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Thursday, May 05, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves, Lunchtime Edition
Matt Welch On Dave Hansen
Matt Welch, whom I've sometimes shared space with here (yes, I know I never completed the Angels season previews -- I didn't even get started on the Dodgers, so there) pens a great piece on former Dodger Dave Hansen in which he recalls growing up with Dave, playing baseball and rock-n-roll, and how Tommy Lasorda and a half-remembered leg injury ruined his career. Definitely worth reading.Getting To Third Base
Jon wonders how things would have shaken out last year with an injury to Brent Mayne, now that Valentin is gone for a few months. It occurred to me yesterday that one of the good things about Valentin is his production is very nearly freely replaceable. His 14.9 VORP last year came on a team that stubbornly allowed him to swing and miss at lefties, driving his average down, but this I'm beginning to conclude is more about his general decline, i.e., he represents the Eric Karros mistake Billy Beane made last year in reverse for the 2005 Dodgers.Jon writes, "No one wants to settle for ... mediocrity, but it's important to recognize that the alternative to the exceptional isn't the regurgitational." To some degree that's true, but after the club gets its gluteus maximii kicked by the club far better positioned to ascend to the World Series (i.e., the Cards, later this month), the itch to do more than just contend becomes just that much harder to avoid scratching in public.
More Yankee Handwringing At ESPN
Two on ESPN about the Yanks' horrible death-spiral (ahem!) from ESPN today, the first from Bob Klapisch. So bad do things look for the Yanks, and by extension, so good do things look for the rest of the AL East, that former Blue Jays (and Mariners) GM Pat Gillick chirps"Unless [Steinbrenner] has a bottomless pit, it's going to come to an end. Unless he wants to go to $300 million to keep buying free agents, there is going to be light at the end of the tunnel."Just ask the division-leading Orioles, who continue to bash their opponents and have a three game lead on the Red Sox. The Sox have troubles of their own with ace Curt Schilling still on the DL with what he now calls a stress reaction rather than a bruise; you may recall a stress reaction in Bobby Jenks' elbow was the final straw that left him conveniently unprotected from the 40-man last year. Add to that a disabled David Wells, and things look decidedly grim at Fenway, according to Sean McAdam. The 18-9 Orioles have gone from nuisance to legitimate threat to the Sox and Yanks, and that's not all:
Warns one AL executive of the scrambled AL East race: "The longer the Orioles and Blue Jays hang around, the tougher they're going to be to get rid of."As I mentioned earlier, there's plenty of reasons to doubt the O's will keep this up, one of which is the rickety starting rotation. "Anchored" by Sir Sidney Ponson (6.67 ERA), the club hasn't been able to get much from its young starters, but the team's hot start is as much a creation of the bad news to the teams up north as it is luck and fortuituous breaks for Baltimore. If anything, what this means is that the Angels chances of advancing to the World Series look better and better this year -- if they can get a ticket to the dance. So far, I like what I see.
Comments:
No production out of their young starters? Is that a joke? Take a look at the numbers for Bedard and Chen. Yeah, Ponson is an anchor...but the other guys are doing just fine. And the bullpen is lights-out.
The best part? The Birds have the money and prospects to go fill a need come July.
The best part? The Birds have the money and prospects to go fill a need come July.
# posted by 
: 5/06/2005 05:22:00 AM
: 5/06/2005 05:22:00 AM
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