Wednesday, March 31, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
Tommy John's 30th
Today is the 30th anniversary of Frank Jobe rehabilitating then-Dodger pitcher Tommy John's ulnar collateral ligament. Back in 1974, John blew out his elbow, and he asked Jobe to "make up something":Jobe extracted a tendon from John's right arm and used it to replace the torn ligament on his left, pitching arm, threading the healthy tendon through holes drilled into the bone above and below the elbow. At the time, no one was certain of the outcome, but John went on to win 170 additional games; the procedure thereafter became known as 'Tommy John surgery.' Without Jobe's help, John would never have pitched another baseball.Jobe was today honored in a pregame ceremony, but perhaps a fairer reward would be to have Darren Dreifort pay him a commission so long as he's on the DL....Dr. John Bergfeld, executive director of Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, said, "Slight modifications have been made, but the principle of the surgery is the same: to repair a ligament that is frayed and torn with an accessory tendon from the arm."
The accessory tendon does not have a useful function otherwise and is usually taken from the hand, wrist or forearm. According to Bergfeld, 12 percent to 13 percent of patients do not have such a tendon in either arm, in which case one is taken from the leg or toe.
Daal "D" For "Disabled"
In fortuitous (for the Dodgers) news, former Dodger Omar Daal is -- you guessed it -- on the DL for at least three months thanks to shoulder and elbow problems. Unloading Daal was one of Evans' more astute moves; he's only pitched a total of 19 games for the O's since signing his two-year contract.And speaking of the DL and ex-Dodgers, Brian Jordan's surgically reconstructed knee has given out again, and he'll probably start the season on the DL. Note to Brian: if you're going to grouse that the Dodgers pushed you to return too early from the DL, now's the time to prove you can spend bench time with the best of 'em.
Trammelled Underfoot
After the arrival of the latest DePoDodgers, Bubba Trammell got the boot, leading to some wondering whether the power to pick favorites has moved up the food chain from Tracy to DePodesta.Giant Injuries
Ex-Dodgers aren't the only ones with spring injuries, of course, and in our principle rival's ballpark, the bad news accumulates. Ray Ratto at the Chronicle opines that the Giants are ransacking the Brewers for pitching, picking up- lefty starter Wayne Franklin
- righty long reliever Leo Estrella
- righty reliever (and ex-Cub) Dave Veres
- ex-Card and released ex-Brewer Mike Crudale for the team's Fresno AAA affiliate as insurance.
The Score Bard Is Will Carroll's Co-Pilot
Ken Arneson, aka The Score Bard, is now a co-author on Will Carroll's all-baseball.com blog. Will he continue with humbug.com? I surely hope so. I managed to miss his wonderful AL East and AL Central previews.
You Can Lead A Horticulture...
"I'll take my glove down to the pen and take it from there. I hope that I can contribute. I doubt it with the pen we have, but maybe I can carry extra food down there for the guys."Oookayyy, we'll take that as a "no". Man, the Angels just know how to pick 'em. Let's hope Colón isn't one of the guys he's carrying food to.
A-Rod Speaks... And Sean Wishes He Wouldn't
"I was overcome with a sense of depression," Rodriguez said. "There were days I didn't want to go to the park."If that doesn't give the Rangers added incentive to give a hiding to Yankee pitchers, I don't know what would. Bonds detractors, note well: whatever else he's done in his career, Barry hasn't touched this particular dual peak of arrogance and pettiness. As Sean put it, "Just. Shut. Up."Rodriguez also said he told his wife that he failed to see any "light at the end of the tunnel" and that he would have never come to the Rangers if he had been told it would have been Rodriguez and "24 kids."
Dodger Mailbag
Pickoff Moves
Owens Released
The Mariners released Eric Owens, leaving the sixth outfielder to find a bench job elsewhere.Sturtze Released
And likewise for Tanyon Sturtze, released by the Dodgers. Evidently, he has a drug problem of some kind or other, or he wouldn't be saying things like"I really was trying to make the Dodger team, and I thought I was throwing the ball really well with the Dodgers," said Sturtze, who was 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA and .367 opponents' batting average in four games (11 innings). "It just happened there were no spots."In what world is a 9.00 ERA with a .367 average against good?
A's Look For SS Alternatives
Despite the ongoing denials about the ESPN report about Ellis' injury being season-ending, the A's are in the hunt for a spare shortstop, because their utility bench is better at playing second base. Despite what Tyler thinks about the A's depth in the middle infield, the fact that the name Benji Gil is being mentioned should tell you something. On the other hand, he also believes Junior Spivey or Ramon Martinez feature more prominently.Times Story On Jered Weaver
Another Jered Weaver story, this one in the Times today. It sure sounds like the Padres will draft the guy. Meantime, the honors just keep racking up, with Jered garnering his fifth Louisville Slugger national player of the week award, on the heels of a record-tieing 16 K performance against Wichita State. What can I say but... wow!Blog readers, take note: Weaver will take the mound this Friday against CSUF. Go Dirtbags!
YAAB
Yet Another Angels Blog, League of Angels. Whoosh, the number of Angels blogs now equals the number of Dodgers blogs -- nine in all.Tuesday, March 30, 2004 |
"Losing Makes Me Puke"
Moreno bought the most impressive free agent on the market -- the wondrous Vladimir Guerrero -- and two pitchers, Kelvim Escobar and Bartolo Colon, who addressed the Angels' biggest need. He added Jose Guillen just for laughs, bringing the Angels their biggest payroll ever.Damn straight. They oughta know a few things in Minnesota about rotten ownership, so the other kind is blissfully rare. One of these days I'm gonna come across Arte at the stadium. This oughta be a fun year.Reason to raise prices, right?
Not in Arte's world. Moreno turned down millions in naming rights to re-name the former Edison Field "Angel Stadium."
He lowered the price of beer, souvenirs and children's tickets.
He spent many of his nights in Arizona dining at The Tee Pee, one of Phoenix's best hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, where he's greeted by name.
He refused to complain about baseball's salary structure, competitive imbalance, the Alex Rodriguez trade, George Steinbrenner or Johnny Damon's hair.
And he actually said: "Losing makes me puke."
If you are an Angels fan -- no, if you are a baseball fan -- Moreno should be your hero.
Mizuo's Japanese Stats
Somebody Wake Ortiz
Kevin, proving he is indeed a Mensch, belted a grand slam off Ramon. And while the Angels didn't lose the game, you don't want to have to provide that kind of run support.
Sorry, Ramon. I guess the bullpen is a possibility...
Pickoff Moves
Curses!
A great article appears today on MSNBC about the Cubs and Red Sox curses; author Ken Rosenthal is convinced one will melt away this year. One problem, though, Ken: it could be possible that both curses could go away. The Cubs' Billy Goat Curse forbad a World Series from being played at Wrigley, but the Bambino's Curse was even worse, forbidding the Sox from ever winning a World Series. Sad to say it, but if a Cubs-Sox series did occur, and the Cubs lost, both teams' fans could -- maybe -- walk away happier knowing their respective curses had been lifted. But if Maddux has anything to say about it, it'll be the Cubs on top:In his first stint with the Cubs, from 1986 through '92, pitcher Greg Maddux recalls team officials saying, "We might not outplay 'em, but we'll be in better shape." Maddux thought, "It was almost like punishment for not being as good as the other team." But the Tribune Co. has changed, and the signing of Maddux to a two-year, $15 million contract is but one example. "There's talk about winning now," Maddux says. "There was never talk about winning before."
Prior (DL) Engagement For April
But to lift that curse, they'd better have superstud Mark Prior on the mound, and it looks like he's gonna be on the DL through at least May 1.Angels Pick Up Japanese Reliever Mizuo
As if to prove old-school baseball thinking still dominates in the Angels' front office, the team signed LHP Yoshitaka Mizuo to a one-year contract if he makes the team. They won't have much time to evaluate the 35-year-old (!), as there's only a few Spring Training games left; he might show his stuff at the Freeway Series, hardly a conclusive test considering how weak Dodger hitting is likely to be.Escobar Dominates Cubs
Helen won't like this, but Escobar turned in a fantastic performance versus the Cubs, shutting them out through seven innings, on three hits and seven strikeouts. Incidentally, what the devil is up with the ST scoring on the mlb.com website? Today's report has Chone Figgins playing for the Cubs ...Frank Bialystock?
Introduction: I'm Bashless, Brother
There are those who believe I am intent on bashing the McCourts, i.e., railing at them at every chance regardless of the merits of the argument. This simply isn't true; I would like nothing more than for Frank to be the kind of owner we could cheerfully ignore because his abilities and aspirations align to make the Dodgers into the kind of team they have historically been. I will happily give credit where credit is due. But as Jon pointed out, there is a difference between bashing and legitimate criticism. That difference isn't simply "what I do is criticism, what you do is bashing", it's about weighing the positives and negatives as a whole, and being unafraid to announce the sum. If refusal to face the plain facts have got some bloggers itchy about running more McCourt stories, that's a net loss to everyone else who enjoys reading such stuff, myself included. But the truth will out, no matter which potentates wave their mystical wands. Once upon a time, some yokel nearly enlisted the benighted legislature of Indiana in his aid in declaring the value of pi exactly and legally 3.2. Even had he succeeded, it would have changed pi not one decimal, anymore than Heinz Vinegar won't become Opus One by any Michael Lewis proclamation.Curtain
It's with this in mind that I launch on today's piece, a jeremiad from one Michael Ventre at MSNBC. (Note: my wife worked with him while he tried to sell an indy film he wrote, but that was several years ago.) Michael goes down the standard litany of complaints, many of which have been raised here (and elsewhere) before:Instead, a team that was a piece or two away enters spring training worse off than a year ago.Others with closer vantage have made the case that he and Jamie are fiscally incompetent. And Michael is right about McCourt possibly being an epically bad owner, though I'd question the quality of our starting five at this point in time -- not to mention their identities, with Jackson looking like he doesn't belong on the big club on opening day. He's also right about the farm: without enough pieces to help in Chavez Ravine, there won't be enough pieces to trade.McCourt doesn’t seem like a charlatan. You don’t have to be a bad guy to be ineffective. McCourt has all the tools to be one of the great flops in ownership history. He has a farm system that is on the rise again, but not at the point where it can reliably churn out helpers for the big club, or even produce enough trade bait to make a difference. He again has a solid pitching staff, although it may be weaker than last year with the subtraction of Brown and the addition of Jeff Weaver, who bombed in the Bronx. All the free agents are gone. He has a general manager who appears bright and talented, but has never run a club on his own before.
Oh, yes. And he has no money.
There is also the matter of his true intentions. McCourt professes to love baseball, but some think he loves razing existing structures and building on prime real estate even more. That might not bode well for preservationists who see Dodger Stadium as a shrine instead of something that is standing in the way of condos being erected.
Which brings me to his last point. An even more skeptical -- or paranoid -- line of thinking along this line might extrapolate that Frank is taking a cue from the Max Bialystock character of The Producers, and looking to put the worst team on the field imaginable, so as to make a plausible case that the Dodgers must find new digs with more luxury boxes. So, as we cut to the middle of that fine musical, we see the curtain rise on a most unprecedented stage:
Dodger fans were having trouble, what a sad sad story
Needed a new owner to restore their former glory
Where oh where was he?
Where could that man be?
Fox looked around, and then they found
A guy as rich as me!
And now it's --
Springtime for Giants and Diamondbacks
Selig is happy and gay
Dodgers tied down like Oakland A's
Look out, Bum fans, here comes fourth place!Springtime for Frank and his bud, Selig
Winter for fans of the Blue
Springtime for Fox and their balance sheet
Come on Dodgers, go do what you do --<Video of Adrian Beltre taking strike three on a pitch three feet off the plate and in the dirt>
Evans: I started dealing with the Sox
but now we'll finish 'neath the Rox!Sabean: Join a winner while you can
Come and be a Giants fan!<Big finish:>
Springtime for Selig, he got his way
Frank's credit cards are maxed out
Dodgers are done, they've got no pay
So much for ending our hitting drought!Springtime for Giants and Diamondbacks
Beltre is swishing once more
Springtime for the rest of the NL West
'Cause soon we'll be cutting, you know we'll be cutting, we've got to cut payroll once more!<videos of Bubba Trammell bobbling an easy fly ball, Shawn Green hitting into a double play, etc.>
Sadly, such fantasies remain in the museum of whimsy. Call me naïve, but I've overcome the belief that Frank, whatever his other (numerous) shortcomings might be, is interested in razing Dodger Stadium. This is for two reasons:
- There would be few takers for such a move at City Hall, and
- If he were interested in Chavez as a condo development, why did he pursue the Angels, a team with no real estate?
Pickoff Moves
At The Tone, The Time Will Be... Griffey Injured And Thirty Seconds
So much for those Griffey trade rumors. He's strained a calf muscle, get this, slipping on home plate.Can We All Just Get A Bong?
The Bench Coach returns after a multiday hiatus, and I must say he's missed. Today he wonders whether the team will take the Kevin Towers Incident as fuel to actually hit, or whether they'll just smile and ask for another hit from the ol' Dodger bong. My guess is... mmm, brownies!Shake, Shake, Shake
Edwin Jackson is making the case -- to send him down to AAA. But no mind -- he's a good sport about it, though Tracy insists he's still in the rotation:"He's the fifth starter," Tracy said. "What we decide to do as far as the fifth starter is concerned, as to when he pitches, still remains to be seen."Good for him. But I wouldn't want him on the team now if it means (a) ruining him in some way and (b) making a starting rotation even shakier than they already are. I don't expect much of Nomo, and the rest of the staff -- save for OP -- looks pretty rattled too.Jackson is eagerly awaiting a decision.
"Who am I to think what I deserve," he said. "I get paid to go out and play. That's all I do. Any other decisions come from the staff. If I don't break with the team, I'll just work at whatever I need to work at to get back up here."
Credit Due: Frank (Almost) Comes Through
Credit where credit is due: Frank almost delivers on a promise to get all Dodger games televised. There apparently are some that just can't be moved onto Fox because of prior committments, but this amounts to only three games. The remaining games that cannot be televised are April 7 and 13-14, all games against the Padres. Kevin Towers will be upset, no doubt, to miss the fireworks... or watch the Dodgers roll over and go back to sleep.For What It's Werth, We've Got A New OF
A new DePoDodger, from Toronto, naturally, we've got fourth outfielder Jayson Werth in exchange for Jason Frasor, RHP. Werth was blocked by the plethora of good-hitting outfielders in the Jays system, and Frasor was blocked by the enormous (but thin and frequently illusory) depth in the Dodger system, so it works out for both parties.Update: Two days, two Ja[y]sons. Trying to come up with an answer for the Angels' Troy Glaus/Troy Percival combo, eh?
Monday, March 29, 2004 |
Ellis Out For The Season, Dodgers Buy Grabowski
In other A's-related news, AN reports that Jason Grabowski is now a Dodger, in consideration for cash. Graham Koonce had been speculated elsewhere as a trade target, but it didn't happen. Jason was a regular correspondant for AN, and will be missed in that corner.
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Sure, he can understand that Bartolo Colon has a lot of ability but the overwhelming majority of his major league acquisitions have been failures. Basically, he has dumped major leaguers Keith Foulke, Chad Bradford, Tony Graffanino, Chris Singleton, Mike Sirotka, Kip Wells, Rocky Biddle, Jeff Liefer and Mark Johnson for Bartolo Colon, Tom Gordon, Esteban Loaiza, Royce Clayton, Juan Uribe, David Wells, Alan Embree, Jose Canseco, Scott Schoeneweis, Roberto Alomar, Carl Everett, Todd Ritchie, Cliff Politte, Armando Rios and Brian Daubach. Anything pattern in these moves? For the most part the players that he parted with were young and unproven while those that he acquired were not only older but also had established reputations.And thus we get to the reason why the Perez trade never happened: Williams valued OP too little, and Magglio too much. One gets the impression Mags will be out of Chitown soon enough anyway; insofar as I know, they haven't negotiated an extension.
And You Thought The Dodgers Had Trouble
Sunday, March 28, 2004 |
One Hell Of A Nosebleed
"They told me I lost half the blood in my body," Donnelly said Saturday, adding that he'd lost seven pints of blood. "I didn't realize how serious it was."Well, duh, but Jebus X. Christ, when did they first notice he had lost seven pints? Was it when he fainted in the workout room? And the Mariners bloggers are worried that their team isn't the most medhead in the division. What's worrisome is that just yesterday, the team was making happy noises about Donnelly's imminent return. Lewis Yocum, your life is calling...Said Angels shortstop David Eckstein: "We're concerned with his safety. It's dangerous to lose that much blood."
Donnelly will start the season on the disabled list, the team said Sunday. He will remain in the hospital three or four days.
Update: now on mlb.com.
Ex-Angel Update: In Seattle's Saturday spring training game against Milwaukee, Scott Spiezio was pulled from the lineup due to back spasms. He didn't play today and won't play tomorrow, either. Spiezio haters, rejoice: if this is any indicator of his 2004, it looks like we lost him in the nick of time.
Welcome to the Blogosphere, Barry
Ellis Out For 1-2 Months
Scout's Honor, They're Selling The Wrong Guy
Meantime, Peter Gammons claims Jackson is being sent to AAA, making room for Alvarez (whew!) in the rotation. Toronto utility guy Jayson Werth is a DePodesta look-see for a bat.
Dis' Town, Comin' Like A Ghost Town
Which naturally got me thinking about Dodgertown.
You can already hear the voices of the superoptimists on the fan forums, counseling that we should all go back to sleep. (I sometimes wonder whether McCourt doesn't show up amongst them.)
But Daily News columnist Steve Dilbeck is worried:
Gone is ace Kevin Brown. In return comes Jeff Weaver, the Simi Valley High grad who bombed so badly with the Yankees that New York reporters began questioning his mental makeup.Yeah, Steve, we are. And as Dodgertown in a few weeks will become a ghost town, maybe so will Dodger Stadium, populated by the ghosts of actual players.Hideo Nomo, who has been truly remarkable in his second life as a Dodger, now is the de facto ace but is coming off shoulder surgery and will be 36 this season.
Kaz "Full Count" Ishii again was highly effective, despite making almost every start an adventure, but they're trying to change his delivery and the results are scary.
Edwin Jackson remains full of promise, but is only 20 and has yet to pitch in Triple-A.
And all four have spring ERAs over 8.30.
Getting nervous?
Saturday, March 27, 2004 |
Saenz Preserve Us
Jackson to AAA?
Moreover, including the 22 innings he pitched in the major leagues last season, Jackson has 170 1/3 innings above Class A. Few pitchers reach the majors on a permanent basis without having more innings at the higher levels of the minors.Well, Edwin, that start on your birthday looks more like a present now...... "For me, it's still an open question, but there are things to look at," General Manager Paul DePodesta said. "If you look through the records of guys who were under 25 and reached the big leagues in a hurry, most of them have pitched more than he has above [Class A] and more than he has in their minor league careers.
Friday, March 26, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
Doctor, It Hurts When I Do This
Will Carroll presents his team health report for the Angels. Surprisingly, it seems that Eckstein, who PECOTA IMO wrongly projects to miss half the season due to injury, only warrants a yellow light, but Glaus, who PECOTA picks as a huge rebounder, Carroll says is a red. Go figure.The Score Bard's AL West, NL East Previews
The Score Bard publishes his AL West preview. For the Angels:When Moreno decided to addI for one hope he's right; it's a more optimistic view than he took earlier. Also, he published the NL East preview without me noticing. My bad.
Kelvim, Bartolo, and Vlad,
He took on some debt.
But I'm liking his bet:
This could be the best team they've had.
Angel Blogging
I walk away to Spring Training for a week and Chronicles of The Lads comes up with some great stuff. First, this snarky Angels preview from Batter's Box (note to Canuck writer thereof: you lose points in this blogger's eyes by making comments likeMeanwhile, the (s)crappy Eckstein keeps his starting job at shortstop, with one final chance to prove he deserves to drop the parentheses around the letter "s."Then, there's the annual wacky trade rumor -- St. Louis wants Kennedy back? Hoo, boy. And, at last, his reaction to Appier's wounded comments about being released. Go. Read.
No Talents, Those Yankees
Baseball America ranks minor league systems, and the Dodgers and Angels rank second and third respectively. Pretty impressive, really. Meantime, the Yanks and Cards rank near the bottom, 27th and 28th respectively.2003 Dollars Per Win
Stephen Smith over at Future Angels has a new column up about 2003 dollars per win. He mentions that the Yanks are, as always it seems of late, outspending everyone else by a lot. Well, it's all about how much you can make on the other side, dontcha know. Sure, the Devil Rays are the most dollar-efficient team in baseball (take that, Michael Lewis!), but the big surprise is that the A's are "only" third. IMO, their game gets a lot tougher after they start losing their current rotation; getting three guys up like that all at once is an impressive achievement, one that's hard to duplicate when you're drafting near the bottom of the pool.Another Convenient Lie
Cubs 2, Oakland 1
Thursday, March 25, 2004 |
We're Out Of Camembert -- How About Some Cheez Whiz?
"I think when you talk about [Jackson, Miller, and Hanrahan], you've got to throw (Andrew Brown's) name in the mix also," Tracy said.... and now, of course, that he's put up three goose eggs in the Grapefruit League and three more in the minors, other teams are just salivating to have him on their rosters, somehow forgetting the last two years he spent on the DL, and the fact that his minor league record pre-injury wasn't all that:Brown, 23, hasn't gained as much notoriety as the other three, in part because he pitched only one inning the entire 2003 season.
He went 3-4 with a 3.92 ERA in 2001 for the Atlanta Braves' Class A affiliate in Jamestown, N.Y., then was 10-10 with a 4.11 ERA for Vero Beach in 2002 after being included in the Gary Sheffield-Odalis Perez trade.Man, Tracy, you really need to ditch your jersey and get a loud, ugly plaid jacket if you're gonna start selling used cars...
Angels 8, Cubs 7
Kelvim Escobar looked, if not strong, then a reasonable candidate to earn his paycheck this year, mostly baffling a B+ list Cubs lineup substituting ex-Dodger Todd Hollandsworth for Sammy Sosa and Sergio Mitre for a credible starter. He allowed 4 hits and one earned run in 4 2/3 innings, with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks. Troy Glaus crushed a solo shot over the 30-40 foot tall centerfield fence, that, just looking at it, cleared the top by a good 20 feet. It was an epic hit, like the one Bonds hit into the Edison Field tunnel two years ago. Eckstein looked back in top form, going 2-3, scoring a run, stealing a base, and driving one in. Even José Molina had a good day, extracting a luck infield single when his hit ball tagged second base and flew up in the air about 30 feet, going 2-3 for the day also. Percy simply imploded though, giving up three earned runs in one inning; Bad Percy seems to be showing up on the mound a lot more often than Good Percy. He's mentioned retiring now for a couple years, and I hope that he does, for my sake and his. K-Rod (okay, I've given up hating the nickname) was K-Rod, striking out two in an inning and two-thirds. The deciding run came in the ninth, well after the scrubs entered the game, driven in by a Howard Kendrick (who?) single with the bases loaded against Jamie Wright (?).
Meantime, Helen got a thrill watching the Cubs do something they've done precious little of in recent years: come from behind. McClain continued to hit, pounding in one against a shaky Kevin Gregg, whose 2003 is starting to look like a fluke. Gregg gave up the other three runs that got the Cubs to tie it up in the eighth. I doubt he will get a chance to be in the Angels rotation this year, but who knows.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 |
It's Heteroskedastic!
The Five-Year Performance forecast measures a hitter's EQA at various percentiles over the course of the next five seasons. Unlike the Value forecast, the Performance forecast has no convenient way to adjust for dropped comparables, and so it simply ignores them. For this reason, the Performance forecast may be unreliable for players whose comparables have a high attrition rate. [emphasis mine]And here's a real damning one, on the subject of how comparables are generated:
In most cases, the database is large enough to provide a meaningfully large set of comparables. When it isn't, the program is designed to 'cheat' by expanding its tolerance for dissimilar players until a reasonable sample size is reached. In the case of very old or very young hitters, there may not be a significant number of hitters who played at that age, and so the results of their forecast may be less reliable.In other words, if our system isn't working, we expand the error bands and claim that it does, in fact, work. What bugs me about this is that it introduces a problem into the comparables statistics because the data is (or at least, is very likely to be) heteroskedastic. That is, the errors tend to change depending on who you use as your "comparables"; and admitting others into the mix who aren't really close matches just amplifies that problem. This gets really bad for guys like Albert Pujols, of whom there have been only a handful of similar players (18 selected by PECOTA), all of whom are at least All-Stars or Hall of Famers, and Adrian Beltre, with 36 comparables. (Subscriptions required for all these PECOTA card links.). Beltre's early years predicted legitimate stardom, but seems to have been ruined by his appendectomy. Unfortunately, the bad news for Eckstein is that he has 47 comparables, which doesn't leave me feeling too good about his ability to stay healthy.
Evans Off To Seattle
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 |
Cubs 12, Giants 4
The spring training version of Kirk "Woody" Reuter showed up on the mound today, as unstable as I've ever seen him. He showed weak control throughout his three innings, getting shelled for six earned runs, giving up a walk and managing only a single strikeout. Cubs non-roster invitee Scott McClain (sp?) continued his hot streak, pulping an increasingly shaky Felix Rodriguez for two bags that somehow got lost in the official score. (Baseball Prospectus claims we're not likely to see the 2000-2001 version of Rodriguez ever again, and today's game didn't make me think any differently.) His one earned run in one inning (ERA 9.00) tells you everything you need to know. In fact, aside from early fireworks by Barry Bonds during an uneven first inning by groundballer Carlos Zambrano where he hit Ray Durham and gave up a single to J. T. Snow, the Giants looked sloppy both offensively and defensively. At one point, the Giants outfield and infield missed a routine pop fly in shallow right in a Bermuda Triangle play. On the other side of the plate, all the Cubs -- except Grudz -- got a hit. Grudzielanek's 0-3 outing isn't helping the case for him to be in the starting lineup as a leadoff man. Losing Kenny Lofton may well hurt, but perhaps not as much as I originally thought; BP seems to think he's due for a big dropoff in offensive value this year, so maybe picking Grudz over Lofton was a Hendry crapshoot. Finally, NRI Gary Glover showed us why the Angels released him at the end of the year, giving up a run and two walks in only a single inning.
Helen thinks the 25th man on the Cubs 2004 roster will come down to Macias or McClain, and given Dusty's druthers, Macias will get the nod. If McClain doesn't get on the team or agree to go down to the minors, he'll make a nice waiver wire pickup for somebody. DePodesta, are you listening?
Remember Us, Arte?
Cubs 1, A's 0
Well, if Sunday's game was slow and seemingly required 1,934 pitches to complete, last night's game was a record-setter for speed. Greg Maddux took the mound for the Cubs, and Mark Mulder for the A's, making for five innings of 1-2-3 ball on both sides, or nearly so. Mark Grudzielanek contributed an error for the Cubs, but the threat passed harmlessly, as both pitchers had solid outings. 25-man-roster-wannabe Scott McLain jacked in the only run off A's reliever Justin Duscherer. McLain's having a fantastic spring, and now leads the Cubs in homers. Angels fans will no doubt be disappointed to learn that Mulder's hip problems from late last year seem to be a thing of the past, and he's ready to terrorize our lineup once again. Also, A's Moneyball prospect Nick Swisher had a couple good at bats against the Cubs, most notably his last versus closer Michael Wuertz, fouling off a number of pitches.
Monday, March 22, 2004 |
Angels, Tempe Both Looking For Greener Pastures
Labels: angels, spring training
Aid and Comfort
league average production up-the-middle and a .300 EqA at one of the corners. ... What he has done is replace mediocrities like Eric Karros, Mark Grudzielanek, and Marquis Grissom, but rarely has he improved upon them.Okay, smarty pants, show me the guys you would have acquired with only $5-6 million free payroll space, a corporate overlord committed only to selling the team, and a farm system in resurgence but not quite productive enough to bring up any quality bats? In case anybody was wondering why I take the advice of so many "sabermetricians" with whole licks of salt, it's because of half-cocked analyses like this one. And to think, I'm paying these guys for this ... the mind boggles.
Visiting the Republic of Summer
When we left, it was 106.
Now, of course there are a couple caveats. First, the thermometer is the car's on-board unit, which is notoriously inaccurate -- or at least, takes flights of fancy on occaision. But the Padres in their navy blue tops must have been sweating something fierce. Second, there is indeed something to the "but it's a dry heat" mantra you sometimes hear from folks in these parts. We thought it was in the mid-90's leaving the game, but the car thermometer thought otherwise. Dryness combined with slight elevation counts for something. The skies, muddied by stratocumulus clouds, managed to sunburn Helen even though we sat in coveted shade. (I put on sunblock beforehand as a precaution, and was glad I did -- she's lobsterville now.) Andre Codrescu, the Romanian writer and sometime NPR commentator, calls his adopted New Orleans "the Republic of Summer", but he may as well have been talking about Phoenix.
Last year gave so much hope to the beleaguered Cubs fans that they flooded the Arizona cities surrounding Hohokam Park, their spring training home. Every hotel in Mesa is sold out through Tuesday, an event unprecedented in Mesa history. Yesterday's game set a spring training attendance record for them; I wasn't paying attention, but it looked like a capacity crowd pushing 13,000. Scalpers report cheap seats in the grass hill "bleachers" back of left and right field going in excess of $50, when they can be had at all. The feeling is this year will be like last year, only this time there'll be no five-outs-away, no heartbreak. The pitching staff is young, and better, among the elite of the National League, and if the hitters aren't, at least they can be counted on for one more good year. (Baseball Prospectus disagrees a bit, but more on that later in the week, perhaps.) The mood is one of general optimism and conviviality, as if we're about to see something really great happen, like watching an imploded building construct itself in reverse-motion magic. We sat in front of a half-dozen or so I-Cub fans (Iowa Cubs, their AAA affiliate), all middle-aged women, cheerfully gabbing about the minor leaguers the Cubs were trying out in the game. This was their eighteenth year going to spring training, and were having a ball.
It was a lazy game: Derrick Lee attended first base but did not play the position, looking more like Fred McGriff with several "olé" plays, and costing the Cubs a couple men on base. His gold gloves, safely crated elsewhere, need unpacking. But his bat needed no special torque as he knocked out three hits to atone for his miserable glovework. On the mound, perennial prospect-turned-suspect Juan Cruz gave up three runs and six hits; it's obvious, after the number of chances Cruz has had, that he's no longer even a questionable entry for the starting rotation and is now likely to become a PTBNL mentioned in a trade with some AL team. BP likes him as a long reliever, but I have my doubts; his control is suspect and that doesn't describe the sort of fellow you want pitching in tight games. LaTroy Hawkins visited the mound in the 9th, score 7-3, and left with the score 7-6. It's probably a good thing Hawkins is going to another central division team, albeit in a different league; facing higher quality hitting in the AL West or East divisions he'd get raked, and I suspect hard. Meantime, Brian Giles performed acceptably, going 1-3, but it seemed in general the Padres had a tough time of it, even against the relatively inconsistent pitching of Cruz, up until Hawkins offered up his gifts.
We won't see an Angels game until Friday. Today we'll see the A's, who have done very well in ST thus far.
Postscriptum: I will be away from my mail for the balance of the week, but thanks to a convenient Schlotsky's Deli across the street from my hotel with Internet access, I can post.
Saturday, March 20, 2004 |
OT: Unlost
Friday, March 19, 2004 |
Beware The Man of One Book
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!"The point being that owning exactly one book leads to interpretive zealotry, and this is what we've seen with Moneyball. What makes me laugh -- or gets under my skin, depending on who's doing it and whether or not they're wishing I would just die or just accusing me of simple illiteracy because I did, in fact read the book without coming to the same conclusions they did -- is that book is nowhere near a complete guide to running a baseball team. In fact, even Beane himself says in this Baseball America roundtable that he would probably operate differently if he were running the Braves, say:"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"
He said, "Like what?"
I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?"
He said, "Religious."
I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
He said, "Christian."
I said, "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
He said, "Baptist!"
I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
He said, "Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
He said,"Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.
But don't let that mislead you, DK. Beane's fired all his scouts. It's just him and a laptop. Yeah, that's it. Dang, they're efficient!TOWERS: I always used John and the Braves as the model organization. They could develop a Rafael Furcal or a Javy Lopez or a Chipper Jones every year. They got to the point where they could draft high school players and wait. We’ve been in the mode now we needed to build our system up and have more of an instant return. If we get good, by God, if people are taking college players, I’m going to go pop some high school guys.
BEANE: Don’t kid yourself—we were waiting for some of those high school guys this year to fall down to us. There’s a few we were going to take.
BA: Not pitchers, though.
BEANE: Well, yeah—but that’s because of the business we’re in.
TOWERS: The risk.
BEANE: If I’m in Atlanta, I might operate differently. I’m looking at Baseball America today, seeing all the prospects the Braves have, a lot of them high school pitchers. The fact of the matter is, it’s the risk that you’re allowed to absorb. They’ve been very good for a long time. They can wait four-to-five years. I know I’m going to lose a player once a year, a premium player. My feeder system has to be a little quicker.
Bill James Interview
What stats does James first look at when he evaluates players?Well, of course. And it's no surprise that he looks at the difference between OBP and average for hitters, and K/BB for pitchers. But those are things I now look at first, thanks to the work of Voros McCracken. A lot of ERA is really luck."Well, I think the more critical question is what do you look at second. I think the things I look at first are the same things everybody else does. Won-loss record and ERA for a pitcher and home runs, RBIs and batting average for a batter," said James. "Those are the first things you see and the first things you look at. The real question is what do you look at second."
It's ironic to me that James is principally known as some kind of propellerhead über-accountant, when he's -- not incidentally -- one of the best writers about baseball since John Updike. DePodesta, in his infamous white paper, says he's interested in always asking "the naïve question". But Harvard damaged him materially. Listen to the unsonorous way he closes:
Thomas Kuhn wrote, "the proliferation of competing articulations, the willingness to try anything, the expression of explicit discontent, the recourse to philosophy and to debate over fundamentals, all these are symptoms of a transition from normal to extraordinary research."That clumsy, larded bit was worthy of quoting? Uh, Paul... about that book deal... Anyway, James, ever the prose stylist, summarizes his interview this way:
"There's a universe of unknowns and a little cigar box of information," James said. "We're so far away from reaching the end of the task that it's laughable. We don't know anything, really."Night and day, really, isn't it? No management duckspeak for the MBAs in the audience -- concrete and comprehensible, with awe for the immense task before him thrown in for free. We miss you, Bill.
VORPal Swords, Part 2
At the end of his professional debut in 2002, Loney's left wrist was broken when he was hit by a pitch, ending his season. Wrist injuries are notorious for lingering, and Loney was clearly bothered by the recovery during the early part of 2003. After his first 45 games in the Florida State League, his line was .233/.283/.337. From game 46 through the end of the season, he hit .301/.369/.436, a much more impressive performance than his final totals would indicate. As Clay Davenport noted, that is the difference between a projected peak EqA of .289 versus .316, or roughly the difference between the 2003 versions of J.T. Snow and Nick Johnson. Usually, selective sampling is frowned upon, but the injury provides a legitimate reason for the dramatic improvement as the season goes along. At full health, he returned to his prior levels of ball-whacking, finishing the year as one of the best hitters in the lower minors at the tender age of 19.Given Eckstein's relative youth (well, maybe 29 is pushing the extent of that word), the same issues PECOTA has with Loney -- and IMO are being overstated -- are going to be present with young master David as well.Youth is certainly one of the main factors on Loney's side. He will spend 2004 in Double-A at the age of 20, putting him squarely on the fast track to the major leagues. Looking through his list of comparable players provided by PECOTA yields names like Hank Blalock, Miguel Cabrera, Sean Burroughs, and Adrian Beltre, who all arrived in the majors before their 22nd birthdays. It also includes players who have stalled in Double-A-- Adrian Gonzalez being the most notable--or have yet to establish themselves, and PECOTA is clearly picking up on the risk of getting too excited about players on the wrong side of the defensive spectrum who haven't tasted Double-A pitching yet. However, Loney gives a plethora of reasons for excitement beyond his age.
Pickoff Moves
Tommy On The Bench?
An interesting observation from the Dodgers fan forum: Tommy's on the bench and managing. As usual when I pass this sort of stuff along, it's with the largest possible grain of salt, but I could completely believe McCourt going over the head of DePodesta and pulling a stunt like this.$10 Parking
Concession and parking price hikes will go into effect this year, starting with a $2 parking fee increase. In what other business do you get away with charging more for the same lousy product?Goin' Down, Down, Down, Down
I'm heading to Arizona for spring training, mostly for the Cubs (as a Christmas present to my wife) and also the Angels. Don't look for too many updates after tomorrow. Yahoo Weather says it's gonna be roasty toasty in Mesa, in the low to mid-90's, so I'm bringing plenty of sunblock. I'll be back on the 27th, so play ball!A Two-Edged, VORPal Sword
| Year | Anderson | Eckstein | Erstad | Glaus | Kennedy | Molina | Salmon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 20.8 | 28.5 | 8.7 | 52.7 | 6 | 6.6 | 3 |
| 2002 | 37.5 | 29.2 | 11.2 | 30.7 | 31.5 | -9.8 | 31.7 |
| 2003 | 40.6 | 1.5 | -3.7 | 17.6 | 31.5 | 12.4 | 27.6 |
| 2004 | 26.2 | 20.7 | 1.5 | 39.1 | 23.4 | 4.9 | 21.9 |
And now for a brief explanation of why PECOTA is wrong and I'm right:
- Anderson I'm legitimately worried about at this point. His bicep tendonitis has kept him out of the lineup so far and is making me worried he'll mangle his swing in an unsuccessful attempt to "adjust". Of all of these players, Anderson's the one who'll live down to his numbers.
- Eckstein is the most immediately and obviously wrong of these players, and I suspect shows PECOTAs weaknesses at the edges: first, for players with little major league history (check, for Eck), and for those who have been recently injured (check, again). So -- the hell? Eckstein is supposedly overproducing in 2002, when in fact it represents only a 2.5% increase over the previous year? And then, injuries cause him to take a nearly 100% dive the next year, and is only expected to show up as two-thirds of a healthy Eck? Er, right. This is why I have a hard time putting much trust in PECOTA. It's a nice toy, but...
- Erstad is a lost cause, mostly. Most of the arguments for Erstad's move to first spin on the axis of him hitting better when he's healthy, therefore keeping him out of center will help somehow. First of all, his only season playing first, 1999, was a .253/.304/.374 extravaganza. His next year, 2000, was his .355/.409/.541 career year, one which didn't help the team much. Second, most of his value comes from his stunning defense in center, blah blah. But, just for a second, let's humor Rob and look at his pre- and post-All Star splits:
Pre All Star Post All Star Year AB OBP SLG AVG AB OBP SLG AVG 1999 349 .326 .393 .266 236 .282 .347 .233 2000 375 .441 .592 .384 301 .370 .478 .319 2001 344 .351 .401 .279 287 .307 .310 .233 2002 332 .342 .419 .310 293 .280 .355 .253 2003 184 .327 .353 .272 74 .263 .284 .203 Ooh, surprise, surprise, he's a much better player in the first half than he is in the second, even in his career year, and even in 1999 when he was principally the team's first baseman. While there might be something to the "keep Ersty safe at first" theory, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of evidence for it. I'd have to agree with PECOTA on him, too.
- Similar thoughts for Eckstein also apply to Kennedy and Molina as well. Are they really that abysmal? I'd take a roll that either of them has a bad year, but not both, and frankly, the catcher's my candidate. Abuse takes its toll.
- Glaus, rebound, yeah, and better than 2002, too. Sure, I'll buy that.
- Finally, I buy into Salmon falling apart, albeit in slow motion.
Thursday, March 18, 2004 |
Vanity
Busted
My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm bustedAside from intellectual and possible moral bankruptcy, the Boston Herald reports that the McCourts might face the actual kind presently, as the terms of the sale allow Fox to swipe their Southie property if he can't sell it at a sufficiently high price within two years:
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.
Ray Charles
Under the terms of the Dodgers sale, McCourt now has two years to repay [Fox's $145 million loan], plus interest, or risk losing his land to News Corp., a spokesman for the new Dodgers owner confirmed. [Excuse me, but who can the writer be talking about here?]The article goes on to mention that all's not gloom and doom for my favorite Southie couple: the market, in small doses, seems to be picking up, as a one-acre parcel has entertained bids for $30M, and that in any case, the sell-it-or-we'll-sell-it-for-you clause doesn't kick in for a couple years yet. But one can hope.... [S]ome real estate executives say [$205 million] is a rich number for raw land in a still hard hit real estate market. Longtime local developer Thomas Flatley told the Herald that he offered McCourt $150 million in cash for his land, a deal that was rejected.``I think it's going to be challenging,'' said Gary Lemire, an executive with commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners. ``He has some nice stuff (land) there, but the timing is not that great.''
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 |
Meantime, Back In Mesa...
What A Difference A Spring Makes
... as Mike Scioscia forgets his earlier comments about Bobby Jenks being not quite ready-for-prime-time.Bobby Jenks' nine scoreless innings this spring might have earned him a trip to Triple-A Salt Lake next month, but the Angels acknowledge he could push for major-league time this season. "When you're a young guy like him, you hope to pitch well enough to put yourself on the depth chart and he's definitely done that," Scioscia said.Booya, Bobby!
Please Don't Talk About Respect, Bartolo
Thank God Bartolo Colón isn't a Scott Boras client -- at least, I hope he isn't. The Orange County Register (in the same story linked above) sure makes it sound like his move to the Angels was all about the tall dollars:White Sox general manager Kenny Williams thought he might be able to re-sign ace Bartolo Colon, offering him a three-year deal worth $36 million. Colon gave Chicago hope by telling his friends on the team he would like to come back.At least we don't have to listen to him parrot some balderdash about respect. Arte'd have to start selling Rolaids at the stadium by the pallet.Instead, Colon got a far richer deal - four years, $51 million - in Anaheim.
"I told a lot of the pitchers I would like to come back, but it didn't work out," Colon said. "I don't want to talk about it."
McCourt Goes To Hall
- Saturday 3/13: Hall resigns.
- Monday 3/15: Jamie interviewed. Doesn't go so well.
- Tuesday 3/16: Frank asks Hall to reconsider.
Finally, by way of answering Richard's question as to whether I should give McCourt a chance -- why, yes, I have, and he has blown it, repeatedly. The prosecution offers exhibit A.
Update: Terry's got a far more readable commentary about this on his website.
Happier Than You Or Me
things-to-fix-dep't
Casey Kotchman and the Devo guy: mirror twins?
Are you winking, Casey, or are your eyes hella asymmetric? Or maybe...
... it's just a lousy picture. Somebody, please, update this guy's portrait. It's Just Wrong.
On Losing Kenny
Dusty Baker will sub-
stitute someone for Kenny Lofton.
Though Patterson's fast
The others just blast
Or don't get on base quite as often.
Survivor: Chavez Ravine
Think DePodesta wonders what he got himself into? With the long-term security that comes with a five-year contract, DePodesta may have signed up for a half-decade of boiling-point stress, toiling for incompetent bosses with impossible expectations. He may be 31 coming in, but DePodesta figures to age in dog years while with the Dodgers.Color me a trifle naive, but I don't think so. For me, this is a win-win situation if I'm DePodesta. First, I come in already the behind-the-scenes hero thanks to Moneyball. Second, if things go sour, everyone in baseball knows how harebrained the McCourts are -- the ownership read, or should have read, the sale package they voted on. They've got as much credibility as Clinton did, post stained dress. If I win, so much the better. And, thanks to the efforts of the previous GM and Logan White, I've got a farm stocked with goodies -- a good thing because the $100 million payroll McCourt promised the fans is a crock. And -- here's the beauty part -- with a five-year contract, if I even catch the smell of a playoff run in the next two years, I'm golden for the long term. With a weak NL West, 90 to 92 wins ought to do it. Simply put, I'll outlast my boss. McCourt simply can't run this team without an infusion of cash, and his does-not-play-well-with-others personality sort of limits access to that. I had my doubts at first, too, but on some reflection, the positives for DePodesta outweigh the negatives.
Pickoff Moves
Junior Rumors Gain Steam
Thanks to U.S.S. Mariner for this story indicating there may be some fire under the Griffey-from-Cincy-to-Safe smoke.No BaLoney
And again from U.S.S. Mariner, freshly returned from spring training, David Cameron writes about Dodger prospect James Loney:James Loney is awesome and-short of a catastrophic event similar to the flood-is going to be a tremendous major league hitter. Watching him and Robin Ventura play next to each other made one thing obviously clear; as of today, Robin Ventura is half the player Loney is, and Loney's getting better. This kid is scary good. I was really high on him before. After watching him this weekend, I'm running low on superlatives.If only we could work on that time machine... we need you now, dude...
Angels 2004 Bullpen Preview
Fire Bavasi has their 2004 Angels bullpen preview up. He was much more thorough about the matter than I was, so it's worth a read. In particular, his comments about Ben Weber's lack of strikeouts are interesting; is he lucky with that career 5.16 K/9, or is it that he induces ground ball after ground ball? And as for Percy, what he forgot to mention was his blown out hip that cost him a mess of runs. While I don't think he'll be the closer he was before 2003, he'll still be effective and possibly better than last year, but not by much. That is to say, I don't disagree with his assessments much (as usual). And, just to round things out and prove to my wife that I can, in fleeting moments, cling to a naive kind of optimism, Frankie will actually do better than last year, simply because he's young and his second half last year was that much better (his K/9 ramped up to 11.61 from 8.63, and his K/BB rate improved from 1.90 to 3.90).The Score Bard's NL Central Preview
The Score Bard's Humbug previews the NL Central. For my wife's beloved Cubbies:Cubs
If you trust that my dreams can foresee,
A wild card contender they'll be.
Why not in first?
Perhaps they are cursed,
Despite adding Hawkins and Lee.
English Test
No, not really. Evans at least had a plan.
Go read today's shotgun blast about McCourt's pratfalls. And, thank you sir, may I have another? I can't add much to it, except to say -- Dodgerkid, you may get your wish.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 |
Blog Notes
YAAB -- "Chronicles of the Lads"
Today, I introduce Yet Another Angels Blog. Revisiting the comments from the Baseball Primer Angels preview I found a link to Chronicles of the Lads. The name comes from an expression the late Angels announcer Bob Starr used when the Angels were behind in late innings. He opens, as seems to be the custom for a lot of new bloggers, with a preview of the 2004 lineup. Welcome aboard!Good Stuff At The Pearly Gates
Richard over at The Pearly Gates has introduced some nifty new features to his blog: a stock-market style ticker for a featured Angel prospect-du-jour and Angels spring training standings. Also, he points at Aaron Gleeman's latest project, The Hardball Times. Gleeman is working with Alex Belth of Bronx Banter, and Matthew Namee, research assistant to Bill James (all hail). It looks like a promising venture, and I'll second that link.... And At Purgatory Online
Sean has been paying much more attention to spring training and its effects upon the Halos than I have; but then, I'm not all that interested in ST to begin with. It's kinda dull watching guys you know won't be on the 25-man roster come April. But Sean's attention to these kinds of details proves once more that he's still the premiere Angels blogger out there.Aaron's Prospecting
Update: Also on The Hardball Times, Aaron ranks the top 25 prospects in baseball. (You can read his list of 26-50 here.) If you've read other prospect lists, you won't be surprised to see Angels prospects like Jeff Mathis, Casey Kotchman, Ervin Santana, and Dallas McPherson; but you will be surprised -- maybe -- to see he's left off Dodgers prospect Greg Miller, principally because of the shoulder problems he's had at the end of last season and again in spring training.Baseball Primer Looks At The Angels
- About "Wheels" Molina's running skills: he "runs like a man being chased by horny supermodels".
- Regarding Orange County's favorite ethnicity: "the Shane Halter signing didn’t energize the Caucasian fan base."
- On Sele's value to the club: "Sele’s biggest contribution will come when he walks out the door."
- Percival's contract status in the 2004/2005 offseason "will be one of several tests for how willing Moreno and Stoneman are to let go of the organization’s long-time standard bearers", and his recommendation is that Percy should be let go if he thinks he's getting more than $4M/year for three years.
More From Backstop Bob on Team McCourt
Jamie came up with most of the really air-headed ideas in brainstorming meetings concerning the Baltimore project. Our GM once came around to all the director's offices before a meeting to remind us "not to make any visible signs of distress or incredulity at any of Jamie's suggestions", which included (my personal favorite) having the ticket takers in "famous Baltimoreans" costume and working in character (Babe Ruth, Edgar Allen Poe, Barry Levinson, H. L. Mentken insulting all the Jewish guests, etc) as people were coming into the facility, when our primary concern was just getting 5000 people inside, and getting their coats taken, in a typical two-hour period.He goes on to say in a later post that "if the O's can pry Edwin Jackson away from them so they can have the "big bat" of Jay Gibbons, then I am all for the McCourts", as should all right-thinking Orioles fans. Heck, at this point, I'd be happy to let the Angels lose Erstad's bat in trade for same. To think, I'd only have to change the color and logo on my home computer's desktop picture...I had to explain in detail how we didn't want any more interaction with ticket taking other than a smile and "have a great time", so as not to jam up the lines. And, as I expected, lines were a problem all the time on weekends, as we couldn't get people in fast enough. I imagine if we had hired actors to do the ticket-taking, it would have lasted, about a day. (Maybe she could try it again at Dodger Stadium...they do have more turnstyles. It'd be interesting to go through "Steve Garvey"'s line with your wife or girlfriend, perhaps.)
I shake my head reading the story. It sounds like Jamie and Frank are going to "clean up that one horse town", when nothing more really needs to be done than to improve the product on the field.
Jamie's dad is an early mass-merchandising appliance-electronics guy in Baltimore naked Frank Luskin, who was a contemporary of "Crazy Eddie" and "The Wizard", except he went out of business some ten years ago, run out of town by Curcuit City. As far as I can tell, none of his business acumen has rubbed off on her.
Chavez: $66M, 6 years
The Score Bard's NL West Preview
Hopefully this will be sufficient to counter the stink I made with my most recent attempt at rhyme. It's a dog and doggerel, all at once!Dodgers
This team is on loan, not invested,
But at least it has been dePodested.
From L.A. to the farms
They've been crawling with arms
But with bats they have been uninfested.
Jamie Lacks The Write Stuff
Speaking on behalf of her husband, Frank, Jamie McCourt said they were not concerned about the high-level defections that have occurred in their first month in charge. The McCourts have not addressed the club's approximately 250 full-time staff members about the resignations of Bob Graziano, team president; Kris Rone, executive vice president of business; and Derrick Hall, senior vice president of communications, and they won't dwell on them when meeting with employees sometime before opening day at Dodger Stadium.The team doesn't have a CEO, a head of communications, a business manager, and they're worried about the Dodger Dream Foundation? And they haven't even spoken with the remaining employees about upper-level vacancies? What color is the sky in that little world of yours, Jamie? In the playoffs? Hah! They'll be lucky if they're in the division! The article goes on to mention that Dodgers employees found out their bosses were no longer working there from the Times, not the McCourts, of which the Wicked Witch of the National League West said:The McCourts said change is simply part of the transition process and they expect more from everyone.
"We expect an enormous amount of accountability," said Jamie, the vice chairman. "We're going to try to change the culture of the Dodgers, because this should be a team that's in the playoffs every year. To not be in the playoffs is crazy. They should have been drawing 4 million fans, not 3 million fans. They should be making money, not losing $50 million [a year].
"The Dream Foundation, for example, should be doing even more in the community than it's doing. The Dodgers can do better. We're not nervous, because it's our intention to have better baseball, do better for the fans, do better for the employees and do better for the players. Whatever it takes to assemble that team, that's what we're going to do."
"I hope we can talk [to the staff] because I think it's very important," Jamie said. "I hope it's soon. Everything is just a little bit awkward in terms of timing because of when the purchase was approved, and now it's spring training. Certainly, we would hope to do so before opening day, but I don't think we're going to focus so much on resignations."Surrender, Dorothy" might not appear in the skies over Dodger Stadium, but management-by-press-release doesn't sound like a strategy you'll be reading about in the latest fad business book, either. Now, where did I leave that bucket of water?
She said the Dodgers, sold to the McCourts by News Corp. this winter, operated in a "silo for business, a silo for baseball and a silo for [public relations]"At the rate upper management ranks have been launched out of the Ravine, can we expect a counterstrike from Russia or China at any moment?
"What we'll focus on is what our expectations are and how we hope everybody who wants to be here will stay involved with the turnaround.A number dwindling by the hour, no doubt. But that's okay, because at least Jamie recognizes her shortcomings:
"I can't speak for Frank. No one asked me if I thought we should get a hitter or not," she said. "You probably have to talk to Frank. This is bad because you guys remember everything and you write everything down."Because, yeah, illiteracy is probably, for a lawyer, like, a bad thing. And to think, before this revelation, I thought they had a shining career opportunity writing sitcoms. So, if you can, write this one down, Jamie: get some bats. Oops, scratch that. Try: sell the team.
Update: I suppose I should have seen this one coming: they fire the communications guy and immediately one of the McCourts steps in it. Call it the revenge of the press. Some years ago, there was a story circulating about the early days of the Clinton White House that the staff wasn't maintaining its little touches for the press covering the Washington "beat" (if you can call the usual press release journalism that goes on there a "beat") that the Bushes did, including remembering which candy bars they preferred in the box lunches. So the story went, it was this lack of attention to detail that caused much of the press -- from that day hence -- to be anti-Clinton. I don't know for sure, but I bet Ross Newhan likes Snickers.
Monday, March 15, 2004 |
The Difference Between A DH And A Dog
| vs. lefties | vs. all | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Manager | AB | Avg. | OBP | SLG | AB | Avg. | OBP | SLG | left% |
| 2003 | Angels | Mike Scioscia | 30 | .267 | .324 | .400 | 206 | .306 | .387 | .500 | .146 |
| 2002 | Angels | Mike Scioscia | 63 | .221 | .231 | .365 | 429 | .289 | .357 | .531 | .147 |
| 2001 | Blue Jays | Buck Martinez | 119 | .202 | .233 | .286 | 522 | .274 | .326 | .444 | .228 |
| 2000 | Blue Jays | Jim Fregosi | 93 | .226 | .279 | .430 | 482 | .295 | .340 | .558 | .193 |
| 1999 | Expos | Felipe Alou | 50 | .240 | .264 | .480 | 347 | .277 | .321 | .464 | .144 |
And there ends the splits data on mlb.com. I liked Brad as a player, but I have to wonder whether he didn't say the same things about Alou, who also benched Brad versus lefties. When he played for Toronto, his large numbers of LH at-bats dragged down his average and certainly his slugging percentage. In any case, his outburst would explain why management released him shortly after he injured himself. What's funny, though, is that Scioscia used him exactly for his strengths, and Fullmer proceeded to set career records for OBP and average, not to mention picking up a championship ring. And for this, Fullmer is angry? It reminds me of the old Mark Twain quote, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
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