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Friday, July 01, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves, Lunchtime Edition
What Could Have Been
Dirtbags Baseball notes that first-round (actually a sandwich pick, 35th overall) draftee Cesar Ramos pitched his first game in the Padres system Wednesday night, tossing a scoreless inning in relief for the Eugene Emeralds. The Pads want to keep Ramos from overtaxing his arm, as he's already thrown an entire college season, but it's worth noting at this point that this could have been Jered Weaver last year -- if it weren't for Boras's stubbornness.Colon Makes Cy Young Short List
John Brattain at Hardball Times makes his list of Cy Young contenders, and Bartolo Colon places third. That's about right, I think; Halladay is just an amazing pitcher, but I expect Buehrle to fade as the year goes on. Of course, I have similar concerns about Colon...Texas FO Trash-Talks Their Own Team
Man, the Kenny Rogers fiasco gets crazier all the time: thanks to David Pinto for this story, in which the Rangers front office apparently fed the Dallas media stories about Kenny Rogers faking his broken finger in order to miss an important start.Update: Bud Selig suspended Kenny Rogers for 20 games, and fined him $50,000. KDFW cameraman Larry Rodriguez filed a misdemeanor assault charge against Rogers. Rogers' attorneys issued an apology for the pitcher:
In a statement Friday before the ruling, Rogers' attorneys said: "Kenny Rogers would like to make a statement. However, in light of the ongoing investigation, it is not advisable for Kenny to comment directly and publicly at this time.Maybe it's just me, but I'd find it a bit more convincing if it were Rogers in front of the camera moving his own lips."On Kenny's behalf, though, we would like to express to Mr. Rodriguez, Ranger fans, all baseball fans and his teammates that Kenny is truly sorry for the incident that occurred and regrets that it happened."
Update 2: I agree with Richard, this is a surprisingly low number. For a starter on a five-man rotation, it's four starts, meaning it's about the same as Donnelly drew in Pine Tar-gate.
Comments:
It does seem low to me. But, with this suspension, do you think the Rangers are officially done now. They were already almost out of it after losing those games to Angels, and with the A's coming on strong now, I think they finish in third. This suspension only cements that in my mind.
# posted by 
: 7/01/2005 02:39:00 PM
: 7/01/2005 02:39:00 PM
One more thing in regards to the way the Rangers have handled things. On the whole, they've done a terrible job, except for one person, Orel Hershiser. I heard his comments the other night, and they were right on. He just said that Rogers' actions were indefensible and the media does a good job and a necessary job that allows the players to make the big money that they do. In the part I heard, he didn't try and give any excuses or anything. It was pretty much right on, and was really the only appropriate response. Much better than the enabling and excuse making that Hicks, Hart, and Showalter engaged in. Anyhow, Hershiser just moved up another notch on my respectometer.
# posted by : 7/01/2005 02:46:00 PM
: 7/01/2005 02:46:00 PM
Bulldog is a good guy, though I admit I'm biased because he used to wear a Dodger uni. There are people who have called Hershiser's bona fides into question, especially after Drese's strong first outing against the Angels as a Nat. (I would add that Pinto ironically quoted a Dallas Morning News story about Bulldog as the guy who figured out Ameriquest Park's peculiarities, convincing the entire pitching staff to throw sinkers. It worked some last year, but there appears to have been a fair amount of regression this year.
To answer your question -- no, I do not think the Rangers are done: with that offense, all they have to do is get back some pitching (oops). I do not think the A's are done; all they have to do is get healthy. I do not think the M's, even, are done; Beltre is an infamous second-half performer.
Also, with regards to Beltre: he recently had his best month as a Mariner, going .312/.386/.442. The avg/OBP spread is perilously thin, but I expect that's mainly because nobody's afraid to pitch to him, and he's still swinging at low, outside junk.
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