim            1974 1989
YOUNT, Robin         1974 1993
HODGES, Ron          1973 1984
WHITE, Frank         1973 1990
ROGERS, Steve        1973 1985
BRETT, George        1973 1993
SCHMIDT, Mike        1972 1989
SPLITTORFF, Paul     1970 1984
CONCEPCION, Dave     1970 1988
RUSSELL, Bill        1969 1986
BENCH, Johnny        1967 1983
PALMER, Jim          1965 1984
WHITE, Roy           1965 1979
HILLER, John         1965 1980
STANLEY, Mickey      1964 1978
PETROCELLI, Rico     1963 1976
BROWN, Gates         1963 1975
GREEN, Dick          1963 1974
KRANEPOOL, Ed        1962 1979
STARGELL, Willie     1962 1982
OLIVA, Tony          1962 1976
FREEHAN, Bill        1961 1976
YASTRZEMSKI, Carl    1961 1983
GIBSON, Bob          1959 1975
DAVENPORT, Jim       1958 1970
ALLISON, Bob         1958 1970
DRYSDALE, Don        1956 1969
MAZEROSKI, Bill      1956 1972
CLEMENTE, Roberto    1955 1972
ROBINSON, Brooks     1955 1977
RICHARDSON, Bobby    1955 1966
KOUFAX, Sandy        1955 1966
KALINE, Al           1953 1974
GILLIAM, Jim         1953 1966
BANKS, Ernie         1953 1971
MANTLE, Mickey       1951 1968
LAW, Vern            1950 1967
FORD, Whitey         1950 1967
ERSKINE, Carl        1948 1959
FURILLO, Carl        1946 1960
LEMON, Bob           1941 1958
RIZZUTO, Phil        1941 1956
SUDER, Pete          1941 1955
MUSIAL, Stan         1941 1963
REESE, Pee Wee       1940 1958
SISTI, Sibby         1939 1954
WILLIAMS, Ted        1939 1960
DOERR, Bobby         1937 1951
FELLER, Bob          1936 1956
DiMAGGIO, Joe        1936 1951
TRAVIS, Cecil        1933 1947
HACK, Stan           1932 1947
CROSETTI, Frankie    1932 1948
SCHUMACHER, Hal      1931 1946
MOORE, Jo-Jo         1930 1941
APPLING, Luke        1930 1950
BRIDGES, Tommy       1930 1946
HUBBELL, Carl        1928 1943
DICKEY, Bill         1928 1946
MARTIN, Pepper       1928 1944
HARDER, Mel          1928 1947
OTT, Mel             1926 1947
COMBS, Earle         1924 1935
GEHRINGER, Charlie   1924 1942
LYONS, Ted           1923 1946
GEHRIG, Lou          1923 1939
TERRY, Bill          1923 1936
BLUEGE, Ossie        1922 1939
JACKSON, Travis      1922 1936
TRAYNOR, Pie         1920 1937
ROMMEL, Eddie        1920 1932
FABER, Red           1914 1933
DAUSS, Hooks         1912 1926
MILLER, Otto         1910 1922
GRANEY, Jack         1908 1922
MILAN, Clyde         1907 1922
JOHNSON, Walter      1907 1927
LEEVER, Sam          1898 1910
TIERNAN, Mike        1887 1899
McPHEE, Bid          1882 1899
ANSON, Cap           1876 1897

The number of players with one team did go down from the 1970's to the 1980's, and you have to figure in a couple of expansions. But it's not as bad as some people would have you believe. And it looks like Edgar Martinez will be another on the retired part of this list eventually.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:36 PM | TrackBack (0)

October 31, 2003

But What About the Great Health Care?
Permalink

Maels Rodriguez has defected from Cuba so he can play in the United States.

Rodriguez, a 24-year-old right-hander, is one of Cuba's top pitchers and his fastball is said to regularly top 100 mph.

"I want to play the best baseball, and that's in the United States," Rodriguez said. "It's a difficult step because you know how things are in Cuba. So when Yobal and I made this decision, it was the most important one in our careers."

Rodriguez set the single-season strikeout record in Cuba with 263 in 178 1/3 innings three years ago. This season, he was 8-3 in 113 innings with 117 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.11. Cuban officials left him off the Pan American Games and Olympic qualifying teams, blaming arm and back injuries for the loss of 15 mph off his fastball.

"I'm going to demonstrate that

Sounds like there will competition for the nickname, "K-Rod."

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

October 22, 2003

Soriano Fan?
Permalink

A Soriano fan takes a very critical look at Alfonso's weaknesses.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:59 PM | TrackBack (0)

October 05, 2003

Bernie's Brain
Permalink

Jack Curry in the NY Times offers a look into the head of Bernie Williams:

In many ways, Williams, who has been an instrumental part of four World Series teams, symbolizes this team. He is still a formidable player, but he has some faults. The Yankees are still a formidable team, but they have some faults. And this postseason is when Williams and the Yankees will determine just how formidable or just how flawed they are.

A big decision for the Yankees this off-season is whether Bernie continues to play in centerfield. The simplest thing would be to switch Williams and Matsui, but I can also envision scenarios where Williams is not on the team next year.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:59 AM | TrackBack (0)

September 30, 2003

Matsui Singles
Permalink

Hideki Matsui singles in his first post-season AB. Yankees and Twins tied at 0 at the end of two.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:36 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 25, 2003

Two Way Player
Permalink

My good friend Jim Storer pointed out to me today that Brooks Kieschnick started in left field last night for the Milwaukee Brewers and batted 5th. Kieschnick has had a really good season hitting; so good that the Brewers have used him as a DH in the past, but this was his first start at a fielding position. He has 7 HR in 63 AB. Not a bad ratio for anybody. Makes you wonder why he failed as a batter in the past.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:42 AM | TrackBack (0)

September 16, 2003

Where's PETA?
Permalink

Steve Bonner sends a link to this picture. They say it's a rookie hazing, but I wonder if it's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy gone horribly wrong. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:16 AM | TrackBack (0)

September 13, 2003

Boone Boom
Permalink

Aaron Boone is finally hitting for the Yankees. In the last six games, including through the fourth inning today, Boone is 10 for 22 with three doubles, two HR and eight RBI. He just scored the go-ahead run on two SB and a wild pitch, the WP coming on his attempted steal of third. Boone's an excellent base stealer. He's now 89 for 110 in his career, and 23 for 26 this year, including 8 for 8 with the Yankees. It's not how often you steal, it's how often you're successful at it.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:27 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 08, 2003

Career Year
Permalink

Mike Lieberthal hit a three-run HR in the first inning off Russ Ortiz to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead. With a .324 BA and a .388 OBA, Lieberthal is heading for career highs in both those categories. He seems to have lost the HR power than he showed in 1999, but he's made up for it by getting on base more.

The Braves continue to handle Millwood. They've scored 2 in the first so far to cut the lead in half.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:59 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 06, 2003

Catching On
Permalink

A.J. Pierzynski homered to give the Twins a 5-0 lead. Since 2001, only I-Rod has a better BA batting as a catcher in the majors.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:24 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 05, 2003

Henson Still A Yankee
Permalink

I was surprised by this article. Especially after this post, a few days ago. My guess is that the Yankees are going to get some of their money's worth out of Drew before he goes off to play football. He's had a chance to develop in the minors and just hasn't. Too bad.

Posted by StatsGuru at 04:20 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 02, 2003

Medical Manny
Permalink

I thought of categorizing this as Baseball Jerks, but I just don't know. Here's the latest on the Manny Ramirez saga. There seems to be a lot of speculation on this story, but little fact. He appears to have the same aliment as Pedro Martinez did, and Pedro was really sick. I heard yesterday that he met with Willie Randolph, and now I read it was Enrique Wilson, which is a lot less sinister, since they are old teammates. I don't know what to make of this story, so I'm reserving judgement.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:48 PM | TrackBack (0)

September 01, 2003

Henson Retires
Permalink

Looks like Drew Henson is through with baseball. The Yankees are likely to playing Aaron Boone for a while. It's the right decision for Henson. He was no where near making the majors, and if you're not a star by the time you're 23, it's unlikely that you'll ever be one.

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:28 PM | TrackBack (0)

Minor Repairs
Permalink

Not sure what they did for Brandon Inge in the minors, but since he's returned he been hitting very well. Coming into today, he was 27 for 83 with 10 extra-base hits. He's 1 for 3 today with a two-run HR and Detroit and Cleveland are tied at 4 in the 7th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:48 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 27, 2003

Bottoms Up!
Permalink

Jason Varitek continues to show why he's the best #9 hitter in baseball. He's two for 3 with a HR and three RBI. That gives him a .322 BA in the 9th slot with 16 HR and 61 RBI, all the best in baseball. The Red Sox and Blue Jays are tied at 3 in the 7th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:03 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 25, 2003

Long Ball
Permalink

Terrance Long is hitting much in August, but his hits are going a long way. He only has 21 hits in 83 AB, but 11 of those 21 hits have been for extra bases. That's helped him to 13 RBI in the month.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:51 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 22, 2003

They Call Him the Streak
Permalink

Albert Pujols is back in the Cardinals lineup, trying to extend his hit streak to 31 games.

Update: Pujols 0 for 2 so far.

Update: Pujols 0 for 3.

Update: Pujols 0 for 4. Cards leading 4-3 in the 7th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:08 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 21, 2003

Unrecognized Rookie
Permalink

I don't know how much notice he'll get for rookie of the year with all the good, young pitching in the NL, but Scott Podsednik deserves some attention. He has the highest OBA of any rookie in the majors who qualifies for the batting title. He's does what a lead off man is supposed to do; get on base. He has almost no power, but he has stolen 25 bases in 32 attempts, a 78% clip. He's the kind of player the Brewers need.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:24 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 20, 2003

Far Right
Permalink

Hank Blalock is two for three tonight to raise his overall batting average to .317. Interestingly almost all of that comes against right-handed pitching. Entering tonight, Blalock was batting .196 vs. lefties, but .350 vs. righties. Only 2 of his 19 hits against lefties are for extra bases, while about 40% of hits are for extra bases against righties.

There are two ways to look at this. One, maybe he should be platooned. Two, he's still young, and if he learns to hit lefties, he's going to awesome.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:22 PM | TrackBack (0)

Gibbon's Improvement
Permalink

Jay Gibbons of the Baltimore Orioles is one of the improved players on the team this year. He's two for two tonight with a double and a HR. He raised his BA and OBA about 50 points, although his slugging percentage is the same. So he's trading power for fewer outs. All-in-all, a pretty good trade. Orioles are up 6-0 on the Devil Rays.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

Rivera Returns
Permalink

Juan Rivera returned to the Yankees today, and it looks like he wants to stay this time. He's three for four with a single, double and home run. He's scored 2 and driven in 2. The Yankees lead 8-3 in the 8th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:51 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 18, 2003

Attitude
Permalink

I like the way Jeff Bagwell thinks:

The Astros are still in first place, but only a game separates them, the Cubs and the Cardinals in the NL's weakest division. Chicago lost to the Dodgers on Sunday, remaining a half-game out.

"This is not what you want it to come down to -- you lose, they lose," said Jeff Bagwell, who hit a solo homer. "You want to win and take care of yourself. To succeed in the playoffs, you've got to be a pretty good team. The way we've been doing the last week, that's not going to get it done."

I often heard people talk about players attittudes. This is the one I would want for the members of my team.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:01 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 16, 2003

Diminishing Returns
Permalink

Morgan Ensberg has two hits today as the Astros are beating the Reds 5-2 in the 7th. If you look at Ensberg's batting average by month, you'd say he's having a better August (.320) than July (.244). But both his OBA and Slugging Percentage are down from July. Morgan's hitting fine, but it's a very hollow .320. He's only drawn one walk, and he's only had three extra-base hits, all doubles. Given what he was doing in May and June, this is a serious slump.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:42 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 14, 2003

Burning Bernie
Permalink

Bernie Williams seems to have finally recovered from his injury. He's one for one tonight, making him 8 for 16 since 8/10 with four walks, three runs scored and three rbi.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:33 PM | TrackBack (0)

Halfway to DiMaggio
Permalink

Albert Pujols is for three so far today to extend his hit streak to 28 games. All he has to do now is repeat that feat and he'll tie Joe DiMaggio's record.

The Cardinals are up 4-1 in the 7th. They are pecking away at the Pirates, with 10 hits, 9 of them singles.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:24 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 13, 2003

All Abreu
Permalink

Bobby Abreu is doing it all tonight. He has three hits, a double, three runs scored and three RBI. He setting the table and clearing it off.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:32 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 12, 2003

Approaching 100
Permalink

Mike Lowell has driven in two Flordia runs tonight to bring his RBI total to 98. Two more and he'll tie his career high and reach the century mark. One of the nice stories of the last few years.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:29 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 10, 2003

Jeter Power
Permalink

Derek Jeter hit his ninth HR of the year to tie the game at 1-1. Although it's his 9th HR, it's only the third one he's pulled this year.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 06, 2003

Gallant Giles
Permalink

A big night for Marcus Giles, three for five with a double and two HR. His four RBI breaks a six game streak without batting in a run.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:34 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 03, 2003

Good Trade
Permalink

Shannon Stewart continues to be impressive for the Twins. He's 2 for 2 today, and 30 for 68 since joining the Twins. He's also hitting for power, with 7 doubles and 3 HR, including a solo shot today. The Twins are 10-6 since he joined them on 7/17, and are winning today 5-2 in the 6th.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

August 02, 2003

Overrated or Popular?
Permalink

BronxBanter guest columnist Christopher DeRosa asks if Derek Jeter is really overrated.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:48 AM | TrackBack (0)

August 01, 2003

Soriano Dropped
Permalink

Joe Torre has dropped Soriano to 8th in the lineup. He's swinging at everything, especially pitches off the outside corner of the plate. At the end of last year, Soriano was trying to hit his 40th HR, and got into the bad habit of trying to kill the ball instead of meeting it, and that carried over into the playoffs. This year, he was having luck for a while hitting low, outside pitches. But now the pitchers appear to be moving the ball farther out, and Soriano is still swinging at them.

Jeter-Williams is a better pair of table setters. When Soriano's swing comes back, Torre should move him to the four or five spot.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

Little Tike
Permalink

It was worth it for the Pirates to trade Kenny Lofton just to see Tike Redman in the boxscore. He tripled in his first AB of the season. Salomon Torres however, has given up five runs so far, and he's not out of the second.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:44 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 31, 2003

Polanco Not Placid
Permalink

Placido Polanco is finishing up a great July in style. He comes into tonight with 23 runs and 15 RBI in 24 games in July, a .444 OBA and a .583 slugging percentage. He's hit a HR in three AB to add another run scored and three more RBI.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:29 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 29, 2003

Woe-mack
Permalink

The Colorado Rockies lead the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 in the sixth. Eight of the nine starters have hits tonight; the only one not to reach base is leadoff man Tony Womack. Tony's woeful OBA is .266 through six innings; pitcher Darren Oliver, who's 2 for 3 tonight, has an OBA of .292. Why Womack is leading off for anyone is beyond me.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 28, 2003

Offensive Jump
Permalink

Jose Guillen homered today for the Cincinnati Reds. It's his 23rd of the year, nine more than he ever had before. Coming into today, he was posting a .389 OBA; his career OBA is .316. Jose Guillen has never had a good offensive year before, and this year his OPS is over 1.000! At age 27, has he suddenly found himself? Or is he a fluke?

One way of answering this question is by asking, what are the odds of a player having a .389 OBA when his career OBA is .316? A more percise way to ask the question is "What is the probability of a player with a .316 OBA reaching base at least 130 times in 334 opportunities?" If you use the binomial distribution and do the math, you get the answer 0.0027. In other words, if you take 1000 players with .316 OBA and give them 334 plate appearances, only about 3 of them will reach base at least 130 times.

My guess is that Guillen has turned a corner in his career. There is something different about his game. The increase is all in his batting average, so I would bet it's some kind of Bret Boone bulk up. And as Boone showed, that can work very well.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:58 PM | TrackBack (1)

July 25, 2003

Shannon's Sharp
Permalink

The Twins are staging a comback vs. the Indians. Down 4-0 after 3, they have closed it to 4-3 in the 6th. Shannon Stewart continues his hot hitting with a three for three. He's now 15 for 30 since joining the Twins.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:42 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 24, 2003

Eckstein Resurgence
Permalink

David Eckstein has been having a disappointing season. Through July 19th, he was only getting on base at a .311 clip, well below his .351 career pace. He's picked it up in the last few days, getting on base 12 out of 20 times, including a 3 for 3 tonight in the 4th inning vs. Texas.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:26 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 23, 2003

Setting the Table
Permalink

Bobby Kielty is doing a good job setting the table for Toronto tonight. He has two hits and a walks and has scored twice. He's now 10 for 22 with 4 walks and for the Jays, and has scored 9 runs in 6 games.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:35 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 22, 2003

Kollar for Kendall?
Permalink

Jason Kendall's 23 game hitting streak is in jeopardy. He's 0 for 3 tonight, with two innings to go. He's was 39 for 99 during the streak coming into tonight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:00 PM | TrackBack (0)

Griffey and the Hall of Fame
Permalink

Rich's Weekend Baseball Beat did a long article on this. Also, scroll up to the next post by Rich for the follow up.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:52 PM | TrackBack (0)

Slam Duncan
Permalink

Jeff Duncan seems to be doing his best to solidify himself as the Mets leadoff man. He singled leading off the first and scored, and raised his OBA to .525. He has 9 walks in 31 AB. As a point of comparison, entering today, there are 170 players (including pitchers) who have more AB but fewer walks, including Jacque Jones, who has 7 walks in 319 AB! Duncan has a career minor league .381 OBA, so this isn't likely a fluke.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:30 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 11, 2003

Back to Normal
Permalink

Derek Jeter, after a 2 for 2 start in Toronto tonight, is batting .318 with a .385 OBA and a .457 slugging percentage. That's pretty close to his .317/.388/.462 career numbers. In his previous 12 games, dating back to 6/28, he's hitting .522, 24 for 46. I guess the shoulder is finally healed.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:16 PM | TrackBack (0)

Triple
Permalink

Coco Crisp hit his fourth triple of the season and 14th of his career. He only has three HR. It's an unusual ratio. Recent players who had extreme triple/HR ratios like that were Larry Bowa who had 99 triples and 15 HR, and Roger Metzger who had 71 triples and 5 HR.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:01 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 10, 2003

July Slump
Permalink

Garrett Anderson of the Anaheim Angels broke out of his July slump today with two HR. In 8 games this month, entering today, Anderson was batting .258 with 0 HR and four RBI. He doubled his RBI total for the month today, and is now 10 for 34 on the month.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:07 PM | TrackBack (0)

Jeff Kent, Nice Guy
Permalink

A heart-warming story involving Jeff Kent. Thanks to Casey Abell for pointing it out.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:38 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 08, 2003

LEEEEEEWWWWWW!
Permalink

Lew Ford of the Twins has a two-run double as the Twins have taken an early 4-0 lead vs. the Rangers. The way the Twins pitchers have been going lately, they'll need it. Lew has played well since making the majors, posting a .407 OBA after a double and a walk tonight. Six of his 16 hits have been for extra bases.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:39 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 07, 2003

Swooning Third Basemen
Permalink

Robin Ventura and Vinny Castilla look like they are on the way out to me.

OPS, 2003	Ventura	Castilla
March-May	.869	.807
June-July	.512	.549

I don't care how good their defense is, that's unacceptable offense. The Yankees' Drew Henson is having a lousy year at triple A. I still think the right thing to do is move Jeter to third and find someone who can play defense at SS. The Braves have put up with Castilla's offense for two years now. I'm not sure what their options are, but maybe they could move Chipper back to third and find another slugging outfielder.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:39 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 06, 2003

Gotta Have Hart
Permalink

With their first two choices at second base injured, the Cardinals have turned to rookie Bo Hart, and he's come through in a big way. In 17 games, he's turned in a .427 OBA, mostly from the leadoff spot, and has scored 16 runs. Vina may have trouble getting the job back.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 05, 2003

Number 9, Number 9
Permalink

One of the reasons I thought the Red Sox would have a good offense this year is that Jason Varitek was going to be a very good #9 hitter. Well, he's been even better than that. Here's the #9 hitters rated by On-base by Slugging:

#9 Hitter	OPS
Varitek	1.056
M. Young	.836
R. Ordonez	.805
C. Singleton	.747

Overall, Varitek has a .968 OPS, 14th in the majors. At some point, you have to wonder if the Red Sox should move him up in the lineup. He has a nine-game hit streak in which he's hit .500 with 5 HR and 15 RBI.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:43 AM | TrackBack (1)

July 03, 2003

Day Of Rest
Permalink

Barry Bonds is not playing this afternoon. Not playing Bonds in day games after night games appears to be a trend the Giants are sticking to. Coming into today, the Giants had played 26 day games, but Bonds had only played 16. He's played 55 of the 57 night games.

Posted by StatsGuru at 02:18 PM | TrackBack (0)

July 02, 2003

No-RBI Nomar
Permalink

Just want to point out that Nomar went 3 for 6 last night with no RBI. The table setters went 1 for 12 in front of him. Garciaparra's hits are being wasted because no one is on in front of him. In June, Garciaparra had more extra-base hits than RBI! You know what kind of hitters generally have more extra-base hits than RBI? Leadoff men. Guys who bat a lot with the bases empty because they are guaranteed to start the game with no one on and the bottom of the order doesn't get on very much. Nomar's batting third, but essentially, he's leading off for Manny.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:29 AM | TrackBack (0)

July 01, 2003

Cruz Controlled
Permalink

Jose Cruz Jr. homered tonight off Woody Williams. It's Cruz's 13th HR of the year. He started off hot in April, hitting seven, but this was his 6th since then. He only had one the month of June.

Once again, Bonds is coming out on top in the matchup against Pujols. Bonds has a double and an RBI, Albert is 0 for 2.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:18 PM | TrackBack (0)

Win Share Leaders
Permalink

Here's the list of win share leaders through the end of June:

Player	Win Shares
Carlos Delgado	22.3
Albert Pujols	19.4
Todd Helton	19.1
Barry Bonds	18.5
Jason Giambi	16.8
John Smoltz	16.5
Nomar Garciaparra	16.0
Gary Sheffield	16.0
Jason Schmidt	15.8
Luis Gonzalez	15.7
Bret Boone	15.6
Esteban Loaiza	15.2
Larry Walker	15.1
Rafael Furcal	15.0
Manny Ramirez	14.9
Mike Lowell	14.7
Corey Koskie	14.7
Eric Gagne	14.6
Vernon Wells	14.4
Garret Anderson	14.3
Jim Thome	14.3

You can compare this list to the top 20 through May 25th. Looks like the cream is rising to the top, as Bonds, Giambi and Pujols are now near the top of the list.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:53 AM | TrackBack (0)

June 30, 2003

Casey at the Bat
Permalink

Casey Blake of the Cleveland Indians is having a good double header. He was two for three in the first game with a grand slam and five RBI. So far in the night cap, he's two for two with a 2 run HR. Seven RBI is a pretty good day's work.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:12 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 29, 2003

Bay-Cycle
Permalink

Eric Byrnes hit for the cycle today. He's made the most of his opportunity. He now had a .401 OBA and a .577 slugging percentage. It's going to be very hard to take him out of the lineup. He had good OBA numbers in the minors; it's not quite clear to me why it took him so long to make the majors as a regular. He seems like the kind of ballplayer Beane looks for. I wonder if Billy thinks Byrnes has become overvalued and will trade him?

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:59 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 27, 2003

Well Healed
Permalink

Shannon Stewart was with a HR tonight. Since returning from his injury, he's 10 for 22 with three doubles and five HR. Now that's what I call a rehab. :-)

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:48 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 26, 2003

More On Milton
Permalink

Mark Warner write regarding this post:

I found it a bit odd that you would talk about trading him for prospects. He's 25 years old! Wouldn't you rather build around a guy like that and try to trade someone like Vizquel for prospects -- assuming someone would give something for him?

Seems to me that Bradley is exactly the sort of building block you have to start with when you are trying to get up off the mat....

I have to say in general I agree with Mark, and this thought did cross my mind as I wrote the post last night. However, there are a number of things to consider:

• These stats are a small sample. His previous career wasn't like this, although, that's a small sample also.


• It's best to trade a player when he value is higher that it should be, and I think right now Bradley's value is very high.


• Keeping him or trading him depends on how deep Cleveland thinks its farm system is. If they have a number of people in AAA that are ready to help the team win, then definitely keep Bradley as the center of the new team. But if the franchise is short of prospects and isn't going to win anyway, trade Bradley for a bunch of good prospects, and get the low draft picks next year.

If someone has information on the quality of the Indians farm system, I'd love to hear about it.

Posted by StatsGuru at 11:45 AM | TrackBack (0)

June 25, 2003

A Real Gamer
Permalink

Milton Bradley is 2 for 2 through seven innings tonight, and continues to have a great season. He came into today tied for 6th in the majors in on-base percentage, and will have moved up by the end of the night. Unfortunately, the Cleveland offense is so weak, he's only scored 39 runs in 60 games. He done a good job of getting himself in scoring position, hitting his 23rd double tonight, and stealing 13 bases in 16 attempts. He's 25 and appears to have found his batting eye. If the Indians are looking to move someone for prospects, Milton would help a lot of teams.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:40 PM | TrackBack (0)

More Nomar
Permalink

Joel Moore writes about this post:

Your observation about Nomar's lack of RBI this month was interesting and puts some concrete numbers to what I'd observed in listening to and following Sox games. I do have one comment about your observation though. While his extra base hits are down a bit from last month (18 XB out of 37 H in 109 AB vs 13 XB out of 40 H in 93 AB), perhaps the lack of RBI can also be attributed to the 1 & 2 hitters for the Sox not getting extra base hits or singling and then stealing second.

Carlos Delgado's June stats make for an interesting comparison to Nomar's.

AB  R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  SB  CS  BB   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS

73  16  20   4   0   7   26   0   0  15 .274 .426 .616 1.042

Delgado's slugging percentage is lower than Nomar's (though larger in comparison to his batting average).

The main difference seems to be in the 3B vs HR.

When I saw the 55 men on last night, that sounded reasonable to me, so I didn't check the OBA of the 1-2 hitters. Joel's letter led me to revisit that, and it turns out the tablesetters for the Red Sox have a .316 OBA in June. So Nomar hasn't had a reasonable number of runners on base in front of him. The Blue Jays 1-2 hitters have gotten on at a .356 clip in June, helping Delgado's RBI numbers. And remember, a HR guarantees you an RBI; a triple doesn't.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:33 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 24, 2003

Nomar's June
Permalink

Nomar Garciaparra went five for five tonight, all singles. Nomar is now 40 for 93 in June, a .430 BA. Of his forty hits, 6 are doubles, 7 are triples, and none are home runs. Most amazingly, he has only 9 RBI. With his five hits tonight, he had no RBI! He's batting third on a high scoring team. With a BA like that, you'd think he'd be driving in runs left and right.

Nomar has had opportunities. He's come up with 55 men on base this month, 30 in scoring position. He's only driven in nine. He's hitting .391 with men in scoring position. He hasn't been intentionally walked. The real problem seems to be the lack of HR, or to put it another way, a truck load of singles. The number three slot needs to generate power, and Nomar isn't doing that. He's driving in single runs with singles, but he's not driving in people from farther back on the basepaths.

I don't mean this to criticize Nomar. Any month where your BA is .430 is a good month. But until his power comes back, the Red Sox might want to move him to second, and Kevin Millar to third.

Update: You can read more here.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:41 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 19, 2003

Chris' Comeback
Permalink

Chris Stynes has appeared to regain his stroke in Colorado this year. He had not been the same since he left Cincinnati. Through two innings tonight, he's batting .286 with a .373 OBA and a .472 slugging percentage. He has a grand slam tonight, the first of his career.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:44 PM | TrackBack (0)

Slump Buster
Permalink

Miguel Tejada broke out of his slump today. He was 12 for 62 in June, a .194 BA. Tejada went 5 for 5 today to raise his June BA to .254. He also had a double and a HR.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:37 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 18, 2003

Good Timing
Permalink

Jose Reyes has a double, a triple and four RBI tonight. That gives him 11 RBI in 9 games. He's batting .242, but with a .455 slugging percentage through five innings tonight. Power with men on leads to RBI.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:58 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 17, 2003

Ichiro!
Permalink

Ichiro has two HR tonight to give him seven on the year. He hit eight in each of his first two seasons. With his 2 for 2 so far tonight, he's raised his average to .343.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:58 PM | TrackBack (0)

Rickey Henderson
Permalink

I just got back from the Bridgeport Bluefish game. It was a lot of fun, and I recommend a visit to Harbor Yard if you have a chance. The Bluefish beat the Newark Bears 4-2 on the strength of a grand slam byOreste Marrero. Rickey looks good. We were pretty close to the on-deck circle, and Rickey was acknowledging fans who were cheering him. He had 2 hits, a walk, reached on an error, an SB and a CS and scored a run. After the run, the fans near the Neward dugout gave him a nice ovation. Rickey has changed his stance a bit, standing back on one leg as he waits for the pitch to be delivered. His crouch does not seem to be as exaggerated as it used to be. The batting eye is still there. My guess is that he could help some team, and I would not be surprised if he ends up on an MLB team soon.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:36 PM | TrackBack (0)

Rickey
Permalink

I'm off to Bridgeport to see the Bluefish host the Newark Bears. Of course, I'm really going to see all-time major league great Rickey Henderson kill independent league pitching. Rickey is hitting .352 with with a .481 OBA in 33 games. He's scored 25 runs and has 5 HR. This should be fun.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:36 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 16, 2003

1999
Permalink

John Olerud is going for hit number 2000. He grounded out in his first AB.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 13, 2003

Breakfast of Champions
Permalink

Coco Crisp was called up by the Indians on the 10th, and he's leading off tonight. He has a single, a stolen base and a run scored. It's the only run of the game so far.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:04 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 12, 2003

If You Haven't Looked at Ford Lately
Permalink

I missed Lew Ford being called up by the Twins recently. I saw Lew play at both New Britian, CT and Portland, OR last year and was impressed. He's leading off for the Twins tonight, and is 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored. And of course, he's another player that gives announcers the chance to comment, "They're not saying boo, they're saying Lew!"

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:16 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 11, 2003

Too Soon?
Permalink

Gary Matthews Jr. has turned it around since rejoining the SD Padres. His batting average and OBA are both over a 100 points higher than they were in Baltimore. I've always thought Matthews would be a good OBA guy, but he never seems to endure himself to a team. But so far, he's proving a good leadoff man or the Padres. Did Baltimore give up too soon on this player?

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:34 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 10, 2003

Hooray for HowieClark!
Permalink

Howie Clark was called up at the end of May to replace the injured Eric Hinske of the Blue Jays, and he's been unstoppable. With a 3 for 3 so far tonight, he's 10 for 17. The 29-year-old must figure this is his last chance to make the big leagues.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:57 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 09, 2003

Olerud
Permalink

First, thanks to Shannon Fears at the Mariners Weblog for the link, and greetings to all the Seattle fans finding their way here through that site. Shannon also links to a couple of articles about John Olerud's return to NY. One paragraph got me thinking:

And while Olrerud downplays the significance, there's no denying that wherever he goes, winning baseball is played. His first four full seasons at Toronto came at the height of the Blue Jays' success and 4 million-home-fans-a-season popularity. The Mets had six straight losing seasons before his arrival in Flushing, then went 88-74, 88-74, and 97-66 - and to the playoffs - with him in the lineup.

And the Mariners are another story. They had 116 wins in 2001, his second season back home. And in his four seasons in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle's record is 340-205 for a gaudy .624 winning percentage.

My question is, does John Olerud belong in the Hall of Fame? (I can hear everyone scoffing.) But think about this. He has a career .404 OBA. He has 456 doubles, and will likely finish with over 600 in his career. And he's one of the great defensive first basemen of all time. (I don't think defense at first is that important, but when you have someone as outstanding as Olerud, you have to consider this.)

My feeling is that John is going to end his career with a lot of numbers that are just short of induction. He'll have a .297 BA, he'll have 2800 hits, he'll have 1500 RBI and runs scored. But he'll also have this impressive record of winning, and a deserved reputation as the nicest person in the game. My guess is that he won't survive the first ballot, but voters should think very carefully about this player before leaving him off a ballot.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:08 AM | TrackBack (0)

June 05, 2003

Matsui Dropped
Permalink

The Yankees have dropped Matsui to 7th in the order (where he belongs) and moved Soriano back to the leadoff spot. The move seems to have helped Matsui tonight, as he's gone 2 for 3 with a double, HR and three RBI.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:08 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 03, 2003

Captain, We're Losing the Warp Engines
Permalink

Derek Jeter was named captain of the Yankees today. Given the way he's been playing shortstop lately, he's likely to go down with the ship. :-)

Jeter's been the defacto leader on the team for a while. It's good that they recognized this and made him captain. I'd worry, however, if the make Zimmer Chief Science Officer. Mussina probably fits the bill better. I guess Matsui gets to be helmsman, but who's going to be Scotty? Brian Cashman?

Jeter: Cashy, we need more power!

Cashman: Captain, I'm doing the best I can, but the Giants want our entire double-A team for Barry Bonds.

Jeter: Cashy, the Blue Jays have crossed the neutral zone, and if we don't get that power, you'll be the youngest fired GM!

Cashman: I'll try reversing the polarity and see if I can get Sosa from the Cubs.

Jeter: Do whatever you can. We need that power now!

Cashman: Aye, Captain!

Posted by StatsGuru at 05:21 PM | TrackBack (0)

June 01, 2003

Guillen Improvement
Permalink

One reason the Mariners have the best record in the American league is the batting of Carlos Guillen. Guillen, you may remember, is the player that replaced A-Rod at shortstop for the Mariners. In his first two years in that job, he showed an acceptable batting average but a low OBA and little power. This year, however, he's hitting .318 with a great .373 OBA and a good .445 slugging percentage. I don't know who is responsible for the increases, but Bob Melvin probably deserves a nod. Judge Kirby has his thought on Guillen here.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:55 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 28, 2003

MVP?
Permalink

Rafael Furcal is three for three tonight with two HR. He's now batting .342 with a .408 OBA and a .568 slugging percentage. Plus, he's a pretty good shortstop. Seems like he's the leading candidate at the moment for NL MVP.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:54 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 27, 2003

Giles vs. the Cubs
Permalink

Brian Giles has walked twice and scored twice vs. the Cubs tonight. He's had great sucess vs. the Cubs in his career, scoring 48 runs and driving in 48 runs in 60 games. Coming into tonight, he had a .471 OBA and a .703 slugging percentage vs. the Cubs. The slugging hasn't changed yet, but the OBA will go higher.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:52 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 26, 2003

Win Shares
Permalink

It's about two months into the season, so I thought I'd take a look at who is leading the majors in win shares. This is the short form version of the stat.

Player	Win Shares
Carlos Delgado	13.5
Gary Sheffield	12.0
Austin Kearns	11.9
Rafael Furcal	11.7
Alfonso Soriano	11.3
John Smoltz	10.9
Jose Vidro	10.5
Carl Everett	10.4
Jeff Kent	10.3
Marcus Giles	10.0
Todd Helton	9.9
Preston Wilson	9.9
Scott Rolen	9.8
Manny Ramirez	9.5
Esteban Loaiza	9.5
Barry Bonds	9.4
Eric Gagne	9.1
Ichiro Suzuki	9.1
Bill Mueller	8.9
Vladimir Guerrero	8.7
Edgar Martinez	8.7

Because the DH causes offensive wins to be distributed between 9 players instead of 8, it's very difficult for an American League hitter to lead the majors in win shares. That makes Carlos Delgado's wide lead even more impressive. Austin Kearns is showing that his injury shortened rookie year wasn't a fluke. It's not surprising that the Braves, with the best record in baseball have three players in the top 6, including Furcal. Most interesting, letting Jeff Kent go appears not to have been that good an idea, as he has put up more win shares than anyone on the Giants, including Barry Bonds. And maybe one of the biggest surprises on the list is Bill Mueller of the Red Sox in the top 20. Bill's already equaled his doubles total of last year.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:24 AM | TrackBack (1)

May 16, 2003

Streakin' SS
Permalink

Nomar Garciaparra extended his batting streak to 17 games tonight. Through two tonight, he's 25 for 72 in the streak, .347. He had been hitting .248 before the streak; he's now raised his season average to .289.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:56 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 13, 2003

May Flowers
Permalink

Ichiro seems to have recovered from his April doldrums. He batted only .243 in April, but has been on fire in May. He's three for four through six innings tonight, bringing him to 18 for 42 in May, a .429 average.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:06 PM | TrackBack (0)

May 12, 2003

Biggio's Back?
Permalink

Craig Biggio has been playing like his old self lately. From 5/2 through 5/11, he's posted a .419 OBA. Six of his 13 hits have been for doubles, and he's scored eight runs in the nine games he's played. More importantly, the Astros are 7-2 in those games. With the power in the middle of the lineup, getting Biggio on base will give Bagwell and Kent many more RBI opportunities. He's 1 for 2 with another double tonight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:19 PM | TrackBack (1)

May 02, 2003

A-Gone
Permalink

Florida's Alex Gonzalez is 2 for 2 tonight with his 7th HR of the season. He's batting .340 and slugging .660. This is a huge jump in offense for him. I doubt it will hold up, unless Alex at age 26 has finally matured. His career average is .245 and his career slugging is .386 coming into tonight.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:47 PM | TrackBack (0)

Ichiro
Permalink

I'm amazed to look at Ichiro's BA in tonight's boxscore and see it at .254. What's going on? Larry Stone discusses Ichiro's problems in today's Seattle Times.

And yet there is evidence that the league thinks it has found a way to attack Ichiro. One scout said the key is to throw tight, make him feel uncomfortable at the plate and move his feet.

Meanwhile, opposing defenses have been able to cheat in toward the plate, making it harder for him to beat out balls. The antidote, of course, is to make them pay by driving the ball past them, but he hasn't been doing that like before.

Melvin wouldn't address any particular strategy that has worked against Ichiro, but he did agree that teams may feel they have discovered a vulnerability in his game and are attacking him in similar ways.

"Yeah, and he sees it too," Melvin said. "It's not like he doesn't see it. A guy like him, he's an aggressive hitter and also a bad-ball hitter. It doesn't necessarily have to be a strike. But then it comes to a point, how bad a ball?

I always worry about bad-ball hitters being exploited. Opponents never were able to do it to Kirby Puckett, but Ichiro will swing at anything. He has to learn to wait for his pitch, or this poor performance will continue.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:10 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 27, 2003

Griffey and the Hall of Fame
Permalink

The other night when I was at the Norwich Navigators game, my friend Jim Storer and I had a rare disagreement about Ken Griffey Jr. and the Hall of Fame. Jim believes that Griffey has already done enough in his career that he's going in no matter what. I'm of the opinion that while he's had a great career, he's only had half a career, and that's not enough to get him in the hall. We sat there thinking of Hall of Famers, and couldn't come up with a hitter who sank so quickly after age 30. (We restricted ourselves to hitters elected by the baseball writers.)

Anyway, I've always found depending on memory to be a dangerous thing, so I've done the research. This page contains a table of what the 65 Hall of Fame hitters elected by the writers did from age 31 on (seasonal age). Griffey's last good year was at age 30, so this should give us an idea who has had a short career. It's ranked by game in ascending order, so the short 30's careers will be at the top.

Looking at this list, I'm now more inclined to agree with Jim. Kiner was elected after only playing two seasons after the age of 30. And Hank Greenberg also retired early, after being traded to a poor Pittsburgh team (where he mentored Kiner for a year). However, I have heard arguments against Kiner being in the Hall, and part of Greenberg's career was lost to WWII. If Griffey never played another game of ML baseball, or if he played poorly for another five years, I would be hesitant to vote him into the hall. But it does look like he'll make it.

Posted by StatsGuru at 03:32 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 26, 2003

Ted Williams
Permalink

A friend of mine, Debbi Wrobleski, who works for WWZN in Boston asked me recently if I knew what Ted Williams hit vs. LHP. I didn't, and I couldn't find anything on the internet. I then asked Don Zminda of STATS, who asked Dave Smith of Retrosheet. Dave was kind enough to send me the following research.

Ted Williams Left-Right splits, based on incomplete data.
Report prepared April 26, 2003 by David W. Smith from
Retrosheet data

Category   AB    H  2B 3B  HR  RBI   BB  SO   BA  OBA   SA
Total    4005 1339 261 27 259  895 1048 383 .334 .473 .607
vs left   928  276  58  3  33  174  193 127 .297 .422 .473
vs right 3077 1063 203 24 226  721  855 256 .345 .488 .647

Career   7706 2654 525 71 521 1839 2019 709 .344 .482 .634

The games not included are mostly from the early part of
his career. For example, there is no information here
from 1939 or 1941. Comparison to his career totals shows
that in the games not included his performance was better
in virtually all categories.

Nonetheless, it appears that Ted had a definitely reduced
output against left-handers and it seems unlikely that the
missing games would make up this difference.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:59 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 24, 2003

On a Rollins
Permalink

I've never been a big fan of Jimmy Rollins as a leadoff hitter. He has a career OBA of .320, and his OBA went down the last two seasons. But he's getting the job done this year. After a 3 for 5 day today, Rollins has a .387 OBA. He has 18 runs scored in 22 games, and if he keeps getting on, he'll score 100 runs (and probably many more) for the first time in his career.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:14 PM | TrackBack (0)

Catching On
Permalink

I'm just wondering who Yorvit Torrealba is. Although 0 for 2 today, in his brief major league career he has very good hitting stats for a catcher. The team ERA is higher than when Santiago catches, so his defense might not be up to snuff. But both his offense and defense are based on small samples. He's been a great backup for Santiago, and also is someone who can pinch-hit.

Update: Michael Bakunin sends this link of a post he made to a Giants newsgroup on Yorvit.

Posted by StatsGuru at 01:51 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 23, 2003

Geoff Jenkins
Permalink

Jenkins is on a roll. He's 2 for 2 with a run and an rbi. Over his last 6 games (including the 2 for 2), he's batting .409 with 7 RBI and 6 runs scored.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:58 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 19, 2003

Change of Scenery
Permalink

Sometimes you just need to change locations. Raul Ibanez was not making it with the Mariners, and they let him go after the 2000 season. KC signed him, and I bet they're glad they did. Look at the difference in his career since joining the Royals (stats through today's game):

Ibanez	Seattle	Kansas City
Batting Average	.241	.293
On-Base Average	.295	.353
Slugging Average	.383	.529

It could just be that he needed to play everyday, and the Royals gave him that opportunity.

Posted by StatsGuru at 06:44 PM | TrackBack (1)

April 18, 2003

Crashing Craig
Permalink

Anything can happen in 100 AB. So normally, I would not be worried about Craig Biggio's slow start. He's 0-4 in the 7th, and he's lowered his batting average to .222. What's more worrying to me, though is, that he only has one walk. Biggio has been a very good hitter, and usually drew over 60 walks in a season. Most batters, as they lose their ability to get around on the ball, become more selective and draw more walks before pitchers realize they can't hit anymore. Maybe pitchers have realized this with Biggio. He's 37, and that's not an unusual age for this kind of decline.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:31 PM | TrackBack (0)

Digging Doug
Permalink

After starting 0-13, Doug Mirabelli has found his stroke the last two days. He's five for eight, with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. And just to note this is the third straight game in which the bullpen has not allowed a run.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:12 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 17, 2003

Mike Lowell
Permalink

Mike Lowell had three hits today in the Marlins 7-3 win over the Phillies. Mike, after a rough start with the Yankees and cancer surgery, is having a nice career. Sure, he's not Scott Rolen or Eric Chavez, but he had 22 win shares last year, and only 5 regular third basemen had more. He's a solid player, and it's nice to see him off to a good start, and having a good career after his illness.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:33 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 16, 2003

Game Player
Permalink

Milton Bradley continues to impress. He's 1 for 3 tonight, now batting .397. His first two years in the major (as a part time player) he hit .221 and .223. Last year he raised that to .249, and now seems to have improved again. He turned 25 yesterday, so he's at the age where he is either going to prove he's a major leaguer or be out of baseball in a couple of years. If he keeps hitting like this, he'll be a toy spokesman in no time.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:58 PM | TrackBack (0)

Some Explaining to Do
Permalink

The Boston Red Sox pitching staff has some explaining to do. Rey Ordonez has one walk this year, issued by Pedro Martinez. Ordonez hit his 2nd HR of the year tonight, and both have come against the Red Sox. With a 1 for 2 so far tonight, he's 7 for 22 against the Sox this year.

This is the player who has the lowest OBA+Slugging of any active player. He never walks, seldom gets extra base hits, and yet the Red Sox have made him look like Cal Ripken. No excuse for that.

Posted by StatsGuru at 07:29 PM | TrackBack (0)

April 15, 2003

Kent's Return
Permalink

Bruce Jenkins pens a nice piece detailing the contradictions that are Jeff Kent.

It all adds up to a pretty solid tirade, a man full of bitterness and not much gratitude. Kent, however, is not easily understood. Most players, media and executives find him a baffling combination of first-rate jerk and decidedly nice guy. (As the story goes, Kent encountered a Bay Area reporter two weeks ago and asked him to pass along greetings to a certain ex-teammate. That was big news to the teammate, who couldn't recall Kent saying hello during his six years as a Giant.)

The Giants got the best of the matchup last night, with Bonds hitting one into the bay.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:51 AM | TrackBack (0)

April 08, 2003

Strawberry Free
Permalink

Darryl Strawberry was released from prison today. Looks like he's gone totally gray. He's lucky to be alive, and he's equally lucky to have an intelligent wife who has put up with all his shortcomings.

I always liked Darryl as a player, and I'm still disappointed that we didn't get to see his career fulfilled to its potential. I hope that he remains clean and his cancer stays in remission. And I hope he serves as a living lesson to others who might be tempted down the self destructive path he followed.

Posted by StatsGuru at 10:51 AM | TrackBack (0)

April 04, 2003

Bonding
Permalink

Peter Gammons has more on the friendship that developed between Barry Bonds and David Eckstein. It certainly a different take from what you got from the Bonds-Kent relationship.

Posted by StatsGuru at 09:14 AM | TrackBack (0)

March 31, 2003

Where's Rickey?
Permalink

It's opening day, and Rickey Henderson is not on a roster. Lots of people don't like Rickey; he's arrogant, a showboat, and he refers to himself in the third person. But I like Henderson. Unlike a lot of players in his age group (Tim Raines, Paul Molitor, Darryl Strawberry) Rickey was able to avoid scandal in his career. And if you sat at a game and watched him play, you saw a person who was in the game 100%. He stretched before each pitch when he was in the outfield so he was ready to go after a ball. He worked the count as well as anyone at the plate. His compact stance allowed him to uncoil like a spring, generating uncommon power for a leadoff man. If Rickey had never stolen a base, he still would have been the greatest leadoff man ever.

I'm going to miss him. Time to make a reservation for Cooperstown.

Posted by StatsGuru at 08:58 AM | TrackBack (0)